bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Searching for the Starting Points of Scientific Inquiry: Durkheim's Rules of Sociological Method and Schopenhauer's Philosophy*
Authors: Měrović Stjepan G.
Published: January 2007

Durkheim's methodological classic is frequently read from Kantian, positivistic, or other Enlightenment contexts despite the fact that Durkheim criticizes these doctrines. Durkheim also tends to be read as a deductive analyst. Using Schopenhauer's philosophy as an alternative starting point in reading the Rules, it is demonstrated that Schopenhauer and Durkheim agree that perceptual, inductive knowledge of “things” is superior to conceptual, deductive knowledge; that causal explanations are merely phenomenal; and that the one, well‐designed experiment is sufficient for the establishment of scientific laws. Durkheim's distinction between the normal and the pathological is also addressed in this context. The implications of Durkheim's focus on induction are discussed with regard to its similarity to the works of Claude Bernard, Florian Znaniecki, and Max Weber, as well as current epistemological crises in sociology.
Work Orientations of Males and Females: Exploring the Gender Socialization Approach*
Authors: Betz Michael , O'Connell Lenahan
Published: January 2007

Earlier surveys show differences in work orientations of males and females, but these were based on mostly sex‐segregated workers. Two broad explanations are used to examine differences in work orientations of males and females: namely the socialstructural and the gender‐socialization approaches. A secondary analysis of 22 separate sudies of specific occupations are combined and used to determine if the sexes display different patterns on ten work dimensions when occupation is held constant. Patterned differences in work orientations between the sexes persist supporting the gender socialization approach. Implications for workplace discrimination are discussed.
A Pragmatic Approach to Macrosocial Theory*
Authors: Burk James
Published: January 2007

Morris Janowitz has been a major contributor to sociological theory and research over the last live decades. The range of his empirical work and the logic of his theory–based on philosophical pragmatism and opposed to “grand” formulations– obscure the magnitude of his contribution to social theory, despite his pervasive influence on research in particular subfields. This paper provides a brief overview of the logic and substance of Janowitz's contribution to macrosociology which is focused on his concepts of institutional analysis, social control, and institution building. The use of these concepts is illustrated substantively in the light of current trends in the development of advanced industrial society.
Simmel and the Dialectic of the Double Boundary: The Case of the Metropolis and Mental Life
Authors: Weinstein Deena , Weinstein Michael A.
Published: January 2007

George Simmel's sociology was only one expression of his overall project of understanding the modern human condition. Works such as “The Metropolis and Mental Life” have been appropriated by sociology for their substantive insights. These works are more fully understood when they are interpreted in terms of Simmel's late philosophical writings, which are based on an image of man as standing between boundaries and therefore of being a boundary for them. In light of the boundary dialectic the metropolis becomes, for Simmel, a symbol of the failed mediations attempted in modernity between the objective culture of things and the subjective culture of personal development.
Census Undercount: An Historical and Contemporary Sociological Issue*
Authors: West Kirsten K. , Fein David J.
Published: January 2007

As the public policy uses of U. S. census data have expanded in recent decades, census undercount has become a contentious public issue. Concern centers on the fact that persons that are economically and socially disadvantaged are omitted at higher rates than others. In this paper we outline some of the contributions which sociologists can make to the undercount debate. First, the uses of census data are reviewed, with emphasis on how coverage errors affect social science research. Next, a conceptual model of the census enumeration process is offered, and its social system and census process components are described.
Situational Ethics and College Student Cheating
Authors: LaBeff Emily E. , Clark Robert E. , Haines Valerie J. , Diekhoff George M.
Published: January 2007

This report examines instances of self‐reported cheating engaged in by college students, fifty‐four percent of whom reported at least one incidence of cheating. Descriptive responses are analyzed in the context of techniques of neutralization. The neutralizing attitude held by these student cheaters suggests that situational ethics are involved. Although the respondents indicate disapproval of cheating, many students feel justified in cheating under certain circumstances.
Effects of Social Influence and Measured Exposure Level on Response to Radon*
Authors: Mazur Allan , Hall Glenn S.
Published: January 2007

The eclectic theoretical model presented indicates that responses to hazards are affected by friends, the mass media, and by the measured level of exposure to the hazard. This model guides the analysis of survey data garnered from a New York State county whose residents were offered free tests to determine the level of radon in their homes. Results indicate that measured radon level is consistently correlated with specific responses to a direct threat of radon on one's home, whereas the influence of family or the mass media have little effect. The situation is reversed when radon is regarded as a diffuse hazard without specific reference to the respondent's own home.
The Effects of Religious Fundamentalism and Religiosity on Preference for Traditional Family Norms*
Authors: Grasmick Harold G. , Wilcox Linda Patterson , Bird Sharon R.
Published: January 2007

