# Social Interaction and Networks

Business I · Sociology · https://tryals.app/learn/business-i/social-interaction-and-networks

## The Grammar of Encounters

Every interaction runs on invisible grammar: **statuses** (positions), **roles** (their scripts), and **networks** (the wiring). A **status** is a social position, not prestige. **Ascribed** statuses are assigned at birth (nationality); **achieved** statuses are earned (founder). A **master status** dominates how others read you.

Each status carries a **role** (expected behavior). Trouble arises in two ways:

| | Role conflict | Role strain |
|---|---|---|
| Clash between | Two different statuses | Expectations inside one status |
| Example | Parent vs. manager meeting | Supportive coach vs. evaluator |

**Goffman's dramaturgy** treats interaction as theater: a **front stage** for the performance in costume, a **back stage** to drop the act, and continuous **impression management**. **Networks** wire these statuses together with measurable density and reach. Milgram showed any two people connect through roughly **six links**.

## Bridges Beat Bonds

Granovetter proved that **new information travels through weak ties, not strong ones.** **Strong ties** (close friends) form dense clusters of **redundant** information where everyone shares the same news. **Weak ties** (acquaintances) act as **bridges** to other clusters.

| | Strong ties | Weak ties |
|---|---|---|
| Who | Family, daily teammates | Acquaintances, former colleagues |
| Network shape | Dense cluster | Bridge to other clusters |
| Best for | Trust, support, execution | Jobs, leads, new ideas |

Burt noted the value in **structural holes** (empty spaces between clusters). Whoever spans a hole becomes the **broker**, gaining better ideas and faster promotions. **Pitfall:** Weak ties are weak in emotional intensity, not in value. Four weak ties into different clusters put roughly **48 new nodes** within two steps.

## Practice questions

5 of this lesson's 14 practice questions, with answers. The full set is in the app.

### 1. A contact who scores high on time spent together is necessarily a strong tie.

**Answer:** False

**Why:** False. Tie strength combines time, emotional intensity, intimacy and reciprocal services, and a daily colleague can score high on the first and low on the rest. That is why weak ties matter: they reach into different networks and carry information a close circle already shares.

Page: https://tryals.app/practice/business-i/social-interaction-and-networks/a-contact-who-scores-high-on-time-spent-together-is-necessarily-a

### 2. Goffman separates front stage from back stage. Why does a firm that eliminates the back stage — open-plan floors, recorded calls, monitored chat — often find that behaviour gets worse rather than more honest?

A. Because the back stage is where the performance is repaired
B. Because employees resent monitoring and retaliate deliberately
C. Because open-plan offices are noisier and reduce concentration
D. Because monitoring is illegal in most European jurisdictions

**Answer:** A. Because the back stage is where the performance is repaired

**Why:** Removing the back region does not remove the performance, it removes the place where it can be dropped. The impression management becomes constant, which is the opposite of the transparency intended.

Page: https://tryals.app/practice/business-i/social-interaction-and-networks/goffman-separates-front-stage-from-back-stage-why-does-a-firm-that

### 3. Which claims belong to Granovetter’s strength-of-weak-ties argument?

A. Weak ties act as bridges between otherwise separate circles
B. Emotional support in a crisis comes mainly from weak ties
C. Most useful job leads arrive through people seen rarely
D. Strong-tie clusters carry largely redundant information

**Answer:** A. Weak ties act as bridges between otherwise separate circles; C. Most useful job leads arrive through people seen rarely; D. Strong-tie clusters carry largely redundant information

**Why:** Weak ties win at *information*, not at comfort. Crisis support is exactly what strong ties are for, the theory assigns each tie type its trade, it does not crown one.

Page: https://tryals.app/practice/business-i/social-interaction-and-networks/which-claims-belong-to-granovetters-strength-of-weak-ties-argument

### 4. Most people find jobs through acquaintances rather than close friends. Granovetter called this the strength of weak ties. Why do the weak ties win?

A. Weak ties are more likely to be senior and better connected
B. Acquaintances bridge into networks you are not already in
C. Acquaintances are more numerous, so the odds are simply better
D. Close friends are less willing to help with something as consequential as a job

**Answer:** B. Acquaintances bridge into networks you are not already in

**Why:** Redundancy is the problem: your inner circle's information overlaps with yours almost completely, and a bridge into another cluster is where new information lives. Numbers help but are not the mechanism, one acquaintance in a different industry beats fifty in your own.

Page: https://tryals.app/practice/business-i/social-interaction-and-networks/most-people-find-jobs-through-acquaintances-rather-than-close

### 5. Burt’s structural holes and Granovetter’s weak ties describe the same network gap from two sides. What does Burt add?

A. The broker's perspective: the gap is a position to occupy
B. That structural holes close over time as networks mature
C. That weak ties are more numerous than strong ones
D. That the information flowing across the gap is usually inaccurate

**Answer:** A. The broker's perspective: the gap is a position to occupy

**Why:** The same structure, read as a resource. A broker benefits from the two sides staying unconnected, which is why the position is worth defending as well as occupying.

Page: https://tryals.app/practice/business-i/social-interaction-and-networks/burts-structural-holes-and-granovetters-weak-ties-describe-the-same