James Q. Wilson

What Government Agencies Do and Why They Do It (Basic Books Classics)

Bureaucracy

John J. DiIulio, Jr

Institutions and Policies

American government

Richard J. Herrnstein

Assembling the latest evidence from the fields of sociology, criminology, economics, medicine, biology, and psychology and exploring the effects of such factors as gender, age, race, and family, two eminent social scientists frame a groundbreaking theoryo

Crime and Human Nature

The classic book on the way American government agencies work and how they can be made to work better -- the "masterwork" of political scientist James Q. Wilson (The Economist) In Bureaucracy, the distinguished scholar James Q. Wilson examines a wide range of bureaucracies, including the US Army, the FBI, the CIA, the FCC, and the Social Security Administration, providing the first comprehensive, in-depth analysis of what government agencies do, why they operate the way they do, and how they might become more responsible and effective. It is the essential guide to understanding how American government works.

What Government Agencies Do And Why They Do It

Are human beings naturally endowed with a conscience? Or is morality artificially acquired through social pressure and instruction? Most people assume that modern science proves the latter. Further, most of our current social policies are based upon this “scientific” view of the sources of morality. In this book, however, James Q. Wilson seeks to reconcile traditional ideas with a range of important empirical research into the sources of human behavior over the last fifty years. Marshalling evidence drawn from diverse scientific disciplines, including animal behavior, anthropology, evolutionary theory, biology, endocrinology, brain science, genetics, primatology, education and psychology, Wilson shows that the facts about the origin and development of moral reasoning are not at odds with traditional views predating Freud, Darwin and Marx. Our basic sense of right and wrong actually does have a biological and behavioral origin. This “moral sense” arises from the infant’s innate sociability, though it must also be nurtured by parental influence. Thus, this book revives ancient traditions of moral and ethical argument that go back to Aristotle, and reunifies the separate streams of philosophical and scientific knowledge that for so long were regarded as unbridgeable.

The Moral Sense

This popular brief edition text for the one-semester or one-quarter American Government course maintains the framework of Wilson's comprehensive text, emphasizing the historical development of the American political system, who governs, and to what ends. AMERICAN GOVERNMENT, BRIEF VERSION, TENTH EDITION offers new coverage of such key and emerging issues as the 2010 campaigns and elections; leadership of President Obama and the 111th Congress; the economic downturn and new policies to combat the crisis; healthcare reform; recent changes to the Supreme Court; same-sex marriage; and the war in Afghanistan. The text also emphasizes critical thinking skills throughout and includes many tools to help students maximize their study efforts ... and results. Important Notice: Media content referenced within the product description or the product text may not be available in the ebook version.

American Government: Brief Version

Joan Petersilia

Crime and Public accessibly presents the latest scientific information on the latest scientific information on Abuses of crime and evidence about what does and does not work to control it. With contributions from trusted, leading scholars, on topics such as changing crime rates, sex offenders, sentencing, gangs, and more, James Wilson and Joan Petersilla continue to offer the most comprehensive and balanced guide to how the latest and best social science research informs the understanding of crime and its control for policymakers community leaders, and students of crime and criminal justice. --Book Jacket.

Crime and Public Policy

Crime in the United States has fluctuated considerably over the past thirty years, as have the policy approaches to deal with it. During this time criminologists and other scholars have helped to shed light on the role of incarceration, prevention, drugs, guns, policing, and numerous other aspects to crime control. Yet the latest research is rarely heard in public discussions and is often missing from the desks of policymakers. This book accessibly summarizes the latest scientific information on the causes of crime and evidence about what does and does not work to control it.Thoroughly revised and updated, this new version of Crime and Public Policy will include twenty chapters and five new substantial entries. As with previous editions, each essay reviews the existing literature, discusses the methodological rigor of the studies, identifies what policies and programs the studies suggest, and then points to policies now implemented that fail to reflect the evidence. The chapters cover the principle institutions of the criminal justice system (juvenile justice, police, prisons, probation and parole, sentencing), how broader aspects of social life inhibit or encourage crime (biology, schools, families, communities), and topics currently generating a great deal of attention (criminal activities of gangs, sex offenders, prisoner reentry, changing crime rates).With contributions from trusted, leading scholars, Crime and Public Policy offers the most comprehensive and balanced guide to how the latest and best social science research informs the understanding of crime and its control for policymakers, community leaders, and students of crime and criminal justice.

