SNA All-Star: Harrison White

My contributor is Harrison White. One of his first major findings observed how vacancy chains are created when high-level employees leave an organization, making room for promotion throughout a hierarchical organization. White published this finding in a book called Chains of Opportunity (1970). White’s work in the study of social networks, since the 1960’s, led to the development of a systematic means, through the application of mathematic techniques, for uncovering positions and roles from social network data. His examination of roles and positions, utilizing block models and emphasizing the importance of multiple relations, turned the idea of ‘social networks’ into an analytical concept. This approach views networks as complete networks, as opposed to earlier approaches which focused on individual ego networks. Publications relating to these studies were done in collaboration with Boorman (1976), Heil (1976), Lorraine(1971), among others. One publication of the study can be found in the American Journal of Sociology—Social Structure from Multiple Networks (1976). With respect to his indirect influence, White is also credited with shaping a generation of social network scholars, during his time as a professor at Harvard University. While there, he became the head of what came to be referred to as the ‘Harvard Revolution’ in social network analysis, having instructed influential scholars such as Mark Granovetter, Philip Bonacich, and Barry Wellman.