Public
Opinion Quarterly
36:361-366 (1972)
© 1972 American
Association for Public Opinion Research
THE STRENGTH IN WEAK TIES
WILLIAM T. LIU, Professor of Sociology and ROBERT W. DUFF, Assistant Professor of Sociology
University
of Notre Dame
University of Portland
Although communication may take place more easily among people who share similar attributes and have similar attitudes and beliefs, such communication may be in large measure redundant: no new informtion enters the system. For the diffusion of new information, the existence of some "heterophilous" relationships seems to be a structural prerequisite. The following article offers evidence bearing on this proposition.