| In this project I will make clear that social relationships and networks do not only emerge as a result of individual preferences, but that they depend on conditions beyond the individual. Social contexts (e.g. where people live, work, or are hanging out) determine the contact opportunities and hence the structure and composition of personal networks. So, the aim of my project is to investigate the degree to which structures in people's personal networks are caused by the structures of the social contexts they live in, while taking into account the effect of preferences for specific kinds of others and a possible interaction between contexts and these preferences. The project is embedded in the NWO-project 'Where Friends are made. Contexts, Conditions, Consequences' (VernieuwingsImpuls). Hypotheses will be tested using data of the 'Survey of the Social Networks of the Dutch' which have been collected in 1999/2000 and will be repeated in 2005. |
