Social Network Genealogy

Social network genealogy reconstructs the social structure of a community from genealogical and archival records by representing kin, marriage, and affinal ties as a network and applying social network analysis to it. Built on the network approach to kinship pioneered by White and Jorion, it uses descent and marriage links — often combined with other archival relations — to study cohesion, brokerage, status, and the rise and fall of social groups, especially in historical populations.