Who’s Next? Using Network Science to Understand and Do Something about Gun Violence

Andrew V. Papachristos, PhD
Department of Sociology, Northwestern University

Abstract: It’s a cliché to say “we live in a connected world.” But we do. Over the last twenty years, the field of Network Science has consistently demonstrated that the ways in which people are connected affect what we feel, think, and do. The structure of social networks have a profound impact on the friends we make, the people we marry, the votes we cast, the diseases we catch, and the ways we think. This presentation explores how network science might help us better understand gun violence in American cities. This talk explores how mapping and analyzing social networks can help predict the victims of gun violence in U.S. cities as well as offer possible pathways to guide gun violence prevention efforts.