We are all aware of the criticism the 'hard' scientists level against social scientists (that sociology is not a real science), the author courageously attempts to address this contemptuous point of view.
It encompasses an astonishing, hypothetical wonderverse of assumptions that are brought to their logical conclusion in one stupendous effort of coordinated intention. But I'll give it a shot, anyway.Įxplaining Social Behaviour is a very erudite, very intelligent scholar's attempt to translate the mind boggling complexities of social interaction, myriad of behaviours and infinite motivations into a logical structure with mathematical underpinnings, a sort of sociological calculus. Probably beyond my puny capabilities to review. It takes Elster 2 pages to calmly explain mechanics of pluralistic ignorance, while Zizek spends a documentary and a couple of books manically vocalizing his theory of “structure of belief” which amounts to the same thing.Īn intriguing, difficult, exhausting and significant book. Hard is insufficient beyond basic boring cases, soft is much more entertaining but is absolutely hopeless when it comes to providing insight into human nature. ğreud and culture of suspicion, too tempting to obscure everything by delegating into sub consciousness. “desire-belief-information action” framework for rational behavior can somewhat reasonably withstand the influence of emotions and biases when it comes to explaining individual behavior, but is in practice pretty hopeless for explaining group behavior (all sorts of problems with aggregating collective preferences, beliefs and expectations)
Good novels sport intelligible characters, mediocre novels stick with rational ones. Adhering to the classically rational behavior tends to make it unintelligible. Along the way the quotes from the likes of Tocqueville, Montaigne and Proust add an a intellectual aesthetic like no other. The book is an incredible example of applying clear rigorous thinking to show the limits of how far that rigor can take you, and without resorting to throwing up your hands in the end to claim ignorance.
Elster has the guts to systematically show that we know more about human behavior than is generally believed but not nearly as much as most professionals in the field claim. Yep, easily the most thorough and attention-demanding book I’ve read this year on any subject and certainly the best book bar none on human behavior.
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