bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Social Context of Couple Conflict: Support and Criticism from Informal Third Parties
Authors: A. Klein Renate C. , Milardo Robert M.
Published: March 2007

This study investigates how informal third parties, such as friends and family members, may play a role in couple conflict as perceived supporters or critics of partners' conflicting positions. We examine who partners perceive to be supporters and critics and how beliefs about supporters and critics are related to partners' views of the conflict. In a sample of 98 dating couples, parents and close friends were equally likely to be perceived as critics, but close friends were more likely than parents to be perceived as supporters. In general, partners saw their primary supporters among their same-sex friends in their own, rather than the couple's joint, network. Thinking of one's own position as legitimate was correlated, for women, with the presence of supporters, and for men, with the absence of critics. Finally, the extent to which partners had separate, as opposed to joint, networks of significant others was systematically related to their preferred conflict management strategies.
Sexual Offenses Against Children as the Abusive Exploitation of Conventional Adult-Child Relationships
Authors: Bennell Craig , Alison Laurence J. , Stein Kristin L. , Alison Emily K. , Canter David V.
Published: March 2007

A study was conducted to determine whether the relationship processes underlying offender-child interactions in child sexual abuse could be considered as abusive and manipulative variants of more conventional relationship processes that exist between adults and children. To explore this possibility, it was proposed that a circular order of behaviors (i.e., a circumplex) would exist in offender-child interactions that relates to circular models found in more conventional adult-child interactions. Furthermore, just as biases are found in conventional adult-child interactions towards particular relationship patterns, it was proposed that a bias would exist in offender-child interactions reflecting the predominant way in which child sex offenses are carried out. Using a multivariate statistical analysis that geometrically represents the co-occurrence of individual actions, the behaviors from 97 British child sex offenses were analyzed. The results provide preliminary support for the idea that the coercive nature of offender-child interactions in child sexual abuse relies on the offender gaining and abusing the trust of the victim by exploiting a range of conventional adult-child relationship patterns.
Attachment Orientations, Dependence, and Behavior in a Stressful Situation: An Application of the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model
Authors: Campbell Lorne , Simpson Jeffry A. , Kashy Deborah A. , Rholes W. Steven
Published: March 2007

In this study, we assessed how attachment orientations and degree of relationship dependence influence individuals' own behavior and their partners' behavior in a stressful situation using the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model (APIM; Kashy & Kenny, 2000). Dating couples were videotaped while the female partner was waiting to engage in an anxiety-provoking task. Raters then evaluated the behavior of each partner on theoretically relevant dimensions. We found that more avoidantly attached individuals behaved more negatively toward their partners. Moreover, people behaved more negatively if their partners were more avoidant. Very few direct effects of dependence emerged. However, attachment orientations, particularly avoidant attachment and level of dependence, interacted to predict the behavior of both partners. In particular, less avoidant and highly dependent people behaved less negatively toward their partners, whereas more avoidant and less dependent people behaved more negatively. These results are discussed in terms of attachment theory, interdependence theory, and the APIM.
The Impact of Coping Strategies, Personal Relationships, and Emotional Distress on Health-Related Outcomes of Parents Living with Hiv or Aids
Authors: Leslie Michelle Burden , Stein Judith A. , Rotheram-Borus Mary Jane
Published: March 2007

This study examines the impact of emotional distress and social relationships on health-related outcomes of parents living with HIV or AIDS, as mediated by active and passive coping styles (N = 295; 81% female). Social relationships are exemplified by conflict with children and social support. Health-related outcomes include AIDS illness distress, health-care satisfaction, and substance abuse. In a predictive latent variable model using cross-sectional data, social support was significantly associated with higher levels of active coping. Conflict with adolescent children and emotional distress were associated with passive coping styles. More active coping and less passive coping predicted greater health care satisfaction; active coping predicted less substance abuse. Emotional distress directly predicted distress over HIV or AIDS physical symptoms, and this relation was not mediated by coping style. Mothers reported more distress over symptoms and more health care satisfaction than fathers. Results indicate that interventions to enhance coping skills could lead to improved health-related outcomes for parents living with HIV or AIDS.
Factors Influencing Children's Evaluations of Aggression and Passivity
Authors: Edmunds George , O'Hagan Frank J.
Published: March 2007

