Structures of Power and Constraint
Papers in Honor of Peter M. Blau

This book discusses the question: are social structures products of human action, expressions of individual or group power?

Craig Calhoun (Edited by), Marshall W. Meyer (Edited by), W. Richard Scott (Edited by)

9780521113168, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 18 June 2009

508 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.9 cm, 0.74 kg

Are social structures products of human action, expressions of individual or group power? Or are they essentially external constraints on human action, necessarily analyzed at a different level? How are themes of power and constraint to be joined in a common analytic approach? These have long been central questions for sociologists. since the collapse of functionalism as a unifying paradigm, however they have often appeared as the basis for sharp divisions between competing analytic paradigms. The divide between structuralism and rational-choice theory has been one of the most prominent such splits. Yet each approach has undergone a revival in past years. The editors of this book, in honour of Peter Blau, brought together a wide range of distinguished sociologists who have taken positions on different sides of this issue and brings them into focus as parts of a common discourse on the place of social structure and concepts of strategic action in sociological explanation.

Preface
Introduction Craig Calhoun and W. Richard Scott
Epistolary notes Robert K. Merton
Part I. Exchange, Power and Inequality: 1. Rational-choice theory and behavioral psychology George C. Homans
2. Rational action, social networks and the emergence of norms James S. Coleman
3. Linking actors and structures: an exchange network perspective Karen Cook
4. Models of social and market exchange: toward a sociological theory of games and social behavior Tom R. Burns
5. Family and birth-order effects on educational attainment Otis Dudley Duncan
Part II. Formal Organization: 6. The Weberian tradition in organizational research Marshall W. Meyer
7. Structural inconsistency and management strategy in organizations Stanley H. Udy Jr
8. Organizational demography and structural change in the Roman Catholic church Richard Schoenherr and Lawrence A. Young
9. The technocratic organization of academic work Wolf Heydebrand
10. The organizational and structural context of employee assistance programs Terry C. Blum
Part III. 11. Penetrating differentiation: linking macro and micro phenomena Joseph E. Schwartz
12. Social structure and intermarriage: a reanalysis John Svoretz
13. Network diversity, substructures and opportunities for contact Peter v. Marsden
14. Kinds of relations in American discussion networks Ronald S. Burt
15. Social control and social networks: a model from Georg Simmel Ronald L. Breiger
Bibliography of the writings of Peter M. Blau
Index.

Subject Areas: Social theory [JHBA]