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DOUG McADAM, SIDNEY TARROW and CHARLES TILLY, Dynamics of Contention

Cet article examine comment la structure des réseaux personnels (ou égocentriques) est liée à la participation continue des individus dans un mouvement social (le British Columbia Wilderness Preservation Movement). Les résultats présentés dans ce texte suggèrent que la communication, le recrutement continu et l'identification influent sur le rapport entre la structure des réseaux et le niveau de participation dans le mouvement. Différents aspects de la structure du réseau personnel ont différents effets sur ces processus de médiation. Finalement, dans le contexte d'un activisme comportant des risques/coûts faibles ou moyens, les liens faibles sont plus importants pour faciliter la participation que ne le sont les liens forts.This article examines how the structure of egocentric (or personal) networks is related to the ongoing participation of individuals in a social movement (the British Columbia Wilderness Preservation Movement). The results presented in this paper suggest that: communication, ongoing recruitment, and identification mediate the relationship between ego‐network structure and level of movement participation. Different aspects of personal network structure have differential effects on these intervening processes. Finally, under conditions of low‐medium risk/cost activism, weak ties are more important to facilitating participation than are strong ties.

Touch Wood: BC Forests at the Crossroads edited by Ken Drushka, Bob Nixon and Ray Travers.

AbstractWhile sociologists have studied social networks for about one hundred years, recent developments in data, technology, and methods of analysis provide opportunities for social network analysis (SNA) to play a prominent role in the new research world of big data and computational social science (CSS). In our review, we focus on four broad topics: (1) Collecting Social Network Data from the Web, (2) Non‐traditional and Bipartite/Multi‐mode Networks, including Discourse and Semantic Networks, and Social‐Ecological Networks, (3) Recent Developments in Statistical Inference for Networks, and (4) Ethics in Computational Network Research.

This review essay focuses on the American Sociological Association (ASA) Task Force on Sociology and Global Climate Change final report, Climate Change and Society: Sociological Perspectives. We take the report as a jumping off point to provide an overview of research on climate change in the media sphere and in the political sphere. The political sphere and the media sphere are key sites for the politics of climate change, where the meaning of the causes and consequences of climate change, as well as policy responses for mitigation and adaptation, are contested and negotiated among policy makers, corporate interests, environmental scientists, environmental movements and counter-movements. While there are substantial bodies of research on climate change within both the political and media spheres, less research specifically addresses how the social dynamics of one of these spheres shapes social interaction in the other sphere. Insights into the relationships between these spheres are suggested by the ASA Task Force report, but this area is under examined in current research. As such, we argue that there is a need for more research that bridges policy-oriented and media-oriented perspectives on climate change. ; Peer reviewed