Social homophilia
Social homophilia is the tendency of individuals to like other people and to interact with them when they are like them. The attraction of similarity can relate to various criteria such as gender , ethnic origin , socio-economic status or level of education . In everyday language, the phenomenon can be described as "like and like to join." be summarized.
Categorization
Paul F. Lazarsfeld and Robert K. Merton categorized the evaluation criteria for recording homophilia into status-oriented and value-oriented criteria. The status-oriented criteria tend to include obvious factors such as gender, age, ethnicity, religiosity, education and social status or behavior. Value-oriented criteria refer to internal factors that are not directly recognizable at first glance. This includes skills, attitudes , beliefs , desires and goals.
Another important categorization for measuring homophilia was introduced by McPherson. The authors differentiate between baseline homophilia and inbreeding homophilia. Baseline homophilia is a measure of the similarity of a group that might be expected by chance without the intervention of the group members. A classic example is the homogeneous age distribution of schoolchildren in a class. Inbreeding homophilia is a measure that describes how great the similarity of groups is that goes beyond the similarity expected by chance.
Advantages and disadvantages
The formation of homophile groups leads to easier communication within the group as well as to easier coordination of actions and activities. At the same time, however, there can be process loss within the group, as the many similar views can lead to groupthink . Selective information acquisition is one of the possible results.
Network research
The concept of social homophilia is currently gaining in importance , especially in network research : Homophilia is an organizational principle with the help of which the formation of groups, organizations or networks can be both brought about and analyzed.
The focus is not only on the individual actors - called nodes in English - but also on the relationships that exist between them. These interpersonal relationships - also called ties - can in turn be categorized and analyzed. The quality and quantity of the relationships determine how pronounced the degree of homophilia is between the people and within the structure. Examples of interpersonal relationships are friendships, acquaintances, family or collegial contacts. If an actor has not just one but several interpersonal relationships with another actor, the degree of homophilia increases. The various relationship types can consequently be added up and thus range from simplex to multiplex assignments.
The homophilia principle offers new and further possibilities for network research. It can help to better understand network-based forms of organization and it can be useful in optimizing their functionality.
See also
Individual evidence
- ^ Lazarsfeld, PF and Merton, RK (1954). "Friendship as a Social Process: A Nouns and Methodological Analysis". In: Freedom and Control in Modern Society . Pp. 18-66.
- ↑ McPherson, M., Smith-Lovin, L. & Cook, JM Birds of a Feather: Homophily in Social Networks. In: Annual Review of Sociology , 27, 2001, pp. 415-444.
- ^ Cohen, J. Sources of peer group homogenity. In: Sociology of Education . 4, 1977, pp. 227-241.
- ↑ Esser, JK Alive and Well after 25 Years: A Review of Groupthink Research. ( Memento of the original from June 18, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 164 kB) In: Organizational behavior and human decision processes. Vol. 73, 1998, pp. 116-141.
