Purpose, Meaning, and Action (1403967989) MCCLELLAND

Control Systems Theory, a newly developing theoretical perspective in the field of sociology, starts from an important insight into human behavior: that people attempt to control the world around them as they perceive it. This volume brings together for the first time all of the best-known sociologists who have contributed to the development of this flexible and wide-ranging theoretical paradigm.

Kent A. McClelland is Professor of Sociology at Grinnell College. His publications include work on sociological theory, racial and sexual harassment, immigration, research methodology, gerontology, and social stratification, as well as pedagogical essays on ways to improve sociological writing. He is a past President of the interdisciplinary Control Systems Group and is currently the Chair of the newly established Peace Studies Program at Grinnell College.
Thomas J. Fararo is Distinguished Service Professor of Sociology at The University of Pittsburgh, where he has been since 1967. He is a recipient of the Distinguished Career Award from the American Sociological Association Section on Mathematical Sociology and he is a past chair of that section. He has served on the editorial boards of a number of professional journals, including The American Sociological Review, The American Journal of Sociology, and Sociological Theory, and is an Associate Editor of The Journal of Mathematical Sociology. His most recent books are Social Action Systems: Foundation and Synthesis in Sociological Theory (2001) and Generating Images of Stratification: A Formal Theory (2003, co-authored with Kenji Kosaka).

"Assembling an outstanding line up of established leaders and rising stars, McClelland and Fararo review works from all the major control theoretical approaches in sociology. More than any prior efforts, their research exhibits a remarkable array and depth of empirical applications. Without even a wisp of immodesty, this book shows what can be accomplished by a rigorous scientific approach to sociological theory and research."

--Barry Markovsky, University of South Carolina

"Purpose, Meaning, and Action shows that progress can be made, that there can be bridges built between the old and the new—and that doing this is difficult work. These seventeen distinguished authors have done an amazing job in adapting the approach of Perceptual Control Theory to a field where data tend to be slippery and guideposts are a long way apart. It looks as if sociology has taken a long step down a new path."

--William T. Powers, author of Behavior: The Control of Perception

Introduction:Control Systems Thinking in Sociological Theory--Thomas J. Fararo and Kent McClelland * Part 1: From Perceptual Control to Institutional Control * Understanding Collective Control Processes--Kent McClelland * The Description and Explanation of Collective Action--Clark McPhail, David S. Schweingruber and Alin Ceobanu * The Why, What and How of Selling Door-to-Door: Levels of Purpose and Perception in a Sales Company--David S. Schweingruber * Institutionalized Social Action: Control at the Program Level--Thomas J. Fararo & John Skvoretz * Part 2: Affect Control and Identity Control in Social Interaction * Introduction to Affect Control Theory--Clare Anne Francis * Control Theories of Identity, Action and Emotion: In Search of Testable Differences between Affect Control Theory and Identity Control Theory--Lynn Smith-Lovin & Dawn T. Robinson * Sentiment Formation in Social Interaction--David R. Heise * Guilty Americans and Shameful Japanese? An Affect Control Test of Benedict’s Thesis--Herman W. Smith & Yap MiowLin * The Affect Control Theory of Emotions: The Case of Depression--Neil J. MacKinnon & Michelle M. Goulbourne * Perceptions of Leadership in Groups: An Empirical Test of Identity Control Theory--Peter J. Burke * The Moral Identity: A Principle Level Identity--Jan E. Stets & Michael J. Carter

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