W G Runciman
Biographic Data
| ID | 95767 |
|---|---|
| NAME | W G Runciman |
| GIVEN NAMES | W G |
| FAMILY NAME | Runciman |
| SIGNATURE | RUNCIMAN W G |
| AFFILIATIONS | Trinity College |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 93 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 544 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 91 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 2 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1916 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2019 |
| H-INDEX | 11 |
Ideology and Social Science
Was Weber a Methodological Weberian
The recent publication of the entirety of Max Weber's methodological writings in an English translation by Bruun and Whimster offers an opportunity to reassess the question how far he himself consistently adhered to his own precepts about Wertfreiheit and the construction and deployment of ideal types. It is argued that Weber himself saw the problem not as a logical but as a purely psychological one, and that he could therefore justify the appare…
Righ teous Rebels: When, Where, and Why?
Credible crooks as a topic in sociological theory
Diego Gambetta's new book will be widely read across a range of social-scientific disciplines. But it bears directly on two topics central to sociological theory. The first is the relation of socia
The Theory of Cultural and Social Selection
In The Theory of Cultural and Social Selection, W. G. Runciman presents an original and wide-ranging account of the fundamental process by which human cultures and societies come to be of the different kinds that they are. Drawing on and extending recent advances in neo-Darwinian evolutionary theory, Runciman argues that collective human behaviour should be analyzed as the acting-out of information transmitted at the three separate but interactin…
"Rejoinder to "Forgetting the Founders
Not whether but how: A comment on Nettle's 'Beyond nature versus culture
Forgetting the Founders
The inability, or unwillingness, of 20th-century sociologists to move beyond the agenda bequeathed by Marx, Weber, and Durkheim is remarkable in view not only of the now outdated presuppositions shared by all three but of the increasing likelihood that the more important influence on the human behavioural sciences in the 21st century will turn out to be Darwin's. Not only has the coming together of evolutionary theory, population genetics, and mo…
Cultural Selection, Axiological Reasoning, and Paradiastole (I)
In the course of cultural evolution, both attitudes and beliefs are continuously modified by heritable variation and competitive selection. His argument is, however, open to objection on psychological and sociological as well as philosophical grounds, and is vulnerable to the traditional rhetorical device known as paradiastole
British Sociology Seen from Without and Within
These eleven chapters look at sociology in Britain from a number of intriguing perspectives. How important is it for British sociologists to be aware of the historical development of their subject in this country? How is British sociology seen by British scholars working in related fields, such as social history, social anthropology and demography? And how are British sociologists perceived by their colleagues working abroad, in particular in con…
Puritan American Capitalists and Evolutionary Game Theory
Two of the distinctive ways of behaving which Weber attributed to Protestant, and more specifically Puritan, capitalists have a particular relevance to the evolution of capitalism in the Northern United States: first, their willingness to deal fairly not only within but also outside of the community of fellow-believers; second, the 'ascetic compulsion to save' which led them to reinvest their surpluses rather than either thesaurize or consume the…
Rejoinder to Fracchia and Lewontin
In their response to my article, Fracchia and Lewontin have not refuted any of my three principal objections to theirs; they have ignored altogether my suggestion that evolutionary game theory illustrates particularly clearly the benefits that neo-Darwinian concepts and methods can bring to the human behavioral sciences; and they have attributed to me a version of “methodological individualism” to which I do not subscribe. It is, as is usual at t…
Culture Does Evolve
Neo-Darwinian theories of cultural evolution are apt to be criticized on the grounds that they merely borrow from the theory of natural selection concepts that are then metaphorically applied to conventional historical narratives to which they add no more, if anything, than an implicit presupposition of progress from one predetermined stage to the next. Such criticisms, of which a particularly forceful example is a recent article in this journal …
Not Elective but Selective Affinities
Max Weber's ambivalent attitude to the application of the concepts of selection and adaptation to the study of cultural and social evolution is readily understandable in view of his scepticism about the reducibility of sociology to biology and his suspicion that selectionist explanations will turn out on close inspection to be either value-laden or circular. His concerns can be dispelled with the help of developments in evolutionary theory which …
Stone Age Sociology
