La Explicación Del Comportamiento Social

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La Explicación Del Comportamiento Social Sociología Jon Elster La explicación del comportamiento social Más tuercas y tornillos para las ciencias sociales Obras de LA EXPLICACIÓN JON ELSTER publicadas por DEL COMPORTAMIENTO Editorial Gedisa SOCIAL Ulises desatado La democracia deliberativa La ética de las decisiones médicas Jon Elster “Egonomics” Psicología política Justicia local De qué modo las instituciones distribuyen bienes escasos y cargas necesarias Traducción de Horacio Pons Lógica y sociedad Juicios salomónicos Las limitaciones de la racionalidad como principio de decisión El cemento de la sociedad Las paradojas del orden social Tuercas y tornillos Una introducción a los conceptos básicos de las ciencias sociales El cambio tecnológico Investigaciones sobre la racionalidad y la transformación social La explicación del comportamiento social M ás tuercas y tornillos para las ciencias sociales CDgedisa editorial Textos del original inglés: Explaining Social Behaviour. More Nuts and Bolts for the Social Sciences © 2007, Cambridge University Press Traducción: Horacio Pons Diseño de cubierta: Kaffa Para Jonathan y Juana Primera edición, octubre de 2010 Derechos reservados para todas las ediciones en castellano © by Editorial Gedisa S. A. Avenida del Tibidabo, 12, 3" Tel. 34 93 253 09 04 Fax 34 93 253 09 05 08022 - Barcelona, España [email protected] www.gedisa.com ISBN 978-84-9784-251-8 Impreso en Publidisa Mexicana S.A. de C.V. Calzada Chabacano N" 69, Planta Alta Col. Asturias, Deleg. Cuauhtémoc, 06850 México, D. F. Impreso en México Printed in Mexico Queda prohibida la reproducción parcial o total de esta obra, por cual­ quier medio de impresión, en forma idéntica, extractada o modificada, en castellano o en cualquier otro idioma. Esta obra ha sido publicada con una subvención de la Dirección General del 60BIBIN0 MiNifraio Archivos y Bibliotecas del Ministerio de Cultura, para su préstamo público « » « A J en Bibliotecas Públicas, de acuerdo con lo previsto en el artículo 37.2 de la Ley de Propiedad Intelectual índice Prefacio................................................................................................................ 11 Introducción...................................................................................................... 15 Primera parte: Explicación y mecanismos.............................................. 21 1 Explicación......................................................................................... 25 2 M ecanism os....................................................................................... 48 3 Interpretación.................................................................................... 68 Segunda parte: La mente............................................................................... 83 4 Motivaciones.................................................................................... 93 5 Egoísmo y altruismo....................................................................... 114 6 Miopía y previsión............................................................................. 130 7 Creencias.............................................................................................. 143 8 Emociones............................................................................................ 164 Tercera parte: A cció n .................................................................................... 183 9 Deseos y oportunidades.................................................................. 187 10 Personas y situaciones..................................................................... 201 11 Elección racional............................................................................... 215 12 Racionalidad y comportamiento................................................ 238 13 Respuestas a la irracionalidad...................................................... 256 14 Algunas implicaciones para la interpretación textual.......... 271 Cuarta parte: Lecciones de las ciencias n atu rales............................... 283 15 Fisiología y neurociencia................................................................ 289 17 P®'" consecuencias y selección natural .... 299 Selección y comportamiento hum ano ...................................... 315 Quinta parte: Interacción............................................................................. 329 18 Consecuencias indeliberadas........................................................ 332 19 Interacción estratégica..................................................................... 345 20 Juegos y com portam iento............................................................. 