What Does Milgram Mean By The Strength Of Weak Ties

The term “small world phenomena” can be defined as the principle that all people are linked by short chains of acquaintances. Both Stanley Milgram and Duncan Watts can be accredited with the discovery and affirmation of this principle. The idea came to Milgram after numerous observations that when at a party or a large social gathering, strangers often meet and end up talking about who they know. Usually, it isn’t long until they realize that they both know someone in common. Milgram wanted to find a way to test how prevalent and accurate this observation was. The way that Milgram tested his “small word hypothesis” is as follows: he gave letters to a couple hundred people in Nebraska. They were tasked with having to send this letter to a target

The intensity of ties (eg: weak, strong, etc) can be characterized by intimacy, time, and reciprocal services. Hence, it is clear that a weak tie would have limited characterization of the variables mentioned previously. So why do sociologists claim that weak ties are responsible for the majority of information transmission and social network structure? This can be summed up by the “strength of weak ties” phenomena. This idea states that weak ties are so important because they bring in novel information, as well as allow people to “connect” through the weak ties of mutual friends. Because weak ties require little maintenance, this allows a wide range of accessibility for networking. Often, weak ties fill in “structural holes”, or gaps between network clusters. Weak ties are also imperative regarding the concept of social capital. Social capital is the information, knowledge of people/things, and connections that help individuals enter, gain power in, or otherwise leverage social networks. The saying, “It’s not just what you know, but whom you know” is extremely true, and having many weak ties is the starting point for the pursuit of having a good social capital. However, often high social capitals are defined by dense, embedded ties. This is because if one wants to have a strong social capital, they must have many strong ties that are closely linked via multiple facets. In doing this, a community is created based on trust, reciprocity, and