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In 1957, Elizabeth Bott argued that the organization of family and social networks are intertwined and that the structure and composition of social networks are associated with the ways in which spouses divide household and paid labor. While this idea became a classic in the literature addressing the division of labor, societies have changed tremendously in the past 50 years, and it has become far more common for spouses to divide their labor more equally. In addition, the causal direction is not clear: Do networks affect the division of labor or vice versa? We inquired as to the causal relationship using a large-scale longitudinal data set, collected in 2009/2010 and 2011/2012 (n = 2477; PAIRFAM [Panel Analysis of Intimate Relationships and Family Dynamics]). We found moderate support for the hypothesis that personal networks influence the division of labor in households, but there were stronger effects for the reverse—that is, that the division of labor affects network patterns, particularly for women.

We examine the link between family and personal networks. Using arguments about meeting opportunities, competition and social influence, we hypothesise how the presence of specific types of family members (i.e., a partner, children, parents and siblings) and non-family members (i.e., friends, neighbours and colleagues) in the network mutually affect one another. In addition, we propose that—beyond their mere presence—the active role of family members in the network strongly affects the presence of non-family members in the network. Data from the third wave of the Survey on the Social Networks of the Dutch, collected in 2012 and 2013, show that active involvement is of key importance; more than merely having family members present in one’s personal network, the active involvement of specific types of family members in the personal network is associated with having disproportionally more other family members and having somewhat fewer non-family members in the network.

Acknowledging that the composition and structure of personal networks is affected by meeting opportunities, social distance, and national origin similarity, we aim to disentangle their association with triadic closure in the core of personal networks. We use data (collected 2009) on the core networks of three groups of Swedes (all born in 1990): native Swedes, and first- and second-generation immigrants from Iran and former Yugoslavia, where the respondent (ego) mentions up to five core network members (alters) and whether each pair of alters (dyad) know each other (triadic closure). A three-level multiple membership logistic regression model is performed, which allows the testing of dyadic alter-alter effects, ego effects, and their interaction (i.e., ‘triadic’ effects) on triadic closure. We show that social distance, national origin similarity, and the sharing of social contexts are all associated with triadic closure in the expected direction, and that the effects of social distance and national origin similarity become smaller if shared social contexts are taken into account. The effects of the sharing of social contexts are the largest and are robust, indicating that shared social contexts are a dominant and more important condition for triadic closure than are similarity on relevant socio-demographic characteristics.

[English] Social capital theory predicts a reproduction of inequality due to access and use of social capital. In this contribution, we study the distribution of social capital and its consequences for social inequality in the Netherlands. To this end, we assess the extent to which social capital is dependent on the individual’s education, socioeconomic background and meeting opportunities. Next, we investigate the effect of social capital on two types of inequality: socioeconomic inequality (income and supervisory position) and well-being (satisfaction with financial situation and subjective health). The idea of social capital leads directly to general hypotheses, including: those who have more social capital achieve more goals, basically in all areas of life, including the two mentioned above. We test this hypothesis with data from the Survey on the Social Networks of the Dutch, a representative panel study on personal networks of over 600 Dutch residents. Social capital is measured with the position generator. Lagged regression analyses indicate that individuals with a higher level of education, a higher socioeconomic background and men generally have more social capital. Also, living in a rural area and participation in voluntary associations are positively associated with social capital, in particular with the number of positions accessed. Next, we show that social capital increases the likelihood of being in a supervisory position and having a higher income. In contrast to our hypothesis, we find that individuals with more social capital are less satisfied with their financial situation; although the effects are not strong. The effects of social capital on subjective health are mixed and dependent on the indicator of social capital. [Dutch] Volgens de sociaalkapitaaltheorie zijn mensen die via hun persoonlijke netwerk toegang hebben tot veel hulpbronnen beter in staat hun doelen te bereiken. Wie meer sociaal kapitaal ter beschikking heeft, bereikt meer op uiteenlopende terreinen van het leven, waaronder werk en welzijn. Op basis van deze theorie kunnen we bovendien een reproductie van ongelijkheid verwachten als gevolg van de toegang tot en de accumulatie en het gebruik van sociaal kapitaal. In deze bijdrage onderwerpen we deze voorspelling aan een empirische toetsing. Is er sprake van een reproductie van ongelijkheid in Nederland als gevolg van de verdeling en opbrengsten van sociaal kapitaal?