This study examines the effects of religion on preference for a patriarchal family, one in which the husband makes decisions while the wife is subservient to him. The effects of both religious fundamentalism and personal religiosity are considered using a survey of adults in a Southwestern city. The analysis reveals a strong positive direct effect of adherence to a fundamentalist doctrine on support for the patriarchal family, but no direct effect of personal religiosity. An interaction effect of these two variables, reported in some other studies of the effect of religion on other family issues, is not found. The effect of religious fundamentalism is equal in magnitude to the effect of age, and greater than the effects of education, gender, family income, head of household occupational prestige, subjective class identification, race and rural background. With the exceptions of age and gender, religious fundamentalism serves as a crucial intervening variable in the relationships between these variables and endorsement of patriarchal norms in the husband‐wife relationship.
AWARD WINNING PAPER: 1989 ALPHA KAPPA DELTA UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT PAPER COMPETITION
Authors: Bierman Jeffrey A.
Published: January 2007

This paper analyzes the influence of television sports media on the socialization of the black male youth by integrating data drawn from the comprehensive literature on both subjects. It is argued that sports media creates mistaken illusions for impressionable black youths and produces a false sense of potential career success. As a consequence of the media's distortion, the emphasis that blacks pay to athletics tends to impede their socialization and academic performance.
Opposition to Solid Waste Incineration: Pre‐ Implementation Anxieties Surrounding a New Environmental Controversy*
Authors: Ladd Anthony E.
Published: January 2007

Despite sociopolitical controversy surrounding the solid waste crisis, little sociological attention has focused on this crucial environmental issue. Drawing on research from the technological controversies, environmental concern, and solid waste literatures, this study examines the pre‐implementation anxieties of a Louisiana community faced with a proposal to build an incinerator in its backyard. Utilizing survey data, a causal path model is developed in which the perceived advantages of the technology, general environmental concern, and support for recycling initiatives are identified as explanatory variables of incinerator opposition. Implications of these findings for the study of technical controversies and the larger solid waste crisis also are suggested.
Power and Group Processes
Authors: Barbalet Jack M.
Published: January 2007

Theoretical discussions of power assume that power alters the behavior but not the structure of participants. A significant consequence of subordination to power, however, is that the composition, constitution and structure of agents are transformed. After identifying the fallacy of the unitary subject it is argued, and demonstrated in a case study, that power involves a disunity of the subject. These points are then integrated into a discussion of the dimensions of power.
High Culture Orientation and the Attitudes and Values of College Students
Authors: Ryan John , DeBord Larry W.
Published: January 2007

Using survey data collected from a sample of college students, the authors explore variability in high culrure orientation. Parent's socioeconomic status, traditionally thought to be predictive of high culture orientation, was not significantly related to it in this sample. Factors found to be associated with high culture orientation include interpersonal experience, occupational orientation, and cultural knowledge and participation.
Anti‐Semitism in America: The Dynamics of Prejudice
Authors: D'Alessio Stewart J. , Stolzenberg Lisa
Published: January 2007

The authors explore the relation among social demographic characteristics, occupational prestige, and anti‐Semitism in America. The National Opinion Research Center's General Social Survey (1986) data are used to assess Americans' attitudes toward Jews. The results suggest that respondents' age, gender, and educational level are important predictors of anti‐Jewish sentiment. The influence of age, however, contravenes previous research in that young Americans report themselves to be anti‐Semitic. Reanalysis of these same data, focusing on Americans' attitudes toward Israel, suggests that age is an important factor for explaining anti‐Zionism. Implications of these findings are discussed.
Talcott Parsons and the Integration of Economic and Sociological Theory
Authors: Holton Robert J.
Published: January 2007

Parsons’theory of economy and society has reemerged as an important reference point in the development of social theory. This paper focuses on Parsons’contribution to a possible theoretical rapproachment between economic and social theory. The issue addressed is the indifference of economists to the project for theoretical reunification announced in the Marshall Lectures. The author argues that Parsons’understanding of economic theory was seriously incomplete, while his assumption of a shared commitment between the two disciplines to develop a general synthetic theory was highly dubious. At the same time, Parsons’attempt at rapproachment remains relevant in a contemporary situation where many social scientists propose an economistic annexation of sociology by rational choice theory.
Neighborhood Selection and Residential Segregation
Authors: Albrecht Don E. , Hwang Sean‐Shong
Published: January 2007

