Micro-Macro Dilemmas in Political Science

by Eulau, Heinz

• ISBN13: 9780806128993
• ISBN10: 0806128992
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1998-09-01
• Publisher: Univ of Oklahoma Pr

Summary

In this unusual book, Heinz Eulau addresses the problematic relatioonship between big things and little things in governance and society-a significant theme in the study of political behavior, institutions, and processes. By connecting his own "personal pathways" with his and others' explorations of the micro-macro continuum in politics, Eulau makes a unique contribution to social science. Eulau's book demonstrates how events and experiences in the scholar's private and academic life can be the source of fresh insights but also of hidden biases. It provides glimpses of the troubling problems involved in coming to grips with the false dualism between individual and collective phenomena. It tells of the ups and downs of the research enterprise, of unexpected moments of critical discernment, and of the emergence of new visions. The reader becomes a kind of "observing participant" in the evolution of the author's gradual awareness of a profound dilemma in social inquiry -- the "micro-macro gap".

Table of Contents

List of Figures and Tables
Acknowledgments
Preface
Abbreviations
Prologue: The Boy Is Father to the Man, 1915-1935	p. 3
Discovery: Personal Pathways to Knowledge	p. 17
Complexity: Folding and Unfolding the Manifold	p. 29
Good-bye Dr. Aristotle: Rebellion in Berkeley	p. 45
Mentor from Chicago: The Lasswellian Encounter	p. 57
Tensions: Of Individual, Group, and Community	p. 69
Social Science at the Crossroads: 1950	p. 83
The Political Behavior Movement as Context	p. 95
Specks in the Manifold: Small Groups, Big Orgs	p. 107
The Micro-Macro Reception in Political Science	p. 119
The Road to Ann Arbor: The Class-Party Interface	p. 135
The Legislative System: Order out of Chaos	p. 147
Councils: Subjects and Objects of Analysis	p. 161
Transformations: Individuals into Groups	p. 173
Intramurals: Teaching in the Micro-Macro Mold	p. 191
Extramurals: Preaching on Matters Micro and Macro	p. 205
From Obfuscation to Some Clarity	p. 215
High Noon: New Visions at Lake Delevan	p. 231
Intermediaries: The Professions in Politics	p. 247
Interspaces: Com-Com Technology and Consultation	p. 259
Interstices: Committees and Representation	p. 269
Interdependencies: Fragmentation or Proliferation?	p. 281
Toward a Network View of Representation	p. 295
Social Networks and Interpersonal Contexts	p. 311
Electoral Situations and Linkages	p. 323
Networks as Contexts of Representation	p. 337
Epilogue: The Challenge of the Passing Years, 1985-1995	p. 351
HDL Is Gone	p. 361
An Open Letter to James C. Davies	p. 371
Notes	p. 377
References	p. 503
Index	p. 529
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.