One hundred and sixty boys aged mainly between 9 and 11 years evaluated aggressive acts that were performed either to achieve the respondent's own goals (personal aggression) or to help another individual (social aggression). The personal aggressive behaviours were further classified according to whether they were designed to hurt the victim (hostile) or were exhibited to take control of property (instrumental), and according to whether the sequence was started by the aggressor (initiatory) or by the victim (reactive). Social aggression received the highest evaluations and, regardless of the intention, reactive aggression was judged significantly higher than initiatory aggression. Ninety six of the pupils rated a person who remained passive in situations providing opportunities for social, reactive instrumental and reactive hostile aggression. Failure to participate in social aggression was viewed with more disfavour than the other types of passivity. Judgements of aggression and passivity were positively associated with anticipations of paternal responses. Social class differences in evaluations were more evident for passivity than for aggression, and several explanations are offered for this finding.
Reciprocal Interaction and Similarity of Personality Attributes
Authors: Blankenship Virginia , Hnat Steven M. , Hess Thomas G. , Brown Donald R.
Published: March 2007

In a study of the relationship between similarity of personality and interaction choices, 336 students gave up to ten choices within fifty person classes. Personality variables were measured two years before sociometric choices (before acquaintance) and at the time of the choices. Reciprocal interaction pairs were more similar on a derived authoritarianism scale of the Omnibus Personality Inventory (OPI) than no-choice pairs at the time of the choices, but not more similar before they became acquainted. Religious items accounted for the increased similarity. A Guttman scale of religious items was identified and scores were related to sociometric spaces generated with Guttman-Lingoes smallest space analysis. Church affiliation did not explain reciprocal interaction choices, but church attendance was weakly related to choices, with reciprocal pairs being more similar than no-choice pairs on frequency of attendance. Reciprocal interaction pairs which persisted to the fourth year were more similar on intellectualism than persistent nochoice pairs and more similar than reciprocal interaction pairs which did not persist. These findings suggest that similarity leads to interaction and that interaction leads to increased similarity.
Gender Differences in the Hetero-Sexual Relationship Rules Embedded in Break-Up Accounts
Authors: Baxter Leslie A.
Published: March 2007

Rules theory is the framework for this study's analysis of ordinary language contained in break-up accounts. It attempts to understand the relationship expectations which parties have for their opposite-sex romantic relationships. Break-up accounts from 157 respondents produced eight primary reasons/rules relevant to this relationship type: the obligation to grant autonomy beyond the relationship; the expectation of similarity; the obligations to be supportive, loyal and open; the expectation of shared time between relationship parties; the expectation of equity; and the expectation that a romantic relationship will be characterized by an inexplicable `magic' quality. Females were significantly more likely to mention autonomy, openness, and equity reasons in their break-up accounts than males were; males, in turn, more frequently mentioned the lack of the magical quality as a reason for break-up. Overall, females mentioned significantly more reasons/rules for break-up than did the male respondents in the sample.
`True Love Ways': The Subjective Experience and Communication of Romantic Love
Authors: Marston Peter J. , Hecht Michael L. , Robers Tia
Published: March 2007

Whereas previous research into romantic love has focused upon the traits of love objects, beliefs about love and/or types of loving relationships, these two studies examine the subjective experience of love and the manners in which love is communicated. In Study I seventy-six respondents participated in face-to-face interviews. Responses were content and cluster analysed. Cluster analysis revealed six `ways of romantic love': Collaborative Love, Active Love, Secure Love, Intuitive Love, Committed Love and Traditional Romantic Love. In Study 11185 respondents completed a questionnaire version of the Study I interview. Respondents then employed the six love clusters in self-coding their responses, providing representational validity for the previous cluster analysis. Further, a confirming cluster analysis - using a subset of the Study II data - provided construct validity for four of the six love clusters. A fifth cluster split into two new clusters. These studies support two general conclusions. First, love may be experienced in a variety of different ways: in terms of relational constructs, physiological responses, behavioural actions and/or non-verbal perceptions. Second, there is a strong coherence in lovers' experience of love and in their reports of how love is communicated.
Interpreting Research on Gender Differences in Friendship: A Case for Moderation and a Plea for Caution
Authors: Wright Paul H.
Published: March 2007

Research on gender and friendship has yielded a modal pattern of differences between women and men that is impressively robust. However, these differences are reported in ways that are sometimes misleading and often exaggerated, and that generally leave the impression of greater within-gender uniformity than is actually the case. In sum, the importance of gender differences in friendship is overemphasized. The present paper addresses some possible meanings of `importance' as applied to social research. It is intended to be a reminder of some widely acknowledged but easily overlooked points of interpretation concerning the kinds of data with which relationship researchers usually deal. Specific issues are the tendency to reify statistical significance, to overlook within-group variability, and to disregard the implications of gender as a subject variable. Moderation in interpreting and reporting differences and healthy skepticism are offered as simple hedges against exaggerating the importance of gender differences in friendship.
Development of the `Romantic Beliefs Scale' and Examination of the Effects of Gender and Gender-Role Orientation
Authors: Sprecher Susan , Metts Sandra
Published: March 2007

