Social Networks (Demography 280/Sociology C273N)

(Syllabus last updated: 2025-September-03)

Class meetings: Wednesdays, 2pm-4:30pm, 310 Social Sciences Building
Office hours: see Ed post (or send me an email and we can find a time)
Email: feehan [at] berkeley.edu
Web: https://www.dennisfeehan.org/teaching/2025fa_demog280/
Ed: https://edstem.org/us/courses/81973/discussion

Overview

This course provides a broad introduction to the empirical and theoretical study of social networks. We will cover classic and contemporary studies, beginning with fundamental definitions and models, and then moving through a range of topics, including models of network formation and structure (homophily, foci, communities); dynamic processes on networks (contagion, influence, and disease models); collaborative networks; personal networks; online networks; and network sampling and data collection. The course material is intended to be of interest to students from a wide range of disciplinary backgrounds, including demography, sociology, statistics, computer science, and related fields.

This syllabus is not yet final - I’m posting it to give you a sense for what we will cover this semester. Please re-check the syllabus before you start each week’s reading; it will be updated as the semester progresses

Week Date Topic
1 Wed, Aug 27 Fundamentals and background
2 Wed, Sep 3 Challenges in data collection and statistical models
3 Wed, Sep 10 Social Capital and SOWT: Classics
4 Wed, Sep 17 Homophily and network formation
5 Wed, Sep 24 Small worlds
6 Wed, Oct 1 Scale-free networks and other models of time
7 Wed, Oct 8 NO CLASS - Project check-in
8 Wed, Oct 15 Structure, segregation, and communities
9 Wed, Oct 22 Social Capital and SOWT: Contemporary
10 Wed, Oct 29 Simple contagion
11 Wed, Nov 5 Complex contagion and social influence I
12 Wed, Nov 12 Social influence II
13 Wed, Nov 19 Collaboration and cooperation
14 Wed, Nov 26 THANKSGIVING (no class)
15 Wed, Dec 3 Mini-conference

The requirements of the class are designed to achieve two goals: the first goal is to become familiar with some classic and contemporary research about social networks through reading papers and discussing them; and the second goal is to write a research paper. You should think of the research paper as the first draft of a project that you might be able to continue working on beyond this class.

  • Reading and class participation

    Each week, you should read the assigned materials and show up to class prepared to discuss them. One of the weeks you will also be in charge of organizing the discussion. (Depending on enrollment, you may be in charge of part of the readings in an additional week.) To lead the discussion, I suggest that you make a short slide deck summarizing each of the readings (similar to the papers to present, below), and you think of a few questions to prompt discussions for each reading.

  • Papers to present

    Each week, there will be a list of readings that we will not have time to discuss as a group. For 4 of the class meetings, please choose one of these papers, read it, and briefly present it to the class. You should ‘claim’ the paper you want to present by posting to a Ed thread for the given week, to ensure that two people don’t end up preparing a presentation for the same paper. (Also, if you have a paper that is on-topic, but not on the syllabus, you can ask me to present that one instead. I will typically say yes, as long as it is relevant to the discussion that week.) These presentations should be around 5-8 minutes each. Please plan to make slides or find some other way to help the class understand the paper’s main findings. The goals of these presentations are (1) to give you some practice taking a deep dive into a networks research paper; (2) to give you some practice distilling technical results for a broader audience; (3) to give you and the class some exposure to cutting edge ideas in social networks; (4) to give you an opportunity to spend time on papers that are particularly useful for your research.

  • Response memos

    For 5 of the class meetings, please write a short response memo (1 to 2 pages) and post it on the Ed thread for that week. (There is an Ed tag for each week of the semester). You can pick which of the weeks you write the memos, starting with week 3. These memos should not take an enormous amount of time to write. The main goal of these memos is to help you focus your thoughts about the reading prior to our group discussion; to help us get an understanding of what parts of the reading our discussion should focus on; and to serve as a reference for you in the future. The format of the memos is open, but at a minimum I would like you to be sure to (1) quickly summarize how the readings relate to one another (if you think they do); and (2) briefly describe at least one research idea that the readings generated for you (this could be a single sentence, or the entire memo; it’s up to you). The response memos are due by noon on the day before each class.

  • Final paper

    You will write a short (10-20 pages) research paper or proposal for a research project to conclude the class. Leading up to the end of the class, you will submit a brief proposal (1 paragraph to 1 page) that describes the paper you plan to work on. I will also ask you to briefly pitch your idea to get some fast feedback early on. The purpose of the proposal is to give you some feedback on the initial idea / data source / etc before you invest a lot of time writing an actual paper. Your final paper should identify an important problem to be studied, briefly review the related literature, describe your proposed research design, and present some (possibly preliminary) empirical findings.
    The purpose of this paper is to connect the topics of this class to your actual research, so my hope is that this will be an opportunity to get some feedback on an idea you care about, and that you might continue to pursue beyond class. We will have a mini-conference with short presentations for each project at the end of the semester.

