Indiana Consortium For Mental Health
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Abstract

Reprint # 69: THE ROLE OF SOCIAL NETWORKS IN HEALTH, ILLNESS, DISEASE AND HEALING: THE ACCEPTING PRESENT,
THE FO R GOTTEN P AS T, AND THE DANGEROUS POTENTIAL FOR A COMPLACENT FUTURE

Bernice A. Pescosolido and Judith A. Levy

Since the I970s, the role of social networks in tracing the underlying epidemiology of illness, distress, disease and disability; and, in understanding how people identify and respond to these crises, has become a mainstay of social and behavioral science research. In this piece, we introduce the papers in this volume in three ways. First, we summarize basic tenants of a social network approach, laying out what research has been able to support to date. Second, to avoid the danger of continuing to do more and more network studies that merely replicate what we already know rather than opening up new areas of understanding, we return to the earliest roots of the social network perspective. Third, we use this review in tandem with the volume's papers to mark the cutting-edge boundaries of current research and to identify the issues and questions that remain.