The communication space of modern society is rapidly expanding its boundaries. First of all, this can be traced in the modernization of old and the emergence of new types of interaction between individuals in the economic, political, social, spiritual spheres of society. The topic of social networks, as one of the areas of research in theoretical sociology, can be characterized as promising and actively developing, that is especially due to the fact that the network theory is the most natural for the analysis of social structure. In a broad sense, a social network is understood as many points (participants of a social system) related to each other to a greater or lesser extent. The first part of the article presents a theoretical analysis of the evolution of social network theory in the works of foreign researchers, describes a graphic model of its incremental development. The second part offers the analysis of the functioning of social networks in the regional communities (Cherepovets, Vologda) on the basis of the survey "Barriers to civil participation and mechanisms for overcoming them at the regional level", which was conducted by the Vologda Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences in 2019. In conclusion, we formulate the main conclusions about the functioning of social networks in given regional communities, and develop recommendations for further empirical study of this phenomenon.

Currently, society lives in the conditions of continuous expansion of the communication space. This is manifested in the transformation of old and the emergence of new types of interaction of individuals in the economic, political, social, spiritual spheres of society. The study of social networks is an actively developing area in theoretical sociology, and the concept of social networks is the most natural in the description and construction of a social structure. In a broad sense, a social network is understood as many points (members of a social system), to a greater or lesser extent, related to each other. In this article we will illustrate the main stages of the evolution of the concept of “social network” in the works of foreign researchers. Let's take a closer look at foreign theoretic approaches to the study of social networks as a structural element of social capital. In the conclusion of our analysis, we will list the main characteristic features of a social network, on the basis of which we will formulate a generalized definition of this phenomenon.