Foundations of Social Theory

Rating:
Summary: A gargantuan synthetic effort
Review: Coleman's book is one of the most ambitious sustained attempts to theorize the social world from a single perspective -- and one which, unlike systems theories (e.g., Parsons, Luhmann) has clear predictive consequences. Of course, the book is just as interesting for where rational choice theory breaks down (e.g., with regard to obligations to family and extreme religious groups, and when it comes to preference formation) as for where it obviously applies (e.g. to corporate law). Even if you're a rational choice skeptic, there's plenty of value by way of concepts (e.g., disjoint vs. conjoint authority), though at almost 1,000 pages, this is by no means a quick read -- best surveyed under the guidance of someone who knows where the interesting bits are. (If I may, chs. 1-5.)

Rating:
Summary: Challenging
Review: It was not easy to read through this. But, for those who wanna try something other than usual in sociology, I think this book will do. Don't you think the truth about our society is still out there? We have come here and it's too far away from the truth. ..and I think sociology is left land which will be fertile in some centuries. I think this book started first for searching another method to the gold, truth. Not just because it introduced mathematical view in sociology ,but because it showed us a new way of proceeding.