James S. Coleman (Consensus and Controversy Falmer Sociology Series)

Book Cover......Page 1
Half-Title......Page 2
Title......Page 4
Copyright......Page 5
Contents......Page 6
Acknowledgments......Page 9
James Coleman and the Evolution of the Volume......Page 10
The Contents of the Volume......Page 21
2 Reflections on Schools and Adolescents......Page 28
Acknowledgment......Page 34
3 Youth and Adolescence: A Historical and Cultural Perspective......Page 35
Adolescence and Sociocultural Setting......Page 36
Changing Conceptions of Transition to Adulthood: Hall, Bühler, Mead and the Lynds......Page 37
Youth Culture and the ‘Generation Gap’: Coleman’s Adolescent Society (1961) and Its Reception......Page 39
Socialization and Changes in Responsibility for Child Rearing: Coleman’s Asymmetric Society (1981)......Page 41
Conclusion......Page 44
Youth as a Theme in Coleman’s Research......Page 45
Adolescent Status Systems and Subcultures......Page 46
High Schools and Cognitive Outcomes in Adolescence......Page 50
Social Capital and Family Influences on Academic Outcomes......Page 52
Toward an Integration......Page 54
A Personal Postscript......Page 56
Notes......Page 58
5 This Little School Went to Market: Private Schooling in Post-Communist Poland1......Page 60
Private Education as School Reform......Page 61
Financing Private Schools......Page 64
State Education in Transition: Decentralization, Funding, Values......Page 66
School Reform after Five Years......Page 68
Privatizing Higher Education......Page 69
Private Schools and Achievement......Page 73
Notes......Page 77
6 Early Schooling and Educational Inequality: Socioeconomic Disparities in Children’s Learning......Page 78
Illustrative Data from the BSS......Page 81
Achievement Trends from First Grade through Middle School......Page 84
Achievement Trends Season by Season......Page 87
Discussion......Page 90
Notes......Page 95
7 Coleman’s Contributions to Education: Theory, Research Styles and Empirical Research......Page 97
The Adolescent Society......Page 98
The Coleman Report and Its Aftermath......Page 100
The Main Findings of the 1966 Coleman Report......Page 101
Research after the Coleman Report......Page 105
Inequality, Education and Moral Philosophy......Page 109
Public and Private Schools......Page 111
Selection Bias and Causal Inference......Page 113
Accounting for Choices in a Broader Setting......Page 114
The Two Colemans: How to Do Successful Empirical Work in Social Science......Page 115
Acknowledgment......Page 116
Postscript 1: Themes in Coleman’s Research......Page 117
Postscript 2: Coleman’s Approach to Empirical Social Science......Page 118
8 The Sociological Contribution to Social Policy Research......Page 122
Policy Research in Education: Three Major Studies......Page 123
The Chicago School......Page 124
The Rise of Columbia Sociology......Page 125
The Third Phase: Social Policy Research......Page 126
The Relationship between Sociology and Policy......Page 128
Locations for Policy Research: The Academic World and the World of Action......Page 130
Academic Freedom?......Page 131
The Problem of Values......Page 133
Maintaining the Sociologist’s Credibility......Page 136
Contesting Research Results......Page 138
Conclusion......Page 139
9 The Political Context of Social Policy Research......Page 140
Who Should Ask the Questions?......Page 142
Who Should Conduct Research?......Page 144
Who Should Be the Audience?......Page 148
Changing the Parameters of Policy Research......Page 152
10 Games with Simulated Environments: Educational Innovation and Applied Sociological Research......Page 155
Rationale 1: Simulation Games as Learning Devices......Page 156
How Games Teach......Page 158
Rationale 2: Simulation Games as Research Devices......Page 159
Development and Testing of Games with Simulated Environments......Page 161
Evaluation of the Effects of Games with Simulated Environments......Page 162
Cognitive Learning......Page 163
Attitudes......Page 164
Player Characteristics......Page 165
Games as Research Environments......Page 166
Discussion......Page 167
Notes......Page 169
11 Methodological Individualism and Collective Behaviour......Page 172
What a Solution Might Look Like......Page 174
Brief Review of the Literature......Page 177
Known Empirical Properties......Page 179
Some Things We Don’t Know about Collective Behaviour......Page 180
The Value of Coleman’s Approach to the Problem......Page 181
Methodological Individualism......Page 183
The Outline of a Research Agenda......Page 185
Conclusions......Page 187
Sociology and Stochastic Processes......Page 189
Mobility Tables......Page 191
Two Markov Models of Mobility......Page 193
Measures of Mobility......Page 196
Measuring the Amount of Movement......Page 197
