The Structure of a Social Science Collaboration Network: Disciplinary Cohesion from 1963 to 1999
2004/04/01 by James Moody · 997 citations
Psychology · Social Sciences · #Cohesion (chemistry) #Computer science #Contemporary Sociological Theory and Practice #Cross disciplinary #Data science #Discipline #Embeddedness #Evolutionary Game Theory and Cooperation #Network structure #Political science #Psychology #Social and Cultural Dynamics #Social capital #Social network (sociolinguistics) #Social network analysis #Social science #Sociology #Specialty
paper · doi:10.1177/000312240406900204
published in American Sociological Review 69(2), 213-238 (SAGE Publishing)
openalex publication_date 2004/04/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
Abstract
Has sociology become more socially integrated over the last 30 years? Recent work in the sociology of knowledge demonstrates a direct linkage between social interaction patterns and the structure of ideas, suggesting that scientific collaboration networks affect scientific practice. I test three competing models for sociological collaboration networks and find that a structurally cohesive core that has been growing steadily since the early 1960s characterizes the discipline's coauthorship network. The results show that participation in the sociology collaboration network depends on research specialty and that quantitative work is more likely to be coauthored than non-quantitative work. However, structural embeddedness within the network core given collaboration is largely unrelated to specialty area. This pattern is consistent with a loosely overlapping specialty structure that has potentially integrative implications for theoretical development in sociology.
Citations
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