Structural Identity and Equivalence of Individuals in Social Networks: Beyond Duality

Abstract

There are two problems in structural sociology that have attracted the attention of researchers: first, the creation of individual identity by means of the social networks in which individuals are embedded; second, that of structural equivalence, i.e. the problem of non-identification of individuals by means of those social networks. The aim of this article is to bring both problems together under a common framework from which both identity and equivalence of individuals in social networks will simultaneously emerge. Or in other words, the study attempts to show that structural determinations of identity and equivalence are just the same. In order to achieve this, it is necessary to go beyond the duality approach insofar as duality represents social structure either as a network of interconnected social circles or as a network of individuals who are linked by one or some given relations. Accordingly, the concept of place and place analysis is used.