Department of Sociology Colloquium Series Presents: Jim Moody – Duke University

“Reconstructing the Ship of Theseus?”

 Groups, Roles & Trajectories in Early Adolescent Friendship Networks

A fundamental aspect of school life rests on the collective substructures of peer networks.  We examine two intersecting substructures here: peer groups defined as dense communities of close friends and role positions, defined on the pattern of ties one is embedded within, which are closely aligned with the school status structure.  Combined, these two dimensions define the social field of a school for adolescents. Despite intense policy interest in “peer pressure” and theoretical interests in generalizations of fields, there is little basic descriptive information on the life-history of these key social network substructures in real-world networks, in part due to lack of available data and appropriate methods. Here, we describe the dynamics of groups and roles over 6 waves of  early adolescent peer networks in a way that lets us see the simultaneous emergence of behavior homophily and status stability.