Residential segregation has long been a topic of investigation for urban scholars. In attempting to understand this phenomenon, most researchers have examined the characteristics of different residential neighborhoods (typically census tracts) and have often compared the composition of the population within the census tract over time. This study looks at the household characteristics of the mobile family, as well as the aggregate characteristics of the census tract into which the family moves. The findings reveal that households display a tendency to move to areas where the existing population has characteristics similar to their own. A multiple logit analysis reveals that the race/ethnicity of the household is generally the best predictor of the neighborhood where the household will move.
Exploring the Family Album: Social Class Differences in Images of Family Life*
Authors: Gardner Saundra
Published: January 2007

Based on an analysis of twenty family albums, this study investigates how social class affects the family's portrayal of kin and friendship networks as well as its geographical boundaries. The results suggest the visual collections of middle‐class families are more likely to present a kin oriented image of family life, include friends, and portray the family as a system with broad geographical boundaries than those of the working‐class. Theoretical and methodological implications of these findings are discussed.
Race and Words: A Note on the Sociolinguistic Divisiveness of Race in American Society
Authors: Nash Jeffrey E.
Published: January 2007

The convergence and polarization hypothesis is tested using the standard English vocabulary score in the General Social Survey. Blacks scored significantly lower than whites, and this finding is consistent over the test period, and holds within similar educational, financial status and social class groupings. The hypothesis is not supported with General Social Survey data. Conditions maintaining nonstandard language usage apply to blacks in America, and sociolinguistic measures could be used to supplement the assessment of divisiveness of race in survey data.
Constructions of a Lynching
Authors: Wolf Charlotte
Published: January 2007

This paper examines the effects of white violence as carried out against a subordinate black community in a small southern town during 1900. The aftermath, as perceived by present‐day residents, and the emergent constructions of the event are explored. It is suggested that the present reality constructions of blacks and whites continue to reflect the significance these historical events have had for group meanings and intergroup relations.
Demographic Responses to Economic Recessions in Latin America Since 1900*
Authors: Palloni Alberto , Tienda Marta
Published: January 2007

This paper explores the linkages between economic cycles and demographic processes in Latin America since 1900. We identify the mechanisms through which economic conditions have an impact on demographic outcomes and assess the demographic and socioeconomic consequences of the 1980s. Selected historical evidence is reviewed to illustrate the effects of economic cycles in Western Europe and, aided by an heuristic framework, tentative hypotheses are derived to interpret empirical evidence about the effects of the 1929 and 1980 depressions in selected Latin American countries. Results show that the demograhic consequences of the Great Depression were nontrivial. The analyses of demographic and socioeconomic responses of the post‐1980 recession, however, reveal only weak linkages for some outcomes. We argue that the weak relationships may mask important transformations currently underway and conclude with a discussion of the implications for future research.
Negotiating Role Definitions and the Working Consensus in Self‐Work*
Authors: Spencer J. William
Published: January 2007

Definitions of social roles and the maintenance of a working consensus are two kinds of background expectations which are important for actors’accomplishment of self‐work. Interactionists have traditionally assumed that these background expectations are unambiguously available to social actors as they negotiate situated meanings of selves and situations. Using data from dyadic role‐play conversations, this study examines instances where interactants reference these expectations as ambiguous or problematic. The findings show that the situated meanings of role definitions and the working consensus are continually subject to potential negotiation. The implications of these findings for future research and theory on self‐work in social interaction are discussed.
Towards Reconceptualizing Political Action*
Authors: Abrahams Naomi
Published: January 2007

The discipline of sociology faces important challenges that may result in a transformation of the field. For example, the practice of specialization potentially takes on a new meaning in the context of growing interdisciplinary studies, the growth of feminist scholarship, and renewed efforts at micro‐macro linkages. In essence, more comprehensive accounts of social phenomena are made possible as a result of these trends. This paper examines the way in which such approaches may lead to advances in the study of political action.
Overtime and Undertime: An Analysis of Hours Worked*
Authors: Model Suzanne , Stiers Gretchen , Weber Eleanor
Published: January 2007

Drawing on 1980 Public Use Microdata Samples (PUMS), this study compares the determinants of annual hours of work for whites, blacks, and mainland‐born Puerto Ricans residing in the New York SMSA in 1979. Two theoretical approaches are tested; a neoclassical specification and an extended structural model. The analysis supports both approaches. Few differences in coefficients exist between white and minority men, but the hours of minority women are less sensitive to family demands than are those of white women. The implications of these and other findings are discussed.
Generational Relationships and Social Movement Participation*
Authors: DeMartini Joseph R.
Published: January 2007

Generational relationships are examined in terms of their lineage and cohort dimensions. Each suggests a very different type of relationship between social movement participants, their parents, and members of adult age cohorts. Following a clarification of these relationships and their consequences for lineage and cohort politics, five research propositions are offered as a guide to future research.
Faculty Malfeasance: Understanding Academic Deviance
Authors: Heeren John W. , Shichor David
Published: January 2007

