bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Search for Community Leaders: A Re‐examination of the Reputational Technique*
Authors: Preston James D.
Published: January 2007

A method similar to Bonjean's modification of the traditional reputational approach was applied to a study of two small communities within a Southern state. The relative absence of concealed and symbolic leaders suggests that leader visibility is a variable which varies systematically from community to community. Several community characteristics are posited as explanatory variables determining leader visibility.
Professionalism and the Public*
Authors: Haug Marie R. , Sussman Marvin B.
Published: January 2007

To explore the factor of public opinion as a component of professionalism, the prestige ratings of rehabilitation occupations, as given by a representative national sample replicating the North‐Hatt technique, are analyzed. Visibility of an occupation does not necessarily increase prestige. Segmental visibility varies by exposure to the needs served by an occupation and by familiarity arising from work experiences. Stereotyping in terms of broad occupational categories, however, appears more likely to form lay opinion than specific job knowledge. Attitudes of particular segments, rather than general public views, are considered critical in professionalism.
Marginality and the Academic*
Authors: Anderson Charles H.
Published: January 2007

The question of social and psychological separation of the academic and intellectual in American society is raised. The empirical literature, although in short supply, suggests that the academic is socially isolated from the larger society and experiences attitudinal alienation. Interviews with sixty‐one college and university professors tended to confirm this view, but particularly so among those respondents who identified themselves as intellectuals.
The Well‐Made Play and the Theatre of the Absurd: A Study in Attitude Change
Authors: Lieberman Adrienne B.
Published: January 2007

The general tenets of balance theory are applied to a study of two dramatic genres, the well‐made play and the theatre of the absurd. The theory is used in an attempt to discuss the means by which these different forms achieve their characteristic effects and to place the evolution of dramatic forms within the general context of social change in the last century.
What can Mathematical Models Tell us About Occupational Mobility?*
Authors: Pullum Thomas W.
Published: January 2007

A description is given of most models and methods which have recently been proposed for describing aggregate movement over a set of occupational categories, both during a single interval of time and over a sequence of intervals; contingency tables and Markov chains are emphasized. Substantial movement (in an aggregate sense) is “explained” by simple effects of supply, demand, age of respondent, etc., without knowledge of nondemographic variables such as respondent's education, aspirations, etc. Related but unpublished findings by the author and others are given and numerous possible directions for investigation are suggested.
A Sociolinguistic Approach to Encounter Groups*
Authors: Shumsky Marshall E.
Published: January 2007

Traditional small group concepts have been derived from experimental decision‐making groups. Encounter groups not only focus on functional problem‐solving but also attempt to facilitate participants‐spontaneous and open expression of their authentic emotions in‐situ. Through this emphasis the encounter group leader attempts to provide an antidote to role‐oriented everyday societal transactions. The complex nature of encounter group interactions defy standard codification by a non‐participant researcher. Recently certain small group researchers have become participants in their groups under study as a way of capturing more dynamic processes of group interaction. The small group researcher as participant and encounter group leader/researcher have become united through their use of empathic identification as an artfull method in linking up abstract theoretical concepts with observed group happenings. An ethnography of a Youth Encounter Group (that I lead) is presented to illustrate the complex features of leadership in an encounter group. Through an analysis of my ethnography I attempt to show (1) how both small group researchers and encounter group researchers have presented idealizations of group process divorced from the practical features that organize and sustain the on‐going group interactions and (2) how both the small group researcher as participant and encounter group leader/researcher have used the process of empathic identification as an unexplicated resource that has obscured and masked the interpretive work carried on by participants–lay and professional –during the encounter group and by researchers in their professional reports.
Theory to Guide Organizational Training in Schools*
Authors: Schmuck Richard , Runkel Philip , Langmeyer Daniel
Published: January 2007

We do not believe that the T‐group is a vital tool for refurbishing organizational life. We present theoretical reasons for believing that organizational training to improve organizational functioning must help participants to function more effectively as components of working bodies carrying out specific tasks in a particular job‐setting. We present a sequence of three steps useful in interventions, drawing upon actual examples of interventions in schools.
Types of Patterned Variation in Bureaucratic Adaptations to Organizational Stress*
Authors: Brouillette John R. , Quarantelli E. L.
Published: January 2007

Field data gathered by The Ohio State University Disaster Research Center in studying complex organizations suggest that the bureaucratic model is inadequate to explain organizational adaptation to stress. The informal structure does not replace the formal structure in such situations. There is instead a variety of patterned responses in adapting to the stress. The article illustrates these general points, sets forth a typology of possible patterned variations in bureaucratic adaptations, and indicates some factors internal and external to the organization which influence the direction and kind of adaptation followed.
The Rhetoric of Value Transfer in Organizations*
Authors: Rosenoren William R.
Published: January 2007

