Application of Social Network Analysis for Livelihood System Study

Abstract

Social Network Analysis (SNA) has received growing attention among diverse academic fields for studying ‘social relations’ among individuals and institutions. Unfortunately, its application has remained limited in the study of livelihood systems of rural poor. Complexity in rural livelihoods has increased sharply in the face of increased pressure on natural resources and rapid shift in farm-based to non-farm based employments. This poses great challenge to successful livelihood intervention in rural areas. On one hand, rural development/extension needs to cater to diverse information and service need of the rural people; on other hand, rural institutions need to deliver livelihood-sustaining services more efficiently, which often need institutional restructuring at multiple levels. To achieve these challenges, a strong innovative analytical tool is required for understanding the complexity of rural livelihoods and the associated role of rural institutions. SNA provides excellent scope to analyse such complex systems and interactions among their components. This article proposes an outline of using SNA in livelihood system analysis. The analysis can provide answer to many questions of practical importance – Who are the influential actors in a livelihood system? Which are the key institutions contributing towards sustainable livelihoods? How do these actors interact among themselves? This will help rural development administrators to deliver livelihood-supporting services more efficiently through informed targeting and capacity building.

Keywords

Sustainable livelihoods, Livelihood system, Social network analysis, Rural development, Rural extension

Supplementary File(s)