This study evaluates deviance among academicians in university settings. A typology is suggested which includes two dimensions and delineates four basic types of academic deviance. The relationship of these types to university and disciplinary organization is offered as the sources of academic deviance are explained.
Premarital Sexual Intercourse and Axiomatic Theory Construction*
Authors: Davidson J. Kenneth
Published: January 2007

Axiomatic theory construction was used in this study to analyze the likelihood of participation in premarital sexual intercourse by college women. The sample consisted of 754 never‐married female students enrolled in a midwestern, residential university who responded to a sexual attitudes and behavior survey. Forty‐eight empirical propositions concerning premarital sexual intercourse were tested, nineteen of which were found to be statistically significant. Three derived propositions were reformulated from these findings, which in turn were utilized to develop two middle‐range theories: commitment theory and cultural milieu theory. These theories clearly demonstrate the role of changing personal and societal attitudes toward sexuality and perceived partner commitment in the decision to become sexually active.
Gender and Race in the Theory of Deviant Type‐Scripts*
Authors: Harris Anthony R.
Published: January 2007

The theory of deviant type‐scripts predicts that when historical and cross‐cultural levels of male dominance are high, the ratio of female to male involvement in deviance will be low. Best and Luckenbill recently claim (1990) to have tested this prediction using 1980 data from the United States. Their findings did not support the theory, but rather, contradicted it. In this analysis, serious problems in Best and Luckenbill's use of aggregate statewide measures of male dominance, homicide, and imprisonment are identified, as well as some weaknesses in the original theory. Using a superset of the same data, I extend and re‐evaluate the test. The current findings rebut Best and Luckenbill's conclusions and offer some unexpected support for the theory. New issues for the theory of deviant type‐scripts–as for any theory involving gender and race–are discussed vis‐à‐vis the emergence in America of a matrifocal black underclass.
Tolerating Force: A Contextual Analysis of the Meaning of Tolerance
Authors: Ruane Janet M.
Published: January 2007

This study employs college student survey data to examine the specific social conditions that influence tolerance of the use of force against children. The findings reveal that a certain ambivalence exists regarding parental force to control the behavior of children. Although the respondents are tolerant of parental force used to counteract disrespectful provocations by children, they are less tolerant of force used to counteract age‐related misbehaviors. Implications of these findings are discussed in light of current and future social and family policy.
Nonemployment of Black Men in Major Metropolitan Areas*
Authors: Rolison Garry L.
Published: January 2007

The author examines the extent of nonemployment among black males across 64 MSAs in 1980, testing Szymanski's (1976) thesis of functional substitutability of women and black workers in the post‐World War II period. Evidence is presented to show that black male nonemployment is partially the result of increased white female employment. The paper concludes with the suggestion that in the United States labor displacement in the post‐World War II economy has worked cross‐genderly when race is taken into account.
Female Victim Perceptions of the Causes of Male Spouse Abuse*
Authors: Jones Rachel K.
Published: January 2007

Victims of spouse abuse were interviewed concerning their views of why their husbands were abusive. It was hypothesized that by concentrating on one specific characteristic of this kind previously undocumented patterns of response would be elicited from the subjects. It was concluded that the women's reasons for the violence perpetrated by their spouses serve as justification for the abusers’actions and legitimize maintenance of the relationship.
BOOK REVIEWS
Authors: Folse Kimberly A.
Published: January 2007

Book reviewed in this article:

Habits of the Heart: Individualism and Commitment in American Life, by Robert N. Bellah, Richard Madsen, William M. Sullivan, Ann Swidler, and Steven M. Tipton. New York: Harper & Row, 1985, 355 pages, $8.95 softcover.

The Good Society, by Robert N. Bellah, Richard Madsen, William M. Sullivan, Ann Swidler, and Steven M. Tipton. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1991, 347 pages, $25.00 hardcover.

Acts of Compassion: Caring for Others and Helping Ourselves, by Robert Wuthnow, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1991, $25.00 hardcover

The Consequences of Modernity, by Anthony Giddens. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1990, 186 pages, $9.95 softcover, $29.50 hardcover.

A Future for the American Economy: The Social Market, by Severyn T. Bruyn. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1991, 362 pages, $60.00 hardback.

Work in the Fast Lane: Flexibility, Division of Labor, and Inequality in High‐Tech Industries, by Glenna Colclough and Charles M. Tolbert II. Ithaca, NY: State University of New York Press, 1992, 157 pages, $16.95, paper.

Rethinking Social Policy: Race, Poverty and the Underclass, by Christopher Jencks. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1992,280 pages, $27.95 hardback.

