Analogy as well as metaphor are often used by social researchers to explain a social sensation due to the fact that certain social ideas are otherwise extremely challenging to comprehend. For example, a physical structure like ‘structure’ or a biological framework like ‘organism’ is contrasted to define the idea ‘social framework’. Really, social framework is not a physical framework. An abstract idea which can’t be seen is discussed in a simplified means by using an analogy which can be seen easily by everybody. Physical scientists make use of a version to examine the forecasts. If the predictions are appropriate when the version is examined every time after that the design created is perfect. Otherwise, the model is accordingly changed and after that the predictions are tested once more. This process is proceeded until the version becomes best. Do we have a grand design of social framework that can be used to check social predictions? In this post, an attempt is made to comprehend how far network theory works in discussing social framework as well as whether social predictions can be made using the network.
Radcliffe-Brown was one of the earliest to acknowledge that the analysis of social structure would ultimately take a mathematical kind. Radcliffe-Brown specifies social framework as a ‘set of in fact existing relations at a provided minute of time, which connect together certain human beings’. According to Oxford thesaurus, ‘relationships’ indicates the way in which 2 individuals, groups, or nations behave in the direction of each other or take care of each other. The expression, ‘connect together certain human beings’ can be compared to a ‘internet job’ of connections.
Network is specified as a closely linked group of people who trade information. Each factor (person or agent) in the network is called a ‘node’ as well as the web link between 2 nodes is connected by a line called an ‘edge’. When two nodes have a direct social relation after that they are connected with a side. So when a node is gotten in touch with all possible nodes with which the node has social relations, it generates a graph. The resulting chart is a social media network. The variety of edges in a network is provided by a formula nc2, where ‘n’ is the number of nodes. For example, if there are 3 people in an event then the number of handshakes will be 3. If there are 4 people then the number of handshakes will be 6. If there are 5 individuals then it will be 10. If there are 10 individuals after that the number of handshakes will be 45. If there are 1000 individuals then the variety of handshakes will certainly be 499,500. When the variety of individuals has actually raised 100 folds up from 10 to 1000, the variety of handshakes has increased 10,000 folds up. So the number of partnerships boosts dramatically as ‘n’ rises. The network theory was developed by the Hungarian mathematicians, Paul Erdos and Alfred Renyi, in the mid twentieth-century. Networks of nodes that can be in a state of 0 or 1 are called Boolean networks. It was invented by the mathematician George Boole. In Boolean networks, the 0 or 1 state of the nodes is figured out by a set of policies.
If 2 nodes are linked after that the network of the two nodes assumes four states (00, 01, 10, and 11). The variety of states of network expands greatly as the number of nodes rises which is acquired by a formula 2n, where ‘n’ is the variety of nodes. When n is more than 100, it is quite tough to explore all the feasible states of the network even for the world’s fastest computer system. In a Boolean network we can take care of the number of states as 0 and 1. In a Boolean network, if there are three nodes A, B, and C which are connected directly by sides after that the state of C can be established by fixing the states of An and B. It indicates the state of C depends upon the states of An as well as B in some mix. Additionally it implies that if we know the state of C then we will understand the combinational behavior of An and B. However in a social media of individuals, we do not recognize just how a person’s practices is deterministic. Better, in a Boolean network, the behavior of the nodes can be examined in controlled experiments as nodes below are objects. But in a social media, nodes which are specific persons can’t be dealt with as things. In a social media network just how do we specify the states of an individual? How many states does an individual have? What is the nature of a state? If the anticipated behavior of a person is reduced to two states like ‘yes’ or ‘no’, after that the variety of states of a network will be 2n. Out of this, just one state will show up at a given moment of time. Exactly how do we predict that specific state?
