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Social Isolation in Modern Society, by Roelof Hortulanus, Anja Machielse, and Ludwien Meeuwesen. New York, NY: Routledge, 2005. 288 pp. $165.00 cloth. ISBN: 0415367689.
When first learning theory construction in graduate school, I was urged by my professor to keep it simple, even for the most complex ideas. However, I thought that a theory concerning the concept of social structure would require an amalgamation of its very diverse portrayals-an enterprise that would result in a theory that was equally complicated. The trick to creating such a theory, I was told, would be to recognize the simplicity of the social structural process that was the nexus for all of the intricate theoretical propositions from many sources. I must admit that at the time I did not fully understand this analysis of intersecting theories and research programs, but was intrigued.
For a truly outstanding demonstration of this idea, I urge you to read Hortulanus, Machielse, and Meeuwesen's tome on the subject of social isolation. These authors spin an elegant theoretical web that captures the social structural phenomenon of social isolation. They manage to locate a meeting point of social capital theory, modernity theories, network analyses, social structure and personality theories, and psychological theories, which examine the cognitive and emotional aspects of loneliness. In so doing, the authors depict the objective portion...