1st Edition
Complexity, Society and Social Transactions Developing a Comprehensive Social Theory
List of Tables
List of Figures
Preface. Why Do We Need Another Social Theory?
Chapter 1. An invitation to a social journey
Where Have We Been?
What is the Question?
Where am I Taking You?
Overview of the Book
Part I: Laying the Foundation
Chapter 2. Philosophy of Science
The Validity of Social Science
Explaining Human Experience
Critical Realism
Chapter 3. A Rubric for Evaluating Social Theory
The Epistemological Continuum
Objectivism
Subjectivism
Critical Realism
Constructionism
The Ontological Continuum
The Applicability Continuum
Agency
Interaction
System
Structure
Plausibility
Mechanism
My Assumptions
Chapter 4. Scientific Method and Theory
Scientific Paradigms
Theoretical Methods
Thought Experiments
Chapter 5. Other Building Blocks
Limitations
Initial Definitions
Culture
Adaptation versus Evolution
Ethics and Morality
Chapter 6. Situating the Theory
Reflective Human Consciousness
Consciousness as Emergent Process
Awareness and Self-awareness
Consciousness and Temporality
Reflection
Sociality
The Unity of Conscious Experience
Human Experience
Initial Mediations
Socially Constructed Mediations
The Environment
Situating the Theory
Part II. Developing a Theory of Social Ontology
Chapter 7. Complex Adaptive Systems
Nonadaptive versus Adaptive Systems
Chaos Theory
Dissipative Structures
Complex Adaptive and Nonadaptive Systems
Complex Adaptive Systems
Chapter 8. Emergence Theory
Defining Emergence
Mead’s Emergence Theory
Social Phenomena as Emergents
Complexity-Based Emergence Theory
Chapter 9. Applicable Social Theory
Mead and Social Interaction
Self and Mind
Past Experience and Contemplation of the Future
Giddens and Structuration
Needs and Motivation
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Chapter 10. Dewey and Bentley’s Transactional Approach
Chapter 11. Negotiation, Negotiated Order Theory, and Game Theory
Negotiation
Game Theory
John Nash
Thomas Schelling
Cooperation v. Non-cooperation
Folk theorem
Negotiated Order Theory
Chapter 12. Meaning, Meaning Making, Language, and Symbols
Definitions
Peirce, Signs, and Semeiotics
Mead and the Significant Symbol
Ricoeur’s Interpretation Theory
Narrative and Meaning as Social Canon
Chapter 13. Additional Theoretical Considerations
Emirbayer and Relational Sociology
Ecological Anthropology
Ecological Psychology
Chapter 14. A Theory of Social Ontology
A General Social Theory
Complex Adaptive Systems Repositioned
Adding Social Transaction
Adding Negotiation and Emergence
Meaning and Negotiation
Structuration
Narrative and Folk Psychology
A Thought Experiment
Chapter 15. Applying the Theory in the Practical World
The Theory’s Relationship to Social Systems and Structure
Explaining Social Power
Implications for Culture Study
Ontological Implications in Economic Theory
Rules and Rule Making
The Golden Rule and Reciprocity
Social Contract Theory
The Relationship to Political Organization
Ontological Implications in Moral Philosophy
Moral Realism
Moral Relativism
Implications for Moral Philosophy
Chapter 16. Conclusions and Further Research
Significance for Leadership and Management
Further Research
Closing Thoughts
Acknowledgments
References
Index
Biography
Thomas B. Whalen is Assistant Professor of Business in the Business and Economics Department at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, USA.
