Ronald L Breiger

Interests

Research

Social networks; adversarial networks; culture and networks; stratification; mathematical sociology; bridging quantitative and qualitative methods

Teaching

social networks; formal models of culture; stratification; introduction to quantitative methods in sociology; sociology of law

Courses

Scholarly Contributions

Books

• Breiger, R. L. (2015). Explorations in Structural Analysis (book states "This edition first published in 2015"; reprints Breiger 1991.). New York: Routledge (RLE: Social Theory).
  More info

  [Reprint of Breiger 1991] At a time when most of the innovative techniques in empirical sociology concern themselves with networks of relations among variables (such as indices of occupational prestige, education and income), the central theme of this volume is that there is much substantive insight and analytical leverage to be gained from a conceptualization of social structure directly, as regularities in the patterning of relations among concrete entities. The view adopted here is that variate distributions measure selected consequences of structural pattern (of the actual connections among individuals or organizations) and, as such, they are useful indicators of questions to be asked in analyzing social structures directly, but they are neither descriptions nor analyses of the structure itself. http://www.worldcat.org/title/explorations-in-structural-analysis-dual-and-multiple-networks-of-social-interaction/oclc/797622506/editions?referer=di&editionsView=true
• Hsung, R., Lin, N., & Breiger, R. L. (2012). Contexts of Social Capital: Social Networks in Communities, Markets, and Families. New York and London: Routledge (Paperback ed.; first published in 2009).
  More info

  The concept of social capital refers to the ways in which people make use of their social networks in "getting ahead." Social capital isn’t just about the connections in networks, but fundamentally concerns the distribution of resources on the basis of exchanges. This volume focuses on how social capital interacts with social institutions, based on the premise that markets, communities, and families are the major contexts within which people meet and build up social networks and the foci to create social capital. Featuring innovations in thinking about exchange mechanisms, resource distribution, institutional logics, resource diversity, and the degree of openness or closure of social networks, these chapters present some of the most important advances in this essential field. Paralleling these theoretical developments, the chapters also improve practical methodological work on social capital research, using new techniques and measurement methods for the uncovering of social logics. https://www.routledge.com/Contexts-of-Social-Capital-Social-Networks-in-Markets-Communities-and/Hsung-Lin-Breiger/p/book/9780415536721
• Breiger, R. L., Carley, K. M., & Pattison, P. E. (2003). Dynamic Social Network Modeling and Analysis: Workshop Summary and Papers. Washington, DC: National Academies Press. doi:https://doi.org/10.17226/10735
  More info

  In the summer of 2002, the Office of Naval Research asked the Committee on Human Factors to hold a workshop on dynamic social network and analysis. The primary purpose of the workshop was to bring together scientists who represent a diversity of views and approaches to share their insights, commentary, and critiques on the developing body of social network analysis research and application. The secondary purpose was to provide sound models and applications for current problems of national importance, with a particular focus on national security. This workshop is one of several activities undertaken by the National Research Council that bears on the contributions of various scientific disciplines to understanding and defending against terrorism. The presentations were grouped in four sessions – Social Network Theory Perspectives, Dynamic Social Networks, Metrics and Models, and Networked Worlds – each of which concluded with a discussant-led roundtable discussion among the presenters and workshop attendees on the themes and issues raised in the session.
• Breiger, R. L. (1990). Social Mobility and Social Structure. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press.

Chapters

• Breiger, R. L., & Wagner-Pacifici, R. (2023). Social Networks and Social Categories. In The Sage Handbook of Social Network Analysis, second ed. (John McLevey, John Scott, and Peter J. Carrington, eds.)(pp Chapter 3, pp. 32-43). London: SAGE Publications.
  More info

  Categories are interesting because in many ways they are the 'opposite' of networks. This opposition, along with many productive efforts to overcome it, is at the core of several of the most influential foundational streams of contemporary social network research, as we review in this chapter. We critically review research on networks and categories as a general issue confronting social network analysis, and we will point to challenges for future work in this area as well as some directions for meeting these challenges.
• Pachucki, M. C., Pachucki, M. C., Breiger, R. L., & Breiger, R. L. (2021). Network Theories. In The Cambridge Handbook of Social Theory, vol. 2: Contemporary Theories and Issues, ed. Peter Kivisto(pp ch. 2, pp. 24-42). Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press.
  More info

  We first review three broad perspectives on theories of social networks: model-based theory, ontological and epistemological underpinnings, and theorization of how networks are implicated in a wide array of institutions and practices. We then focus on particularly promising recent integrative efforts in two areas: networks and culture, and work at the interface of biological and social organization. Next we highlight current challenges for network theory, including temporality and dynamism in networks, networks and geography, the treatment of missing data, and network experiments. We argue that large-scale computational approaches must be undertaken with care relative to local context and meaning. https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/cambridge-handbook-of-social-theory/8E4225D618E166517A206DAEB09EA560
• Bjorklund, E., Bjorklund, E., Breiger, R. L., & Breiger, R. L. (2020). Social Stratification and Economy: Class, Power and Status Factors in Economic Actions and Processes. In A Modern Guide to Economic Sociology, ed. Milan Zafirovski(pp 90-107). Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar.
  More info

  The distribution and allocation of resources—the core of any economic system—is inextricably tied to the distribution of power in society. Economic processes cannot therefore be understood without simultaneously understanding systems of stratification. In this chapter we discuss the symbiotic relationship between markets and stratification systems. The first section describes the attainment process. We discuss how sociology and economics have looked at this question over time each through its own highly distinctive lens, and how the two approaches have begun increasingly to align their focus to gain shared insight and to influence each other. In the second section we highlight how the national state creates and reinforces markets and patterns of stratification, such as poverty, inequality, and mobility. We review the concept of ‘welfare regime’ as a potentially productive means for advancing the study of markets and stratification. https://www.e-elgar.com/shop/usd/a-modern-guide-to-economic-sociology-9781789901306.html
• Muetzel, S., Muetzel, S., Breiger, R. L., & Breiger, R. L. (2020). Duality beyond Persons and Groups: Culture and Affiiation. In The Oxford Handbook of Social Networks, edd. Ryan Light and James Moody(pp 392-413). New York: Oxford University Press.
  More info

  This chapter focuses on the general principle of duality, which was originally introduced by Simmel as the intersection of social circles. In a seminal article, Breiger formalized this idea, showing how two-mode types of network data can be transformed into one-mode networks. This formal translation proved to be fundamental for social network analysis, which no longer needed data on who interacted with whom but could work with other types of data. In turn, it also proved fundamental for the analysis of how the social is structured in general, as many relations are dual, e.g. persons and groups, authors and articles, organizations and practices, and are thus susceptible to an analysis according to duality principles. The chapter locates the concept of duality within past and present sociology. It also discusses the use of duality in the analysis of culture as well as in affiliation networks. It closes with recent developments and future directions. https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-oxford-handbook-of-social-networks-9780190251765?cc=us&lang=en
• Odabas, M., Odabas, M., Holt, T. J., Holt, T. J., Breiger, R. L., & Breiger, R. L. (2017). Governance in Online Stolen Data Markets. In The Architecture of Illegal Markets: Toward an Economic Sociology of Illegality in the Economy -- edited by Jens Beckert & Matías Dewey(pp 87-107). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
  More info

  We analyze the governance structure of online stolen data markets. As cybercriminal underground economies, stolen data markets are beyond the reach of state intervention, and yet they need form and regulation in order to function. While the illicit nature of the business brings risks to its participants, the online characteristics of these markets enable the participants to communicate easily, which is a crucial means of generating trust. We first identify stolen data markets in terms of their economic organization as two-sided markets, economic platforms with two distinct user groups that provide each other with network synergies. This characterization enables us to understand the role of the forum administrator as that of an intermediary, market creator and market regulator. Then we clarify the role of communication networks and social structure in creating trust among buyers and sellers. Keywords: Market governance, stolen data markets, underground economies, online markets, cybercrime, trust-building, two-sided markets, forum administrator, communication network, control mechanisms. http://a.co/fgUk5l5 (Read book review by Michel Anteby in ASQ 2018: https://doi.org/10.1177/0001839218795853)
• Breiger, R. L., & Pinson, L. (2015). A New Approach for Identification of Multiple Threat Scenarios to Counter CBRN Networks. In Illuminating Dark Networks: The Study of Clandestine Groups and Organizations, ed. Luke M. Gerdes (Cambridge University Press)(pp 157-170). Cambridge, England, and New York: Cambridge University Press (Series: Structural Analysis in the Social Sciences, series ed. Mark. Granovetter).
  More info

  Current state-of-the-art research on potential adversary intent to acquire or use chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear (CBRN) weapons has been formulated as linear analysis using multiple regression. Analytical emphasis is on the relations among variables. Predictor variables are modeled as having homogeneous effects on the outcome, and coefficients are measures of effects averaged across the cases. By way of contrast, we use the variables to learn about the cases, which are 175 CBRN events occurring from 1998 to 2011 and coded in an enhanced, comprehensive open-source database that provides a new standard of data quality. We turn the usual regression models “inside out” to reveal a network of profile similarity among the cases. We illustrate a specific example of the benefits of our approach: We can identify clusters of cases within which relations among key variables—the effect of a perpetrator group’s religious extremism on CBRN weapons pursuit—operate in opposing ways, thus aiding identification of multiple threat scenarios. http://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/sociology/research-methods-sociology-and-criminology/illuminating-dark-networks-study-clandestine-groups-and-organizations
• Breiger, R. L., Breiger, R. L., & Puetz, K. (2015). Culture and Networks. In International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2nd ed(pp 557-562). Elsevier Inc. doi:10.1016/B978-0-08-097086-8.10443-X
  More info

  Changing conceptions within the sociology of culture and in the research community of social network analysts have led to the development of a new specialty area, research at the intersection of culture and networks. The new research entails a rethinking both of the kinds of actors and actions that takes place in networks, and of the connections among actors that are relevant. This article emphasizes conversations, objections, and ongoing concerns within this evolving research specialty as well as research accomplishments.
• Hsung, R., & Breiger, R. L. (2013). Similarities and Differences in Relation-Specific Social Resources among Three Societies: Taiwan, China, and the United States. In Social Capital and its Institutional Contingency: A Study of the United States, China, and Taiwan (edd. Nan Lin, Y. Fu, C.J. Chen)(pp 83-98). New York and London: Routledge (published Oct. 23, 2013 acc. to the web link).
  More info

  We compare the ways in which social capital is structured in three societies--the United States, Taiwan and China. On the macro level of analysis, we aggregate individual positions and types of relationships for each society. We then use the log-multiplicative layer effects model to compare similarities and differences among the three aggregate contingency tables for Taiwan, China and the United States (Xie 1992). This model identifies the degree of strength in the association between accessed positions and types of relationships among the three societies. We also construct measures of relation-specific resources and examine societal differences in multiple factorized relation-specific resources among the three societies. http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415899611/
• Mills, B. J., Roberts, Jr., J. M., Clark, J. J., Haas, Jr., W. R., Huntley, D., Peeples, M. A., Borck, L., Ryan, S. C., Trowbridge, M., & Breiger, R. L. (2013). The Dynamics of Social Networks in the Late Prehispanic U.S. Southwest.. In Network Analysis in Archaeology: New Approaches to Regional Interaction (ed. Karl Knappett)(pp 181-202). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
  More info

  We conduct social network analysis (SNA) on two case studies from the late pre-Hispanic US Southwest. We take a diachronic perspective, so that we can look at network dynamics over a 200-year period (AD 1200 to 1400). By highlighting methodological issues in the archaeological application of SNA, our case studies also have implications beyond the Southwest. Several issues that we discuss are archaeological methods for defining connectivity, what these connections mean in terms of network flow, the choice of statistics to measure network properties, and how to assess the robustness of these statistics. http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/9780199697090.do#.T8AP_L_Hk7A
• Hsung, R., & Breiger, R. L. (2012). Position Generators, Affiliations, and the Institutional Logics of Social Capital: A Study of Taiwan Firms and Individuals. In Contexts of Social Capital: Social Networks in Markets, Communities, and Families (edd. R-M Hsung, Nan Lin, R.L. Breiger)(pp 3-27). New York and London: Routledge (Paperback ed.; first published in 2009).
  More info

  Two of the important tools that have been developed for measuring social capital are position-generated networks and affiliation networks of voluntary associations. Affiliation networks have long been formulated and analyzed as two-mode networks (conceived as linking, for example, persons and the organizations to which they belong). However, very few network researchers have noticed that the structure of position-generated networks could also be conceived as a form of two-mode network data. In this chapter, we employ a two-mode network formulation to map the classification systems that under- lie the processes by which actors categorize their social contacts into different occupational positions. In other words, we exploit the embedding of posi- tion-generated networks within a two-mode formulation. We therefore see the two-mode network formulation as, in certain respects, capable of unify- ing the study of position-generated networks (how actors classify their social contacts) and networks of voluntary associations (how actors choose different associations). The institutional logics of these classification and affiliation sys- tems indicate the collective and structural characteristics of social capital. http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415536721/
• Hsung, R., Lin, N., & Breiger, R. L. (2012). Preface. In Contexts of Social Capital: Social Networks in Markets, Communities, and Families (edd. R-M Hsung, Nan Lin, R.L. Breiger)(pp xxi-xxix). New York and London: Routledge (Paperback ed.; first published in 2009).
  More info

  The concept of "social capital" refer to the ways in which people make use of their social networks in "getting ahead." Social capital is not just about the connections in the networks, however, but fundamentally concerns the distribution of resources on the basis of exchanges. The purpose of this volume is to focus on the mesolevel analysis of social capital--or how social capital interacts with social institutions, beyond individual dynamics yet beneath the surface of entire societies. http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415536721/
• Melamed, D., Schoon, E., Breiger, R. L., Asal, V., & Rethemeyer, R. K. (2012). Using Organizational Similarity to Identify Statistical Interactions for Improving Situational Awareness of CBRN Activities. In Social Computing, Behavioral-Cultural Modeling, and Prediction. Springer (Lecture Notes in Computer Science 7227, edd. S.J. Yang, A.M. Greenberg, M. Endsley)(pp 61-68). Berlin and Heidelberg: Lecture Notes in Computer Science (Springer).
  More info

  Distinctive combinations of attributes and behaviors lead us to improve on existing representations of terrorist organizations within a space of group properties. We review and extend a four-step procedure that discovers (statistical) interaction effects among relevant variables based on clusters of organizations derived from group properties. Application of this procedure to 395 terrorist groups in the period 1998-2005 identifies distinctive patterns of unconventional weapons activity and improves prediction of the groups that use or pursue chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear (CBRN) weapons. http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-3-642-29047-3_8
• Breiger, R. L. (2011). Baruch Spinoza: Monism and Complementarity. In Sociological Insights of Great Thinkers: Sociology through Literature, Philosophy, and Science (edd. Christofer Edling, Jens Rydgren)(pp 255-262). Santa Barbara, CA and Oxford, England: Praeger.
  More info

  Spinoza reception in the work of Durkheim and Simmel. "In this book, leading sociologists expand the scope of their discipline by revealing the sociological aspects of the works of great philosophers, scientists, and writers. [...] Following a tradition of enriching the sociological toolkit by finding influence in philosophy and literature, the volume's contributors-an international group of renowned scholars-eschew biography to focus solely on sociological interpretations that can be drawn from the work of many of history's preeminent thinkers." -- From the publisher's website,http://www.abc-clio.com/product.aspx?id=52759
• Breiger, R. L., Breiger, R. L., Ackerman, G. A., Ackerman, G. A., Asal, V., Asal, V., Melamed, D., Melamed, D., Milward, H. B., Milward, H. B., Rethemeyer, R. K., Rethemeyer, R. K., Schoon, E., & Schoon, E. (2011). Application of a Profile Similarity Methodology for Identifying Terrorist Groups that use Or Pursue CBRN Weapons. In Social Computing, Behavioral-Cultural Modeling, and Prediction. Springer (Lecture Notes in Computer Science 6589, edd. J. Salerno, S.J. Yang, D. Nau, and S. Chai)(pp 26-33). Berlin and Heidelberg: Springer.
  More info

  No single profile fits all CBRN-active groups, and therefore it is important to identify multiple profiles. In the analysis of terrorist organizations, linear and generalized regression modeling provide a set of tools to apply to data that is in the form of cases (named groups) by variables (traits and behaviors of the groups). We turn the conventional regression modeling “inside out” to reveal a network of relations among the cases on the basis of their attribute and behavioral similarity. We show that a network of profile similarity among the cases is built in to standard regression modeling, and that the exploitation of this aspect leads to new insights helpful in the identification of multiple profiles for actors. Our application builds on a study of 108 Islamic jihadist organizations that predicts use or pursuit of CBRN weapons. http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-642-19656-0_5#page-1
• Breiger, R. L. (2010). Dualities of Culture and Structure: Seeing Through Cultural Holes. In Relationale Soziologie: Zur kulturellen Wende der Netzwerkforschung [Relational Sociology: The Cultural Turn in Network Research, edd. Jan Fuhse and Sophie Muetzel](pp 37-47). Wiesbaden, Germany: VS Verlag. doi:http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-3-531-92402-1_2
  More info

  This book presents relational sociology ago as an innovative theory and research approach for current sociological discussions . In this approach network structure is intertwined with cultural patterns and meanings. The international contributions to this volume show theoretical and empirical directions with which pure structuralism network research can be overcome. http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-3-531-92402-1_2
• Bian, Y., Breiger, R. L., Davis, D., & Galaskiewicz, J. (2009). Occupatin, Class, and Social Networks in Urban China (in Chinese translation). In Studies on the Beginning of 21st-Century China by Chinese and Western Scholars (edd. Jean Hung, Hsie-Chi Kuan)(pp 395-417). Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press.
  More info

  Chinese-language translation of journal article by Bian, Breiger, Davis, Galaskiewicz: http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/sof.2005.0053
• Breiger, R. L. (2009). On the Duality of Cases and Variables: Correspondence Analysis (CA) and Qualitative Coparative Analysis (QCA). In The SAGE Handbook of Case-Based Methods (edd. David Byrne and Charles C. Ragin; hardcover and paperback)(pp 243-259). Sage Publications. doi:https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/the-sage-handbook-of-case-based-methods/book230470
  More info

  One of the most innovative, most highly developed, and most widely influential strategies for moving beyond the well-worn dichotomy of ‘qualitative’ versus ‘quantitative’ approaches to comparative social research is the Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) approach of Charles Ragin (e.g., Ragin, 1987, 2000, in press). In this chapter, I build on one of the foundations of QCA: the duality of cases and variables. By ‘duality’ I mean co-constitution, as in Breiger (1974, 2000) and Breiger and Mohr (2004). Within QCA, cases are productively understood as configurations of variables, that is, ‘as combinations of aspects and conditions’ (Ragin 2000, p. 13). At the same time, variables may be seen as configurations of cases. This idea, I believe, is fundamental to QCA, although it is not as prominently articulated as the other side of the duality. In this chapter I will illustrate some of the insight that results from thinking in this way, both for crisp sets and for fuzzy-set analysis of the sort that has been pioneered by Ragin in a way that allows powerful new modeling of qualitative case variation (Ragin 2000, in press). https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/the-sage-handbook-of-case-based-methods/book230470
• Breiger, R. L. (2009). The Analysis of Social Networks. In Handbook of Data Analysis, paperback ed. (hardcover ed. 2004; kindle ed.; e-book 2011)(pp 505-526). London and Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
  More info

  The study of social relationships among actors — whether individual human beings or animals of other species, small groups or economic organizations, occupations or social classes, nations or world military alliances — is fundamental to the social sciences. Social network analysis may be defined as the disciplined inquiry into the patterning of relations among social actors, as well as the patterning of relationships among actors at different levels of analysis (such as persons and groups). Following an introduction to data analysis issues in social networks research and to the basic forms of network representation, three broad topics are treated under this chapter's main headings: types of equivalence, statistical models (emphasizing a new class of logistic regression models for networks), and culture and cognition. Each section emphasizes data-analytic strategies used in exemplary research studies of social networks. Computer programs and related issues are briefly treated at the end of the chapter. https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/handbook-of-data-analysis/book209824
• Hsung, R. M., Breiger, R. L., & Lin, N. U. (2009). Preface. In Contexts of Social Capital: Social Networks in Markets, Communities and Families(pp xxi-xxix). Routledge. doi:10.4324/9780203890097
  More info

