“Social Positions”

Abstract

A measure of structural equivalence is the third pillar of my approach to the social-influence process. I equate the distance between actors in social space and their structural equivalence in the network of interpersonal influ- ences. This correspondence permits an empirical approach to social positions, and it invests the derived positions with important theoretical properties. I dis- cuss this approach to social positions, and I assess the construct validity of the derived positions. I introduce the concept of social manifolds, which are objects in the multidimensional space of social positions.