Human Worlds¶
Context
How do people and institutions actually work?¶
Enter unfamiliar societies and historical situations, reconstruct actors' meanings, compare explanations and trace institutions, incentives and power.
Starting points¶
Choose an entry that fits your preparation. This is not a mandatory sequence.
- Social Evidence, Interpretation & Comparative Method. Study outline.
- Strategic Interaction, Bargaining & Cooperation. Study outline.
- Collective action and the commons. Study and practice.
Subjects¶
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Social Evidence, Interpretation & Comparative MethodOutline
Separate observation, inference, model, interpretation, and normative claim; build competing causal stories and identify discriminating evidence.
Preparation: No subject prerequisite recorded.
Introduction to Sociology 3e
Open resource · Reading detailsCausal Inference: What If
Open resource · Reading details -
Interaction, Identity, Norms & InfluenceOutline
Diagnose interpersonal and small-group behavior without reducing it to personality, manipulation, or stated motives.
Preparation: Social Evidence, Interpretation & Comparative Method
The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life
Open resource · Reading detailsThe Like Switch
Reading detailsHow to Talk to Anyone
Reading detailsInfluence, New and Expanded
Open resource · Reading detailsDifficult Conversations
Open resource · Reading details -
Strategic Interaction, Bargaining & CooperationOutline
Formalize strategic situations, predict changed incentives/information, and state where the model fails.
Preparation: Social Evidence, Interpretation & Comparative Method; Interaction, Identity, Norms & Influence
The Strategy of Conflict
Open resource · Reading detailsMicromotives and Macrobehavior
Open resource · Reading detailsThe Evolution of Cooperation
Open resource · Reading details -
Networks, Diffusion, Brokerage & SegregationOutline
Map relational structure and explain how position changes information, opportunity, diffusion, and collective outcomes.
Preparation: Social Evidence, Interpretation & Comparative Method; Interaction, Identity, Norms & Influence; Strategic Interaction, Bargaining & Cooperation
The Strength of Weak Ties
Open resource · Reading details -
Collective action and the commonsPractice available
Diagnose coordination failures and compare governance arrangements with explicit assumptions and gaming risks.
Preparation: Strategic Interaction, Bargaining & Cooperation; Networks, Diffusion, Brokerage & Segregation
First attempt: Describe a shared resource you know. Separate who can use it, who maintains it, who sets its rules and who can appeal a decision.
The Economy 2.0
Open resource · Reading detailsThe Logic of Collective Action
Open resource · Reading detailsGoverning the Commons
Open resource · Reading details -
Organizations, Bureaucracy, Professions & DelegationOutline
Trace decision and information chains inside organizations and redesign oversight without destroying useful discretion.
Preparation: Interaction, Identity, Norms & Influence; Strategic Interaction, Bargaining & Cooperation; Networks, Diffusion, Brokerage & Segregation; Collective action and the commons
Economy and Society (selected sections on bureaucracy and authority)
Open resource · Reading detailsFormal Models of Bureaucracy
Open resource · Reading details -
Power, Authority, Legitimacy & ResistanceOutline
Distinguish forms of power and explain why rules are obeyed, contested, evaded, or transformed.
Preparation: Social Evidence, Interpretation & Comparative Method; Interaction, Identity, Norms & Influence; Strategic Interaction, Bargaining & Cooperation; Networks, Diffusion, Brokerage & Segregation; Collective action and the commons; Organizations, Bureaucracy, Professions & Delegation
Power: A Radical View
Open resource · Reading detailsAuthority
Open resource · Reading details -
Markets, Prices, Firms & PropertyOutline
Explain when decentralized exchange coordinates well, where it fails, and why firms/rules/property structures arise.
Preparation: Social Evidence, Interpretation & Comparative Method; Strategic Interaction, Bargaining & Cooperation; Collective action and the commons
Principles of Economics 3e
Open resource · Reading details -
Money, Credit, Finance & Macroeconomic CoordinationOutline
Trace balance-sheet and incentive channels from households/firms to financial and macro outcomes; analyze crisis mechanisms.
Preparation: Markets, Prices, Firms & Property
Principles of Economics 3e
Open resource · Reading details -
States, Law, Constitutions & Public AdministrationOutline
Trace who may make, interpret, implement, challenge, and enforce rules across multiple institutional forms.
Preparation: Organizations, Bureaucracy, Professions & Delegation; Power, Authority, Legitimacy & Resistance; Markets, Prices, Firms & Property
U.S. Constitution + Constitution Annotated
Open resource · Reading detailsFederalist No. 10 and No. 51
Open resource · Reading detailsConstitution Annotated: Separation of Powers & Federalism
Open resource · Reading details -
Regimes, Representation, Parties, Media & Political CompetitionOutline
Explain how preferences are organized and converted into power under different regime and electoral structures.
Preparation: Networks, Diffusion, Brokerage & Segregation; Power, Authority, Legitimacy & Resistance; States, Law, Constitutions & Public Administration
American Government 4e (public opinion, elections, parties, interest groups, media)
Open resource · Reading details -
Stratification, Inequality & Social ReproductionOutline
Separate distribution, causal mechanisms, and normative judgments; explain persistence and change in advantage.
