Research

Professor Cornwell's research focuses mainly on social networks among individuals and organizations. Most of his work explores the implications of these networks for individual and organizational outcomes, the production of social capital, and the reproduction of social stratification. He has documented the importance of integration in social networks for individuals' health, social influence, and employment, as well as the reciprocal effects of health and life-course experiences on the ability to achieve and maintain powerful positions within networks. He has also explored the indirect impact individuals' networks have on the influence and success of the larger organizations (e.g., unions) to which they belong. His research on older adults' network connections in particular has been reported in dozens of media outlets, including CNN, The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, and LA Times, he has discussed his work on several radio shows, and has appeared on "Chicago Tonight."

His recent work, funded in part by NIH and NIDA, focuses on the joint production of health within older couples and its link to partner network overlap, gender differences in access to power and autonomy through their networks, and the role of social networks in the spread of risky behavior among men who have sex with men (MSM). He is also starting work on a study of how individuals manage the task of "switching" between social roles and network contacts from one activity to the next, and how aging and life-course experiences affect these switching dynamics.

Publications

The following is a list of some recent publications. A complete list is available here.

Cornwell, Benjamin. 2009. "Good Health and the Bridging of Structural Holes." Social Networks 31:92-103.

Cornwell, Benjamin. 2009. "Network Bridging Potential in Later Life: Life-Course Experiences and Social Network Position." Journal of Aging and Health 21:129-54.

York, Erin, and Benjamin Cornwell. 2008. "Access to Expertise as a Form of Social Capital: An Examination of Race- and Class-Based Disparities in Network Ties to Experts." Forthcoming, Sociological Perspectives.

Cornwell, Benjamin, Edward O. Laumann, and L. Philip Schumm. 2008. "The Social Connectedness of Older Adults: A National Profile." American Sociological Review 73:185-203.

Cornwell, Benjamin. 2007. "The Protestant Sect Credit Machine: Social Capital and the Rise of Capitalism." Journal of Classical Sociology 7:267-90.

Jacobs, David, and Benjamin Cornwell. 2007. "Labor Markets and Organizations: A Screening Theory of Hiring Networks and Racially Homogenous Employment." Research in Social Stratification and Mobility 25:39-55.

Payne, Danielle, and Benjamin Cornwell. 2007. "Modeling Peer Influences on Delinquency: Beyond the Direct Contact Hypothesis." Journal of Quantitative Criminology 23:127-150.

York, Erin, and Benjamin Cornwell. 2006. "Status on Trial: Social Characteristics and Influence in the Jury Room." Social Forces 85:455-77.

Cornwell, Benjamin. 2005. "Contextualizing Closeness Centrality: Incorporating Disconnectedness via the Complement." Connections 26:70-81.

Cornwell, Benjamin, and Jill Ann Harrison. 2004. "Union Members and Voluntary Associations: Membership Overlap as a Case of Organizational Embeddedness." American Sociological Review 69:862-81.