ABSTRACT
As late as 1986, in his biting retrospective essay entitled, “Fifty Years of Sociology,” published in the Annual Review of Sociology, George C. Homans defended behaviorism as an important, indeed, perhaps the most important, basis for theoretical insights into human social behavior. And, though he extolled other developments in sociology, namely, statistical methodology, network analysis, historical sociology, and sociobiology, Homans remained dedicated to the view that elementary human behavior was best explained by some version of utilitarianism, or rational choice theory, derived from elementary economics and behavioral psychology. 1 He had two primary reasons for this devotion to behaviorism: (1) it was in his view a coherent theory of behavior, and (2) it provided the basis for a general theoretical foundation for the social science of behavior.
