Network Structure and Power Distribution:Explanation from elementary theory

中国的社会网研究很少关注网络结构与权力分配之间的关系,这恰是要素论的贡献。在介绍影响、社会关系、社会行动者等基本“要素”之后,本文分析了要素论的建模原理及多种结构条件,并简析其优势所在。要素论研究发现,权力的分配取决于行动者的偏好、信念、关系类型及诸多结构条件,因此,核心点未必有权。要素论根据网络结构预测权力的分配,这是其独特之处。该理论的其他优势有:坚持理论导向的实验研究,揭示了权力来源于“排除”机制,运用分析—组合法,可用于研究大型的、复杂的社会历史结构。本文最后讨论了要素论的未来方向,包括考虑到行动者的属性和结构的转换以及关系的要素论研究会加深对中国社会的认识等。

ocial Network Analysis in China seldom pays attention to the relationship between network structure and power distribution，which is the main subject matter of Elementary Theory (ET). This paper introduces the basic concepts，modeling procedure， basic principles，structural conditions，and research findings of ET. ET finds that power distribution depends on preference，beliefs，network structure and structural conditions. Therefore，the central actor may not be powerful. The advantage of ET is that it can predict power distributions. ET uses experiments to support its formulations and predictions for social structures. ET can also be used to analyze large scale social-historical structures. Future directions are discussed at the end of this paper. ET study on China can offer new understandings of guanxi. This future study will increase our knowledge of Chinese society. 

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