ABSTRACT
The actions of persons must be concerted for a proposal to be adopted; the proponents of the proposal try to concert these actions by exercising influence; meanwhile the opponents exercise influence to prevent the actions from being concerted in behalf of alternative proposal which they prefer. This chapter elaborates this simple conceptual scheme into a formal model having application to all situations in which the activity of two or more actors, each of whom is free to give or withhold his activity, is to be concerted. It will be seen that the frame of reference, the principal concepts, and the basic assumptions and hypotheses about relations among concepts. In Chicago, proposals arise, proximately if not ultimately, from the maintenance and enhancement needs of large formal organizations. An actor may, if he chooses, place himself under the control of another, either of one who has authority or of one who has not.
