D Willer

Biographic Data

ID1609
NAMED Willer
GIVEN NAMESD
FAMILY NAMEWiller
SIGNATUREWILLER D
AFFILIATIONSUniversity of South Carolina
ORCID0000-0002-2763-3962
VERIFIEDYes
TOTAL WORKS60
TOTAL CITATIONS693
AUTHOR COUNT60
EDITOR COUNT0
FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR1967
LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR2022
H-INDEX14

  • The social production of property

    Open AccessD Willer, P EmanuelsonARTICLERationality and Society2022References: 43

    This paper investigates two forms of property as a social phenomenon and finds the Property Right Paradigm of economics to be wrongly conceived. Introducing new formulations for property reveals that private and communal property are frequently found together. When they are, as the scope of one increases the scope of the other shrinks. We examine how property rights are embedded in social exchange experiments. Calling on game theory, we find that…

  • Theory toolbox for historical explanation

    Open AccessD Willer, P EmanuelsonARTICLEMethodological Innovations2022References: 48

    Merton proposed middle range theories, not as ends in themselves, but as bases for a consolidation to explain broader phenomenon. More than a half century has passed since Merton's consolidation proposal and in that time a number of experimentally tested middle range theories have been developed. Certainly, the next step should be a consolidation. Yet, to our knowledge, no one has previously offered a consolidation of experimentally tested theori…

  • Theory and the Replication Problem

    Open AccessD Willer, P EmanuelsonARTICLESociological Methodology2020Cited by: 3References: 11

    Many refinements of statistical design have been offered to solve the replication problem identified by the Open Science Collaboration and Camerer and colleagues. There are, however, two distinct kinds of experimentation: Fisher design and theory designed. Therefore, there are two kinds of replication. Only for the Fisher design does replication reproduce conditions of prior experiments in order to compare new with prior results, and only there h…

  • Social Structures in Transition

    Open AccessP Emanuelson, D WillerARTICLESocius Sociological Research for…2018Cited by: 2References: 23

    Status characteristics theory and elementary theory are applied to explain developments through three structural forms that chiefdoms are known to take. Theoretic models find that downward mobility inherent in the first form, the status-lineage structure, destabilizes its system of privilege. As a consequence, high-status actors are motivated to find mechanisms to preserve and enhance privilege. By engaging in hostile relations with other chiefdo…

  • Experimental Methods

    Open AccessHenry A Walker, D WillerOTHERThe Blackwell Encyclopedia of…2017

    An experiment is a research method for which the investigator plans, builds, or otherwise controls the conditions under which phenomena are observed and measured. Experiments are the investigative method of choice in the physical sciences and increasingly in economics, but they are used infrequently in sociology. Sociology experiments are conducted disproportionately in the research subfields of (small‐) group processes and social psychology

  • Does Social Value Orientation Theory Apply to Social Relations

    Open AccessPatricia Lewis, D WillerARTICLESociological Science2017Cited by: 2References: 14

    This research asks whether Social Value Orientations (SVOs) apply to the social relations of exchange networks. SVO literature identifies three types of orientation to rational action, determined by how actors value outcomes to self and other. Only the individualist is the self-interested, rational actor previously seen in exchange networks. The prosocial actor seeks to maximize joint outcomes and equality whereas the competitor seeks to maximize…

  • Legitimizing Collective Action and Countervailing Power

    Henry A Walker, D WillerARTICLESocial Forces2014

    Contemporary social movement researchers claim that legitimizing elements of social movements can counteract collective action problems and increase the likelihood that self-interested individuals take collective rather than individual action. Their work is insightful and informative, but it rarely uses general theory to describe the processes through which movement elements acquire legitimacy. Nor does it apply general theory to describe the mec…

  • Social Values and Social Structure

    D Willer, Eric Gladstone et al.ARTICLEJournal of Mathematical Sociology2013Cited by: 2References: 37

    The exchanges that individualist, prosocial, and competitive actors will make and the kind of negotiations they will carry out in dyads and power structures are predicted here for the first time. The predictions are generated by bridging two previously independent streams of thought, network exchange theory and social value orientations. In so doing, this article shows that formal, mathematical theory and metric predictions are not threatened by …

  • Analyzing large scale exchange networks

    Open AccessD Willer, M A L M Van Assen et al.ARTICLESocial Networks2011

  • One-shot exchange networks and the shadow of the future

    Open AccessP Emanuelson, D WillerARTICLESocial Networks2009

  • Testing Ten Theories

    D Willer, P EmanuelsonARTICLEJournal of Mathematical Sociology2008Cited by: 14References: 37

    Using the most comprehensive data set now available, this investigation tests the precision of all exchange theories that now contend. Beyond precision, the investigation focuses on broad issues of effectiveness including consistency, parsimony, and whether the theories can be applied to structures larger than normally studied in the lab. Seeking greater parsimony, this investigation introduces a new model by combining parts of two contending the…

  • Experimental Methods

    Open AccessHenry A Walker, D WillerOTHERThe Blackwell Encyclopedia of…2007References: 1

    An experiment is a research method for which the investigator plans, builds, or otherwise controls the conditions under which phenomena are observed and measured. Experiments are the investigative method of choice in the physical sciences, and increasingly in economics, but they are used less frequently in sociology. Experimental sociologists are disproportionately located in the research subfields of (small) group processes and social psychology

