In this episode of For Sociology, host Kevin Caners speaks with Peter Bearman, Columbia University professor and recipient of the 2025 Kohli Prize for Sociology, about his landmark work on how social networks reveal the hidden structures shaping everyday life.

Bearman traces his path into sociology, from an early childhood moment that sharpened his awareness of different social standpoints to an undergraduate turning point that pulled him away from clinical psychology. He reflects on the influence of mentor Harrison White, and how concepts like "duality" helped him see networks not just as connections between people, but as systems that organize social worlds. The conversation then turns to Add Health and Bearman's landmark work on adolescent networks, including "Chains of Affection." He explains what sexual network structure can teach us about disease transmission, and why "missing ties" can be as important as visible ones. Finally, Bearman zooms out to sociology today: the pros and cons of expanding data, the incentives that reward quantity over depth, and the kinds of reforms that could make room for riskier, more transformative research.

Chapters:

00:00 Podcast intro
00:45 Meet Peter Bearman
02:11 Early sociological spark
06:58 From psychology to sociology
08:47 Undergrad turning point
11:11 Graduate school networks
12:27 Seeing the world in duals
15:20 Why networks matter
18:07 Dissertation and Add Health
21:21 Power of missing ties
25:10 Add Health origins
25:51 Chains of Affection
29:43 Rapid-fire questions
33:39 Duality and misconceptions
34:37 Outlook of Sociology today
35:51 Fixing academic incentives
39:16 The Deluge of data
42:31 Final thoughts

Links:

Find out more about The Kohli Foundation

More about Add Health