社會網絡(social networks)理論及其分析方法，已經逐漸為社會科學界加以應用，並日益受到重視，而成為一種社會學研究的新取向。其所採用的關係取向觀點，就行動者之間的關係模式進行分析，大大補充了傳統社會學研究以屬性作為分析單位的不足。本文介紹社會網絡理論的發展脈絡，討論社會網絡理論與巨觀／微觀社會學的連結，及其對社會學方法論之貢獻。最後，本文介紹社會網絡理論於社會學研究之新近應用與發展。

Recently, social networks theory and methods have been applied in social science and become an emerging research apporach of sociology. Starting from the relational perspective, social network methods analyze realtionship patterns among actors and complement the insufficiency of traditional sociology which analyzes attributes of actors.
The article delineates the developing context of social networks theory, dicusses the connections between social networks theory and macro/micro sociology, and examines its contributions to sociological methodology. Finally, this article examplify the latest applications and development of social networks theory in sociology researches.