Week 7: Social Capital, structural holes, and weak ties
Content for the week of Monday, February 23, 2026
Tuesday
Assignment Due:
Readings:
- Granovetter, M. S. (1973). The Strength of Weak Ties. American Journal of Sociology, 78(6), 1360–1380. https://doi.org/10.1086/225469
- Kadushin, C. (2012). Networks as Social Capital, in Kadushin, C. (2012). Understanding Social Networks. Theories, Concepts and Findings. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Putnam, R.D. (1995). Bowling Alone: America’s Declining Social Capital. Journal of Democracy 6(1), 65-78.
- (Optional) Bourdieu, P. (1986). The forms of capital. In J. Richardson (Ed.) Handbook of Theory and Research for the Sociology of Education (New York, Greenwood), 241-258.
- (Optional) Rainie, L. and Perrin, A. (2019). Key findings about Americans’ declining trust in government and each other. Pew Research Center.
- (Optional) Burt, R. S. (2000). The network structure of social capital. Research in Organizational Behavior, 22, 345–423.
Lecture Video:
[16:02]- Slides
Thursday
Class Schedule:
- Who Dunnit Game