Through a program of research, a scale was developed to measure beliefs that have been identified in the literature as constituting an ideology of romanticism. The final scale items were selected and subjected to several reliability and validity tests in a survey study conducted with 730 undergraduate students. The results provided strong support for the validity and reliability of the Romantic Beliefs Scale as well as for the four beliefs comprising the scale: Love Finds a Way, One and Only, Idealization, and Love at First Sight. Furthermore, romanticism was found to be related to gender and gender-role orientation. Men were generally more romantic than women, and femininity was a stronger predictor of romanticism than was masculinity. These findings are discussed as a function of both social structure and personal predispositions.
Relationships as Unfinished Business: Out of the Frying Pan and into the 1990s
Authors: Duck Steve
Published: March 2007

This paper outlines three problems that are foreseen to face us as we enter the 1990s. These are: (1) defining the nature of relationships in the face of discrepancies between the reports of partners and outsiders about the events that occur in the relationship; (2) clarifying the nature of claims that relationships are `processes'; (3) providing a better understanding of the everyday conduct and routines of relationships, particularly the role of everyday talk. It is argued that longitudinal work and work capturing the experiences and reports of both members of a dyad must solve the first problem at a theoretical level before they can be helpful. It is suggested that, after Billig's (1987) argument that thinking and arguing characterize social behavior, relationships are best conceived phenomenally as unfinished business, just as research usually is. Several suggestions are made about the nature of relationships and, in the course of the paper, some suggestions are made for future work on social and personal relationships, loneliness, social support, children's friendship and process models of relating.
A Dyadic and Gender-Specific Analysis of Close Friendships of Preadolescents Receiving Group Psychotherapy
Authors: Shechtman Zipora , Vurembrand Naomi , Hertz-Lazarowitz Rachel
Published: March 2007

This study investigated the effect of therapy/counseling groups on friendships of latency-age children lacking in social efficacy, referred for counseling by their homeroom teachers. Experimental students underwent weekly therapy in six small groups, whereas control students received routine academic counseling services over the same period (an entire school year). Self- and other-reported data confirmed significant gains in intimacy in best and second-best friends among experimental students, particularly the boys.
Issues of Closeness and Distance in Dating Relationships: Effects of Sex and Attachment Style
Authors: Feeney Judith A.
Published: March 2007

This study was designed to clarify the nature of partners' needs for closeness and distance in established dating relationships, by integrating theories of attachment, gender role socialization, and dialectical contradictions. Seventy-two couples who had been dating their partners for at least one year provided unstructured accounts of their relationships, and completed measures of attachment style and relationship satisfaction. Both qualitative and quantitative analyses were conducted. Results showed that issues of closeness and distance were highly salient, especially for insecurely attached individuals. The presence and nature of reported differences in partners' needs for closeness-distance were predicted by sex and by the attachment styles of both partners; these dif-ferences were also linked to relationship satisfaction. Participants frequently reported that interactions concerning closeness-distance had changed during the course of the relationship, supporting dialectical theorists' emphasis on the tension between needs for autonomy and connection. Recurrent conflicts over closeness-distance were linked with attachment insecurity, especially males' dismissing-avoid-ance. The results highlight the need to consider both sex and attachment style differences in explaining conflicts over closeness and distance.
The Role of Identity in the Link between Relationship Thinking and Relationship Satisfaction
Authors: Acitelli Linda K. , Rogers Stephanie , Knee C. Raymond
Published: March 2007

The link between a partner's thinking about the relationship and relationship satisfaction has been shown to be stronger for women than men. The main goal of this study was to examine the extent to which one's identity (rather than biological sex) moderates that link. In a survey of 238 couples (90 unmarried and 148 married), results indicated that, for unmarried couples, a general relational identity, or the tendency to see oneself in relation to others in general, moderated the association between positive relationship thinking and satisfaction. For married couples, a couple identity, or the tendency to see oneself as part of the specific relationship, moderated this association. These results were generally the same for both men and women, indicating that one's identity may be more important than biological sex in determining concurrent associations between relationship thinking and relationship satisfaction. However, longitudinal findings suggest that long-term outcomes of positive relationship thinking may be stronger for women than men. Results are discussed in terms of the development and importance of a specific couple identity in committed relationships.
Non-official statistics — an important source of business information
Authors: Mort David
Published: March 2007

