Have Personal Networks in France Changed? A Comparison between 2001 and 2017

The 2017 replication of part of a 2001 survey allows for studying how personal networks in France evolved over the sixteen intervening years. The findings are convergent with those of comparable studies done in other countries, particularly the United States. Whereas a range of authors in the 2000s predicted major changes in personal networks, those networks turned out to be remarkably stable in both composition and structure. There was no observed reduction in size, and no major changes in composition (proportions of family, colleagues, neighbors, and other personal relations). However, certain changes parallel to those occurring in French society (higher educational attainment, later age at first birth, peri-urbanization, etc.) were observed: a change in the contexts in which people in the 18-30 and over 60 age brackets meet people; increased homogeneity of the networks of the most educated categories; and lower network density in rural areas.