The Sociological Concept of "Group": An Empirical Test of Two Models

Two models of the structural form of small, informal groups are compared. One, derived by Winship, requires that patterns of social affiliation be strictly transitive. The other, based on Granovetter's ideas about weak and strong ties, requires only a special limited form of transitivity. When these alternative models are tested with data on human interaction, it turns out that the Winship model does not fit the data but that the model developed from Granovetter's work does.