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Already a standard in its first edition, this newly expanded and reorganized reader provides a compelling exploration of what arguably remains the single most important problem in social theory: the problem of social order. Contending that theory's purpose in the social sciences lies in its ability to explain real-world phenomena, Theories of Social Order presents classic texts alongside contemporary theoretical extensions and recent empirical applications.
Building on the success of the first edition, the second edition focuses readings around five key social structures that affect social order: individuals, hierarchies, markets, groups, and networks. Its unique approach—focusing on theories rather than theorists—encourages students to compare various factors and mechanisms, seek common analytical themes, and develop a deeper theoretical understanding of the problem of social order. By pairing alternative explanations with empirical research, it helps students grasp the essential lesson that social theory must have empirical implications. This critical lesson emphasizes the relevance of theory to real life, the research enterprise, and the development of better social policies.
Added readings in the second edition highlight the extent to which the problem of social order is of interest across the sciences and demonstrate the relevance of social order in understanding gender and ethnic group dynamics. Editorial introductions to each section discuss the causal mechanisms in each theory and make clear links between classical and modern texts.
- Sales Rank: #537797 in Books
- Brand: Brand: Stanford Social Sciences
- Published on: 2009-04-13
- Released on: 2009-04-13
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 10.00" h x .90" w x 7.00" l, 1.45 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 368 pages
Features
- Used Book in Good Condition
Review
"...I could not wait to turn the page. The key to its readability is not only the short and well-drawn excerpts, but also the enlightening way they are knitted together by the editors, Michael Hechter and Christine Horne.... This book will surely inspire many social scientists to give more attention to theory and integrate it more effectively in empirical research. It also brings out the editors' argument that the best explanations of social phenomena point out both causal factors and the mechanism by which they work."—Helge Holtermann, Journal of Peace Research
"The second edition of this remarkable innovative text is closely aligned to what many of us believe is the most important development in 21st century social science, namely, a growing consensus that effective theories are those that specify mechanisms to account for phenomena to be explained." —Thomas J. Fararo, University of Pittsburgh
"Theories of Social Order is already an essential addition to any undergraduate theory course because of the unique way in which it challenges students to address the landscape of ideas, focusing on areas of agreement and disagreement between different major theorists. The new addition adds to this by clearly showing how the work of a diverse set of important contemporary theorists of social order developed from earlier debates." —Sun-Ki Chai, University of Hawaii
"Too often, social theory can seem abstract, dissociated from the intrigues of the social world. In Theories of Social Order, Hechter and Horne smartly reverse this tendency in two ways. First, the readings they include focus on a central and long-standing theoretical puzzle—social order—across a range of topics, from individuals to hierarchies to networks. Second, they insist that the best theories traffic in explanations of real-world phenomena. The result is a fascinating compilation that will enrich the sociological imaginations of both students and the scholars who teach them." —John R. Hall, University of California, Davis
"I have used Michael Hechter and Christine Horne's book Theories of Social Order: A Reader in my courses of Social Theory at DePaul University for several years. I have obtained much better results with my students than I did with previous textbooks I used. The reason is that Hechter and Horne have a very original focus on theories rather than on theorists, which makes it easier for students to understand the arguments and compare different theories. In addition, the authors chose to analyze the very important problem of social order from diverse theoretical perspectives, which allows the application of the theories discussed in their book to current problems related with social order, such as rebellions, wars, economic recessions, social deviance, etc. I look forward to using the second edition of this book in my classes, which has been improved significantly with the re-arrangement of topics and theories as well as the addition of new materials and theories relevant to contemporary problems of social order. I am sure the second edition will be as successful and welcomed as the first one has been."—Jose Soltero, DePaul University
"Hechter and Horne succeed in presenting the complexity of theoretical thinking without the somnolent verbiage so typical of some of the classical theorists. They present direct connections between theoretical concepts and empirical research. But the most attractive aspect of the book is that it avoids the typical conventions used to teach theory: somewhat arbitrary categorizations by paradigm, chronology, and biography, in favor of looser and overlapping ideas and approaches to the problem of social order. The result is a book that emphasizes the convergences of theoretical thinking in sociology, without presenting a level of disciplinary integration that doesn't exist. The book does a very good job of teaching students how to think sociologically."—Karl T. Pfeiffer, University of Alaska Anchorage
About the Author
Michael Hechter is Foundation Professor of Global Studies at Arizona State University. Christine Horne is Associate Professor of Sociology at Washington State University.
