Introduction: The social network paradigm

The social network paradigm is a construct for analysis of social relationships developed in social anthropology. As a concept, however, the social network paradigm has undergone parallel development in several academic and clinical streams of research and practice. Basic research and clinical questions are presented for further exploration in the development of the paradigm.This work was supported in in part by grant #AA03506-01AL from the national Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, awarded to the University of California, Irvine, Department of Psychiatry.