A Service of Leibniz-Informationszentrum econstor Wirtschaft Leibniz Information Centre Make Your Publications Visible. zbw for Economics Bessière, Céline; Gollac, Sibylle Article Is social network analysis useful for studying the family economy? economic sociology_the european electronic newsletter Provided in Cooperation with: Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies (MPIfG), Cologne Suggested Citation: Bessière, Céline; Gollac, Sibylle (2018) : Is social network analysis useful for studying the family economy?, economic sociology_the european electronic newsletter, ISSN 1871-3351, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies (MPIfG), Cologne, Vol. 19, Iss. 3, pp. 4-10 This Version is available at: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/181296 Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen: Terms of use: Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Documents in EconStor may be saved and copied for your Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. personal and scholarly purposes. 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In the 1990s, some scholars focused on mutual economic aid in kin- ship networks, considering them potential compensa- network tion for the weakening of the welfare state in Europe (Debordeaux & Strobel, 2002). At the turn of the twenty-first century, in the context of the decline of analysis useful wage-earning society (Castel, 2003 [1995]) and the implementation of neoliberal policies, family wealth also appears as a major resource with regard to educa- for studying tion (Khan, 2011), housing (Bugeja-Bloch, 2013), or being self-employed (Arum & Muller, 2004). Recently, the family macroeconomic studies have stressed the return of in- heritance and gifts from previous generations in capi- tal accumulation (Piketty, 2014). economy? Can social network analysis help us to under- stand the family economy in contemporary France? Céline Bessière and Sibylle Gollac This question has been in the background of our own studies, which address the following issues. How is professional and family care organized for a depen- dent elderly or sick person (Weber, Gojard &Gramain, istorically, the family was one of the first ob- 2004)? How do families deal with real estate owner- jects of study for network analysis. In the ship (Gollac, 2011)? How is a family business handed H 1950s, Bott’s research on working-class Lon- over to one single heir and how do siblings accept un- don families showed that the connectedness and den- equal inheritances (Bessière, 2010; Gollac, 2013)? sity of a husband’s and a wife’s respective networks of More broadly, how are family assets transferred from kin, friends, and neighbors are positively correlated one generation to another? How do couples share their with sex role segregation in the marital relationship wealth when they break up (Collectif Onze, 2013; Bes- concerning the performance of domestic tasks, leisure sière 2017)? activities, and interests (Bott, 1971 [1957]: 60). Following this pio- Céline Bessière is a Professor of sociology at Paris-Dauphine University, PSL Research neering research, studies based on University, IRISSO. Her first book explored how Cognac winegrowing family businesses were networks revealed that a sense of handing over from one generation to the next (De génération en génération, Paris: Raisons family belonging may be built out- d’Agir 2010). [email protected] side the nuclear family through Sibylle Gollac is a research fellow in sociology at the French National Center for Scientific visits, communication technolo- Research, CRESPPA-CSU. She co-authored a book with S. Billaud, A. Oeser and J. Pagis on gies, emotional and material ex- family memory (Histoires de familles: Les récits du passé dans la parenté contemporaine, Paris: pressions of care (for example Editions de la rue d’Ulm 2015). [email protected] money transfers and presents) Both of them co-authored a book drawing on a vast research on family courts in France (Milardo, 1988; Horst & Miller, (Collectif Onze, Au tribunal des couples, Paris: Odile Jacob, 2013). They currently study the 2005; Widmer 2010; Herz, 2015 material, economic and legal dimensions of family, in particular through the analysis of among many others). More gener- inheritance and marital breakdown. Their researches are at the crossroads of several fields: ally, kin relationships are a major sociology of law and justice, sociology of gender and family, and economic sociology. part of social capital as they in- volve connections between individuals who provide First, we show how network analysis inspires material, informational, or emotional support to each national surveys (based on individuals) in a way that other (Furstenberg, 2005; Coleman, 1988). allows the statistical study of the family economy be- In this paper, we focus on the family economy yond the predefined boundaries of households. These defined asthe production, consumption, and distribu- surveys are crucial for measuring socio-economic in- tion of goods, assets, and services among kin (either equalities based on class and gender in France. Sec- inside or outside the household). This concept is not ond, we discuss network analysis’s conception of kin new. Studying the effects of industrialization in Eu- as a web of dyadic relationships. This conceptualiza- rope, Tilly and Scott describe the transition from a tion of the family economy emphasizes inter-individ- household economy based on production to a family ual exchanges of assets, goods, and services and tends consumer economy based on wage-earning. They to ignore groups. Our ethnographic studies show, to economic sociology_the european electronic newsletter Volume 19 · Number 3 · July 2018 Is social network analysis useful for studying the family economy? by Céline Bessière and Sibylle Gollac 5 the contrary, that the family economy implies practi- concern, entry into adulthood is still the period that cal kin groups that can be both a resource and a bur- concentrates most family transfers (Le Goff, Navaux & den for individuals. Third, we stress the feature of kin Ragot, 2016). Thus, economic transfers between that is the major obstacle to network analysis: Family households tend to equalize the standard of living be- is not only a nexus of interpersonal relationships, but tween old givers and young recipients (Déchaux & is also an institution, defined and framed by law. Herpin, 2004). The same authors show that the “hid- den economy of kinship” does not reduce socio-eco- nomic inequality between classes. On the contrary, Studying the family economy rich households are more likely to help rich house- holds (and poor households more likely to help poor beyond the predefined boundaries households). Compared with lower class households, of the household upper class households receive financial help more of- ten and in larger amounts. The main contribution of social network analysis to In the 1990s, statisticians, demographers, and research on the family economy is to broaden the def- sociologists inspired by social network analysis de- inition of family beyond predefined boundaries. As signed new surveys centered on individuals rather Widmer puts it, relatives that matter cannot be defined than the household. In 1990, the French survey “Close a priori, using the household as a natural limit to the friends and relatives” (Proches et Parents) was the first family (Widmer, 2010). In France, as of the 1980s, so- to focus on personal relationships (Bonvalet & Ort- ciologists stressed the importance of the circulation of alda 2007). The interviewee (ego) is asked about the assets, goods, and services among kin, beyond the role of friends and relatives in relation to his or her boundaries of the household (Pitrou, 1992 [1978]). academic and professional career, housing and sup- Network analyses provide an interesting critique of port received in difficult moments. Three types of per- standardized representative national surveys con- sonal networks are distinguished: The potential family ducted at household level (Widmer, Aeby & Sapin, network represented by a family tree, the active net- 2013). work of close friends and relatives, and the support In France, according to the French National network of mutual help providers. All these lists are Statistical Institute, a household designates all the oc- made by the interviewee. This new type of survey of- cupants of the same dwelling (although they do not fers many advantages. First, it describes the circula- have to be blood-related). A first way of studying fam- tion of goods and services among kin inside as well as ily economy beyond the household unit consists of