Entropy in Social Networks

Abstract

We introduce the concepts of closed sets and closure operators as mathematical tools for the study of social networks. Dynamic networks are represented by transformations. It is shown that under continuous change/transformation, all networks tend to "break down" and become less complex. It is a kind of entropy. The product of this theoretical decomposition is an abundance of triadically closed clusters which sociologists have observed in practice. This gives credence to the relevance of this kind of mathematical analysis in the sociological context.

13 pages, 7 figures. This paper was presented at SocInfo 2012, Lausanne Switzerland, Dec. 2012, but was inadvertantly omitted from the proceedings

References in corpus (3)

• Finding community structure in networks using the eigenvectors of matrices
• The entropy of network ensembles
• Triadic closure in two-mode networks: Redefining the global and local clustering coefficients