"Success in the sociologists' aim might lead, in T. S. Eliot's phrase, to "systems so perfect that no one would need t…"

"Institutions are human behavior, and they are, therefore, to be explained by the characteristics of that behavior."

"If we wanted to establish the reality of a social system as a complex of mutually dependent elements, why not begin b…"

"Social behavior is an exchange of goods, material goods but also non-material ones, such as the symbols of approval o…"

"In choosing between alternative actions, a person will choose that one for which, as perceived by him at the time, th…"

"It is really intolerable that we can say only one thing at a time; for social behavior displays many features at the …"

"Until the 1950s, individuals were often conceptualized as being at the mercy of structures. The extreme version of th…"

"1950: George Homans, The Human Group — advances small-group theory and research; attempts to extrapolate from a singl…"

"For him delicious flavors dwell In books as in old Muscatel."

"And in the evening, everywhere Along the roadside, up and down, I see the golden torches flare Like lighted street-la…"