Statistical information from organisations outside central government such as trade associations, professional bodies, stockbrokers etc. is an important source of information for business and industry, but very little is known about the range and nature of this non-official material. During an 18 month period in 1983 and 1984 Warwick Statistics Service carried out a survey of regular non-official statistics published in the UK and at the end of the survey had identified 1112 titles. This article outlines the main results of the survey. A considerable number of the titles identified contain original data not available elsewhere and most of the titles have no restriction on their availability. The major criticism of non-official sources is that they are poor at acknowledging the sources used in compiling the data and do not provide adequate notes and definitions and details of statistical techniques used. The general library network holds only a small percentage of the titles identified but the situation is gradually improving and a detailed guide to all the titles will be published in summer 1985 and regularly updated.
The impact of online services on business information workers
Authors: Norton Robert A.
Published: March 2007

Developing technologies and a changing market-place are already having a significant impact on information workers (not necessarily drawn from the ranks of today's librarians). Tomorrow's information professional will be less passive, more committed than his traditional counterpart and he will have other functions to perform. He will be required to exercise a different kind of professional judgement in a role of increased demands. He needs to remain flexible to developing possibilities in the information industry and adopt a new attitude towards the use of his skills while the industry changes.
News Ideologies as Moulders of Domestic News
Authors: Westerståhl Jörgen , Johansson Folke
Published: March 2007

In a study of Swedish news media, 1912-84, a distinction is made between news values, regarded as more or less permanent, and changing news ideologies, conceived as an outflow of other ideologies. In statements concerning the broadcasting media three periods of different news ideologies are identified. They all seem to have had a strong impact both on the selection of news and on the selection of perspectives applied in the news.
International Regulation of Direct Satellite Broadcasting: Illusions and Alternatives
Authors: Hoffmann-Riem Wolfgang
Published: March 2007

In a futuristic scenario a look is taken at the possible political and legal responses to new communication technologies, in particular DBS. The previous fronts in the international discussion of transnational broadcasting and its regulation will probably break down. In the wake of the international distribution of the programmes of commercial broadcasters, hitherto existing external services will lose their special role. Internationally distributed programmes financed by advertising will trigger a new brand of problems for recipient countries. These, especially the developing countries, are advised to prepare their populations as soon as possible for the confrontation with these programmes, and to ensure that they possess independent broadcasting systems.
Media Policy in The Netherlands: Beyond the Market?
Authors: Nieuwenhuis A. J.
Published: March 2007

Dutch media policy has undergone changes in the last few decades. A working policy for the press has only been initiated during this period, because of the disappearance of many traditional dailies. However, the consequences for the press of the general social and cultural changes could not be countered by the government. Besides, while the freedom of the press may be served by merger control and specific state subsidy, press policy is also restricted by freedom of the press. Therefore, press policy ultimately comes down to being a kind of guarantee of market diversity. Broadcasting policy of old was more extensive; it embraced the whole so-called `pillarized' public broadcasting system and the government made serious attempts to counter the consequences of the general changes in society and to stop commercial broadcasting. As it turned out, technological developments and international law meant that this counterattack was not overwhelmingly successful. Moreover, the freedom of broadcasters also seems to limit the scope of broadcasting policy. Because of these related factors, the Dutch government can no longer prevent free enterprise in broadcasting. This has many repercussions for the public broadcasting system. The market system forces itself upon policy-makers and they cannot avoid taking it into account.
Different Destinies — Different Melodies: School Achievement, Anticipated Status and Adolescents' Tastes in Music
Authors: Roe Keith
Published: March 2007

The concept of anticipatory socialization has been under-utilized in communication research. Combining the Uses and Gratifications approach with the theories of Bourdieu and Passeron it is argued that, during adolescence, media use is related to the anticipated future as well as to the past. A theoretical model postulating school achievement, school satisfaction and anticipated school future as significant mediating factors in adolescents' tastes in music is tested by means of ANOVA and LISREL analyses of data from a survey of 1334 Swedish adolescents. The results provide qualified support for the model. The implications for theoretical development are discussed.
The Role of Television in European Elections: The Cases of Belgium and Denmark
Authors: Leroy Pascale , Siune Karen
Published: March 2007

Direct election to the European Parliament was introduced in 1979, when the first direct election took place. The second direct election was held in 1984 and the third in 1989 after the decision to create a Single European Market. Traditionally, a large proportion of national election campaigns consists of television coverage. Given plans for greater European integration in becomes increasingly relevant to study the role of national television in the process of European integration. This article focuses on the use of television in Belgium and Denmark, with different aspects of European election campaigns on television being highlighted. Was the role of television the same in these two countries on the issue of election to the European Parliament? Or did it follow a pattern to be expected due to a differentiation between Belgium and Denmark based on ideas of EC centre and periphery? Using data collected as part of a systematic content analysis of EC issues on television programmes in 1979, 1984 and 1989, we look at the structure of the European election campaigns on the national TV channels in these two small EC countries. How did television access for political parties compare with national elections? Further, what changes have there been over this period, and to what degree did changes in the media structure influence the use of television?
Chinese Encounters with Other Civilizations
Authors: Hsu Cho-Yun
Published: March 2007

