SOCIAL NETWORK ANALYSIS - RECENT ACHIEVEMENTS AND CURRENT CONTROVERSIES

Network analysis has grown rapidly over the past two decades, but crit icisms of the approach have increased as well. This article focuses on several accomplishments and unresolved problems of the network approa ch. In the first section, I illustrate the value of the network model in several substantive areas, focusing on studies of centrality and po wer, network subgroups, and interorganizational relations. I then disc uss three issues over which the approach has provoked controversy: the relation between network analysis and rational choice theory; the rol e of norms and culture; and the question of human agency. I conclude w ith some examples of how network theorists are addressing these proble ms.