ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the process of network transformation in time, investigating the main elements associated with change. It presents the mechanisms that impact urban life conditions in general and poverty in particular. The mechanisms that shape networks and mediate their mobilization can be broken down into two large groups in pursuit of clearer presentation. The first includes the causal triggers that produce a differentiation between the networks of individuals living in poverty and those of their middle-class counterparts, while the second explains much of the network variability observed among the poor. Network changes can be more localized and conjunctural in nature, or more structural, associated with lifecycles or the types of relational environment to which the individual has access. Social mechanisms are middle-range regularities observable empirically, that are part of the analytical models and that may be considered as the specific causal triggers that lead to certain recurring social outcomes.