They Call Her Pastor: A New Role for Catholic Women, by Ruth A. Wallace. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1992, 204 pages, $44.50 (est.) hardback, $14.95 (est.) paper.
Media Constructions of Risk and Safety: Differential Framings of Hazard Events*
Authors: Spencer J. William , Triche Elizabeth
Published: January 2007

The media play an important role in the social construction of risk and safety. In this article, we analyze how reports in a New Orleans newspaper defined the risk and safety associated with a series of four events during the summer of 1988: a drought, low water levels in the Mississippi River, a saltwater intrusion, and toxic pollution in local bodies of water. The newspaper reports defined some of the events as hazards by assessing their negative consequences and, in turn, defined them as specific kinds of hazards by identifying their causes. Specifically, we found that the reports defined the nonlocal consequences of an event as more varied and severe than its local consequences. Further, the reports consistently defined each of the events as natural events rather than attributing their causes to social or technological events or conditions. Our results suggest the importance of news sources, economic and political power, and a preference for monocausal frames in the social construction of news. Our results also suggest the importance of local cultural world views in defining hazards and risks. We use the findings to suggest avenues for future research and theory.
The Historical Evolution of World‐Systems*
Authors: Chase‐Dunn Christopher , Hall Thomas D.
Published: January 2007

This article synthesizes a new account of world‐system evolution from contending cultural materialist, Marxist, and Weberian theories of very long‐run social change. We explain the increasing size of world‐systems, the rise of more and more hierarchical and larger empires, and the creation of a single global capitalist political economy in terms of iterations of a basic model of population growth, intensification of production, transformation of modes of accumulation, and uneven development in which semiperipheral actors construct transformational innovations. Our theory spans the twelve thousand years since the mesolithic establishment of sedentary societies. We comparatively analyze chiefdom formation, state formation, empire formation, and the rise and fall of hegemonic core powers in the modern world‐system.
Local Gatekeeping Practices and Residential Segregation*
Authors: DeSena Judith N.
Published: January 2007

This article links the statistical data on residential segregation with the informal practices of individuals. Local gatekeeping practices contribute to the perpetuation of segregation and further explain the patterns of macro‐level analyses. This research focuses on the community of Greenpoint, a predominantly white, working‐class neighborhood in Brooklyn. The study describes the strategies used by residents of Greenpoint to accomplish residential segregation and to maintain a predominantly white non‐Hispanic neighborhood. The process of informal housing networking is supported by the arrangements of local institutions.
Jessie Bernard: The Unfolding of the Female World*
Authors: Howe Harriet , Cantor Muriel Goldsman
Published: January 2007

This article reviews Jessie Bernard's work on families and family relationships over a forty‐year period and identifies her paradigmatic shift from a functionalist orientation to a strong feminist perspective. Through chronicling women's relationships over the years she found a new way of viewing family and women's issues. This article argues that Bernard is one of the first sociologists who can be called a feminist.
Male‐Female Power Differences at Work: A Comparison of Supervisors and Policymakers*
Authors: Adler Marina A.
Published: January 2007

This study estimates differences in access to power positions and the degree to which supervisors and policymakers exercise work power among women and men. The relative importance of sex and other relevant characteristics in determining the acquisition of supervisor and policymaker positions is assessed. Furthermore, the attainment of supervisory authority and strategic power of male and female supervisors and policymakers is analyzed. The results of logistic regression analyses suggest that regardless of other characteristics men have significantly more access to supervisor and policymaker positions than women. Nevertheless, ordinary least squares regression analyses demonstrate that once individuals are in supervisory or policy‐making positions, sex is not an important determinant of the degree of work power. Additional results indicate that occupational status (evaluated by Duncan's Socio‐Economic Index) but not sex segregation by occupation affects the acquisition of work power.
The Wages of Aging: Time‐Related Determinants of Earnings in the Southern Textile Industry*
Authors: Leiter Jeffrey
Published: January 2007

The author distinguishes three time‐related worker characteristics: physical facility, skill, and firm attachment. In an analysis of wage determination for a sample of textile production workers physical facility and firm attachment, but not skill, had significant curvilinear effects, These, along with exogenous effects of gender and race and endogenous effects of assignments to machine maintenance and to a weave room, are interpreted as reflecting power relations in the contemporary context of the southern textile labor process and labor market. The analysis emphasizes the critical importance of contextual considerations in operationalization, specification, and interpretation for wage determination studies.
Classical Statements on Geopolitics and the Aftermath of War
Authors: Turner Jonathan H. , Dolch Norman A.
Published: January 2007