This article is a comparison of two cases of introducing foreign faiths in China. One case is that of Buddhism being brought from Central Asia and then directly from India. This Indian faith was adopted by commoners and then gradually accepted by the elite throughout a period of three centuries. The scholasticism developed in the Confucian orthodoxy created an intellectual vacuum for Buddhism to fill. It took Buddhism a full 1000 years to be sinicized as finally Zen-Buddhism and Pure-land become popular in China. Another case is that of the Catholic missionary activities in the Ming-Ching (Ming-Qing) period. The Jesuits made efforts to convert Chinese intellectual and members of the ruling class to accept Christianity. They adopted Chinese vocabularies to explain Christianity to the Chinese. The great Controversy of Rituals in the 17th century between the Ching court and the Catholic Church caused restriction of missionary activities in China. In the Ming period, Confucianism of the Wang Yan-ming school was in full strength and Catholics did not have an intellectual vacancy to exploit.
STATUS INCONSISTENCY AND CRISS-CROSS IN AN ADOLESCENT SOCIETY
Authors: Engel Uwe
Published: March 2007

Over 30 years of continuing empirical research on status inconsistency (SI) do not permit a final conclusion regarding the empirical tenability of this body of theory. This is primarily due to the fact that the empirical research done so far cannot be regarded as a representative or complete counterpart of the whole body of status inconsistency theory. In particular, the relational concepts elaborated by Johan Galtung have not been exposed to empirical tests yet. Based on a representative probability sample of n=1,717 adolescents attending 7th and 9th grades of secondary school, the present paper provides a multi-level analysis regarding aggression and social conflict, as predicted by some of Galtung's individual-level and aggregate-level rank concepts, respectively. First, rank incongruence is shown to be a source of conflict in the friendship dyad. Secondly, the empirical analysis yields strong evidence in favour of both the criss-cross and rank disequilibrium hypothesis. As expected, the lack of criss-cross turns out to be a structural determinant of aggression. The conflict-preventing function of criss-cross is discussed and the degree of rank disagreement is suggested to be a structural characteristic that may modify this conflict-preventing function of criss-cross. Thirdly, rank disequilibrium is shown to be another major source of aggression and conflict, respectively.
SOCIAL MOVEMENTS AND POLITICAL POWER: EVOLUTION IN LATIN AMERICA
Authors: Borda Orlando Fals
Published: March 2007

Social movements came to life again in Latin America towards 1964. Working mainly at the local level, they have been undergoing intense evolution by adopting political functions. This has been due to the concatenation of the problems faced by them in existing vacuums of power. Movements have sustained themselves in time and have expanded regionally, to the point of now adopting national stances. This is expressed in autonomous action exemplified in Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Chile and other nations. Prospects are difficult because of repression and co-optation, but unexpected resistance of the movements expresses an intense desire to achieve alternative developments and ways of life in these countries.
`No Brains, No Initiative, No Collaboration' - The Austrian Case
Authors: Fleck Christian
Published: March 2007

Established formally in 1950, the Austrian Society of Sociology did not really exist during its first decade, though at the end of the 1950s one man entered the International Sociological Association under the guise of the Austrian Society of Sociology. In the middle of the 1960s, when the government began a reform of the university system, sociology was established as a full programme and the Society was resuscitated. At the end of the 1960s, the worldwide student movement spilled over into Austria, and self-proclaimed revolutionaries came to power. From the mid-1970s the Society became a more or less normal association: it published a journal and a newsletter, and organized annual conferences and sections for academic discussion. The time-lag between the intellectual beginnings of sociology and the establishment of the Society is remarkable. The Society does not function as a professional organization. Its influence on the university curriculum and the recruitment policies of departments has been weak, the participation of its members is poor, and its international standing is negligible. All in all, the history of the Society seems to confirm what the ex-Austrian Paul F. Lazarsfeld wrote in 1959 about the Austrian situation: `no brains, no initiative, no collaboration'.
The Profession and its Association
Authors: Patel Sujata
Published: March 2007

The Indian Sociological Society was founded in 1951, and in 1967 merged with the All India Sociological Congress. Its development has been very much affected by the cleavage between regional (local-language)and national (English-language) universities, and the tendency for intellectual leaders to make particular departmental schools dominant. After the Delhi World Congress the organization was reconstructed, and became permanently based in Delhi; this is more efficient, and membership has grown, but it has also made it more centralized. The size and diversity of the potential constituency have made it difficult to cater for all interests, and there has also been pressure from a right-wing government with a religious agenda; moves are, however, now under way to bridge the regional and hierarchical divisions.
Life Course Patterns of National Associations
Authors: Simpson Ida Harper
Published: March 2007

