bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Bad Boys and School Suspensions: Public Policy Implications for Black Males
Authors: Taylor Maurice C. , Foster Gerald A.
Published: January 2007

The focus of this research is the disciplinary policy of school suspension and its effect on black male students. We examined the application of public school suspensions by race and sex in an integrated school district in the southeastern portion of the United States. Data for the study were compiled from oficial records housed in the administrative complex for the entire school district. The suspensions cover one academic year from September of 1983 through June of 1984. During this period of time black males were disproportionately suspended in both the elementary and secondary schools. This finding is consistent with other research noting that black students, and in particular black male students, are disproportionately affected by the various policies of public schools. We then discuss the implications of these findings for black males. Policies which limit educational opportunities for black males increase the probability of their need for welfare services, incarceration in prisons, and commitment to mental hospitals. Our conclusion is that the policy of suspending problem students is not only an effort by elementary and secondary school administrators and faculty to remove bad boys but is also one of several policies which limit educational opportunities for black males.
Patterns of Childlessness among Catholic and Non‐Catholic Women in the U.S.: A Log‐Linear Analysis*
Authors: Poston Dudley L. , Kramer Kathryn B.
Published: January 2007

The principal objective of this paper is to conduct a log‐linear analysis of patterns of childlessness among Catholic and non‐Catholic women in the United States. We address this issue by examining white women between the ages of thirty‐five and forty‐four, ascertaining whether they are voluntarily, involuntarily, or temporarily childless or childed.

Given the long‐standing emphasis of the Catholic Church regarding the importance of children in marriage and the family, an emphasis which was not reversed during the Second Vatican Council, we suggest that even after controlling for religious activity and educational attainment, Catholic women should be less disposed than non‐Catholic women to choose voluntarily to have no children. We review various aspects of Church doctrine leading to such an hypothesis.

Our results do not suggest an “end” to Catholic‐non‐Catholic differentials in childlessness. Catholic women between the ages of thirty‐five and forty‐four in 1976 were very far apart from non‐Catholic women with respect to the voluntary decision to have no children. And they are also very different from non‐Catholic women regarding patterns of involuntary childlessness. These differential patterns of voluntary and involuntary childlessness are discussed and analyzed.
FIRST PLACE AWARD, STUDENT PAPER COMPETITION
Authors: Dredge Bart
Published: January 2007

This paper reports a content analysis of church sermons in terms of social class distinctions in the memberships of two Southern Baptist churches. The major finding is that there is a relationship between social class and sermon content. The data for this analysis were obtained by the transcription of forty Sunday morning sermons. The results are interpreted as suggesting that lower class church members search for consolation while upper class congregations search for justification for and continuation of their elevated social status.
Attitudes and Acts of Sexual Aggression on a University Campus*
Authors: Garrett‐Gooding Joy , Senter Richard
Published: January 2007

There is increasing understanding of the widespread extent of men's physical sexual coercion of women in this society. In this study, we document the amount of that coercion among a sample of college students. We try to explain that coercion in terms of certain valucs (traditional sex‐role conceptions that amount to an ideology of gender inequality). We also try to explain that coercion in terms of attitudes towards physical sexual coercion. For purposes of this study, we measured both females’experience as victims of sexual aggression and males’experience as perpetrators of sexual aggression. We also measured both males’and females’values regarding gender inequality and attitudes regarding sexual aggression. We found that female college students in our sample had experienced a considerable amount of sexual aggression. We also found that male and female students’values regarding gender inequality and their attitudes regarding physical sexual coercion differed widely. Finally, we found strong relationships between male students’values and attitudes and their participation in sexual aggression.
National Styles of Science and Technology: A Comparative Model*
Authors: Jamison Andrew
Published: January 2007

This essay articulates a comparative approach to the sociology of science. It suggests that even historically there have been numerous scholars interested in the national components of scientific knowledge. I develop a model which allows me to compare the differences in scientific growth in Sweden and Denmark. My model consists of three interrelated levels: metaphysical bias, national scientific interests, institutional structures. The comparison between the two countries shows them to be markedly different on all three levels. Finally, I suggest how the model can be applied to contemporary material.
Finnish and American Sociology: A Cross‐Cultural Comparison*
Authors: Fuhrman Ellsworth R. , Snizek William E.
Published: January 2007