  Part 1: Advances on Theory and Methods of Social Capital 1. Position Generators, Affiliations, and the Institutional Logics of Social Capital: A Study of Taiwan Firms and Individuals Ray-May Hsung and Ronald L. Breiger 2. Changing Places: The Influence of Meeting Places on Recruiting Friends Beate Volker, Henk Flap and Gerald Mollenhors 3. Does the Golden Rule Rule? Rochelle R. Cote, Gabriele Plickert and Barry Wellman 4. Making Democracy Work via the Functioning of Heterogeneous Personal Networks: An Empirical Analysis based on a Japanese Election Study Ken'ichi Ikeda and Tetsuro Kobayashi Part 2: Markets And Social Capital 5. The Context Challenge: Generalizing Social Capital Processes Across Two Different Settings Bonnie H. Erickson 6. The Transaction Cost: Embeddedness Approach to Studying Chinese Outsourcing Jar-Der Luo and Yung-Chu Yeh 7. Constructed Network as Social Capital: The Transformation Of Taiwan's Small And Medium Enterprise Organization Chieh-Hsuan Chen Part 3: Social Capital in Communities 8. Production And Returns Of Social Capital: Evidence From Urban China Nan Lin, Dan Ao And Lijun Song 9. The Distribution and Return of Social Capital in Taiwan Chih-Jou Jay Chen 10. Social Capital in Communities, Development and Integration: The Four-Village Case Study in Hungary, 2000 Robert Tardos 11. Distinctiveness and Disadvantage among the Urban Poor: Is Low Network Capital Really the Problem Jeanne S. Hurlbert, John J. Beggs and Valerie A. Haines Part 4: Families and Social Capital 12. Parental Closure Effects on Learning: Coleman's Theory of Social Capital on Learning Revisited Ly-Yun Chang 13. Childcare Networks and Embedded Experiences Joseph Galaskiewicz, Beth M. Duckles and Olga Mayorova 14. The Immediate Returns on Time Investment in Daily Contacts: Exploring the Network-Overlapping Effects from Contact Diaries Yang-Chih Fu
• Hsung, R., Hsung, R. M., & Breiger, R. L. (2008). Position Generators, Affiliations, and the Institutional Logics of Social Capital: A Study of Taiwan Firms and Individuals. In Contexts of Social Capital: Social Networks in Markets, Communities, and Families(pp 3-27). Routledge Taylor & Francis Group. doi:10.4324/9780203890097-9
• Breiger, R. L. (2002). Poststructuralism in organizational studies. In Research in the Sociology of Organizations(pp 295-305). https://arizona.pure.elsevier.com/en/publications/9-poststructuralism-in-organizational-studies: Emerald Group Publishing Limited. doi:10.1016/S0733-558X(02)19009-4
  More info

  vol. 19
• Han, S., & Breiger, R. L. (1999). Dimensions of Corporate Social Capital: Toward Models and Measures. In Corporate Social Capital and Liability(pp 94-109). Boston, MA: Springer. doi:10.1007/978-1-4615-5027-3_7
  More info

  Despite an emerging consensus on the importance of corporate social capital, little work has been done on the analytical problem of which aspects, precisely, of a corporate network might be identified as manifesting the concept. Where in a specific configuration of network ties is the corporate social capital located? Is network capital a unitary phenomenon or are there various ways to conceptualize it? In addressing these questions, we formulate models for corporate networks that produce counts for the expected number of ties between each pair of actors on the basis of sets of parameters which are themselves measures of network capital. The model we prefer decomposes a network into separable dimensions comprising status, volume, and proximity. We apply the models to a network of ‘doing deals’ in which billions of dollars of finance capital was raised by syndicates of major U.S. investment banks, data of Eccles and Crane (1988). We show that the model performs well with respect to empirical validity. The modeling framework can be applied and extended to other corporate network settings, and provides measures appropriate for theoretical analyses of markets and corporate relations conceptualized as embedded within social fields.
• Jacobs, J. A., & Breiger, R. L. (1988). Careers, Industries, and Occupations: Industrial Segmentation Reconsidered. In Industries, Firms, and Jobs: Sociological and Economic Approaches(pp 43-63). Routledge. doi:10.1007/978-1-4899-3536-6_3
  More info

  Two strands of structuralism have become prominent in stratification research in recent years. The first is the focus on labor market structures as mediating contexts for the determination of socioeconomic rewards. Baron and Bielby have introduced the phrase “the new structuralism” in urging the centrality of organizations in the analysis of social stratification (Baron and Bielby, 1980; see also Kalleberg and Berg, 1987). They delineated a series of levels for structuralist analysis, ranging from the job to the firm to the industrial sector. At the most aggregated level of this continuum, researchers have identified economic sectors that influence the distribution of social rewards (Beck, Horan, and Tolbert, 1978; Berg, 1981; Bibb and Form, 1977; Tolbert, Horan, and Beck, 1980). Other important structural research has focused on the effects of local labor markets on the income determination process (Parcel and Mueller, 1983), the sex segregation of occupations (Jacobs, 1983a; Reskin, 1984; Rosenfeld, 1983), and demographic constraints on careers within corporate settings (Rosenbaum, 1984; Stewman and Konda, 1983). Two reviews summarize much of this structural research (Baron, 1984; Kalleberg and Sorenson, 1979).

Journals/Publications

• Roberts, Jr, J. M., Dorshorst, E., Yin, Y., Peeples, M. A., Breiger, R. L., & Mills, B. J. (2023). Sampling Variability and Centrality Score Comparisons in Archaeological Network Analysis: A Case Study of the San Pedro Valley, Arizona. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 51, 1-12 plus supplementary material.
  More info

  Archaeological network analysis often focuses on networks in which ties between sites reflect some sort of similarity, such as in artifact assemblages. Site centrality is often of interest, but an apparent difference in two sites’ centrality may not be meaningful once sampling variability is considered. We investigate bootstrap assessments of sampling variability in centrality scores of a set of late pre-Hispanic archaeological sites in the San Pedro Valley, U.S. Southwest, for which ceramic assemblage data can be transformed into networks of ceramic similarity. We considered a variety of bootstrap confidence intervals for site eigenvector centrality scores and the implications of these intervals for interpretation of the site’s structural importance. In analysis of the San Pedro Valley for A.D. 1300-1349, small differences among site centrality were not statistically distinguishable, but moderate to large differences were, with conclusions consistent across methods of constructing bootstrap confidence intervals. Similar patterns were evident when examining a broader region in which the Valley is located. It appears that substantive interpretation of site centrality differences often will be justified.
• Breiger, R. L., & Breiger, R. L. (2021). A Concluding Comment: Toward a Critical Social Network Analysis. Social Networks. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socnet.2020.12.004
  More info

  The authors of articles in this special issue on “Ethics in SNA” contribute to enriching the continuing discussion of major ethical dilemmas that social network analysts need to confront. These articles encourage us to replace silence with thoughtful consideration and innovative paths forward. I highlight three themes that emerged in my own reading of these contributions: moving beyond “ethics versus science,” deepening reflexivity, and possible approaches toward a critical SNA. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378873320301039#bib0005
• Basov, N., Basov, N., Breiger, R. L., Breiger, R. L., Hellsten, I., & Hellsten, I. (2020). Socio-Semantic and Other Dualities. Poetics, 78(1), 1-12.
  More info

  The social and the cultural orders are dual – that is, they constitute each other. To understand either we need to account for both. Socio-semantic network analysis brings together the study of relations among actors (social networks), relations among elements of actors’ cultural structures (their semantic networks), and relations among these two orders of networks. In this introductory essay, we describe how the duality of the social and semantic networks that constitute each other, as well as other related dualities (including material / symbolic, micro / macro, computational / qualitative, in-presence contexts / online contexts, ‘Big’ data / ‘thick’ data), have evolved in recent decades to mold socio-semantic network analysis into its present form. In doing so, we delineate the current state-of-the-art and the main features of socio-semantic network analysis as highlighted by the papers included in this Special Issue. These articles range from in-depth analysis of ‘thick’ data on small group interactions to automated analysis of ‘Big’ online data in contexts extending from Renaissance parliamentary discussions to cutting-edge global scientific fields of the 21st century. We conclude by delineating current problems and future prospects for socio-semantic network analysis. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.poetic.2020.101433
• Basov, N., Breiger, R. L., Hellsten, I., Mohr, J. W., & Saint-Charles, J. (2020). Special issue of a journal -- Discourse, Meaning, and Networks: Advances in Socio-Semantic Analysis. Poetics, 78(1), 1-167.
  More info

  Socio-semantic network analysis is an emerging research focus that brings together the study of relations among actors (social networks), relations among elements of actors’ cultural structures (their semantic networks), and relations among these two orders of networks. This special issue publishes 11 research articles that demonstrate the progress of this research focus in combining the study of discourse, networks, and meanings. https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/poetics/vol/78
• Dabkowski, M. F., Fan, N., & Breiger, R. L. (2020). Finding Globally Optimal Macrostructure in Multiple Relation, Mixed-mode Social Networks. Methodological Innovations, 13(3), 1-17. doi:10.1177/2059799120961693
  More info

  From the outset, computational sociologists have stressed leveraging multiple relations when blockmodeling social networks. Despite this emphasis, the majority of published research over the past 40 years has focused on solving blockmodels for a single relation. When multiple relations exist, a reductionist approach is often employed, where the relations are stacked or aggregated into a single matrix, allowing the researcher to apply single relation, often heuristic, blockmodeling techniques. Accordingly, in this article, we develop an exact procedure for the exploratory blockmodeling of multiple relation, mixed-mode networks. In particular, given (a) 𝑁1 actors, (b) 𝑁2 events, (c) an (𝑁1×𝑁1) binary one-mode network depicting the ties between actors, and (d) an (𝑁1×𝑁2) binary two-mode network representing the ties between actors and events, we use integer programming to find globally optimal (𝑃1×𝑃1|𝑃1×𝑃2) image matrices and partitions, where 𝑃1 and 𝑃2 represent the number of actor and event positions, respectively. Given the problem’s computational complexity, we also develop an algorithm to generate a minimal set of non-isomorphic image matrices, as well as a complementary, easily accessible heuristic using the network analysis software Pajek. We illustrate these concepts using a simple, hypothetical example, and we apply our techniques to a terrorist network. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F2059799120961693
• Rambotti, S., Rambotti, S., Rambotti, S., Rambotti, S., Breiger, R. L., Breiger, R. L., Breiger, R. L., & Breiger, R. L. (2020). Extreme and Inconsistent: A Case-Oriented Regression Analysis of Health, Inequality, and Poverty. Socius, 6.
  More info

  A methodological paradox characterizes macro-comparative research: it routinely violates the assumptions underlying its dominant method—multiple regression analysis. Comparative researchers have substantive interest in cases, but cases are largely rendered invisible in regression analysis. Researchers seldom recognize the mismatch between the goals of macro-comparative research and the demands of regression methods, and sometimes they end up engaging in strenuous disputes over particular variable effects. A good example is the controversial relationship between income inequality and health. Here, we offer an innovative method that combines variable-oriented and case-oriented approaches by turning OLS regression models “inside out.” We estimate case-specific contributions to regression coefficient estimates. We reanalyze data on income inequality, poverty, and life expectancy across twenty affluent countries. Multiple model specifications are primarily dependent on two countries with values on the outcome that are extreme in magnitude and inconsistent with conventional theoretical expectations. https://doi.org/10.1177/2378023120906064
• Wagner-pacifici, R., & Breiger, R. L. (2020). In appreciation of John Mohr. Poetics, 78, 101436. doi:10.1016/j.poetic.2020.101436
• Schoon, E. W., Schoon, E. W., Schoon, E. W., Schoon, E. W., Melamed, D., Melamed, D., Melamed, D., Melamed, D., Breiger, R. L., Breiger, R. L., Breiger, R. L., Breiger, R. L., Yoon, E., Yoon, E., Yoon, E., Yoon, E., Kleps, C., Kleps, C., Kleps, C., & Kleps, C. (2019). Precluding Rare Outcomes by Predicting their Absence. PLoS ONE, 14(10), 1-13. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0223239
  More info

  Forecasting extremely rare events is a pressing problem, but efforts to model such outcomes are often limited by the presence of multiple causes within classes of events, insufficient observations of the outcome to assess fit, and biased estimates due to insufficient observations of the outcome. We introduce a novel approach for analyzing rare event data that addresses these challenges by turning attention to the conditions under which rare outcomes do not occur. We detail how configurational methods can be used to identify conditions or sets of conditions that would preclude the occurrence of a rare outcome. Results from Monte Carlo experiments show that our approach can be used to systematically preclude up to 78.6% of observations, and application to ground-truth data coupled with a bootstrap inferential test illustrates how our approach can also yield novel substantive insights that are obscured by standard statistical analyses. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0223239
• Breiger, R. L., & Smith, J. G. (2018). Insurgencies as Networks of Event Orderings. Sociological Theory, 36(2). doi:https://doi.org/10.1177/0735275118777002
  More info

  Progress in theorizing networks and events requires formulating a greater diversity of networks, and, in particular, enabling network analysis to exploit relations between events and the attributes, actions, and variables that characterize them. We advance this line of inquiry in dialogue with a recent approach to the systematic study of violent conflicts among state actors and groups of people who refuse to accept their governments’ power. One productive way to analyze an insurgency is to view it as a network of sequenced events across stages (periods) of conflict. We explore this formulation, identify limitations, and present illustrative analysis demonstrating how new and useful insights can be obtained by combining our formal approach with one grounded in the comparative analysis of case studies. https://doi.org/10.1177/0735275118777002
• Breiger, R. L., Wagner-Pacifici, R., & Mohr, J. W. (2018). Capturing Distinctions while Mining Text Data: Toward Low-Tech Formalization. Poetics (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.poetic.2018.02.005).
  More info

  In this article we consider some low-tech approaches to text mining. Our goal is to articulate a RiCH (Reader in Control of Hermeneutics) style of text analysis that takes advantage of the digital affordances of modern reading practices and easily deployable computational tools while also preserving the primacy of the interpretive lens of the human reader. In the article we offer three analytical interventions that are suitable to the low-tech formalizations we propose: the first and most developed intervention tracks the (normally computationally ignored ) “stop” words; the second identifies the use of strategic anxiety terms in the texts; and the third (less developed in this article) introduces the grammatical features of modality (including modalization statements of probability and usuality, and modulation statements regarding degrees of obligation and inclination). All three analytical interventions provide a productive tracking of various modes and degrees of strategic decisiveness, contradiction, uncertainty and indeterminacy in a corpus of recent U.S. National Security Strategy reports. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.poetic.2018.02.005
• Odabas, M., Odabas, M., Holt, T. J., Holt, T. J., Breiger, R. L., & Breiger, R. L. (2017). Markets as Governance Environments for Organizations at the Edge of Illegality: Insights from Social Network Analysis. American Behavioral Scientist, 62, 1-22. doi:https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0002764217734266
  More info

  In the last two decades researchers have examined the practices of online forums operating markets for the sale of stolen credit card data. Participants cannot rely on traditional legal system regulations in the event of disputes between buyers and sellers. Thus, this analysis focuses on two forms of monitoring within these forums: one based on an emergent social network of transactions among community members (second-party monitoring), and the other consisting of regulatory (third-party) monitoring by forum administrators. Using social network analyses of a series of posts from a data market forum, the findings demonstrate that governance of these forums is enabled by their functioning as a particular kind of market that economists characterize as a platform, or two-sided market. Specifically, second- and third-party trust creating mechanisms are vital in establishing sustainability in illicit markets by increasing perceived market trustworthiness, which in turn leads to increased market demand. http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0002764217734266
• Dabkowski, M. F., Fan, N., & Breiger, R. L. (2016). Exploratory Blockmodeling for One-mode, Unsigned, Deterministic Networks using Integer Programming and Structural Equivalence. Social Networks, 47(1), 93-106. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.socnet.2016.05.005
  More info

  Since its earliest formulation in the mid-1970’s, blockmodeling has consistently demonstrated its ability to abstract a network’s underlying structure, and there continues to be an appetite for new and improved blockmodeling methods (e.g., Dabkowski, Breiger, and Szidarovszky, 2015). Unfortunately, despite its relative simplicity, even one-mode, unsigned, deterministic blockmodeling problems are NP-hard (Chan et al., 2013), and finding globally optimal solutions can take an inordinate amount of time, especially as the number of actors or positions increases. Understandably, the vast majority of blockmodeling methods employ heuristics to obtain good (not necessarily globally optimal) solutions in a reasonable amount of time. Nonetheless, the potential benefits of exact algorithms that generate globally optimal solutions are many, including assessing the quality of the results obtained with heuristics. With this in mind, clever methods that guarantee global optimality without examining the entire solution space are attractive alternatives. Among these alternatives, we highlight Brusco and Steinley’s (2009) use of integer programming for the confirmatory blockmodeling of one-mode, unsigned, deterministic networks. Although their method is efficient for solving problems of a non-trivial size, they claim its utility in exploratory fitting is limited by the need to examine all possible image matrices (Brusco and Steinley, 2009: p. 584).The principal contribution of our paper is to extend the applicability of Brusco and Steinley’s work to exploratory blockmodeling.
• Zhang, Q., Zeng, D. D., Wang, F., Breiger, R. L., & Hendler, J. A. (2016). Brokers or Bridges: Structural Holes in Crowdsourcing Systems. IEEE Computer, 49(6), 56-64. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/MC.2016.166
  More info

  The well-known theory of structural holes indicates that brokers, people connecting across clusters, have an advantage in the breadth, timing, and arbitrage of information they possess, and hence they are more likely to have innovative ideas and be major contributors. In this research, we propose a method to measure the contribution of crowdsourcing participants, and analyze the relation between their positions in collaboration networks and their performance in large-scale crowdsourcing systems – or in the Chinese vernacular, “human flesh search.” We find that (a) participants with shared background contribute more; (b) the average contribution of internal brokers within a platform is significantly larger than the average contribution of external brokers across platforms and non-brokers, which is inconsistent with the theory. We then find that most external brokers are information bridges, who only spread information across platforms, without actual participation in investigation, discussion, and innovation. http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=7490304&isnumber=7490293
• Breiger, R. L. (2015). Scaling Down. Big Data & Society, 2, 2053951715602497. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/2053951715602497
  More info

  While ‘‘scaling up’’ is a lively topic in network science and Big Data analysis today, my purpose in this essay is to articulate an alternative problem, that of ‘‘scaling down,’’ which I believe will also require increased attention in coming years. ‘‘Scaling down’’ is the problem of how macro-level features of Big Data affect, shape, and evoke lower-level features and processes. I identify four aspects of this problem: the extent to which findings from studies of Facebook and other Big-Data platforms apply to human behavior at the scale of church suppers and department politics where we spend much of our lives; the extent to which the mathematics of scaling might be consistent with behavioral principles; moving beyond a ‘‘universal’’ theory of networks to the study of variation within and between networks; and how a large social field, including its history and culture, shapes the typical representations, interactions, and strategies at local levels in a text or social network. http://bds.sagepub.com/content/spbds/2/2/2053951715602497.full.pdf
• Breiger, R. L. (2015). Scaling down. Big Data & Society, 2(2), 205395171560249. doi:10.1177/2053951715602497
  More info

  While “scaling up” is a lively topic in network science and Big Data analysis today, my purpose in this essay is to articulate an alternative problem, that of “scaling down,” which I believe will also require increased attention in coming years. “Scaling down” is the problem of how macro-level features of Big Data affect, shape, and evoke lower-level features and processes. I identify four aspects of this problem: the extent to which findings from studies of Facebook and other Big-Data platforms apply to human behavior at the scale of church suppers and department politics where we spend much of our lives; the extent to which the mathematics of scaling might be consistent with behavioral principles, moving beyond a “universal” theory of networks to the study of variation within and between networks; and how a large social field, including its history and culture, shapes the typical representations, interactions, and strategies at local levels in a text or social network.
• Dabkowski, M., Dabkowski, M., Breiger, R., Breiger, R., Szidarovszky, F., & Szidarovszky, F. (2015). Simultaneous-direct blockmodeling for multiple relations in Pajek. Social Networks, 40(1), 1-16. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.socnet.2014.06.003
  More info

  The foundational research on blockmodeling focused on theorizing and identifying social roles and positions across multiple networks (White et al., 1976). Generalized blockmodeling provided a breakthrough in theory and research by permitting ideal block types that implement a wider class of role equivalence within a network (Doreian et al., 2005). Notwithstanding these successes and related progress that we discuss, a direct approach for the blockmodeling of multiple relations remains an open problem in the generalized blockmodeling literature (Doreian, 2006). With this in mind, we propose a simple and novel means of formulating and fitting generalized blockmodels for multiple relations. We make use of existing capabilities of the open-source network analysis software Pajek (Batagelj and Mrvar, 2011; Mrvar and Batagelj, 2013). In particular, by constructing an appropriate augmented adjacency matrix and carefully crafted constraints and penalties, Pajek's criterion function can be simultaneously minimized over multiple relations. This technique is first described in detail using a hypothetical friendship network, and then its value is reinforced through reanalysis of a classic, real world example. Published by Elsevier B.V. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.socnet.2014.06.003
• Mohr, J. W., Breiger, R. L., & Wagner-Pacifici, R. (2015). Special Issue of a journal -- Assumptions of Sociality: A Colloquium of Social and Cultural Scientists. Big Data & Society, 2(2).
  More info

  Guest Editors: John W. Mohr, Department of Sociology, University of California, Santa Barbara; Ronald L. Breiger, School of Sociology, University of Arizona; and Robin Wagner-Pacifici, Department of Sociology, New School.This special theme explores how the conceptualization, methods, and research practices for working with and analyzing Big Data frequently contain implicit assumptions about the very nature of society, individuals, social institutions and scientific practice, as well as assumptions about how they operate. The commentaries collected here highlight these types of assumptions and describe some ways in which scholars in the social sciences and humanities can challenge, correct for and redefine how they use Big Data. Authors include Julia Adams, Christopher Bail, Peter Bearman, Hannah Brueckner, Paul DiMaggio, Amir Goldberg, Monica Lee, Kevin Lewis, Michael Macy, John Levi Martin, Daniel McFarland, Sophie Muetzel, and more. Table of contents: http://journals.sagepub.com/page/bds/collections/colloquium-assumption-sociality
• Mohr, J. W., Wagner-Pacifici, R., & Breiger, R. L. (2015). Toward a Computational Hermeneutics. Big Data & Society, 2, 2053951715613809. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/2053951715613809
  More info

