Homophily
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Homophily (from
The opposite of homophily is
Homophily has a variety of consequences for social and economic outcomes.[6]
Types and dimensions
Baseline vs. inbreeding
To test the relevance of homophily, researchers have distinguished between two types:[2]
- Baseline homophily: simply the amount of homophily that would be expected by chance given an existing uneven distribution of people with varying characteristics; and
- Inbreeding homophily: the amount of homophily over and above this expected value, typically due to personal preferences and choices.[7]
Status vs. value
In their original formulation of homophily, Paul Lazarsfeld and Robert K. Merton (1954) distinguished between status homophily and value homophily; individuals with similar social status characteristics were more likely to associate with each other than by chance:[8][2]
- Status homophily: includes both society-ascribed characteristics (e.g. race, ethnicity, sex, and age) and acquired characteristics (e.g., religion, occupation, behavior patterns, and education).[9]
- Value homophily: involves association with others who have similar values, attitudes, and beliefs, regardless of differences in status characteristics.[9]
Dimensions
Race and ethnicity
Social networks in the United States today are strongly divided by race and ethnicity,[10] which account for a large proportion of inbreeding homophily (though classification by these criteria can be problematic in sociology due to fuzzy boundaries and different definitions of race[11]).
Smaller groups have lower
Sex and gender
In terms of sex and gender, the baseline homophily networks were relatively low compared to race and ethnicity. In this form of homophily men and women frequently live together and have large populations that are normally equal in size. It is also common to find higher levels of gender homophily among school students.[12] Most sex homophily are a result of inbreeding homophily.[2]
Age
Most age homophily is of the baseline type. An interesting pattern of inbreeding age homophily for groups of different ages was found by Marsden (1988).[13] It indicated a strong relationship between someone's age and the social distance to other people with regard to confiding in someone. For example, the larger age gap someone had, the smaller chances that they were confided by others with lower ages to "discuss important matters."[2]
Religion
Homophily based on religion is due to both baseline and inbreeding homophily. Those that belong in the same religion are more likely to exhibit acts of service and aid to one another, such as loaning money, giving therapeutic counseling, and other forms of help during moments of emergency. Parents have been shown to have higher levels of religious homophily than nonparent, which supports the notion that religious institutions are sought out for the benefit of children.[2]
Education, occupation and social class
Family of birth accounts for considerable baseline homophily with respect to education, occupation, and social class. In terms of education, there is a divide among those who have a college education and those who do not. Another major distinction can be seen between those with white collar occupations and blue collar occupations. [2]
Interests
Homophily occurs within groups of people that have similar interests as well. We enjoy interacting more with individuals who share similarities with us, so we tend to actively seek out these connections.[14] Additionally, as more users begin to rely on the Internet to find like minded communities for themselves, many examples of niches within social media sites have begun appearing to account for this need. This response has led to the popularity of sites like Reddit in the 2010s, advertising itself as a "home to thousands of communities...and authentic human interaction."[15]
Social media
As social networks are largely divided by race, social-networking websites like Facebook also foster homophilic atmospheres.[16] When a Facebook user 'likes' or interacts with an article or post of a certain ideology, Facebook continues to show that user posts of that similar ideology (which Facebook believes they will be drawn to). In a research article, McPherson, Smith-Lovin, and Cook (2003) write that homogeneous personal networks result in limited "social worlds in a way that has powerful implications for the information they receive, the attitudes they form, and the interactions they experience."[17] This homophily can foster divides and echo chambers on social networking sites, where people of similar ideologies only interact with each other.
Causes and effects
Causes
Geography: Baseline homophily often arises when the people who are located nearby also have similar characteristics.[18] People are more likely to have contact with those who are geographically closer than those who are distant. Technology such as the telephone, e-mail, and social networks have reduced but not eliminated this effect.
Family ties: These ties decay slowly, but familial ties, specifically that of domestic partners, fulfill many requisites that generate homophily.
Organizations: School, work, and volunteer activities provide the great majority of non-family ties. Many friendships, confiding relations, and social support ties are formed within voluntary groups. The social homogeneity of most organizations creates a strong baseline homophily in networks that are formed there.[20]
Isomorphic sources: The connections between people who occupy equivalent roles will induce homophily in the system of network ties. This is common in three domains:
Cognitive processes: People who have demographic similarity tend to own shared knowledge, and therefore they have a greater ease of communication and share cultural tastes, which can also generate homophily.
Effects
According to one study,
Nowadays, the restrictive patterns of homophily can be widely seen within social media. This selectiveness within social media networks can be traced back to the origins of Facebook and the transition of users from MySpace to Facebook in the early 2000’s.[24] One study of this shift in a network’s user base from danah boyd (2011) found that this perception of homophily impacted many individuals' preference of one site over another.[25] Most users chose to be more active on the site their friends were on. However, along with the complexities of belongingness, people of similar ages, economic class, and prospective futures (higher education and/or career plans) shared similar reasons for favoring one social media platform. The different features of homophily affected their outlook of each respective site.
The effects of homophily on the diffusion of information and behaviors are also complex. Some studies have claimed that homophily facilitates
As online users have a degree of power to form and dictate the environment, the effects of homophily continue to persist. On Twitter, terms such as “Stan Twitter”, “Black Twitter”, or “Local Twitter”[31] have also been created and popularized by users to separate themselves based on specific dimensions.
Homophily is a cause of homogamy—marriage between people with similar characteristics.[32] Homophily is a fertility factor; an increased fertility is seen in people with a tendency to seek acquaintance among those with common characteristics.[33] Governmental family policies have a decreased influence on fertility rates in such populations.[33]
See also
References
- ^ Ferguson, Niall (August 15, 2017). "The False Prophecy of Hyperconnection". Foreign Affairs. Archived from the original on May 1, 2018. Retrieved October 1, 2017.
At the same time, birds of a feather flock together. Because of the phenomenon known as "homophily", or attraction to similarity, social networks tend to form clusters of nodes with similar properties or attitudes.
- ^ S2CID 2341021.
- ^ Retica, Aaron (10 December 2006). "Homophily". New York Times. Archived from the original on 15 June 2018. Retrieved 22 February 2017.
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- ^ Marsden, P. V. 1988. "Homogeneity in confiding relations." Social Networks 10:57–76.
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- ^ "Homepage - Reddit". www.redditinc.com. Archived from the original on 2020-10-10. Retrieved 2020-10-10.
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: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link - ^ Lorenz, Taylor (2018-07-03). "How Twitter Became Home to the Teen Status Update". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on 2018-12-27. Retrieved 2020-10-10.
- ^ Fiore, A. T. and Donath, J. S. (2005). "Homophily in Online Dating: When Do You Like Someone Like Yourself?" Archived 2017-08-09 at the Wayback Machine. MIT Media Lab.
- ^ a b Thomas Fent; Belinda Aparicio Diaz; Alexia Prskawetz (2013). "Family policies in the context of low fertility and social structure". Demographic Research. 29 (37). Archived from the original on 2018-06-02. Retrieved 2016-02-20.