Identities, Boundaries and Social Ties offers a distinctive, coherent account of social processes and individuals' connections to their larger social and political worlds. It is novel in demonstrating the connections between inequality and de-democratization, between identities and social inequality, and between citizenship and identities. The book treats interpersonal transactions as the basic elements of larger social processes. Tilly shows how personal interactions compound into identities, create and transform social boundaries, and accumulate into durable social ties. He also shows how individual and group dispositions result from interpersonal transactions. Resisting the focus on deliberated individual action, the book repeatedly gives attention to incremental effects, indirect effects, environmental effects, feedback, mistakes, repairs, and unanticipated consequences. Social life is complicated. But, the book shows, it becomes comprehensible once you know how to look at it.

About the Author
Charles Tilly, Columbia University, is one of the premier sociologists of our time. Among his 50 highly influential books are Contentious Politics (Paradigm 2006) and Trust and Rule (Cambridge University Press 2005).

Reviews

"The book's 16 essays gather, systematize, and present Tilly's most salient ideas in one handy location. They contain major schemas about political processes, especially how these processes link to establishing, maintaining, and crossing boundaries."
-Barry Wellman in American Journal of Sociology

"A compelling examination of central problems in social organization and comparative politics....Ideal for introducing the arguments of some of Tilly's books to students in brief, accessible form."
-Paul DiMaggio in Contemporary Sociology

Book Information
ISBN 9781594511325
Author Charles Tilly
Format Paperback
Page Count 284
Imprint Routledge
Publisher Taylor & Francis Inc
Weight(grams) 408g