Every culture, or subculture, is defined by a set of common values, that is, generally agreed upon preferences. Without a core of common values a culture cannot exist, and we classify society into cultures and subcultures precisely because it is possible to identify groups who have common values.

The greater the penalties laid on sellers in the black market... the higher the black market price.

Integrative power [is] the ultimate power

One reason why the progressive state is 'cheerful' is that social conflict is diminished by it.

There are, of course, a number of epistemological questions, some of which lie more in the province of the philosopher than they do the economist or the social scientist. The one with which I am particularly concerned here is that of the role of knowledge in social systems, both as a product of the past and as a determinant of the future.

[The loss-of-strength gradient is] the degree to which military and political power diminishes as we move a unit distance away from its home base.

Nothing fails like success because we don't learn from it. We learn only from failure.