# Peter V. Marsden ## expand\_more ![marsden_605_horiz.jpg](/sites/g/files/omnuum1861/files/styles/hwp_1_1__360x360_scale/public/pvmarsden/files/marsden_605_horiz.jpg?itok=YDEsbxnz) PETER V. MARSDEN, Edith and Benjamin Geisinger Professor of Sociology, received his undergraduate degree (Sociology and History) at Dartmouth College (1973) and his graduate degrees (Sociology, MA \[1975\] and Ph.D. \[1979\]) at the University of Chicago. His Harvard appointment commenced in 1987 after he taught for ten years at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he also held administrative assignments as Associate Chair and Special Assistant to the Dean. At Harvard, he was Chair of the Sociology Department between 1992 and 1998 and in 2002-03. He chaired the Policy and Admissions Committee for the Ph.D. Program in Organizational Behavior between 2000 and 2003, and again between 2005 and 2010. From 2011 until 2015 he served as Dean of Social Science in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Marsden's scholarly writing centers on social organization, especially organizational analysis and social networks. He has ongoing interests in social science methodology, survey research and the sociology of medicine. Most of his recent network studies involve examination of the properties of personal or “egocentric” networks, as well as survey methods for measuring them. Organizational studies—many conducted in collaboration with Arne Kalleberg—examine factors linked to the presence of various human resource practices—recruitment and staffing methods, "high performance" practices, and the use of "contingent" workers—in U.S. workplaces, based on data from establishment surveys. From 1997 until 2015 Marsden was a Co-Principal Investigator directing the ongoing data collection programs of the General Social Survey. He edited *Social Trends in American Life* (Princeton University Press, 2012), which won the AAPOR Book Award in 2015, as well as (with James D. Wright) the second edition of the *Handbook of Survey Research* (Emerald, 2012). He was a lead investigator of three National Organizations Studies conducted between 1991 and 2003, and a co-investigator on a project examining organizational approaches to the improvement of HIV care. In 2016 the American Sociological Association’s Section on Methodology honored him with its Paul F. Lazarsfeld award, which recognizes a career of outstanding contributions to methodology in sociology. At Harvard, Marsden offered courses on organizational analysis, social networks, mathematical sociology, quantitative methods, research methods, and integrating micro- and macro-sociology. He served on both the Sociology review panel at the National Science Foundation and the General Social Survey Board of Overseers (chairing the latter from 1993 until 1997). Between 1991 and 1995 he edited *Sociological Methodology*, the annual methodology volume sponsored by the American Sociological Association. He chaired Harvard's University Benefits Committee and its Health Plans Subcommittee until 2010. ## Selected Publications Download 5 citations download- [BibTeX](/bibcite/export?pager_style=no_pager&number_of_items=12&sort_field=bibcite_year--desc&&content_filter%5B0%5D=722231&content_filter%5B1%5D=722371&content_filter%5B2%5D=722336&content_filter%5B3%5D=722331&content_filter%5B4%5D=722326&&format=bibtex) - [EndNote X3 XML](/bibcite/export?pager_style=no_pager&number_of_items=12&sort_field=bibcite_year--desc&&content_filter%5B0%5D=722231&content_filter%5B1%5D=722371&content_filter%5B2%5D=722336&content_filter%5B3%5D=722331&content_filter%5B4%5D=722326&&format=endnote8) - [EndNote 7 XML](/bibcite/export?pager_style=no_pager&number_of_items=12&sort_field=bibcite_year--desc&&content_filter%5B0%5D=722231&content_filter%5B1%5D=722371&content_filter%5B2%5D=722336&content_filter%5B3%5D=722331&content_filter%5B4%5D=722326&&format=endnote7) - [Endnote tagged](/bibcite/export?pager_style=no_pager&number_of_items=12&sort_field=bibcite_year--desc&&content_filter%5B0%5D=722231&content_filter%5B1%5D=722371&content_filter%5B2%5D=722336&content_filter%5B3%5D=722331&content_filter%5B4%5D=722326&&format=tagged) - [Marc](/bibcite/export?pager_style=no_pager&number_of_items=12&sort_field=bibcite_year--desc&&content_filter%5B0%5D=722231&content_filter%5B1%5D=722371&content_filter%5B2%5D=722336&content_filter%5B3%5D=722331&content_filter%5B4%5D=722326&&format=marc) - [PubMedId](/bibcite/export?pager_style=no_pager&number_of_items=12&sort_field=bibcite_year--desc&&content_filter%5B0%5D=722231&content_filter%5B1%5D=722371&content_filter%5B2%5D=722336&content_filter%5B3%5D=722331&content_filter%5B4%5D=722326&&format=pubmed_id) - [RIS](/bibcite/export?pager_style=no_pager&number_of_items=12&sort_field=bibcite_year--desc&&content_filter%5B0%5D=722231&content_filter%5B1%5D=722371&content_filter%5B2%5D=722336&content_filter%5B3%5D=722331&content_filter%5B4%5D=722326&&format=ris) Marsden, Peter. 