Chapter 5. Off to greener pitches? 105 Key to the concept of social space is that people with difference characteristics are positioned differently across its dimensions, creating varying degrees of distance between them. In the example of social space as a twodimensional box with income and education plotted on its axes, the biggest distance is found between positions that reflect opposites ends on both dimensions. In such cases, the full diagonal of the box is travelled to reach from one position in social space to the other. Social space is a valuable theoretical tool to visualize social differences within any population in an understandable way. The major strength of this concept, however, does not so much lie in the mere depiction of social differences, but mostly in how people, based on their position in social space, relate to one another and its implications for organizational dynamics (McPherson, 2004). Homophily in social space Because the homophily principle dictates that similarity breeds connection, it is constitutive for how people socially organize themselves within social space (Popielarz & McPherson, 1995). The closer people are positioned to one another in social space, the more similar they are in terms of socially significant attributes. Consequently, the homophily principle implies that distance in social space is inversely related to the likelihood that people form ties with one another. This leads to the localization of people’s networks in social space. If social similarity would be of no importance to one’s ties to others, people would form chaotic network formations that span large distances in social space and are absent of any apparent centre or periphery. Due to homophily, however, social networks tend to have relatively simple structures that concentrate in specific areas of social space with limited branching out. Ecology of affiliation The existence of homophilic tie-formation has important ramifications for the members organizations recruit and retain (Popielarz & McPherson, 1995). In a world where time and energy are limited, individuals must choose what handful of organizations and groups they join and stay with. In turn, organizations must, in order to survive over time, successfully compete with one another for the time and resources of members. Due to the homophily principle, organizations are most likely to recruit members that that are similar and thus closely positioned to most other members
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