SNA All-Star: Lynn Smith-Lovin

Lynn Smith-Lovin

A sociologist/social psychologist by training, Smith-Lovin currently teaches at Duke University in the Women’s Studies program where she is the Robert L. Wilson Professor of Sociology.

She describes herself as follows: “I’m interested in the basic question of how identities affect social interaction. I use experimental, observational, survey and simulation situations where unusual things happen to people, then seeing how they respond behaviorally or emotionally.”[1] She also studies how “identities, actions and emotions affect one another.”[2]

In terms of social network analysis, she has published on how social networks have changed in recent decades and the idea of homophily.[3] Not only does she find that “birds of a feather flock together,” but also that bonds between non-similar individuals dissolve more quickly than bonds between individuals who are most similar. Race and ethnicity, she finds, are the greatest dividers followed by education, religion, gender and occupation.[4]

Her research has also examined network size in the United States. She found that Americans’ mean network size has decreased in the past three decades and that people have fewer contacts through associations (think Robert Putnam’s Bowling Alone).

Her work on gender focuses on power dynamics and perceptions of gender within social networks. These networks and interactions can reify status beliefs, but situations where women have higher power or advantage compared to men are more likely to upend the typical gender system. [5]

She only has 84 connections on LinkedIn. This leads me to believe she may not actually be as interested in social networks and the importance of networks as she says. Alternatively, she may be reflecting the trend she has observed of smaller network size.

-Emily

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[1] Duke University, Women’s Studies, “Lynn Smith-Lovin,” http://womenstudies.duke.edu/people?Gurl=&Uil=1849&subpage=profile

[2] Ibid.

[3] Miller McPherson, Lynn Smith-Lovin, and Matthew E. Brashears, “Social Isolation in America: Changes in Core Discussion Networks over Two Decades,” American Sociological Review 71, no. 3 (June 1, 2006): 353–75, doi:10.1177/000312240607100301.

[4] Miller McPherson, Lynn Smith-Lovin, and James M. Cook, “Birds of a Feather: Homophily in Social Networks,” Annual Review of Sociology 27 (January 1, 2001): 415–44.

[5] Cecilia L. Ridgeway and Lynn Smith-Lovin, “The Gender System and Interaction,” Annual Review of Sociology 25, no. 1 (1999): 191–216, doi:10.1146/annurev.soc.25.1.191.