A comparison is made of the interrelationship between theoretical orientations and research methods of authors publishing in major U. S. journals, with those publishing in Sosiologia, the major Finnish journal. Based on a content analysis of 1,808 articles, similarities are found cross‐culturally concerning the tendency for authors with a realist theoretical orientation to use comparative historical data‐gathering techniques and for nominalists to employ data‐gathering procedures more amenable to quantification (e. g. surveys and experimental methods). These data also document the often conjectured tendency for European sociologists to emphasize a more collectivist, organic, and hence realist theoretical posture. Similarities and differences between U. S. and Finnish sociology are discussed in the context of various cultural, historical, and political differences in the maturation of sociology in the two countries.
America's Foreign Wars and the Legitimation of Domestic Violence
Authors: Kleck Gary
Published: January 2007

Do wars between nations encourage violence on the home front by legitimating violence? A time series regression analysis of U. S. homicide trends from 1947 to 1978 shows that neither war years nor postwar years show significantly higher homicide levels than other years, other things being equal. In the U. S., those postwar years which showed higher violence rates, after the Vietnam War, had higher violence levels only because of higher proportions of the population in the high‐violence ages, lower criminal justice system effectiveness in crime control, and other differences which characterized those years. Survey research findings support the conclusion that violent actions of government agents like soldiers and police officers, on the one hand, and violent actions by private citizens, on the other hand, lie in distinct and separate cognitive categories for most Americans. Consequently there is little reason to expect that governmental violence serves to legitimate, or exerts a modelling influence on, violent behavior of private individuals in the U. S.

Official killing by the state makes killing respectable. It not merely dulls the sensibilities of people to cruelty and inhumanity but actually stimulates cruelty.
Too Good to be False: An Essay in the Folklore of Social Science
Authors: Reed John Shelton , Doss Gail E. , Hurlbert Jeanne S.
Published: January 2007

In 1939, Carl Hovland and Robert R. Sears presented data that they believed linked fluctuations in the price of cotton to lynchings in the South, a linkage first suggested six years earlier by Arthur Raper. This correlation quickly became a popular illustration of frustration‐aggression theory. A few years later, a statistical critique by Alexander Mintz cast the reality of the association into doubt, but a sample survey of members of the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues reveals that Howland and Sears's “finding” is still widely, if imprecisely, known and accepted. Their article continues to be cited in the social‐psychological literature and in many introductory textbooks. The failure of Mintz's critique to catch up with the striking but flawed, original report illustrates a structured impediment to reliable knowledge in the social sciences.
Stratification and Prestige Hierarchies in Graduate and Professional Education*
Authors: Lang Dwight
Published: January 2007

Earlier research indicates that the “academic hierarchy” encourages and reflects both meritocratic standards and long‐standing status distinctions. Using a nationwide survey of graduate and professional students, this study considers the relative and independent influence of students' social class, sex, race, undergraduate achievement, and rank of undergraduate institution attended on rank of graduate or professional school they attend. Students in the total group, universities and colleges, as well as public and private institutions are examined. Analysis of covariance results suggest that undergraduate rank is the strongest predictor of rank of institution attended. Attendance at highly ranked undergraduate institutions predicts appropriate location at prestigious graduate and professional schools. Level of undergraduate achievement also has independent effects. Higher achievement predicts attendance at both highly ranked and slightly lower ranked institutions. Social class influences location in the academic hierarchy, but in an unexpected direction. Working class students often attend higher ranked schools than their upper middle and middle class counterparts. Findings show that men and women attend similarly ranked institutions, and female students attend higher ranked schools than males. The independent effects of race also indicate that racial groups attend different as well as similarly ranked institutions. Finally, limited interactions of three independent variables show that expected merit, social class, and sex advantages do not persist for all students.
The Labor Supply of Female Heads of Household: Comparisons With Male Heads and Wives*
Authors: Coverman Shelley , Kemp Alice Abel
Published: January 2007

This paper compares a model of labor supply for female heads of household, male heads, and wives. Not only have female‐headed households increased significantly as a proportion of all households in recent years, but these households are also more likely to be in poverty than are other households. Yet, the determinants of labor supply for this increasingly important demographic group still are largely unknown. Analyses are performed on a sample of employed female and male heads and wives from the 1976 Survey of Income and Education. We examine the effects of wages, unearned income, number of children, and several other variables on hours worked per year, allowing for race interactions. We find that female heads and wives are similar in the effects of wages on their labor supply, while female and male heads are similar in the positive effect of children. We conclude that although financial need, as evidenced by low wages and children, increases female heads’labor supply, employment in more advantaged, non‐female dominated jobs and core industries is needed to promote their full participation in the labor force.
Specification of Melbin's Frontier Hypotheses: An Application to Outer Space Exploration*
Authors: Auster Carol J.
Published: January 2007

