Making People Responsible

The Possible, the Probable, and the Preferable

Datos Bibliográficos

ID3758047
AutoresWendell Bell (Yale University, autor de correspondencia)
Año1998
Volumen42
Número3
Páginas323-339
Fecha de publicación1998-11-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaAmerican Behavioral Scientist (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0002-7642 • E-ISSN: 1552-3381
EditorialSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0002764298042003004
OpenAlexW2085179478
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas26
Referencias citadas19

Relying only on explanations based on impersonal social forces and cultural imperatives that are viewed as inevitably leading to particular human behaviors is incomplete social analysis. Any adequate theory of modern society must include people as active, purposeful, and innovative beings whose future-oriented behavior helps create not only their own future but also the social order itself. Social research directed at the investigation of such human agency contributes to our knowledge of futures thinking and accountability. Although people produce consequences for which they ought to be held accountable, they often do so only more or less competently. Their competence can be improved by teaching them the principles of futures thinking. They can become more responsible actors by learning to search more fully for possible futures, to forecast probable futures more accurately, and to make judgments of preferable futures more objectively

Accountability · Agency (philosophy) · Competence (human resources) · Economics · Epistemology · Futures contract · Order (exchange) · Political science · Politics · Public relations · Social order · Social science · Sociology · Cultural Differences and Values · Evolutionary Game Theory and Cooperation · Experimental Behavioral Economics Studies · Law · Psychology · Social Psychology