Segmentation in personal networks

A concept and several measures of personal network segmentation are proposed. The authors defend the thesis that the implications of the segmentation of personal networks are, from a certain point of view, opposed to those of total networks. The measures are illustrated by the example of a network of relationships of trust in a department of civil servants. Estimators of the degree of segmentation are proposed for the case where the relationships in the personal network are observed on a sampling basis rather than in their entirety.