SOCIAL NETWORKS ELSEVIER Social Networks 20 (1998) 1-21 Personal networks and social support in a multiethnic community of southern California 1 Thomas Schweizer *, Michael Schnegg, Susanne Berzborn Institute of Ethnology, University of Cologne, D-50923 Ki31n, Germany Abstract This paper presents observations on the personal networks of 91 randomly selected inhabitants of a community in southern California who are linked to 941 associates by social and economic interactions. Over 40% of these relations are with individuals in the same locality, and almost 50% refer to kin. Kin act as trouble-shooters; friends are social companions; and neighbors are less significant. The pattern is similar for Anglos and Hispanic immigrants, but kin and local ties are more important among Hispanics (over 70%). © 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. I. Introduction In this paper we present the main results of an anthropological study of personal networks and social support in Costa Mesa, an ethnically mixed community in southern California. Field research was conducted by students of the University of Cologne and of the University of California, Irvine, in February and March 1995.2 Popular opinion and some social science literature tends to regard California, especially southern California and the Los Angeles area, as a highly mobile, atomistic, * Corresponding author. E-mail: thomas.schweizer@uni-koeln.de. J An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 15th International Social Networks Conference at London, 6-10 July 1995. 2 Douglas R. White and the senior author directed the project; Silvia Casasola and Sandra Liebscher organized the data collection. In addition to the junior authors, the following students of Cologne University participated in gathering, coding, and processing the data: Klaus Auer, Dietmar Kappe, Frank Krtinke, Wolfram Laube, Annegret Scholz, Kirsten Schulte, Friederike Stolleis, and Tatjana Thelen. Anne Leyretana, Allison McDougall, Phil Noetzel, Jay O'Balles, Edith Regua, Eduardo Schoenborn, Nguyet Tran, and Anna Yeghiasarian participated on the American side. Berzborn (1996) presents additional findings of our research. 0378-8733/98/$19.00 © 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PII S037 8- 8733(96)00304-8