  We describe some of the ways that the field of content analysis is being transformed in an Era of Big Data. We argue that content analysis, from its beginning, has been concerned with extracting the main meanings of a text and mapping those meanings onto the space of a textual corpus. In contrast, we suggest that the emergence of new styles of text mining tools is creating an opportunity to develop a different kind of content analysis that we describe as a computational hermeneutics. Here the goal is to go beyond a mapping of the main meaning of a text to mimic the kinds of questions and concerns that have traditionally been the focus of a hermeneutically grounded close reading, a reading that focuses on what Kenneth Burke described as the poetic meanings of a text. We illustrate this approach by referring to our own work concerning the rhetorical character of US National Security Strategy documents. http://bds.sagepub.com/content/2/2/2053951715613809.full.pdf
• Wagner-Pacifici, R., Mohr, J. W., & Breiger, R. L. (2015). Ontologies, methodologies, and new uses of Big Data in the social and cultural sciences. Big Data & Society, 2, 2053951715613810.
  More info

  Introduction to special issue of the journal Big Data & Society, special issue on Assumptions of Sociality: A Colloquium of Social and Cultural Scientists.In our Introduction to the Conceiving the Social with Big DataSpecial Issue of Big Data & Society, we survey the 18 contributions from scholars in the humanities and social sciences, and highlight several questions and themes that emerge within and across them. These emergent issues reflect the challenges, problems, and promises of working with Big Data to access and assess the social. They include puzzles about the locus and nature of human life, the nature of interpretation, the categorical constructions of individual entities and agents, the nature and relevance of contexts and temporalities, and the determinations of causality. As such, the Introduction reflects on the contributions along a series of binaries that capture the dualities and dynamisms of these themes: Life/Data; Mind/Machine; and Induction/Deduction. http://bds.sagepub.com/content/spbds/2/2/2053951715613810.full.pdf
• Breiger, R. L. (2014). Book Reviews: Social Network Analysis, Third Edition & What Is Social Network Analysis?. Connections, 34(1), 65-67. doi:10.17266/34.1.10
  More info

  John Scott has contributed two recent sole-authored volumes introducing social network analysis. One is a welcomed third edition of his bestselling text, and the other is a new and highly compelling introductory guide within Bloomsbury Academic’s “What Is” research methods series (with other volumes already or soon to be published on topics including online research, qualitative research, community studies, and narrative research).
• Breiger, R. L., & Melamed, D. (2014). The Duality of Organizations and their Attributes: Turning Regression Modeling 'Inside Out'. Research in the Sociology of Organizations (RSO), 40(1), 261-274.
  More info

  We reformulate regression modeling so that ideas often associated with field theory and social network analysis can be brought to bear at every stage in the computation and interpretation of regression coefficients in studies of organizations. Rather than “transcending” general linear reality, we seek to get more out of it. We formulate a dual to regression modeling based on using the variables to learn about the cases. We illustrate our ideas by applying the new approach to a database of hundreds of violent extremist organizations, focusing on understanding which groups use or pursue unconventional weapons (chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear). http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/S0733-558X(2014)0000040013
• Breiger, R. L., Breiger, R. L., Schoon, E., Schoon, E., Melamed, D., Melamed, D., Asal, V., Asal, V., Rethemeyer, R. K., & Rethemeyer, R. K. (2014). Comparative Configurational Analysis as a Two-Mode Network Problem: A Study Terrorist Group Engagement in the Drug Trade. Social Networks, 36(1), 23-39. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.socnet.2013.04.002
  More info

  We generalize a form of two-mode network analysis to make it applicable to a cases-by-variables data format, and apply our approach for the study of terrorist group engagement in the drug trade, emphasizing the implications of our approach for policy in a study of 395 terrorist organizations. Based on the organizations’ levels of resources, network connectivity to other groups, ideological emphasis, and participation in multiple illicit economies, we identify several distinctive configurations of factors that lead to multiple types of drug activity. We also demonstrate a technique for assessing sampling variability in configurational models. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.socnet.2013.04.002
• Melamed, D., Breiger, R. L., & Schoon, E. (2013). The Duality of Clusters and Statistical Interactions. Sociological Methods & Research (SMR), Sage, 42(1), 41-59.
  More info

  We contend that clusters of cases co-constitute statistical interactions among variables. Interactions among variables imply clusters of cases within which statistical effects differ. Regression coefficients may be productively viewed as sums across clusters of cases, and in this sense regression coefficients may be said to be "composed" of clusters of cases. We explicate a four-step procedure that discovers interaction effects based on clusters of cases in the data matrix, hence aiding in inductive model specification. We illustrate with two examples. One is a reanalysis of data from a published study of the effect of social welfare policy extensiveness on poverty rates across 15 countries. The second uses General Social Survey data to predict four different dimensions of ego-network homophily. We find support for our contention that clusters of the rows of a data matrix may be exploited to discover statistical interactions among variables that improve model fit. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0049124112464870
• Melamed, D., Breiger, R. L., & West, A. J. (2013). Community Structure in Multi-Mode Networks: Applying an Eigenspectrum Approach. Connections (International Network for Social Network Analysis), 33(1), 18-23.
  More info

  We combine the logic of multi-mode networks developed in Fararo and Doreian (1984) with Newman’s (2006) spectral partitioning of graphs into communities. The resulting generalization of spectral partitioning provides a simple, elegant, and useful tool for discovering the community structure of multi-mode graphs. We apply the generalized procedure to a published three-mode network and find that the results of the algorithm are consistent with existing substantive knowledge. We also report the results of extensive simulations, which reveal that the generalization becomes more effective as the networks become denser. http://www.insna.org/PDF/Connections/v33/Melamed_Vol33Iss1_INSNApdf-3.pdf
• Mills, B. J., Mills, B. J., Clark, J. J., Clark, J. J., Peeples, M. A., Peeples, M. A., Haas, Jr., W. R., Haas, Jr., W. R., Roberts, Jr., J. M., Roberts, Jr., J. M., Hill, J. B., Hill, J. B., Huntley, D. L., Huntley, D. L., Borck, L., Borck, L., Breiger, R. L., Breiger, R. L., Clauset, A., , Clauset, A., et al. (2013). Transformation of Social Networks in the Late Pre-Hispanic US Southwest. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS), 110(15), 5785-5790 (plus 11 pages of supporting materials).
  More info

  The late pre-Hispanic period in the US Southwest (A.D. 1200-1450) was characterized by large-scale demographic changes, including long-distance migration and population aggregation. To reconstruct how these processes reshaped social networks, we compiled a comprehensive artifact database from major sites dating to this interval in the western Southwest. We combine social network analysis with geographic information systems approaches to reconstruct network dynamics over 250 y. We show how social networks were transformed across the region at previously undocumented spatial, temporal, and social scales. Using well-dated decorated ceramics, we track changes in network topology at 50-y intervals to show a dramatic shift in network density and settlement centrality from the northern to the southern Southwest after A.D. 1300. Both obsidian sourcing and ceramic data demonstrate that long-distance network relationships also shifted from north to south after migration. Surprisingly, social distance does not always correlate with spatial distance because of the presence of network relationships spanning long geographic distances. Our research shows how a large network in the southern Southwest grew and then collapsed, whereas networks became more fragmented in the northern Southwest but persisted. The study also illustrates how formal social network analysis may be applied to large-scale databases of material culture to illustrate multigenerational changes in network structure. http://www.pnas.org/content/110/15/5785.short
• Mohr, J. W., Wagner-Pacifici, R., Breiger, R. L., & Bogdanov, P. (2013). Graphing the Grammar of Motives in U.S. National Security Strategies: Cultural Interpretation, Automated Text Analysis and the Drama of Global Politics. Poetics: Journal of Empirical Research in Culture, the Media, and the Arts, 41(6), 670-700.
  More info

  The literary theorist Kenneth Burke (1945) outlined a methodology for identifying the basic grammar of motives that operate within texts. His strategy was to identify the logical form that is used for attributing meaning to human situations. We imagine how a variant of Burke's method might be applied in the era of automated text analysis, and then we explore an implementation of that variant (using a combination of natural language process, semantic parsers and statistical topic models) in analyzing a corpus of eleven U.S. National Security Strategy documents that were produced between 1990 and 2010. This automated process for textual coding and analysis is shown to have much utility for analyzing these types of texts and to hold out the promise for being useful for other types of text corpora, as well; thereby opening up new possibilities for the scientific study of rhetoric. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.poetic.2013.08.003
• Schoon, E., Breiger, R. L., & Melamed, D. (2012). The Duality of Clusters and Statistical Interactions. Sociological Methods & Research, 42(1), 41-59. doi:10.1177/0049124112464870
• Breiger, R. L., & Pachucki, M. A. (2010). Cultural Holes: Beyond Relationality in Social Networks and Culture. Annual Review of Sociology, 36(1), 205-224. doi:10.1146/annurev.soc.012809.102615
• Pachucki, M., Pachucki, M., Breiger, R. L., & Breiger, R. L. (2010). Cultural Holes: Beyond Relationality in Social Networks and Culture.. Annual Review of Sociology.
  More info

  A burgeoning literature spanning sociologies of culture and social network methods has for the past several decades sought to explicate the relationships between culture and connectivity. A number of promising recent moves toward integration are worthy of review, comparison, critique, and synthesis. Network thinking provides powerful techniques for specifying cultural concepts ranging from narrative networks to classification systems, tastes, and cultural repertoires. At the same time, we see theoretical advances by sociologists of culture as providing a corrective to network analysis as it is often portrayed, as a mere collection of methods. Cultural thinking complements and sets a new agenda for moving beyond predominant forms of structural analysis that ignore action, agency, and intersubjective meaning. The notion of “cultural holes” that we use to organize our review points both to the cultural contingency of network structure and to the increasingly permeable boundary between studies of culture and research on social networks. http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev.soc.012809.102615
• Schultz, J., & Breiger, R. L. (2010). The Strength of Weak Culture. Poetics: Journal of Empirical Research in Culture, the Media, and the Arts.
  More info

  The theoretical work of Granovetter on the strength of weak social ties needs to be extended to the study of cultural objects and relations. The tie that binds an actor to a cultural taste might be strong (purposive, intensive in time or commitment, fostered by a tightly integrated community bound by social symbols and representations) or weak (banal, non-instrumental, non-demanding, non-exclusive). Weak culture can be ‘‘strong’’ in several different respects. We elucidate various possibilities and conundrums: whether weak culture bridges across otherwise disconnected social groups, or bonds actors to a wider collectivity than is possible on the basis of strong-culture commitments; weak culture as signifying elaborated (as opposed to restricted) genre codes, versus the moderation of genre commitments; and weak culture as enabling publics and institutional domains as well as enabling movement across domains. Then, in analysis of items from the US General Social Survey Culture Module (1993; N = 1606), we illustrate the strength of weak culture (operationalized as ‘‘liking’’ versus ‘‘loving’’ musical genres) in producing perceptions of an integrated national society. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.poetic.2010.09.002
• Breiger, R. L. (2008). Models and Methods in Social Network Analysis. Contemporary Sociology, 37(5), 481-482. doi:10.1177/009430610803700552
• Snijders, T. A., Robinson, T., Atkinson, A. C., Riani, M., Sweeting, T., Leslie, D. S., Longford, N. T., Kent, J. T., Lawrance, T., Airoldi, E. M., Besag, J., Blei, D. M., Fienberg, S. E., Breiger, R. L., Breiger, R. L., Butts, C. T., Doreian, P., Batagelj, V., Ferligoj, A., , Draper, D., et al. (2007). Discussion on the paper by Handcock, Raftery and Tantrum. Journal of The Royal Statistical Society Series A-Statistics in Society, 170(2), 332-333. doi:10.1111/j.1467-985x.2007.00471.x
  More info

  As Handcock and his colleagues refer to their model (in Section 1) as ‘a stochastic blockmodel’, and as they apply their latent position cluster model (LPCM) to a data set that was analysed much earlier by Whiteet al.(1976) in their paper on blockmodels, it may be instructive to focus on the agenda that was put forward in the earlier paper and on the extent to which the new paper furthers that agenda.
• Bian, Y., Bian, Y., Breiger, R. L., Breiger, R. L., Davis, D., Davis, D., Galaskiewicz, J., & Galaskiewicz, J. (2005). Occupation, Class, and Social Networks in Urban China. Social Forces. doi:10.1353/sof.2005.0053
  More info

  China's class structure is changing dramatically in the wake of post-1978 market-oriented economic reforms. The creation of a mixed “market-socialist” economy has eroded the institutional bases of a cadre-dominated social hierarchy and created conditions for a new pattern of social stratification. Although conditions remain dynamic, results of a 1998 urban survey that measured strength and diversity of social ties among 400 households in four of China's largest cities documented networks of social exchange among 13 occupation-based classes that identify a class structure distinct from the cadre-dominated social hierarchy of the Mao era. In particular, analysis of visiting during the Lunar New Year celebration suggests an urban society simultaneously divided along two axes: one by economic success in the more privatized economy and one by distinctions in political authority at the workplace. Thus contrary to those who privilege market transactions as the primary engine for creating a new class hierarchy, we conclude that to understand processes of social stratification one needs theories and methods that work simultaneously with multiple dynamics of class differentiation rather than presuming linear hierarchy. http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/sof.2005.0053
• Bian, Y., Breiger, R. L., Davis, D., & Galaskiewicz, J. J. (2005). Zhongguo Chengshi de Zhiye, Jieceng, he Guanxiwang [translation of Bian et al., 2005]. Gaifang Shidai.
  More info

  Yanjie Bian, R.L. Breiger, Deborah Davis, and Joseph Galaskiewicz, "Zhongguo Chengshi de Zhiye, Jieceng, he Guanxiwang" [translation of Bian et al., 2005]. Gaifang Shidai 178 (4): 98-118.
• Breiger, R. L. (2005). Culture and Classification in Markets: An Introduction. Poetics: Journal of Empirical Research in Culture, the Media, and the Arts / Elsevier, 157-162.
  More info

  Recent work at the boundary of culture and the economy focuses on relations between meaningful subjectivity and macro-level structure. This special issue features new directions in the study of culture and classification in markets, including research on vocabularies of organizing, cross-national comparisons of market identities, development of metrics and theory for assessing the recognition of market rivals by one another, and relational techniques for the identification of meaningful action in complex corporate fields. Classical concerns with these broad areas provide a means of situating the contemporary work. The new work also has some implications for unifying the study of power, politics, and culture in institutional analysis. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304422X05000483
• Breiger, R. L. (2005). Introduction to Special Issue: Ethical Dilemmas in Social Network Research. Social Networks, 27(2), 89-93.
  More info

  I set out to invite and publish a set of papers that could serve as a workable foundation for all of us who wish to have some basis of shared discussion and experience for thinking through the issues of ethics and social network analysis that increasingly concern us all. Articles include: Rebecca Goolsby on ethics and defense agency funding; Stephen Borgatti and Jose-Luis Molina on ethical guidelines for network research in organizations; Alden Klovdahl on social networks and human subjects protection with respect to infectious disease control; and Charles Kadushin on the question of who benefits from social network research. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.socnet.2005.01.002
• Breiger, R. L., & Mohr, J. W. (2004). Institutional Logics from the Aggregation of Organizational Networks: Operational Procedures for the Analysis of Counted Data. Computational and Mathematical Organization Theory, 10(1), 17-43. doi:10.1023/b:cmot.0000032578.16511.9d
  More info

  We address some problems of network aggregation that are central to organizational studies. We show that concepts of network equivalence (including generalizations and special cases of structural equivalence) are relevant to the modeling of the aggregation of social categories in cross-classification tables portraying relations within an organizational field (analogous to one-mode networks). We extend our results to model the dual aggregation of social identities and organizational practices (an example of a two-mode network). We present an algorithm to accomplish such dual aggregation. Within the formal and quantitative framework that we present, we emphasize a unified treatment of (a) aggregation on the basis of structural equivalence (invariance of actors within equivalence sets), (b) the study of variation in relations between structurally equivalent sets, and (c) the close connections between aggregation within organizational networks and multi-dimensional modeling of organizational fields.
• Breiger, R. L., & Mohr, J. W. (2004). La dualidad y la agregación de categorías sociales. REDES: Revista Hispana para el Análisis de Redes Sociales, 5(5), 1-18. doi:10.5565/rev/redes.489
  More info

  Duality" is a conception of micro-macro linkage that implies that elements at each of two different levels of structure (such as persons and groups, or—as in the data we analyze—identities and practices) co-constitute one another. We present an algorithm for the aggregation of social categories that are "dual" to each other. Our algorithm is applicable to the study of data in contingency tables. We apply our algorithm in a study of the joint construction of social identities (including racial and ethnic labels) and educational practices in a university context.
• Pattison, P. E., & Breiger, R. L. (2002). Lattices and dimensional representations: Matrix decompositions and ordering structures. Social Networks, 24(4), 423-444. doi:10.1016/s0378-8733(02)00015-1
  More info

  Abstract This paper is concerned with some methods that attempt to provide simultaneous representation of dual relationships, such as ties of membership that connect persons and groups, or connections between organizations and agendas. We focus on vector space and lattice representations, and on techniques for simplifying the structure of dual networks. We demonstrate some fundamental similarities among these approaches.
• Breiger, R. L. (2000). A tool kit for practice theory. Poetics: Journal of Empirical Research on Culture, the Media, and the Arts, 27(2), 91-115. doi:10.1016/s0304-422x(99)00026-1
  More info

  Abstract This is a study in the analysis of correspondences. I consider a quantitative technique frequently used by Pierre Bourdieu and the mathematics developed by James Coleman for the foundations of his social theory, with respect to each other, from the respective analysts' points of view, and from my concern with developing more sturdy relations among the methodological tools in a practice theorist's kit. Specifically, I treat both frameworks as implementing in innovative ways the concept of ‘duality’, the co-constitution of elements at one level and relations at another (higher or lower) level of social action. I show that there is a remarkable homology, at the level of their formal practices, between the mathematical techniques of Bourdieu and those of Coleman. New ways to implement Galois lattice analysis are among the gains of this inquiry. Applications are to relations among the justices of the U.S. Supreme Court. I identify and discuss several of the larger questions that this study raises about practical methods and methodological practice.
• Breiger, R. L. (2000). Control social y redes sociales: un modelo a partir de George Simmel. Politica y Sociedad, 33, 57-72. doi:10.5209/POSO.25744
• Kerckhoff, A. C., & Breiger, R. L. (1999). review of Generating Social Stratification: Toward a New Research Agenda. Administrative Science Quarterly, 44(1), 201-204. doi:10.2307/2667046
• Breiger, R. L., & Breiger, R. L. (1995). Social Structure and the Phenomenology of Attainment. Annual Review of Sociology, 21(1), 115-136. doi:10.1146/annurev.so.21.080195.000555
  More info

  Reviews of recent research on the transmission of socioeconomic advantage have decried the increasing “narrowness” of the field. This chapter focuses on an alternative proposition, namely, that there is now a large enough body of work seeking fundamentally to reorient the field of social attainment studies that it is useful to identify commonalities as well as distinctive features. Conceptualization and operationalization of “social structure” in recent stratification research is the point of departure. Special attention is given to contemporary efforts to formulate a new phenomenology of attainment. In light of the many connections that are illuminated when these diverse strands are brought together, it is worthwhile to review them within the same scope and to discuss the prospect that they will form into a single specialty area within sociology.
• Caputi, P., Pattison, P., & Breiger, R. L. (1990). Analyzing Implications Grids Using Hierarchical Models. International Journal of Personal Construct Psychology, 3(1), 77-90. doi:10.1080/10720539008412798
  More info

  Abstract Some procedures for analyzing implications grids are reviewed, and their limitations are highlighted. It is argued that an hierarchical or quasi-order model is a natural model for implications grid data. The model is consistent with the theoretical positions of both Kelly (1955) and Hinkle (1965). An algorithm for quasi-order modeling is discussed, and an example is presented, illustrating some of its important features
• Brossier, G., Breiger, R. L., Heiser, W. J., Berge, J. M., Coxon, A. P., Iacobucci, D., & Legendre, P. (1988).