364 21 C onfianza...............................................................................................377 22 Normas so cia les............................................................................... ..386 23 Formación colectiva de creencias...................................................405 24 Acción colectiva ............................................................................... ..421 25 Toma colectiva de decisiones........................................................ ...434 Prefacio 26 Organizaciones e instituciones.........................................................460 Conclusión: ¿Es posible la ciencia social? .................................................477 Este libro comenzó siendo una revisión de un volumen que publiqué en índice de nom bres...............................................................................................501 1989, Nuts and Bolts for the Social Sciences:'^ Y terminó por adquirir un Proverbios y máximas citad os..................................................................... ...505 carácter muy diferente y más ambicioso. Abarca una variedad mucho más grande de temas, con una atención considerablemente más importante al detalle y un espíritu diferente. Si bien nueve capítulos conservan los títulos del libro anterior, sólo el Capítulo 9 y el Capítulo 24 se mantienen sustancialmente sin cambios. Aunque de alcance general, este volumen no es un tratado. Es, a la vez, más y menos. Es una presentación elemental, informal y personal de ideas que tienen, creo, un notable potencial para esclarecer el comporta­ miento'"' social. Utilizo numerosos ejemplos, muchos de ellos anecdóti­ cos o literarios y otros tomados de estudios más sistemáticos. El uso muy ocasional del álgebra no va más allá del nivel de la escuela secundaria. Al mismo tiempo, el libro tiene una inclinación metodológica y filosófica que no es habitual en las presentaciones de carácter introductorio. Hay en él un esfuerzo por situar las ciencias sociales dentro del ámbito más general de las ciencias, tanto las naturales como las humanidades. Hay también un afán por mantener en el lector un alerta constante acerca del hecho de que los principios generales de la explicación científica ponen límites a la construcción de teorías con pretensiones explicativas. El estilo de las notas bibliográficas incluidas al final de cada capítu­ lo refleja el avance de Internet, sobre todo de WiKipedia, google.com y scholar.google.com. Como los lectores pueden encontrar la mayoría de * Hay traduc'ción en castellano: Tuercas y toniillos. Vua introducíión a los cortcel'tos básicos de las ciencias sociales, Barcelona, Gedisa. 200 5, ,3' ed. [T.] En esté libro se han tomado como sinonimos las palabras «comportamiento» y «•con­ ducta». [E.j 10 11 las referencias relevantes en cuestión de minutos, he omitido las fuentes llados y útiles. Mantuve fructíferas conversaciones con Walter Mischel de muchos de los enunciados y descubrimientos del texto. Procuré en sobre las ideas que son en gran parte de su propia cosecha, presentadas cambio indicarles libros de consulta importantes, algunos clásicos mo­ en el Capítulo 10. También recibí valiosos comentarios escritos de George dernos, volúmenes y artículos que son el origen de ideas que tal vez sea Ainslie sobre las ideas -muchas de ellas planteadas por él- expuestas en la difícil rastrear en Internet, y autores de quienes he tomado tanto que el primera parte del libro. Bernard Manin hizo constructivas observaciones no mencionarlos justificaría un juego de palabras con mi apellido (en sobre el Capítulo 25. Robyn Davves propuso agudos comentarios sobre el alemán, Elster significa urraca). Capítulo 7 y el Capítulo 12. Para terminar, a lo largo de los últimos años Aunque el texto principal contiene pocas referencias a estudiosos con­ he presentado versiones preliminares de capítulos del libro a los miembros temporáneos, me refiero in extenso a Aristóteles, Séneca, Montaigne, La del «grupo de los lunes» que, desde 1995, se ha reunido semanalmente en Rochefoucauld, Samuel Johnson, H. C. Andersen, Stendhal, Tocqueville, la ciudad de Nueva YorK todos los otoños y, de manera más ocasional, Proust y otros escritores clásicos que siguen siendo fuentes literalmente en la primavera: John Eerejohn, Raquel Fernández, Russell Hardin, Ste­ inagotables de hipótesis causales. Ignoraríamos muchas ideas perspicaces phen Holmes, Steven LuKes, Bernard Manin, Pasquale Pasquino, Adam si hiciéramos caso omiso de los mecanismos sugeridos por la filosofía, PrzeworsKi y John Roemer. Agradezco a todos ellos sus objeciones amis­ la ficción, el teatro y la poesía. Si pasamos por alto veinticinco siglos de tosas y constructivas. reflexión sobre la mente, la acción y la interacción para concentrarnos en Dedico el libro a Jonathan y Joanna Cole; ellos saben por qué. los cien o diez últimos años, lo hacemos a nuestro riesgo y en desmedro de nuestra
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