Network theory lacks a theory of choice

While the theories of networks of Barabási and others have been devoid of a normative point of view, network theorizing has often been couched in quasi-social language e.g. “popularity is attractive” and “rich get richer.”

In a typical passage explaining the birth of a scale-free network Barabási writes: “When deciding where to link, new nodes prefer to attach to the more connected nodes. Thanks to growth and preferential attachment, a few highly connected hubs emerge.” There is a danger in the current excitement over network thinking to blur the social and natural in the wrong kind of way. The theorists use intentional metaphors to loosely describe the descriptive theory but there is really no account of intentional choice or incentives within the theory itself.