This article evaluates the extent to which Melbin's (1978) ideal type of frontiers can be applied to a new frontier, outer space. Although outer space fits Melbin's model of frontiers in a number of ways, several deviations are also apparent. These deviations from the model are linked to a combination of four characteristics of outer space as a frontier: the highly technological nature of travel, dependence on Earth, government control, and the initially perceived limitlessness of space. This application leads to further specifications of Melbin's conceptualization of frontiers and provides the basis for speculation concerning the future of outer space as a frontier.
Political Generations and the Contemporary Women's Movement*
Authors: Schneider Beth E.
Published: January 2007

Most traditional work by political sociologists conceives of social movement activity and politics as pertaining only to the public world and political activity as inherently masculine. Women are virtually invisible in these accounts. That the nature of political and social change is shaped by the organization of gender is a fact obscured in the conceptualizations typically employed. One such concept is political generation. Virtually no scholarly work has been done to analyze women in terms of political generations. Political generations are taken as sex‐neutral phenomena with no hint that the organization of politics is based in the social organization of gender. Indeed, perhaps the major assumption of generational analysis, that generations are formed during youth and its accompanying period of rebellion and change, has not been subject to sustained scrutiny; this model may well capture the male, but possibly not, the female experience. Nevertheless, the generational model might be usefully applied to an understanding of the growth and transformation of the women's movement. When women are put at the center of inquiry, the notion of political generations takes on new meanings, and it raises questions about who, how, and when social groups come to experience similar perceptions and understandings of reality. This analysis begins with a selective summary of the assumptions and directions of generational analysis in social science. Contemporary media use of generational analysis follows with an eye to the ways in which media representation has shaped some women's movement dialogue. Feminist generational thinking is explored as it attempts to account for the history of the women's movements in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and for the relations of young and old in the contemporary movement. Possible directions for further research and reformulation are suggested.
A Need for Post‐Impact and Policy Studies: The Case of the “Shetland Experience”*
Authors: Seyfrit Carole L.
Published: January 2007

This article argues that many studies of social impacts of energy development deal with prior predictions of impact rather than actual impacts of development. Further it suggests that more attention be paid to the intervening variables of policy and planning. To illustrate the need for post‐impact studies, the “Shetland Experience” is described. Shetland, where the anticipation of onshore oil development has produced policy specifically designed to avoid negative social impacts, is often referred to as a success in dealing with rapid change. However, due to lack of empirical research, it is not yet known if the policy was effective.
Nativity Differentials in Public Assistance Receipt: A Research Note*
Authors: Jensen Leif , Tienda Marta
Published: January 2007

The rise in the number of immigrants since 1960 and in the higher shares from less developed countries has raised concerns that immigrants use welfare benefits more than natives. Using both descriptive tabulations, OLS regression and Tobit regression methods, we analyze immigrant‐native differentials in public assistance receipt based on 1980 U.S. Census data. The results of the OLS models show that immigrants received neither more nor less welfare income in 1979 than did otherwise comparable natives. Tobit models reveal that black and Hispanic immigrant families received lower welfare payments than their native counterparts.
The Social Construction of Abducted Children as a Social Problem
Authors: Gentry Cynthia
Published: January 2007

Using the theoretical framework developed by Spector and Kitsuse (1973; 1977), this paper describes the development of the issue of abducted children as a social problem. Analysis of this particular case suggests theoretical refinements for the social constructionist perspective. It is argued that the concept of a “valence issue” could be used to differentiate between the natural histories of substantively different kinds of social problems.
Measures of Work Satisfaction among Economic Development Practitioners*
Authors: Rubin Herbert J.
Published: January 2007

From data collected in a mail survey of 327 urban based economic development practitioners, four dimensions of work satisfaction are proposed. Predictive correlates of these four dimensions–the expectation that practitioners create economic miracles, the rejection of formalistic activity, the sense that practitioners can be effective, and the belief that their bosses are helpful–are introduced. Overall satisfaction is highest in communities in which economic development practitioners feel they have successfully brought about public‐private cooperation. This finding is interpreted in terms of the differences between process and outcome measures in evaluating work satisfaction for administrators responsible for non‐routine activities.
Scientific Norms and Research Publication Issues and Professional Ethics*
Authors: Berardo Felix M.
Published: January 2007

