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Most research on segregation in social networks considers small circles of strong ties, and little is known about segregation among the much larger number of weaker ties. This article proposes a novel approach to the study of these more extended networks, through the use of data on personal ties in an online social network. We illustrate this method’s potential by describing and explaining the degree of ethnic and gender segregation on Facebook among a representative survey of adolescents in the Netherlands (N = 2,810; ~1.1 million Facebook friends). The results show that large online networks are more strongly segregated by ethnicity than by gender. Drawing on the same survey data, we find that core networks are more segregated in terms of ethnicity and gender than are extended networks. However, an exception to this pattern is personal networks of ethnic majority members, whose core networks are as segregated by ethnicity as their extended networks. Further analysis suggests this exception is due to their larger population size and the ethnic segregation of their social settings. We discuss the implications of these findings for the role of structural opportunities, homophily, and balance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study uses data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, in conjunction with neighborhood-level data from the U.S. decennial census and American Community Survey, to examine the trajectory of individuals' neighborhood characteristics from initial household formation into mid-to-late adulthood. Multilevel growth curve models reveal both different starting points and different life course trajectories for blacks and whites in neighborhood economic status and neighborhood racial composition. Among respondents who first established an independent household during the 1970s, improvement in neighborhood income over the adult life course was substantially greater for white than for black respondents; the racial difference in the percentage of neighbors who were non-Hispanic white narrowed slightly with age. Racial differences in the characteristics of neighborhoods inhabited during adolescence help explain racial differences in starting points and, to a lesser extent, subsequent trajectories of neighborhood attainment. Residing in an economically advantaged neighborhood during adolescence confers greater subsequent benefits in neighborhood economic status for white than for black respondents. We use these findings to begin developing a life course perspective on neighborhood attainment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Community reactions against organizations can be driven by negative information spread through a diffusion process that is distinct from the diffusion of organizational practices. Bank panics offer a classic example of selective diffusion of negative information. Bank panics involve widespread bank runs, although a low proportion of banks experience a run. We develop theory on how organizational similarity, community similarity, and network proximity create selective diffusion paths for resistance against organizations. Using data from the largest customer-driven bank panic in the United States, we find significant effects of organizational and community similarity on the diffusion of bank runs. Runs on banks are more likely to diffuse across communities with similar ethnicities, national origins, religion, and wealth, and across banks that are structurally equivalent or have the same organizational form. We also find stronger influence from runs that are spatially proximate and in the same state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]