Structures of power and constraint: papers in honor of Peter M. Blau

Are social structures products of human action, expressions of individual or group power? Or are they essentially external constraints on human action, necessarily analyzed at a different level? How are themes of power and constraint to be joined in a common analytic approach? These have long been central questions for sociologists. since the collapse of functionalism as a unifying paradigm, however they have often appeared as the basis for sharp divisions between competing analytic paradigms. The divide between structuralism and rational-choice theory has been one of the most prominent such splits. Yet each approach has undergone a revival in past years. The editors of this book, in honour of Peter Blau, brought together a wide range of distinguished sociologists who have taken positions on different sides of this issue and brings them into focus as parts of a common discourse on the place of social structure and concepts of strategic action in sociological explanation.