CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2013
| Author | Kunt, Zsuzsanna |
|---|---|
| Title | FRIENDSHIP NETWORKS OF PEOPLE WITH VISUAL IMPAIRMENT |
| Summary | This research study is focusing on exploring visually impaired people’s friendship networks. Twelve visually impaired individuals’ friendship network formation, -structure, -content and -management were investigated in the theoretical frame of critical disability studies/disability culture, social network science and the anthropology and sociology of friendship. Methodologically, an ego-network questionnaire and structural network analysis were supplemented with semi-structured interviews to inquire about the informants’ perception and evaluation of their own friendship ties and the functioning of these ties. The findings of this research allow for the assumption that visual impairment plays an important and integral role in the formation and management of friendship networks. Visually impaired people’s interactional circumstances are different from sighted people and the consequences of this difference is mirrored back in the structure, heterogeneity, complexity and contact of their social networks. The interview results establish the supposition that these altered circumstances change possibilities and circles of people with whom friendship is realizable by visually impaired individuals. This study serves the purpose of more clearly understanding of visually impaired people’s social roles, -constraints, possibilities and behavior in society. With this learning, the role of vision in social networking and the actual state of visually impaired people’s social inclusion can be more clearly understood. |
| Supervisor | Vedres Balazs, Kertesz Janos |
| Department | Sociology MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2013/kunt_zsuzsanna.pdf |
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