Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Most sociological research, even among students of culture, assumes that networks exert a causal influence on cultural beliefs. Network-focused research has failed to consider the possibility that cultural beliefs or worldviews have an independent effect on the formation of social networks. Building on Emirbayer and Goodwin’s (1994) structuralist constructionism and using longitudinal data from the National Study of Youth and Religion, this paper shows that the different moral worldviews outlined in Habits of the Heart were causally linked to changes in the ego-networks of young people between 2002 and 2005. These effects are robust to the inclusion of prior network composition and behavioral homophily and are generally stronger than prior network and homophily effects. The study concludes with a brief discussion of the implications of the findings for the sociological study of networks and culture.