NB: Please read each week’s articles in the order they are listed on the syllabus

Detailed schedule

Wed, Aug 27 - Fundamentals and background

This is an unusual week, since it’s our first class meeting. The first three readings are overviews of social networks from different perspectives; then, there are three studies that exemplify the diversity of social networks research.

Background readings:

Readings to discuss:

More background to read at some point in the first couple of weeks:

  • Mark Newman, Networks: An Introduction, 2nd ed. (Oxford university press, 2018), ch. 6 and 7. - some mathematical background

We won’t explicitly discuss the Newman book chapters in class, but they also worth reading at some point; they describe several different network measures that are often mentioned in the literature.

For an overview of networks topics that is focused on Sociology, the Rawlings et al book is also a good reference:

OPTIONAL: The wrap-up papers at the end of the syllabus give a good overview of the study of social networks. We won’t explicitly discuss them in class, but they would be helpful to read at some point during the semester.

Wed, Sep 3 - Sampling, data collection, statistics

Readings to discuss:

I’ll share a video that derives some properties of random graph models; if you want extra background, the Newman chapter (which the video is based on) is a good reference:

  • Mark Newman, Networks: An Introduction, 2nd ed. (Oxford university press, 2018), ch. 11. - Poisson random graph models (NB: this is ch. 12 in the first edition)

Overviews:

  • P. V. Marsden, “Network Data and Measurement,” Annual Review of Sociology (1990): 435—463, http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/2083277.
  • Peter V. Marsden, “Recent Developments in Network Measurement,” in Models and Methods in Social Network Analysis, ed. Peter J. Carrington, John Scott, and Stanley Wasserman (Cambridge University Press, 2005), 8–30.
  • Peter J. Carrington, John Scott, and Stanley Wasserman, Models and Methods in Social Network Analysis (Cambridge University Press, 2005).

Name generators and personal networks:

  • Mario L. Small et al., Personal Networks: Classic Readings and New Directions in Egocentric Analysis (Cambridge University Press, 2021).
  • Mario Luis Small, Someone To Talk To (Oxford University Press, 2017).
  • Matthew E. Brashears, “’Trivial’ Topics and Rich Ties: The Relationship Between Discussion Topic, Alter Role, and Resource Availability Using the Important Matters Name Generator,” Sociological Science 1 (November 2014): 493–511, https://www.sociologicalscience.com/articles-vol1-27-493/.
  • Peter Bearman and Paolo Parigi, “Cloning Headless Frogs and Other Important Matters: Conversation Topics and Network Structure,” Social Forces 83, no. 2 (December 2004): 535–557, https://academic.oup.com/sf/article/83/2/535/2234689.
  • Byungkyu Lee and Peter Bearman, “Important Matters in Political Context,” Sociological Science 4 (2017): 1–30, https://www.sociologicalscience.com/articles-v4-1-1/.

Measurement error and awareness:

Aggregate relational data and latent space models:

Hidden populations:

  • (Scale-up) Dennis M. Feehan, Mary Mahy, and Matthew J. Salganik, “The Network Survival Method for Estimating Adult Mortality: Evidence from a Survey Experiment in Rwanda,” Demography 54, no. 4 (2017): 1503–1528, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13524-017-0594-y.
  • (Scale-up) laga_correlated_2021?
  • (Scale-up) Ian Laga et al., “Estimating and Correcting Degree Ratio Bias in the Network Scale-up Method,” Sociological Methods & Research (August 2025): 00491241251364233, https://doi.org/10.1177/00491241251364233.
  • (RDS) Forrest W. Crawford, Jiacheng Wu, and Robert Heimer, “Hidden Population Size Estimation from Respondent-Driven Sampling: A Network Approach,” Journal of the American Statistical Association (2018): 1–12, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01621459.2017.1285775?casa_token=j3VcQGcoB-sAAAAA%3A431uDwCZPR_ZqK7nlEhPpu53_MxHL0tdkSWbv_omMC_-VDiya6N9OakKCfJrZYTHVmYN2o70WgDTmg.
  • (RDS) Sebastien Roch and Karl Rohe, “Generalized Least Squares Can Overcome the Critical Threshold in Respondent-Driven Sampling,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 115, no. 41 (2018): 10299–10304.
  • (RDS) Aaron J. Baraff, Tyler H. McCormick, and Adrian E. Raftery, “Estimating Uncertainty in Respondent-Driven Sampling Using a Tree Bootstrap Method,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 113, no. 51 (2016): 14668–14673.