This paper examines the rhetoric found in the referral pamphlets distributed by military academies and homes for the mentally retarded. The material is analyzed from a perspective which views value exchange between client and organization as an initial means of institutionalizing the relations between the person and the service organization. Discussion centers around the heuristic value of economic models in sociological analysis, with particular reference to that non‐institutionalized sphere of the division of labor that encompasses service organizations which lack viable client referral mechanisms.
New Methods for Describing What People Think*
Authors: Cancian Francesca M.
Published: January 2007

Sociological research on what people think has been hampered by inadequate methods. These inadequacies are illustrated by Coleman's survey research and Burner's participant observation study. The ethnoscience approach in anthropology is developing improved methods for studying cognitive content, and the usefulness of these methods is illustrated by research on (1) wedding ceremonies, (2) kinship terminology and (3) norms and social change.
Some Thoughts on Creating the Future*
Authors: HUBER BETTINA J.
Published: January 2007

Most futurologists seem to assume that the best way of coping with the future is to perfect methodologies of prediction, but the ability to forecast accurately may not be the crucial element in dealing effectively with the future. Rather, trying to create the future might be far more fruitful, a possibility this paper explores in some detail.
Some Reflections on the Crisis in Sociology*
Authors: EISENSTADT S. N.
Published: January 2007

Claims that sociology must be divided into closed ideological and paradigmatic camps are critically examined. Convergences among the major analytical approaches are considered and possible explanations explored.
Parsons as a Symbolic Interactionist: A Comparison of Action and Interaction Theory1
Authors: Turner Jonathan H.
Published: January 2007

Action theory's substantive image of social organization, theory building strategy, and methodological tenets are compared with those of interactionism. Despite polemics to the contrary, action and interaction concepts denote a similar image of social organization and personality. As is argued, the principle difference between the two perspectives revolves around the issue of the most appropriate theory building and methodological strategy. The ontological implications of this fact are examined and found not to justify the continued partitioning of social theory into antagonistic metaphysical camps.
The Law as Index, Phenomenon, and Element—Conceptual Steps Toward a General Sociology of Law*
Authors: Lidz Victor
Published: January 2007

“The general life of society cannot extend its sway without juridical life extending its sway at the same time and in direct relation” (Durkheim, 1933, p. 65).
Determinants of Police Job Satisfaction
Authors: Sheley Joseph F. , Nock Steven L.
Published: January 2007

This paper reports the results of a partial replication and extension of Reiss's (1967) study of police job satisfaction. Utilizing indicators similar to those employed by Reiss, the study first determines the applicability of his results to a second sample of police officers at a more recent time. Second, it explores two new variables potentially related to job satisfaction: years on the force and years in current rank. Third, it employs multiple regression analysis to isolate the most predictive of the variables related to job satisfaction. Four variables account for most of the variance explained. The implications of the findings for enhancing police job satisfaction are examined.
The Life‐World*
Authors: Meisenhelder Thomas
Published: January 2007

Being victimized can lead one to discover heretofore neglected elements of the social life‐world. Discovery in vivid form of one's vulnerability to death reveals the pervasive importance of hopefulness.
TALCOTT PARSONS: PROBLEMS OF THEORY CONSTRUCTION
Authors: Habermas Juergen
Published: January 2007

According to Professor Habermas, Parsons's later system paradigm is in conflict, to some extent, with his earlier action paradigm, as Menzies contended; but Parsons concealed the conflicts from himself, Habermas thinks, and retained his “cultural determinism” and “secret idealism.” According to Habermas, Parsons lacked any adequate equivalent of the concept of a “life world” built up on the basis of intersubjective communication. Parsons's unrealistic assumption of harmony between actors' orientations on the one hand and functional requirements of systems on the other prevented him, according to Habermas, from seeing what Marx for example saw, namely that in modern society the symbolic life worlds of actors suffer distortion because of their subordination to the rationalizing tendencies of money and power. (Professor Habermas did not provide an abstract for this translation of his address on Parsons, which he delivered to the German Sociological Association in 1980. Readers are urged to regard this abstract as only suggestive and as inadequately reflecting a complex argument.‐Editor.)
STRUCTURE AND CREATIVITY: THE USE OF TRANSFORMATIONAL‐GENERATIVE MODELS IN ACTION THEORY*
Authors: Hayes Adrian C.
Published: January 2007

In recent years concepts drawn from linguistics have been used increasingly in social and political theory. Such concepts as deep structure, surface structure, transformation rules, etc., are borrowed from Chomsky's theory of transformational‐generative grammar. This paper examines two instances of this “linguistic drift” in action theory‐the work of Marshall Edelson on personality and Terrence Turner on kinship and socialization. Analysis shows that in these instances the analogies with the linguistic concepts are not very rigorous. The author makes some tentative statements about the current status and prospects of such research programs.
EMPIRICAL APPLICATIONS OF PARSONIAN THEORY
Authors: Klausner Michael , Groves Mary Ann
Published: January 2007