This paper addresses the standards of scientific behavior and research within the context of academic scholarship. Factors which lead some researchers to transgress the ethical boundaries associated with the publication process are presented and discussed. Included is an examination of the central issues related to the “publish or perish” syndrome. It is argued that the intense pressure to get one's work into print often distorts the serious pursuit of knowledge. Linking tenure and promotion primarily to publications has led to emphasizing the length of the scholarly record rather than its quality. To avoid such outcomes, the academic/scientific communities are urged to develop policies which on the one hand protect the integrity of the scientific enterprise, and on the other strike a reasonable balance of expectations and performance regarding teaching, research, and service.
The South African Monoplane Hysteria: An Evaluation of the Usefulness of Smelser's Theory of Hysterical Beliefs*
Authors: Bartholomew Robert E.
Published: January 2007

An outbreak of monoplane sightings within British South Africa during 1914 is examined as a case of mass hysteria. The incident is used to evaluate the utility of Smelser's category of the negative or hostile hysterical belief manifestation within Smelser's value‐added theory of collective behavior, namely: structural conduciveness, structural strain, growth and spread of a generalized belief, mobilization of participants for action, and inadequate measures by agencies of social control. Each of these was found to be present during the period immediately prior to and encompassing the collective episode, thus supporting Smelser's explanation. However, Smelser's objectivist approach labels collective behavior as irrational and is limited beyond providing a general ordering of conditions involved in a particular collective action.
Minority Status and Childlessness*
Authors: Boyd Robert L.
Published: January 2007

This study applies the Goldscheider‐Uhlenberg theory of minority status and fertility to black‐white differences in childlessness. It is hypothesized that when integration into dominant societal institutions is impeded, high‐status black couples are more likely to be voluntarily childless than comparable white couples. Using census data, the results tend to support this hypothesis, suggesting that among college‐educated, high‐status couples, blacks delay marriage longer and have higher rates of voluntary childlessness than do white couples. The implications of these findings are discussed and suggestions for further research are noted.
Sex Differences in Marriage and Parenthood as Factors Impeding Educational Attainment*
Authors: Smith Thomas Ewin , Hooker Eugenia
Published: January 2007

Research on individuals who graduated from high school from 1958 through 1972, has indicated that the timing of marriage and first birth had a greater affect on educational attainment among women than among men. It is hypothesized that, among more recent cohorts, these differences may have been reduced or eliminated by social changes in the 1970s and 1980s. A test of this hypothesis was conducted using data gathered from 187 predominantly white, middle‐class individuals who completed questionnaires in the spring of 1972, when they were in the eighth grade. A follow‐up study was conducted in 1985. The results suggest that marital and parenthood timing affect educational attainment, but the relationships were not significantly different for males and females. Furthermore, the tendency for women to marry and have children earlier than men had only a minor effect on differences in educational attainment.
Finding a Sociological Voice: The Work of Mirra Komarovsky*
Authors: Reinharz Shulamit
Published: January 2007

This article offers a biographical sketch of Mirra Komarovsky in the framework of an analysis of her work as a researcher, writer, teacher and feminist. It demonstrates how the cultural conflicts that existed while she was a college student laid the foundation for her later sociological research. It also illustrates the particular dynamics of a woman's career in sociology, especially with regard to the influence of social supports on a woman's sense of “finding her voice.” Her work after retirement suggests that this period may have particular significance in the lives of academic women. The theoretical foundation and methodological characteristics of her work are additional foci of this article.
The Emergence of Environmental Sociology: Contributions of Riley E. Dunlap and William R. Catton, Jr.
Authors: Freudenburg William R. , Gramling Robert
Published: January 2007

Human beings have a dualistic relationship with the environment, being subject to physical and biological limits and yet being unique in the capacity for culture and symbolic communication. Sociology reflects this context and adds another dualism, drawing heavily from the concepts and perspectives of biological ecology, but reacting almost violently against “reductionism” of any sort, specifically including social Darwinism and environmental determinism. During much of the twentieth century, the predominant trend within sociology was for scholars to downplay or even ignore the importance of the environment, particularly in the United States. This trend was ultimately counterbalanced by sociological responses to the environmental movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s and by the efforts of selected sociologists‐particulady Riley Dunlap and William Catton‐who helped bring together the field of “environmental sociology.” Given the finite nature of many natural resources and the ways in which human activities depend upon and affect the environment, the field of environmental sociology is likely to be an increasingly important one in the years to come.
Participation in Spiritual Healing, Religiosity, and Mental Health*
Authors: Glik Deborah Carrow
Published: January 2007

Survey data are used to examine the relationship between religiosity and psychosocial distress among persons in Christian, charismatic (n = 83), “New Age,”“metaphysical” healing groups (n = 93), and a comparison group of medical patients (n = 137). Data partially support the hypothesis that religiosity is an independent predictor of positive mental health. However, the relationships vary by type of healing group, by psychosocial distress indicator used, and by type of religious belief. These findings are discussed within the context of self selection into healing groups, the social causes of distress, and the magico‐religious nature of healing groups.
Health Beliefs and Proscriptions on Public Smoking*
Authors: Ferraro Kenneth F.
Published: January 2007

