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The Human Network: How We're Connected and Why It Matters
It's not what you know, it's who you know . Or so the adage goes. Professor Matthew Jackson, world-leading researcher into social and economic networks, shows us why this is far truer than we'd like to believe.
Based on his ground-breaking research, The Human Network reveals how our relationships in school, university, work and society have extraordinary implications throughout our lives and demonstrates that by understanding and taking advantage of these networks, we can boost our happiness, success and influence.
But there are also wider lessons to be learnt. Drawing on concepts from economics, mathematics, sociology, and anthropology, Jackson reveals how the science of networks gives us a bold new framework to understand human interaction writ large - from banking crashes and viral marketing to racism and the spread of disease. Filled with counter-intuitive ideas that will enliven any dinner party - e.g. how can our popularity in school affect us for the rest of our lives? - The Human Network is a "big ideas" book that no one can afford to miss.
Based on his ground-breaking research, The Human Network reveals how our relationships in school, university, work and society have extraordinary implications throughout our lives and demonstrates that by understanding and taking advantage of these networks, we can boost our happiness, success and influence.
But there are also wider lessons to be learnt. Drawing on concepts from economics, mathematics, sociology, and anthropology, Jackson reveals how the science of networks gives us a bold new framework to understand human interaction writ large - from banking crashes and viral marketing to racism and the spread of disease. Filled with counter-intuitive ideas that will enliven any dinner party - e.g. how can our popularity in school affect us for the rest of our lives? - The Human Network is a "big ideas" book that no one can afford to miss.
- GenresBusiness
344 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 7, 2019
17 people are currently reading
208 people want to read
About the author
Matthew O. Jackson
13 books37 followersMatthew O. Jackson is a professor of Economics at Stanford University. He has been researching social and economic networks for more than twenty-five years.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
February 15, 2020
I thought Matthew gave a very proper insight into how our networks played an important role not just in our lives but also in financial systems as well. What I especially liked and took away from the book was:
1. We might not be the central node in our networks, but if we are connected to people who are, we can still as easily get our messages out and influence many people two or more degrees away from us. Moreover, being the person linking two separate clusters together makes one much more important and influential - as in the example of Medici, where separate groups or families are only indirectly linked to other families with the Medici family as a node on the shortest path. Therefore, who you know matters - being the connected to central nodes may be better than being the central nodes of clusters themselves. This links to the Chinese idea of guanxi, or connections, where who you know can put you in higher places.
2. Because of homophily and feedback loops within our networks, our opinions are shaped by those we are friends with, causing us to likely have an average of the opinions of our friends groups. This affects our choices and decisions subconsciously, whether we like it or not. Therefore, if certain habits are what you want, it's easier to adopt them when you have a group of friends that have those habits too - a support system of sorts. In that sense, to know a person, we can simply look at their friends to see what they are like. It's easier to then see why certain groups of people or housing clusters would choose or go down their life paths. One question that comes to mind here is that do we make friends based on the old adage of "Birds of a feather flock together"? If so, then wouldn't preferences already be quite similar (say for example, with more liberal or conservative opinions)? It would have been great if the author had touched on how human networks are formed in the first place to get a better understanding of it all.
3. The wisdom or average of the crowd gives us a really good gauge or estimate of how things are, provided that it is random guesses. With that said, is the average review on GoodReads then accurate and reflective of how good a book is? Or could reviews have influenced future reviews, as in the case of the Monk and Alice's cafe?
Overall, a good view of how our networks could influence us and our life paths in ways we did not expect.
1. We might not be the central node in our networks, but if we are connected to people who are, we can still as easily get our messages out and influence many people two or more degrees away from us. Moreover, being the person linking two separate clusters together makes one much more important and influential - as in the example of Medici, where separate groups or families are only indirectly linked to other families with the Medici family as a node on the shortest path. Therefore, who you know matters - being the connected to central nodes may be better than being the central nodes of clusters themselves. This links to the Chinese idea of guanxi, or connections, where who you know can put you in higher places.