Although studies of present-day hunters and foragers cannot be used directly to reconstruct the sociology of our Stone Age ancestors, they can, if combined with the archaeological evidence and supplemented by recent research in evolutionary game theory, be used to answer the question how the original bands of hunters and foragers could cohere over many successive generations without either transitive rank-orders headed by dominant males or instit…
The Diffusion of Christianity in the Third Century AD as a Case-Study in the Theory of Cultural Selection
Explanation of the growth of Christianity in the third century Roman Empire has long been controversial. However, recent game-theoretic research shows how a strategy of unconditional altruism such as Christianity formally enjoined can, under certain conditions, resist invasion by defectors, free-riders and cheats. It is accordingly plausible to suggest that in the particular environment of the third century Empire this uniquely distinguishing fea…
Political Philosophy: The View from Cambridge
This article reports on a conversation convened by Quentin Skinner at the invitation of the Editors of The Journal of Political Philosophy and held in Cambridge on 13 February 2001
Was Max Weber a Selectionist in Spite of Himself
Despite Weber's explicit rejection in several of his writings of the Darwinian concepts of selection and adaptation, in his sociology of law he briefly discusses the emergence and diffusion of novel forms of behaviour in selectionist terms entirely consistent with the Darwinian paradigm. There is therefore reason to suggest that he could have advanced his 'Protestant Ethic' thesis in similar terms, and that if he had its merits and deficiencies w…
Greek Hoplites: Rejoinder to Hallpike
Can there be a Nietzschean sociology
The article explores the implications of Nietzsche's view of human history and psychology for a sociology formulated in Nietzschean terms, and argues that although the 'will to power' cannot explain all that Nietzsche claims for it, his sociology of sociology does pass his own test of validity. It is suggested in conclusion that on the relation of sociology to the rank ordering of values, Nietzsche is consistent where Weber is not, and vice versa
Social Evolutionism: A Reply to Michael Rustin
A Treatise on Social Theory, Volume III: Applied Social Theory
Greek Hoplites, Warrior Culture, and Indirect Bias
La frequence et la persistence de la guerre grecque hoplite sous une forme distincte et pratiquement inalteree de la seconde moitie du septieme siecle avant Jesus Christ au mi-quatrieme siecle s'explique au mieux en faisant reference a une culture guerriere distincte qui fut sapee a la base quand, et seulement quand, les soldats citoyens furent remplaces en Grece meme par des mercenaires. Ce developpement est analyse dans les termes d'un modele t…
The Selectionist Paradigm and its Implications for Sociology
After a brief review of some aspects of current evolutionary theory which bear on the explanation of human social behaviour, the question is raised whether a recognizably neo-Darwinian research programme could be designed for sociology on the basis that social change is seen as a process analogous but not reducible to natural selection. Some implications of such a programme are outlined and the strength of the objections likely to be raised again…
Rejoinder to Fulcher, 'Did British Society Change Character in the 1920s or the 1980s
I am no more persuaded byJames Fulcher's second attack on my original argument than I was by his first. But this rejoinder can safely be kept short, since by the time it appears the third and final volume of my Treatise on Social Theory, which deals at length with the sociology of twentieth-century England, will be in print also. I hope, accordingly, that readers of these exchanges will be encouraged thereby to study the arguments of that volume …
Relative deprivation and social justice: A study of attitudes to social inequality in twentieth-century England.
A critique of Max Weber's philosophy of social science
Social science and political theory.
The Selectionist Paradigm and its Implications for Sociology
After a brief review of some aspects of current evolutionary theory which bear on the explanation of human social behaviour, the question is raised whether a recognizably neo-Darwinian research programme could be designed for sociology on the basis that social change is seen as a process analogous but not reducible to natural selection. Some implications of such a programme are outlined and the strength of the objections likely to be raised again…
Greek Hoplites, Warrior Culture, and Indirect Bias
La frequence et la persistence de la guerre grecque hoplite sous une forme distincte et pratiquement inalteree de la seconde moitie du septieme siecle avant Jesus Christ au mi-quatrieme siecle s'explique au mieux en faisant reference a une culture guerriere distincte qui fut sapee a la base quand, et seulement quand, les soldats citoyens furent remplaces en Grece meme par des mercenaires. Ce developpement est analyse dans les termes d'un modele t…
Max Weber. An Intellectual Portrait
Journal Article Max Weber. An Intellectual Portrait Get access Max Weber. An Intellectual Portrait. By R. Bendix. (London: Heinemann, 1960. Pp. xi + 480. 30s.)The City. By M. Weber. (London: Heinemann, 1960. Pp. 242. 2\s.) W. G. Runciman W. G. Runciman Trinity College, Cambridge. Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The Economic Journal, Volume 71, Issue 284, 1 December 1961, Pages 844–847, https://doi.org/10.2…
