Philip Selznick – författare

Year by year, law seems to penetrate ever larger realms of social, political, and economic life, generating both praise and blame. Nonet and Selznick's Law and Society in Transition explains in accessible language the primary forms of law as a social, political, and normative phenomenon. They illustrate with great clarity the fundamental difference between repressive law, riddled with raw conflict and the accommodation of special interests, and responsive law, the reasoned effort to realize an ideal of polity. To make jurisprudence relevant, legal, political, and social theory must be reintegrated. As a step in this direction, Nonet and Selznick attempt to recast jurisprudential issues in a social science perspective. They construct a valuable framework for analyzing and assessing the worth of alternative modes of legal ordering. The volume's most enduring contribution is the authors' typology-repressive, autonomous, and responsive law. This typology of law is original and especially useful because it incorporates both political and jurisprudential aspects of law and speaks directly to contemporary struggles over the proper place of law in democratic governance. In his new introduction, Robert A. Kagan recasts this classic text for the contemporary world. He sees a world of responsive law in which legal institutions-courts, regulatory agencies, alternative dispute resolution bodies, police departments-are periodically studied and redesigned to improve their ability to fulfill public expectations. Schools, business corporations, and governmental bureaucracies are more fully pervaded by legal values. Law and Society in Transition describes ways in which law changes and develops. It is an inspiring vision of a politically responsive form of governance, of special interest to those in sociology, law, philosophy, and politics.

From the Preface:This essay outlines a perspective for the study of leadership in administrative organizations. It was written in the conviction that more reflective, theoretical discussion is needed to guide the gathering of facts that the diagnosis of troubles. This subject, like the larger study of government and society, requires our profoundest intellectual concern. We shall not find any simple prescriptions for sound organizational leadership; nor will it be purchased with a bag of tricks and gadgets. It requires nothing less than the proper ordering of human affairs, including the establishment of social order, the determination of public interest, and the defense of critical values. Thus conceived, our inquiry has ancient roots. The main problems and issues have been known for a long time, although they need to be restated for the purposes of administrative theory.

Philip Selznick's study of moral and social theory establishes the intellectual foundations of an important new movement in American thought: communitarianism. Emerging in part as a response to the excesses of American individualism - particularly rampant during the 1980s - communitarianism seeks to restore the balance between individual rights and social responsibilities. The Moral Commonwealth attempts to explain and justify this communitarian turn and give it a liberal interpretation.

Old Age and Political Behavior: A Case Study offers an in-depth analysis of the intersection of aging, political engagement, and societal structures, focusing on California as a microcosm of these dynamics. The study, stemming from a Rockefeller Foundation-funded project conducted by the University of California’s Institute of Industrial Relations, examines how older adults navigate their evolving roles within a rapidly modernizing society. Against the backdrop of mid-20th century pension movements, particularly the activities of the California Institute of Social Welfare (CISW) led by George McLain, the book investigates the motivations, organizational structures, and broader societal impacts of aging populations entering the political arena.The narrative explores the rise of old-age-focused political movements, emphasizing how they emerged in response to economic vulnerability, social isolation, and legislative frameworks. The CISW, with its roots in earlier populist efforts like the Townsend Plan and "Ham and Eggs" campaigns, reflects a shift from utopian ideals to pragmatic lobbying for incremental policy changes. Through this lens, the study illuminates the tensions between dependency, advocacy, and leadership, questioning whether such movements perpetuate the marginalization of their constituencies or serve as a vehicle for empowerment. The book provides a nuanced understanding of how aging populations, often excluded from traditional power structures, assert their influence, highlighting both the promise and pitfalls of their political mobilization.This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1959.

Old Age and Political Behavior: A Case Study offers an in-depth analysis of the intersection of aging, political engagement, and societal structures, focusing on California as a microcosm of these dynamics. The study, stemming from a Rockefeller Foundation-funded project conducted by the University of California’s Institute of Industrial Relations, examines how older adults navigate their evolving roles within a rapidly modernizing society. Against the backdrop of mid-20th century pension movements, particularly the activities of the California Institute of Social Welfare (CISW) led by George McLain, the book investigates the motivations, organizational structures, and broader societal impacts of aging populations entering the political arena.The narrative explores the rise of old-age-focused political movements, emphasizing how they emerged in response to economic vulnerability, social isolation, and legislative frameworks. The CISW, with its roots in earlier populist efforts like the Townsend Plan and "Ham and Eggs" campaigns, reflects a shift from utopian ideals to pragmatic lobbying for incremental policy changes. Through this lens, the study illuminates the tensions between dependency, advocacy, and leadership, questioning whether such movements perpetuate the marginalization of their constituencies or serve as a vehicle for empowerment. The book provides a nuanced understanding of how aging populations, often excluded from traditional power structures, assert their influence, highlighting both the promise and pitfalls of their political mobilization.This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1959.

Providing a capstone to Philip Selznick's influential body of scholarly work, A Humanist Science insightfully brings to light the value-centered nature of the social sciences. The work clearly challenges the supposed separation of fact and value, and argues that human values belong to the world of fact and are the source of the ideals that govern social and political institutions. By demonstrating the close connection between the social sciences and the humanities, Selznick reveals how the methods of the social sciences highlight and enrich the study of such values as well-being, prosperity, rationality, and self-government.The book moves from the animating principles that make up the humanist tradition to the values that are central to the social sciences, analyzing the core teachings of these disciplines with respect to the moral issues at stake. Throughout the work, Selznick calls attention to the conditions that affect the emergence, realization, and decline of human values, offering a valuable resource for scholars and students of law, sociology, political science, and philosophy.

Year by year, law seems to penetrate ever larger realms of social, political, and economic life, generating both praise and blame. Nonet and Selznick's Law and Society in Transition explains in accessible language the primary forms of law as a social, political, and normative phenomenon. They illustrate with great clarity the fundamental difference between repressive law, riddled with raw conflict and the accommodation of special interests, and responsive law, the reasoned effort to realize an ideal of polity. To make jurisprudence relevant, legal, political, and social theory must be reintegrated. As a step in this direction, Nonet and Selznick attempt to recast jurisprudential issues in a social science perspective. They construct a valuable framework for analyzing and assessing the worth of alternative modes of legal ordering. The volume's most enduring contribution is the authors' typology-repressive, autonomous, and responsive law. This typology of law is original and especially useful because it incorporates both political and jurisprudential aspects of law and speaks directly to contemporary struggles over the proper place of law in democratic governance. In his new introduction, Robert A. Kagan recasts this classic text for the contemporary world. He sees a world of responsive law in which legal institutions-courts, regulatory agencies, alternative dispute resolution bodies, police departments-are periodically studied and redesigned to improve their ability to fulfill public expectations. Schools, business corporations, and governmental bureaucracies are more fully pervaded by legal values. Law and Society in Transition describes ways in which law changes and develops. It is an inspiring vision of a politically responsive form of governance, of special interest to those in sociology, law, philosophy, and politics.