Reviews for A Structural Theory of Social Influence

The average rating for A Structural Theory of Social Influence based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2019-01-25 00:00:00 Matthew Harris This book contains a lot of useful information, particularly the framework of the Protective Action Decision Model, backed by a compendious summary of research on disaster management. It is a useful reference for researchers and might be a helpful handbook for practitioners. As a reader, I found three main difficulties. First, it is a book about another era. The authors can't really be faulted for not anticipating how the rise of social media and media echo chambers would transform risk communication and public response, as the chaos of the ongoing pandemic shows. While a lot of the principles they introduce are still valid, so much is different in ways that make the tasks of hazard managers a lot more complicated. Second, the writing style is clear, but terribly bland. It is hard to keep reading. Some writers manage to be clear and also engaging; some do not. Finally, the title does not match the contents. This book would be better titled, The Protective Action Decision Model for Understanding Risk Response and also Implications for Natural Hazard Risk Management Strategies. There is not much about multiethnic communities, much less social science understandings of race, ethnicity, and the ways racial inequity ramifies through disaster risk. Subsections on different behavior and attitude patterns across racial and ethnic groups seemed like afterthoughts. To some extent, this may reflect the limits of research in this vein at the time. Regardless, the false advertising left me disappointed.

Review # 2 was written on 2010-09-16 00:00:00 Brian Stokes MOst of the research methods books out on the market roughly hold the same structure and content; they begin with the research question, literature review and follow upon a discussion of methodological alternatives. Few of the books really contextualize the discussion of methodological alternatives within the larger framework of scientific inquiry. This is one of those few books. It's less about the technical aspects and more about the relationship between methods and epistemology. This is NOT the book if you are a beginner or if you want to learn how to conduct research. HOWEVER, the book does tell you about the use, the advantages and the disadvantages of methodological choices you make along the way. Especially useful for political science, international relations or political sociology.