Social networks, solidarity, and inequality

ICS research conceives of social science as being problem-driven rather than data-driven. Theory construction aims at testable explanations of social phenomena rather than conceptual systems without explicit empirical content. Empirical analysis is theory-guided, aiming at deeper explanations (in the Popperian sense) of social phenomena and processes rather than mere descriptions. Such a research strategy is applied to the study of solidarity and inequality, with a focus on how social networks affect solidarity and inequality in different social settings.

The research program of the ICS comprises three major elements. The first element is a common research strategy that has been proven to be stimulating and has contributed to defining a clear profile of ICS research. This element of the research program represents continuity. The evolving nature of the program results from shifts in the common field of interest and the focus of research problems.

Research strategy

The ICS research strategy emphasizes a problem-driven approach, with a focus on the explanation of social phenomena. Social science theory provides tentative solutions for explanatory problems. Empirical research is theory-guided, requiring the collection of appropriate data and using these data for testing theories. Social science theory also aims at providing tools for the solution of societal problems, including tools for intervention, the design of institutions, and the evaluation of policy measures. Deductive theory building and the integration of theory formation and empirical research by model building are core elements of the research strategy. Thus, hypotheses to be tested are systematically derived from theories and an aim is to develop general theories that allow for the integration of more specific theories by correcting and improving them. In this way, the research strategy contributes to accumulating coherent social science knowledge and to reducing the fragmentation of social science. An interdisciplinary orientation that avoids excluding theories or methods on the basis of their disciplinary origin is an important ingredient of the research strategy. Such an orientation is also reflected in the composition of ICS faculty, postdocs, and PhD students, comprising sociologists, economists, social psychologists, and other social scientists as well as statisticians, mathematicians, and computer scientists.

Structural individualism is a major feature of theory building. This means that social phenomena are explained as a result of purposive behavior of individuals as well as corporate social actors. Typically, social phenomena are explained as a result of interdependent action and often also as an unintended result of purposive behavior. Purposive behavior is shaped by the constraints and opportunities posed by the social and institutional context, including ties and interdependencies between actors, thus avoiding a reduction of social science to the perfect market model of neoclassical economics or the oversocialized conception of human beings in traditional sociology. The focus of theory building is not on the explanation of individual action as such, but on how the social and institutional context conditions behavior and how the context is transformed through the effect of individual behavior on the social context formed by these individuals: a so-called "social mechanism" view of explanation, including the macro-micro-macro question.

Empirical testing of theories and hypotheses requires appropriate data sets. Structural individualism implies that data sets should comprise individual as well as contextual information. More specifically, multi-actor, multi-level, and multi-event data sets are needed. These include (a) information about the actors and their interdependence with respect to constraints, actions, or outcomes, (b) information about the various levels of aggregation (individual, various types of context), and (c) information about multiple events over time that can provide information on how later events are conditioned by earlier ones. Employing such complex data sets for testing hypotheses requires, in turn, appropriate statistical models that express mathematically the main theoretical relations between the observed variables bearing on the various actors, levels, and events.

Common field of interest and focus of research problems

The research strategy represents continuity in the ICS research program and reflects broadly accepted common ground within the ICS. Research within the ICS is further organized by defining a common field of interest and a focus of research problems that crystallize into a number of research clusters. These elements are evolving over subsequent versions of the ICS research program, depending on the development of new research problems through the internal dynamics of the program, the development of societal problems that attract research interests, and opportunities and constraints such as the policy of funding institutions. During the initial KNAW recognition period 1993-1997, the common field of interest was defined as problems of distribution and coordination within markets and organizations. Problems of distribution and coordination are two overarching problems of sociology and social science, sometimes also referred to as problems of inequality and, respectively, of cohesion or cooperation. Markets (including markets like the labor market and the marriage market) and organizations (formal as well informal) were broadly defined contexts for studying these problems. Subsequently, solidarity problems became the common field of interest for the ICS research program during the KNAW recognition period 1998-2002. Solidary behavior has been broadly conceived as the contribution of private resources to common ends without direct compensation. Thus, solidarity problems are closely related to problems of coordination, cooperation, and cohesion. Solidarity problems have been studied in informal settings such as families, ethnic groups, neighborhoods, and voluntary organizations on the one hand and formal settings on the other, such as relations within and between formal organizations. A major problem shift in ICS research on solidarity problems during the execution of the 1998-2002 program can be identified as an increasing attention for the role of social networks in maintaining or undermining solidarity. Therefore, the 2003-2008 ICS program defines Social Networks, Solidarity, and Inequality, as the new common focus for ICS research. Questions about solidarity are retained because of their theoretical as well as societal relevance. Problems of inequality are added because of the importance of inequality as a major problem of social science and as a societal problem that attracts systematic attention in much ICS research. This combination is also meant to stimulate new research on how problems of solidarity and inequality are intertwined. For example, depending on certain conditions, inequality may either hamper or foster solidarity while, conversely, solidarity in a relation between two actors or in a group may have positive or negative externalities for third parties or other groups and may thus affect inequality. A good reason for the problem shift towards the role of social networks is that networks comprise much of the social structure that generates, maintains, or undermines solidarity on the one hand and induces inequalities on the other, so that questions of inequality and solidarity can be fruitfully studied by considering aspects of the social network between the actors. The network can often be regarded as a crucial intermediate variable between other features of the social context and individual behavior (the macro-to-micro issue) as well as a crucial influence on how individual actions aggregate to transformations of the larger social structure (the micro-to-macro issue). Therefore, networks also often condition the effects of policy making and of interventions on individual behavior and the macro-consequences of behavior. Such problems about the interrelation between (a) networks, (b) behavior, and (c) solidarity and inequality are anticipated to be the focus of much ICS research during the 2003-2008 recognition period. Previous and ongoing network research often emphasizes positive effects of networks such as fostering solidarity. It is expected that future research will more systematically address the condition under which networks can also have detrimental effects on solidarity. This implies in general an increased concern for social effects on well-being of individuals.

Next to the attention paid to social context and networks (structure), an important focus is on dynamics (transitions), and on practical applications to societal problems (interventions) in selected fields. The theoretical focus on mechanism explanations and macro-micro-macro questions inherently leads to a dynamic perspective, but in the past practical constraints often limited empirical research to a cross-sectional perspective. In terms of data sets as well as statistical models, dynamic approaches have now become feasible in social science and are often mandatory to obtain further progress. When they are possible, interventions can provide occasions for theory testing. Also, society as well as social science can benefit from applications of theories and systematic empirical knowledge to societal problems. This is not meant to suggest that solutions to important societal problems are readily available, but that there exists much underutilized social science knowledge which can, when further developed, provide insight in the social mechanisms that are influential in the emergence of these problems, and that society can benefit from more systematic attempts to alleviate these problems. In some selected fields and research projects, the new ICS program thus includes contributions to institutional design and tools for social interventions.