ABSTRACT
Perhaps I should have called this book Towards a Theory of Social Structure or even Thoughts on a Theory of Social Structure, to indicate more faithfully its experimental nature. Also, much of it is of the clearing-the-decks type; and though this is a task both necessary and, I think, profitable, it cannot be claimed to produce a great deal in the way of final answers or definitive solutions.
From S. F. Nadel, The Theory of Social Structure (“Preliminaries”). Copyright © 1957, Cohen and West, Ltd.; © 1964, The Free Press. Reprinted by permission of the publishers. At the time of his death in 1956, S. F. Nadel held the post of Professor of Anthropology at the Australian National University.
