Explaining social behavior : more nuts and bolts for the social sciences / Jon Elster.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Elster, Jon, 1940-

Contributor:

Elster, Jon, 1940-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Social sciences--Methodology.

Social sciences.

Social interaction.

Physical Description:

xi, 484 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2007.

Summary:

This book is 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; an analysis of the mental states - beliefs, desires, and emotions - that are precursors to action; a systematic comparison of rational-choice models of behavior with alternative accounts; a discussion of what the social sciences may learn from neuroscience and evolutionary biology; and a review of mechanisms of social interaction ranging from strategic behavior to collective decision making. 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. In accessible and jargon-free language, Elster aims at accuracy and clarity while eschewing formal models. In a provocative conclusion, he defends the centrality of qualitative social science in a two-front war against soft (literary) and hard (mathematical) forms of obscurantism.

Contents:

I Explanation and Mechanisms 7

1 Explanation 9

2 Mechanisms 32

3 Interpretation 52

II The Mind 67

4 Motivations 75

5 Self-Interest and Altruism 95

6 Myopia and Foresight 111

7 Beliefs 124

8 Emotions 145

III Action 163

9 Desires and Opportunities 165

10 Persons and Situations 178

11 Rational Choice 191

12 Rationality and Behavior 214

13 Responding to Irrationality 232

14 Some Implications for Textual Interpretation 246

IV Lessons from the Natural Sciences 257

15 Physiology and Neuroscience 261

16 Explanation by Consequences and Natural Selection 271

17 Selection and Human Behavior 287

V Interaction 299

18 Unintended Consequences 300

19 Strategic Interaction 312

20 Games and Behavior 331

21 Trust 344

22 Social Norms 353

23 Collective Belief Formation 372

24 Collective Action 388

25 Collective Decision Making 401

26 Organizations and Institutions 427

Conclusion: Is Social Science Possible? 445.

Notes:

Expanded and rev. ed. of: Nuts and bolts for the social sciences, 1989.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Related Work:

Elster, Jon, 1940- Nuts and bolts for the social sciences.

ISBN:

052177179X

9780521771795

0521777445

9780521777445

OCLC:

70267154