The development and maintenance of social ties : a case study of a nursing school

Abstract

There are many possible relationships that may be formed when a group of individuals interact together on a regular basis. In practice these relationships may range from the closest friendship, through indifference based on the barest minimum knowledge, to enmity or antipathy. That is, in a group of individuals up to a certain limit and over a given space of time every individual will know something about every other individual. Only a subset of these relationships will emerge as being strongly positive or strongly negative, and on this basis they will tend to pattern into cliques or clusters that may be represented in the form of a network. Show more