White moves from a simple proposition maintaining that all individuals seek suitable surroundings to propose a provocative approach to social and political action. Rooting his position in modern life sciences and particularly in sociobiology and neurobiology, he establishes an "IMPish" model that is "interactional," "mentalist," and "populational." Interactional in that both heredity and environment are credited for due influence on individuals' traits; mentalist in that individuals' actions can be purposeful rather than simply determined; and populational in his insistence that the unique persona must not be slighted in the rush to fashion statistics. Applying his behavioral principles most notably relevant to self-selection and using examples derived from modern political action, White examines the importance of these fundamental orientations in the social and political orders. The work has implications for policy assessment and re-formulation. It constitutes a challenge to much of the widely accepted contemporary political theory and public policy approaches.

In a singularly fundamental challenge to the positions widespread among social scientists, White distances himself from the reductionist models of the human brain. He asserts, basing his thought on the authoritative findings of modern neuroscientists, the causal potency of human self-awareness. The acceptance of such a potential in mankind transforms the behavioral sciences into the science of human action. Implicit in the evolutionary context of this perspective is a basic indeterminism inherent in human science. White stresses the central role of conscious purpose in human action and emphasizes the importance of choice and its consequences at the level of political community. In urging a consideration of the significance that neuroscience has for the behavioral sciences, White explores truly basic issues at the heart of those disciplines. He makes a persuasive case for interpreting human action as purposeful, conscious, choice-based, and cumulatively unpredictable.

This timely book deals directly with a topic increasingly in the news and on the minds of policy makers--political inequality. It is no coincidence that the official theme of the 1996 meeting of the American Political Science Association is the issue of political inequality. Drawing together a number of the leading writers on the topic, White provides a full and serious examination of the biological and environmental factors that may be involved.

In looking at these factors, the book opens up new paths of exploration for political science, including the consideration of the role of the pariah variable of intelligence. A major work that researchers and policy makers of both liberal and conservative persuasion will need to confront.

As Elliott White shows, we live increasingly within a global village, but one that remains stubbornly fragmentized. It is split along ethnic, racial, and linguistic lines as well as by socioeconomic inequalities. Even within the same ethnic group or socioeconomic stratum, fissures appear that can be deep and are not easily remedied.

This fragmented global village is underlaid by a human genetic diversity, a variability that plays itself out in the formation of clusters of like-minded individuals. These are people who share similar interests or aptitudes, be they scientific, artistic, or athletic, all at least to some degree genetically influenced. People who share similar interests and ends and who come together in a common endeavor reinforce the tendencies that bring them together in the first place. This resulting synergy or hypertrophy also intensifies the distinctive features of the group as a whole. These features therefore will tend to be exaggerated in contrast to those of other groups or to some statistical norm of the larger population. Hence a certain level of tension and division inheres and persists within the larger social world. The explication of these centrifugal tendencies is at the core of White's analysis and will be of considerable interest to political, social, and psychological theorists involved in issues of ethnic violence and social conflict.

This practical guide for undergraduate and HND/C students of Leisure and Tourism provides the tools to recognise and produce good research. It delivers a highly readable demonstration of the methods needed to achieve impressive qualitative and quantitative research. It will enable readers to successfully evaluate their own tourism and leisure research and the research of others. The book focuses on the key concepts of reliability, validity and representativeness. Extensive examples throughout the book highlight the techniques and theory described, and provide the inspiration for readers to generate ideas for new research projects. The book is directly focused on tourism and leisure examples. A step-by-step guide takes students through the use of SPSS for Windows and an SPSS data file is included; end of chapter exercises test student understanding of the material; and numerous suggestions for further research activity direct the reader to additional sources.