How many Classes are there in Contemporary British Society
If 'class' is defined in terms of the economic power (or lack of it) attaching to different roles through their relation to the processes of production, distribution and exchange, then the number of classes in a society is a function of the number of dividing-lines in its social space which can be so drawn as to mark qualitative differences between sets of similarly positioned roles. These differences are defined neither by income nor by employme…
A Treatise on Social Theory: Volume 2, Substantive Social Theory
This second of three volumes sets out a general account of the structure and evolution of human societies. The author argues first that societies are to be defined as sets of roles whose incumbents are competitors for access to, or control of, the means of production, persuasion and coercion; and second, that the process by which societies evolve is one of competitive selection of the practices by which roles are defined analagous, but not reduci…
Philosophy, Politics and Society: Second Series
Forgetting the Founders
The inability, or unwillingness, of 20th-century sociologists to move beyond the agenda bequeathed by Marx, Weber, and Durkheim is remarkable in view not only of the now outdated presuppositions shared by all three but of the increasing likelihood that the more important influence on the human behavioural sciences in the 21st century will turn out to be Darwin's. Not only has the coming together of evolutionary theory, population genetics, and mo…
Max Weber: Selections in Translation
Journal Article Max Weber: Selections in Translation Get access Max Weber: Selections in Translation. Edited by W. G. Runciman. Translated by Eric Matthews. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1978. Pp. xii + 398. £12.50 hardback, £3.95 paperback.) William Outhwaite William Outhwaite University of Sussex Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The Economic Journal, Volume 88, Issue 352, 1 December 1978, Pages …
Origins of States: The Case of Archaic 351-377 Greece
The plurals in my title carry two implications, neither of which I take to be controversial, if they ever were: first, that there is more than one kind of 'original' state; second, that there is more than one way in which states originate. There is, admittedly, continuing controversy over the definition of 'state.' But for the purposes of this article, I assume that there are four necessary and jointly sufficient conditions for the emergence of a…
Was Max Weber a Selectionist in Spite of Himself
Despite Weber's explicit rejection in several of his writings of the Darwinian concepts of selection and adaptation, in his sociology of law he briefly discusses the emergence and diffusion of novel forms of behaviour in selectionist terms entirely consistent with the Darwinian paradigm. There is therefore reason to suggest that he could have advanced his 'Protestant Ethic' thesis in similar terms, and that if he had its merits and deficiencies w…
A Critique of Max Weber's Philosophy of Social Science
What Is Structuralism
Charismatic Legitimacy and One-Party Rule in Ghana
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Problems of Research on Relative Deprivation
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
Stone Age Sociology
Although studies of present-day hunters and foragers cannot be used directly to reconstruct the sociology of our Stone Age ancestors, they can, if combined with the archaeological evidence and supplemented by recent research in evolutionary game theory, be used to answer the question how the original bands of hunters and foragers could cohere over many successive generations without either transitive rank-orders headed by dominant males or instit…
Capitalism without Classes: The Case of Classical Rome
Rome during the last two centuries of the Republic and the first two of the Principate was an unequivocally capitalist society in the sense that it was based on the private ownership of property and the transaction of social relations through the market. But despite this, classes in the sense of distinctive groups or categories defirled by their relation to the means of production never constituted its structural basis. After a summary of some of…
Rules, Roles and Relations
The Diffusion of Christianity in the Third Century AD as a Case-Study in the Theory of Cultural Selection
Explanation of the growth of Christianity in the third century Roman Empire has long been controversial. However, recent game-theoretic research shows how a strategy of unconditional altruism such as Christianity formally enjoined can, under certain conditions, resist invasion by defectors, free-riders and cheats. It is accordingly plausible to suggest that in the particular environment of the third century Empire this uniquely distinguishing fea…
Status Consistency, Relative Deprivation, and Attitudes to Immigrants
The first section of the paper criticizes the concept of inconsistency between status ranks as an explanation of variations in attitudes and behaviour between different groups. The second section argues that the concept of relative deprivation may, if appropriately qualified, prove more useful and suggests a possible application of it to the topic of attitudes towards immigrants. The third section presents some findings from a sample survey carri…
Political Philosophy: The View from Cambridge
