Sociology involves understanding how people behave in groups, including how they communicate and interact with one another. PCT provides a way to understand how people’s goals operate when in groups, and we can use computers to model how more than one control system interacts in a group setting. The Crowd Demonstration link illustrates this. Each of the moving circles on the screen is an ‘agent’ who has two control systems – one to be as close as possible to its target, and another to be beyond a certain distance from other ‘agents’. Some of the demo programs online show how changing the numbers and control system settings of the agents can lead to a huge range of different social scenarios – from the classic duckling-following-parent to large scale crowd behaviour.
Clark McPhail, Kent McClelland and several other prominent sociologists have made a convincing case that PCT can be used to understand sociology. Further sociologists, such as David Heise, have incorporated PCT into “affect control theory” which focuses on how people’s behaviour is a means of maintaining affect (e.g. mood) within certain reference values.
Recently, Dan Miller has written a wonderful online essay about the relationship between PCT and symbolic interactionism, as described by Mead & Goffman. There are also clear parallels between PCT and the radical constructivism of Ernst von Glasersfeld, described here in a short article by Bill Powers.
Warren Mansell has recently produced a statement about the England riots in 2011 based on PCT. For a full PCT approach to understanding rioting, see McPhail (2005).
Quick Links
- McPHAIL, C., & TUCKER, C. W. (1990). Purposive Collective Action. American Behavioral Scientist, 34(1), 81–94. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764290034001008
- McPhail, C., Powers, W. T., & Tucker, C. W. (1992). Simulating Individual and Collective Action in Temporary Gatherings. Social Science Computer Review, 10(1), 1–28. https://doi.org/10.1177/089443939201000101
- Robinson, D. T. (2007). Control Theories in Sociology. Annual Review of Sociology, 33, 157-174. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.soc.32.061604.123110
- Leonard, A. Paul A. Stokes: The Viability of Societies: Governance and Complexity Today. Syst Pract Action Res 22, 353–355 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11213-009-9132-1