Chapter 3:Understanding

Local Network
 We have all heard the saying birds if
Spider Web the same feather flocks together
• The spider’s web can be representation of the nature of network of
relationships that a person builds The network of relationship has its
base support, a center and some strategic places. It also serves the
needs and purposes of the network holder.
• This means that the company we keep reflects our personality. A
smart person surrounds himself with other smart people.
Relationships Within a Local Network
• Cellular Network – is the connection that enables cells to connect with each
other in their networks.
• Network – a set of nodes and the set of ties.
• Nodes – the things that are connected. (might be a person, a computer or even a
hyperlinked text.
• The connection between hubs are called “associations” and here and there called
“edges”

Note: They are relations that bind the tie or even make a ties suffers. It is
imperative for leaders and managers to precisely see the system relations that
associate individuals and to effectively oversee them
Awareness concerning social networks is important to the extent that people are
uncertain who is connected to whom – creating contact and provides opportunity
to interact.
Density
• Density of a network is based on
the number of connections
between and among factors.
• The higher the number, the denser
the system.
• Potential connection – an
association that could possibly
exist between two “hubs” paying
little respect to regardless of
whether it really does.(this person
(actor) could know that person
• Actual connection - is one that
actually exists ( this person does
know that person)
Hierarchy
• Hierarchy – a system or organization in
which people or groups are ranked one
above the other according to status or
authority.
• Actors in the network can pull their
investment in social relations by establishing
relations with a diverse set of groups in the
community.
• A politician who is connected to a political
party may reach other groups to leverage in
his political influence.
• A weak tie is a result of infrequent/distant
relationship
• A strong tie stems from frequent long-lasting
and affect-laden relationship
• A significant characteristic of the whole
network is reciprocity between and among
individual actors.
Complexity
• Complexity is the extent to which a
link between actors serve a
multiplicity of interest in the
community
• In a sense, the more complex
relations are considered to have
higher tie strength.
• Complexity also represents the extent
to which two people are bound to
each other in different social
grounds.
• For example, if Chad and Marlon
interact as colleagues in the school
friends on the weekend and
teammates on basketball team, then
there are three social circles in which
they meet each other.
Interdependence
• The ties in the network can be useful
in facilitating change and reform. The
interdependence of social ties in a
community produces benefits for
actors and members.
• Interdependence facilitates
cooperation and creates social capital
necessary for the progress of the
community.
• Social capital is the accumulated
benefits as a result of the
maintenance of a positive relationship
between different groups and
associations in the community.
Embeddedness

• The networks of relations within

which each person is rooted
include family, friends and
acquaintances. To be sure,
business associations themselves
are held together by formal
relations of power as well as by
casual connections that interface
individuals crosswise over
departmental and progressive
limits.
Activity
• Google, Twitter, Facebook, Youtube and Skype, are some of the
names that have dominated social networking in the early twenty-
first century. Social media has become so popular that it has its very
own language. For example, you can “Google or be Googled”. You can
“friend” or “unfriend” someone on Facebook. And you can send
tweets to update people on your every activity every moment of the
day using your Twitter account. Merriam-Webster Dictionary listed
“text,” and “Google” as verbs! You should be responsible on your use
of social media.
• Write the advantages and disadvantages of using social media to
network.
Layers of Relationships in different social
systems.

Household/Family

Barangay/Village

State

Global Network
4 levels of social system
1. household/family
2. Barangay/village
3. Country
4. Global networks

The goal of every individual participating is to enrich his or her web of

relationships. Strong relationship among people creates a sense of community.
The community is further strengthened as it develops its own norms and local
knowledge to guide its decision making.
Household
• A dyadic relationship is the smallest unit of a social relationship. This commonly
starts in the household which usually consists of members of a nuclear or
extended family (which is common in the Philippines).
• Extended family members and relatives (i.e. grandparents, aunts, uncles,
cousins and grandchildren).
• In an extended family, membership is obtained either through consanguinity
(blood or marriage), fictive membership, or substitute parental membership to
a child being a godfather (ninong) or godmother (ninang) who acts as a sponsor
in the religious rituals such as baptism, confirmation and weddings. This type of
familu composition allows members of households to get involved in family
affairs and family issues that require collective decisions.
• However too much family ties can generate “kanya-kanya” syndrome (inciting,
envy, and competitiveness among family members), dependency, loss of
privacy and over protective parenting.
• In other localities, conflict arises from political rivalries among powerful
families. The extended family system can be source of either cooperation or
conflict.
• Being aware on how relationships work in a particular household enables us to
reduce tensions and conflicts. It can also help use identify the strength and
resources of the family, which can be beneficial in finding solutions to family
problems.
• Nevertheless, a household is always connected to other households and to
larger social institutions, such as the community or the state.
Barangay
• A local network is made up of interdependent household relationships within a
village known as the barangay.
• In the Philippines, a barangay is a Filipino native term for a village formerly known
as barrio – smallest administrative unit in the Philippines.
• Each barangay is comprised of groups of households or neighborhoods that is
considered a building block of society outside the family. – no household within a
barangay is completely self-sufficient. Household come together for economic,
religious, social and political activities.
• Barangay, as a political unit exerts
political authority over problems
involving barangay
members/community.
• Kinship is a natural organizing system –
barangay. This sense of community ties
within the barangay allows people to
feel the obligation to help their
neighbors who are in need. (Help is
extended in terms of sharing of food,
lending money, sponsoring education of
relatives, etc. )
• Political Partisan behavior is
demonstrated when community
members have kinship ties or personal
relations with political families.
• It is easier to mobilize a whole village
than a whole municipality or city
because the networks within a local
unit is denser than the latter – this
means that in small communities,
relationships are tighter – thus to
deepen our understanding and
response to a social issue, one needs
to understand the resources within a
local network
• This implies that he challenges and
opportunities of a local network are
dependent on the kinds of
relationships that exists within a
family and the community
• Since poverty is a social issue, it
calls for a collective response.
Thus, the best response to these
issues should come from local
networks. It is important to
consider that collective response
includes tapping into the existing
forms of local knowledge that
reside in the social practices of
community members.
Local Knowledge

• The barangay’s response to the problem is usually informed by local funds of

knowledge.
• Funds of knowledge refer to the body of community knowledge that emerges
originally from lives, routines, experiences, practices and strategies of
community people.
• The relationships are not only formed between two persons, but are also
drawn from the power, influence, experience and interest of those community
people who create local knowledge.
• Local knowledge – has a place of production for it is generated from a specific
geographical location with its own histories and cultures.
• While local networks interact with
global networks, global networks
should seek to reconstruct its
identity, expand knowledge system
and local resources.
• Simply put, it sought to respond
globally while also empowering its
local connection
Following are assumptions to describe
development:
1. Placing people at the center of
development
2. Developing their creative and
powerful potential so that they can
participate meaningfully in the
entire development process
3. Recognizing that social
development must start with how
people themselves respond to the
force that either constrain or
encourage social transformation