  • Power, Embedded Games, and Coalition Formation

    Casey Borch, D WillerARTICLEJournal of Mathematical Sociology2006Cited by: 3References: 13

    Applications of game theory frequently presume but do not show that social structures contain games. This study shows that multiple games are embedded in strong power structures and that power is exercised because 1) the game of those low in power contains a dilemma whereas 2) the game of those high in power does not. As in previous analyses, we find those low in power play the Prisoner's Dilemma game. New to this analysis is the discovery that t…

  • From Status to Power

    Shane R Thye, R Thye et al.ARTICLESocial Forces2006Cited by: 11

    The study of group processes has benefited from longstanding programs of theory-driven research on status and power. The present work constructs a bridge between two formal theories of status and power: Status Characteristics Theory and Network Exchange Theory. Two theoretical models, one for “status value” and one for “status influence,” illuminate the underlying mechanisms whereby status differences between individuals lead to power differences…

  • Generating Images of Stratification

    Open AccessD WillerARTICLEContemporary Sociology A Journal…2005

  • The Structural Embeddedness of Collective Goods

    Open AccessB Simpson, D WillerARTICLESociological Theory2005Cited by: 2References: 29

    The growing body of literature on coalitions in exchange networks has addressed issues such as the kind of social dilemmas posed and how structurally disadvantaged actors overcome free-rider problems. We add to this stream of research by focusing explicitly on what low-power actors can gain from collective action. We offer theory that predicts whether actors can gain a collective good by forming coalitions and, if so, the size of that good, for a…

  • Theory Programs and Theoretical Problems

    Open AccessJoseph Berger, D Willer et al.ARTICLESociological Theory2005Cited by: 2References: 64

    Some sociologists argue that sociological theory does not grow and the reason why it does not grow is that the discipline lacks a core of highly developed, almost universally accepted, paradigms; even worse, because it is reflexive, its criteria of problem and theory choice are so noncognitive that there are no paradigms, hence no progress, in its future. We do not question that sociology lacks a core of almost universally accepted paradigms, nor…

  • Stereotype Threat and Differential Expected Consequences

    Michael J Lovaglia, Reef Youngreen et al.ARTICLESociological Focus2004Cited by: 1References: 17

    Why do some groups of students score lower than do others on standardized tests? Stereotype threat theory proposes that added pressure from the threat of confirming a negative stereotype impairs test performance. A related theory of differential expected consequences proposes that low-status test takers also expect negative consequences from doing too well on the test. Two laboratory studies investigated whether stereotype threat, differential ex…

  • Power-at-a-Distance

    D WillerARTICLESocial Forces2003Cited by: 6

    Journal Article Power-at-a-Distance Get access David Willer David Willer University of South Carolina Direct all correspondence to David Willer, Department of Sociology, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208. E-mail: [email protected]. Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Social Forces, Volume 81, Issue 4, June 2003, Pages 1295–1334, https://doi.org/10.1353/sof.2003.0074 Published: 01 June 2003

  • The Gatekeeper

    Open AccessMamadi Corra, D WillerARTICLESociological Theory2002Cited by: 26References: 29

    Gatekeepers control access to benefits that they do not own. When granted access, their clients incur obligations that take the form of fees owed to the gatekeeper. This paper examines a variety of forms that gatekeeping has historically taken, looking closely at the network positions that gatekeepers have occupied. Not previously resolved is what determines the size of the client's obligation. The theory presented here predicts 1) the size of th…

  • Exploring dynamic networks

    Open AccessR Willer, D WillerARTICLESocial Networks2000

  • Network Exchange Theory

    Henry A Walker, Shane R Thye et al.ARTICLESocial Psychology Quarterly2000Cited by: 14

    Henry A. Walker, Shane R. Thye, Brent Simpson, Michael J. Lovaglia, David Willer, Barry Markovsky, Network Exchange Theory: Recent Developments and New Directions, Social Psychology Quarterly, Vol. 63, No. 4, Special Millenium Issue on the State of Sociological Social Psychology (Dec., 2000), pp. 324-337

  • Games, Structures and Collective Action

    Open AccessD Willer, J SkvoretzARTICLERationality and Society1997Cited by: 1References: 2

  • Games and Structures

    Open AccessD Willer, J SkvoretzARTICLERationality and Society1997Cited by: 12References: 20

    Frequently applications of game theory assume, but do not show, that games are contained in social structures. The new analysis offered here uncovers games embedded in structures by attributing strategies to some positions and deriving the pay-off matrices for others. As structures vary so do the games embedded in them. All strong power structures contain prisoners' dilemma games for at least some range of pay-offs while some contain a chain of p…

  • Power in Exchange Networks

    B Markovsky, D Willer et al.ARTICLEAmerican Sociological Review1997Cited by: 8References: 4

    B. Markovsky et al. examinent de facon critique la theorie des phenomenes de pouvoir, dans le cadre des reseaux sociaux d'echange, developpee par K. Yamaguchi. Ils estiment que son modele presente des contradictions. Ils mettent en doute la validite des indicateurs utilises. Ils affirment que les analyses de Yamaguchi sont erronees en ce sens qu'elles ne parviennent pas a etre confirmees statistiquement. K. Yamaguchi replique a Markovsky et al.. …