Most helpful customer reviews
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful.
Cogent Introduction to an Oxymoron--Sociological Theory
By Herbert Gintis
The mark of arrival of a mature field is its possession of a core theoretical structure, agreed upon by all researchers in the field as a starting point for creative experimentation and theory building. Of course, infrequently but virtually inevitably, some parts of the core theory are discredited because of their inability to explain a novel phenomenon, or their incorrect predictions. In a mature field, it does not take long for a single, uniformly accepted, superior explanation, one that can do all the older core theory could do an more, to displace the discredited theory.
I am certain that I will be attacked as an antediluvium heretic for affirming the previous paragraph in the face of several decades of the postmodernist critique of science. Yes, I have a deep appreciation for Thomas Kuhn's paradigm concept and Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations, but the relativist interpretations of these great thinkers are just drivel. I knew Kuhn personally, and heard him lament many times the nefarious and incorrect use to which his Nature of Scientific Revolutions was put by the radical relativists. I am sure Wittgenstein would be equally shocked at the application to his ideas by David Bloor and the "social construction of knowledge" crew or the Critical Theorists.
If you want to really understand the scientific method read about Imre Lakatos (one of my intellectual and political heroes---he changed his name to that of a famous Hungarian general who stood up to the Nazi deportation of the Jews when they controlled his native country), whose theory of "research programs" is a creative synthesis of Kuhn, Popper, Duhem, and Marx.
I offer this exegesis on a matter seemingly tangential to an undergraduate reader in sociological theory to stress the point that there is no core sociological theory. One learns sociology the way one learns philosophy or art, by learning to appreciate a parade of superstars, each of whom is careful to differentiate his product from all of the others (unless they are long-dead, and hence no real threat to intellectual or artistic supremacy). One learns sociology normally by reading the works of Weber, Durkheim, Pareto, Simmel, Parsons, Marx, Mead, Hobbes, Goffman, and so on. Sociologists do not agree on what any two of these thinkers have in common, much less all of them. In a realistic understanding that sociologists will not teach from this book unless it remained faithful to the pluralistic disarray of the field, yet yearning for a scientific approach to the study of society, the authors decided to organize their material not around the Great Masters, but rather the Great Ideas of sociology. This book is called "Theories..." rather than "Theorists" for this reason, and "Theories..." rather than "Theory..." because they do not want to single out one set of ideas as superior to another set, or even to suggest that there might be "One True Theory" of which the fragments presented in this book are simply important aspects.
The authors organize their material around "five solutions to the problem of social order" (p. 340). These are individuals, hierarchies, markets, groups, and networks. I doubt that the authors really believe that these are alternative solutions, as opposed to aspects of a unified explanation of social, but presenting the material in this way with no attempt to show the links among the five probably speaks to the horror prospective teachers might have in using a book that undermined the "creative diversity" of sociological thought.
In their introductions to above five topics, the authors in fact do take certain stands that favor some approaches to social theory over others, although they do not dwell on this point. For instance, in dealing with the relationship between social structure and individual behavior, they suggest that macro structure --------> individual internal states -------> individual action ------> macro outcome, although they do add a direct link macro-structure ------>macro outcome. Now, even including individual-level variables is hostile to many theories of social order, as is suggesting that there is any value in mediating the link between macro structure and macro outcome by the constitution and behavior of individuals. Many structurally- and systems-oriented brands of social theory have no use for human psychology and choice behavior, and treat individuals as simply "bearers" of their social relations and who, when the proper time comes, carry out the demands of the macro system automatically, much as the molecules in your teapot react to being heated by obligingly increasing their mean velocity. By contrast, other approaches to social theory would not permit a direct link between macro structure and macro outcome at all (I personally favor such theories).