The increasing tendency to prohibit smoking in public places is examined in light of awareness of the health effects of smoking. Drawing from the Health Belief Model, this paper investigates the development of proscriptive norms for public smoking in two states. Survey data from Illinois and North Carolina show that while smoking prevalence is similar in the two states, Illinois residents are more likely to consider smoking harmful to the individual engaged in the act. Although no differences by state were observed in perceived effects of Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS) on health, Illinois respondents were more likely to support legal controls of public smoking. Awareness of the primary effects of smoking on health emerged as more important than awareness of ETS effects on health in predicting support for legal control.
Dependency Theory: Requiescat in Pace?*
Authors: Rhyne Edwin Hoffman
Published: January 2007

Many recent signs, empirical and analytic, raise questions about dependency/worldsystems theory. The difficulties are not new warnings but reminders that the theory has always had problems stemming from the close and logically unavoidable connections among three major beliefs or tenets: (1) the unchallenged omnipotence of the North Atlantic metropole throughout the world; (2) the neglect of indigenous variables as possible explanations of development; and (3) the implied assumption that growth and development are the normal state of affairs. It is argued that the first, and defining, tenet of dependency theory cannot be sustained unless the other two are also true and that this is the source of an increasingly ill‐fitting correspondence between the theory and major characteristics of the Third World.
Proletarian Immigrants in Israel, 1948–1961
Authors: Ben‐Porat Amir
Published: January 2007

This study deals with the factors which determined the odds of Israeli immigrants becoming proletariat during the first decade of statehood. It is suggested that the factors which determine whether immigrants enter the proletariat or not are structural. Immigrants trom lesser‐developed, non‐industrialized countries are more likely than others to become or to remain proletariat. Class positions in the countries of immigration and emigration are compared, and various factors are examined as causes of the proletariat position. Such factors include conditions of production in the country of emigration, level of eduratirin, and year of immigration.
Gods of a Sort
Authors: Cawley Clifford
Published: January 2007

Cast in the form of a Socratic dialogue, the author argues that only a world‐State, oppressive at first, can now save mankind from self‐destruction. But not all men agree that their species should at all costs survive. If, therefore, a pro‐survival group is to gain the power to have its way, it must offer a vision of life under the proposed State so different and inspiring as to win a decisive number to its cause.
Interest, Ideology, and Claims‐Making Activity*
Authors: Bockman Shel
Published: January 2007

Social constructionists have produced a rich theoretical and empirical literature on the rise and fall of public issues. By focusing exclusively on claims‐making behavior in a micro interactive context, social constructionists, in the tradition of Spector and Kitsuse, generally have rejected efforts to link claims‐making to antecedent variables. Thus they often treat claims‐making participants as activities, devoid of motives, meanings, and intentions. In this paper, ideology and interest are offered as antecedent variables to claims‐making and as the critical factors which determine why some claims are more marketable than others. Interest and ideology also are examined as both subjective and structural/cultural phenomena.
Classicism and Romanticism in the Sociology of Time*
Authors: Jaworski Gary Dean
Published: January 2007

The sociology of time has recently witnessed a shift in its underlying theoretical preferences. Early work emphasized system balance and the primacy of the social: a sense of optimism pervades these writings. In contrast, more recent analysts emphasize time's tyranny and the primacy of the individual; a gloomy pessimism pervades these writings. This paper analyzes representative writings of each period in order to demonstrate the shift. The current phase, the‘romantic interlude,’is said to derive from both a pessimistic national mood and dissatisfaction with academia during a period of educational contraction.
The Marshall Lectures and Economy and Society
Authors: Smelser Neil J.
Published: January 2007

The publication of the Marshall Lectures is part of the current upswing of interest in what is happening at the boundaries between the economy and society as well as between economics and sociology. Parsons welcomed the opportunity to give the Marshall Lectures because he wanted to apply his system of action to other areas within the social sciences. Parsons’argument in the lectures, however, was too general and his interpretation of Keynes was incomplete. Economy and Sociey (Parsons and Smelser 1956) represents in these and a few other aspects a clear advance in Parsons’thinking.
Risk and Ideology in Sexual Harassment
Authors: Ryan John , Kenig Sylvia
Published: January 2007

