Social Exclusion and Resilience: Examining Social Network Stratification among People in Same-Sex and Different-Sex Relationships

Authored by academic.oup.com and submitted by mvea

Social networks of minoritized societal groups may be exposed to a unique structural force, namely that of social exclusion. Using a national sample of people in same-sex and different-sex relationships in the Netherlands (N = 1,329), this study examines sexual orientation as stratifying factor in social networks. Specifically, it is a comparison of their size and composition. Overall, the networks are similar but a few differences stand out. People in same-sex relationships have larger networks than people in different-sex relationships, which are made up of fewer ties with the family-of-origin and more friends. This lends support to the families-of-choice hypothesis and suggests that people employ resilience strategies, such as alternative community building, to counteract social exclusion from families-of-origin. The results further show that men in same-sex relationships have the fewest same-gender ties in their networks out of both men and women in any relationship type. Overall, the results show that sexual orientation is a dimension worthwhile studying as a stratifying factor of social networks both standing alone and at the intersection with gender.

ChefCano on April 12nd, 2021 at 02:01 UTC »

There's a concept of "the chosen family" in queer circles. Mostly due to many queer people losing access to their birth family. I'm lucky enough to have both, but not all my friends are.

One of the more classic ways to surreptitiously ask if someone was gay was to ask if they were "family".

thwgrandpigeon on April 12nd, 2021 at 01:43 UTC »

I've never given it much thought, but anecdotally that lines up with my lived experience. When working in the coffee shop work, all my LGBTQ+ friends always had way more friends at their social or art nights than my straight friends. My straight friends, meanwhile, typically hung out with their SOs and maybe the few coworkers they liked, if their SO was outgoing enough.

If the hypothesis is true that "marginalized groups employ resilience strategies to counteract social exclusion", it'll be interesting to see if that changes as society becomes less LGBTQ+phobic. It would also be interesting to see if rates of friendship are different in groups marginalized for other reasons.

rogozh1n on April 11st, 2021 at 23:09 UTC »

As a straight person who is distanced from his family, I can confidently say that gays and gay couples of both genders have been incredibly kind and supportive of me. This study works two ways.