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Multiplex network ties and the spatial diffusion of radical innovations : Martin Luther’s leadership in the early reformation
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Becker, Sascha O., Hsiao, Yuan, Pfaff, Steven and Rubin, Jared (2020) Multiplex network ties and the spatial diffusion of radical innovations : Martin Luther’s leadership in the early reformation. American Sociological Review, 85 (5). pp. 857-894. doi:10.1177/0003122420948059 ISSN 0003-1224.
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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1177/0003122420948059
Abstract
This article analyzes Martin Luther’s role in spreading the early Reformation, one of the most important episodes of radical institutional change in the last millennium. We argue that social relations played a key role in its diffusion because the spread of heterodox ideologies and their eventual institutionalization relied not only on private “infection” through exposure to innovation but also on active conversion and promotion of that new faith through personal ties. We conceive of that process as leader-to-follower directional influence originating with Luther and flowing to local elites through personal ties. Based on novel data on Luther’s correspondence, Luther’s visits, and student enrollments in Luther’s city of Wittenberg, we reconstruct Luther’s influence network to examine whether local connections to him increased the odds of adopting Protestantism. Using regression analyses and simulations based on empirical network data, we find that the combination of personal/relational diffusion via Luther’s multiplex ties and spatial/structural diffusion via trade routes fostered cities’ adoption of the Reformation, making possible Protestantism’s early breakthrough from a regional movement to a general rebellion against the Roman Catholic Church.
Item Type: | Journal Article | |||||||||
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Subjects: | B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BR Christianity H Social Sciences > HM Sociology |
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Divisions: | Faculty of Social Sciences > Economics | |||||||||
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Reformation, Culture diffusion, Social networks, Protestantism | |||||||||
Journal or Publication Title: | American Sociological Review | |||||||||
Publisher: | Sage Publications, Inc. | |||||||||
ISSN: | 0003-1224 | |||||||||
Official Date: | 1 October 2020 | |||||||||
Dates: |
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Volume: | 85 | |||||||||
Number: | 5 | |||||||||
Page Range: | pp. 857-894 | |||||||||
DOI: | 10.1177/0003122420948059 | |||||||||
Status: | Peer Reviewed | |||||||||
Publication Status: | Published | |||||||||
Access rights to Published version: | Open Access (Creative Commons) | |||||||||
Date of first compliant deposit: | 8 September 2020 | |||||||||
Date of first compliant Open Access: | 9 September 2020 | |||||||||
RIOXX Funder/Project Grant: |
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