Professional Choices and Social Networks in Elite Legal Education

• In Event: Structure and Meaning: Linking Social Networks and Cultural Life

Abstract

Professional choices in elite educational settings are simultaneously expressive and strategic, yet they unfold under conditions very different from the leisure-based cultural practices that dominate research on cultural homophily. This study examines how law students’ specialization choices shape friendship network formation. Using complete network data from 171 first-year JD students at an elite law school, I develop a multidimensional framework distinguishing behavioral similarity (overlapping choices), positional similarity (shared placement within mainstream versus marginal specializations), and meaning-based similarity (shared value orientations). Exponential random graph models show that simple behavioral overlap exhibits only modest associations with tie formation. Instead, two mechanisms emerge as stronger predictors: alignment in moral-oriented versus market-oriented professional commitments, and shared positioning within the institutional hierarchy of specializations. These patterns persist after controlling for structural network effects and demographic homophily. The findings demonstrate that in high-stakes professional contexts, network homophily operates primarily through shared meanings and institutional positions rather than behavioral overlap alone.
KEYWORDS: cultural homophily; social networks; professional socialization; elite education; ERGMs

Author

• Jiajia Wei, UMass Amherst