Explaining Social Behavior: More Nuts and Bolts for the Social Sciences

by Jon Elster

• ISBN13: 9780521771795
• ISBN10: 052177179X
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-04-30
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

An expanded and revised edition of the author's critically acclaimed volume Nuts and Bolts for the Social Sciences. In twenty-six succinct chapters, Jon Elster provides an account of the nature of explanation in the social sciences. He offers an overview of key explanatory mechanisms in the social sciences, relying on hundreds of examples and drawing on a large variety of sources - psychology, behavioral economics, biology, political science, historical writings, philosophy and fiction. Written in accessible and jargon-free language, Elster aims at accuracy and clarity while eschewing formal models. In a provocative conclusion, Elster defends the centrality of qualitative social sciences in a two-front war against soft (literary) and hard (mathematical) forms of obscurantism.

Author Biography

Jon Elster is Professor (Chaire de Rationalite et Sciences Sociales) at the College de France

Table of Contents

Preface	p. ix
Introduction	p. 1
Explanation And Mechanisms	p. 7
Explanation	p. 9
Mechanisms	p. 32
Interpretation	p. 52
The Mind	p. 67
Motivations	p. 75
Self-Interest and Altruism	p. 95
Myopia and Foresight	p. 111
Beliefs	p. 124
Emotions	p. 145
Action	p. 163
Desires and Opportunities	p. 165
Persons and Situations	p. 178
Rational Choice	p. 191
Rationality and Behavior	p. 214
Responding to Irrationality	p. 232
Some Implications for Textual Interpretation	p. 246
Lessons From The Natural Sciences	p. 257
Physiology and Neuroscience	p. 261
Explanation by Consequences and Natural Selection	p. 271
Selection and Human Behavior	p. 287
Interaction	p. 299
Unintended Consequences	p. 300
Strategic Interaction	p. 312
Games and Behavior	p. 331
Trust	p. 344
Social Norms	p. 353
Collective Belief Formation	p. 372
Collective Action	p. 388
Collective Decision Making	p. 401
Organizations and Institutions	p. 427
Conclusion: Is Social Science Possible?	p. 445
Index	p. 469
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