Preparation: Power, Authority, Legitimacy & Resistance; Markets, Prices, Firms & Property; Money, Credit, Finance & Macroeconomic Coordination; States, Law, Constitutions & Public Administration; Regimes, Representation, Parties, Media & Political Competition; Interaction, Identity, Norms & Influence; Networks, Diffusion, Brokerage & Segregation
Introduction to Sociology 3e, Chapter 9: Social Stratification
Open resource · Reading detailsThe Logic of Collective Action (concentrated vs diffuse interests)
Open resource · Reading details -
Family, Kinship, Demography, Migration & CitiesOutline
Reason from demographic and household structure to labor, welfare, politics, urban systems, and intergenerational change.
Preparation: Social Evidence, Interpretation & Comparative Method; Networks, Diffusion, Brokerage & Segregation; Markets, Prices, Firms & Property; States, Law, Constitutions & Public Administration; Stratification, Inequality & Social Reproduction
Introduction to Sociology 3e
Open resource · Reading details -
Culture, Religion, Ideology, Nationalism & Collective MeaningOutline
Explain how shared meanings organize identity, legitimacy, coordination, conflict, and institutional persistence.
Preparation: Social Evidence, Interpretation & Comparative Method; Interaction, Identity, Norms & Influence; Networks, Diffusion, Brokerage & Segregation; Power, Authority, Legitimacy & Resistance; Stratification, Inequality & Social Reproduction
Introduction to Sociology 3e
Open resource · Reading details -
Development, Growth, Industrialization & State CapacityOutline
Compare mechanisms of long-run development and explain why similar policies diverge across institutional contexts.
Preparation: Markets, Prices, Firms & Property; Money, Credit, Finance & Macroeconomic Coordination; States, Law, Constitutions & Public Administration; Regimes, Representation, Parties, Media & Political Competition; Stratification, Inequality & Social Reproduction; Family, Kinship, Demography, Migration & Cities; Culture, Religion, Ideology, Nationalism & Collective Meaning
Amartya Sen - Development as Freedom
Reading detailsPrinciples of Economics 3e
Open resource · Reading details -
Trade, Global Production, International Institutions & World EconomyOutline
Trace gains, losses, bargaining power, and institutional constraints across borders and production networks.
Preparation: Markets, Prices, Firms & Property; Money, Credit, Finance & Macroeconomic Coordination; States, Law, Constitutions & Public Administration; Development, Growth, Industrialization & State Capacity
Principles of Economics 3e
Open resource · Reading details -
Conflict, War, Empire, Diplomacy & International OrderOutline
Model conflict and bargaining under coercion, uncertainty, identity, and institutional constraints.
Preparation: Strategic Interaction, Bargaining & Cooperation; Power, Authority, Legitimacy & Resistance; States, Law, Constitutions & Public Administration; Culture, Religion, Ideology, Nationalism & Collective Meaning; Trade, Global Production, International Institutions & World Economy
The Strategy of Conflict
Open resource · Reading detailsEconomy and Society (selected sections on bureaucracy and authority)
Open resource · Reading details -
Historical Change, Path Dependence, Social Movements & Institutional EvolutionOutline
Explain persistence and change through temporally ordered mechanisms rather than static snapshots or inevitability stories.
Preparation: Organizations, Bureaucracy, Professions & Delegation; Power, Authority, Legitimacy & Resistance; Markets, Prices, Firms & Property; Money, Credit, Finance & Macroeconomic Coordination; States, Law, Constitutions & Public Administration; Regimes, Representation, Parties, Media & Political Competition; Stratification, Inequality & Social Reproduction; Family, Kinship, Demography, Migration & Cities; Culture, Religion, Ideology, Nationalism & Collective Meaning; Development, Growth, Industrialization & State Capacity; Trade, Global Production, International Institutions & World Economy; Conflict, War, Empire, Diplomacy & International Order; Social Evidence, Interpretation & Comparative Method
Introduction to Sociology 3e, Chapter 9: Social Stratification
Open resource · Reading detailsThe Logic of Collective Action (concentrated vs diffuse interests)
Open resource · Reading details -
Integrated Human Worlds Diagnosis & Institutional DesignOutline
Produce and defend a global, historically situated diagnosis of a real institution/problem and design a reversible intervention with explicit failure tests.
Preparation: Social Evidence, Interpretation & Comparative Method; Interaction, Identity, Norms & Influence; Strategic Interaction, Bargaining & Cooperation; Networks, Diffusion, Brokerage & Segregation; Collective action and the commons; Organizations, Bureaucracy, Professions & Delegation; Power, Authority, Legitimacy & Resistance; Markets, Prices, Firms & Property; Money, Credit, Finance & Macroeconomic Coordination; States, Law, Constitutions & Public Administration; Regimes, Representation, Parties, Media & Political Competition; Stratification, Inequality & Social Reproduction; Family, Kinship, Demography, Migration & Cities; Culture, Religion, Ideology, Nationalism & Collective Meaning; Development, Growth, Industrialization & State Capacity; Trade, Global Production, International Institutions & World Economy; Conflict, War, Empire, Diplomacy & International Order; Historical Change, Path Dependence, Social Movements & Institutional Evolution
Open Frontier Curriculum: Human-systems reference map
Open resource · Reading details
Bring it together¶
A shared-resource inquiry brings mechanisms, institutions, judgment and representation into one piece of work.