Symbsys205

Homophily” (David and Erich):

• Miller McPherson, Lynn Smith-Lovin, and James M Cook. 2001. “BIRDS OF A FEATHER: Homophily in Social Networks”. Annual Review of Sociology 27: 415-444.
• Robert Putnam. 2000. Bowling Alone. excerpts.

“Prisons and Crime” (Jack):

• Becky Pettit and Bruce Western. 2004. “Mass Imprisonment and the Life Course: Race and Class Inequality in US Incarceration”. American sociological review (69: 151-169).
• Franklin E. Zimring. 2001. “Imprisonment Rates and the New Politics of Criminal Punishment”. David Garland, ed. Mass Imprisonment: Social Causes and Consequences (145-149).
• Joel Dyer. 2000.. From “Manufacturing Fear” (chapter 4) and “The Politics of Public Opinion” (chapter 5). The Perpetual Prisoner Machine (103-107 & 142-151). Westview Press.

“Currency Crises” (Jorge):

• Paul Krugman. 1997. “Currency Crises”. National Bureau of Economic Research Conference.

“Stereotype Threat” (Siobhan):

• Claude M. Steele, Steven J. Spencer, and Joshua Aronson. 2002. “Contending with Group Image: The Psychology of Stereotype and Social Identity Threat”. Advances in Experimental and Social Psychology (14: 379-407). Elsevier.

“Psychological Health” (Jessica):

• Charles S. Carver and Michael S. Scheier. 2000. “Optimism, Pessimism, and Self-Regulation” (chapter 2). Edward C. Chang, ed. Optimism and Pessimism: Implications for Theory, Research, and Practice. American Psychological Association.

Our past and future: global warming, politics, and singularity.

• James W. Kirchner. 2002. “The Gaia Hypothesis: Fact, Theory, and Wishful Thinking.” Earth and Environmental Science 52(March): 391-408.
• Paul Pierson. 2000. “Increasing Returns, Path Dependence, and the Study of Politics.” American Political Science Review 94(June): 251-267.
• Ray Kurzweil. 2005. “The Six Epochs” (chapter 1), “Epilogue”, and “The Law of Accelerating Returns Revisited” (Appendix). The Singularity Is Near. Viking.
• Peter Turchin. 2006. “The Matthew Principle” (chapter 10). War and Peace and War. Plume.
• Film: Koyaanisqatsi (screened May 9, ZDVD 3803)

Psychological positive feedback effects.
Assigned:

• Charles G. Lord, Lee Ross, and Mark R. Lepper. 1979. “Biased assimilation and attitude polarization: The effects of prior theories on subsequently considered evidence.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 37(11), Nov 1979, 2098-2109.
• Robert Rosenthal. 1980. “This Week’s Citation Classic: Pygmalion in the Classroom” (Commentary). Current Contents (Jan. 2): 156.
• Maria Elena Lara and Daniel N. Klein. 1999. “Psychosocial Processes Underlying the Maintenance and Persistence of Depression: Implications for Understanding Chronic Depression.” Clinical Psychology Review 19(August): 553-570.
• Christopher Peterson. 2000. “The Future of Optimism.” American Psychologist 55(1): 44-55.
• John T. Jost and Orsolya Hunyady. 2005. “Antecedents and consequences of system-justifying ideologies.” Current Directions in Psychological Science, 14, 260-265.
• Film:The Lathe of Heaven (screened May 2, ZDVD 1684)

Other (note: citation does not constitute endorsement of content):

• “Self-fulfilling prophecy”, Wikipedia.org
• “Thomas theorem”, Wikipedia.org
• “Law of Attraction”, Wikipedia.org
• “The Secret (2006 film)”, Wikipedia.org

Income and Wealth. Investment, success, and inequality.

• W. Brian Arthur. 1990. “Positive Feedbacks in the Economy.” Scientific American (February): 92-99.
• Andrei Shleifer amd Lawrence H. Summers. 1990. “The Noise Trader Approach to Finance.” The Journal of Economic Perspectives 4(Spring): 19-33.
• W. Brian Arthur. 1996. “Increasing Returns and the New World of Business.” Harvard Business Review (July-August)
• Thomas Piketty and Emmanuel Saez. 2006. “The Evolution of Top Incomes: A Historical and International Perspective.” American Economic Review 96(2): 200-205.
• Paul Krugman. 2006. “The Great Wealth Transfer.” Rolling Stone (December 22).
• Louis Uchitelle. 2006. “Lure of Great Wealth Affects Career Choices.” New York Times (November 26).
• Film: Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (screened April 25, in Green: ZDVD 11317)

I have posted a set of discussion guidelines on the course website, and linked that page from the syllabus. Please read the guidelines before the next discussion.  Feel free to add comments here, not to be scored.

The Matthew effect and cumulative advantage. See links on the course website to get access to the readings. The film is on reserve in Green Media Center under “The Persuaders”.

Robert K. Merton. 1968. “The Matthew Effect in Science.” Science 159(January 5): 56-63.

Derek de Solla Price. 1976. “A General Theory of Bibliometric and Other Cumulative Advantage Processes.” Journal of the American Society for Information Science (September-October): 292-306

Robert K. Merton. 1988. “The Matthew Effect in Science, II: Cumulative Advantage and the Symbolism of Intellectual Property.”Isis 79(December):, 606-623.

Paul A. David. 1994. “Positive Feedbacks and Research Productivity in Science: Reopening Another Black Box.” In O. Grandstrand, ed.Economics and Technology. Amsterdam: Elsevier.

Matthew J. Salganik, Peter Sheridan Dodds, and Duncan J. Watts. 2006. “Experimental Study of Inequality and Unpredictability in an Artificial Cultural Market.” Science 311(February 10): 854-856.

Film: Frontline: The Persuaders (screened April 18 )

Self-organization, complexity, and networks.

Fritjof Capra, 1995. The Web of Life: A New Scientific Understanding of Living Systems. chapters 5-6.

Magoroh Maruyama. 1963. “The Second Cybernetics.” American Scientist. 51: 164-179. [link]

Albert-Laszlo Barabasi and Eric Bonabeau. 2003. “Scale-Free Networks.” Scientific American 288(May) [link]

David P. Reed. 2001. “The Law of the Pack.” Harvard Business Review (February): 23-24 [link]

Film: Mindwalk (screened April 11)

Please post comments below.

Systems thinking, feedback, and cybernetics.

• Fritjof Capra, 1995. The Web of Life: A New Scientific Understanding of Living Systems. chapters 1-4.

• Arturo Rosenblueth, Norbert Wiener, and Julian Bigelow. 1943. “Behavior, Purpose, and Teleology.” Philosophy of Science, 10(January): 18-24. [link]

Please post comments below.