Career Attributes and Network Structure: A Blockmodel Study of a Biomedical Research Specialty

An idealized pattern (a "blockmodel") of the interaction among 107 scientists in a biomedical research speciality is identified across networks of several distinct types of relationship. This pattern is sustained by the data. Groups of scientists who share common "positions" in the multiple network structure are identified. Inferences concerning the stratification of these groups are derived solely from a consideration of the patterns they induce on multiple networks. These inferences are then assessed in the light of (non-network) career attributes of individual scientists. Substantive findings from previous studies in the sociology of science are re-assessed in the light of blockmodel analysis.