Documentos de Académico
Documentos de Profesional
Documentos de Cultura
E
l análisis de redes o análisis de redes logo Robin Dunbar2 nuestro cerebro, a pesar de
sociales (social network analysis) es la que tenga miles de contactos, tiene la limitación
solución a muchos problemas de investi- de registrar significativamente solo 150 relacio-
gación. El análisis de redes es una aproximación nes. Esta “limitada” capacidad cerebral contrasta
teórica y metodológica que señala que lo más con el ser “hiperconectado” de hoy en día, por
importante es estudiar las relaciones, enlaces lo que son necesarias herramientas de análisis
o contactos entre los actores1. Cualquier tipo si deseamos investigar las relaciones entre un
de relación puede ser materia de estudio del conjunto de actores. El análisis de redes es la
aproximación que permite procesar, examinar y
análisis de redes: relaciones entre personas u
visualizar un amplio conjunto de actores y los
organizaciones, comunicaciones, transferen-
posibles enlaces entre ellos. Las redes han exis-
cias de conocimientos, traspasos económicos e,
tido siempre, lo que no ha existido siempre es la
incluso, vínculos neuronales.
forma de analizarlas. Veamos las funcionalida-
Vivimos en un mundo cada vez más inter-
des y algunos ejemplos.
conectado: hoy en día recibimos más e-mails al
El análisis de redes permite entre varios
día que hace años llamadas telefónicas, absorbe-
aspectos:
mos cada vez más información y esta procede de
muchísimas fuentes. Las organizaciones se han
• Analizar qué tan cohesionados están los acto-
extendido mediante alianzas de todo tipo y los res de un estudio, por ejemplo, si las elites
países están cada vez más abiertos y relaciona- empresariales están unidas o fragmentadas3.
dos entre sí. Sin embargo, nuestro cerebro no es • Identificar quiénes son los líderes y qué posi-
capaz de registrar y analizar toda esta inmensa ción ocupa cada actor en la red, por ejemplo,
cantidad de relaciones, contactos y enlaces. para averiguar quiénes son los intermedia-
Piense por un momento en todos sus compañe- rios en las redes de narcotráfico4.
ros de trabajo, y después en todos los familia- • Detectar subgrupos o comunidades de acto-
res de sus compañeros de trabajo, y después en res en función de sus relaciones, por ejemplo,
todos los compañeros de trabajo de los familia- a fin de conocer las comunidades empresa-
res de sus compañeros de trabajo, y en las posi- riales y su ubicación geográfica en la red
bles relaciones entre ellos. Imposible visualizar mundial de empresas5.
6 Christakis, N. A., y Fowler, J. H. (2007). The Spread of Obesity in a Large Social Network over 32 Years. New En-
gland Journal of Medicine, 357(4), 370-379. doi: http://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMsa066082.
7 Scott, J. (1991). Social Network Analysis. London: Sage.
8 Moreno, J. L. (1934). Who Shall Survive? Washington: Nervous and Mental Diseases Publishing.
9 Barnes, J. A. (1954). Class and committees in a Norwegian island parish. Human Relations, (7), 39-58.
10 White, H. C. (1981). Where Do Markets Come From? American Journal of Sociology, 87, 47-517.
11 Granovetter, M. S. (1973). The Strength of Weak Ties. The American Journal of Sociology, 78(6), 1360-1380.
12 Burt, R. (1982). Toward a Structural Theory of Action. Academic Press: Nueva York; Coleman, J. (1988). Social
Capital in the Creation of Human Capital. American Journal of Sociology, 94, 95-120.
Editorial 7
Julián Cárdenas
Doctor en Sociología
Investigador
Freie Universität Berlín
Alemania
13 Lizardi-Gómez, A. (2010). Redes de apoyo para la atención a un padecimiento crónico en una comunidad trans-
nacional. redes-Revista hispana para el Análisis de redes sociales, 18, 47-82.
14 Fowler, J. H., y Christakis, N. A. (2008). Dynamic spread of happiness in a large social network: longitudinal
analysis over 20 years in the Framingham Heart Study. bmj, 337, a2338. http://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.a2338.
15 Carrington, P. J. (2011). Crime and Social Network Analysis. En J. G. Scott y P. J. Carrington (eds.), The sage
Handbook of Social Network Analysis (pp. 236-255). London: Sage.
16 Dorussen, H., y Ward, H. (2010). Trade networks and the Kantian peace. Journal of Peace Research, 47(1), 29-42.
http://doi.org/10. Coleman, J. (1988). Social Capital in the Creation of Human Capital. American Journal of Sociology,
94, 95-120.
Editorial
N
etwork analysis or social network nections, only record 150 relationships. This
analysis is the solution to many pro- ‘limited’ brain capacity contrasts with today’s
blems of research. Network analysis is ‘hyper-connected’ being and, thus, analysis tools
a theoretical and methodological approach sta- are necessary if we want to investigate the rela-
ting that the most important thing is to study tionships among a set of actors. Network analysis
relationships, ties or contacts among actors1. is the approach that allows to process, examine
Any type of relationship can be subject to and visualize a wide range of actors and possi-
network analysis: relations among individuals ble links between them. Networks have always
or organizations, communications, knowledge existed, but the way of analyzing them has not.
transfer, economic transfers and, even, neural Below are its features and some examples.
connections. Network analysis allows, among others:
We live in an increasingly interconnec-
ted world: we receive more e-mails today than • To analyze how cohesive are the actors in one
phone calls years ago, we absorb more and study, for example, if business elites are uni-
more information coming from several sources. ted or fragmented3.
