Power, Distinction, Display: Excavating Elites

The Changing Structure of Social Neighborhoods

The formal tools of social network analysis allow us to use mathematics to identify clusters of more closely connected nodes. We might think of these as "Social Neighborhoods." A node's neighbors are those nodes with whom it shares a significant number of connections and overlapping ties.

This structural aspects of networks is called modularity. For each network, in 1860, 1900, and 1940 the 25 largest  modularity classes (by numbers of nodes) were examined in depth and given names to characterize the kinds of organizations that this cluster of people and institutions cohered around (see table to the right).

To provide parallels between 1860, 1900, and 1940, an identical array of colors were used across all three time periods. 

<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=50&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Network+Composition+Summary">Network Composition Summary</a>

This project uses data about 25,421 individuals, based on extensively culled newspaper data, from three periods in Chicagos history (1860, 1900, and 1940) to visualize the changing shape of social networks in Chicago. This table shows the composition of the networks studied as part of this project.

How to Explore the Networks:

On the following pages, one may explore the networks in a variety of ways, including the full networks in the three time periods (1860, 1900, and 1940), as well as by gender in the same three time periods (1860, 1900, and 1940). 

1. To dig deeper into the details of each network, work with the two-dimensional graphs provided at the top of each year's page. The gray box in each 2D visualization provides two main avenues of exploration: 

  • You can search for a specific individual or organization in the field marked "search by name," or click through the ties of individuals or organizations to see their direct ties and connections.
  • You can also select to view one of the 25 largest modularity classes (or "social neighborhoods") using the Group Selector drop-down menu. 

2. To immerse yourselve in the social space of elite power, and be surrounded by the social neighborhoods that cohered in each year, try out the 3D or Virtual Reality renderings.