*** Apologies for cross-posting ***

Session at the 3rd European Conference on Social Networks (EUSN) at Johannes Gutenberg-University, Main, Germany, September 26 to 29, 2017

Call for Papers

“Social Networks and Intergroup Relations: New Questions and Challenges”

In recent years, researchers increasingly have applied social network analysis to study intergroup relations. Both cross-sectional (ERGM) and longitudinal (SAOM) methods led to similar conclusions; that students’ friendship networks are segregated along ethnic, cultural and religious lines, even net of relative group size effects.

However, researchers only have begun to exploit the potential of social network analysis for under- standing the causes and consequences of such ethnic, cultural, and religious segregation. Taking this next step involves theoretical and methodological challenges, both of which we intend to address in this session.

Numerous follow-up questions have arisen from earlier research. Do, for example, the preferences of immigrants and natives for interethnic contact differ? And how do actors’ contact preferences de- pend on contextual characteristics? Under what circumstances do youth consider themselves as members of a particular group in the first place? A central theoretical challenge is to tackle these questions systematically, for example by relying on more general theoretical approaches, such as a social boundary making perspective or theories of identity formation.

Social network analysis provides the tools to tackle these questions empirically. Studying intergroup relations, however, implies complex model specifications that include interaction effects. Interpret- ing the results of such models almost always requires additional efforts. Most notably, evaluating the respective contrasts of theoretical interest often makes it necessary to calculate and test specific linear combinations of lower- and higher-order effects. This methodological challenge is ignored in much applied research, even though addressing it is crucial to understand network dynamics from the perspective of various groups.

In this session, we therefore welcome theoretical, methodological, and empirical contributions to the study of intergroup relations from a network perspective. This includes, but is by no means limited, to work that

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- addresses current research puzzles regarding the causes and consequences of ethnic, cultur- al, or religious segregation, or

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- examines how respective hypotheses, especially about group differences in network for- mation, can be tested empirically.

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Abstract submission:

Please submit your abstract via http://www.eusn2017.uni-mainz.de/abstract-submission/. The deadline for submission is March 31.

Session organizers:

Lars Leszczensky (MZES, University of Mannheim), Hanno Kruse and Clemens Kroneberg (University of Cologne, Germany)