Abstract
Regional agroecological systems are examples of complex adaptive systems, where sustainability is promoted by social networks that facilitate information sharing, cooperation, and connectivity among specialized components of the system. Much of the existing literature on social capital fails to recognize how networks support multiple social processes. Our paper overcomes this problem by analyzing how the social networks of wine grape growers exhibit structural features related to multiple social processes: ties to central actors that build bridging social capital and facilitate the diffusion of innovations, ties that close triangles and build bonding social capital to solve cooperation dilemmas, and ties to individuals that span community boundaries to connect specialized components of the system. We use survey data to measure the communication networks of growers in three viticulture regions in California. A combination of descriptive statistics, conditional uniform random graph tests, and exponential random graph models provides empirical support for our hypotheses. The findings reflect regional differences in geography and institutional histories, which may influence the capacity to respond to regional environmental change.
Highlights
This paper analyzes the structure of social networks among wine grape growers in three regions of CA, USA, that have implemented sustainability partnerships
This paper addresses the puzzle of multiple social processes by arguing that the observed structures in social networks are signatures of three underlying social processes that motivate interaction in agroecological systems: diffusion of innovation, cooperation, and boundary-spanning
The basic intuition of these tests is to generate random graphs that correspond to an assumption of structure unaffected by social processes
Summary
This paper analyzes the structure of social networks among wine grape growers in three regions of CA, USA, that have implemented sustainability partnerships. As with other examples of regional environmental change, wine grape growers make decisions in the context of an agroecological system that must adapt to changing ecological, economic, and social processes. To help growers adapt to these changes, sustainability partnerships aim to build social networks that enable learning, innovation, and cooperation. Sometimes referenced under the term Bsocial capital,^ social networks are hypothesized to facilitate social processes such as learning and cooperation that enable human societies to adapt to dynamic and complex social-ecological systems (Coleman 1988; Ostrom 1990; Boyd et al 2011). We build on this work with rigorous statistical tests for specific structural signatures of these forms of social capital across multiple networks
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
