Blockmodeling is a set or a coherent framework, that is used for analyzing social structure and also for setting procedure(s) for partitioning (clustering) social network's units, based on specific patterns, which form a distinctive structure through interconnectivity. It is primarily used in statistics, machine learning and network science.
Different characteristics of social networks. A, B, and C show varying centrality and density of networks; panel D shows network closure, i.e., when two actors, tied to a common third actor, tend to also form a direct tie between them. Panel E represents two actors with different attributes (e.g., organizational affiliation, beliefs, gender, education) who tend to form ties. Panel F consists of two types of ties: friendship (solid line) and dislike (dashed line). In this case, two actors being friends both dislike a common third (or, similarly, two actors that dislike a common third tend to be friends).
Structural equivalence
Regular equivalence
A social network is a social structure made up of a set of social actors, sets of dyadic ties, and other social interactions between actors. The social network perspective provides a set of methods for analyzing the structure of whole social entities as well as a variety of theories explaining the patterns observed in these structures. The study of these structures uses social network analysis to identify local and global patterns, locate influential entities, and examine network dynamics.
Social network diagram, meso-level
Diagram: section of a large-scale social network
