VisszaAbstract:
From a lots of points of views, the research of networks opened new perspectives on the field of social structures. The homophiles that are observed in social networks and the segregations, which are presented in social structures are equivalent processes on the micro- and macro level. The name-generator technique, which is a current method in network research, is primarily able to detect the close system of relationships, so hereby it enables the exploration of the narrower, micro-environmental mechanisms of effects. The position-generator or rather the resource-generator methods primarily assign the people’s instrumental action-zones and only restrictedly appropriate for the definition of social cleavages – although they examine the networks of the individuals in a wider context. (Nevertheless it should be noted that by particular aspects, some of the extension of these methods enable the determination of the social cleavages.) In 2006 a resource-generator-like method was applied in the General Social Survey (GSS) for the measurement of the size of the personal network and social embeddedness (DiPrete et al. 2011). The funds of the method were laid down by McCarty et al. (McCarty 2001) at the beginning of the 2000s. In the GSS questions were asked about how many persons does the respondent know who’s name is XY (for example „How many of the people you are acquainted with are named Michael?”). Based on the different populational frequency of male and female names, it is possible to estimate the network-size of the respondent. However, the size of the network does not necessarily mean useful information per se, as it does not show indication for the expedience of the network. The curiosity of this method is that it was also asked that how many persons do the respondents know and trust in different social groups (for example African Americans, white people, homosexuals, who attend religious services on a regular basis, etc.). With the help of these questions it is possible to examine how strong are the segregational relations between the different social groups and how do they strengthen or weaken in the case of trusted relationships. Therefore, the method does not concentrate on the instrumental and expressive help-network – which is useful for the ego –, but the ties and segregational borders between social stratums, classes and milieus. In 2012 a research was made in Budapest, where questions, which were based on the American GSS network block, but implemented to the Hungarian situation, were asked. We will present the possibilities provided by the method and also the limits of these; furthermore we try to draw those cleavages that divide the people of Budapest the most.