  Book reviews

  . Journal of Classification. doi:10.1007/bf01897168
• Breiger, R. L., & Jacobs, J. A. (1987). On Occupational Mobility and Social Class. American Sociological Review, 52(3), 413-416. doi:10.2307/2095360
• Breiger, R. L., & Pattison, P. E. (1986). Cumulated social roles: The duality of persons and their algebras. Social Networks, 8(3), 215-256. doi:10.1016/0378-8733(86)90006-7
  More info

  Abstract The study of social roles from the perspectives of individual actors, and the relation of graph homomorphisms to semigroup homomorphisms, have been the two most prominent topics to emerge from the recent resurgence of progress made on the algebraic analysis of social networks. Through our central construction, the cumulated person hierarchy, we present a framework for elaborating and extending these two lines of research. We focus on each actor in turn as ego, and we articulate what we believe to be the fundamental duality of persons and their algebras. We derive graph and semigroup homomorphisms for three algebras containing 81, 43, and 93 elements, respectively. Throughout, our discussion of theoretical issues is oriented toward an empirical application to the Padgett data set on conspiracy and faction in Renaissance Florence.
• Breiger, R. L. (1981). An Exponential Family of Probability Distributions for Directed Graphs: Comment. Journal of the American Statistical Association, 76(373), 51-53. doi:10.2307/2287038
  More info

  In the “empirical example” section of their paper, Holland and Leinhardt’s pl distribution provides a null model of an idealized structure. A null model for social networks should be well defined, plausible, and clearly capable of rejection in applications where definite structure exists. The pI model fulfills these criteria admirably, as demonstrated in Holland and Leinhardt’s Section 4. On the other hand, if one’s goal is an explicit model of social structure, a modeling context that goes beyond the null hypothesis is required. Some specific directions are provided below
• Breiger, R. L. (1981). The Social Class Structure of Occupational Mobility. American Journal of Sociology, 87(3), 578-611. doi:10.1086/227497
  More info

  This paper provides an analytical framework within which hypotheses of class structure are brought to bear directly in the formulation of models for the occupational mobility table. The proper aggregation of rows and columns is portrayed as the fundamental theoretical issue in mobility table analysis, rather than as an exogenous "given" to be decided upon prior to the construction of explicit models. Homogeneity of mobility within and between classes, class hierarchy, and tangible boundedness are the central themes. These themes are implemented in loglinear models and applied in the analysis of large 17-category), intergenerational mobility tables. Four such tables from the studies of Blau and Duncan and of Featherman and Hauser are fitted acceptably. Seven falsifiable hypotheses about the social class structure of occupational mobility are identified and assessed comparatively within the new framework.
• Breiger, R. L. (1979). Toward an operational theory of community elite structures. Quality & Quantity, 13(1), 21-57. doi:10.1007/bf00222823
  More info

  This paper develops the relevance of a multiple network analytical strategy, termed "blockmodel analysis", for the study of community elite structures. (A synopsis of the recent literature on this approach is offered in Section 1). My central contention is that, by providing a systematic framework for relational description, blockmodel analysis bridges the gulf between specific case studies and general hypotheses.
• Breiger, R. L., & Ennis, J. G. (1979). Personae and Social Roles: The Network Structure of Personality Types in Small Groups. Social Psychology Quarterly, 42(3), 262-270. doi:10.2307/3033769
  More info

  This paper addresses the tension between the existence of generalized "types" of group members (Bales, 1970; Bales et al., forthcoming) and specific interactions among concrete individuals in small groups. Following a suggestion of Mills (1971), we ask how these abstracted "types" interlock in an observable group. A blockmodel structure defined on multiple network data yields "positions" that are coherent along two of Bales' analytical dimensions. The network patterns among these positions are analyzed to reveal their social roles with respect to one another, while the statistical association of positions with Bales' dimensions is employed to depict the character of "typical" members of each cluster. These two analyses mutually reinforce and extend one another, and operationalize concepts for research on the juncture of personality and social role.
• Breiger, R. L., & Pattison, P. E. (1978). The Joint Role Structure of Two Communities' Elites. Sociological Methods & Research, 7(2), 213-226. doi:10.1177/004912417800700206
  More info

  Blockmodel analysis offers a perspective for developing operational theories of role interlock across multiple networks. We identify precisely those features of role interlock that are shared by the elites of two small cities. This joint role structure is then interpreted with the aid of an algebraic model that we formulate on the basis of Granovetter's (1973) "strength of weak ties" argument. Our discussion illustrates the operationalization of substantive and theoretical concepts in the form of idealized role structures, and their application via blockmodel analysis to observed network data.
• White, H. C., Boorman, S. A., & Breiger, R. L. (1976). Social Structure from Multiple Networks. I. Blockmodels of Roles and Positions. American Journal of Sociology, 81(4), 730-780. doi:10.1086/226141
  More info

  Networks of several distinct types of social tie are aggregated by a dual model that partitions a population while simultaneously identifying patterns of relations. Concepts and algorithms are demonstrated in five case studies involving up to 100 persons and up to eight types of tie, over as many as 15 time periods. In each case the model identifies a concrete social structure. Role and position concepts are then identified and interpreted in terms of these new models of concrete social structure.
• Breiger, R. L., Boorman, S. A., & Arabie, P. (1975). An algorithm for clustering relational data with applications to social network analysis and comparison with multidimensional scaling. Journal of Mathematical Psychology, 12(3), 328-383. doi:10.1016/0022-2496(75)90028-0
  More info

  Abstract A method of hierarchical clustering for relational data is presented, which begins by forming a new square matrix of product-moment correlations between the columns (or rows) of the original data (represented as an n × m matrix). Iterative application of this simple procedure will in general converge to a matrix that may be permuted into the blocked form [ −1 1 1 −1 ]. This convergence property may be used as the basis of an algorithm (CONCOR) for hierarchical clustering. The CONCOR procedure is applied to several illustrative sets of social network data and is found to give results that are highly compatible with analyses and interpretations of the same data using the blockmodel approach of White ( White, Boorman & Breiger, 1976 ). The results using CONCOR are then compared with results obtained using alternative methods of clustering and scaling (MDSCAL, INDSCAL, HICLUS, ADCLUS) on the same data sets.
• White, H. C., & Breiger, R. L. (1975). Pattern across networks. Society, 12(5), 68-74. doi:10.1007/bf02699922
• Breiger, R. L. (1974). The Duality of Persons and Groups. Social Forces, 53(2), 181-190. doi:10.1093/sf/53.2.181
  More info

  A metaphor of classical social theory concerning the "intersection" of persons within groups and of groups within the individual is translated into a set of techniques to aid in empirical analysis of the interpenetration of networks of interpersonal ties and networks of intergroup ties. These techniques are useful in'the study of director interlocks, clique structures, organizations within community and national power structures, and other collectivities which share members. The "membership network analysis" suggested in this paper is compared to and contrasted with sociometric approaches and is applied to the study by Davis et al. (1941) of the social participation of eighteen women. Consider a metaphor which has often appeared in sociological literature but has remained largely unexploited in empirical work. Individuals come together (or, metaphorically, "intersect" one another) within groups, which are collectivities based on the shared interests, personal affinities, or ascribed status of members who participate regularly in collective activities. At the same time, the particular patterning of an individual's affiliations (or the "intersection" of groups within the person) defines his points of reference and (at least partially) determines his individuality.1 The following discussion consists of a translation of this metaphor into a set of techniques which aid in the empirical analysis of the interpenetration of networks of persons and networks of the groups that they comprise. My usage of the term "group" is restrictive in that I consider only those groups for which membership lists are available-through published sources, reconstruction from field observation or interviews, or by any other means. Such groups include corporation boards of directors (J. Levine, 1972), organizations within a community or national power structure (Lieberson, 1971; Perrucci and Pilisuk, 1970), cliques or organizations in a high school (Bonacich, 1972; Coleman, 1961), and political factions. Donald Levine (1959:19-22) writes that "the concept of dualism" is a key principle "underlying Simmel's social thought." Levine explicates Simmel's dualism as "the assumption . . . that the subsistence of any aspect of human life depends on the coexistence of diametrically opposed elements." My own usage of the comparable term "duality" is specified with respect to Equations 3 and 4 below.2 THE BASIC CONCEPTION Consider a set of individuals and a set of groups such that the value of a tie between any two individuals is defined as the number of groups of which they both are members. The value of a tie between any two groups is de* For their criticism and encouragement, I am indebted to Harrison White, Gregory Heil, Francois Lorrain, and Scott Boorman. For seminars which first introduced me to Simmel's thought, I am indebted to Kurt H. Wolff. Thanks are due Professor White for support through NSF Grant GS-2689. 1 Simmel (1955) entitled one of his essays "The Intersection of Social Circles," but Reinhard Bendix changed the title in translation because "a literal translation of this phrase . . . is almost meaningless . . . Simmel often plays with geometric analogies; it has seemed advisable to me to minimize this play with words ." (Simmel, 1955:125). For an assertion that Simmel's original title is not at all inappropriate, see Walter's essay (1959). For a more complete explication of the "dualism" inherent in Simmel's thought, see the essays by D. Levine, Lipman, and Tenbruck in Wolff (1959). A similar metaphor was put forward in America by Charles H. Cooley (1902:148), who wrote that "A man may be regarded as the point of intersection of an indefinite number of circles representing social groups, having as many arcs passing through him as there are groups." Much later, Sorokin (1947:345) observed that "the individual has as many social egos as there are different social groups and strata with which he is connected." On the "much neglected" development of the concept of "social circle" since Simmel's writings, see Kadushin (1966). 2The "directional duality principle" enunciated by Harary et al. (1965) is to be distinguished from my conception. The former principle consists in reversing the directionality of lines in a graph; in the method of this paper, the lines in one graph are transformed into the points of its dual graph, and vice versa.

Proceedings Publications

• Ghose, N., Ghose, N., Lazos, L., Lazos, L., Rozenblit, J. W., Rozenblit, J. W., Breiger, R. L., & Breiger, R. L. (2019, May). Multimodal Graph Analysis of Cyber Attacks. In Society for Modeling & Simulation International (SpringSim 2019), Proceedings of the Annual Simulation Symposium (ANSS '19), 1-12.
  More info

  With the limited information on the cyber-attacks available in an unclassified regime, it is difficult to standardize the analysis of these attacks. In addition, this limitation makes the implementation of this analysis on any future attack challenging. In this work, we address the problem of modeling and analyzing cyber attacks using a multimodal graph approach. The main idea is to formulate the stages, actors, victims, and outcomes of cyber attacks as a multimodal graph, where several graphs of various modalities are combined to represent the attributes of the attack. Multimodal graph nodes include cyberattack victims, adversaries, autonomous systems (ASes) use to perpetrate the attacks, and the observed cyber events. To formulate multimodal graphs, single-modality graphs are interconnected according to their interaction during the cyber attack. Once the graph model is constructed, we apply community and centrality analysis to obtain in-depth insights into the attack. In community analysis, we cluster those multimodal graph nodes that exhibit “strong” inter-modal ties. We further use centrality to rank the graph nodes according to their importance in the attack. By classifying nodes according to centrality, we can deduce the progression of the attack from the attacker nodes to the targeted nodes. Using these results, we apply our methods to two popular case studies, namely GhostNet and Putter Panda and demonstrate a clear distinction in the attack stages. https://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=3338044
• Melamed, D., Schoon, E. W., Breiger, R. L., Asal, V., & Rethemeyer, R. K. (2012). Using organizational similarity to identify statistical interactions for improving situational awareness of CBRN activities. In Social Computing, Behavioral-Cultural Modeling, and Prediction, 61-68.
  More info

  Distinctive combinations of attributes and behaviors lead us to improve on existing representations of terrorist organizations within a space of group properties. We review and extend a four-step procedure that discovers (statistical) interaction effects among relevant variables based on clusters of organizations derived from group properties. Application of this procedure to 395 terrorist groups in the period 1998-2005 identifies distinctive patterns of unconventional weapons activity and improves prediction of the groups that use or pursue chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear (CBRN) weapons.
• Breiger, R. L. (2011, July). Some Challenges in Multilevel Social Network Research. In Research on the Organizational Society: Advances in Multilevel and Dynamic Network Analysis.
  More info

  Conference proceedings, University of Paris-Dauphine, June 2011.;Your Role: Sole author;Full Citation: R.L. Breiger, "Some Problems in Multilevel Social Network Research." In E. Lazega, J. Chatellet, J. Bruna, and M. Giuseppina, Researching the Organizational Society: Advances in Multilevel and Dynamic Network Analysis. Actes de la Conference sur les Nouvelles Approches en Analyse des Reseaux Dynamiques et multi-niveaux, qui s'est deroulee a l'Universite Paris-Dauphine, le 16 juin 2011. Cahier de l'ORIO.;
• Breiger, R. L., Schoon, E. W., Rethemeyer, R. K., Milward, H. B., Melamed, D., Breiger, R. L., Asal, V., & Ackerman, G. (2011). Application of a profile similarity methodology for identifying terrorist groups that use or pursue CBRN weapons. In Social Computing, Behavioral-Cultural Modeling, and Prediction, 6589, 26-33.
  More info

  No single profile fits all CBRN-active groups, and therefore it is important to identify multiple profiles. In the analysis of terrorist organizations, linear and generalized regression modeling provide a set of tools to apply to data that is in the form of cases (named groups) by variables (traits and behaviors of the groups). We turn the conventional regression modeling "inside out" to reveal a network of relations among the cases on the basis of their attribute and behavioral similarity. We show that a network of profile similarity among the cases is built in to standard regression modeling, and that the exploitation of this aspect leads to new insights helpful in the identification of multiple profiles for actors. Our application builds on a study of 108 Islamic jihadist organizations that predicts use or pursuit of CBRN weapons.

Presentations

• Breiger, R. L. (2023, April). Regression Modeling as a Special Case of Network Analysis. Invited talk sponsored by the Wolfwebs, the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, and the Data Science Academy at North Carolina State University. Raleigh, NC: Wolfwebs, Department of Sociology, and NCSU Data Science Academy.
  More info

  Regression modeling and its many generalizations aim to study networks among variables. However, each variable is itself a way of dividing up the specific cases (whether persons, organizations, or national states) that comprise it. Networks of similarity among the cases are, for the most part, ignored and rendered invisible by regression models; this is a crucial limitation of traditional quantitative techniques. Colleagues and I have recently been formulating an approach to regression modeling that recognizes the duality (co-constitution) of cases and variables, redefining regression modeling as an instance of two-mode network analysis.  I will present and illustrate our current work in this talk. Turning the standard regression model “inside out,” we compute the usual regression coefficients from networks among the cases and variables. We show how research on network analysis, and insights from sociological field theory, allow analysts to expand their vision of what regression modeling can accomplish. The substantive application is relations of (dis)similarity among welfare states and the role of government transfers in reducing poverty.
• Davis, A. P., & Breiger, R. L. (2023, June). Making the Cases Visible: Revealing Genres of Insurgency by Turning Regression Inside Out. Sunbelt Social Networks Annual Conference. Portland, OR: International Network for Social Network Analysis.
  More info

  The classic 2003 paper of James Fearon and David Laitin on ethnicity, insurgency, and civil war, which has been cited well over 10,000 times, established that cross-national quantitative analyses provide useful ways to think about the role of ethnicity, democracy, and state capacity in subnational conflict mobilization. While their ecological approach is useful, regression coefficients can oftentimes hide important tendencies among cases or groupings of cases that combine to produce the estimates of those coefficients. . We argue that case-based and network approaches—those emphasizing the context and history of particular conflicts, and a network of similarities and differences among conflicts—offer a more nuanced perspective for understanding the circumstances that increase the likelihood of conflict, given a range of possible realities relating to a nation’s characteristics. In this paper we re-analyze Fearon and Laitin’s classic dataset while formulating a novel approach to the comparative study of the network of profile similarities and differences among subnational conflicts worldwide.  We show that, inside the regression modeling employed by Fearon and Laitin and many other researchers, there are important opportunities for using the variables to learn about the distinctive features of the cases, rather than (as in usual applications of regression analyses as currently practiced) making the cases invisible. We turn regression modeling “inside out” so as to exploit the variables as a means to let the cases be seen. Our analyses move beyond that of Fearon and Laitin by using their own data to reveal the multiplicity of ways in which ethnic differentiation within states  affects civil conflict.
• Breiger, R. L. (2022, September). Keynote Lecture: Turning Regression Modeling Inside Out. Summer School on Relational Spatial Methods at the Technical University of Berlin. Berlin, Germany: Technical University of Berlin; University of Potsdam; University of Paris - Saclay.
  More info

  Regression modeling and its many generalizations aim to study networks among variables. However, each variable is itself a way of dividing up the specific cases (whether persons, organizations, or national states) that comprise it. Relations and mappings among the cases are, for the most part, ignored and rendered invisible by regression models; this is a crucial limitation of traditional quantitative techniques. Colleagues and I have recently been formulating an approach to regression modeling that recognizes the duality (co-constitution) of cases and variables. I will present and illustrate our current work in this talk. Turning the standard regression model “inside out,” we compute the usual regression coefficients from a network among the cases. Building on many existing results, bringing them together in new ways, we show how research on network analysis (SNA), and insights from sociological field theory and from geometric data analysis (GDA), may be applied to the two-mode array (cases by variables) that provides the material for regression modeling. Doing so leads to new discoveries about the social-relational space within which we assert that regression models operate. I review recent work of our group on these topics and discuss several examples, focusing on relations of (dis)similarity among welfare states and the role of government transfers in reducing poverty. [In-person keynote lecture]  https://sfb1265.de/wp-content/uploads/Summer-School_Programme_12-15.09.2022_V2.pdf
• Breiger, R. L., & Breiger, R. L. (2022, September). Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) as a Method for Studying Relations and Places. Methods Conference: Relational Spatial Methods, at the Technical University of Berlin. Berlin, Germany: Technical University of Berlin; University of Potsdam; University of Paris - Saclay.
  More info

  One of the most promising and highly influential strategies for moving beyond the unfortunate dichotomy of “qualitative” vs. “quantitative” analyses is the Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) approach developed by Charles Ragin. As Cairns et al. (2017, doi: 10.1111/AREA.12327) point out, a major benefit of QCA is that it can handle complexity by exploring different pathways that generate the same outcome, which is useful for much spatial and place-based research. The basic argument put forward in this presentation is that how QCA works—the mechanism of the method—is closely and informatively related to techniques of two-mode data analysis, including lattice analysis, geometric data analysis (GDA), and two-mode network analysis. The benefit for QCA includes new and helpful search procedures for discovering multiple QCA solutions that identify key configurations of variables while also indicating the sets of cases for which each configuration is relevant. In this talk I illustrate these contentions by means of reanalysis of several datasets that have previously been studied by developers of QCA, including a study of how qualities of places influence health resilience, and a study of comparative success of left-libertarian parties in eighteen established democracies. [In-person presentation] https://sfb1265.de/wp-content/uploads/Methods-Conference_Programme_16-17.09.2022_V2.pdf
• Pfeffer, J., Amendola, C., Drton, M., & Breiger, R. L. (2022, July). CONCOR Revisited: Algebraic Clarifications and Practical Implications. International Sunbelt Social Networks Conference. Cairns, Australia: International Network for Social Network Analysis (INSNA).
  More info

  In 1975, Breiger et al. presented an algorithm, CONCOR (an acronym derived from "convergence of iterated correlations"), for bipartite partitioning of network data. While most clustering algorithms aim to identify cohesive subgroups of nodes that are more densely connected among themselves than to other nodes in the network, the aim of the CONCOR algorithm is to obtain a partition of the vertices of the network graph into two blocks, in which the vertices in each block are considered to be structurally equivalent, or at least structurally similar. CONCOR is very versatile and can be applied to multi-relational networks and can even incorporate network attributes into the clustering procedure. However, the algorithm was criticized in the past for having opaque arithmetic properties. The major drawback of CONCOR can be summarized with Arabie & Schleutermann's (1990) observation that "CONCOR is a convenient algorithm which happens to yield substantive results rather than a compelling model as its mathematical properties are still not fully understood." The goal of this paper is to create a better understanding of algebraic and algorithmic properties of the CONCOR algorithm and to offer new perspectives on possible application scenarios. [Presentation by Juergen Pfeffer]
• Breiger, R. L. (2021, January). Keynote talk: Social Structure and Community Detection. Winter Institute in Computational Social Science (WICSS). Tucson, AZ (via zoom): SICCS (Summer Institutes in Computational Social Sciences) core foundation sponsors and University of Arizona.
  More info

  From January 3 to January 9 of 2021, the SICSS core sponsors and the University of Arizona sponsored the first Winter Institute in Computational Social Science, a partner site for SICSS. The purpose of the event was to bring together graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and junior faculty interested in computational social science. The event was held virtually, and attracted both social scientists (broadly conceived) and data scientists (broadly conceived). https://sicss.io/2020/tucson/
• Breiger, R. L. (2021, September). Toward a Critical Social Network Analysis. Fifth European Conference on Social Neworks (EUSN 2021). Naples, Italy (via zoom): European Conference on Social Networks.
  More info

  For a session on "Recent ethical challenges in social network analysis," organized by Paola Tubaro, Louise Ryan, Antonio Casilli and Alessio D'Angelo.
• Breiger, R. L., & Smith, J. G. (2021, May). Conflicts as Networks of Event Orderings. Invited participant, international conference on Mathematics for Social Sciences and Arts--Algebraic Modeling. University of Nis (Serbia; via zoom): University of Nis (Serbia), University of Abomey-Calavi (Benin), University of Sydney (Australia), University of Windsor (Canada).
  More info