Despite the profession of irreducible heterodoxy in sociological theory, there is in fact a virtually uniform belief in all sociological variants (I know of no exception among the great sociologists) that rational behavior is the antithesis of moral behavior, of emotional behavior, and of habitual behavior. Here is how Hechter and Horne put it: "In existing theories, the most common behavioral assumption is rational egoism. ...At the same time, we know that everyone is not rational all of the time. Individuals might also be acting according to values, emotion, habit, or some other motivation." (p. 21) This treatment of human motivation, which I consider completely incorrect, goes back at least to Pareto (not excerpted in this book), but is well expressed by Weber, whose treatment from Economy and Society is the first entry in the book under "individuals." [Disclosure ethics bids that I reveal that the second entry is that of Ernst Fehr and myself.] "Social action," says Weber, "can be oriented in four ways." The first of these he calls "instrumentally rational" (zweckrational in German), and takes the form of choosing means that are most effective in achieving one's ends. The second is "value rational" (Wertrational in German), which he characterizes as "determined by a conscious belief in the value for its own sake of some ethical, aesthetic, religious , or other form of behavior, independently of its prospects of success." The third is "affectual (especially emotional), that is, determined by the actor's specific affects and feeling states." Finally, the fourth is "traditional, that is, determined by ingrained habitualism." This widely accepted description of motive heterogeneity, despite its long-standing acceptance in sociology is just wrong, and accounts, in my estimation, for the inability of sociology to develop a core theory. I will devote the rest of this review to this important point.
Rational behavior can be deeply ethical and moral. General Lakatos defied the German directive to round up the Hungarian Jews for deportation because this behavior violated his ethical principles, yet his renown stems from his instrumental capacity to organize an effective military force against German occupation. Rational behavior can also be deeply value-oriented, as when we keep our promises in market and other contractual exchanges. Honesty and trustworthiness are not simply constraints on behavior, and surely are not followed irrespective of its costs or "independently of its prospects of success," as Weber would have it. If the cost of being honest increases, individuals will be increasingly tempted to be dishonest, and if the costs are high enough, almost all individuals will be dishonest (e.g., when the Nazis kidnapped Lakatos' son and promised to release him only if Lakatos surrendered his military position, Lakatos abandoned his struggle against the Germans). Moreover, the idea that rational and ethical behavior must be non-emotional is a Kantian-like distortion of human nature. Read, for instance, Antonio Damasio's Descartes' Error and references therein, or Jesse Prinz on the emotional basis of morality. Finally, traditional behavior consists of a set of values and beliefs about the nature of society and the natural world that is routinely overturned when these values and beliefs are successfully challenged or ineffectual.
One can unify all of Weber's categories in a broad but cogent version of the rational actor model in which individuals have material and moral goals determined by the actor's physiology, tastes, and moral constitution. The resulting preference ordering of the individual is consistent and hence can be represented by a "utility function," the maximization of which accurately describes individual choice (the individual of course does not consciously maximize anything, any more than an optimally foraging ant is consciously maximizing). It seems clear to me that this version of the rational actor model can serve as a part of core sociological theory. Of course, this model is considerably oversimplified, and must be carefully expanded to deal with any but the simplest situations.
For instance, most expositions of the rational actor model assume that the individual makes choices based upon his beliefs (so-called subjective priors), but in fact in complex situations where beliefs are fallible and it is costly or impossible to get sufficient information for accurate decision-making, the individual will generally consult others, or refer to a reservoir of social wisdom (tradition?). Thus beliefs are not really defined at the individual, but rather at the group level, and the dynamics of belief formation and change follow the macro to micro back to macro structural paradigm. For an exposition of this point of view, see my book, The Bounds of Reason (Princeton 2009).
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