Elementary Forms of Social Relations

Elementary Forms of Social Relations introduces the reader to social life as a perpetual quest by individuals to gain attention, respect and regard (status) accompanied by an effort to marshal defensive and offensive means (power) to overcome the reluctance of others to grant status. This work is based on empirical evidence from many research settings showing that status and power are the main relational modes and that to understand our own and others' social behaviour, we need to understand how status and power operate in relational conduct.

Theodore D. Kemper is Professor of Sociology (Ret.) at St. John's University, NY, USA.

Contents List of Tables Preface Acknowledgments Chapter 1: Elementary Forms: Status, Power and Reference Groups Chapter 2: The Minimum Complexity of Social Relations Chapter 3: G. H. Mead Had Gotten it Half-Right Chapter 4: After the Dialogical Self, What? Chapter 5: The Marriage of Cognitive Neuroscience and Sociology: A Dissenting View Chapter 6: A Nobel? Well, Yes! But Where's the Social? Chapter 7: Status, Power and Conversational Analysis Chapter 8: Leaders and Social Relations Chapter 9: Some Applications of Status-Power and Reference Group Theory Chapter 10: Concluding Theoretical Considerations Appendix: A Status-Power Glossary References Index