Homophily Analysis
Homophily analysis quantifies the tendency of similar individuals to form ties — the principle that 'birds of a feather flock together'. It compares the rate at which people connect with others who share an attribute (race, gender, age, education, attitudes) against what would be expected by chance, distinguishing the homophily that arises merely from group sizes from the genuine, behavior-driven preference for similar others.
Read the full method
Sign in with a free account to read this section.
Method map
The neighbourhood of related methods — select a node to explore.
+2 more
Sources
- McPherson, M., Smith-Lovin, L., & Cook, J. M. (2001). Birds of a feather: homophily in social networks. Annual Review of Sociology, 27, 415–444. DOI: 10.1146/annurev.soc.27.1.415 ↗
- Newman, M. E. J. (2003). Mixing patterns in networks. Physical Review E, 67(2), 026126. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevE.67.026126 ↗
How to cite this page
ScholarGate. (2026, June 22). Homophily Analysis in Social Networks. ScholarGate. https://scholargate.app/en/sociology/homophily-analysis
Which method?
Set this method beside its closest kin and read them side by side — the library lays the books on the table; the choice is yours.
- Dyadic AnalysisSociology↔ compare
- Social Network AnalysisNetwork analysis↔ compare
- Stochastic Actor-Oriented ModelSociology↔ compare
- Structural Balance TheorySociology↔ compare