Drawn from thorough research, a thought-provoking study of marriage and the devastating consequences of its collapse on society reveals the two underlying causes of this rapid dissolution--the rise of individualism and the repercussions of slavery, stressing the importance and necessity of a strong marital structure in the world.

How Our Culture Has Weakened Families

The Marriage Problem

In this New York Times Notable Book of the Year, James Wilson seeks to reconcile traditional ideas of morality with an extraordinary range of important empirical research into the sources of human behavior over the last 50 years. His findings will shake the assumption of many readers.

John J. DiIulio, Jr.

Meena Bose

This popular brief text for the American Government course emphasizes the historical development of the American political system, who governs, and to what ends. The twelfth edition of AMERICAN GOVERNMENT: INSTITUTIONS AND POLICIES, BRIEF VERSION, offers coverage of the 2014 campaigns and elections; budget battles and the sequestration of funds; ongoing debates about immigration, gay marriage, and other key issues in American politics; and foreign-policy decisions on Afghanistan, the Middle East, and North Korea. The text also emphasizes critical-thinking skills and includes many tools to help students maximize their study efforts and results, such as Learning Objectives in every chapter. Important Notice: Media content referenced within the product description or the product text may not be available in the ebook version.

American Government: Institutions and Policies, Brief Version

As crime rates inexorably rose during the tumultuous years of the 1970s, disputes over how to handle the violence sweeping the nation quickly escalated. James Q. Wilson redefined the public debate by offering a brilliant and provocative new argument—that criminal activity is largely rational and shaped by the rewards and penalties it offers—and forever changed the way Americans think about crime. Now with a new foreword by the prominent scholar and best-selling author Charles Murray, this revised edition of Thinking About Crime introduces a new generation of readers to the theories and ideas that have been so influential in shaping the American justice system.

Thinking About Crime

Leon Kass

James K Wilson

Today biological science is rising on a wall of worry. No other science has advanced more dramatically during the past several decades or yielded so many palpable improvements in human welfare. Yet, none except nuclear physics has aroused greater apprehensions among the general public and leaders in such diverse fields as religion, the humanities, and government. In this engaging book, Leon R. Kass, the noted teacher, scientist, humanist, and chairman of the President's Council on Bioethics, and James Q. Wilson, the preeminent political scientist to whom four United States presidents have turned for advice on crime, drug abuse, education, and other crises in American life, explore the ethics of human cloning, reproductive technology, and the teleology of human sexuality. Although in their lively dialgoue both authors share a fundamental distrust of the notion of human cloning, they base their resistance on different views of the role of sexual reproduction and the role of the family. Professor Kass contends that in vitro fertilization and other assisted reproudction technologies that place the origin of human life in human hands have eroded the respect for the mystery of sexuality and human renewal. Professor Wilson, in contrast, asserts that whether a human life is created naturally or artificially is immaterial as long as the child is raised by loving parents in a two-parent family and is not harmed by the means of its conception. This accessible volume promises to inform the public policy debate over the permissible conduct of genetic research and the permissible uses of its discoveries.

The Ethics of Human Cloning

James Q. Wilson is the former president of the American Political Science Association and adviser to four presidents on issues related to crime, drug abuse, education, and other crises of American cutlure. In this book, he has produced a provocative series of essays related to character development and character policy that sets this important area in perspective. He brings his argument into clear focus by negating that public discussion of character is a conservative pasttime. Rather, the development of character is our collective responsibility. The public interest depends on private virtue. Wilson argues throughout these essays that to have good character one needs to have at least developed a sense of empathy and self control. In various chapters he writes about crime, families, communities and schooling with those two traits--empathy and self-control--as a basis. He presents the current crises of our community in clear perspective: how much can society tolerate? what is the role of the police? the family? what is a moral virtue? Wilson concludes with an argument that all humans have an inborn "moral sense." We are, after all, social beings, dependent on each other and we have an obligation to each other to develop that moral sense if we care about each other. This is a well written, reasoned book by a wise and experienced expert.

James Q. Wilson

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