  Associative relationships play important role in a variety of mathematics applications, from sociology to the study of languages, music, education and cognition. For example, social scientists have long been interested in the nature and propagation of human relationships, resulting in the field of social network analysis. Perhaps unsurprisingly, semigroups of social relationships have been utilised to formally represent these relationships, which range from kinship to more fluid forms of social interactions. In this series of conferences, we explore recent developments in semigroups as well as other basic algebraic structures and some of their applications in modeling social relationships, their origins and consequences. The MS2A2M 2021 gathers an international team of speakers with expertise in different disciplines to help shed light at ways in which mathematics is learned, understood, communicated, applied in various domains, and in dialogue with other sciences. http://mathsocart.masfak.ni.ac.rs/About_Conference.html
• Breiger, R. L., & Breiger, R. L. (2020, February). Invited participant at a two-day meeting organized by the ASU Threatcasting Lab for the U.S. Defense Threat Reduction Agency. The future intersection of cyber threats and WMD. Arizona State University's Applied Lab (ASU Research Enterprise, ASURE); Skysong Center; Scottsdale, AZ: ASU Threatcasting Lab and US Defense Threat Reduction Agency.
  More info

  The Threatcasting Lab at Arizona State University is based at ASU's Global Security Initiative and at the School for the Future of Innovation in Society. Its mission is to serve as the premier resource for strategic insight, teaching materials, and exceptional subject matter expertise on Threatcasting, envisioning possible threats ten years in the future. The Lab strives to provide a wide range of organizations and institutions actionable models not only to comprehend these possible futures, but to serve as a means to identify, track, disrupt, mitigate and recover from them as well. Its reports, programming and materials will bridge gaps and prompt information exchange and learning across military, academic, industrial and governmental communities. https://threatcasting.com/about/
• Breiger, R. L., Breiger, R. L., Wagner-Pacifici, R., Wagner-Pacifici, R., Mohr, J. W., & Mohr, J. W. (2020, Summer-Fall). Sociological and socio-political insights and foundations. Multimodal Rhetoric in Online Media Communication. Bielefeld, Germany, via video conferencing: ZiF - Bielefeld University Center for Interdisciplinary Research.
  More info

  As a Fellow (May - Sept 2020) of the Working Group on Multimodal Rhetoric in Online Media Communication (ZiF, Center for Interdisciplinary Research, University of Bielefeld, Germany), I presented work of our team on sociological and socio-political foundations and insights. The Research Group will investigate how the proliferation of media channels enables political sub-communities to manage and control the creation and dissemination of alternative rhetorical discourses, including advertisements that are personalized according to user profiles and false news stories which have been found to spread faster and more widely than true news stories in platforms such as Twitter. Given that these discourses are increasingly supplanting traditional consensus-based media frameworks, it is essential to understand the mechanisms through which these discourses operate. An integral component of these investigations will be the ideational formulations being supported and resisted in rhetorical formations across mainstream and social media platforms (e.g. nationalism, popularism, humanitarism and racism). The project will highlight key questions of how meanings arising from the integration of language, images and videos can undercut or repoint fragments of discourses grounded in conventional systems of truth and rational argumentation in order to promote more loaded and extremist rhetorical formulations. This project will deliver a Proof of Concept methodology and functional computational system building on multimodal discourse analysis, sociopolitical models of rhetorical effects, and computational deep semantic processing of language, images and their combinations. https://www.uni-bielefeld.de/(en)/ZiF/FG/2020Multimodal/
• Breiger, R. L., & Breiger, R. L. (2019, August). Community Detection: Beyond Community Structure (the James S. Coleman Distinguished Career Achievement Award Lecture). American Sociological Association Annual Meeting. New York, NY: American Sociological Association Section on Mathematical Sociology.
  More info

  The James S. Coleman Distinguished Career Achievement Award recognizes a career of outstanding contributions to the field of Mathematical Sociology. The recipient is further invited to give an honorary lecture at the subsequent meeting. The 2019 lecture was given by Ronald Breiger, recipient of the 2018 James S. Coleman Award. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematical_sociology#Awards_in_mathematical_sociology
• Breiger, R. L., & Breiger, R. L. (2019, November). Analyzing a Network of Context via Dual-to-Regression Modeling. Mini-conference on Network Ecology. Stanford University: Center for Education Research at Stanford (CERAS).
  More info

  Invited participant, Mini-Conference on Network Ecology. Social networks are embedded in cultural, institutional, and material contexts that affect tie formation processes and the resulting network topologies. For example, romantic entanglements are subject to social and cultural norms, interfirm alliances vary by industry- and country-specific legislation, and adolescent friendships are conditioned by neighborhood effects and ethnic composition. In short, contexts clearly matter for the formation and stabilization of social relations. Which contexts matter, how exactly, and when, however, remain to be established. The aim of this mini-conference is to consider whether and how these and related questions can be addressed through an ecological lens. Organizers: Malte Doehne (University of Zurich), Daniel McFarland (Stanford University), James Moody (Duke University).
• Mohr, J. W., Mohr, J. W., Wagner-Pacifici, R., Wagner-Pacifici, R., Breiger, R. L., Breiger, R. L., Cornell, D., & Cornell, D. (2019, November). Relational Templates in Policy Documents. Social Science History Association Annual Meeting (SSHA 2019). Chicago, IL: Social Science History Association.
  More info

  Our recent work has emphasized a family of text analysis procedures that may be applied to public policy documents and that share two principal qualities: they are low-tech, and they are aimed at uncovering—not resolving or disambiguating—strategic uncertainties in texts. We extend this line of work as applied to US policy documents in the national security domain, beginning by noting that these documents are permeated by relational network structures, some explicit (regional alliances, treaty alliances) and some implicit. The latter are of particular interest to us.
• Rambotti, S., Rambotti, S., Breiger, R. L., & Breiger, R. L. (2019, August). Extreme and Inconsistent: A Case-Oriented Regression Analysis of Health, Inequality, and Poverty. American Sociological Association Annual Meeting. New York, NY: American Sociological Association Section on Comparative-Historical Sociology.
  More info

  Macro-comparative research is characterized by a methodological paradox: it routinely violates the assumptions that underlie its dominant method, that is, multiple regression analysis. Comparative researchers have substantive interest in their cases, but multiple regression analysis treats such cases as random samples of a given population, making them invisible throughout the analysis, and providing the researcher with generalizable inferences of variable effects. Researchers do not always recognize this mismatch between macro-comparative demands and multiple regression analysis, and sometimes end up engaging in strenuous disputes over particular variable effects. Case in point is the question of whether income inequality affects health, which has produced hundreds of articles over 25 years of research, and no clear answer yet. Here, we offer an innovative methodology that combines variable-oriented and case-oriented approaches, by turning OLS regression models “inside out.” Using singular value decomposition, we estimate case-specific contributions to regression coefficient estimates. We reanalyze published data on income inequality, poverty, and life expectancy across affluent countries. We show that different model specifications are all dependent on two countries with values on the outcome that are extreme in magnitude and inconsistent with theoretical expectations.
• Breiger, R. L. (2018, December). Public Lecture: Social Networks and Cultural Holes. International Guest Professorship, University of Bamberg, Germany. https://www.dropbox.com/s/atsxoktayibkxc7/Call_Workshop_Breiger.pdf?dl=0. University of Bamberg, Germany.
  More info

  https://www.dropbox.com/s/atsxoktayibkxc7/Call_Workshop_Breiger.pdf?dl=0
• Breiger, R. L. (2018, May). Multivariate Analysis as a Dual Network Problem. Featured Speaker, Southwest Summer Conference on Data Science. Biosphere 2, Oracle, AZ: UA-TRIPODS, Transdisciplinary Research in the Principles of Data Science.
  More info

  The main goal of this conference is to bring together researchers and scientists in data science in this inspiring and relaxed place, presenting new results on theory, methods, applications, and exchanging ideas. The events will include plenary talks, mini-courses and informal discussions. Four technical sessions with themes on 1) optimization and learning, 2) graphs algorithms and network data analysis, 3) imaging analytics and data visualization, 4) natural language processing and Bayesian methods. https://sites.google.com/math.arizona.edu/tripodsconference/program
• Breiger, R. L. (2018, October). Invited Talk: Toward Reconciling Big Data with Astute Thinking: Semi-automated Text Analysis of Documents on International Relations. Koc University, Department of International Relations, Istanbul, Turkey. Istanbul, Turkey: Koc University, Department of International Relations.
  More info

  Recent computational advances (such as natural language processing and topic modeling) allow massively huge amounts of text to be processed and patterns discovered while analyzing documents on international relations. These spectacularly efficient and highly useful pattern-detection methods do not, however, capture the nuance that a close textual reading would uncover, and in this sense the mechanized procedures are distant from the text. As between distant and close readings, we are currently exploring the possibility for a “third way” for text analysis: a transparent, low-tech text-reduction scheme based on how people actually use language. This low-tech approach involves locating a small number of text segments (hence reducing complexity) that can be read carefully by a human (hence preserving nuance).This talk illustrates several tools for text analysis that enhance the control of human readers in the analysis of international relations texts, while still preserving many advantages of automated text analysis. To illustrate the benefits we are seeking from our “middle way” to text analysis, we apply this approach to public National Security Strategy statements issued by US Presidents in recent decades. https://www.dropbox.com/s/s22b94ot1bsb3b5/Talk%20announcement.png?dl=0
• Breiger, R. L. (2017, April). Invited participant. Conference on Fields, Logics, Framing, and Cognition. Berkeley, CA: Center for Culture, Organization, and Politics, and Department of Sociology, University of California - Berkeley.
  More info

  From the conference description: "We begin by noting the idea of a 'field', defined as a meso-level social order where something is at stake and where actors have positions and orient their actions toward one another, as central to our attempts to construct a theory of structure and action.... Our goal is to bring scholars together who have espoused these points of view and have them engage in dialogue to try to connect these theoretical elements together. Toward this end, we intend to invite 20-30 scholars to join our conversation." Organizers: Neil Fligstein (Berkeley), Heather Haveman (Berkeley), John Levi Martin (Chicago), Stephen Vaisey (Duke).
• Breiger, R. L. (2017, August). Panelist, Policy and Research Workshop: New Tools for Measuring Culture. American Sociological Association annual meeting. Montreal, QC, Canada: American Sociological Association.
  More info

  The sociological study of culture has long been advanced through qualitative methods that focus on problems of interpretation, hermeneutics, subjectivity, “thick description,” and the study of implicit knowledge. Over the last 25 years quantitative sociologists have also increasingly been turning their attention to the study of culture. Initially this work embraced a production of culture approach which de-emphasized cultural content in favor of studies of cultural organizations and markets, but more recently we have also seen many new projects that seek to use formal methods to pursue more interpretative analyses of culture. This tendency has accelerated with the rise of social network modeling and more recently with an explosion of techniques for Big Data analysis, as many more opportunities are opening up to study culture in its relational aspects (both social and semiotic), to mine cultural content that is stored in digital formats, and to move from content analysis to the large-scale study of (what many analysts consider to be) unmediated text data. In this workshop we will review some of the main styles of formal studies of culture with the goal of providing a general overview of these methodologies, showing what they can and cannot do, and pointing workshop attendees to other important citations, training resources, and new research tools. Topics include forms of cultural analysis that employ network analysis methods, correspondence analysis, computational linguistics, social media data as well as other forms of Big Data.
• Breiger, R. L. (2017, February). Narrative and Variable-Centered Analyses of Conflict: Toward a Reconciliation. Networks and Time Seminar Series. Columbia University, New York City: Interdisciplinary Center for Innovative Theory and Empirics (INCITE), Columbia University.
  More info

  Peter Abell put forward a qualitative network-of-events approach to narrative as a counterpoint to the better-established variable-centered form of explanation that dominates empirical social science, and he ultimately proposed to seek an “intellectual rapprochement” between the two. I review two recent studies that colleagues and I have undertaken that suggest paths toward such a reconciliation. https://www.dropbox.com/s/2qxktddm9b8dcgr/INCITE_talk_announcement_Feb3_2017.pdf?dl=0
• Breiger, R. L. (2017, March). Invited participant. International Seminar -- Socio-semantic Patterns. Sciences Po Medialab, Paris.. Paris, France: Sciences Po Medialab.
  More info

  [From the conference description:] The seminar is intended to discuss micro-principles of how social and semantic/meaning/cultural structures account for each other. The main goal of the meeting is to come up with a set of patterns describing how it happens in different situations. The theoretical perspectives on relationships between language/culture and social structure may differ in viewing relations between these structures as unidirectional (one impacting the other) or bidirectional (co-evolution, hence assuming also that each of the structures are partly self- organizing). However, the intention is not to discuss or choose between the theoretical views, but to account for the diversity of many different possible structural configurations, even if they mutually exclude each other and compete (perhaps, corresponding to different possible theorization contexts). Format: single track, each day accommodates a session of talks and a round table on one of the three main themes. https://iscpif.fr/upcomingevents/international-seminar-socio-semantic-patterns/
• Breiger, R. L., & Smith, J. (2017, September). Conflicts as Networks of Event Orderings. Third European Conference on Social Networks (EUSN2017). Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany: DFG, INSNA.
  More info

  There has recently been increased interest in theorizing a greater diversity of networks, and in particular in using network analysis to exploit relations between events and the attributes, actions, and variables that can be used to characterize them. In this paper we advance this line of inquiry with respect to insurgencies, an important example of collective action within a political context. . One productive way for analyzing an insurgency is to view it as a network of sequenced variables across stages (periods) of the conflict. Reanalyzing data on the thirty most recently completed insurgencies, we construct a network of insurgencies as a means of measuring the degree of overlap among their sequenced activities. The network among insurgencies is informative in identifying sequences of events that predict outcomes of interest, and aids in the identification and analysis of anomalous cases. We explore this formulation, point out some of its limitations, and present illustrative analysis demonstrating how new and useful insights can be obtaining by combining our formal approach with one grounded in the comparative analysis of case studies.
• Breiger, R. L. (2016, 2016-09-16). Networks of Profile Similarity among Events. Networks & Events Workshop, Yale University (invitation-only faculty workshop). Yale University, New Haven, CT: Yale School of Management and Yale Institute for Network Science.
  More info

  Conference theme: As progress is made on uncovering the principles behind network dynamics, the dynamics of diffusion through networks, and processes of tie formation and network activation, it is becoming clearer that meso-level layers of social organization (such as neighborhoods, organizations, and events) and their impact on these processes need to be brought more clearly into focus. We propose a conference that focuses theorizing, measuring, and modeling the impact of events on network structures, evolutionary dynamics of networks, patterns of diffusion, and the valence and content of network ties. There is a rich body of work theorizing the impact of events on social structures (Sewell, Sahlins). Events have a large potential impact on processes of tie formation as they generally bring together large groups of people, have different mixing patterns (different parts of the population interact and interact in different ways) than routine interaction, and often provide a common focal point (ritual, performance, objective, or other) that can serve to help coordinate participants, for example by binding them together through shared meaning/common experience, as might occur at a public demonstration, religious festival, or ceremony. Events also afford a unique temporal moment in which networks have unusual pliability to allow for changes in leadership and coalition formation and therefore offer a unique pathway into social dynamics broadly conceived.
• Breiger, R. L. (2016, July). Keynote address: Toward a Greater Diversity of Networks. Networks in the Global World (NetGloW 2016) -- St. Petersburg, Russia. St. Petersburg, Russia: Centre for German and European Studies, St. Petersburg State University; German Academic Exchange (DAAD).
  More info

  I was invited to present the lead keynote address at the conference, Networks in the Global World (NetGlow 2016), held in St. Petersburg, Russia. By invitation I also served on the conference Program Committee and chaired two sessions (on Network Analysis of Cultural and Social Duality, and on Qualitative Analysis of Multi-modal Networks). http://ngw2016.spbu.ru/
• Breiger, R. L. (2016, June). Invited Critique: Multilevel network analysis for the social sciences: Theory, methods and applications. Second European Conference on Social Networks (Sciences Po, Paris) - EUSN2016. Paris, France: Sciences Po, CNRS, INSNA.
  More info

  Invited critique of Multilevel Network Analysis in the Social Sciences: Theory, Methods, and Applications (2016) by Emmanuel Lazega and Tom Snijders (editors) and 22 additional contributors. http://eusn2016.sciencesconf.org/
• Breiger, R. L. (2016, March). Distinguished Lecture -- Community Detection: Beyond Community Structure. Distinguished Lecturer Series, Yale University Institute for Network Science. New Haven, CT: Yale University Institute for Network Science.
  More info

  Watch the talk on Youtube, courtesy of Yale University Institute for Network Science:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftxVvmj8Iok&feature=youtu.be
• Breiger, R. L., Wagner-Pacifici, R., & Mohr, J. W. (2016, December). Capturing Distinctions while Mining Text Data: Toward Low-Tech Formalization for Text Analysis. MIS Speakers Series. University of Arizona: Department of Management Information Systems, Eller College of Management, University of Arizona.
  More info

  Recent computational advances (such as natural language processing and topic modeling) allow massively huge amounts of text to be processed and patterns discovered. These spectacularly efficient and highly useful pattern-detection methods do not, however, capture the nuance that a close textual reading attentive to semiotics would uncover, and in this sense the mechanized procedures are distant from the text. As between distant and close readings, my colleagues and I are currently exploring the possibility for a “third way” for text analysis: a transparent, low-tech text-reduction scheme based on how people actually use language. This low-tech approach involves locating a small number of text segments (hence reducing complexity) that can be read carefully by a human (hence preserving nuance). https://mis.eller.arizona.edu/events/02dec2016/mis-speakers-series-ronald-breiger
• Breiger, R. L., Wagner-Pacifici, R., & Mohr, J. W. (2016, October). Capturing Distinctions while Mining Text Data: Toward Low-Tech Formalization for Text Analysis (R.L. Breiger, R. Wagner-Pacifici, J.W. Mohr). Workshop - Formalizing Culture (University of Bern / Swiss National Science Foundation). Bern, Switzerland: Swiss National Science Foundation.
  More info

  Recent advances in the sociology of culture have contributed to an increased interest in the formalization of culture. This includes both conceptual advances and computational developments in network analysis, text modeling, machine learning, etc. This workshop aims at bringing together international scholars to showcase and discuss recent approaches to the measurement of culture in various forms as well as the operationalization of related mechanisms. http://www.soz.unibe.ch/index_eng.html
• Dabkowski, M. F., Fan, N., & Breiger, R. L. (2016, April). Exact Exploratory Blockmodeling of Multiple Relation, Mixed-Mode Networks. International Network for Social Network Analysis annual conference (INSNA 2016). Newport Beach, CA: International Network for Social Network Analysis (INSNA).
  More info

  Since its earliest formulation in the mid-1970’s, blockmodeling has emphasized the necessity of incorporating multiple relations (White, Boorman, & Breiger, 1976; Boorman & White, 1976). As White et al. argue in their seminal paper, “many different types of tie are needed to portray the social structure of a population” (1976, p. 739). However, despite this foundational emphasis and several notable exceptions (i.e., Baker, 1986; Borgatti & Everett, 1992; Batagelj, Ferligoj, & Doreian, 2007; Brusco, Doreian, Steinley, & Satornino, 2013; Ziberna, 2014), the vast majority of published research over the past 40 years has focused on solving blockmodels for a single relation. When multiple relations exist, a reductionist approach is often employed, where the relations are either stacked or aggregated into a single matrix, allowing the researcher to apply single relation blockmodeling techniques. Nonetheless, this simplification can mask structural nuances within the individual relations.Moreover, while improved methods for solving single relation blockmodels have been immensely valuable and are implemented in popular network analysis software (i.e., Pajek’s incorporation of direct blockmodeling (Doreian, Batagelj, & Ferligoj, 2005)), they are ultimately heuristics. Accordingly, while they provide good, locally optimal solutions, they cannot guarantee that better fitting solutions do not exist. Again, there are several notable exceptions where researchers have developed and implemented exact methods (i.e., Brandes & Lerner, 2010; Brusco, Doreian, Mrvar, & Steinley, 2013; Brusco & Steinley, 2009); however, these methods exist for a single relation.Accordingly, in this paper we extend Brusco and Steinley’s (2009) exact procedure to the exploratory blockmodeling of multiple relation, mixed-mode networks. In particular, given (a) N1 actors, (b) N2 events, (c) an (N1 x N1) binary one-mode network depicting the ties between actors, and (d) an (N1 x N2) binary two-mode network representing the ties between actors and events, we use integer programming to simultaneously find the globally optimal (P1 x P1) actor-by-actor and (P1 x P2) actor-by-event image matrices, along with their associated partitions. Given the computational complexity of this problem, we also develop an algorithm to generate a minimal set of non-isomorphic image matrices of size (P1 x P1 | P1 x P2) greatly reducing the total number of image matrices that must be fit when compared to the set of all possible (P1 x P1 | P1 x P2) image matrices. We illustrate these concepts using a simple, hypothetical example, and we apply our technique to a network of nations.
• Mohr, J. W., Wagner-Pacifici, R., & Breiger, R. L. (2016, April). Toward A Computational Hermeneutics for Social Network Analysis. International Network for Social Network Analysis annual conference (INSNA 2016). Newport Beach, CA: International Network for Social Network Analysis (INSNA).
  More info

