Fixed Networks

This is an idea that was presented to me and seemed to make a lot of sense. Fixed networks as explained to me is an economic term. However, I am going to try to flush it out in a social networking system, much like "bowling alone" that I read for Garretts Poli Sci class. First in "bowling alone" it talked about, if I can remember correctly, social networks in a sense of webs that were more parallels than hierarchical. Applied to Utah it would look a lot like East side/West side structures, meaning on the East side you are more likely to have connections with doctors and lawyers and such. Whereas on the West side Mama's let there babies grow up to be cowboys. You are more likely to know people that build your house than the banker that provides the loan for example. Here in Minnesota I would apply it to strictly social circles, the people you hang out with or "so-called friend." Minnesotans be it the long cold winters, or the Nordic heritage are much more "private" people. People grow up together and are still friends now at 30. Which means to a new person living here, it's a different challenge to become part of the web. Many people, but not all, are native Minnesotans and they have several groups. The "childhood friends," I know so and so since we were born. The "high school friends." The "college friends." This forms fixed networks of social networks. They are both difficult to get in and out of. I'm not saying this is a negative thing, but rather an observation. My own reflection says that my friends are the ones that I met on study abroad or internships. My college was a commuter college so people stayed in their groups of friends. I had some friends from out of state and I'm sure they were presented with some challenges when the first arrived. There is an idea of transition or mobility. Places where there is more transitional places or in other words more people moving in and out, the networks are more easily formed. Many Minnesotans grow up here and stay here. There is less mobility than say NYC, LA, or DC, where there is a lot of people coming into the city to do whatever, and also people leaving as well.