Nobel Prize Nominee to talk on Weak Ties, Social Networks & Political Turmoil

Stanford's Mark Granovetter’s paper, “The Strength of Weak Ties,” is the most cited paper in Sociology, with more than 37,000 citations. It argues that while our close friends serve vital functions for us, they form an ingrown network since they tend to know one another. Our acquaintances – weak ties – on the other hand, are less likely to know one another and more likely to connect us to social circles beyond our own: they are our “windows on the world”. The more weak ties we have, the more in touch we are with ideas, fashions, job openings and whatever else is going on in diverse and far-flung communities. Granovetter will talk about the history of social network analysis; what light it may shed on recent social turmoil and revolutions, where it’s often been claimed that social networks are at the core of the new political developments. With more than 110,000 citations, his work on social network theory, economic sociology and on the spread of information in social networks has had a profound and broad-based impact on cutting-edge research in sociology, economics, business, computer science, and others. His theories are adopted in virtually all business disciplines: consumer demand, e-commerce, organization science, HRM, innovation network, and entrepreneurship. His work is also a source of inspiration for the business models of Facebook, LinkedIn and others in the digital economy. Among his many prestigious awards and honorary degrees, Granovetter was in Thomson Reuters’ list of predicted Nobel Prize winners in economics in 2014.

Ticket Information
Open to public | Free

Event Sponsor
Information Technology Management, Mānoa Campus

More Information
Prof. Tung Bui, 956-7430, tungb@hawaii.edu, http://shidler.hawaii.edu/seminar-series

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