Homophily

Not to be confused with Homophile.

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Homophily (from Ancient Greek ὁμός (homós) 'same, common' and φιλία (philía) 'friendship, love') is a concept in sociology describing the tendency of individuals to associate and bond with similar others, as in the proverb "birds of a feather flock together".[1] The presence of homophily has been discovered in a vast array of network studies: over 100 studies have observed homophily in some form or another, and they establish that similarity is associated with connection.[2] The categories on which homophily occurs include age, gender, class, and organizational role.[3]

The opposite of homophily is heterophily or intermingling.[4] Individuals in homophilic relationships share common characteristics (beliefs, values, education, etc.) that make communication and relationship formation easier. Homophily between mated pairs in animals has been extensively studied in the field of evolutionary biology, where it is known as assortative mating. Homophily between mated pairs is common within natural animal mating populations.[5]

Homophily has a variety of consequences for social and economic outcomes.[6]

  1. ^ Ferguson, Niall (15 August 2017). "The False Prophecy of Hyperconnection". Foreign Affairs. Archived from the original on 1 May 2018. Retrieved 1 October 2017. At the same time, birds of a feather flock together. Because of the phenomenon known as 'homophily', or attraction to similarity, social networks tend to form clusters of nodes with similar properties or attitudes.
  2. ^ McPherson, M.; Smith-Lovin, L.; Cook, J. M. (2001). "Birds of a Feather: Homophily in Social Networks". Annual Review of Sociology. 27: 415–444. doi:10.1146/annurev.soc.27.1.415. S2CID 2341021.
  3. ^ Retica, Aaron (10 December 2006). "Homophily". New York Times. Archived from the original on 15 June 2018. Retrieved 22 February 2017.
  4. ^ Lozares, Carlos; Verd, Joan Miquel; Cruz, Irene; Barranco, Oriol (7 August 2013). "Homophily and heterophily in personal networks. From mutual acquaintance to relationship intensity". Quality & Quantity. 48 (5): 2657–2670. doi:10.1007/s11135-013-9915-4. ISSN 0033-5177. S2CID 144566559. Archived from the original on 4 February 2023. Retrieved 13 March 2022.
  5. ^ Jiang, Yuexin; Bolnick, Daniel I.; Kirkpatrick, Mark (June 2013). "Assortative Mating in Animals". The American Naturalist. 181 (6): E125–38. doi:10.1086/670160. hdl:2152/31270. JSTOR 10.1086/670160. PMID 23669548. S2CID 14484725.
  6. ^ Jackson, Matthew O. (1 November 2010). Social and Economic Networks. Princeton University Press. doi:10.2307/j.ctvcm4gh1. ISBN 978-1-4008-3399-3. JSTOR j.ctvcm4gh1. S2CID 155715415. Archived from the original on 7 May 2021. Retrieved 2 July 2021.