These studies are designed to clarify a field of legal study and professional practice that has begun to emerge only in recent times. The choice of sanction is frequently carried out in improvised, confused, and even contradictory fashion. The main questions that the authors try to answer are: Why bother to extend the meaning of the term sanction to include so much? What do we expect to see accomplished? Arens and Lasswell show that many sanctioning arrangements now current in the U.S. are on their face inconsistent with the articulated goals of the American system of public order, and...

Energy needs... oil supplies... inflation rates... the demand for new homes... in concerns like these, forecasting plays a crucial role. Forecasts not only determine how billions of dollars will be spent but also commit national policies far into the future; yet, no one really knows how to judge the reliability of forecasts. In this innovative study, William Ascher examines the records of expert forecasting of national trends in population, economics, energy, transportation, and technology over a fifty-year period. The results help to identify both the accuracies and hidden biases of...

In spite of a cascade of criticism launched against the social sciences, they have brought a qualitative improvement in method and theory to the study of human beings and human relations. In the process of developing now commonplace foundations of social research few individuals have exercised a greater role in justifying and enriching social scientific thought and practice than Harold D. Lasswell.

Originally published in 1945 as The Analysis of Political Behaviour, this extraordinary volume has been re-titled Legal Education and Public Policy. The selections...

In Power and Society, Harold D. Lasswell collaborates with a brilliant young philosopher, Abraham Kaplan, to formulate basic theoretical concepts and hypotheses of political science, providing a framework for further inquiry into the political process. This is a classic book of political theory written by two of the most influential social scientists of the twentieth century.

The authors find their subject matter in interpersonal relations, not abstract institutions or organizations, and their analysis of power is related to human values. They argue that revolution is a part...

"The most comprehensive bibliography yet published in the public opinion field." --Journalism Quarterly. Besides a selection of the most significant titles from earlier years, this book contains a comprehensive listing of books, pamphlets, and articles which appeared between 1934 and 1943.

Originally published in 1946.

The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these...

Advanced industrial societies are becoming aware of the impact of what they do to the physical and biological environment, and also what that environment does to individuals. In The Signature of Power, Harold D. Lasswell examines the symbolic use people make of their surroundings and the complexity of the way they interpret an altered environment. Transformed habitats can change experiences and behaviours. All people seek to maximize their preferred events, such as power and wealth, when they use the environment-be it through glass skyscrapers or Gothic estates. In all cases,...