One explanation of sexual harassment is that it is the result of differences in organizational or individual authority between harasser and victim. A competing conceptualization suggests that much of what is termed sexual harassment is the result of a particular definition of the situation by women possessing nontraditional or feminist gender‐role ideologies. Using a sample of university faculty, students and staff, this study examines the relationship among organizational position, demographic risk factors, and gender‐role ideology on the self‐reported incidence of sexual harassment. The findings show little relation exists between the various risk factors and the report of harassment in this sample.
Age and Gender Differerences In a Social Process Model of Adolescent Cigarette Use*
Authors: Skinner William F. , Krohn Marvin D.
Published: January 2007

This study examines how age and gender influence the ability of social process theory to explain adolescent cigarette use. Differences in the causal effects of social process variables for three age periods for male and female adolescents are examined. Longitudinal data from a sample of midwestern adolescents are analyzed using path analyses procedures. Findings from these analyses indicate that social process theory is better able to account for cigarette use among older females than any other age and gender group. For females, commitment to education and school activities were better predictors of cigarette smoking at a later age than an earlier age, whereas the opposite was found for belief in conventional societal rules. For males, previous smoking was the major variable in all three age groups to directly affect subsequent smoking. These findings are discussed in terms of previous age and gender research.
Social Structure, Social Solidarity and Involvement in Neighborhood Improvement Associations*
Authors: Oropesa R. S.
Published: January 2007

This paper examines membership and participation in neighborhood improvement associations. Individual‐level and contextual‐level structural variables associated with the community of limited liability model are important for the decision to join associations but not to participate in them. Also, social ties in the community are more important than psychological attachment for both membership and participation. However, neither social ties nor attachment serve as intervening variables in the relationship between structural variables and membership.
Causes and Consequences of Migration in the Jequitinhonha Valley of Minas Gerais*
Authors: Goza Franklin
Published: January 2007

This study documents the recent development and expansion of temporary inter‐regional labor migration in central‐west Brazil. Several explanations for the expansion of this movement are investigated, including the financial crises that have affected Brazil's recent social and economic development. Temporary and permanent movement typologies are also examined in an attempt to discern why this region is now characterized by temporary rather than permanent moves. I suggest that permanent moves occurred primarily as a response to structural changes, while temporary movement resulted at least partially because of the country' recent economic crises. Examination of the consequences of this movement (for example, remittance usage) indicates that this temporary migration is more of a survival plan than a mobility strategy.
The Fertility Transition and Family Urban Income Distribution in Colombia*
Authors: Elisa Flórez N Carmen
Published: January 2007

This paper examines the effect of social and demographic changes on family income distribution in the largest Colombian cities between 1967 and 1968 and 1984 and 1985, two periods representing the conditions before and after Colombia's sharp fertility decline. The results indicate that urban family income distribution worsened between the two periods, when income shares from the middle‐income groups declined while those received by the richest 10 percent increased and the shares received by the poorest 50 percent were unchanged. A decomposition of the Theil index revealed that the deterioration in urban family income inequality could be traced to groups whose representation in the population increased, namely: households with more educated heads, with working wives, with smaller families, and with fewer children.
Age, Experience, and Schooling: Decomposing Earnings Inequality in the United States and Brazil*
Authors: Lam David , Levison Deborah
Published: January 2007

This article analyzes age and experience profiles of earnings inequality for U.S. and Brazilian males. Decomposition of the inequality profiles using a standard human capital earnings equation clarifies the determinants of cross‐sectional inequality profiles and demonstrates a number of important differences in the shape of the two countries' profiles and in their underlying components. Most dramatic are Brazil's higher returns to schooling and higher variance in years of schooling, both factors contributing to the significantly higher level of income inequality in Brazil. Changes in the distribution of schooling across cohorts are shown to play a central role in explaining cross‐sectional inequality profiles within each country and differences in earnings inequality in the United States and Brazil.
BOOK REVIEWS
Authors: Folse Kimberly A.
Published: January 2007

Book reviewed in this article:

In Other Words: Essays Towards a Reflexive Sociology, by Pierre Bourdieu, translated by Matthew Adamson. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1990, 223 pages, $32.50, hardback, $10.95, paperback.

Crisis and Change: Basic Questions of Marxist Sociology, by Peter Knapp and Alan J. Spector. Chicago: Nelson Hall Publishers, 1991, 421 pages.

