Central and Peripheral People in a Social Representation Network

Within the framework of network analysis of social representations, attention is directed toward individuals' centrality within an opinion network. The objective is to identify the characteristics of those who occupy central positions, as well as those on the periphery. To illustrate this approach, we present a study conducted with 1,000 American voters affiliated with the Republican Party, who were surveyed regarding five climate change adaptation policies. The findings indicate that central individuals in the studied network provide more accurate estimations of perceived consensus within the group. Interestingly, the most peripheral individuals appear to form an active minority, engaging in a higher frequency of social interactions within the group. These results suggest that identifying both central and peripheral individuals may offer new insights for research on social representations.