Local communities as meso-structures

Alexis Ferrand (1)

1 CLERSÉ - Centre Lillois d’Études et de Recherches Sociologiques et Économiques - UMR 8019

In between micro and macro levels: meso. If macro is defined by national, state or market regulation, and micro by interpersonnal regulation, a major agency of intermediate regulation has been defined as "local communities" (Wellmann, Fischer). Apart the organizational (local organizations, clubs, shops...) and institutional (local power, parties,...) dimensions of localities, it is possible to define some pertinent structural properties of systems of private interpersonal relations : one is the degree of local closure (Barnes : local vs transversal networks), or the "duality" of these systems. Grounded on the idea that the efficiency of "bridges" rest upon the kind of cliques they connect (Lin), it is possible to define various types of micro-structures, the distributions of which in different localities are proxy indicators of the different meso structures of relational systems as combinations of "local" and "unlocal" networks.

Mots clés: macro-micro-meso levels; Local Health Systems; Social Nework

Domaines: Sociologie

Alexis Ferrand. Local communities as meso-structures. REDES : Revista Hispana para el Análisis de Redes Sociales, 2002, Vol.3, (4), pp.1-11. ⟨halshs-00206239⟩