2. Because of homophily and feedback loops within our networks, our opinions are shaped by those we are friends with, causing us to likely have an average of the opinions of our friends groups. This affects our choices and decisions subconsciously, whether we like it or not. Therefore, if certain habits are what you want, it's easier to adopt them when you have a group of friends that have those habits too - a support system of sorts. In that sense, to know a person, we can simply look at their friends to see what they are like. It's easier to then see why certain groups of people or housing clusters would choose or go down their life paths. One question that comes to mind here is that do we make friends based on the old adage of "Birds of a feather flock together"? If so, then wouldn't preferences already be quite similar (say for example, with more liberal or conservative opinions)? It would have been great if the author had touched on how human networks are formed in the first place to get a better understanding of it all.
3. The wisdom or average of the crowd gives us a really good gauge or estimate of how things are, provided that it is random guesses. With that said, is the average review on GoodReads then accurate and reflective of how good a book is? Or could reviews have influenced future reviews, as in the case of the Monk and Alice's cafe?
Overall, a good view of how our networks could influence us and our life paths in ways we did not expect.
October 8, 2019
This is a "popular science" book and well-written but it does require a bit of concentration, which is well-rewarded. It explains lots of initially counter-intuitive things about how society works. If more people read this and understood social behaviours, they would be less surprised about our behaviour. Specially interesting to me with an economic geography background.
July 31, 2023
Matthew Jackson has been working in networks in economics for the longest time and his knowledge and experience in this subject matter certainly shows in this highly accessible book.
He is able to explain well the various concepts that he uses, and also through the use of many many examples. One would come away knowing concepts such as homophiliy, and the various types of centrality (degree, eigenvector, and diffusion), and how they apply to the impact of networks on a range of subjects - from social inequality to pandemics. The examples mentioned are themselves research done by either himself, his collaborators or other economists. As a sociologist, I was also delighted to see him mentioned the likes of Bourdieu, Coleman and Granovetter.
The book while accessible is demanding in that you need to pay attention to what Jackson is writing. I could not just read it leisurely so to speak as I do other books, but it is a page-turner (then again it could be my bias given my interests regarding the role of networks with respects to subjects such as social mobility and inequality). The endnotes are also extensive; while not crucial towards enjoying the book, the extended exposition on certain areas does expand one’s understanding on the subject in question.
I appreciate the fact that this was a book he wrote for generalists like myself or at least those with a tenuous grasp of formulae. His other book is written for the specialist and he did mention it to be as such on his website.
This is a book that I will continue to come back to over the years, as the concepts and theories contained within will continue to be of relevance to my own interests, professionally and personally speaking.
5 stars without a doubt.
He is able to explain well the various concepts that he uses, and also through the use of many many examples. One would come away knowing concepts such as homophiliy, and the various types of centrality (degree, eigenvector, and diffusion), and how they apply to the impact of networks on a range of subjects - from social inequality to pandemics. The examples mentioned are themselves research done by either himself, his collaborators or other economists. As a sociologist, I was also delighted to see him mentioned the likes of Bourdieu, Coleman and Granovetter.
The book while accessible is demanding in that you need to pay attention to what Jackson is writing. I could not just read it leisurely so to speak as I do other books, but it is a page-turner (then again it could be my bias given my interests regarding the role of networks with respects to subjects such as social mobility and inequality). The endnotes are also extensive; while not crucial towards enjoying the book, the extended exposition on certain areas does expand one’s understanding on the subject in question.
I appreciate the fact that this was a book he wrote for generalists like myself or at least those with a tenuous grasp of formulae. His other book is written for the specialist and he did mention it to be as such on his website.
This is a book that I will continue to come back to over the years, as the concepts and theories contained within will continue to be of relevance to my own interests, professionally and personally speaking.
5 stars without a doubt.
January 24, 2022
A very informative read bringing out how interconnected we are and what and how the many factors like homophily, externalities affect our own decisions and decisions around policy, politics & planning of governments, organizations. In the digital world it is also interesting to see how large organizations are taking advantages of Homophily and making us more and more biased. Just by being aware of the factors one can consciously counteract against it. Definitely a must read. The chapters Homophily: Houses Divided and The Wisdom and Folly of the Crowd were very enlightening.
May 21, 2019
concise model :)
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews