Compare methods

	Generalized Blockmodeling	Blockmodeling
Field	Sociology	Sociology
Family	Process / pipeline	Process / pipeline
Year of origin	2005	1976
Originator	Patrick Doreian, Vladimir Batagelj & Anuška Ferligoj	Harrison White, Scott Boorman & Ronald Breiger
Type	Direct optimization partition of a network into positions with typed blocks	Network partitioning into positions and a reduced role structure
Seminal source	Doreian, P., Batagelj, V., & Ferligoj, A. (2005). Generalized Blockmodeling. Cambridge University Press. ISBN: 978-0-521-84085-9	White, H. C., Boorman, S. A., & Breiger, R. L. (1976). Social structure from multiple networks. I. Blockmodels of roles and positions. American Journal of Sociology, 81(4), 730–780.
Aliases	generalized blockmodel, direct blockmodeling, pre-specified blockmodeling, Doreian-Batagelj-Ferligoj blockmodeling	block modeling, blockmodel analysis, generalized blockmodeling, CONCOR
Related	5	4
Summary	Generalized blockmodeling, developed by Doreian, Batagelj, and Ferligoj, partitions the actors of a network into positions and simultaneously characterizes the ties between positions as one of several allowed block types — null, complete, regular, dominant, and others. Rather than the indirect, two-step approach of computing equivalences and then clustering, it directly searches for the partition that minimizes the inconsistency between the observed network and an idealized block structure, optionally one the analyst pre-specifies from theory.	Blockmodeling is a family of methods that simplify a social network by partitioning its actors into positions — groups of actors who are equivalent in their pattern of ties — and summarizing the relations between positions as a compact image, or reduced role structure. Introduced by Harrison White, Scott Boorman, and Ronald Breiger in 1976, it shifts attention from individuals to the structural roles they occupy.