A Blau Space Primer: Networks and Niches in Sociodemographic Dimensions

Miller McPherson, University of Arizona

This paper describes some theoretical and empirical results in the analysis of social networks at a large scale of aggregation. The theoretical results argue that sociodemographic characteristics organize social contacts and the flow of socially transmitted information in society, through the operation of the homophily principle. The paper briefly traces the origin of Blau space, suggests some changes in the dimensionality of the space that have occurred, and then illustrates the application of ideas of Blau space by arguing that the mechanisms of competition and propagation in the sociodemographic dimensions of Blau space can help us to explain the dynamic behavior of many disparate social entities, including both the concrete and the nascent: firms, groups, associations, events, cultural artifacts, markets, social circles, collectivities, occupations, social movements, roles, identities, attitudes, beliefs, lifestyles, institutions, meanings, human cognitive structure, disease, and other socially transmissible quantities.