  Network analysis has increasingly been applied to the study of texts, especially within the context of Big Data. This has resulted in a burgeoning field of innovative new work in theory, measurement, and substantive analysis by prominent network researchers including Kathleen Carley, Jana Diesner, and Peter Bearman, among others. We argue that this expansive research at the intersection of network analysis and text mining opens up the possibility of an additional new departure that deserves thoughtful consideration, a move that we, following the literary critic Kenneth Burke, identify as a shift from a semantic reading of textual data to a poetic reading. As close readers of a text are aware, there is always more than one way to read a corpus. However, in one sense the core logic of the field has not changed since the classic “content analysis” pioneered by Harold Lasswell at the end of the Second World War: the goal is to extract the main bits of communicative content from the corpus, to apply formal models to extract the principal components of the meaning (or communication) structures, and to map those onto the textual space of the corpus. According to Burke, a semantic interpretation seeks to clarify and to specify the precise and manifest communication intention of a text, in much the same way that a postal system seeks to establish a clear an unambiguous mapping of written addresses and geophysical destinations so that mail can be efficiently mapped to its proper destination. This mode of interpretation remains the central focus of text mining including network analyses. In contrast, Burke put forward the concept of a poetic interpretation as concerned, not with the thinning out of meaning, but on the contrary, with the filling out of meaning. A poetic interpretation comprehends the complex multiplicity of layered meanings and, rather than avoiding drama, envisions a vocabulary that works through drama. As we see it, the first century of textual analysis has been focused on semantic interpretation in Burke’s sense. We expect that the next century will focus on the poetic. Toward this end we seek to advance the emergence of a strand of text mining that we call computational hermeneutics. The central idea is that all available text analysis tools can and should be drawn upon as needed in order to pursue a particular theory of reading. We illustrate with a series of one-mode and two-mode relational examples from our analysis of eleven US National Security Strategy statements published from 1990 to 2010. We ask, how might we apply the new computer-based tools to read this corpus just as the literary critic Burke would have read it? One example: how the network of relations among key agents, actions, and objects of concern shifted from the Clinton to the G.W. Bush administrations in framing the problem of terrorism.
• Roberts, J. M., Peeples, M., Mills, B. J., & Breiger, R. L. (2016, April). Filtering methods in the archaeological context. International Network for Social Network Analysis annual conference (INSNA 2016). Newport Beach, CA: International Network for Social Network Analysis (INSNA).
  More info

  Research on archaeological networks often involves analysis of site-by-site networks based on continuous measures of the similarity between sites’ artifact assemblages. While the weighted (and possibly complete) ties in such networks make it difficult to produce satisfactory network diagrams, such displays may be a primary attraction of network research for archaeologists who are not steeped in network analytic methods. Therefore it is important to consider how to best display such data. A variety of “filtering” methods have been developed to address similar situations in other substantive areas. After noting how archaeologists have tackled this problem to date, we consider the applicability and effectiveness of some of these filtering methods in the archaeological context. We use ceramic similarity data from Southwest Social Networks project of Mills and colleagues to investigate these methods.
• Schoon, E., Breiger, R. L., & Melamed, D. (2016, Summer). Networks of Legitimation and the Multiple Paths to Armed Conflict Recurrence. American Sociological Association Annual Meeting. Seattle, WA: American Sociological Association.
  More info

  Since the end of World War II, intrastate conflicts have outpaced interstate conflicts by five to one, and increasingly the overwhelming majority of intrastate conflicts are recurrences of a previous conflict. However, scholarship on the causes of conflict recurrence is characterized by contradictions. In this research we situate these contradictions within multiple pathways to conflict recurrence. Combining a novel approach to the decomposition of regression coefficients and comparative historical analysis applied across 216 cases of intrastate conflict from 1946 to 2005, we show that the causes and dynamics of conflict recurrence follow four distinct causal pathways depending on whether the initial conflict ended with a government victory, rebel victory, peace agreement or ceasefire. Building on these findings, we engage recent literature emphasizing the role of legitimacy in affecting conflict recurrence. We show how turning attention to the relational dynamics of legitimation and the networks among actors engaged in conflicts allows enhanced understanding of the effects of legitimacy and illegitimacy on recurrence in light of the prevailing social and structural conditions following the initial conflict.
• Asal, V., Breiger, R. L., Rethemeyer, R. K., & Schoon, E. (2015, 2015-04-21). Insurgency, Terrorism, and Organizational Behavior. DHS / START / Minerva Strategic Multilayer Assessment Technical Lecture Series (The Pentagon). The Pentagon (Deputy Director for Global Operations, DDGO), Room 1D557, via remote telecon.
  More info

  Questions we are exploring: (1) When do insurgents use terrorism? (2) What makes insurgents particularly lethal terrorists? (3) What makes them likely to pursue or use chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear (CBRN) weapons? (4) Given the rare nature of RN is there an approach that can identify groups of interest usefully by analyzing empirical data?
• Breiger, R. L. (2015, 2015-06-02). Community Detection for Multiple Directed Networks. Network Science Seminar (UCSB IGERT). University of California, Santa Barbara, Network Science IGERT (NSF program).
  More info

  A large stream of research spurred by the work of Mark Newman has developed methods for the detection of community structure, defined as the appearance of densely connected groups of vertices (relative to a null model), with only sparser connections between groups. Two points (related to each other) that have been noted in a recent comprehensive review are that (a) research on the community structure of multilayer networks is in need of much further development, and (b) much more work is needed on mesoscale features other than community structure, both in single-layer and multilayer networks.I suggest that a particular approach to community detection in the case of networks of directed ties leads naturally to a broadening of the kinds of patterns that are of interest to analysts who employ leading eigenvector community detection algorithms. My talk presents, not a thoroughly new or general method, but rather some hopefully novel insight into directed networks as a distinctive kind of multilayer network, as well as into how multiple directed (and undirected) networks can be modeled within a single analysis based on a straightforward extension of leading eigenvector community detection. A suitable version of the modularity matrix for this task will in general not yield community structure, but rather a pattern in which each identified set in a partition of nodes may in principle have unusually dense (or sparse) connections with every other such set, a pattern that may be distinctive with respect to each of the multiple networks analyzed. This work thus uses fundamental ideas from the community detection literature to move beyond a sole reliance on the pattern of community structure, and thus it enlarges the toolbox of mesoscale patterns available to analysts of multilayer networks. I illustrate the suggested approach by means of analyses of several well-known multilayer networks, including appropriate assessments of model fit.
• Breiger, R. L. (2015, 2015-06-24). Community Detection for Multiple Directed Networks. International Network for Social Network Analysis (INSNA) Sunbelt Conference (Brighton, UK). Brighton, UK: International Network for Social Network Analysis (INSNA).
  More info

  A large stream of research spurred by work of Mark Newman has developed methods for the detection of community structure, defined as the appearance of densely connected groups of vertices (relative to a null model), with only sparser connections between groups. Two points (related to each other) that have been noted in a recent comprehensive review are that (a) research on the community structure of multilayer networks is in need of much further development, and (b) much more work is needed on mesoscale features other than community structure, both in single-layer and multilayer networks. I suggest that a particular approach to community detection in the case of networks of directed ties leads naturally to a broadening of the kinds of patterns that are of interest to analysts who employ leading eigenvector community detection algorithms. My talk presents, not a thoroughly new or general method, but rather some hopefully novel insight into directed networks as a distinctive kind of multilayer network, as well as into how multiple directed (and undirected) networks can be modeled within a single analysis based on a straightforward extension of leading eigenvector community detection. A suitable version of the modularity matrix for this task will in general not yield community structure, but rather a pattern in which each identified set in a partition of nodes may in principle have unusually dense (or sparse) connections with every other such set, a pattern that may be distinctive with respect to each of the multiple networks analyzed. This work thus uses fundamental ideas from the community detection literature to move beyond a sole reliance on the pattern of community structure, and thus it enlarges the toolbox of mesoscale patterns available to analysts of multilayer networks. I illustrate the suggested approach by means of analyses of several well-known multilayer networks, including appropriate assessments of model fit.
• Breiger, R. L. (2015, 2015-07-21). Brief on grant progress, DTRA Basic Research Technical Rview. Defense Threat Reduction Agency Basic Research Technical Review. Springfield, VA: Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA).
  More info

  The purpose of the DTRA Basic Research Technical Review (BRTR) is to evaluate the technical progress made by basic research awardees and ensure advancement of on-going research efforts. The review also provides an excellent opportunity to foster collaborations, for mutual edification across the community of C-WMD researchers, and to build relationships with students and post-doctoral fellows.
• Breiger, R. L. (2015, 2015-10-08). Linear Modeling as a Network Problem. European Research Council (ERC), NEXUS 1492 Project Meeting. musee du quai Branly, Paris, FR: European Research Council (ERC), NEXUS 1492 Project http://www.nexus1492.eu/.
  More info

  NEXUS 1492 is a European Research Council (ERC) Synergy Project (six years, 15 million Euros, three lead universities: Leiden, Amsterdam, Konstanz). NEXUS 1492 brings together archaeologists, network scientists, historians, preservationists, conservationists, and scholars from many disciplines to provide a novel perspective on New World encounters in a globalizing world before and after Columbus, focusing on the Caribbean region. My invited presentation focused on applications to archaeology of my profile-similarity regression modeling.
• Breiger, R. L. (2015, 2015-12-13). How to Turn Linear Modeling into a study of Networks and Fields. Social Research Seminar and Public Policy Series (NYU in Abu Dhabi). Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates: New York University in Abu Dhabi.
  More info

  Conventional regression modeling pertains to relations among variables. In this talk however I show that such modeling has a dual and may be turned “inside out,” in that the usual regression coefficients may in fact be usefully defined and computed from a network among the cases. We seek to use the variables to learn about the cases. Research on network modeling, and insights from sociological field theory, may be applied to this network, and doing so leads to new discoveries about the organizational and relational underpinnings of regression models and their applications. I review recent work of my research group on these topics, and discuss several different examples involving welfare states and other forms of social organization. Among the gains of our approach: aggregating regression coefficients over an entire sample (as is usually done) may mask systematic variability that our approach helps to sort out (some sets of cases may be associated with strong positive effects while others exhibit strong negative effects). Standard regression models (and generalizations) can be understood from the perspective of sociological field theory. I argue that, rather than seeking to transcend “general linear reality,” relationally-oriented students of social organization should seek to get more out of it.
• Breiger, R. L., Crossley, N., Diani, M., Fulk, J., & Tindall, D. (2015, 2015-06-26). I was a critic in an Author Meets Critics session on Mario Diani's new book (The Cement of Civil Society). International Network for Social Network Analysis (INSNA) Annual Sunbelt Conference (Brighton, UK). Brighton, UK: International Network for Social Network Analysis (INSNA).
  More info

  Author Meets Critics session on Mario Diani's new book, The Cement of Civil Society (Cambridge University Press)
• Milward, H. B., Breiger, R. L., & Nardin, S. (2015, 2015-02-18). Agency in a Multi-Nodal World: Conflict Entrepreneurs. International Studies Association Annual Meeting. New Orleans, LA: International Studies Association.
  More info

  This paper begins by reviewing a theoretical framework capable of integrating game-theoretic and multi-nodal network analysis of individuals, corporate actors and their interests by means of case studies that are very well documented from a variety of credible sources. The goal of the larger project is to develop a theory capable of being tested in increasingly sophisticated analytical environments. In brief, we wish to unite networks, ecologies of games, and narratives of conflict in ways that will advance basic social science research and which will lead to policy relevant analytic methods that respond to calls for a national defense strategy appropriate for a multi-nodal world.We then turn to a focus on one particularly consequential aspect of a multi-nodal world - Diasporas, and specifically the role that they play in conflicts in their “imagined” homelands.We bring together four aspects of social life in the context of the ecology of diasporas mobilized for conflict. The ecology of diasporas includes (1) actors spanning the roles of conflict entrepreneurs, gangsters, and exile politicians, and the games they play; (2) the institutions that these actors create, such as banks, political lobbies, publications, churches, and cultural organizations; (3) the culture that these actors and actors before them have created that constitutes the unique milieu of a diaspora, featuring elements including identity, narratives of events, religion, and ties to the old country that together create the bonds of a diaspora; (4)events that may activate Diasporas to mobilize for conflict. In this paper these events center on the wars resulting from the breakup of Yugoslavia in the 1990s.Our proposed articulation of a multi-nodal (MN) approach attempts to strike a balance between capturing the rich complexity of state and non-state relations while simultaneously providing a coherent and generalizable conceptual framework. A three-pronged empirical and theoretical approach is vital to best capture this balance, with each approach addressing weaknesses in the others. Case studies provide important institutional and structural detail while actor-focused network analysis situates the actors as strategizing within a global context, and the ecology of games suggests a theoretical formalization of our approach.
• Mohr, J. W., Wagner-Pacifici, R., & Breiger, R. L. (2015, 2015-05-15). Narratives of National Security: Close and Distant Readings of Official Strategy Statements. 2nd Princeton-NYU Stern-Columbia Business School Conference on Automated Text Analysis. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University.
  More info

  Presented our collaborative research moving toward a computational hermeneutics, with applications to 20 years worth of US National Security Strategy reports.
• Odabas, M., Breiger, R. L., & Holt, T. J. (2015, 2015-07-02). Toward an Economic Sociology of Online Hacker Communities. Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics (SASE) Annual Meeting. London School of Economics; London, UK: Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics(SASE).
  More info

  There has been a great deal of concern with two types of hacker activity: information sharing in online discussion groups (via forums, Internet Relay Chat, etc.), and stolen data markets (such as credit card dumps and billing information). These new forms of underground economic activity deserve scholarly attention in the form of socio-economic analysis, since they generate both market-exchange relations and public-good sharing systems that are independent of state regulation or private-sector firms. This paper unifies the analysis of these two types of activity by understanding them as two varieties of economic organization.We make use of microeconomic theory to map these hacker activities as economic distribution mechanisms, while also pointing to how hackers have developed social solutions to the economic problems. We combine thinking from economics (on two-sided platform markets, and on local public goods) with that from sociology (emphasizing networks, fields, and practices) to theorize hacker activities. By means of a detailed review of empirical studies of online hacker behavior, we demonstrate how online hacker communities use social trust-creating mechanisms, reputation, internal regulation, and networks to solve problems identified in our economic analysis. Our argument is that the type of economic organization in these online hacker communities reflects the potential economic problems (adverse selection, moral hazard or free-riding) that the participants in the community can face, which in turn leads the participants or forum administrators to take suitable trust-creating mechanisms (among which are banning certain participants; rating the quality of the goods and/or participants’ efforts; escrow services) that directly affect the quality of social communication within the platform. As a result, while stolen data markets allow entrance to the community to people who do not define themselves as hackers but who are interested in hacking activities, the discussion forums generate communities that are defined by a hacker subculture. This discussion forum subculture fosters the feeling of belongingness and is characterized by a social hierarchy regarding the hacking talents of the participants.Our approach to theorizing and analyzing the organization of underground economic activities of hackers is also a call for sociologists to pay closer attention to the economic models of markets despite their underlying rationality assumptions. The field of economic sociology has innovated crucially important sociological concepts and approaches while often rejecting out of hand the kind of microeconomic thinking that we would like to bring in. Economic models are able to touch upon potential characteristics of the underground and informal markets we study due to the capacity to act rationally of market participants. As we demonstrate, sociologists can contribute realistic reformulations of these models by incorporating the role of emotions, social and cultural interactions, and networks.
• Schoon, E., Breiger, R. L., & Asal, V. (2015, 2015-02-19). Inverting Rare Events: Analyzing Non-Adoption of Radiological and Nuclear Weapons by Terrorist Groups. International Studies Association Annual Meeting. New Orleans, LA: International Studies Organization.
  More info

  The pursuit of radiological and nuclear weapons (RN) by violent non-state actors is a serious concern to both national and global security. However, assessing which violent groups are likely to pursue RN presents distinct challenges. Efforts to analyze observed cases of violent groups that have used or pursued these weapons reveal an absence of empirical patterns. We suggest that highly informative analyses can be achieved by inverting the problem; that is, by turning analytic attention to groups that do not use or pursue RN. Applying a novel methodological approach that combines configurational and correspondence analyses, we leverage a causal asymmetry between adoption and non-adoption of RN such that the conditions associated with adoption are diverse and varied, whereas the conditions leading to non-adoption are more evident and easily identifiable. Applying our approach to data on 580 terrorist groups from 1998 to 2007, we find meaningful patterns among groups that do not pursue RN, identifying cases with no known propensity for RN adoption and reducing the relevant population of cases that present a threat by as much as 83%. Building on the results of our analyses, we translate our approach into a system of classifying organizations based on the degree of certainty that they will not adopt RN.
• Stuetzer, C., Breiger, R. L., & Koehler, T. (2015, 2015-06-25). Social Academic Analytics in Higher Education. International Network for Social Network Analysis (INSNA) Sunbelt Conference (Brighton, UK). Brighton, UK: International Network for Social Network Analysis (INSNA).
  More info

  We propose a new scientific specialty, Social Academic Analytics (SAA), in support of the development of suitable instruments for promoting (virtual) collaboration among participants in the field of higher education. SAA refers to the process of extracting relational data for the purpose of exploring organizational structures within virtual organizations and knowledge networks. The specialty of social academic analytics offers operators and organizers of (virtual) knowledge organizations and institutions significant potential for quality assurance. Collaboration plays an important role in the academic context. We argue that the implementation of Social Academic Analytics (SAA) presents opportunities for organizers and instructors to optimize socio-technological infrastructures within (virtual) knowledge networks so as to encourage collaborative work in higher education. SAA combines theories and models from both informatics and the social sciences at the macro level to formulate data analysis for the field of (web-based) educational research. SAA at the macro level differs from, but parallels, Social Learning Analytics (SLA) at the micro level and refers principally to the collection, analysis and exploration of large data within (virtual) knowledge organizations. In this paper we introduce Social Academic Analytics, and we discuss SAA as comprising the activities of extracting relational data from virtual higher education contexts, using the data to explore those contexts, monitoring social and learning activities, and preventing unwanted outcomes. We present SAA as motivated specifically by Social Network Theory, Dynamic Network Theory, and Networked Learning Theory, which in concert provide complementary perspectives on the structure of institutional networks in higher education. We present selected case studies and applications in the area of SAA to compare different analytical concepts from diverse disciplines. We conclude with further suggestions as to how SAA concepts can be applied in educational data management.
• Breiger, R. L. (2014, August). Theory in an Era of Big Data: Discussant's Comments. American Sociological Association (ASA) Annual Meeting, Theory Section Regular Session on Theory in an Age of Big Data. San Francisco, CA: American Sociological Association (ASA), Theory Session.
  More info

  I was discussant for papers by Julia Adams (Yale) and Hannah Brueckner (NYU-Abu Dhabi), Daniel McFarland (Stanford), Michael Macy (Cornell), and Brian Uzzi (Northwestern). What are the implications for social theory of the trend toward increased Big Data analyses? https://twitter.com/mstrohm/status/501442808944005120
• Breiger, R. L. (2014, October). A New Approach for Identificiation of Multiple Threat Scenarios to Counter Red Networks. Army Research Laboratory. Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD: Army Research Laboratory.
  More info

  Presentation on the publication of Breiger and Pinson forthcoming in a Cambridge University Press volume.
• Breiger, R. L. (2014, October). Multivariate Analysis as a Network Problem. Duke University, Duke Network Analyis Center, Seminar Series. Duke University, Durham, NC: Duke University, Duke Network Analyis Center, Seminar Series.
  More info

  There was a time when network analysis was concerned exclusively with who-to-whom (“one-mode”) data. Much of the history of network research however has been written as the result of an expanded vision as to what constitutes a network (consider for example: affiliation networks, multi-mode formulations, and McPherson’s ecology of organization types based on overlaps among typical members within an innovative conceptualization of multivariate space). Regression modeling and its many generalizations aim to study networks among variables; relations among the cases are, for the most part, rendered invisible. However, David Melamed (U. of South Carolina) and I and other members of my research group have recently been formulating a dual to regression modeling that I will present and illustrate in this talk. We seek to use the variables to learn about the cases. Building on existing results, bringing them together in new ways and adding a bit, we show how the regression coefficients produced in conventional analyses may be usefully understood as sums across cases and clusters of cases (a two-mode formulation). Predicted values on the outcome variable in logistic (and other) regression models may be seen to be produced from a particular (one-mode projection) network among the cases. Among the gains of our approach: aggregating regression coefficients over an entire sample may mask systematic variability that our approach helps to sort out (some sets of cases may be associated with strong positive effects while others exhibit strong negative effects). We use an analysis of clustering among the cases to help us uncover statistical interactions among variables. We show that standard regression models (and generalizations) can be understood from the perspective of sociological field theory. Rather than “transcending” general linear reality, we seek to get more out of it.
• Breiger, R. L. (2014, Summer). Progress this Year on DTRA Grant. Defense Threat Reduction Agency Basic Research Technical Review. Springfield, VA: Defense Threat Reduction Agency.
  More info

