Models of social network analysis and limitations of Heider's structural equilibrium model

Abstract

A social network is a set of relations between a finite number of actors in a social system inter-linked in a specific structural pattern. Social Network Analysis aims to describe and help understand the links between those basic social entities, the actors, or composite units formed by subgroups of actors, and the implications of those ties to the structure and dynamics of the system. Actors, in a social network, are not necessarily individuals or groups of individuals, and they can be any kind of elements of a finite social system interconnected by a relational pattern where information exchanges take place (personal interactions, emotional preferences and rejections, psychological and sociological associations, etc.). In this paper the author discusses some basic models of social network analysis and the implications of Heider’s structural equilibrium model, stressing some of methodological and epistemological shortcomes.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17575/rpsicol.v15i1.494