ABSTRACT
The degree to which contexts are bundled affects the structure of personal networks. The stronger contexts are bundled, the more an individual meets the same others and the more the networks of actors will overlap. Personal networks in bundled contexts will be denser and will contain stronger ties than personal networks in separated, unbundled contexts (cf. Feld 1981). If work, recreation, domestic activities, and other activities are undertaken in highly bundled contexts, where people work with others who are members of the same sports club or live in the same neighborhood, many different ties
in different contexts cannot exist because there are no opportunities for them to emerge (cf. Mak 1996; Podolny and Baron 1997). Once contexts become unbundled, different network structures will emerge because, in general, the supply of different interaction partners increases. The fi nal result of context unbundling would be a network structure where the focal actor is related to others through ties that are completely unconnected. It is alleged that these ties become more superfi cial and weaker, but may be more numerous.
