Political Science Phd. student Cerem I. Cenker will
be participating in Sunbelt Conference XXX of International Network for Social Network Analysis (INSNA) between
29 June-4 July 2010,
Abstract:
Network Influence on Civic
Attitudes: A Cross-Country Analysis
Largely due to research interest on social
capital, political science recently accounts for social networks more
rigorously. Social networks are found particularly relevant for civic and
political participation. Accordingly networks are related to generalized trust
and civic activism as well as tolerance. Also network exposure to different
political views is shown to delay vote decision time and increase individual
ambivalence. In general this strand of research relies on political discussion
name generator which elicits individuals’ core discussion networks. This method
is in line with research objective which focuses more on network information
content rather than on network structure. Yet network structure is also likely
to be influential on both civic and political participation. By using
International Social Survey Program (ISSP) dataset of 2001 on social networks,
present study inquires the relationship between network structure and generalized
trust. ISSP contains detailed network
information on individuals’ both strong, familial ties and weak, instrumental
ties. This information allows for the inquiry of the influence of different
network structures on generalized trust. Also ISSP’s social network study is a
cross-country research. Hence the analysis allows for further control of
country level political contextual factors.