Because people can cover long distances either online or by travelling to keep in touch with associates relatively easily, some believe that the local has lost its significance. Others argue that community and neighbourhood contacts are still important, for example, as a source of social support. According to Mollenhorst and colleagues, neighbours became more important in Dutch personal networks between 2000 and 2007. I assess how this developed between 2007-2008 and 2013. Next-door neighbours have (again) become more important. Neighbours are predominantly mentioned as associates who are visited and, increasingly, as associates who are asked for practical help. In contrast to Mollenhorst and colleagues, I find that the extent to which the Dutch like and trust neighbours in their network increased while contact frequency (further) declined. For highly educated residents, people without paid work, homeowners, and people with initially small local networks, the size of neighbour networks increased.

According to the social withdrawal hypothesis, a personal network becomes smaller when a person starts dating, cohabitates and marries. This phenomenon is widely established in the literature. However, these studies were usually done with cross-sectional data. As a consequence, it is still unclear whether or how personal networks actually change after the formation of a romantic relationship (i.e. dating), after starting cohabitation and after getting married. It is also unclear how long and to what extent social withdrawal continues. To overcome these shortcomings, we examine how the size and composition of personal networks change after relationship formation. We use two waves of the PAIRFAM dataset (2008 and 2011), which include information about 6640 Germans who were between 16 and 39 years of age at the time of the second interview in 2008. Results from fixed effects regression models underscore that the association between romantic relationships and changes in personal networks is more dynamic than previous studies suggested. For example, after the formation of a romantic relationship people show a decrease in non-kin contacts, while an increase in non-kin contacts is observed after two years of dating, as well as after two years of cohabitation. These network changes suggest that people adapt their social networks to the demands and constraints of each phase of a romantic relationship. Because the decline in network size after dating is not stable, there is no need to be afraid that those who have a romantic partner remain isolated from other relationships.

Households and personal networks We investigate the association between household arrangements and social network characteristics by using three structural perspectives: social context, time demands, and social support. Evidence from the Survey on the Social Networks of the Dutch 2007/2008 (SSND; N = 950) best supports the social support and time demands perspectives. While persons living in households with a partner and/or with children generally hold fewer and less diverse ties to household externals with whom they discuss important personal matters; those living alone have larger core discussion networks with more different contacts. This suggests that those living alone are not less socially integrated than people who share a household with others.

De dorpsgemeenschap staat van oudsher bekend als hecht. Beleidsmakers kennen de sociale gemeenschap dan ook graag een grote rol toe in het garanderen en verbeteren van de kwaliteit van leven op het platteland: bewoners zijn ‘vooral zelf aan zet om hun omgeving tot een leefbare en beleefbare plek te maken’ (lnv 2004: 20). De dorpsgemeenschap lijkt echter in niets meer op het traditionele beeld van hoe het ooit was. De mensen die van de wieg tot het graf in hetzelfde dorp wonen zijn tegenwoordig een kleine minderheid onder de plattelandsbewoners. Bijna de helft van de plattelandsbewoners heeft zelfs wel eens in stedelijk gebied gewoond (Steenbekkers et al. 2008). Bijna alle plattelandsbewoners hebben de beschikking over een auto en voor werk, boodschappen en vertier komen zij vaak buiten het dorp. In dit onderzoek staat de vraag centraal wat is overgebleven van het hechte dorpsleven waar het platteland bekend om staat en in hoeverre de lokale sociale samenhang bijdraagt aan de leefbaarheid en de sociale vitaliteit van plattelandsgebieden. Dit rapport is het vierde dat verschijnt in het kader van het onderzoeksprogramma de Sociale Staat van het Platteland (ssp). Dit programma wordt in opdracht van het ministerie van Landbouw, Natuur en Voedselkwaliteit (lnv) uitgevoerd met als doel een monitor te ontwikkelen, waarmee toekomstige sociale ontwikkelingen op het platteland kunnen worden gesignaleerd. Dit rapport sluit in het bijzonder aan bij het tweede rapport binnen het programma: Het beste van twee werelden (Simon et al. 2007). Hierin vertelden plattelandsbewoners over hun leven op het platteland en over hoe zij aankeken tegen de lokale gemeenschap. Het beeld dat zij schilderden is bepaald rooskleurig te noemen. De bewoners geven aan blij te zijn dat de sociale controle minder sterk is geworden, maar roemen de saamhorigheid en hulpvaardigheid: op het platteland kijken mensen nog naar elkaar om. Waar in dit eerdere onderzoek het gezichtspunt van plattelandsbewoners centraal stond, werd in het huidige onderzoek gebruik gemaakt van de kwantitatieve gegevens, die verzameld werden in de enquête Nederlanders over het Platteland 2007 (nop’07). Voor dit databestand werden ruim 2000 respondenten, op het platteland en in de stad, thuis geïnterviewd over een breed scala aan onderwerpen. [...]