This article reports on a conversation convened by Quentin Skinner at the invitation of the Editors of The Journal of Political Philosophy and held in Cambridge on 13 February 2001
Has British Capitalism Changed Since the First World War
Analyse de l'evolution de la societe capitaliste anglaise depuis la premiere guerre mondiale : evolution qualitative du mode de production qui a connu deux phases essentielles, 1880-1914 et 1915-1922. Comment le capitalisme des annees 20 s'avere qualitativement peu different de celui des annees 80
Culture Does Evolve
Neo-Darwinian theories of cultural evolution are apt to be criticized on the grounds that they merely borrow from the theory of natural selection concepts that are then metaphorically applied to conventional historical narratives to which they add no more, if anything, than an implicit presupposition of progress from one predetermined stage to the next. Such criticisms, of which a particularly forceful example is a recent article in this journal …
Changes in British Trade Policy
Essay| March 01 1916 Changes in British Trade Policy Walter Runciman Walter Runciman Cabinet Minister and President of the London Board of Trade Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Current History (1916) 3 (6): 1104–1105. https://doi.org/10.1525/curh.1916.3.6.1104 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Twitter LinkedIn Tools Icon Tools Ge…
Max Weber. An Intellectual Portrait
Journal Article Max Weber. An Intellectual Portrait Get access Max Weber. An Intellectual Portrait. By R. Bendix. (London: Heinemann, 1960. Pp. xi + 480. 30s.)The City. By M. Weber. (London: Heinemann, 1960. Pp. 242. 2\s.) W. G. Runciman W. G. Runciman Trinity College, Cambridge. Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The Economic Journal, Volume 71, Issue 284, 1 December 1961, Pages 844–847, https://doi.org/10.2…
Problems of Research on Relative Deprivation
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Plato's Later Epistemology
A Method for Cross-National Comparison of Political Consensus
NUMBER OF WRITERS2 on political behaviour have ; recently focused their attention on the degree of consensus £ Xnecessary to the maintenance of a stable democratic system. As an indicator of consensus, Lipset has suggested3 the extent to which all sections of the population react in the same direction to maior stimuli: for instance, a situation of low consensus would be said to exist where the left gains only among the workers while the right gai…
Philosophy, Politics and Society: Second Series
Plato's Later Epistemology
Charismatic Legitimacy and One-Party Rule in Ghana
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Social Science and Political Theory
Plato's Later Epistemology
Journal Article Book Reviews Get access Plato’s Later Epistemology. By W. G. Runciman. Cambridge Classical Studies. (Cambridge : at the University Press. 1962. Pp. viii + 138. Price 21s). R. C. Cross R. C. Cross Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The Philosophical Quarterly, Volume 14, Issue 54, January 1964, Pages 81–82, https://doi.org/10.2307/2955447 Published: 01 January 1964
Strukturwandel der Offentlichkeit
Philosophy, Politics and Society
Embourgeoisement', Self-Rated Class and Party Preference
Philosophy, Politics and Society (Second Series)
Book Reviews Get access Philosophy, Politics and Society (Second Series). Edited by Peter Laslett and W. G. Runciman. (Oxford : Blackwell. 1962. Pp. x + 229. Price 25s). M. Oakeshott M. Oakeshott Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The Philosophical Quarterly, Volume 15, Issue 60, July 1965, Pages 281–282, https://doi.org/10.2307/2217620 Published: 01 July 1965
Some Recent Contributions to the Theory of Democracy
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Relative deprivation and social justice: A study of attitudes to social inequality in twentieth-century England.
Philosophy, Politics and Society
Social Justice
Book Reviews Get access Social Justice. By R. W. Baldwin (Oxford : Pergamon Press. 1966. Pp. viii + 292. Price 45s). W. G. Runciman W. G. Runciman Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The Philosophical Quarterly, Volume 17, Issue 68, July 1967, Pages 280–281, https://doi.org/10.2307/2218176 Published: 01 July 1967
Political Argument
Book Reviews Get access Political Argument. By Brian Barry. (London : Routledge. 1965. Pp. xviii + 364. Price 50s). W. G. Runciman W. G. Runciman Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The Philosophical Quarterly, Volume 17, Issue 66, January 1967, Pages 87–89, https://doi.org/10.2307/2218383 Published: 01 January 1967
Rules, Roles and Relations
Justice, Congruence and Professor Homans
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"Social" Equality
Journal Article "Social" Equality Get access W. G. Runciman W. G. Runciman London Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The Philosophical Quarterly, Volume 17, Issue 68, July 1967, Pages 221–230, https://doi.org/10.2307/2218156 Published: 01 July 1967
Relative Deprivation and Social Justice: A Study of Attitudes to Social Inequality in Twentieth-Century England
Power and Privilege: A Theory of Social Stratification
Essays in the Theory of Society
Sociology (70 works) · Philosophy (54 works) · Epistemology (50 works) · Political science (39 works) · Law (37 works) · Social science (30 works) · Politics (22 works) · Philosophy (21 works) · Psychology (21 works) · Economics (20 works)