A Meeting of Minds: How Intellectual Integration Drives Social Integration

• In Event: 540 - Section on Science, Knowledge, and Technology Roundtable Session (one-hour).
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 07. Knowledge Networks

Abstract

Sociology has long characterized the interrelation between structure and culture, or networks and identities, in a variety of ways. However, this relation has been mostly presented in historical cases rather than in detailed longitudinal analyses. In this article, we ask when and where do networks of association shape the consumption of culture, and when and where do tastes in ideas drive patterns of interpersonal association? To answer this, we focus on academics and the processes by which they form collaborations and align with ideas. We use a unique longitudinal dataset (1993-2007) on 3,057 faculty at a large American university where we have recourse to information on all the articles faculty published, the grants they wrote, the grants they received, and the language (text) and knowledge (citation) they generated and consumed in those knowledge creation activities. Using recent advances in longitudinal social network analysis, we are able to determine whether and when scientific discovery is influenced by form (relations), content (ideas), and/or selection (actor traits). We find evidence for two scholarly cultures (STEM / Non-STEM). In addition, we find evidence for a drastic change in the relationship between structure and culture. In the mid 1990s (1993-1996), we find that faculty collaborations drive thought styles: i.e., structure drives culture. This relationship is reversed in the mid 2000s (2002-2005). Faculty associations with thought styles and topics drive their collaborations: i.e., culture drives structure. Our research has implications for studies in the sociology of science, knowledge organizations and social theory.

Authors

• Tobias H. Stark, Stanford University

• Susan Marie Biancani, Stanford University