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

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.

Table of Contents:
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.