Isidro Maya Jariego: Redes Sociales - LRPC (Laboratorio de Redes Personales. y Comunidades)

Internet, amigos y bacterias: la alargada sombra de Stanley Milgram.

Resumen:
La literatura sobre el fenómeno de mundo pequeño se ha visto revitalizada con las aportaciones de físicos estadísticos. Desde la publicación del artículo 'Collective dynamics of ‘small-world’ networks' de Watts y Strogatz en 1998, los artículos de los físicos han predominado en un área que antes era de carácter netamente sociológico. La revista Araucaria propone un monográfico en el que se publica la traducción al español del artículo original de Stanley Milgram 'The Small World Problem'. El monográfico incluye una sección de debate entre físicos y científicos sociales sobre las propuestas originales de Milgram. 'Internet, amigos y bacterias' es el artículo de presentación del monográfico.

Palabras clave:
Mundo pequeño, Redes, Psicología Social, Milgram

Abstract:
The new area of complex networks is transforming the scientific literature on the Small World phenomenon. Since the publication of the article 'Collective dynamics of ‘small-world’ networks' by Watts and Strogatz in 1998, physics papers dominate a topic that was formerly of sociological interest. The anthropologist Russell Bernard is now the unique social scientist among the 10 most prolific authors on the Small World problem. The Latin-American journal Araucaria brings out a dossier with comments by physicists and social scientists on the legacy of Stanley Milgram. The combination of the experimental method and a creative technique to obtain empirically-created chains between persons still remains as a crucial contribution of the social psychologist to the understanding of the small world phenomenon. Anyway, the technique itself has had less impact than the general idea of “six degrees of separation”. The Special Issue include the first translation into Spanish of the seminal article by Stanley Milgram 'The Small World Problem', originally published in Psychology Today in 1967. Additionally, other articles in the monograph are dedicated to policy networks, as well as to accomplish a bibliographical sketch of Larissa Adler de Lomnitz, the pioneer anthropologist in Spanish-speaking network studies. The Special Issue also include an Spanish version of the documents contained in the folder used in Milgram’s experiment.

Keywords:
Small World Problem, Networks, Social Psychology, Milgram

Referencia completa:
Maya Jariego, I. (2003). Internet, amigos y bacterias: la alargada sombra de Stanley Milgram. Araucaria. Revista Iberoamericana de Filosofía, Política y Humanidades, 5 (10), 3-14. PDF.