  The purpose of the DTRA Basic Research Technical Review (BRTR) is to evaluate the technical progress made by basic research awardees and ensure advancement of on-going research efforts.
• Breiger, R. L., & Ackerman, G. A. (2014, July). From Terrorist Attributes to Network Connections: New Analytic Methods for the Exploitation of Open-Source Databases. Seminar Series, US Defense Threat Reduction Agency. DTRA Headquarters, Fort Belvoir, VA: Defense Threat Reduction Agency.
  More info

  Current state-of-the-art research on potential adversary intent to acquire or use CBRN has been formulated as linear analysis using multiple regression models. Analytical emphasis is on the relations among variables. Predictor variables are modeled as having homogeneous effects on the outcome, and coefficients are measures of effects averaged across the cases. By way of contrast, our DTRA research project aims to use the variables to learn about the cases. “Cases” are CBRN events or organizational actors in the illustrations of our approach with respect to enhanced comprehensive open-source databases that we will review along with the presentation of our analytical methods. We turn the usual regression models "inside out" to reveal a network of profile similarity among the cases. We thus change the emphasis "from factors to actors" in predicting CBRN activities. This talk reviews our analytical methods as well as the comprehensive, enhanced open-source databases of CBRN events and organizational actors that we use to illustrate our approach.
• Breiger, R. L., & Lomi, A. (2014, February). Let the Cases Be Seen: Multiple Regression as a Problem in Network Analysis. International Social Networks Annual Conference. St. Pete's Beach, FL: International Network for Social Network Analysis.
  More info

  Conventional regression models make the “cases” invisible because the main analytical objectives are typically formulated in terms of hypotheses about relations among variables. Recent work has shown, however, that such modeling has a dual and may be turned “inside out:” the usual regression coefficients may in fact be usefully defined and computed from a network among the cases (R.L. Breiger and D. Melamed, “The Duality of Organizations and their Attributes,” Research in the Sociology of Organizations, 2014; D. Melamed, R.L. Breiger, E. Schoon, “The Duality of Clusters and Statistical Interactions,” Sociological Methods & Research, 2013). Research on network modeling, and insights from sociological field theory, may be applied to this network, and doing so leads to new discoveries about the organizational and relational underpinnings of regression models and their applications. We illustrate the potential of the new modeling framework to illuminate core issues in the study of peer effects in education by enriching and complementing a multiple regression study of the effects of individual characteristics on academic performance of 138 graduate students linked by networks of advice and friendship relations. We propose and test a new measure of homophily based on profile similarity. We show not only that the new measure predicts well network ties among the students, but also and that such ties account for observed regression outcomes. In the discussion we generalize the empirical results of the study to argue that relationally-oriented students of social organization should transcend “general linear reality” by exploiting some of its analytical properties.
• Breiger, R. L., & Milward, H. B. (2014, September). Network Modeling for a Multi-Nodal World. MURI AFOSR Project Meeting. Information Sciences Institute, University of Southern California.
  More info

  We discuss four modeling techniques that we have developed for modeling a multi-nodal world (see attachment).
• Breiger, R. L., & Odabas, M. (2014, January). Hacker Web Project: Sociology Plans and Status.. Second Franco American Workshop On CyberSecurity. University of Arizona: Partner University Fund (PUF); UA NSF Center for Cloud and Autonomic Computing; NSF Cybersecurity Scholarship for Service (SFS) UIC/CISORS.
  More info

  Presentation on the economic sociology of hacker activities in cyberspace at the Second Franco-American Workshop on CyberSecurity.
• Milward, H. B., & Breiger, R. L. (2014, March). A Multi-Nodal World: Networks, Games, and Narratives. International Studies Association (ISA) Annual Meeting. Toronto, CA: International Studies Association.
  More info

  This paper introduces a theoretical framework capable of integrating game-theoretic and multi- nodal network analysis of individuals, corporate actors and their interests by means of case studies that are very well documented from a variety of credible sources. The goal will be to develop a theory capable of being tested in increasingly sophisticated analytical environments. Thus, we wish to unite networks, ecologies of games, and narratives of conflict in ways that will advance basic social science research and which will lead to policy relevant analytic methods that respond to calls for a national defense strategy appropriate for a multi-nodal world. Our proposed articulation of a multi-nodal (MN) approach attempts to strike a balance between capturing the rich complexity of state and non-state relations while simultaneously providing a coherent and generalizable conceptual framework. A multi-pronged empirical and theoretical approach is vital to best capture this balance, with each approach addressing weaknesses in the others. Case studies provide important institutional and structural detail while actor-focused network analysis situates the actors as strategizing within a global context, and the ecology of games suggests a theoretical formalization of our approach.
• Wagner-Pacifici, R., Breiger, R. L., & Mohr, J. W. (2014, August). Narratives of national security: Close and distant readings of official strategy statements. American Sociological Association (ASA) Section on Peace, War, and Social Conflict Miniconference. Berkeley, CA: American Sociological Association (ASA) Section on Peace, War, and Social Conflict.
  More info

  Recent computational advances (such as natural language processing and topic modeling) allow massively huge amounts of text to be processed and patterns discovered. These spectacularly efficient pattern-detection methods do not, however, capture the nuance that a reading attentive to semiotics (see Wagner-Pacifici, 2010) would uncover, and in this sense the mechanized procedures are distant from the text. As between distant and close readings, we present a “third way” for text analysis: a transparent and super-easy-to-implement text-reduction scheme based on how people actually use language. This low-tech approach involves locating a small number of text segments (hence reducing complexity) that can be read carefully by a human (hence preserving nuance). The approach requires analysts who can think well, but who need focus only on a fraction of the text. In an exploratory way, we apply this approach to the National Security Strategy statements of 2006 (G.W. Bush) and 2010 (Obama), finding (a) that the 2006 NSS emphasizes an assertive American role that “creates the conditions” for realizing American interests, whereas (b) the 2010 NSS makes the case for an international institutional order within which America can lead on the basis of its ability to realize common interests. Finally (c), the problem of justice for “detainees who cannot be prosecuted—but [who] pose a danger to the American people” is stated (in NSS 2010) with so much ambiguity as to block a message.
• Wagner-Pacifici, R., Breiger, R. L., & Mohr, J. W. (2014, November). Narratives of National Security: Close and Distant Readings of Official Strategy Statements. ISSS-ISAC Conference of the International Studies Association (ISA). LBJ School, UT-Austin, TX: International Studies Association (ISA).
  More info

  Recent computational advances (such as natural language processing and topic modeling) allow massively huge amounts of text to be processed and patterns discovered. These spectacularly efficient pattern-detection methods do not, however, capture the nuance that a reading attentive to semiotics (see Wagner-Pacifici, 2010) would uncover, and in this sense the mechanized procedures are distant from the text. As between distant and close readings, we present a “third way” for text analysis: a transparent and super-easy-to-implement text-reduction scheme based on how people actually use language. This low-tech approach involves locating a small number of text segments (hence reducing complexity) that can be read carefully by a human (hence preserving nuance). The approach requires analysts who can think well, but who need focus only on a fraction of the text. In an exploratory way, we apply this approach to the National Security Strategy statements of 2006 (G.W. Bush) and 2010 (Obama), finding (a) that the 2006 NSS emphasizes an assertive American role that “creates the conditions” for realizing American interests, whereas (b) the 2010 NSS makes the case for an international institutional order within which America can lead on the basis of its ability to realize common interests. Finally (c), the problem of justice for “detainees who cannot be prosecuted—but [who] pose a danger to the American people” is stated (in NSS 2010) with so much ambiguity as to block a message.
• Breiger, R. L. (2013, August). Turning Regression Modeling 'Inside Out'. START Research Roundtable, University of Maryland, College Park. START Research Roundtable, University of Maryland, College Park: Center for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism.
  More info

  During a recent START Research Roundtable, Dr. Ronald Breiger explained how he and a team of START researchers are developing innovative analytic methods to improve situational awareness of Chemical Biological Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) activities. By using quantitative social science methods, Breiger and his team are able to analyze hundreds of organizations and events to determine the relative salience of potential causal factors by imputing likely behavioral trends. That is, they translate statistics into usable qualitative data about terrorism.
• Breiger, R. L. (2013, July). New Analytic Methods for the Exploitation of Open-Source Databases on WMD Terrorism. Defense Threat Reduction Agency Basic Research Technical Review. Springfield, VA.
  More info

  Annual review presentation on progress of basic research grant.
• Breiger, R. L. (2013, May). Dualities in Social Networks. Berlin Graduate School of Social Sciences: Workshop on Relational Sociology. Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany: Berlin Graduate School of Social Sciences, Humboldt University.
  More info

  https://www.scribd.com/document/239891648/Call-Relational-Sociology-May-27-2013
• Breiger, R. L., & Odabas, M. (2013, October). Sociology Plans and Status for NSF SaTC Grant. Kick-off meeting for NSF SBE grant. Eller College of Management, UA: NSF.
• Breiger, R. L., & Pinson, L. (2013, September). Beyond Regression: New Methods for Analyzing Databases on CBRN Activity. Minerva at West Point, Workshop on Methodological Advancements in the Study of Dark Networks. US Military Academy, West Point, NY: Minerva at West Point, US Military Academy, West Point, NY.
  More info

  Techniques for turning regression modeling "inside out" to identify multiple paths toward an outcome variable, in this instance use or pursuit of chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear weapons by violent non-state groups.
• Breiger, R. L., Murray, P., & Pinson, L. (2013, March). Patterns of CBRN Use by Non-State Actors: Evaluating the Evidence. International Studies Association (ISA) Annual Meeting. San Francisco, CA: International Studies Association (ISA).
  More info

  Many analyses of the use of unconventional weapons rest upon qualitative study of a small number of cases. In contrast, a systematic database, POICN (Profiles of Incidents Involving CBRN by Non-state actors), has recently been compiled by the START Center, University of Maryland. POICN incorporates hundreds of events in which chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear (CBRN) weapons have been deployed in attacks around the world (1990 to the present), featuring 139 core variables. Regression modeling or some of its generalizations seems an obvious choice for studying outcomes such as the lethality of CBRN events as coded in this systematic new database. However, regression modeling puts the emphasis on variables and on their “average effects,” whereas we want to use the variables to learn more about the cases and clusters of cases. We apply a new approach that turns regression modeling (and its generalizations) “inside out” in order to present the usual regression coefficients in a new way, as sums across clusters of cases. Our “case-oriented” approach to regression modeling allows us to identify multiple and distinctive profiles that link cases and variables and thus help us to move beyond “one-size-fits-all” prescriptions for countering the risks of unconventional weapons.
• Breiger, R. L., Schoon, E., & Asal, V. (2013, May). Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) as a Two-Mode Network Analysis Technique. International Social Networks Annual Conference. University of Hamburg, Germany: International Network for Social Network Analysis.
  More info

  Increasingly, connections are being made between qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) and social network analysis (SNA). As well indicated in the Call for Papers for this session, social networks have been studied as a condition or as an outcome in QCA, and typologies of networks have been studied by using QCA. The basic argument put forward in this presentation is that how QCA works—the mechanism of the method—is closely and informatively related to techniques of two-mode network analysis. Therefore, for some important analytical purposes QCA should be viewed in relation to standard SNA (social network analysis) techniques for two-mode network analysis, including lattice analysis and correspondence analysis. The benefit for QCA includes new and helpful search procedures for discovering multiple QCA solutions that discover key configurations of variables while also indicating the sets of cases for which each configuration is relevant. The benefit for SNA includes extension of existing network-analytic techniques to new types of data that are usually but unfortunately not conceptualized as dual (two-mode) networks, as well as the incorporation of dependent variables within two-mode analyses.We develop the arguments listed above for crisp-set and for fuzzy-set QCA, and we illustrate them by application to some datasets that have previously been studied by leading developers of QCA (including a study of comparative economic performance in 14 largely European countries) as well as to a major dataset on the use or pursuit of radiological or nuclear weapons on the part of 395 violent extremist organizations.
• Breiger, R. L. (2012, 2012-04-01). Quantifying Social Fields by Turning Regression Modeling 'Inside Out'. Berkeley Conference on. Berkeley, CA.
  More info

  Please see link below or the attachment:http://www.irle.berkeley.edu/culture/conf2012/briefs.html;Invited: Yes;Interdisciplinary: Yes;Type of Presentation: Invited/Plenary Speaker;
• Breiger, R. L. (2012, 2012-04-30). Turning Regression Inside Out: How to Make the Most of 'General Linear Reality' in the Study of Social Organization. Princeton Dept of Sociology and Center for the Study of Social Organizations colloquium. Princeton, NJ.
  More info

  Conventional regression modeling pertains to relations among variables. In this talk however I show that such modeling has a dual and may be turned “inside out:” the usual regression coefficients may in fact be usefully defined and computed from a network among the cases. Research on network modeling, and insights from sociological field theory, may be applied to this network, and doing so leads to new discoveries about the organizational and relational underpinnings of regression models and their applications. I review recent work of my research group on these topics, and discuss several different examples involving welfare states, terrorist organizations, and political mobilization. I argue that relationally-oriented students of social organization should transcend “general linear reality” by exploiting it. http://www.princeton.edu/csso/events/seminars/ronald-breiger/index.xml
• Breiger, R. L. (2012, 2012-07-01). New Analytic Methods for the Exploitation of Open-Source Structured Databases on the Pursuit of WMD Terrorism. Defense Threat Reduction Agency, Basic Research Technical Review. Springfield, VA.
  More info

  Annual research review presentation on the grant on which I am PI.Please see attachment.;Interdisciplinary: Yes;Type of Presentation: Government/Policy Audiences;
• Breiger, R. L. (2012, 2012-09-01). Quantifying Social Fields by Turning Regression Modeling 'Inside Out'. Department colloquium. School of Geography & Development, UA.
  More info

  This was the talk I gave at Berkeley in April.Please see this link or the attachment below.http://www.portal.environment.arizona.edu/events/quantifying-social-fields-turning-regression-modeling-inside-out;Invited: Yes;Type of Presentation: Invited/Plenary Speaker;
• Breiger, R. L. (2012, 2012-11-01). Quantifying Social Fields by Turning Regression Modeling 'Inside Out'. Department Colloquium, Department of Management. University of Lugano (UniversitĂ  della Svizzera italiana), Lugano, Switzerland.
  More info

  This was the talk I gave at Berkeley in April 2012.;Invited: Yes;Type of Presentation: Invited/Plenary Speaker;
• Breiger, R. L., & Roberts, J. M. (2012, 2012-03-01). Social Network Analysis: Implications for Archaeology. The Dynamics of Social Networks in the Late Prehispanic Southwest. School for Advanced Research, Santa Fe, NM.
  More info

  Please see this link or the attachment:http://sarweb.org/index.php?ronald_breiger;Your Role: With John Roberts, I did the research and gave the presentation.;Invited: Yes;Interdisciplinary: Yes;Other collaborative: Yes;Specify other collaborative: Collaborative with John M. Roberts, Jr., Professor, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee;Type of Presentation: Academic Conference/Workshop;
• Breiger, R. L., Breiger, R., & Milward, H. B. (2012, 2012-11-01). Narratives of Insurgency and Legitimacy. Air Force Office of Scientific Research - MURI Annual Research Review Meeting. UCLA Faculty Club, Los Angeles.
  More info

  The audience included professors and graduate students from five universities (UCLA, UA, UC-I, UCSB, Claremont Graduate College) as well as representatives of the Air Force Research Laboratories (AFRL) and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR).;Your Role: With Brint Milward, I designed, wrote, and gave the presentation.;Interdisciplinary: Yes;Type of Presentation: Government/Policy Audiences;
• Breiger, R. L., Breiger, R., Melamed, D., & Schoon, E. (2012, 2012-04-01). Application of a Profile Similarity Methodology to Leverage Open-Source Data on CBRN Activities of Terrorist Groups. International Studies Association Annual Meeting. San Diego, CA.
  More info

  Please see attachment below.;Refereed: Yes;Interdisciplinary: Yes;Collaborative with graduate student: Yes;Type of Presentation: Academic Conference;
• Breiger, R. L., Melamed, D., & Breiger, R. (2012, 2012-08-01). The Duality of Clusters and Statistical Interactions. American Sociological Association, Annual Meeting. Denver, CO.
  More info

  ;Your Role: With David Melamed and Eric Schoon, I devised and carried out the research.;Refereed: Yes;Collaborative with graduate student: Yes;Type of Presentation: Academic Conference;
• Breiger, R. L., Melamed, D., Schoon, E., Breiger, R., Asal, V., & Rethemeyer, R. K. (2012, 2012-04-01). Using Organizational Similarity to Identify Statistical Interactions for Improving Situational Awareness of CBRN Activities. 2012 International Conference on Social Computing, Behavioral-Cultural Modeling, and Prediction. College Park, MD.
  More info

  Please see this link or the attachment:http://www.umiacs.umd.edu/conferences/sbp2012/program.html;Your Role: With David Melamed, Eric Schoon, Victor Asal, and Karl Rethemeyer, I designed the research, carried it out, and wrote the paper.;Refereed: Yes;Interdisciplinary: Yes;Collaborative with graduate student: Yes;Other collaborative: Yes;Specify other collaborative: Collaborative also with two faculty members at the Rockefeller School of Public Policy, University at Albany.;Type of Presentation: Academic Conference;
• Breiger, R. L., Wagner-Pacifici, R., Breiger, R., & Mohr, J. (2012, 2012-10-01). Narratives of Security in Times of Transition: Interpretive and Formal Analysis of the US National Security Strategy Statements, 1988-2010. ISSS-ISAC 2012 (International Security Studies Section of the Interntational Studies Association, and International Security and Arms Control Section of the American Political Science Assocation). Chapel Hill, NC.
  More info

  This paper was presented at a joint meeting of sections of the American Political Science Association and the International Studies Association.;Your Role: With Robin Wagner-Pacifici and John Mohr, I conceived of and designed the research. With Robin Wagner-Pacifici I carried out the research, wrote the paper, and presented it.;Refereed: Yes;Interdisciplinary: Yes;Other collaborative: Yes;Specify other collaborative: Robin Wagner-Pacifici is Professor and Chair of Sociology at The New School, New York City. John Mohr is Professor of Sociology at UCSB.;Type of Presentation: Academic Conference;
• Breiger, R. L., West, J., Melamed, D., & Breiger, R. (2012, 2012-03-01). Finding community structure in multi - mode networks: An analysis of the Afghan Mujahideen. International Network for Social Network Analysis Annual Meeting. Redondo Beach, CA.
  More info

  ;Your Role: With Joseph West and David Melamed, I designed and carried out the research.;Refereed: Yes;Interdisciplinary: Yes;Collaborative with graduate student: Yes;Type of Presentation: Academic Conference;
• Breiger, R. L., West, J., Melamed, D., & Breiger, R. (2012, 2012-08-01). Insurgency Conflict as an Ecology of Games. American Sociological Association. Denver, CO.
  More info

  ;Your Role: With Joseph West and David Melamed, I designed the research. I advised Joseph West on carrying out the research.;Refereed: Yes;Collaborative with graduate student: Yes;Type of Presentation: Academic Conference;
• Breiger, R. L. (2011, 2011-01-01). Introduction to Social Network Methods. Arizona Methods Workshops. University of Arizona.
  More info

  I presented a workshop in social network analysis to 36 people who paid a fee to enroll. The Arizona Methods Workshops (AMW) are an annual activity of the Department of Sociology.;Interdisciplinary: Yes;Type of Presentation: Academic Conference/Workshop;
• Breiger, R. L. (2011, 2011-04-01). Conversation with Columbia University Graduate Students. Department function. Columbia University, New York City.
  More info

  Invited / funded by the graduate student organization of the Columbia University Sociology Department;Invited: Yes;Type of Presentation: Conversation about my academic research, invited by Columbia University graduate students;
• Breiger, R. L. (2011, 2011-04-01). Variable Fields: Dual Network Modeling of Cases and Variables. ISERP and Department of Sociology. Columbia University, New York City.
  More info

  Institute and Department talk, and Workshop on Networks and Time;Invited: Yes;Type of Presentation: Invited/Plenary Speaker;
• Breiger, R. L. (2011, 2011-06-01). Some Challenges in Multi-Level Social Network Research. Research on the Organizational Society: Advances in Multilevel and Dynamic Network Analysis. University of Paris-Dauphine.
  More info

  Invited keynote speaker. Conference organizers: Josiane Chatellet, Emmanuel Lazega. https://www.dropbox.com/s/ydcvlwb251946gh/Conference%20Advances%20in%20Multilevel%20and%20Dynamic%20Network%20Analysis%202011.pdf?dl=0
• Breiger, R. L., , D. M., , E. S., & , R. B. (2011, 2011-02-01). The Duality of Homophily: Relating Attributes to Networks. International Social Networks Conference. St. Pete's Beach, FL.
  More info

  Supported by a grant on which I am PI.;Your Role: Substantial research; substantial writing.;Submitted: Yes;Collaborative with graduate student: Yes;Type of Presentation: Academic Conference;
• Breiger, R. L., , D. M., , R. B., & , E. S. (2011, 2011-10-01). Using Clusters of Terrorist Groups to Identify Statistical Interactions in Modeling Unconventional Weapons Activity. ISSS-ISAC (International Security Studies Section of the International Studies Association; International Security and Arms Control Section of the American Political Science Association). Irvine, CA.
  More info