A common criticism of Parsonian theory has been that it is really not a theory but only a classificatory scheme. Critics claim that its concepts are not amenable to operationalization and that low‐level empirically testable hypotheses cannot be derived from the theory. We argue that: (I) These criticisms are based upon a limited concept of theory, one that neglects other important functions that theory performs. (2) Many concepts in Parsonian theory can and have been operationalized. (3) Empirically testable propositions can be deduced from Parsons's theory. Examples from the areas of social evolution, criminology, small groups, and the self are discussed.
Social Structure and Situations: The effects of Roles, Actions, and Situations on Interpersonal Perception*
Authors: CANCIAN Francesca M. , DAVIS Margaret R.
Published: January 2007

This study examines the structural and situational approaches to social action by analyzing the effects of roles, action, and situations on people's perceptions of others. College students were given questionnaires containing short descriptions of interaction between an adult and an adolescent boy. These questionnaires were designed to examine the effects of roles (malefemale and employer‐parent), actions, and several concrete situations on two dependent variables: (1) behavior predictions for the adult in each hypothetical situation. and (2) ratings of the adults on expressive and instrumental attributes. The results support both structural and situational approaches. The parent role has a strong effect on how the adults are predicted to behave and the situation has little effect. But the respondents' rating of the adults is determined primarily by actions not roles.
Heterosexuality, Male Dominance, and the Father Image
Authors: JOHNSON Miriam M.
Published: January 2007

In this paper I try to substantiate, by examining studies that compare homosexuals and heterosexuals. that the father image is more pivotal to sexual preference in both sexes than is the mother image. Beyond this I develop an argument about why becoming heterosexual for both sexes would involve establishing a solidary (but not seductive) relationship with the father or a father figure. Translating psychoanalytic theory into more social‐structural terms, I argue that the Oedipal period may be understood as the time at which the power of the father representing the system of male dominance is substituted for the power of the mother in the mother‐infant dyad. For the girl, becoming heterosexual then involves adding on a love for her father to her initial love for the mother in a relationship in which the father is dominant by virtue of both his sex and his generation. For the boy, becoming heterosexual involves reclaiming the heterosexuality he learned in infancy in a context in which he himself is dominant. In both cases, it is the father image, not that of the mother, that figures most prominently in the transition. This analysis in essence makes explicit what the psychoanalytic descriptions I drew upon assumed, namely: the nuclear family, female responsibility for infants, male dominance and homophobia. Finally, I suggest that there is likely no inherent connection between male dominance and heterosexuality and that heterosexual relations to the extent that they serve to break up the male peer group may actually mitigate this dominance.
The Prophecy that Never Fails: On the Uses and Gratifications of Horoscope Reading*
Authors: Weimann Gabriel
Published: January 2007

Several studies have revealed the growing popularity of astrology columns, which has brought astrology to a mass level never in its long history enjoyed before. The widespread exposure of astrology columns in newspapers and magazines is studied in the present research, according to the “uses and gratifications” approach originally developed by mass communication scholars, in an attempt to reveal the need gratified by them. Using different anxiety scales and measures of horoscope usage–exposure, regularity, and acceptance—the possible sets of relations between anxiety level, fatalism, and horoscope use are tested following the log‐linear procedure. The results only partially confirm the hypothesis: exposure and regularity of readership are shown to be significantly related to several anxiety dimensions, while acceptance of horoscope predictions is related to locus of control, but not directly to anxiety. Finally, the compatibility of horoscopes to the readers' needs is analyzed by the elements of contents, social setting of exposure, and the medium's attributes. This study supports a claim of the uses and gratifications approach, which sees modern media encroaching upon older means of satisfaction of social and psychological needs. Fulfilling this function, horoscopes are the prophecies that never fail.
Ideological Themes in the Antinuclear Movement: Consensus and Diversity*
Authors: Ladd Anthony E. , Hood Thomas C. , Van Liere Kent D.
Published: January 2007

Utilizing survey data for demonstrators at a national antinuclear rally (N=420), as well as a thematic review of the antinuclear literature, this paper examines ideological consensus and diversity evident in the national protest over nuclear power. Our findings reveal a significant amount of overlap between the ideological themes of the movement and the individual beliefs of antinuclear demonstrators. While the demonstrators display a diversity of opinion in their reasons for opposing nuclear power, there is a consensus of belief that future solutions entail shutting down nuclear plants and replacing them with alternative energy sources and conservation programs. Moreover, there is a consensus of belief among demonstrators regarding the values underlying their rationale for movement participation, values that both challenge and incorporate larger dominant beliefs of American society. The implications of these findings for movement theories are suggested.
Cognitive Integration of Social and Environmental Beliefs*
Authors: Van Liere Kent D. , Dunlap Riley E.
Published: January 2007

