Purpose, Meaning, and Action Control Systems Theories in Sociology

Control Systems Theory, a newly developing theoretical perspective in the field of sociology, starts from an important insight into human behavior: that people attempt to control the world around them as they perceive it. This volume brings together the most prominent sociologists contributing to the development of this flexible and wide-ranging theoretical paradigm for the first time.

Kent A. McClelland is Professor of Sociology at Grinnell College. His publications include work on sociological theory, racial and sexual harassment, immigration, research methodology, gerontology, and social stratification, as well as pedagogical essays on ways to improve sociological writing. He is a past President of the interdisciplinary Control Systems Group and is currently the Chair of the newly established Peace Studies Program at Grinnell College.
Thomas J. Fararo is Distinguished Service Professor of Sociology at The University of Pittsburgh, where he has been since 1967.  He is a recipient of the Distinguished Career Award from the American Sociological Association Section on Mathematical Sociology and he is a past chair of that section.  He has served on the editorial boards of a number of professional journals, including The American Sociological Review, The American Journal of Sociology, and Sociological Theory, and is an Associate Editor of The Journal of Mathematical Sociology.  His most recent books are Social Action Systems: Foundation and Synthesis in Sociological Theory (2001) and Generating Images of Stratification: A Formal Theory (2003, co-authored with Kenji Kosaka).