@article{d193ea85d1f3438f828ca4cd3cb43bb2,
title = "The duality of persons and groups",
abstract = "A metaphor of classical social theory concerning the “intersection” of persons within groups and of groups within the individual is translated into a set of techniques to aid in empirical analysis of the interpenetration of networks of interpersonal ties and networks of intergroup ties. These techniques are useful in the study of director interlocks, clique structures, organizations within community and national power structures, and other collectivities which share members. The “membership network analysis” suggested in this paper is compared to and contrasted with sociometric approaches and is applied to the study by Davis et al. (1941) of the social participation of eighteen women.",
author = "Breiger, {Ronald L.}",
note = "Funding Information: * For their criticism and encouragement, I am indebted to Harrison White, Gregory Heil, Francois Lorrain, and Scott Boorman. For seminars which first introduced me to Simmel's thought, I am indebted to Kurt H. Wolff. Thanks are due Professor White for support through NSF Grant GS-2689. 1 Simmel (1955) entitled one of his essays {"}The Intersection of Social Circles,{"} but Reinhard Bendix changed the title in translation because {"}a literal translation of this phrase . . . is almost meaningless . . . Simmel often plays with geometric analogies; it has seemed advisable to me to minimize this play with words ...{"} (Simmel, 1955: 125). For an assertion that Simmel's original title is not at all inappropriate, see Walter's essay (1959). For a more complete explication of the {"}dualism{"} inherent in Simmel's thought, see the essays by D. Levine, Lipman, and Tenbruck in Wolff (1959). A similar metaphor was put forward in America by Charles H. Cooley (1902: 148), who wrote that {"}A man may be regarded as the point of intersection of an indefinite number of circles representing social groups, having as many arcs passing through him as there are groups.{"} Much later, Sorokin (1947:345) observed that {"}the individual has as many social egos as there are different social groups and strata with which he is connected.{"} On the {"}much neglected{"} development of the concept of {"}social circle{"} since Simmel's writings, see Kadushin (1966).",
year = "1974",
month = dec,
doi = "10.1093/sf/53.2.181",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "53",
pages = "181--190",
journal = "Social Forces",
issn = "0037-7732",
publisher = "Oxford University Press",
number = "2",
}