Organizations have extended through partner- • To identify who the leaders are and what
ships of all kinds and countries are more open position each actor occupies in the network,
and interrelated. However, our brain is not capa- for example, to find out who are the middle-
ble to record and analyze all this huge amount men in drug trafficking networks4.
of relationships, contacts and ties. Think for a • To detect subgroups or communities of
moment about all your co-workers, and then all actors in terms of their relationships, for
the relatives of your co-workers, and then all the example, in order to know business commu-
coworkers of the relatives of your co-workers, nities and their geographical location in the
and the possible relationships among them. It is worldwide network of companies5.
impossible to visualize and understand this large • To check if relations have an impact on
amount of data about people and relationships. behavior, or what variables explain the
Origins of social network analysis Between 2000 and 2015, the amount of research
using social network analysis has increased.
This theoretical and methodological paradigm According to a study of scientific articles using
stems from the contribution of various dis- social network analysis, it has gone from four-
ciplines, but especially social sciences7. From teen articles in 2000 to 838 in 2014 (figure 1).
psychology, Jacob Moreno8 realized the impor- In addition, since the 1990s, network analysis
tance of social relationships among people who research has been institutionalized. There are
attended his therapies and decided to repre- network analysis courses at universities around
sent them as nodes and lines, creating socio- the world and they are even part of the curricu-
grams. From anthropology, the Manchester lum in social science programs. There are acade-
School headed by John Barnes9 stressed the mic journals specialized in network analysis
importance of networks, even over culture, and research applying this approach, published
in order to understand the behavior of immi- in high impact journals. In the nineties, the
grants. From sociology, Harrison White10 tried International Network of Social Network Ana-
to give relational consistency to concepts such lysis was established to integrate network analysis
as structure, social role or market. His student researchers. Beyond academia, network analy-
Granovetter11 emphasized the importance of sis is used in the design of policies, such as scien-
weak ties and insertion of economic action in tific knowledge networks to diagnose the state
social networks. Other sociologists emphasized of scientific production and help make decisions
that relations are constituents of social capital12. on research and development policies. It has
All these contributions of social sciences lacked been revealed that network analysis is employed
a partner: graph theory of mathematics. The by the us National Security Agency to record
use of graph theory to define and analyze social and analyze electronic communications, and by
networks has allowed systematic and mathe- police departments to detect central actors in
matical analysis of broad sets of relationships bank transfers. Organizations also use network
among actors. The development of computer analysis to perform internal diagnosis and get to
programs that process large amounts of data as know their environment (organizational network
nodes (actors) and lines (relations) has enabled analysis). Although for different purposes, all
researchers to answer questions about networks these studies intend to envision and analyze sets
such as degree of cohesion or fragmentation, of relations among actors, that is, networks.
6 Christakis, N. A., & Fowler, J. H. (2007). The Spread of Obesity in a Large Social Network over 32 Years. New En-
gland Journal of Medicine, 357(4), 370-379. doi: http://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMsa066082.
7 Scott, J. (1991). Social Network Analysis. London: Sage.
8 Moreno, J. L. (1934). Who Shall Survive? Washington: Nervous and Mental Diseases Publishing.
9 Barnes, J. A. (1954). Class and committees in a Norwegian island parish. Human Relations, (7), 39-58.
10 White, H. C. (1981). Where Do Markets Come From? American Journal of Sociology, 87, 47-517.
11 Granovetter, M. S. (1973). The Strength of Weak Ties. The American Journal of Sociology, 78(6), 1360-1380.
12 Burt, R. (1982). Toward a Structural Theory of Action. Academic Press: Nueva York; Coleman, J. (1988). Social
Capital in the Creation of Human Capital. American Journal of Sociology, 94, 95-120.
10 Pensando Psicología / Volumen 12, Número 19 / abril 2016
Julián Cárdenas
Ph.D. in Sociology
Researcher
Freie Universität Berlin
Germany
13 Lizardi-Gómez, A. (2010). Redes de apoyo para la atención a un padecimiento crónico en una comunidad trans-
nacional. redes-Revista hispana para el Análisis de redes sociales, 18, 47-82.
14 Fowler, J. H., & Christakis, N. A. (2008). Dynamic spread of happiness in a large social network: longitudinal
analysis over 20 years in the Framingham Heart Study. bmj, 337, a2338. http://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.a2338.
15 Carrington, P. J. (2011). Crime and Social Network Analysis. In J. G. Scott and P. J. Carrington (eds.), The sage
Handbook of Social Network Analysis (pp. 236-255). London: Sage.
16 Dorussen, H., & Ward, H. (2010). Trade networks and the Kantian peace. Journal of Peace Research, 47(1), 29-42.
http://doi.org/10. Coleman, J. (1988). Social Capital in the Creation of Human Capital. American Journal of Sociology, 94,
95-120.