Helpless in the city? – Differences between urbanites and villagers in the number of informal helpers Using data of the Survey of the Social Networks of the Dutch, we find that urbanites have more informal helpers than villagers. This finding is striking, since most previous studies show higher solidarity levels for villagers. By testing hypotheses on active church membership and several features of social networks through multivariate regression models, we find that the differences in the number of informal helpers between urbanites and villagers are (partially) explained by the number of network members, the number of friends within the social network and the multifunctionality of relationships.

This PhD thesis focuses on entrepreneurs and small firms based in residential neighbourhoods in the Netherlands. In the past two decades the neighbourhood has become an increasingly important location for small and home-based firms. Here, working, living and business life are strongly intertwined. This raises the question to what extent firms and entrepreneurs located in residential neighbourhoods make use of and interact with their local environment. In this thesis, the relationship between locally-based entrepreneurs and the neighbourhood context is explored by studying their social networks. Insights from both Economic Geography and Sociology, e.g. Social Network Analysis and Social Capital Theory, are used in this dissertation. The socio-spatial networks of the neighbourhood-based entrepreneurs are studied from a dynamic perspective, allowing for the exploration of network change over time and the effects of these changes on firm performance. Furthermore, this thesis also examines the potential effect of the presence of local entrepreneurship on the neighbourhood context with regard to local social value creation. Literatures on Social Entrepreneurship and Corporate Social Responsibility are used to explore the potential social involvement of these entrepreneurs and the potential drivers of this behaviour. In particular, the role of their (local) social networks is taken into account as explanatory factor. The study has two empirical research parts. The first is a quantitative analysis of the development of the ego-networks of neighbourhood entrepreneurs over a five year period, using data from two waves of a survey (Survey on the Social Networks of Entrepreneurs) conducted in the Netherlands in 2008 and 2014. The second part consists of in-depth interviews with 18 entrepreneurs in two different Dutch cities on their involvement with their local environment and their corresponding local social value creation behaviour. The analyses of the social networks of entrepreneurs located in Dutch residential neighbourhoods, have demonstrated that the social networks of entrepreneurs located in Dutch residential neighbourhoods are important for their firms’ performance change and that their local social networks drives local social value creation. Additionally, this research project has revealed that the social networks of the neighbourhood-based entrepreneurs are far from stable. Through the ability to change their networks over time, the entrepreneurs are found to successfully use their network contacts on behalf of their firms’ development. When turning to the source of the entrepreneurial network contacts, the analyses presented here suggest that Dutch neighbourhood-based entrepreneurs only have a small number of network contacts in the neighbourhoods where they themselves both work and reside. This suggests that the local embeddedness of these firms is limited, making them less locally embedded than was expected at the outset of this study. Thus, although the neighbourhood-based entrepreneurs are socially embedded, their local connections remain limited. This suggests that the role of current-day neighbourhood-based is different from that of the businesses that were present in neighbourhoods between the 1950s and 1980s. This outcome calls for additional research on neighbourhood-based entrepreneurship nowadays and the role it might play on both the economic and social dimensions.

This books describes and explains how a romantic partner and child(-ren) affect social relationships. Whereas many scholars have studied the importance of personal networks as a resource for the individual, comparatively little is known about how social networks emerge and how network composition can be explained. This study adds to our understand of this topic, by describing the short and long term influence of a partner and child(-ren) on various network characteristics, including the content of relations and the gender and age composition of networks. In addition, this research looks at differences between people who undergo the same transition but who differ on crucial aspects, such as the amount of support they receive from their spouse, children and network members, the amount of time and energy they spend on childcare, housework and paid work, and their timing of parenthood. Cross-sectional and longitudinal data from the Netherlands, Germany and Switzerland are used to explore these aspects.