In this video, we’ll learn structural holes. Last week, we introduced a classic theory of strength of weak ties. This week we’ll introduce a similar school of thought but with different constructs of structural holes, brokerage, and closure. Those constructs were proposed by Robert Burt. Structural holes are gaps or empty spaces between clusters in networks. Network closure refers to dense clusters of strong ties. Within a cluster, people tend to share similar information, ideas, and behavior.

What’s in common between the strength of weak ties and structural holes? They both acknowledge the importance of the absence of ties, particularly the ties your contacts are not connected to.

According to the theory of strength of weak ties, the stronger the ties between two people are, the more likely their contacts will overlap. And weak ties are bridging ties that function as the conduit of new ideas. Strong ties nurtures strong trust. But if you want to innovate, you’d better focus more on building weak ties. You have weak ties first, and then those weak ties provide you with an advantageous position in the network. Your weak ties comes first, your bridging role comes second.

The construct of structural holes, on the other hand, is the other way around. You have an advantageous position in the network first, and then you have better access to the resources in the networks (i.e., social capital). Your bridging role comes first, your social capital comes second.

The constructs of structural holes, brokerage, and closure offer an understanding of social capital from a network perspective. As we’ve discussed repeatedly in this course, the whole is different from the sum of its parts. Similarly, social capital (i.e., the resources embedded in a network) is different from the sum of human capital at an individual level. How much social capital you have in your social network does not necessarily depend on how many ties you have. You can build your social capital if you understand where you are located in your social network.

You can position yourself within a closely connected cluster, so you’re in a network closure. In this case, you build bonding social capital.

You can also position yourself between two clusters, so you play a brokerage role. In this case, you build bridging social capital.

And you can use many metrics from social network analysis to quantify bonding and bridging social capital.

#NetworkAnalysis #SocialCapital #StructuralHoles