Description
Book SynopsisJames S. Coleman was one of a distinguished generation of sociology students who passed through the Columbia Sociology Department in the 1940s and `50s. This book critically debates his work and his contribution to society and the social sciences more generally. It consists of 18 major papers by 20 authors from six countries on a range of themes. The volume is framed by an extended editorial introduction reflecting on the five- year exchange of correspondence between James Coleman and the editor, together with two of Coleman's own works.
Table of ContentsReflections on schools and adolescents, James S. Coleman; youth and adolesence - a historical and cultural perspective, Torsten Husen; Coleman's contribution to understanding youth and adolescence, Denise B. Kandel; private schooling in post-communist Poland, Barbara Heyns; early schooling and educational inequality - socioeconomic disparities in children's learning, Karl L. Alexander and Doris R. Entwistle; Coleman's contributions to education - theory, research styles and empirical research, James J. Heckman and Derek Neal; the sociological contribution to social policy research, Martin Bulmer; the political context of social policy research, Sally B. Kilgore; games with simulated environments, Sarane Spence Boocock; methodological individualism and collective behaviour, Benjamin Zablocki; mobility measurement revisited, David J. Bartholomew; self-employment and entrepreneurship - a study of entry and exit, Peter Abell; educational opportunities and school effects, Aage B. Sorensen; the violation of normative rules and the issue of rationality in individual judgements, Michael Imbar; foundational problems in theoretical sociology, Thomas J. Fararo; rational schoice as grand theory - James Coleman's normative contribution to social theory, Adrian Favell; constitutionalism versus relationalism - two versions of rational choice sociology, Siegwart Lindenberg; analyzing the economy - on the contribution of James S. Coleman, Richard Swedberg; can rational action theory unify future social science?, Randall Collins; a vision for sociology, James S. Coleman.
