Jack P. Gibbs - Böcker

Moving beyond his 1989 book, Control: Sociology's Central Notion, Jack Gibbs develops in this new book a comprehensive theory of control in all its biological, technological, and human dimensions. His treatment goes beyond conventional ideas about social control to show why self-control and proximate control are essential to understanding human interaction. He also argues that thinking of control in terms of the counteraction of deviance is insufficient. Tests of Gibbs's control theory, based on data from sixty-six countries, add credence to his claim that control could be the central notion for sociology and perhaps for other social sciences.

This book focuses on a comprehensive theory of control in all its biological, technological, and human dimensions and presents a series of tests, where the theory about control comprises 43 intrinsic statements: fifteen axioms, seven postulates, six transformational statements, and fifteen theorems.

Science and Sociology is from beginning to end an exploration of what this implies for the social sciences, and sociology in particular. The authors argue that over the last several decades, sociology has become less a science and more a quest for isolated assessments of situations, whether they come from demographic analyses, survey research, or ethnographic studies. Above all else, this book is an attempt to promote and advance scientific sociology, and we write at length specifying the how and why of this objective. With this objective in mind, the question becomes: What would a scientific sociology look like?

Science and Sociology is from beginning to end an exploration of what this implies for the social sciences, and sociology in particular. The authors argue that over the last several decades, sociology has become less a science and more a quest for isolated assessments of situations, whether they come from demographic analyses, survey research, or ethnographic studies. Above all else, this book is an attempt to promote and advance scientific sociology, and we write at length specifying the how and why of this objective. With this objective in mind, the question becomes: What would a scientific sociology look like?

This fascinating book analyzes 13 control failures in human history, from Robespierre's promotion of the French Revolution, to Hoover's efforts to stop the Great Depression, to the intelligence failures of 9/11. Assessing the causes of 10 additional historical cases, the author's comparative analysis shows how each leadership failure was caused by an expansion of the range of control attempts, their scope, and/or their diversity. A leader's or other actor's attempts to broaden the range of control targets have been most important in causing great human failures. The analysis is timely during an era when war, global warming, and other vexing problems plague our society.