Coming to My Senses: The Autobiography of a Sociologist

Voorkant
Routledge, 5 jul 2017 - 382 pagina's
Those interested in the development of scientific theory and in the nature of academic life will appreciate this intellectual autobiography written by one of America's leading sociologists. Following his family tradition (The Education of Henry Adams was written by his great-uncle), George Caspar Homans describes how his ideas about the proper nature of theory in social science, both in form and content, have developed over time. The chief interest of the book lies in the description of this process.Homans' career has spanned many of the key periods of development in social research, and his own work has been central to the process. He was the first major sociologist to outline the sociological implications of psychologists' work on learning or behavior theory. His contributions to modern sociology have had a major impact on the study of small groups, the problem of theory and methods of theory construction, and the study of basic characteristics of social behavior. He is regarded as the father of social exchange theory.Homans considers academic and intellectual as well as nonacademic influences on his development: personalities of highly idiosyncratic individuals against whose views of culturalism, functionalism, and structuralism he reacted, discussions with colleagues, reading, as well as his ancestry, his childhood in Boston, his literary education and later social-life in Boston, and his experiences as a sea captain in the Navy in World War II. This is an absorbing book, both an autobiography and a history of the development of the social sciences in the post World War II era.
 

Geselecteerde pagina's

Inhoudsopgave

1 Ancestors
1
2 The Back Bay
13
3 Parents
23
4 School
45
5 Harvard College
63
6 DeVoto Henderson Zinsser
85
7 Curtis and Pareto
99
8 The Society of Fellows
119
13 Dining with Ba
203
Hazel Accentor and YMS 59
217
ArubaCuraçao
229
TrinidadRecife
253
The Pacific
273
18 Harvard after World War II
293
19 The Human Group
315
20 Theory and Explanation
321

Psychology
135
Social Anthropology
153
11 Medieval England
167
12 Sailing with Uncle Charlie
191
21 Social Behavior
333
Medfield
349
Index
359
Copyright

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Over de auteur (2017)

George Caspar Homans

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