The relationship among geopolitical position, political legitimacy, and internal conflict has been rejuvenated as a topic of theoretical interest. This revival of interest has, to a degree, borrowed from earlier theories, but the implications of these earlier theories have not been fully explored. In this article the classical geopolitical statements of Herbert Spencer and Max Weber are modeled to highlight their continued relevance to sociological theories that address the relationship between geopolitics and internal societal processes.
Economic Reform in the Czech Republic: Economic Strain, Depression, Hostility, and the Difference Gender Makes*
Authors: Lee Gang , Hraba Joseph , Lorenz Frederick , Pechacova Zdenka
Published: January 2007

The Czech Republic is changing rapidly and its current economic transformation is a strain on Czech families. In this study, the connection between economic strain and individual well‐being is investigated via mailed questionnaires from 234 households in the Czech Republic. For Czech women, depression rises more with economic strain than does hostility, while Czech men become more hostile than depressed in the face of economic strain. For women, social support is a buffer between economic strain and hostility, whereas self‐esteem is a buffer for depression. For men, both self‐esteem and social support exacerbate hostility in the context of economic strain.
World View and Abortion Beliefs: A Replication of Luker's Implicit Hypothesis*
Authors: Spicer Daniel N.
Published: January 2007

According to Kristin Luker, at the heart of an individual person's beliefs concerning abortion lies a cherished, taçit, and essentially coherent world view. While Luker used the in‐depth interview as a way to explore this otherwise unexamined phenomenon, this study attempts to replicate and analyze her implied theory by using a statistical methodology. By drawing on several variables found in 1990 General Social Survey data, Luker's conception of world view is operationalized in the data through both a linear regression model and a factor analysis model and compared with respondents’views on abortion. Both models are found to support Luker's hypothesis, as a clear association between world view and abortion beliefs is established.
Rust in the Wheatbelt: The Social Impacts of Industrial Decline in a Rural Kansas Community
Authors: Knapp Tim
Published: January 2007

While most sociologists now recognize the importance of urban industrial problems, there is less awareness of the causes and social significance of nonmetropolitan manufacturing decline. By means of structured and informal interviews, nonparticipant observations, and analysis of public documents, a case study was conducted to evaluate the economic and social “community impacts” of industrial restructuring in a nonurban community. Eight negative consequences of manufacturing decline were identified. The study generated information inconsistent with two prevailing explanations for recent rural industrial troubles in the United States: the underskilled production labor theory, and the deficient physical infrastructure thesis. Case evidence suggested that capital flight, economic and political network powerlessness, and managerial competency deficits may be significant causes of rural manufacturing decline. Given the significance of manufacturing for rural areas, more cogent, multidisciplinary explanations for nonurban industrial shifts need to be developed.
I'm Not Prejudiced, But…: A Deeper Look at Racial Attitudes*
Authors: Bakanic Von
Published: January 2007

Black and white people experience race relations from different social positions, thus, interpret questions about race relations differently. Structured interviews were conducted with a random sample of residents from Philadelphia and Meridian, Mississippi. These data indicate that there is a wider gap between these blacks and whites regarding their perceptions of discrimination than the gap documented by national surveys. There are interesting differences in the way the two groups interpret themselves as racist, or not, and how they remember their communities’interracial history. Content analysis is used to demonstrate differences in the understanding of race relations, segregation, and perceived danger from racially motivated violence.
Framing and Strategy: Explaining Differential Longevity in the Woman's Christian Temperance Union and the Anti‐Saloon League
Authors: Donovan Brian L.
Published: January 2007

This study examines the sources of strength and mobilizing impetus in the Anti‐Saloon League (ASL) and the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) in the early twentieth century. Both the ASL and the WCTU played essential roles in the establishment of national prohibition. The quick demise of the ASL after the repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment in 1933 and the endurance of the WCTU cannot be explained only by the structural conditions that confronted the two movements, as suggested by the resource mobilization approach. Using Snow and Benford's “collective action frame” concept, it is argued that a consideration of meanings constructed by the movements’leaders and their translation into strategic action provides a better account of the temporal viability of the WCTU and ASL. The critical distinction between the WCTU and ASL was in how they framed the “alcohol question.” Both the relative success of the WCTU and the failure of the ASL were contingent upon their ability to adapt their rhetoric and corresponding strategies to rapid shifts in the cultural and economic climate of the late twenties and early thirties.
Talk Is Cheap: The Value of Language in the World Economy‐Illustrations from the United States and Quebec
Authors: Gouveia Lourdes , Rousseau Mark O.
Published: January 2007

