Weak Ties in Society
Article link: https://www.cnu.org/publicsquare/2018/09/04/socially-sustainable-communities-are-more-friends-and-families
In the article Socially sustainable communities are more than friends and families, Steve Price points about the importance of building weak ties between acquaintances colleagues and neighbors. Price begins to clarify the difference between being lonely and being unconnected. When family bonding and social media are big things in the American society, people are less lonely because there is a tendency of building strong ties between you, and your friends and families. People are, however, still somehow disconnected from the neighborhood because there are not enough weak ties for various reason. Weak ties are as crucial as strong ties for the health of the social network. They are described by Steve as “strings that thread their way through the social fabric, supporting and nourishing these clumps of intimates, allowing flows of information, culture, and work that lead to learning and opportunities” (Prince, 2018). Some of the potential causes of the lack of weak ties are “the deconstruction of public spaces, the geographic segregation of Americans by class and race, and the elevation of private experience over public” (Prince, 2018). It’s interesting to notice that if people want to solve this social fragmentation problem, cultural, geology and social changes should happen simultaneously.
My interested in weak ties began when I learn how American get most of their jobs from weak ties rather than strong ties in the INFO 2040 class. Mark S. Granovetter, in his well-known book Strength of Weak Ties, points out that weak tie is a bridge connecting to a new place, a new person, a new group, and even a new set of information which is crucial to gain a more complete understanding of the social structure. The reading further explains the importance of weak ties for a socially sustainable community. Some of the potential problem of not enough connections with colleagues and neighbors can lead to “higher rates of morbidity and mortality, especially in older adults, and may be fueling the opioid crisis and upticks in suicide rates”(Prince, 2018). Prince believes that weak ties not only have strength, but they are necessary for the health of our society.
Citation:
Mark S. Granovetter, “The Strength of Weak Ties,” American Journal of Sociology 78, no. 6 (May, 1973): 1360-1380.
Price, Steve. “Socially Sustainable Communities Are More than Friends and Families.” CNU Journal, 5 Sept. 2018, www.cnu.org/publicsquare/2018/09/04/socially-sustainable-communities-are-more-friends-and-families.