Main trends of research in the social and human ... - unesdoc - Unesco

Sociology 157
dealing simultaneously with more than two variates. An outstanding example is
provided by Herbert Simon’s translation into mathematical form of two-variate
propositions by some sociological authors (Models of Man, New York, Wiley,
1957); his work is treated further in Chapter VIII (‘Mathematical Models and
Methods’) by R. BOUDON.
55. P. F. LAZARSFELD, ‘Public Opinion Research and the Classical Tradition’, Public
Opinion Quarterly, 1952; and C. W. MILLS, Zniages of Man, New York, George
Braziller, 1960.
56. G. KLAUS, Kybernetik in philosophischer Sichr, Berlin, Dietz Verlag, 1965.
57. The counts were done in such a way that a page number followed by one f was
weighted twice; a page number followed by two ffs weighed three times as compared
to a single page entry.
58. The author has been the senior editor of a volume on The Uses of Sociology,
sponsored by the American Sociological Association. In the introduction to this
volume he describes how much resistance he had to overcome before it was
possible even to raise openly the question of whether social research could be
useful for any praxis. As a compromise a ‘theory of utilization’ was worked out.
59. The I930 edition of the Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences devoted three pages to
the entry on functionalism, written by a philosopher. The new edition devotes 22
pages to the entries on functional analysis and authorship is divided between
a sociologist and an anthropologist.
60. Reprinted in On TheoreticalSociology - Five Essays, OldandNew, New York, Free
Press, 1967.
61. LOC. cit. p. 106.
62. Loc. cit. p. 105.
63. ‘The Myth of Functional Analysis in Sociology and Anthropology’, American
Sociological Review 24, 1959, p. 757.
64. The 4000 sociologists who teach sociology in American colleges have approximately
40 textbooks available which are almost all strongly influenced by functional
ideas. For my foreign colleagues I try to convey the climate thus created.
I already used the metaphor of Proteus, the Greek mythological figure, who could
change himself into any form or object. I might as well have referred to the Hydra,
who grew new heads whenever one was cut off. A little popular poem might best
describe the situation: When I was walking up the stairs, I saw a man who was
not there; he was not there again today- I wish, the hell, he would go away.
65. This is a purposefully crude wording; Ernest Nagel has givenaprecise formulation
by translating Merton’s paradigm into mathematical language. See his Logic
without Methaphysics, Free Press, 1956, Chapter IO.
66. W. J. GOODE, ‘The Protection of the Inept’, American Sociological Review 32 (I),
Feb. 1967, p. 5.
67. K. DAVIS, ‘Jealousy and Sexual Property: An Illustration’, in: Human Society,
New York, Macmillan, 1959, Chapter 7, pp. 175-194.
68. Sociology, Harcourt, Brace and Co., 1960, p. 67. Chapter 3 of this textbook
gives the best introductory exposition of functional analysis. But even there the
term ‘system’ is used as if everyone knew what it connotes.
69. K. E. BOULDING, ‘General Systems Theory’, in: W. BUCKLEY (ed.), Modern
Systems Research for the Behavioral Scientist, Chicago (Ill.), Aldine Publishing
Company, 1968, p. 3. (Thereafter called ‘Buckley Reader’.)
70. K. W. DEUTSCH, ‘Toward a Cybernetic Model of Man and Society’, in: W. BUCK-
LEY (ed.), op cit., p. 387.
71. A. RAPOPORT, ‘Mathematical Aspects of General Systems Analysis’, in: The
Social Sciences: Problems and Orientations, op. cit. The lowest level in the third
group would probably be a thermostat connected with a TV set. The latter would
‘report’ that set at 76” (F.) people feel uncomfortable and the thermostat would
reset itself at 72’ (F.).
72. M. MAGOROL, ‘The Second Cybernetics: Deviation-amplifying Mutual Causal