This paper examines the extent to which acceptance of dominant social beliefs and conflicting environmental beliefs by individuals helps to explain inconsistencies among environmental attitudes and behaviors. Specifically, it is hypothesized that individuals who demonstrate consistency in their acceptance of key social and environmental beliefs will also demonstrate greater consistency in their environmental attitudes and behaviors. Data from a mail survey of Washington state residents are used to examine this issue. The results suggest modest support for the hypothesis as higher correlations among environmental attitudes and behavior occur for groups who evidence greater integration of important social and environmental beliefs.
Bystander Apathy and the Territorial Imperative*
Authors: Gillis A. R. , Hagan John
Published: January 2007

This research focuses on the relationship between persons, places, and social control. Specifically, the study examines territoriality and social distance as factors affecting individuals' thoughts concerning the prevention of crime. The data show that both territoriality and social distance are significant predictors of respondents' willingness to prevent criminal behaviors. Consistent with theory in urban sociology and psychology, people report that they are far more likely to extend aid to family members and friends than to strangers. However, people also report that they are more likely to intervene on behalf of a stranger the nearer to home the offense occurs.

Hypothetical situations concerning specific crimes against persons and property were used to elicit responses from 835 adolescents who were the subjects of the research. Analysis of variance is used to analyze the data.
Totem and Taboo in Sociology: The Politics of Affirmative Action Research*
Authors: Lynch Frederick R.
Published: January 2007

The thesis is advanced that sociology's strong links with welfare‐state liberalism have also led to the widespread acquiescence to “liberal taboos” regarding some topics of social research such as affirmative action. The relationship between sociology and liberalism is examined. Radical and neoconservative influences are also noted. Adverse encounters with affirmative action taboos by intellectuals and social scientists are discussed as is the “fashionable” consensus on affirmative action in sociology. That this consensus may sometimes be shallow and relatively uninformed is suggested by reactions by the author's Southern California colleagues regarding his proposed studies of (1) the extent of widespread public discussion of affirmative action in the 1970s. and (2) the social psychological impact of such policies upon white males. The paper concludes with a discussion of related taboos in sociology and other fields and the dangers involved in ideological allegiances.

I'm not saying that cities are doomed places, but I will say that the hard core of the welfare society is doomed. There are no prospects for these people. Nobody ever took the trouble to teach them anything. They live in a kind of perpetual chaos, in a great noise. And, you know, they really are startled souls. They cannot be reasoned with or talked to about anything.

Isn't it time for us to admit this? For a long time, the subject lay under a taboo. Nobody was going to talk about it. Now people are beginning to do so. Though I consider myself a kind of liberal, I have to admit that the taboos were partly of liberal origin. It was supposed to be wrong to speak with candor. But lying in a good cause only aggravates disorder. –Saul Bellow (1982)

We had best remember that socìology and ideology are competitors …–Alvin Gouldner (1976)
A Reexamination of the Neighborhood as a Socio‐Spatial Schema*
Authors: Bardo John W.
Published: January 2007

Lee's conception of the “socio‐spatial schema” was reexamined for a sample of respondents from a British new town. Results showed that over half of the respondents differentiated their neighborhoods from smaller “areas of belonging” and that neither the neighborhood nor area of belonging corresponded well to ecological concrptions of a “natural area.” Discriminant analysis revealed that differences betwren respondents who provided one neighborhood versus those who distinguished a neighborhood from an area of belonging had empirical significance. These two groups were discriminated on the basis of four components of community satisfaction, that is, distance from the town center, proximity of friends, length of residence, and respondent age. Size of the neighborhood was found to be a function of the location of the neighborhood center and length of residence. Size of the area of belonging was related to length of residence and proximity of relatives. Results are discussed in relation to the socio‐spatial methodology, the neighborhood concept, and differences between these findings and previous research, especially as related to the residential location of friends and relatives.
Are Businesses Treated Differently? A Comparison of the Individual Victim and the Corporate Victim in the Criminal Courtroom*
Authors: Kruttschnitt Candace
Published: January 2007