  Research supported by a grant on which I am PI.;Your Role: Substantial research. Substantial writing.;Submitted: Yes;Refereed: Yes;Interdisciplinary: Yes;Collaborative with graduate student: Yes;Type of Presentation: Academic Conference;
• Breiger, R. L., , E. S., , V. A., , R. B., , D. M., & , R. R. (2011, 2012-02-01). Unconventional weapons and drug smuggling: A dual-network configurational analysis of terrorist organizations. International Social Networks Conference. St. Pete's Beach, FL.
  More info

  Supported by two grants on which I am PI / co-PI.;Your Role: Substantial research; substantial writing;Submitted: Yes;Interdisciplinary: Yes;Collaborative with graduate student: Yes;Other collaborative: Yes;Specify other collaborative: Faculty collaborators from another university.;Type of Presentation: Academic Conference;
• Breiger, R. L., , R. B., , G. A., , V. A., , D. M., , H. M., , R. R., & , E. S. (2011, 2011-03-01). Application of a profile similarity methodology for identifying terrorist groups that use or pursue CBRN weapons. Social Computing, Behavioral-Cultural Modeling, and Prediction. University of Maryland, College Park.
  More info

  Supported by a grant on which I am PI.;Your Role: Lead researcher; lead author.;Submitted: Yes;Refereed: Yes;Collaborative with graduate student: Yes;Collaborative with faculty member at UA: Yes;Other collaborative: Yes;Specify other collaborative: Collaborators included faculty members from two other universities.;Type of Presentation: Academic Conference;
• Breiger, R. L., , T. W., & , R. B. (2011, 2011-04-01). Prospects for manipulation of patron-client networks: Initial formulation and modeling. AFOSR MURI (Multi-University Research Initiative) workshop. Marina del Rey, CA.
  More info

  Research supported by a grant on which I am co-PI.;Your Role: Social science research on patron-client relations.;Submitted: Yes;Interdisciplinary: Yes;Other collaborative: Yes;Specify other collaborative: Collaborative with a postdoc in the UA Computer Science Department.;Type of Presentation: Workshop presentation;
• Breiger, R. L., Milward, H. B., & , R. B. (2011, 2011-09-01). Case Studies of Adversarial Networks. AFOSR-MURI (Multi-University Research Iniative) Annual Project Meeting. UCLA, Los Angeles.
  More info

  ;Your Role: Collaborator;Submitted: Yes;Interdisciplinary: Yes;Collaborative with faculty member at UA: Yes;Type of Presentation: Academic Conference/Workshop;
• Breiger, R. L. (2010, 2010-03-01). Exploiting the Duality of Cases and Variables. MIS Speaker Series. MIS Dept (Management & Information Systems), U of A.
  More info

  Invited talk.;Type of Presentation: University;
• Breiger, R. L. (2010, 2011-03-01). How Social Network Concepts are Used, Abused, and Could be Used More Effectively in US Counterterrorism Policies. Udall Center for Public Policy, University of Arizona. Udall Center for Studies of Public Policy, U of A.
  More info

  My presentation in my capacity as Udall Center Directors' Fellow for 2009-10.;Invited: Yes;Interdisciplinary: Yes;Type of Presentation: University;
• Breiger, R. L. (2010, 2011-05-01). Profile Similarity Methodology. Kickoff meeting for DTRA basic research grant. U of A.
  More info

  I am the Principal Investigator on this three-year grant awarded in 2010.;Interdisciplinary: Yes;Type of Presentation: Kickoff Meeting for DTRA basic research grant;
• Breiger, R. L. (2010, 2011-06-01). Problems of Network Theory in the Thought of Durkheim, Simmel, Bourdieu ... and Spinoza. International Network for Social Network Analysis. Riva del Garda, Italy.
  More info

  ;Submitted: Yes;Invited: Yes;Interdisciplinary: Yes;Type of Presentation: Academic Conference;
• Breiger, R. L. (2010, 2011-09-01). Latent Metrics for Case Studies of Adversarial Groups. Kickoff meeting for MURI research grant. UCLA, Los Angeles.
  More info

  This presentation was given at the kickoff meeting for the five-year MURI (AFOSR) grant awarded in 2010 (my role is co-PI).;Invited: Yes;Interdisciplinary: Yes;Type of Presentation: Academic Conference/Workshop;
• Breiger, R. L., & coauthors, 5. (2010, 2011-04-01). When Terrorists Go Bad: Terrorist Organizations' Involvement in Drug Smuggling. ISSS-ISAC 2010: International Security Studies Section (ISSS) of the International Studies Association and International Security and Arms Control Section (ISAC) of the American Political Science Association. Providence, RI.
  More info

  ;Your Role: Research and writing for half the paper.;Submitted: Yes;Invited: Yes;Interdisciplinary: Yes;Collaborative with graduate student: Yes;Collaborative with faculty member at UA: Yes;Other collaborative: Yes;Specify other collaborative: Collaborative with graduate students (UA Sociology: David Melamed, Eric Schoon); collaborative with faculty member at UA (H. Brinton Milward); other collaborative (Victor Asal and Karl Rethemeyer, University at Albany);Type of Presentation: Academic Conference;
• Breiger, R. L. (2009, 2009-02-01). Class from Culture: A Study of New Year's Greeters in China. Cluster for the Advancement of Social Network Analysis. Arizona State University, Tempe.
  More info

  Invited talk by the Cluster for the Advancement of Social Network Analysis, Arizona State Univeersity, Tempehttp://shesc.asu.edu/shescEvents/sel_bydate.php?day=12&month=2&year=2009;Invited: Yes;Interdisciplinary: Yes;Collaborative with faculty member in unit: Yes;Other collaborative: Yes;Specify other collaborative: Presentation of research collaborative with Profs. Yanjie Bian (Hong Kong Inst of Science and Technology), Ronald Breiger (U of Arizona), Deborah Davis (Yale U), and Joseph Galaskiewicz (U of Arizona);Type of Presentation: Invited/Plenary Speaker;
• Breiger, R. L. (2009, 2009-02-01). Keynote Address: Relationality and Networks in and Across the Disciplines. Annual research symposium of GELSS (Graduates in Earth, Life, and Social Sciences). Arizona State University, Tempe.
  More info

  Invited Keynote Address by GELSS, the graduate student association for PhD students in Earth, Life, and Social Sciences, University of Arizona, Tempe; annual symposium featuring graduate student research.;Invited: Yes;Interdisciplinary: Yes;Type of Presentation: Invited/Plenary Speaker;
• Breiger, R. L. (2009, 2009-02-01). Panel discussion: Relationality and Networks In and Across the Disciplines. GELSS (annual research symposium, Graduates in Earth, Life, and Social Sciences). Arizona State University, Tempe.
  More info

  Panel discussion with faculty members in a range of diverse fields at Arizona State University, Tempe, organized as part of the annual research symposium of GELSS (Gradutes in Earth, Life, and Social Sciences);Invited: Yes;Interdisciplinary: Yes;Type of Presentation: Panel Discussant (Reporting Research);
• Breiger, R. L. (2009, 2009-03-01). Exploiting the Duality of Cases and Variables in QCA (Qualitative Comparative Analysis). International Network for Social Network Analysis. San Diego, CA.
  More info

  Talk at the annual meeting of the association for research in social network analysis.;Submitted: Yes;Interdisciplinary: Yes;Type of Presentation: Academic Conference;
• Breiger, R. L. (2009, 2009-04-01). Cultural Holes: Beyond Relationality in Social Networks and Culture. University of California, Santa Barbara, Group for Social Network Analysis. Santa Barbara, CA.
  More info

  ;Invited: Yes;Interdisciplinary: Yes;Type of Presentation: Invited/Plenary Speaker;
• Breiger, R. L. (2009, 2009-05-01). Exploiting the Duality of Cases and Variables. Department of Sociology Colloquium. University of California, Santa Barbara.
  More info

  Invited research colloquium, Department of Sociology, University of California, Santa Barbara.;Invited: Yes;Type of Presentation: Invited/Plenary Speaker;
• Breiger, R. L., Mayorova, O. V., Mitchneck, B., & Breiger, R. L. (2009, 2009-06-01). Local and Transnational Networks of Long-Term Displaced Persons in the Republic of Georgia. Capturing Context: A Conference on Bridging Spatial and Network Analysis, Sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Health and Scociety Scholars Program. Columbia University, New York City.
  More info

  ;Your Role: I am a member of a research team centered around Beth Mitchneck's NSF-funded research on international displaced persons (IDPs) in Georgia;Submitted: Yes;Interdisciplinary: Yes;Collaborative with faculty member at UA: Yes;Other collaborative: Yes;Specify other collaborative: Collaboration with postdoctoral researcher;Type of Presentation: Academic Conference;
• Breiger, R. L., Mitchneck, B. A., Mayorova, O., & Regulska, J. (2009, 2009-11-01). A Social Network Analysis of Adaptation of Long-Term Displaced Persons in Georgia. American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies National Convention. Boston, MA.
  More info

  ;Your Role: Consulted on research and writing.;Submitted: Yes;Collaborative with faculty member at UA: Yes;Other collaborative: Yes;Specify other collaborative: Collaborative with faculty member at UA (Beth Mitchneck), a faculty member at another university (Johanna Regulska), and a postdoctoral researcher at UA (Olga Mayorova);Type of Presentation: Academic Conference;
• Breiger, R. L. (2008, 2008-02-01). Social Network Analysis - State of the Art, Promises, and Challenges. Defense Threat Reduction Agency [DTRA] / Advanced Systems and Concepts Office [ASCO] - meeting on Dynamic Social Network Analysis. Springfield, VA.
  More info

  This presentation provided my views on the state of the art for SNA (social network analysis), areas where I saw promise that DSNA (dynamic social network analysis) could be applied, and challenges where I felt research should be focused in the future.;Invited: Yes;Interdisciplinary: Yes;Type of Presentation: Government/Policy Audiences;
• Breiger, R. L. (2008, 2008-04-01). The Spinozan Problem of Order. Georgia Workshop on Culture, Power, and History. University of Georgia, Athens.
  More info

  Invited talk to the Georgia Workshop on Culture, Power, and History and colloquium for the Department of Sociology, University of Georgia. The presentation combined general thoughts on problems of order with specific research on qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) and correspondence analysis (CA), emphasizing a reanalysis of data collected by David Smilde on evangical networks in Venezuela.;Invited: Yes;Type of Presentation: Invited/Plenary Speaker;
• Breiger, R. L. (2008, 2008-06-01). Sociability and Social Capital. Minds and Societies 2008. Montreal, Que., Canada.
  More info

  Conference on Cognitive Studies. Abstract: James Coleman and Pierre Bourdieu are two of the most important innovators of the contemporary concept of social capital (and other forms of capital). Their conceptions of sociology, and their views on appropriate methods for social analysis, are often contrasted as opposing theories. However, focusing on their methods, I illustrate some startling convergences in their discussions of social capital, and I use this discovery to raise some questions about their sociology more generally. I am concerned with the (under-theorized) role of knowledge and cognition in social capital theories, and with how to move beyond Coleman and Bourdieu in this respect. Examples are drawn from social fields and networks of career gatekeepers, journal citations, investment banks, household visitation and occupational structure, and other arenas.;Invited: Yes;Interdisciplinary: Yes;Type of Presentation: Invited/Plenary Speaker;
• Breiger, R. L. (2008, 2008-07-01). Lectures on social networks and social organization. AILUN (Free University of Nuoro). Nuoro, Sardinia, Italy.
  More info

  Lectures on social networks and social organization.;Invited: Yes;Interdisciplinary: Yes;Type of Presentation: Academic Conference/Workshop;
• Breiger, R. L. (2008, 2008-09-01). Introduction to Social Network Analysis. Southwest Social Networks Project Planning Meeting. Dept. of Anthropology, U of Arizona.
  More info

  Presentation on social network analysis for the NSF-funded research project (PI: Prof. Barbara Mills, Dept. of Anthropology) on which I am a collaborator.;Invited: Yes;Interdisciplinary: Yes;Type of Presentation: Academic Conference/Workshop;
• Breiger, R. L., & Hsung, R. (2008, 2008-05-01). Relation-specific Social Resources and their Explanation: Comparison among Taiwan, China and United States. International Social Capital Conference. Taipei, Taiwan.
  More info

  Our study reports on relation-specific social resources from a 3-country (China, Taiwan, US) set of nationally representative surveys of position-generated networks. We show how to calculate reflected prestige scores for each contact type, on the basis of the positions to which it has access. There are some similarities among the countries in the kinds of tie used to access positions. However, there are also important differences among the societies. The prestige scores of accessed resources vary with the kind of relational channel used. The prestige score of positions accessed through “teacher” and “current boss” are consistently first- and second-highest among the three countries, and prestige scores of positions accessed through kin ties are relatively lower in each country. Likewise, prestige scores of positions accessed through good friends are higher than those accessed through general friends. In addition, we also calculate the diversity factor scores for the accessed positions through other relatives, current colleagues, good friends, and general friends. We go on to use individual and network characteristics to explain these two dependent variables. ;Your Role: Each author made equal contributions.;Invited: Yes;Other collaborative: Yes;Specify other collaborative: Ray-May Hsung is Professor at National Chengchi University in Taipei, Taiwan.;Type of Presentation: Academic Conference;
• Breiger, R. L. (2007, 2007-06-01). The Duality of Identities and Practices. Yale University School of Management. New Haven, CT.
  More info

  This was a special conference at Yale's School of Management, on the topic of Identities and Organizations. It was held June 19-22, 2007.;Your Role: I was sole author of my presentation.;Invited: Yes;Interdisciplinary: Yes;Collaborative with graduate student: Yes;Type of Presentation: Academic Conference/Workshop;
• Breiger, R. L. (2007, 2007-08-01). Cultural Holes: Networks, Meanings, and Formal Practices. American Sociological Association, Culture Section Twentieth Anniversary Session. New York City.
  More info

  Invited by Culture Section Chair Jeffrey Alexander for a special session titled "Cultural Sociology and Disciplinary Change: A Twenty Year Assessment.;Type of Presentation: Invited/Plenary Speaker;
• Breiger, R. L., & Hsung, R. (2007, 2007-05-01). The Creation of Differential Social Capital in Taiwan, China, and the United States. International Network for Social Network Analysis / 8th European Social Networks Conference. Corfu, Greece.
  More info

  ;Your Role: Both authors contributed equally;Submitted: Yes;Other collaborative: Yes;Specify other collaborative: Ray-May Hsung is Professor at the National Chengchi University in Taipei, Taiwan;Type of Presentation: Academic Conference/Workshop;
• Breiger, R. L. (2006, 2006-04-01). Position Generators, Affiliations, and the Institutional Logics of Social Capital: A Study of Taiwan Firms and Individuals. International Network for Social Network Analysis. Vancouver, Canada.
  More info

  International Network for Social Network Analysis;Your Role: Equal collaboration in research and publishing project;Other collaborative: Yes;Specify other collaborative: Collaborative research with Prof Ray-May Hsung,National ChengChi University, Taipei, Taiwan ;Type of Presentation: Academic Conference;
• Breiger, R. L. (2006, 2006-08-01). Networks and Fields: A Relational Pragmatics for Boundary Identification. American Sociological Association. Montreal.
  More info

  Invited Thematic Session presentation, American Sociological Association annual meeting;Type of Presentation: Invited/Plenary Speaker;
• Breiger, R. L. (2005, 2005-02-01). Keynote Address: Social Networks and the Spinozan Problem of Order. International Network for Social Network Analysis. Redondo Beach, CA.
  More info

  Invited keynote address to the annual academic conference of social network analysts and researchers.;Invited: Yes;Interdisciplinary: Yes;Type of Presentation: Invited/Plenary Speaker;
• Breiger, R. L. (2005, 2005-07-01). Class from Culture: A Study of New Year Greeters in China. European Science Foundation / Seminar on Social Network Analysis. Ljubljana, Slovenia.
  More info

  I was the sole non-European invited participant in a workshop on social network analysis organized and sponsored by the European Science Foundation / Quantitative Methods in the Social Sciences (QMSS) Programme.;Your Role: Equal shares in a collaborative research / publication project.;Invited: Yes;Interdisciplinary: Yes;Collaborative with faculty member in unit: Yes;Other collaborative: Yes;Specify other collaborative: Based in large part on collaborative research with Y. Bian (Hong Kong Inst. for Science and Technology), D. Davis (Yale U.), and J. Galaskiewicz (U of Arizona).;Type of Presentation: Academic Conference/Workshop;
• Breiger, R. L. (2005, 2009-05-01). Mathematical Sociology Today: Current Issues and Prospects. American Sociological Association, Annual Meeting. Philadelphia, PA.
  More info

  Invited plenary speaker, Section on Mathematical Sociology, American Sociological Association;Invited: Yes;Type of Presentation: Invited/Plenary Speaker;

Reviews

• Breiger, R. L. (2008. Models and Methods in Social Network Analysis(pp 481-482).
  More info

  ;Your Role: Author;

Others

• Wagner-Pacifici, R., Wagner-Pacifici, R., Breiger, R. L., & Breiger, R. L. (2020, February). In appreciation of John Mohr. Poetics. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.poetic.2020.101436
  More info

  John W. Mohr, 1956 - 2019. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.poetic.2020.101436
• Breiger, R. L., Pinson, L., & Ackerman, G. (2016, April). From Factors to Actors: Enhancing the Reliability of CBRN Analysis. CBRNe World [magazine for industry and counter-WMD practitioners]. http://u.arizona.edu/~breiger/Breiger_et_al_CBRNeWorld_April_2016_ms.pdf
  More info

  The various uncertainties and complexities inherent in understanding chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) terrorism call for a fresh approach both to the production of databases and the formulation of quantitative methods that allow for more nuanced description and analysis than those that have often served as the basis for research and policy. This article provides industry and counter-CBRN professionals with a concise, non-technical summary of key contributions of the six-year, $1.8M grant from the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) on which I served as Principal Investigator. We highlight our recent efforts aimed at furthering a more nuanced, and hence a more accurate and productive, understanding of the CBRN activities of non-state actors. http://u.arizona.edu/~breiger/Breiger_et_al_CBRNeWorld_April_2016_ms.pdf
• Asal, V., Rethemeyer, R. K., Breiger, R. L., Simonelli, C., Weedon, S., Avdan, N., & Ackerman, G. (2015, October). CBRN Activity and Attacks by Insurgent Organizations. Research Brief, National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START). https://www.start.umd.edu/pubs/START_BAAD_CBRN_ResearchBrief_Oct2015.pdf
  More info

  To examine the factors that make an organization more likely to pursue a chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear (CBRN) weapon or use a CBRN device, we conducted an analysis using the Big Allied and Dangerous Version 2.0 - Insurgent (BAAD2-I) dataset (Asal et al. 2015). BAAD2-I includes information on all “codeable” organizations (that is, entities that are clearly distinct, bounded in terms of their membership, and persistent across time) that appear for at least one year in the Uppsala Conflict Database Program (UCDP) dataset (Themnér and Wallensteen 2011) during the period 1998-2012. UCDP includes only those insurgent organizations that (1) engaged in battle with a government that (2) resulted in at least 25 battle deaths (3) during at least one year between 1998 and 2012. The BAAD2-I data was then married to variables (1) on terrorist incidents and fatalities drawn from the Global Terrorism Database (GTD), (2) on pursuit and use of chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear capabilities and weapons drawn from the Profiles of Incidents involving CBRN by Non-state Actors (POICN) dataset, and (3) on the nature and the “homebase” country of the state from the Quality of Government (QoG) dataset.
• Breiger, R. L., & Puetz, K. (2015, December). Culture and Networks. International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2nd. Ed. (James D. Wright, Editor-in-Chief). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-097086-8.10443-X
  More info

  6,000-word encyclopedia article. Changing conceptions within the sociology of culture and in the research community of social network analysts have led to the development of a new specialty area, research at the intersection of culture and networks. The new research entails a rethinking both of the kinds of actors and actions that takes place in networks, and of the connections among actors that are relevant. This article emphasizes conversations, objections, and ongoing concerns within this evolving research specialty as well as research accomplishments.
• Breiger, R. L. (2007, March). Comment on Mark S. Handcock, Adrian Raftery, and Jeremy M. Tantrum, 'Model-Based Clustering for Social Networks. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society: Series A. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-985X.2007.00471.x
  More info

  Full Citation: R.L. Breiger, “Comment [on Mark S. Handcock and Adrian E. Raftery, â€;Type of Publication: Comment;
• Breiger, R. L. (2006, July). Social Statistics. Social Statistics: Syllabi and Instructional Materials, second ed..
  More info

  ;Full Citation: R.L. Breiger (2006), "Social Statistics." In: Rhoda Estep Macdonald (ed.), Social Statistics: Syllabi and Instructional Materials, second ed. Washington, DC: American Sociological Association, 137-38.;
• Breiger, R. L. (2005, July). Structure. International Encyclopedia of Economic Sociology.
  More info

  ;Full Citation: Ronald L. Breiger, "Structure, International Encyclopedia of Economic Sociology," edited by Jens Beckert and Milan Zafirovski. London: Routldege, 2005, pp. 660-664.;Type of Publication: Encyclopedia article;