CONNECTIONS,

RELATIONSHIPS, AND
NETWORKS.
• Social relations link each of us to a particular group and these relations that connect us
with others can produce diverse consequences. This lesson looks into the very nature of
social relations.
• It explains how relationships are formed through the connections that exist among
individuals, whether students, teachers, school, employees, or administrators.
• It uncovers the importance of connections in understanding social networks at the same
time, students will understand the nature of connection, relationships and networks in
understanding social networks.
NETWORKS

• Zeev Maoz (2011, 7 and 38-39) in Network of Nations, defines network as a set of units
like nerves, species, individuals, institutions or states, and a rule that determines the
“magnitude, and/or direction of ties” that exist between any In most cases, the same
nodes can be simultaneously related to multiple networks with each network defined by a
particular set of rules. For example, a group of persons in a church organization may be a
member of different networks like a friendship networks, neighborhood networks, or
community-based networks (Maoz,2011,40). A set of networks that is made up of the
same set of nodes is known as a hypernetwork or a multiplextwo social entities or nodes.
• Networks can be classified into two types, namely relational and affiliational networks. Relational
networks or one-mode networks are characterized by rules that determine the presence, direction,
and extent of a relationship between any two units. Example of relational units include
neighborhood, friendship , alliance, or trade networks.Affiliation networks refer to networks in
which the rule determines an affiliation of a unit with an event, organization, or group. Examples
of affiliational networks include membership in a professional organization, national membership
in international oganizations, or the distribution of the different provincial population based on
their religion or ethnic affiliations.
CONNECTIONS

• Connection refers to the tie that links actors to one another. It illustrates what links unit A to Unit B. The
range of connections or ties that link any two actors are wide-ranging. Examples of connections that can be
used to show ties among actors include behavioral interactions, physical connections, association or
affiliation, evaluation of one person by another person, and even formal relations. In a school set-up for
example, ties among actors can be based on who are chatting with each other (behavior interaction),who are
seated together during class or during break time (physical connection),who are taking the same subjects or
belonging to the same group for a particular class project (association or affiliation), whom one considers as a
friend (evaluation of one person by another). Or it can be based on who has author over whom (formal
relations).
Connections between social units establishes a tie or link between two actors or social units.
Connections between two actors form a dyad. DYAD is the basic unit of social networks
which is made up of a pair of actors. Below are examples of a dyad social net work:
1. A child who wishes to form friendship ties with another child
2. A store manager consults with his assistant manager
3. The Philippines wants to form an alliance with another country in the Southeast Asian
region.
 When three actors are involved, it is called a triad. Example of a triad includes the
following:
1. A child who wishes to form friendship ties with two other children.
2. A store manager consults with his assistant manager and store supervisor.
3.The Philippines wants to form an alliance with two other countries in
the Southeast Asian region.
RELATIONSHIPS

• In understanding connections, it is important to collect information on multiple ties in

order to understand the depth of connections or the lack thereof among social units or
actors. The collection of ties among the actors in a group is called relationship. In social
network analysis, relationships refers to “a collection of ties of a specific kind measured
on pairs of actors” from a particular group of social entities. (Carolan,2014,6). A single
group of actors can have several different forms of relationships. For example, if you
want to study the connections of middle-aged friends, one can also look into the
connections of the parents of the middle-aged friends.
• In understanding networks, its imperative to understand the connections among social
units including the effects or outcomes associated with these connections. The “social
units” referred to in this context are called actors. Actors are defined as “discrete
individual or collective social units.” In the activity above, the names of people listed in
one of the networks you have formed are the actors in the network. The use of the term
actors does not mean that they perform a particular action but it is a social unit that is
playing a role in a larger social system.”
Example of a Family Network of Francis: The table is an example of an ego
Name Gender Age network. Ego networks is made up of
a focal actor or node called ego and
Francis Male 26 the nodes to whom the ego is directly
connected or linked.
Jane Female 22
These social units to whom the ego
Ernest Male 42 is connected are called alters. In the
James Male 38 example above, Francis is the ego
while Jane ,Ernest, and James are the
alters. Francis has a connection or tie
with each of the family member.