This article draws on the preceding seven histories of national associations to examine commonalities and differences among them. The histories portray different strategies of organizing associations and adapting themselves to state control, societal conditions and members' interests. A disciplinary model was the most prevalent organizing strategy, but its viability ebbed and flowed with political oppression, the state of sociology as a discipline and internal associational conditions such as disciplinary composition and dissension. Two of the seven associations have survived continuously since being founded, while the other five have perished and been reborn from one to five times. Political oppression and internal associational dissension are what are mainly responsible for these associational deaths; for the state of sociology and its place in the academy for rebirths; and for the organizational cooptation of member interests for associational survival and growth.
THE OTHER WEST: ON THE HISTORICAL POSITION OF LATIN AMERICA
Authors: Merquior José G.
Published: March 2007

Throughout the 1980s, the `lost decade' for Latin America, the tide of democratisation and of tentative economic liberalisation seems to have coincided with the discredit of neo-Marxist theories, most notably the so-called dependency school. In their stead, cultural interpretations have been rekindled and renewed, in the very throes of the region's economic predicament. Richard Morse's Prospero's Mirror is a brilliant instance of this, with its influential stress on an organicist-patrimonialist substratum allegedly intrinsic to the Iberian collective consciousness besides representing, to a certain extent, a positive challenge to the values of late industrial modernity. Conceived as a short exercise in historical sociology, this paper takes issue with both the descriptive and the normative levels of the Morse thesis. While trying to qualify the `identity' issue in the subcontinent, the author claims that the best way to deeper development and social redemption in Latin America does not lie in any principled resistance to capitalism and modernity; rather, it promises to require integration policies inside as well as outside the area - able to produce actual breakthroughs towards a fuller market economy and a badly needed reform of the state.
ON ORGANISATIONAL STORIES AND MYTHS: WHY IT IS EASIER TO SLAY A DRAGON THAN TO KILL A MYTH
Authors: Gabriel Yiannis
Published: March 2007

The author explores how events in organisations are turned into stories. Three major types of story are identified and illustrated: the comic, the tragic, and the epic, as well as a number of hybrids. The emotions generated by these stories are explored as well as some of the meanings which they reveal. The author then discusses why people espouse particular stories with almost religious fervour and suggests that organisational stories are essentially fulfilments of unconscious wishes. In conclusion, he argues that stories and the `careers' which they pursue in organisations can illuminate that dimension referred to as the unmanaged organisation, where desires and pleasure predominate over rationality and expedience.
A FINAL LOOK BACK AT SOVIET SOCIOLOGY
Authors: Filippov Alexander F.
Published: March 2007

Soviet sociology must be understood against the background of the Soviet empire which provided its frame of reference as well as most of its substantive topics of enquiry. Sociology in the USSR benefitted from the weakening of totalitarian control in the 1980s. It became possible to develop and express ideas with relative freedom, i.e., controlled by the state in order to halt the rapid dissolution of the ecological and social fabric. Sociologists were in demand to start empirical research, especially on social crises and public opinion. A somewhat technocratic version of sociology focussing on the economy and social stratification came to be officially tolerated as a major contribution to stabilising the remaining Soviet state policy in the period of perestroika.

With the total collapse of the Soviet empire, however, this imperial sociology has lost its raison d'être. The vacuum left by the demise of the empire, in which a civil society has not yet developed, is parallelled by an intellectual vacuum in post-totalitarian sociology. This is only gradually being filled by a regionalisation of sociology in the various new states and its continued internationalisation by professional sociology (especially in Moscow and St. Petersburg). Social research into all aspects of political and social life is spreading throughout the territory of the former empire.
SUCCESSION IN THE STRATIFICATION SYSTEM: A CONTRIBUTION TO THE `DEATH OF CLASS' DEBATE
Authors: Waters Malcolm
Published: March 2007