Beyond Glasnost: The Post‐Totalitarian Mind, by Jeffrey C. Goldfarb, Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 1989, 248 pages, $24.95, hardback.
Youth Society in Early Modern France: A Literary and Social Historical Analysis of the World of Secondary Schoolchildren
Authors: Van de Poel‐Knottnerus Frédérique , Knottnerus J. David
Published: January 2007

This study examines the youth society which was created in the lycées and collèges of France in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Using literary and social‐historical records the personal and social experiences of youth in this milieu are delineated. A literary ethnography is constructed that presents a composite portrait of these actors’lives and society. In addition to certain beliefs, practices, and rules, authoritarian/coercive relations and hierarchical social structures are found to characterize this youth society. Attention is directed to the importance of explaining the emergence of this historical instance of a youth society within an elite school system in a way which identifies important structural processes operating in this setting and the larger societal context.
Institutionalization and Well‐Being Among the Elderly*
Authors: Donnenwerth Gregory V. , Petersen Larry R.
Published: January 2007

Iatrogenic, prosthetic, and other perspectives are used to derive hypotheses concerning the roles of perceived health and residence satisfaction in mediating the effects of nursing home institutionalization on subjective well‐being. The findings show that perceived health and residence satisfaction are important intervening variables. Institutionalization has a positive effect on well‐being, mediated by perceived health, but institutionalization has a stronger negative effect on well‐being, mediated by residence satisfaction. Thus, institutionalization's total effect on well‐being is negative. Theoretical and policy implications of these findings are discussed.
Facilitative Aspects of Field Research with Deviant Street Populations*
Authors: Anderson Leon , Calhoun Thomas C.
Published: January 2007

The authors examine facilitative aspects of field research with deviant street populations. Based on the authors' research with the homeless and with male street prostitutes, the facilitative aspects include access to settings, social relationships, acquisition of information, and the maintenance of researcher interest. The authors argue that in each of these aspects street deviants may in some ways be easier to study than other populations. The paper concludes with suggestions for maximizing the efficiency and quality of fieldwork with specific deviant populations.
Durkheim on Religion and Moral Community in Modernity*
Authors: Tole Lise Ann
Published: January 2007

Durkheim's theory of religion is approached from the perspective of his lifelong concern with the question of meaning and moral order in modern society. This emphasis naturally leads to a consideration of wider themes informing Durkheim's sociology of religion than are usually found in analyses focusing exclusively on his treatment of primitive religion in The Elementary Forms of Religious Life (1964). Durkheim sees as the distinguishing feature of modernity the progressive emancipation of the individual from traditional sources of influence. The evolution toward greater individuation, culminating in the “cult of the individual” or “religion of humanity,” is set by Durkheim within the context of the role of collective ideals in promoting social change and in the maintenance of moral order. Religion, the major symbolic expression of societal wide ideals, is identified as the key variable which enables Durkheim to reconcile the competing demands of individuals for freedom with the interests of society in collective welfare.
Chaos, Order, and Sociological Theoy*
Authors: Baker Patrick L.
Published: January 2007

This article reexamines, in historical context, the “problem of order” and change in sociological theory in the light of the findings of Chaos Theory. The value of this new perspective is that order and disorder, order and change, are no longer presented as irreconcilable opposites but as dimensions of the same process. Order generates chaos, and chaos generates order. These ideas are linked into a holistic perspective in which “centriphery” is seen as an attractor that accounts for order and change in human social life and entropy as an equal partner to information/energy in the creative thrust of human social life.
Conceptualizing Variation in the Experience of Time*
Authors: Flaherty Michael G.
Published: January 2007

This paper presents a theoretical model that identifies and accounts for the full range of variation in the experience of duration. The model has been generated through inductive theory construction, using empirical materials drawn from the triangulation of qualitative methods. Its central proposition is that variation in the perceived passage of time reflects variation in the density of conscious information processing per standard temporal unit.
Space, Time, Space‐Time and Society
Authors: Baker Patrick L.
Published: January 2007

This paper discusses the concept spacetime in the context of some traditional notions of space and time in sociological and anthropological literature. The paper argues that the concept of spacetime, together with other post‐Newtonian insights, can provide a useful metaphor with which to interpret societal phenomena. The paper concludes by illustrating the argument with a brief review of the ethnohistory of a Caribbean territory.
Marking Time*
Authors: Howard Judith A. , Hollander Jocelyn A.
Published: January 2007

The authors argue that temporality is a significant dimension of social activity. The paper reviews the phenomenological experience of temporality, ways of conceptualizing time, and ways in which temporality may shape interpretation, and illustrates these themes through an empirical study in which approximately 80 subjects read and responded to one of two short stories. Themes of temporality were explored in the interview transcripts through references to temporal themes, temporality as an influence on causal and trait attributions, temporal chains, and other forms of interpretive cycles, as well as ways in which temporality is involved in the definition of other and “possible others.” On the basis of these patterns, we conclude that time is a crucial factor in shaping interpretations of social life.
Disaster Anniversay: A Social Reconstruction of Time
Authors: Forrest Thomas R.
Published: January 2007

