What Makes Weak Ties Strong?
Abstract
We raise two challenges concerning the validity of arguments underlying Granovetter's strength of weak ties (SWT) thesis: ( a) whether weak ties are actually bridges, i.e., they help reach more socially distant actors than strong ties, and ( b) whether weak ties transmit information effectively enough so that weak ties’ alleged structural properties make them more useful than strong ties. In the course of reviewing subsequent research that has made progress in addressing these challenges, we identify both potential limits and possibilities for the SWT thesis. We argue for the importance of identifying how actors’ agency—i.e., the way people use their ties—may affect social networks’ value. We conclude by summarizing some outstanding questions that progress on the SWT thesis has generated.
Ingestion failed: Traceback (most recent call last): File "/srv/app/app/worker.py", line 85, in run_once process_job(db, job) File "/srv/app/app/worker.py", line 39, in process_job pdf_path, info = fetch_pdf_temp(candidate["url"]) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ File "/srv/app/app/downloader.py", line 129, in fetch_pdf_temp raise ValueError(f"PDF source returned HTTP {response.status_code}.") ValueError: PDF source returned HTTP 403.
No local PDF is available.
GROBID Extracted text; discontinued.
This text is generated from TEI extraction for accessibility, search, and TTS. Formulas, tables, figures, page layout, and references may not perfectly match the original PDF.
No accessible text representation is available. The text extraction service has been discontinued for the time being. If you require this service, for accessibility or any other reason, please submit an issue/request on this page.
Metadata
Issues
No public issues have been filed for this DOI.
Submit an issue
Record history
| When | Event | Field | Old | New |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-06-18 19:37:53.011249+00:00 | identifier_assigned | DSEID | DSEID-001-8608700 |