Toronto Theory Workshop

TTW fosters theoretical dialogue, taking theory in a wide sense. We aim to maximize conversation. Papers, usually works in progress, are circulated prior to meetings, and all attendees are expected to come to the workshop having read the paper. Presenters typically provide only a 5-minute introduction and contextualization of the paper. Then two discussants (a graduate student and a faculty member) provide critical commentary, followed by open Q&A with all participants. Everyone is welcome, whether you see yourself as someone who works in theory or not, and whether you are new to the department or have been around for a long time.

We will circulate papers a week prior to meetings. Papers will be posted here:
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/05rvybxflki582zy6fe5d/AFflSZ4NRdpdHFKmtgi...

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Title: Recombination and Catalysis in Multiple Networks

Abstract:  This chapter first describes the raw material out of which organizational inventions emerge – namely, the overlay architecture of multiple networks. Then I elaborate on the meaning of “recombination” and “catalysis”, the core social-science concepts of evolution used in this book. I apply those concepts to the empirical chapters 3-9, in order to highlight the generative social-network mechanisms contained therein. Finally, I describe some dynamical consequences for elite transformation of feedbacks among recombination and catalysis causal links.

Speaker Bio: John F. Padgett (Ph.D., Michigan, 1978) is a Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago. Currently he conducts research in the related areas of organizational invention and of state and market co-evolution, mostly in the context of Renaissance Florence but also through agent-based modeling. In the past, Padgett has published in the topics of organization theory, social network analysis, federal budgeting, plea bargaining, and stochastic processes. For the past twenty years, I have been constructing from primary archival sources a very large relational database about social-network evolution over the two hundred years, 1300-1500, in Renaissance Florence. This unprecedented data set contains information on about 60,000 persons: 10,000+ marriages, 14,000+ loans, 3,000+ business partnerships/firms, 40,000+ tax records, 12,000+ political-office elections, and other matters. Renaissance Florence was the arena for many history-altering organizational and technical inventions, in numerous domains, which Padgett studies primarily through tracing empirically and through modeling the catalytic co-evolution of multiple, cross-cutting social networks over time.
http://home.uchicago.edu/~jpadgett/