The Management of Purpose

Lewis Anthony Dexter may well have been one of thebetter known and least appreciated political scientists ofthe last century. This outstanding collection of Dexter’swritings, demonstrates why Dexter remains important.The volume offers solid reasons for researching the topicsDexter pioneered, and is a masterful guide to his thoughtand analyses.Dexter’s writings derive from a multifaceted career.The Management of Purpose is organized into three broadsubject areas: sociology, political science, and practicingsocial science. Dexter’s notions of what constituted sociologyand anthropology and his understandings of theseareas and how to use them to illumine political mattersare unusual. His use of multiple types of evidence, includinghistory and logic, enables him to make significantcontributions to the study of society’s response to socialproblems. His work on labeling theory shows that sociallabels have a power that both transcends and distortsreality. Dexter was also a pioneer in the interactionistperspective, linking the labeled and those doing the labeling,and in demonstrating how organizations tend tocompartmentalize and specialize.Dexter’s work provides the analytic tools to enablereaders to better understand many of the issues that remaina part of the American political landscape.