Drawing on a number of theories, this paper explores both why and how the capacity for collective action influences deviance processing decisions. Specifically, data for a sample of male and female defendants convicted of both theft and forgery offenses are examined to estimate the effects on criminal processing decisions of (1) the organizational, as opposed to the individual, victim, (2) the organization of individual offenders, as indicated by the presence of co‐defendants, and (3) the respective intimacy in the victim‐offender relationship on both the organizational and the individual level. While organization on the part of the criminal offenders appears to have no effect on the dispositional process, the presence of an organizational victim ensures longer periods of probationary supervision for the respective offender. Moreover, this relationship remains regardless of whether the defendant was involved with the organization he victimized. Accordingly, this study suggests both that businesses are in fact treated differently from individuals in the criminal courtroom and that the expansion of our analysis of victim attributes in the study of deviance processing decisions is long overdue.
The 1950s: Gender and Some Social Science*
Authors: Breines Wini
Published: January 2007

Among the literature considered for issues pertaining to gender in the 1950s is David Riesman's The Lonely Crowd (1950), John Seeley, et al., Crestwood Heights (1956), William H. Whyte, Jr., The Organization Man (1956), Jules Henry, Culture against Man, and essays by Talcott Parsons on the family. The paper shows how the authors apparently document the modernization of gender and the family by ignoring or downplaying conventional and conservative factors. In fact, they were more sanguine than even their own evidence warranted, although they seemed unaware of this. By seeing only progressive indicators they neglected the constraints on women, often identified as the “feminine mystique.” Three gender and family issues are considered for actual evidence about what was happening in the 1950s but also for contradictions in the authors' work that yield insights as well. These are whether feminine and masculine sex roles were converging in modern America, the development of companionship marriage, and the issue of “maternal overinvolvement” (or the domineering mother) in childrearing. The work under consideration suggests contradictory gender messages and developments in the postwar period, indicating a period in which possibilities for equality between the sexes were being both created and denied to women.
The Professionalization of Journalism: Impetus or Impediment to a “Watchdog” Press*
Authors: Osiel Mark J.
Published: January 2007

How have recent efforts by American journalists to “professionalize” affected their capacity to serve as “watchdog” over offcial misconduct? This article examines the organization, ideology, and legal status of American journalism with a view to answering that question. Past and present obstacles to the professionalization of news reporting are evaluated. The growth of professional consciousness and prerogatives has strengthened journalistic resources for critical scrutiny of public life. This conclusion casts doubts on sociology's prevailing view of professionalization as little more than status‐seeking and self‐aggrandizement. As critical journalism has increasingly come to depend on professionalizing ideology and professional organization, efforts to hamper critical journalism have increasingly taken the form of attacks on the professional autonomy of newsmen.
Critical Theory and the Hermeneutical Circle*
Authors: Colburn Kenneth
Published: January 2007

This paper examines the debate between Gadamer and Habermas concerning the relationship between hermeneutics and critical theory. Formulating the hermeneutical circle in terms of relationship between understanding and interpretation, this paper examines three positions on the circle held by positivism, critical theory and hermeneutics, respectively. A commitment to method and procedure on the part of Habermas is offered as the basis for critical theory's limited acceptance of the hermeneutical circle. This is shown through an analysis of Knowledge and Human Interests as indicative of Habermas's implicit objectivism and his methodical, as opposed to hermeneutical, model of reasoning for social inquiry.

The best definition for hermeneutics is: to let what is alienated by the character of the written word or by the character of being distantiated by cultural or historical distances speak again. This is hermeneutics: to let what seems to be far and alienated speak again (Gadamer, 1980a:83).
Training Environments, Work Attitudes, and Turnover Intention
Authors: Rosengren William R. , Albert Alexa
Published: January 2007

A recent and extensive review of research concluded that worker age–viewed both chronologically and in terms of career stage–was a decisive determinant of work attitudes including turnover intention, i.e., intention to remain in an occupation or to leave it. This paper reports a study of work attitudes among 732 American, British, and Spanish students undergoing training as merchant marine engineering officers. All were of the same age and were at the same point in their careers. Wide differences were shown in terms of attitudes toward the occupation including turnover intention. The single most important variable was the national context in which training was taking place: The Americans exhibited the most negative work attitudes and the higher turnover intention; the Spanish had the most positive attitudes and the lowest turnover intention; the British tended to fall in the middle. Social class origin had some, though irregular, effects. The national differences are explained in terms of the training environments existing in the schools as well as structural features surrounding the merchant marine industry and the organization of training for the occupation in each country. Hence, though age may be a decisive element in work attitudes, this study suggests that the social organization within which age factors are located may determine the scope and forms of its effects.
Guilt: A Factor in Sexual Satisfaction*
Authors: Darling Carol A. , Davidson J. Kenneth
Published: January 2007