The `death of class' debate turns on the simple issue of whether or not class exists. While we may accept that the influence of class is waning, the concept should not be abandoned. Indeed, we should retain the Marxist meaning of the concept, but accept that a variety of stratification orders is possible and that the class order may be subordinated to others. Weber has signalled, in the class-party-status triplet, the most significant possible stratification orders. These exhibit patterns of competition, domination and succession over time. Class was the dominant order only under nineteenth-century Western capitalism. Since then class has been succeeded by other stratification orders. During the twentieth century the predominant order has focussed on the state and organisational systems. However, under current circumstances, predominance is shifting towards cultural items and processes, to idealised communities that focus on life-styles and value commitments. The general trend which runs through and drives this succession process, is the `perfectionalisation' of the market.
HEALTH CARE SYSTEMS AND THE PEOPLE: A FIVE-NATION STUDY IN THE EUROPEAN UNION
Authors: Lueschen Guenther , Stevens Fred , van der Zee Jouke , Cockerham William C. , Diederijks Jos , d'Houtaud Alphonse , Ferrando Manuel G. , Peeters Ruud , Niemann Steffen
Published: March 2007

The results of an exploratory five-nation survey of 2,239 adults interviewed on the telephone indicate general satisfaction with the health care system and less satisfaction with common welfare. In particular German respondents reported minor problems in their experiences with doctors with regard to communication and timing. Concerning health policy, French and Spanish respondents favoured more interventionist medicine, while Germans in particular preferred medicine as care. The public responsibility for care and the shifting of responsibility for future financial needs to employers and the public reveal a tendency that has been called corrupt. Overall, when evaluations and attitudes concerning health care and related policies were controlled for demographic factors, they were not particularly determined by social stratification, which indicates that the health system functions well in providing comprehensive care and securing the identity and integration of society. However, value orientations as a reflection of culture and the respective nationalities are strong determinants of health care systems. National identity confirms at the same time the validity of the comparative approach and the use of multivariate analyses.
MASS POLITICS, ELECTIONS AND AFRICAN SOCIAL STRUCTURE: BOTSWANA AND OTHER AFRICAN COUNTRIES
Authors: Abucar Mohamed H.
Published: March 2007

This paper deals with the relationship between mass politics, elections and African social structure, and draws examples from Botswana, Somalia, Algeria and other African countries. Mass politics and elections were introduced in Africa immediately after political independence. The paper argues that the African social structure was a stabilising factor in African countries if incorporated within modern political institutions as a separate entity with a certain extent of autonomy. The major problems that African countries are facing are political instability and economic dependency. Political and economic factors played an important role during the transition to democracy. Elections were not independent variables. Countries that maintained a certain amount of traditional structure were more likely to experience political stability than countries which failed to recognise traditional structures. Botswana since independence has experienced more political stability than countries such as Somalia and Algeria where traditional structures disappeared overnight. Countries with better economic management are also more likely to sustain political stability.
POPULATION GROWTH, AGRARIAN PEASANT ECONOMY AND ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION IN TANZANIA
Authors: Madulu Ndalahwa Faustin
Published: March 2007

This paper attempts to discuss the link between population growth, peasant agrarian economy and environmental degradation in Tanzania. It argues that high population growth and economic backwardness are dependent variables which contribute significantly to rapid resource depletion, and hence to environmental degradation. In other words, peasant agrarian economic conditions stimulate the demand for larger families which leads to high population growth in turn. A change in one of these variables will necessarily lead to changes in the other, and both of them have an impact on the environment. The conclusion drawn is that attempts to reduce population growth need to be linked to the war against poverty and environmental degradation. Efforts should be directed to changing traditional ways of life by eliminating poverty and improving the means of production in the rural areas. Such efforts will ease the demand for children and reduce fertility levels in the long run.
THE EFFECTS OF THE MILITARY TRADITION ON LEBANON'S ASSERTIVE DRUZES
Authors: Harik Judith P.
Published: March 2007

This study asks whether the defence mechanisms developed by some minorities, as a result of a combination of factors involving threats and group responses, might eventually become important `energisers' which magnify the group's political influence. To answer this question, the study focuses on Lebanon's assertive Druze community, a heterodox Muslim sect known for having achieved considerable political influence in spite of its small numbers. Using data from several empirical works the study explores the extent to which traits associated with a military tradition, such as readiness to use force to redress grievances, internalisation of martial virtues, and others, have been transmitted to Druze youth. It was found that an action orientation and martial attitude were demonstrated to a greater extent by Druze respondents than by others, which suggests that the Druzes have internalised their community's military tradition as a prideful part of their identity. This tendency apparently reinforces intra-group cohesiveness, which is a positive factor in post-war Lebanon where other communities remain dangerously fragmented.
SLAVERY AS PROGRESS: PAGAN AND CHRISTIAN VIEWS OF SLAVERY AS MORAL TRAINING
Authors: Kyrtatas Dimitris J.
Published: March 2007