2024. “["On Integrating Life Course and Social Network Research.” Advances in Life Course Research 59 (March, 2024): 100592 (5 Pp).](/publications/integrating-life-course-and-social-network-research%E2%80%9D-advances-life-course)”. *Advances in Life Course Research* 59 (2). Marsden, Peter. 2024. “["On Integrating Life Course and Social Network Research.” Advances in Life Course Research 59 (March, 2024): 100592 (5 Pp).](/publications/integrating-life-course-and-social-network-research%E2%80%9D-advances-life-course)”. *Advances in Life Course Research* 59 (2). - add\_circle do\_not\_disturb\_on Abstract (Commentary on nine articles in special issue on "Networked Lives: Probing the Influence of Social Networks on the Life Course") Marsden, Peter V., and Derick S. Baum. 2023. “[‘Uses and Limitations of Dichotomous Aggregate Relational Data.’ Social Networks 74 (July, 2023): 42-61.](/publications/%E2%80%9Cuses-and-limitations-dichotomous-aggregate-relational-data%E2%80%9D-social-networks)”. *Social Networks* 74: 42-61. Marsden, Peter V., and Derick S. Baum. 2023. “[‘Uses and Limitations of Dichotomous Aggregate Relational Data.’ Social Networks 74 (July, 2023): 42-61.](/publications/%E2%80%9Cuses-and-limitations-dichotomous-aggregate-relational-data%E2%80%9D-social-networks)”. *Social Networks* 74: 42-61. - add\_circle do\_not\_disturb\_on Abstract Aggregate [relational data](https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/mathematics/relational-data) (ARD) on relationships between individuals and subgroups have been informative for studying egocentric network size and degree distributions, assessing segregation in contact with subpopulations, and estimating the size of... Marsden, Peter V., and Betina Hollstein. 2023. “[ ‘Advances and Innovations in Methods for Collecting Egocentric Network Data.’ Social Science Research 109(January, 2023): 102816 (18 Pp.).](/publications/%E2%80%9Cadvances-and-innovations-methods-collecting-egocentric-network-data%E2%80%9D-%E2%80%AFsocial)”. *Social Science Research* 109. Marsden, Peter V., and Betina Hollstein. 2023. “[ ‘Advances and Innovations in Methods for Collecting Egocentric Network Data.’ Social Science Research 109(January, 2023): 102816 (18 Pp.).](/publications/%E2%80%9Cadvances-and-innovations-methods-collecting-egocentric-network-data%E2%80%9D-%E2%80%AFsocial)”. *Social Science Research* 109. - add\_circle do\_not\_disturb\_on Abstract This article reviews recent methodological research that bears on the collection of egocentric network data. It begins with background on setting egocentric network boundaries and principal types of instruments that obtain information about such networks... Marsden, Peter V., Maleah Fekete, and Derick S. Baum. 2021. “[‘Egocentric Network Studies Within the General Social Survey: Measurement Methods, Substantive Findings, and Methodological Research.’ Pp. 519-552 in Mario Small, Brea L. Perry, Bernice Pescosolido, and Edward B. Smith (eds.) Personal Networks](/publications/%E2%80%9Cegocentric-network-studies-within-general-social-survey-measurement-methods)”. In *Personal Networks: Classic Readings and New Directions in Egocentric Analysis*. New York: Cambridge University Press. Marsden, Peter V., Maleah Fekete, and Derick S. Baum. 2021. “[‘Egocentric Network Studies Within the General Social Survey: Measurement Methods, Substantive Findings, and Methodological Research.’ Pp. 519-552 in Mario Small, Brea L. Perry, Bernice Pescosolido, and Edward B. Smith (eds.) Personal Networks](/publications/%E2%80%9Cegocentric-network-studies-within-general-social-survey-measurement-methods)”. In *Personal Networks: Classic Readings and New Directions in Egocentric Analysis*. New York: Cambridge University Press. - add\_circle do\_not\_disturb\_on Abstract Survey methods that randomly sample respondents from populations abstract their subjects out of the settings where social phenomena form and develop. By measuring the egocentric networks that surround respondents, surveys can re-incorporate these... Marsden, Peter V., Tom W. Smith, and Michael Hout. 2020. “[‘Tracking U.S. Social Change over a Half Century: The General Social Survey at Fifty.’ Annual Review of Sociology 46 (2020): 109-134.](/publications/%E2%80%9Ctracking-us-social-change-over-half-century-general-social-survey-fifty%E2%80%9D)”. *Annual Review of Sociology* 46: 109-34. Marsden, Peter V., Tom W. Smith, and Michael Hout. 2020. “[‘Tracking U.S. Social Change over a Half Century: The General Social Survey at Fifty.’ Annual Review of Sociology 46 (2020): 109-134.](/publications/%E2%80%9Ctracking-us-social-change-over-half-century-general-social-survey-fifty%E2%80%9D)”. *Annual Review of Sociology* 46: 109-34. - add\_circle do\_not\_disturb\_on Abstract In the five decades since its inception in 1971, the General Social Survey (GSS) project has prospectively recorded the current characteristics, backgrounds, behaviors, and attitudes of representative cross sections of American adults covering more than...