As individuals begin to engage in sexual activities, they must contend with the interaction of their current behaviors with any prior learning related to sexual guilt. While guilt feelings associated with participation in masturbation, petting, and sexual intercourse have decreased in recent years, especially among females, few studies have considered the role of guilt in sexual satisfaction among adolescent/young adults. In order to examine the relationship of guilt to psychological and physiological sexual satisfaction, a survey research design was employed utilizing the responses of coitally active male and female never‐married students from a state university. Findings indicate that feelings of guilt about various sexual activities do affect sexual satisfaction with differential influences for males and females.
Alternative Perspectives on Community Impacting: Toward Complementary Theory and Application
Authors: Knop Edward
Published: January 2007

Community impact analysis has been limited in applied effectiveness and sociological contribution because of its primary reliance on an ecological system paradigm and the conservative ideology imbedded therein. It is argued that the quality of community impact analysis and similar social change work would be improved by increased concern with matters of theory. Specifically, improvements can come from: (1) use and further development of alternate sociological perspectives appropriate to the impacting topic, especially those perspectives that deal with community and adaptive processes; and (2) empirical determination of the extent to which various theoretical perspectives fit conditions of specific community cases. The concerns of critical and interactionist theory are discussed as alternatives to the dominant structural‐functional perspective, and a case is made for blending perspectives consistent with themes of “general systems” theory. This blending incorporates structural concerns, but offers more complete guidance by emphasizing relevant process considerations. Aspects of the “dramaturgical” analogy, applied more broadly than usual, illustrate abstract points in the complementarity of the several theories.
Gender and College Opportunities: Changes Over Time in the United States and Japan
Authors: Monk‐Turner Elizabeth , Baba Yoko
Published: January 2007

The authors examine the rise of the two‐year college and changes in enrollment patterns between two‐year and four‐year colleges by sex in the United States and Japan since 1960. Notably, the chances of a woman who attended college of entering a four‐year college were less in 1980, in both the U. S. and Japan, than they were in 1960. Channeling large numbers of women into two‐year colleges perpetuates occupational sex segregation. Further, it alleviates pressure for competition for professional jobs. The desire to reduce the number of individuals competing for professional jobs was a factor in the build‐up of the two‐year college. Problems associated with overeducation are evident in both the U. S. and Japan. The authors argue that the function of the community college is to prepare students to enter the kinds of jobs that are available in highly industrialized societies.
Beyond the Interpretive: The Way of Awareness
Authors: Quinney Richard
Published: January 2007

Thought by itself is incapable of arriving at truth. In fact, thought of the discursive form is a source of our incapacity to know. Knowledge‐including interpretation‐is conditioned by the limitations of the thought of Western rationality. However, within the esoteric or perennial tradition there is the possibility of an awareness that goes beyond the conditionality of thought. The path to awareness involves a transformation in our being, a transformation which allows a healing of the separation between the observer and the observed. To enter into this realm requires a mind that is unattached and compassionate. In mindfulness‐in attention to our oneness with all things‐we become aware of things as they really are, here and now.
Durkheim, Schopenhauer and the Relationship Between Goals and Means: Reversing the Assumptions in the Parsonian Theory of Rational Action*
Authors: Meštrović Stjepan G.
Published: January 2007

Scholars have approached Durkheim's thought primarily from the starting point that he was a positivist. Although Schopenhauer's philosophy is not generally invoked in Durkheim's work, it appears that Schopenhauer's philosophy supplanted Comte's positivism at the turn of the century and that Durkheim was enamored with Schopenhauer's philosophy. In this essay Schopenhauer's influence upon Durkheim is traced, and the implications of this influence are discussed in terms of their effect upon sociology. By applying this starting point to Durkheim's thought and the Parsonian‐Mertonian goals‐means schema, it is demonstrated that Durkheim, like Schopenhauer, assumed the opposite of the Enlightenment belief that human reason could dominate passion. Implications for interpreting Durkheim's work are also discussed.
Sex Inequality at Higher Levels in the Hierarchy: An Intraorganizational Perspective
Authors: Auster Ellen R. , Drazin Robert
Published: January 2007

The relationship of sex‐based wage inequality to level in the hierarchy is investigated for 2,631 employees of a large financial services organization. As hypothesized, men earned more than women overall, and the wage gap between men and women was greater at higher levels in the hierarchy than at lower levels in the hierarchy. The effects of performance ratings on salary also differed by level. At higher levels, the impact of each increase in performance rating was greater for men than women, whereas at lower levels the impact was similar between men and women.
Paddock Rites: Integrative Ritual in the Racing Community*
Authors: Case Carole
Published: January 2007

This paper explores a focal ritual in the community of horseracing known as the paddock. Using data gathered through participant observation, the author interprets the paddock ritual within the context of the racing community and its status hierarchy. The ritual integrates members of the racing community in relation to their social prestige and thus contributes to the social order. The paddock accomplishes this integrative function by according marginal members of the racing community temporary public recognition and acknowledgement of their contributions, both of which mitigate the alienation these individuals routinely experience.
An Examination of Social and Socio‐Psychological Factors in Party Preferences: The Case of Greece*
Authors: Dobratz Betty
Published: January 2007