Measuring Social Inheritance......Page 199
Some Questions of Validity......Page 202
13 Self-Employment and Entrepreneurship: A Study of Entry and Exit......Page 204
Explaining Entrepreneurship......Page 205
Entrepreneurial Motivation......Page 207
Exposure to Opportunities, Social Capital and Social Networks......Page 211
Summing Up So Far......Page 216
Self-Employment......Page 217
Studying Self-Employment......Page 219
Self-Employment: Recent British Experience......Page 221
The Level of Economic Activity......Page 223
Cyclical Effects: Unemployment......Page 225
Entry to and Exit from Self-Employment......Page 227
The Impact of Unemployment, GDP and Lagged Entry and Exit Rates upon Entry and Exit Rates......Page 229
Conclusion......Page 235
14 Educational Opportunities and School Effects......Page 238
School Effects and Change in Achievement......Page 241
A Model for Learning......Page 242
An Empirical Analysis of Private-Public School Differences......Page 245
Methodological Implications......Page 252
Inequality of Educational Outcomes and Inequality of Educational Opportunities......Page 255
Conclusion......Page 257
Acknowledgments......Page 258
Notes......Page 259
Introduction......Page 261
The Linda Vignette......Page 262
The Case for the Fallacy Interpretation......Page 264
Other Interpretations of the Conjunction Effect......Page 266
The Present Research......Page 268
Study 1......Page 270
Study 2......Page 273
Study 3......Page 279
Study 4......Page 282
Study 5......Page 288
Discussion......Page 291
Concluding Remarks......Page 295
Notes......Page 297
Overview......Page 302
Classic Foundation Ideas: Weber and Pareto......Page 304
Postclassic Foundation Ideas: Parsons and Homans......Page 305
Recent Foundation Ideas: Alexander......Page 308
Explanation: Micro-Macro Logic......Page 310
Rational Choice as an Umbrella Theory......Page 312
General Equilibrium Theory......Page 316
Parsons’ Theory and General Social Equilibrium......Page 317
Coleman’s Theory and General Social Equilibrium......Page 318
Coleman’s Foundations: Assessment......Page 321
Criticism: Social Integration Problem......Page 322
Criticism: Culture and the Social Focus......Page 323
Criticism: Motivation and the Social Focus......Page 324
Criticism: Emotions and the Social Focus......Page 325
Conclusion......Page 326
Introduction: Coleman’s Rational Choice Theory as Grand Theory......Page 327
The Virtues of an Explanatory Theory......Page 328
A New Utilitarian Social Theory......Page 332
Applications of the Rational Choice Approach......Page 335
The Limits of the Rational Choice Approach......Page 337
Conclusion......Page 342
Paradigm Shift or Temporary Fashion?......Page 343
How Is the New Paradigm Different?......Page 344
The Direction of Paradigm Development......Page 345
Evaluation of Constitutionalism......Page 346
Paradigm Shift or Temporary Fashion?......Page 348
How Is the New Paradigm Different?......Page 350
The Direction of Paradigm Development......Page 351
Some Major Points of Relationalism......Page 353
Conclusion......Page 355
Notes......Page 356
Part 1: The Impact of Columbia (1951–55)......Page 357
Part 2: Discovering Rational Choice (1960s–80s)......Page 360
The Social Invention of the Modern Corporation......Page 362
The Relationship between Protestantism and Capitalism......Page 364
The Nature of the Modern Corporation......Page 369
Acknowledgment......Page 372
Notes......Page 373
The Antiquity and Analytical Diversity of Rational Action Theory......Page 375
The Nature of Micro Processes......Page 377
Material Incentives, Emotions, Morals and Social Solidarity......Page 379
Meso Structures: Markets, Hierarchies and Other Organizational Forms......Page 383
Macro Sociology: State Building, State Breakdown and Revolution......Page 385
How Much Analytical Synthesis?......Page 386
A Sociology of Science Viewpoint on the Prospects for Theory Integration......Page 388
Editorial Foreword......Page 391
Appendix 1: Teaching James Coleman......Page 400
Notes......Page 405
Contexts of Transcripts 1, 2 and 3......Page 406
Transcript 1......Page 409
Transcript 3......Page 410
Behavior of Social Systems, Not Behavior of Individuals......Page 411
2 Mark Siegler, MD......Page 413
3 Seymour Martin Lipset......Page 415
4 Edward L.McDill......Page 417
5 Sally B.Kilgore......Page 419
6 Edward O.Laumann......Page 421
7 Gudmund Hernes......Page 424
8 Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan......Page 426
9 Gary S.Becker......Page 427
10 Marta Tienda......Page 430
Awards and Activities......Page 431
Publications......Page 432
Bibliography......Page 452
List of Contributors......Page 479
Author and Name Index......Page 481
Subject Index......Page 491