Purpose, Meaning, and Action Control Systems Theories in Sociology

by McClelland, Kent A.; Fararo, Thomas J.

• ISBN13: 9781403967985
• ISBN10: 1403967989
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-06-11
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

Control Systems Theory, a newly developing theoretical perspective in the field of sociology, starts from an important insight into human behavior: that people attempt to control the world around them as they perceive it. This volume brings together the most prominent sociologists contributing to the development of this flexible and wide-ranging theoretical paradigm for the first time.

Author Biography

Kent A. McClelland is Professor of Sociology at Grinnell College. His publications include work on sociological theory, racial and sexual harassment, immigration, research methodology, gerontology, and social stratification, as well as pedagogical essays on ways to improve sociological writing. He is a past President of the interdisciplinary Control Systems Group and is currently the Chair of the newly established Peace Studies Program at Grinnell College.
Thomas J. Fararo is Distinguished Service Professor of Sociology at The University of Pittsburgh, where he has been since 1967.  He is a recipient of the Distinguished Career Award from the American Sociological Association Section on Mathematical Sociology and he is a past chair of that section.  He has served on the editorial boards of a number of professional journals, including The American Sociological Review, The American Journal of Sociology, and Sociological Theory, and is an Associate Editor of The Journal of Mathematical Sociology.  His most recent books are Social Action Systems: Foundation and Synthesis in Sociological Theory (2001) and Generating Images of Stratification: A Formal Theory (2003, co-authored with Kenji Kosaka).

Table of Contents

List of Figures	vii
List of Tables	ix
Preface	xi
1. Introduction: Control Systems Thinking in Sociological Theory	1	(30)
Thomas J. Fararo and Kent A. McClelland
Part 1 From Perceptual Control to Institutional Control
2. Understanding Collective Control Processes	31	(26)
Kent A. McClelland
3. Purposive Collective Action	57	(28)
Clark McPhail, David S. Schweingruber, and Alin Ceobanu
4. The Why, What, and How of Selling Door-to-Door: Levels of Purpose and Perception in a Sales Company	85	(28)
David S. Schweingruber
5. Institutionalized Social Action: Control at the Program Level	113	(26)
Thomas J. Fararo and John Skvoretz
Part 2 Affect Control and Identity Control in Social Interaction
Overview and Comparison of Two Theories
6. Introduction to Affect Control Theory	139	(24)
Clare Anne Francis
7. Control Theories of Identity, Action, and Emotion: In Search of Testable Differences between Affect Control Theory and Identity Control Theory	163	(26)
Lynn Smith-Lovin and Dawn T. Robinson
Studies in Affect Control
8. Sentiment Formation in Social Interaction	189	(24)
David R. Heise
9. Guilty Americans and Shameful Japanese? An Affect Control Test of Benedict's Thesis	213	(24)
Herman W. Smith and Yap MiowLin
10. The Affect Control Theory of Emotions: The Case of Depression	237	(30)
Neil J. MacKinnon and Michelle M. Goulbourne
Studies in Identity Control
11. Perceptions of Leadership in Groups: An Empirical Test of Identity Control Theory	267	(26)
Peter J. Burke
12. The Moral Identity: A Principle Level Identity	293	(24)
Jan E. Stets and Michael J. Carter
Appendix 1 The Closed-Loop, Negative Feedback Model: Some Quantitative Evidence	317	(4)
Clark McPhail and David Schweingruber
Contributors	321	(4)
Index of Names	325	(4)
Index of Subjects	329