This theoretical paper investigates how fields influence network advantage and proposes a field-network lens that can help better understand network effects. While network theorists conceptualise network advantage as originating in network structure, the paper calls attention to the issue of field forces acting on network nodes. As defined by Fligstein and McAdam (2012), fields have stakes requiring certain kinds of resources and information. Stakes induce forces that act on those who belong to the field. The paper’s main claim is that network advantage is influenced by how fields align with each other. Bridging ties might connect to fields irrelevant to the stake of the broker’s main field, in which case no brokerage advantage can be realised from the tie that bridges the two fields. Likewise, ties within a tight cluster might go across structurally invisible field boundaries, rendering cohesion benefits ineffectual. In other words, the paper calls attention to the fact that not all structural holes are created equal, that boundaries can be present between two nodes even when a tie exists between them, and that not all bridging and closure ties will be advantageous to the same degree. The paper proposes a field-network framework that helps define where brokerage and closure ties are effectual, ineffectual, or detrimental to network advantage.

The representation of citizens of immigrant origin has become increasingly relevant in both societal and academic discussions across European democracies. However, only a limited number of studies focus on the attitudes and support for immigrant representation within the native majority population. This study examines how interpersonal communication with individuals of immigrant origin influences the majority population's views on immigrant representation. It proposes that such interactions help natives recognize the social marginalization experienced by immigrant-origin groups, which leads to three key outcomes: (1) an increasing support for immigrant representation, (2) a decreasing perception that immigrant representation is currently adequate, and (3) a widening gap between expectations and perceptions of immigrant representation. To investigate these dynamics, a factorial vignette experiment is used to simulate interpersonal communication. It manipulates key factors such as the frequency of discussion, the intimacy of relationships, and the politically relevant content conveyed by others. Survey experimental evidence from Germany provides insights into how interpersonal communication influences natives’ views on immigrant representation and explores the potential consequences of growing mismatches between expectations and perceptions of the political system for trust in representative institutions.

Social inequality, a focal point in sociological inquiry, extends beyond material considerations. Academic focus on understanding how individuals perceive, explain, and respond to disparities has been extensive. Despite the prevailing research on individual and national determinants, recent developments in distributive justice literature emphasize the crucial role of individuals' social relationships in shaping attitudes toward inequality. These approaches illuminate nuanced processes through which individuals extrapolate societal distributive conditions from their particular social contexts, utilizing mechanisms such as social sampling and social inference. Extending these theoretical principles, the prestige and socioeconomic diversity of acquaintances introduce the potential to shape diverse perceptions and beliefs about the same social inequality, being able to modify the action of structural determinants such as the social class of individuals, among others.

This research takes advantage of a rich dataset on classroom friendship networks and students’ attitudes to address the following research question: how does socioeconomic segregation of friendship relationships influence students’ perceptions and explanations of social inequality? To answer this question, we use data from the MAYBE Project, from more than 400 senior high school students, belonging to 26 classes and 16 schools in the province of Milan, Italy. The analysis of the impact of social networks with this population becomes particularly relevant, considering that it has been seen that attitudes tend to crystallize during late adolescence and early adulthood and that school is one of the most important socializing institutions in shaping them. Despite the richness of these ideas, empirical validation remains remarkably scarce, with limited attempts using insufficient surveys to model individuals’ social networks or research focused solely on students’ attitudes toward inequality considering only individual determinants.

Applying network analysis techniques, sociocentric friendship networks are modelled in each class, with nodes representing the total number of students and links depicting unidirectional friendship relationships. Additionally, individual characteristics are assigned to nodes to estimate multilevel regression models and test the following hypotheses: Firstly, that students in classes with greater socioeconomic diversity and less prestige among peers perceive greater inequality in the country (Hypothesis 1a) and explain it more by structuralist factors (Hypothesis 1b). Moreover, that students in friendship groups with greater socioeconomic diversity and less prestige perceive greater inequality in the country (Hypothesis 2a) and provide more structuralist explanations (Hypothesis 2b).

Preliminary results construct a compelling narrative: irrespective of students’ social class or other sociodemographic characteristics, socioeconomic segregation in classes and friendships shapes students’ conceptions of inequality. Specifically, the models indicate that socioeconomic prestige decreases perception and structuralist explanations of inequality, while socioeconomic diversity increases them. These findings underscore the fundamental role of individuals’ diverse social environments and schools, not only in shaping conceptions of inequality but also in unravelling the intricate network of determining factors. In light of the results, the paper discusses the influence of social sampling and social inference mechanisms in the formation of distributive attitudes.

Informal social status is crucial in adolescence. Given general status differences in European societies, we could expect that immigrant students (or those with immigrant parents) may be considered less popular by their school peers. Yes, this has never been directly investigated using informal status measures and proper tools of social network analysis, despite the growing number of network studies on intergroup friendships, dislike, and bullying. In our study, we explore differences in patterns of informal status between students from different immigrant backgrounds in four European countries: England, Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden. We find mixed evidence for status differences and differential patterns in the four countries.

Scholars frequently report the presence of homophily – that network ties are more likely between nodes with one or more shared characteristics – in interpersonal networks. In inferential network modeling, theses homophily findings are generated through an ubiquitous strategy of estimating independent homophily effects for each sociodemographic characteristic under study. More recently, several scholars have proposed strategies for accounting for multiple dimensions of characteristics and their roles in homophily, but theoretical and empirical work on this issue remains limited. In this paper, we develop a theory of intersectional homophily as an alternative to social distance, by-product, and consolidation arguments and estimate exponential random graph models (ERGM) with homophily interactions to examine expectations related to intersectional homophily arguments. We utilize Wave I of the Student Experiences in Law School Study, which surveyed first-year JD students in the fall of 2019 at three law schools. We analyze these data using ERGMs, which include main effects for homophily based on race, gender, status, sexual identity, and political orientation as well as two-way interactions. Results show that distinct patterns of significant main and interaction effects and cannot be fully explained by the consolidation between attributes. The findings support the notion that homophily research should examine how two forms of homophily intersect, above and beyond the main effects of homophily.