Wed, Sep 10 - Social capital and SOWT: Classics

Readings we will discuss:

Related classics:

Digital:

Health-related:

  • Lisa F. Berkman and S. Leonard Syme, “Social Networks, Host Resistance, and Mortality: A Nine-Year Follow-up Study of Alameda County Residents,” American Journal of Epidemiology 109, no. 2 (February 1979): 186–204, https://academic.oup.com/aje/article/109/2/186/74197.
  • Teresa E. Seeman et al., “Social Network Ties and Mortality Among Tile Elderly in the Alameda County Study,” American Journal of Epidemiology 126, no. 4 (October 1987): 714–723, https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a114711.
  • Maarit Kauppi et al., “Characteristics of Social Networks and Mortality Risk: Evidence From 2 Prospective Cohort Studies,” American Journal of Epidemiology 187, no. 4 (April 2018): 746–753, https://academic.oup.com/aje/article/187/4/746/4093016.
  • Patricia M. Eng et al., “Social Ties and Change in Social Ties in Relation to Subsequent Total and Cause-specific Mortality and Coronary Heart Disease Incidence in Men,” American Journal of Epidemiology 155, no. 8 (April 2002): 700–709, https://academic.oup.com/aje/article/155/8/700/65625.

Demography-specific:

  • Douglas S. Massey, “Social Structure, Household Strategies, and the Cumulative Causation of Migration,” Population Index (1990): 3–26, http://www.jstor.org/stable/3644186.

Wed, Sep 17 - Homophily - network formation based on similarity

Wed, Sep 24 - Network models, connectivity, and small worlds

Readings to discuss:

Some fairly recent online discussion of the small world hypothesis:

Wed, Oct 1 - Network formation over time and scale-free networks

Some recent online discussions of the power law debate (not required reading):

Wed, Oct 8 - Project check-in

We will not meet in person, but I will organize a way for each of us to spend a few minutes explaining what we plan to work on for the final project. There will be an opportunity for some peer feedback.

Wed, Oct 15 - Structure, segregation, and communities

Wed, Oct 22 - Social capital and SOWT: Contemporary

Readings we will discuss:

Also, check out the social capital atlas.

Demography-specific:

Wed, Oct 29 - Simple contagion

The reading is not too long this week. Please take the opportunity to work on your project, and to catch up on your extra paper presentations!

Wed, Nov 5 - Complex contagion and social influence part I

Especially relevant for demography:

Wed, Nov 12 - Social influence II

Note: we may only do a subset of these

Wed, Nov 19 Collaboration and cooperation

Note: the readings for this week are especially likely to change; this is a placeholder for this topic…

(TBA)

Wed, Nov 26 - Thanksgiving (no class)

Enjoy the break!

Wed, Dec 3 - Mini-conference

For the mini-conference, we will each give a brief presentation of our paper. There’s no specific reading for this week.

Wrap-up

Optional wrap-up:

Political networks


Religious Accommodations

Requests to accommodate a student’s religious creed by scheduling tests or examinations at alternative times should be submitted directly to the instructor. Reasonable common sense, judgment and the pursuit of mutual goodwill should result in the positive resolution of scheduling conflicts. The regular campus appeals process applies if a mutually satisfactory arrangement cannot be achieved.

Statement on Academic Freedom

Both students and instructors have rights to academic freedom. Please respect the rights of others to express their points of view in the classroom.

DSP Accommodations

Please see the instructor to discuss accommodations for physical disabilities, medical disabilities and learning disabilities.

Student Resources

The Student Learning Center provides a wide range of resources to promote learning and academic success for students. For information regarding these services, please consult the Student Learning Center Website: https://slc.berkeley.edu/

Academic Integrity

The high academic standard at the University of California, Berkeley, is reflected in each degree that is awarded. As a result, every student is expected to maintain this high standard by ensuring that all academic work reflects unique ideas or properly attributes the ideas to the original sources.

These are some basic expectations of students with regards to academic integrity:

  • Any work submitted should be your own individual thoughts, and should not have been submitted for credit in another course unless you have prior written permission to re-use it in this course from this instructor.
  • All assignments must use “proper attribution,” meaning that you have identified the original source and extent or words or ideas that you reproduce or use in your assignment. This includes drafts and homework assignments!
  • If you are unclear about expectations, ask your instructor or GSI.
  • Do not collaborate or work with other students on assignments or projects unless you have been given permission or instruction to do so.