Global economic restructuring modifies the traditional material value of language skills and stands to increasingly fragment labor along class and ethnic lines. Language deskilling, brought about by the international mobility of capital and technological change, has diminished the value of traditionally skilled labor. Yet labor, though weakened economically and politically, is not powerless. Two contrasting instances, examined through a common political‐economic perspective, are considered: the U.S. meatpacking industry as exemplified in a Lexington, Nebraska, plant and the labor movement in the national economy of Quebec. These two cases illustrate the unity and diversity found in the contingent and uncertain process of global economic change. The Lexington example illustrates the process by which the language abilities of both immigrant and indigenous labor have been successfully deskilled. The Quebec instance illustrates the capacity of labor to utilize a common language and culture as a mobilization resource to diminish the devaluation of language and secure material gains. Possible future directions of change are considered in each instance.
African American Conspiracy Theories and the Social Construction of Crime*
Authors: Sasson Theodore
Published: January 2007

This article examines conspiracy theories about crime, drugs, and violence expressed by African American residents of Boston, Massachusetts. The theories attribute crime and violence to the clandestine actions of powerful whites. The data upon which the article is based were gathered in a series of peer group discussions among participants in neighborhood crime watch groups. The article describes the prevalence of the conspiracy theories in the sample of peer group discussions. It also advances arguments to explain why the theories persist and why they tend to be expressed in vague and multiple forms.
The Return of the Market?: Reflections on the Real “Conservative Tradition” in U.S. Policy Discourse
Authors: Akard Patrick
Published: January 2007

This article examines the ideological continuity underlying recent changes in U.S. policy, arguing that both the “liberal” policies of the 1960s and the “free market” conservatism of the 1980s were based upon the presuppositions of neoclassical economic theory. I first consider the intellectual assumptions of postwar liberalism, emphasizing the degree to which the dominant paradigm of the period accepted the neoclassical framework. Next I examine the conservative neoclassical critique of liberal ideas that developed in the 1970s. The economic upheavals of that decade demonstrated the limits of a postwar liberalism that was only ambiguously committed to state intervention. The result was the reassertion of a more consistent market model in economic policy discourse. I conclude by considering the ideological effects of the dominant neoclassical paradigm today in directing attention away from crucial social problems, particularly those that result from market forces themselves in a rapidly changing global economy.
Recent Developments in Marxist Class Analysis: A Critical Appraisal*
Authors: So Alvin Y.
Published: January 2007

This article examines two major attempts to revitalize Marxist class analysis in recent years. It provides a critical appraisal of both class structure analysis and dialectical and historical materialist analysis in assessing the applicability of Marxist class analysis to the study of contemporary capitalist society. It shows that going beyond an analysis of the class structure of advanced capitalism, the dialectical and historical materialist approach provides a dynamic analysis of society and social transformation that takes into account the changing nature of class relations and class struggle as we approach the twenty‐first century.
Predicting Participation in Environmental Treaties: A World‐System Analysis*
Authors: Roberts J. Timmons
Published: January 2007

Which countries tend to sign international environmental treaties and why? This study tests the ability of quantitative cross‐national political and economic analysis to predict participation in international environmental agreements over the period 1963–1987. Cross‐sectional ordinary least squares regressions suggest that poor, highly indebted countries that are dependent on very few trading partners and that have repres‐sive regimes are far more likely to be nonsignatories. The results suggest strategies for increasing the likelihood that nations will ratify hture environmental treaties.
Environmental Discourse and Social Movement Organizations: A Historical and Rhetorical Perspective on the Development of U.S. Environmental Organizations
Authors: Brulle Robert J.
Published: January 2007

Environmental organizations in the United States are key actors in the process of social change. A rhetorical and historical perspective expands the understanding of different types of environmental organizations, and the actions that they follow. In the first section of this article, the role of language in constructing social movements is reviewed. This perspective is then applied in a second section to the environmental movement in the United States. Through a detailed reading of the philosophical and historical literature on environmental discourses, and an examination of the founding documents of leading environmental organizations, six environmental discourses are identified, and the incorporation of these discourses into environmental organizations is described. A close look at forty‐four environmental organizations in the United States in a third section shows three distinct historical periods (Conservationist/Preservationist; Ecocentrist; and Political/Deep Ecology) through which the U.S. environmental movement has developed. The article concludes with some suggestions for further research.
The Forest‐Related Content of Children's Textbooks: 1950–1991*
Authors: Daniels Glynis
Published: January 2007

