Social Network of Urban Labor Force: Attributes and Measurement

Abstract

Individuals connect with society through both emotional and obligatory relationships, as well as cooperative relationships rooted in the social division of labor. This study introduces the concepts of open and closed networks to capture these distinct relational pathways and characterizes social networks in terms of breadth, closeness, and trust. Using data from the 2012 China General Social Survey and a Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) approach, we construct a comprehensive social network index for both open and closed networks. The results reveal that larger cities in China exhibit stronger open networks, whereas smaller cities are dominated by closed networks. Further empirical analysis of influencing factors supports these findings. These results align with China's stage of urbanization and provide new insights into social network dynamics in other transitional economies.