Two important traditions of research on the causes of voting preferences, one that stresses social variables and is associated with the University of Columbia and the other that examines current issues and is identified with the University of Michigan Survey Research Institute, are drawn upon to help provide an analysis of political party preference in Greece. Among the social variables used in the study, age is the only significant one. Issues related to foreign policy concerns, socioeconomic redistribution, and government record tend to have strong effects on left‐leaning party preference. It is suggested that Greek parties do tend to proclaim rather distinct positions on foreign policy issues and socioeconomic redistribution, and Greeks perceive a difference between the parties on these issues. However, the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) in reality may not be as radical on foreign policy issues as some of its rhetoric suggests.
Fear of Criminal Victimization: The Effect of Neighborhood Racial Composition
Authors: Moeller Gertrude L.
Published: January 2007

This analysis extends previous research on fear of crime by focusing on neighborhood racial composition as a salient predictor of fear of criminal victimization. Although its main effect was not strongly associated with fear, a multiplicative interaction term for neighborhood racial composition by race (WRAC) suggests that whites living in mostly black neighborhoods are the most fearful. Only sex and size of community were stronger predictors of fear. A parsimonious model including the variables sex, age, community size, and the interaction term WRAC is found to explain twenty‐six percent of the variance in fear for personal safety on neighborhood streets at night.
Modifying Beliefs and Behavior through Self‐Confrontation*
Authors: Greenstein Theodore N.
Published: January 2007

Self‐confrontation theory is a cognitive‐consistency‐based model of behavioral and cognitive change developed by Milton Rokeach. The theoretical origins and major concepts of self‐confrontation theory are elaborated, along with a review of experimental tests and evidence supporting the theory. The sociological relevance of self‐confrontation theory and research is discussed.
Fitting In: Socio‐Economic Attainment Patterns of Foreign‐Born Egyptians in the United States
Authors: El‐Badry Samia , Poston Dudley L.
Published: January 2007

This paper analyzes socio‐economic attainment patterns of foreign‐born Egyptians in the United States, as tabulated in the 1980 U. S. Census. This is achieved first through an examination of their earnings, followed by an analysis of the rate at which their human capital characteristics are converted into wages.

The findings suggest that this more recent immigrant group has likely attained higher earnings largely because of their skills and educational levels. Thus, while assimilation theory posits the crucial importance of time as a linkage to higher socio‐economic attainment, this may not necessarily be the case for these immigrant men and women.
From POET to PISTOL: Reflections on the Ecological Complex*
Authors: Bailey Kenneth D.
Published: January 2007

Some macroecologists study population characteristics using a single variable, while others specify a system of interrelated variables. The purpose of this paper is to offer an ecological model which is theoretically appropriate and correctly bounded. Based on population (P), information (I), space (S), technology (T), organization (O), and level of living (L), or PISTOL, it is argued that the addition of two variables to the most famous ecological model (POET), namely L and I correctly bounds the POET model since each component is theoretically important.
The Underclass in the United States: Some Correlates of Economic Change*
Authors: Singh Vijai P.
Published: January 2007

This paper analyzes the important manifestations of the underclass, outlines some differing positions on its origin and persistence, and lends further support to the argument of its link with the changing United States economy. The processes that produce and maintain the underclass are discussed along with their conflicting and converging interpretations. An analysis of the impact of industrial restructuring in the early 1980s shows that massive job losses affected blacks in the inner city areas much more severely than any other groups. The economic recovery that followed has not benefitted this group and, as a consequence, many census tract areas that were predominantly poor have become designated underclass. Consequences of the polarization of the labor force that has contributed to the isolation of inner city blacks from the economy is discussed, and recommendations are offered for solving this national problem.
Parsons' Economic Sociology: A Failure of Will*
Authors: Gould Mark
Published: January 2007

In the Marshall Lectures and in Economy and Society Parsons endeavored to demonstrate that economic theory was a special case in the general theory of social systems. He then attempted to show that the parameters of macroeconomic theory could be analyzed as variables within a general social systems theory. But Parsons’economic sociology failed to redeem its promise. He did not succeed in using macro‐economic theory as the basis for the formulation of a propositional macrosociology; nor did he sociologically reconstruct the logic of utilitarian, neoclassical economic theory.
Completeness and Accuracy of Recall in the Diffusion of the News From a Newspaper vs. a Television Source
Authors: DeFleur Melvin L. , Cronin Mary M.
Published: January 2007

