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