Abstract
This article analyses the transformation of network approach research in different areas of science, its use in anthropology, sociology and political science, as one of the most flexible research tools. For a long time the theory of network approach has developed within the framework of natural science, but with the appearance of “network field” and “social network” concepts supported by the spreading of the Internet, researchers in the humanities also got interested in this approach. Due to the change in and the expansion of methodology, network approach has become an accessible research tool for both sociologists and political scientists. Russian political scientists have added network analysis to their toolkit comparatively recently.
This paper examines the structure and basic characteristics of network analysis, as well as its advantages over other research methods. Now that the Internet is so popular, the network approach methodology is most relevant, because it allows to research complex social networks and the interrelationship between their actors. One of the most expressive features of modern social networks is the transition from online- to offline-space to achieve their own goals and to solve problems. This phenomenon is studied in the given article on the material of parents’ online-communities. Parents’ communities are divided into networks for moms and dads: male online-networks are only evolving, while female networks are numerous and active. These communities not only differ in their goals and objectives, but they also differently affect the solution of local policy problems by transition from online- to offline-space.
Keywords
Funding information
The study was carried out through the financial support of the Russian Fund of Fundamental Research (RFFR), as part of the scientific project «Network Resources of the Development of Local Policy under New Political Reality” (№ 15–33–01313, 2015–2017, supervised by N. A. Ryabchenko).
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