References

Aberman, N., & Haglund, E. (2011). A Stakeholder Map for Climate Change Adaptation. Retrieved from http://womenandclimate.ifpri.info/files/2012/02/Mali_Net-Map_En_FINAL.pdf (accessed on 12 January 2014)
Adger, W. N. (2010). Social Capital, Collective Action, and Adaptation to Climate Change. Economic Geography, 79(4), 387-404.
Anderson, J. R., & Feder, G. (2007). Agricultural Extension. Handbook of Agricultural Economics, 3, 2343-2378.
Asres, A. , Sölkner, J. , Puskur, R. , & Wurzinger, M. (2012). Livestock Innovation Systems and Networks: Findings from Smallholder Dairy Farmers in Ethiopia. Livestock Research for Rural Development. Volume 24, Article #164. Retrieved from http://www.lrrd.cipav.org.co/lrrd24/9/amla24164.htm (accessed on 12 December 2013)
Bandiera, O., & Rasul, I. (2006). Social Networks, and Technology Adoption in Northern Mozambique, Economic Journal, 116: 862-902.
Belshaw, D., & Chambers, R. (1973). A Management Systems Approach to Rural Development. Discussion paper, 161, Institute for Development Studies, University of Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya. Retrieved from http://opendocs.ids.ac.uk/opendocs/bitstream/handle/123456789/76/rc135.pdf?sequence=1(accessed on 23 December, 2013)
Beuchelt, T., & Fischer, I. (2006). What Do Vietnamese Farmers Do When a Crisis Occurs? Covering Lack of Resources through Social Networks. Making Rural Households’ Livelihoods More Resilient–The Importance of Social Capital and The Underlying Social Networks, 34, 45-57.
Borgatti, S. (2002). Basic Social Network Concepts. Retrieved from http://www.analytictech.com/networks/basic%20concepts%202002.pdf (accessed 9 February 2014)
Borgatti, S. P., Mehra, A., Brass, D. J., & Labianca, G. (2009). Network Analysis in the Social Sciences. Science, 323(5916), 892-895.
Burt, R. S. (1978). Cohesion Versus Structural Equivalence as a Basis for Network Subgroups. Sociological Methods & Research, 7(2), 189-212.
Cavallo, R.E. (1982). Systems Methodology in Social Sci¬ence Research: Recent Developments. Boston and The Hague: Kluwer Nijhoff Publishing.
Chambers, R., & Conway, G. (1992). Sustainable Rural Livelihoods: Practical Concepts for the 21st Century. UK: Institute of Development Studies.
Checkland, P.B. (1981). Systems Thinking, Systems Practice. Chichester: John Wiley and Sons.
Cinner, J. E., & Bodin, Ö. (2010). Livelihood Diversification in Tropical Coastal Communities: A Network-Based Approach to Analyzing ‘Livelihood Landscapes’. PLoS ONE, 5(8).
Conway, S., & Steward, F. (1998). Mapping Innovation Networks. International Journal of Innovation Management, 2(2), 223-254.
Crossley, N., Prell, C., & Scott, J. (2009). Social Network Analysis: Introduction to Special Edition. Methodological Innovations Online, 4, 1-7.
DFID. (1999). Sustainable Livelihoods Guidance Sheets, Numbers 1–8, London: Department for International Development.
Douthwaite, B., Carvajal, A., Alvarez, S., Claros, E., & Hernández, L.A. (2006). Building Farmers’ Capacities for Networking (Part I): Strengthening Rural Groups in Colombia through Network Analysis. KM4D Journal, 2(2): 4-18.
Ellis, F. (2000). Rural Livelihoods and Diversity in Developing Countries. UK: Oxford University Press.
Freeman, L. (2004) The Development of Social Network Analysis: A Study in the Sociology of Science, Vancouver, CA: Empirical Press.
Goswami, R. (2007). Understanding Farmer-to-Farmer Communication within the Sustainable Rural Livelihoods Framework (Unpublished Doctoral thesis), Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, West Bengal, India.
Granovetter, M. S. (1973). The Strength of Weak Ties. American Journal of Sociology, 1360-1380.
Hall, A.J., Sivamohan, M.V.K., Clark, N., Taylor, S., & Bockett, G. (2001). Why Research Partnerships Really Matter: Innovation Theory, Institutional Arrangements and Implications for Developing New Technology for the Poor. World Development, 29(5), 783-797.
Hanneman, R. A., & Riddle, M. (2005). Introduction to Social Network Methods, Riverside, CA: University of California, Riverside.
Ikerd, J. E. (1993). The Need for a System Approach to Sustainable Agriculture. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, 46(1), 147-160.
Jamali, M., & Abolhassani, H. (2006). Different Aspects of Social Network Analysis. In Web Intelligence, 2006. WI 2006. IEEE/WIC/ACM International Conference on Web Intelligence (pp. 66-72). Retrieved from https://www.cs.sfu.ca/~oschulte/teaching/socialnetwork/papers/SNA-intro-mohsen.pdf (accessed on 12 October 2013)
Jana, R., & Choudhuri, A. (2013). Studying Various Aspects of Social Networks with Socio-economic Changes in a Rural Area: A case study from West Bengal, Guru Nanak Journal of Sociology, 34 (1 & 2), 1-30.
Kossinets, G., & Watts, D. J. (2006). Empirical Analysis of an Evolving Social Network. Science, 311(5757), 88-90.
Lanjouw, J. O., & Lanjouw, P. (2001). The Rural Non‐farm sector: Issues and Evidence from Developing Countries. Agricultural Economics, 26(1), 1-23.
Lanjouw, P., & Shariff, A. (2004). Rural Non-farm Employment in India: Access, Incomes and Poverty Impact. Economic and Political Weekly, 4429-4446.
Martin, K. S., Rogers, B. L., Cook, J. T., & Joseph, H. M. (2004). Social Capital is Associated with Decreased Risk of Hunger. Social Science & Medicine, 58(12), 2645-2654.
Poole, N., & de Frece, A. (2010). A Review of Existing Organisational Forms of Smallholder Farmers’ Associations and Their Contractual Relationships with Other Market Participants in the East and Southern African ACP Region. Retrieved from http://eprints.soas.ac.uk/8623/1/FAO_AAACP_Paper_Series_No_11[1].pdf (accessed 22 January 2014)
Prell, C., Hubacek, K. , & Reed, M. (2009). Stakeholder Analysis and Social Network Analysis in Natural Resource Management. Society and Natural Resources, 22, 501-518.
Pretty, J. (2003). Social Capital and the Collective Management of Resources. Science, 302(5652), 1912-1914.
Rakodi, C. (1999). A Capital Assets Framework for Analysing Household Livelihood Strategies: Implications for Policy. Development policy review, 17(3), 315-342.
Rao, A.R., & Bandyopadhyay, S. (1987). Measures of Reciprocity in a Social Network. Sankhya, Series A, 49: 141-188.
Ravnborg, H. M. (2002). Developing Regional Poverty Profiles Based on Local Perceptions (No. 291). International Centre for Tropical Agriculture, Cali, Colombia.
Reimer, B., Bollman, R. D., & Bryden, J. M. (1997). Informal Rural Networks: Their Contribution to "Making a Living" and Creating Rural Employment. In R. D. Bollman & Bryden, J. M. (Eds.), Rural Employment: An International Perspective (pp. 396-409). Wallingford: CAB International.
Scott, J., & Carrington, P. J. (Eds.). (2011). The SAGE Handbook of Social Network Analysis. London: SAGE.
Servon, L. J. (1998). Credit and Social Capital: The Community Development Potential of US Microenterprise Programs. Housing Policy Debate, 9(1), 115-149.
Spedding, C.R.W. (1988). An Introduction to Agricultural Systems. 2nd ed. London: Elsevier Applied Science.
Spielman, D. J., Davis, K., Negash, M., & Ayele, G. (2011). Rural Innovation Systems and Networks: Findings from a Study of Ethiopian Smallholders. Agriculture and Human Values, 28(2), 195-212.
Spielman, D. J., Ekboir, J., & Davis, K. (2009). The Art and Science of Innovation Systems Inquiry: Applications to Sub-Saharan African Agriculture. Technology in Society, 31(4), 399-405.
Temel, T., Janssen, W., & Karimov, F. (2001). Agricultural Innovation System of Azerbaijan: An Assessment of Institutional Interactions (Discussion Paper No. 01-3). The Hague, The Netherlands: ISNAR.
Temel, T., Janssen, W., & Karimov, F. (2003). Systems Analysis by Graph Theoretical Techniques: Assessment of the Agricultural Innovation System of Azerbaijan. Agricultural Systems, 77(2), 91-116.
Walby, S. (2007). Complexity Theory, Systems Theory, and Multiple Intersecting Social Inequalities. Philosophy of the Social Sciences, 37(4), 449-470.
Wasserman, S., & Faust, K. (1994) Social Network Analysis, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.