Fields of Mutual Alignment: A Dual-Order Approach to the Study of Cultural Holes. (September 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Puetz, Kyle
• Is Part Of: Sociological theory. Volume 35:Number 3(2017:Sep.)
• Page Start: 228
• Page End: 260
• Publication Date: 2017-09
• Subjects: fields -- cultural holes -- cultural objects -- social networks -- duality; Sociology -- Philosophy -- Periodicals; 301.01
• DOI: 10.1177/0735275117725765
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0735-2751

Abstract

In this article, I discuss how network-analytic exploitations of the duality of agents and social object enable the study of fields from two analytical vantage points. Such an approach entails: (1) the discovery of field positions through identification of cultural holes within a network of agents' tastes and (2) the measurement of interobject competition to identify social objects contributing most to the organization of field positions. Characterizing this approach as a mutual-alignment framework, I discuss its analytical advantages. At the level of the agent, I suggest that positions within fields retrieve their value by virtue of their relational style, or their relationship to the field's cultural holes. At the level of the social object, I provide an analytical framework for identifying structurally important social objects through relationships of asymmetrical competition and incommensurability, or a lack of substitutability. I provide an empirical application to a population of film critics.