This book is an expanded and revised edition of the author’s critically acclaimed volume Nuts and Bolts for the Social Sciences. In twenty-six succinct chapters, Jon Elster provides an account of the nature of explanation in the social sciences. He offers an overview of key explanatory mechanisms in the social sciences, relying on hundreds of examples and drawing on a large variety of sources-psychology, behavioral economics, biology, political science, historical … More >>
Explaining Social Behavior: More Nuts and Bolts for the Social Sciences
As the title suggests, this book is an expanded and revised edition. As a non-professional and autodidact in the field of social sciences, I too find this book a gem as the other reviewers have so indicated. The book is divided into five (5) sections:
1) Explanations and Mechanisms
2) The Mind
3) Action
4) Lessons From The Natural Sciences
5) Interaction
Sections 2-5 are must reads if you are into the social sciences, but I found the first Section on Explanations and Mechanisms just a skosh on the highbrow side. However, we are talking about someone that has spent over 40 years on his work. Outside this very slight discomfort on my part, my copy is marked-up extensively which is a good indication that I found this fine addition to the social sciences worthy of my time and effort.
Though this book is somewhat on off the beaten track so to speak, other fine works on the social sciences that are worth your attention are Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion (polymath classic), The Psychology of Judgment & Decision Making (classic), How We Know What Isn’t So (very good), Mean Markets and Lizard Brains (Hidden Gem), Seeking Wisdom: From Darwin to Munger (Very Hidden Gem), or Poor Charlie’s Almanack (Charlie’s Insights).
Rating: 4 / 5
If you are absolutely anyone; an undergraduate student, a postgraduate student, a researcher, a Social Science scientist, or anyone from any field of life; who is just interested in knowing a few intricacies of the studies in rationality and subversions of rationality, collective behaviour of people, human rational and irrational behaviour and so on, but in a *SIMPLE* manner, read this one… One of the absolute best books on rationality/irrationality, available in the world of Social Sciences. Other than this, “Sour Grapes” by Elster and a couple of other books by Sen, Arrow, Coleman and others, are a MUST read for a comprehensive understanding of the subject of rational choice, individual interests, collective action and public-choice theory…
A must read… go for it.
Subhasish Ghosh
University of Oxford
9th Feb 2006
Rating: 5 / 5
Perhaps the most impressive aspect of Nuts and Bolts is its accessibility. The language is clear and not overly technical, and despite the excessive use of footnotes the text flows and facilitates understanding.
Elster gives us mechanisms, or nuts and bolts, to help us explain and understand complex social behavior and organization. This work is invaluable as an introduction to the social sciences, but it is not limited to the student or the specialist (of which I am neither). Elster does not make the mistake that countless other social scientists have made in falling for fixed rules and materialistic thinking; instead, he displays great wisdom in knowing the limits of the social sciences while at the same time being an eloquent advocate for rational choice and the development of a greater scientific understanding of human society.
Rating: 5 / 5
With no footnotes, no jargon, no namedropping and (almost) no mathmatics, this book clears all the conceptual underbrush away from the foundations of the social and behavioral sciences. Reading it was like watching an intellectual kung fu master in a rapid-fire series of celebrity deathmatches. As soon as Elster has dispatched Milton Friedman (Whup-POW!), he moves on to Steven Jay Gould. He chops ideas up into neat 10-page sections, says what he has to say, then cracks his knuckles and moves on. He does this so effortlessly that I found myself scratching my head (”how did I not see this before?”) at the end of each section. It’s not exactly fun – the reading can be dense – but it can be thrilling to simply feel the dust and cobwebs shoot out of your ears. I learned more in 500 pages than in 6 years of undergraduate survey courses. Highly, highly recommended.
Rating: 5 / 5
This book is an indispensible introduction to the social sciences. It should be used alongside with Deirdre McCloskey’s Economical Writing and Wayne Booth’s et al The Craft of Research. This trio of books provide the corner stones for any social science student: what it is, how to write it and how to do it.
Rating: 5 / 5