The author uses a sociology of time framework to explore how six communities acknowledge the first and second anniversary of Hurricane Hugo. Employing the concept anniversary with a conventional time framework, a comparative case study of coastal and inland communities is used to illustrate how past events surrounding a disaster, such as Hurricane Hugo, are reconstructed to have meaning and utility for the present.
Yellow Ribbons and Remembrance: Mythic Symbols of the Gulf War*
Authors: Heilbronn Lisa M.
Published: January 2007

The display of yellow ribbons during the Gulf War is analyzed as a form of social signification. Community displays, newspaper articles, editorials and letters, and the appearance of ribbons as commodities and in advertising campaigns are discussed. The study concludes that the legacy of the Vietnam War impelled citizens to create a fundamentally emotional message to troops and their families. Yellow ribbons, perceived as personal not political, emerged as the symbol of choice.
Oppositional Consciousness: Its Manifestation and Development. The Case of People with Disabilities*
Authors: Groch Sharon A.
Published: January 2007

While resource mobilization theory has advanced our understanding of social movements, two questions require further explanation: (1) How do people come to define their situation as unjust and subject to change through collective action? (2) How is such an “oppositional consciousness” empirically studied? From field research among people with disabilities, I suggest that oppositional consciousness is manifested through the collective actions, symbols, and cultural artifacts constructed by a group. I propose that strong interpersonal ties among group members may not be necessary for an oppositional consciousness to develop. To understand how a dominated group develops an oppositional consciousness, rather than analyzing the strength of its members' social ties, we must examine the context and the nature of these ties: (1) the institutions in which their social interactions typically occur; (2) the socialization process they experience within these institutions; and (3) members' contact with the oppositional ideologies of other dominated groups.
Structural and Individual Determinants of Outmarriage Among Chinese‐, Filipino‐, and Japanese‐Americans in California*
Authors: Hwang Sean‐Shong , Saenz Rogelio , Aguirre Benigno E.
Published: January 2007

This study combines structural factors of intergroup relations with personal assimilation factors to examine Asian American intermarriage in California, We conduct a multilevel logistic regression analysis of outmarriage among Chinese, Filipinos, and Japanese in 14 California metropolitan statistical areas with high con centrations of Asian Americans by using the 1980 Census Public‐Use Microdata Sample. The results show that Asian intermarriage is affected by both assimilation and structural determinants. Some theoretically unexpected findings are discussed that hint at alternative interpretations.
Trade Networks, Trade Blocs, and Hegemortic Conflict
Authors: Su Tie‐ting , Clawson Dan
Published: January 2007

Most structural analyses of the world system have focused on distinguishing the core from the periphery and semiperiphery. This article extends the structural approach by identifying blocs and groupings in the world market. A network analysis of trade among the 102 countries with 1990 trade of U.S. $2 billion or more finds that the United States, Japan, and Germany are by far the most important countries in the trade network. The U.S. and Japanese trade blocs are highly overlapped, while the German trade bloc is largely separate. The 1990 trade patterns suggest the potential for, and possible shape of, increased trade conflict between rival world powers.
Women in Retirement: A Review and Critique of Empirical Research Since 1976
Authors: Slevin Kathleen F. , Wingrove C. Ray
Published: January 2007

This article reviews empirical research on women in retirement since 1976. The articles studied are categorized into four main areas: Women's Attitudes and Orientations Toward Retirement, Women's Preparation and Planning for Retirement, Women's Retirement Timing: Factors Related to Decisions to Retire, and Women's Adjustments to and Experiences in Retirement. Omissions and problems in the literature are identified and examined. Special attention is given to theoretical and methodological issues. The authors suggest new emphases and directions to strengthen research in this area.
Interstate Relations and the Sociological Imagination Revisited: From Social Distance to Territoriality*
Authors: Lyman Stanford M.
Published: January 2007

This essay presents a conceptualization basic to the development of a global sociology. Claiming that territoriality is the successor concept to social distance, the author provides an extension of the aspects of territorialization to the entire globe. A global sociology requires a reactivation and global application of two nearly forgotten subdisciplines: sphragistics, that is, the discipline that investigates ideas and practices related to the use of seals and signet rings; and ekistics, that is, the scientific study of human settlements. Among the subconcepts that are elaborated in service to these developments are home territorialization, boundaried communication, and the territorialization of the body politic. Examples are drawn from post‐cold war developments in Eastern Europe.