Interpersonal networks and the archaeology of social structures; using social positioning events to understand social strategies and individual behaviour

Abstract

This paper is based on two community reconstitution studies (Soure and Lousã) in early modern Portugal during the 17th and 18th centuries that demonstrate the value of analyzing networks of relationships, especially the "apadrinhamento" (selecton of godparents), in understanding social structures and the individual strategies that they encompass.

A central aspect of the methodology used is the concept of "event of relative social positioning": an action, traceable in the sources, by which an actor makes explicit his perception of his own social position relative to another actor. The relationship of "apadrinhamento", in which someone asks another person to be the godfather or godmother of a child, is the main source of social positioning events used in our research. It will be demonstrated that people never invite someone they consider their social inferior to be a godmother or godfather to their child.

This simple principle produces surprising results when a global reconstruction is made at the community level, and the relative social position of a large number of frequently interacting individuals is obtained. The resulting network has interesting formal characteristics suggesting self-organization and high connectivity, and constitutes an example of what modern network theory calls "small worlds".

The reconstructed web of relationships allows us to put information from different sources into context, providing surprising insights into social mechanisms which are otherwise invisible. Specific case studies will be shown to illustrate the explanatory power of this approach, with a focus on socially determined patterns of moral behavior in the parish of Soure, and the impact of an early manufacturing installation on the traditional community of Lousã.