David Knoke

Collective action asks a fundamental question in social science: How do sets of actors choose courses of action and work together to achieve desired outcomes, often in opposition to other coalitions? Psychological and economic rationality explanations are incomplete in emphasizing the mental decision processes of individuals. Collective action must be understood at the level analysis of interpersonal and interorganizational relations. Social network theories and methods provide optimal frameworks for explaining collective action in a variety of settings. This book reviews theories and empirical research on collective action in several substantive areas, demonstrates how agent-based models can analyze collective action networks (pandemics, riots, social movements, insurrections, insurgencies), and concludes with speculations about future research directions.

Agent-Based Models of Pandemics, Riots, Social Movements, Insurrections and Insurgencies

Network Collective Action

"We are in the midst of rapid change in how firms organize themselves and their work. There are numerous popular accounts of this evolution but few theoretically grounded and research based assessments. Into this gap steps David Knoke. Changing Organizations is an invaluable resource for all concerned with organizational restructuring and will be an essential reference and starting point for scholars and practitioners who want a serious account of what has occurred and what is likely to happen next." Peter Osterman Massachusetts Institute of Technology "In this book, Changing Organizations, David Knoke shows how a social network approach can unify topics as diverse as corporate governance, mergers and acquisitions, national innovation systems, workplace struggles, and corporate informed explanation of why corporations have become so powerful in American society. For graduate students in organization studies courses and MBAs, the book's many extended case examples will provide a valuable context for classroom discussions. The book is packed with informative figures and charts, as well as a helpful appendix on network analysis, and thus will prove valuable as a reference book, as well." Howard E. Aldrich University of North Carolina In Changing Organizations David Knoke examines the formation of intra- and inter-organizational networks and their impact on the fates of employees, companies, and communities. He explores how the network perspective—when used in conjunction with ecology, insitutionalism, power and resource dependence, transaction cost economics, organizational learning, and evolutionary theories—contributes to a more comprehensive explanation of organizational transformations. Written in an accessible narrative style for advanced undergraduate students in sociology, public policy, and business management courses, it draws heavily from contemporary cases to illustrate key concepts. Knoke also offers readers a careful exposition of basic structural and network concepts and principles. This text is well suited for courses in sociology of organizations, business organizations/management, and public policy/administration.

Business Networks In The New Political Economy

Changing Organizations

George W. Bohrnstedt

Alisa Potter Mee

The fourth edition of STATISTICS FOR SOCIAL DATA ANALYSIS continues to show students how to apply statistical methods to answer research questions in various fields. Throughout the text, the authors underscore the importance of formulating substantive hypotheses before attempting to analyze quantitative data. An important aspect of this text is its realistic, hands-on approach. Actual datasets are used in most examples, helping students understand and appreciate what goes into the research process. The book focuses on the continuous-discrete distinction in considering the level at which a variable is measured. Rather than dwelling on the four conventional levels-of-measurement distinctions, the authors discuss statistics for analyzing continuous and discrete variables separately and in combination.

Statistics for Social Data Analysis

Peter J. Burke

Peter John Burke

Introduces methods for quantitative assessment of relationships among categoric variables in multivariable crosstabulations. Procedures to estimate and interpret effect parameters for hierarchical models are described for both the general loglinear model and its logit version.

Log-Linear Models

Song Yang

Providing a general overview of fundamental theoretical and methodological topics, with coverage in greater depth of selected issues, the text covers various issues in basic network concepts, data collection and network analytical methodology.

David Knoke

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