English Civil War emerged from networks of religious patronage and Padgett and
Ansell ( 1993 ) demonstrated the way the Medicis’ successful control over the
Florentine state was based on the mobilization of a powerful political party
constructed from economic and marriage ties. Gould ( 1995 ) demonstrated
that resistance on the barricades in the Paris Commune of 1871 was based on
neighborhood networks.
The social movement literature has drawn extensively on network concepts.
Work by McAdam and others (e.g. McAdam and Fernandez 1990 ) demonstrated
that social recruitment in movements often operates through social networks.
Other work has demonstrated that the network concept can be used to describe
and analyze broader social movementWelds. For example, Diani ( 1995 ) uses the
network approach to describe relationships between environmental organizations
and between environmental activists in Milan. By studying overlapping
memberships in underground protest organizations in Poland, Osa ( 2003 ) explains
how the powerful Solidarity movement emerged to challenge the Communist
regime. Diani and McAdam ( 2003 ) provide an overview of the relationship
between social movements and networks. Closely related work by political scien-
tists has been attentive to international networks of NGOs dubbed ‘‘transnational
advocacy networks’’ (Keck and Sikkink 1998 ).
Network approaches have also been used to study social capital. In contrast to
economic capital, social capital is conceived of as capital derived from
social structure. Network approaches provide a useful representation of this social
structure. While much of the best known work on social capital draws loosely on
network metaphors, Lin, Cook, and Burt ( 2001 ) suggest a speciWc social network
approach to social capital.
8 Social Influence, Social
Psychology, and Political Culture
.........................................................................................................................................................................................
The network approach has also been used to understand patterns of social
inXuence, social cognition, and political culture. Krackhardt’s ( 1990 ) concept of
cognitive networks is among the most intriguing ideas in this genre. In studying a
computerWrm, Krackhardt found that more centrally located employees in actual
social networks were also more accurate in their cognitive understanding of these
social networks (cognitive networks). He also showed that reputational power in
theWrm was associated with this cognitive accuracy. Social psychologists have also
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