Weak Ties Research

Weak Ties Theory Explanations > Theories > Weak Ties Theory
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We have both friends and acquaintances. Our friends are often a part of a close-knit group who largely know one another. Our acquaintances are far less likely to know one another.
In terms of connection with general society and staying in touch with what is going on in the wider world, the weak ties with our acquaintances are paradoxically much more important than the inwardly-focused conversations with our closer friends. Indeed, the information we discuss with our friends often comes from wider sources.
In the familiarity of strong ties we use simple restricted codes, where much is implicit
If the system is mostly made up of strong ties, then it will be fragmented and uncoordinated.
Some weak ties are better than others. Weak ties to friends of your friends are not as useful as weak ties elsewhere as the information and further connections are likely to be similar to those of your friends. Weak ties that join separate social groups are called bridges.
You can also find absent ties, where you might expect a tie but it does not exist, for example in a group of friends where two people are still distant from one another.
As there are usually more people in lower classes, they have greater choice of friends and greater chance of finding similar 'people like me ' and so compensate by having more strong ties. Economic uncertainty also leads to the search for contingencies and poorer people invest far more in building multiple strong ties who will directly help them if they are in difficulty. However this may serve to anchor their status further and reduce the chance of upward social mobility.
Upper class people are more relaxed about weak ties and so tend to have more. However, they have to resort to expensive clubs and other filtering mechanisms to find 'people like them ' with whom they can build stronger