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Foundations of Social Theory Revised Edition
Contributor(s): Coleman, James (Author)
ISBN: 0674312260     ISBN-13: 9780674312265
Publisher: Belknap Press
OUR PRICE:   $51.48  
Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats
Published: August 1998
Qty:
Annotation: This book provides for the first time a sound theoretical foundation for linking the behavior of individuals to organizational behavior and then to society as a whole. The power of the theory is especially apparent when Coleman analyzes corporate actors, such as large corporations and trade unions. He examines the creation of these institutions, collective decision making, and the processes through which authority is revoked in revolts and revolutions.
Additional Information
BISAC Categories:
- Social Science | Sociology - General
Dewey: 301.01
Physical Information: 1.67" H x 6.4" W x 9.24" (2.62 lbs) 1014 pages
 
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc.
Publisher Description:

Combining principles of individual rational choice with a sociological conception of collective action, James Coleman recasts social theory in a bold new way. The result is a landmark in sociological theory, capable of describing both stability and change in social systems.

This book provides for the first time a sound theoretical foundation for linking the behavior of individuals to organizational behavior and then to society as a whole. The power of the theory is especially apparent when Coleman analyzes corporate actors, such as large corporations and trade unions. He examines the creation of these institutions, collective decision making, and the processes through which authority is revoked in revolts and revolutions.

Coleman discusses the problems of holding institutions responsible for their actions as well as their incompatibility with the family. He also provides a simple mathematical analysis corresponding to and carrying further the verbal formulations of the theory. Finally, he generates research techniques that will permit quantitative testing of the theory.

From a simple, unified conceptual structure Coleman derives, through elegant chains of reasoning, an encompassing theory of society. It promises to be the most important contribution to social theory since the publication of Talcott Parsons' Structure of Social Action in 1936.