In the networks and management literature, we have learned to think of brokerage in terms of network structure. Actors whose ego networks contain many structural holes (that is, the actor's contacts are unconnected) are thought to have the potential for exercising brokerage. In contrast, actors who lack structural holes lack the structural conditions for exercising brokerage.
This seems sensible, but let us consider more carefully the last statement. When actors' contacts are fully connected with each other (on any relation we like), is it not possible that the actor can still broker between them? For example, within an organization an entreprenerial figure might get two people who are already working together on some projects to take up a new project that perhaps might make ideal use of their combination of talents.
For a more extreme example, consider what a marriage counselor does. The husband and wife are tied -- indeed have a much deeper, more multiplex tie between them than they do with the counselor. But the counselor still serves to broker the conversation. This is true of lawyers as well, including divorce attorneys.
In these cases, we would suggest that not only is brokerage possible between connected alters, but is in fact triggered by the pre-existing relationship. If the husband and wife were not married, they would not need a marriage counselor or a lawyer to broker an agreement to strengthen or dissolve the marriage -- they would simply not have anything to do with each other.
Intentionality
One characteristic of our marriage counselor example is that both parties are aware of the brokering and indeed sought it out. When the parties being brokers are unconnected, it is possible for brokerage to occur without the brokered parties knowing it.
Meaning of Brokerage
A curious element of our thinking is that all the while that we are arguing brokerage is a process and not a structure, we are nevertheless implicitly defining brokerage in terms of the presence of 3rd parties, a purely structural definition. We need to come to grips with what counts as brokerage.