The study of the word‐of‐mouth flow of news to audiences is an important if somewhat neglected topic. First, this may be the only means by which some citizens receive information about events and issues in their community. Second, in disaster situations many people cannot be reached by conventional means, and critical information comes to them by word‐of‐mouth. The present experiment makes use of the Allport and Postman design for the study of the changes (leveling and sharpening) that messages undergo as they are passed from one person to another in serial retelling. A news story of just over 300 words was presented to a set of “starter” subjects. Each then passed on the information to another subject, who in turn passed it on to a third, and so on. Seven such chains were developed with six subjects in each of two versions of the experiment. In one the information was presented as a newspaper story. In the other, the (same) story was presented via television. Those in the newspaper chains remembered more details overall than those involved in the television version. However, a clear pattern of “leveling” was characteristic of all the chains. An analysis of the salient details that survived through the six subjects in each of the chains (regardless of medium) showed a coherent and more or less logical organization of the central ideas and not a random jumble of distorted facts. Thus, word‐of‐mouth transmission of news can convey meaningful, if greatly abbreviated, versions of stories to a secondary audience. However, the data suggest that audiences recall more complete information from a newspaper presentation of a story than from a television exposure.
Beyond the Structure/Agency Dualism: An Evaluation of Giddens’Theory of Structuration*
Authors: Baber Zaheer
Published: January 2007

In this paper an evaluation of Giddens’theory of structuration is focused on two related issues: first, the degree to which Giddens provides a theory of action which transcends the structure/agency dualism and, second, whether such a transcendence is possible. In the first instance, it is demonstrated that Giddens exaggerates the powers of agents at the expense of structural constraints. Second, it is argued that transcendence of structure/agency dualism and the specification of a definitive ontology of action is not possible and that the merit of structuration theory lies in its use as a sensitizing device for empirical research.
Producing Evaluative Knowledge: The Interactional Bases of Social Science Findings*
Authors: Holstein James A. , Staples William G.
Published: January 2007

This paper examines the interactional underpinnings of social scientific research. Based on a detailed examination of a two‐hour research interview, it describes aspects of the conversational practices through which social scientific knowledge is generated. Past critiques of interview research have been somewhat unilateral in their focus, typically examining how researchers impose understandings on their subjects' reports. This paper moves beyond the unilateral focus to describe how researcher and subjects interact to mutually develop procedures for doing the actual research and collaboratively assemble their product. The analysis treats evaluative knowledge as a locally managed, interactional achievement. It stresses the practical, in situ character of how knowledge is co‐produced.
Dramaturgy and Social Movements: The Social Construction and Communication of Power*
Authors: Benford Robert D. , Hunt Scott A.
Published: January 2007

This paper seeks to illuminate how social movements collectively construct and communicate power. Drawing on insights from dramaturgy as well as from field research of several movements, the article demonstrates how social movements are dramas routinely concerned with challenging or sustaining interpretations of power relations. Four dramatic techniques associated with such communicative processes are identified and elaborated: scripting, staging, performing and interpreting. It is suggested that movement outcomes hinge in part upon how well activists employ these techniques and manage various emergent contingencies and tensions. The paper concludes with a discussion of several sets of theoretical and empirical implications.
BOOK REVIEWS
Authors: Folse Kimberly A.
Published: January 2007

Book reviewed in this article:

Artificial Experts: Social Knowledge and Intelligent Machines, by H. M. Collins. Cambrige, MA and London, England: MIT Press, 1990, 266 + XIII pages, $19.95, hardback.

Images of Issues: Typifying Contemporary Social Problems, edited by Joel Best. New York: Aldine de Gruyter, 1989, 258 pages, $34.95, hardback, $16.95, paper.

An End to Shame: Shaping Our Next Sexual Revolution, by Ira L. Reiss with Harriet M. Reiss. Buffalo, NY: Prometheus Books, 1990, 287 pages, $21.95, hardback.

Structures of Power and Constraint: Papers in Honor of Peter M. Blau, edited by Craig Calhoun, Marshall W. Meyer, and W. Richard Scott. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990, 495 pages, $65.00, hardback.

Social Entropy Theory, by Kenneth D. Bailey. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1990, 310 pages, $54.50, cloth, $17.95, paper.

Sociological Theories in Progress: New Formulations, by Joseph Berger, Morris Zelditch and Bo Anderson (eds.). Newbury Park: Sage Publications, 1989, 416 pages, $42.00.
The Influence of Situational Ethics on Cheating Among College Students*
Authors: McCabe Donald L.
Published: January 2007

This research examines the influence of situational ethics on cheating among college students. The analysis of responses from 6,096 students at thirty‐one diverse schools suggests that neutralization is a significant factor in justifying the violation of institutional norms on academic honesty. Although cheating is generally seen as wrong, students identify many situations in which they feel cheating is acceptable.