In Western culture, slavery is often considered a necessary stage in human progress and the attainment of universal freedom. This paper traces the origins of this reasoning to antiquity. It argues that the idea was first developed as an educational principle in the training of free people and was extended to the moral edification of slaves. It reflects the mentality of slave-owning cultures which regard bondage not only as necessary but also as beneficial. In Hellenistic and Roman times it was also given a religious dimension, and as such it became dominant in the Byzantine empire. Enslavement to God was a meaningful metaphor for conversion and piety. The centrality of servitude in moral training has left its clear marks on the modern ethics of work.
The Paradoxes of Civil Society
Authors: Alexander Jeffrey C.
Published: March 2007

Emerging from recent social and political struggles, the notion of `civil society' can and should be transformed into a sociological concept on both the theoretical and empirical level. This means going beyond the Marxist and social democratic understandings of civil society as a world of selfish economic interests, on the one hand, and beyond the liberal equation of civil society with legal protections of individual rights, on the other. Civil society should be conceptualized as a realm of solidarity, a `we-ness' that simultaneously affirms the sanctity of the individual and these individuals' obligations to the collectivity. The solidary sphere, in principle and in practice, can be differentiated not only from markets and states but from such other noncivil spheres as religion, family and science. Yet differentiation does not preclude tension and conflict over boundaries. Civil solidarity is `compromised' and `distorted' by these boundary relations, and also by competing, more primordial definitions of community, such as race, language, nation, territory, and ethnicity. While civil society can be identified with `universal reason' in a philosophical sense, in socio-logical terms it must be articulated by more concrete and identity-related symbolic constructs. For this reason, socio-logical approaches to civil society must be tied to cultural sociology, to theories of symbolic codes and narratives.
The Modern Emergence of Religions and a Global Social System for Religion
Authors: Beyer Peter
Published: March 2007

The article posits that central to contemporary notions of religion and religions has been the gradual development of a differentiated global social system for religion that manifests itself in a plurality of mutually distinguished religions. What counts as religion within this globalizing system and the globalized cultural model for what constitutes a religion are both the product of a highly selective historical process. The presentation of the hypothesis has three parts: a look at the historical development of a particular notion of religion and religions in the context of modern Western Christianity, an analysis of religion that adapts concepts from Luhmannian systems theory to argue that systemic religion uses binary codings as strategies for closure or recursiveness, and an examination of how other religions around the world have formed or not formed according to the systemic and cultural model of what a religion looks like. Throughout all the sections, the concern is not only with the existence of this religious system and its structure, but also with its fragility. The article concludes with implications of the hypothesis for research.
Culture and Social Structure Revisited
Authors: Eisenstadt S.N.
Published: March 2007

This article proposes the possibility of recombining the analysis of culture and social structure. In the first part it analyses the reasons for the dissociation between these two types of analysis since the sixties, in close relation with the growing criticisms of the structural-functional school. Its basic assumption is that any new attempt must be based on new ways to combine the analysis of the crystallization of different aspects of social structure in processes of social interaction in which individuals act as autonomous agents and where power and control are also connected with different aspects of 'culture'. It illustrates the possibilities of such an approach through two case studies: first, the comparative political dynamics of two centralised agrarian Empires - the Byzantine and the Chinese; second, within the realm of the sociology of religion, different meanings of other-worldliness and impacts of such sectanan orientations on civilisational dynamics.
Global Environmental Change and Contemporary Society
Authors: Prades José A.
Published: March 2007

Aiming at a progressive accumulation of knowledge complementary to recent and important works by environmental sociologists (Dunlap and Michelson, 1997; Redclift and Benton, 1994) and public agencies (CEQ, 1980; Olson, 1996), the general objective of this article is to pursue a renewed sociological understanding of contemporary society confronted by a particular process called global environmental change (GEC). Conceived within a specific integrated theoretical, empirical and applied approach, there is no place here for `inventories' (Sunderlin, 1995), nor `assessment analysis' (Buttle and Taylor, 1994) of current literature. In line with the author's own expertise (Prades, 1969, 1987, 1992, 1994), the specific objective of this article is to examine how a heuristic reading (Prades, 1990) of Weber and Durkheim provides basic theoretical insights for the study of GEC as a crucial contemporary societal-environmental problem. According to its own limits, the present text may only suggest avenues for further reflection and research.

Using macro-sociological, theoretical and methodological material directly oriented towards a concrete, problem-solving approach, this article contains three parts. As an introduction, the first section suggests a preliminary definition of contemporary sociogenic (societally generated) GEC. Searching for theoretical understanding and historical meaning, the second section concentrates on the pathological nature of contemporary sociogenic GEC and subsequently identifies `particularistic anomic individualism' as a key strategical explanatory cause of such a pathological process. Finally and decisively, the third section studies how this state of affairs can be practically overcome in a functional `societal solidarity' perspective based on the impulse of `sustainable development'.