This study utilizes content analysis to measure the prominence of six environmental themes in children's science and social studies textbooks over the period 1950–1991. Regression analysis of data from a sample of 118 textbooks reveals that textbook space devoted to forest issues has decreased since 1950. Within this shrinking space, treatments of ecological issues with regard to forests have increased, but only in science texts. All other environmental themes have decreased in prominence. The decreasing attention to forest issues in texts may be due in part to the trend of “mentioning,” the replacement of narrative text with strings of facts, in the production of textbooks. The finding that newer, more proenvironmental themes have not replaced the classical economic view of forests as commodities suggests that the growth in environmentalism in the United States since 1950 has not yet been sufficiently integrated into our culture to affect the formal education of children.
The Social Bases and Discursive Context of the Rise of Islamic Fundamentalism: The Cases of Iran and Syria
Authors: Moaddel Mansoor
Published: January 2007

This article focuses on the socioeconomic and political context of the 1950s and 1960s to explain the rise of fundamentalism in Iran and Syria. I argue that Islamic fundamentalism in these countries gained support from certain traditional property‐owning classes who were antagonized by the state economic policies and bureaucratic expansion and by the state's effective suppression of the ideological and political pluralism of the earlier period. The state's repressive policies channeled oppositional politics through the medium of religion. I further argue that the more immediate determinant of Islamic fundamentalism was the state's ideology and its intervention in culture production. The state shaped the identity of the opposition and structured the kind of argument the opposition formulated against it. On the basis of the empirical cases of Iran and Syria, I argue that conceptualizing ideology as a discourse resolves some of the difficulties involved in the subjective/psychological conception of ideology in the analysis, assessment, and understanding of the way ideology is produced and its role in social process, particularly when only historical materials are available. I also argue for treating ideology as an autonomous category with a dynamic of its own. Finally, I suggest a model of ideological production.
Global Catholicism and the Politics of Civil Society
Authors: Casanova José
Published: January 2007

A transformation of the politics of Catholicism worldwide has taken place. The final recognition of the modern principle of religious freedom at Vatican II, together with the assumption by the church of the modern doctrine of human rights, has altered the traditional dynamic of church state relations and the role of the church both nationally and transnationally.

National churches no longer aspire to become state compulsory institutions. It is this voluntary “disestablishment” that has permitted the church to play a key role in recent transitions to democracy throughout the Catholic world. Simultaneously, the papacy has assumed the vacant role of spokesperson for humanity, for the sacred dignity of the human person, for world peace, and for a more fair division of labor and power in the world system.

As the Catholic Church abandons the private sphere assigned to religion and enters the undifferentiated public sphere of civil society to take part in ongoing processes of normative contestation, a tension between catholic universality and Roman Catholic particularity becomes evident.
Working for Men‐at the Intersection of Power, Gender, and Sexuality
Authors: Loe Meika
Published: January 2007

This article examines the dynamics of Bazooms. a “restaurant” in which power, gender, and sexuality come together to color relations between the three major “players” involved: waitresses, managers, and customers. Job‐based power relations and inequities, gender roles, implicit and explicit sexual roles, and sexual harassment are all “at work” in such a workplace. But definitions of power, gender roles, sexual identities. and harassment are in constant flux with each interaction among the players inside the Bazooms world. The women who work at Bazooms–the “Bazooms girls”–are disadvantaged in these interactions, but they are not helpless. Dynamics within the restaurant are constantly being negotiated and altered (within constraints) as these women exercise agency in the workplace.
Modern East Asia in World‐Systems Analysis*
Authors: So Alvin Y. , Chiu Stephen W. K.
Published: January 2007

Applying the large‐scale, holistic, and long‐time‐span heuristic devices of world‐systems analysis, this article highlights the crucial role played by regional geopolitics in East Asian development, In regard to large‐scale analysis, this article studies interstate dynamics in East Asia and shows how the strategic locations of China, Japan, and Korea greatly influenced one another's development. This article shows, through holistic analysis, that geopolitics often intertwines with emerging cultural constructs and changing regional dynamics and, through long‐term analysis, that contemporary East Asia must be understood in terms of its pre‐World War II geopolitical development. This study contributes to the existing literature by reintroducing the often neglected geopolitical context into reinterpreting the roles of the market, Confucianism, the state, and dependency in the contours of East Asian development.
World War II and the Transformation of the U.S. State: The Wartime Foundations of U.S. Hegemony
Authors: McLauchlan Gregory
Published: January 2007

I present an analysis of the history of U.S. expansion and rise to hegemony in World War II, and argue that the concrete global perspectives and postwar ambitions of U.S. state managers were formed in the course of world war itself. They were not the result of preconceived economic or geopolitical policies or aims. I examine U.S. expansion and postwar goals in the military, economic, and political arenas, and show how social processes set in motion by world war in each of these dimensions were central in shaping the distinctive outcomes. I develop a theoretical perspective of world war as a social process, and argue that such an extraordinary period of violence, historical contingency, and state‐led expansion involves potentially unique features of macrohistorical development and change.