Page - (000077) - in Knowledge and Networks

68 system usually do not function well. It is the informal norms and social structures (e.g., family networks) that tend to be more important for communication and col- laboration. However, some researchers have long argued that these informal net- works contribute to the backwardness of developing regions (Banfield, 1958; Putnam, Leonardi, & Nanetti, 1993). These divergent arguments about the part that social networks play in developing and developed economies raise the question of why local informal relations in developing economies cannot generate the social learning process that occurs in a developed context. Focusing on family ties, I aim to provide a provocative answer to this question by arguing that family networks can facilitate technology diffusion but not knowledge creation. My purpose is not to investigate family and friendship ties in social and political arenas. Family and friendship networks are discussed in this chapter only in terms of social learning mechanisms. I argue that ties between family members, though strong, can—unlike ties between friends—act as bridges in local and global knowledge networks. Compared to open networks of friends, family ties tend to be exclusive and hierarchical. Structured differently, friendship and family networks generate heterogeneous and homogeneous knowledge pools within themselves, respectively. This observation implies that friendship networks supplant family ties as local economies upgrade. Exploration of family networks in developing regions may advance the discus- sion of knowledge in space in three ways. First, it offers a knowledge-based expla- nation for the advent of many industrial clusters and agglomerations in developing countries. Drawn from common features of innovative regions, traditional cluster theories do not have much power to account for localized industries in developing contexts. Many clusters in those contexts develop endogenously from intensive learning through kinship networks (Henn, 2012; Li, Bathelt, & Wang, 2012; Meagher, 2007; Nadvi, 1999). Second, this chapter’s inquiry into different struc- tures of family and friendship networks in a dynamic perspective adds to an evolu- tionary understanding of networks and knowledge in economic geography (Glückler, 2007). Rather than viewing regions in developing and developed contexts as two different worlds, I look at how developing regions with family-based learning net- works can transform into innovative economies with open and dynamic social struc- tures. I suggest that many developing and developed areas are facing similar challenges when it comes to socially restructuring themselves to improve their abil- ity to mobilize local and global knowledge. Third, I shed light on the role that fam- ily structure plays in developing regions and argue that family ties as strong bridges can accelerate technology diffusion in local communities rather than hamper eco- nomic development. I begin by summarizing the contradictory evaluation of family organization over the course of economic development. In the section thereafter I revisit Granovetter’s (1973) argument of the strength of weak ties and examine the basic structure of fam- ily networks, asserting that strong family ties can be bridges for intensive interac- tion and technology learning in local settings. My study of family networks then continues by turning attention to the weakness of kinship connections as compared to another kind of social network, friendship ties. I illustrate why the two kinds of P. Li