James S. Coleman was one of a distinguished generation of sociology students who passed through the Columbia Sociology Department in the 1940s and `50s. This book critically debates his work and his contribution to society and the social sciences more generally. It consists of 18 major papers by 20 authors from six countries on a range of themes. The volume is framed by an extended editorial introduction reflecting on the five- year exchange of correspondence between James Coleman and the editor, together with two of Coleman's own works.

BOOK DESCRIPTION: The CIRCLE is a fast-moving, action-packed story about a real, notorious gang of teenagers. They cared little about who they stomped, what vandalism they did, or whose car they swiped in their attempts to get back at the "codger" and "bags" of the community. The inside details of the many jobs they pulled, how the kids behave toward each other, and what they really think of adults is plainly revealed. Although the story is about teenagers and written for teenagers it is a gutsy book and not for the squeamish or chicken-hearted. The story will "turn off" most adults but it is MUST reading for those parents who refuse to understand their teenagers as a lesson in what can happen if their kids finally "tune them out". AUTHOR BIO: James A. Coleman is a retired college physics professor. However, he has spent a good deal of time as an unpaid street worker helping troubled youths, especially those who organized into street gangs. The CIRCLE is a fictionalised story of one of these gangs. Coleman is also a well-established author of science books for the layman.

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 1958.

James S. Coleman was one of a distinguished generation of sociology students who passed through the Columbia Sociology Department in the 1940s and `50s. This book critically debates his work and his contribution to society and the social sciences more generally. It consists of 18 major papers by 20 authors from six countries on a range of themes. The volume is framed by an extended editorial introduction reflecting on the five- year exchange of correspondence between James Coleman and the editor, together with two of Coleman's own works.

"Philosophers, social scientists, and laymen have used two perspectives in analyzing social action. One sees man's action as the result of causal forces, and the other sees action as purposive and goal directed. Mathematical treatment of social action has shown this same dichotomy. Some models of behavior describe a causal process, in which there is no place for intention or purpose. Most stochastic models of behavior, whether individual or group, are like this. Another body of work, however, employs purpose, anticipation of some future state, and action designed to maximize the proximity to some goal. Classical microeconomic theory, statistical decision theory, and game theory exemplify this direction. This book examines these two directions of work, and makes original contributions to the second. An introductory chapter outlines these two bodies of work, and casts them in a common frame, to display their similarities and differences. Chapter 2 reviews at length recent work in stochastic processes that makes up the first body of work, which sees social action as the resultant of causal forces. The remaining chapters develop a mathematical framework for the study of systems of social action using a purposive theoretical base. These chapters are designed particularly to contribute to the study of collective decisions, a form of social action that has proved particularly challenging to theoretical analysis. First published in 1973, this became a significant work both in problem solving and in the future career of the author. It is of continuing importance to researchers and students interested in statistical analysis."--Provided by publisher.

Non-Aboriginal material.