Nan Lin

Nan Lin (born 1938 in Chongqing, China) is the Oscar L. Tang Family Professor of Sociology at Duke University. He is most notable for his research and writing on social networks and social capital.

Biography

Lin received his undergraduate degree from Tunghai University, Taiwan, in 1960; his M.A. from Syracuse University in 1963; and his doctorate degree from Michigan State University in 1966. He entered the sociology department at the University at Albany, SUNY, in 1971, became a full professor there in 1976 and served as department chair from 1979 to 1982. In 1979, he established contacts with sociologists in the People's Republic of China and established an exchange program between Albany and Nankai University. He also helped organize the first U.S.-China doctoral program in sociology.

In 1990 he took a position as sociology professor at Duke University, seeking to establish a research paradigm which integrates theory with empirical testing. His definition of social capital as access to resources through network ties is one of the most widely accepted conceptualizations of the term. This definition of social capital is quantifiable and widely held to be more precise than the one popularized by Robert Putnam. Lin also rejects Putnam's thesis, put forward in Bowling Alone, that social capital is decreasing; he maintains that it is, in fact, on the ascent thanks to increasingly pervasive online networking. amongst others: