bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
α4* Nicotinic Receptors in preBötzinger Complex Mediate Cholinergic/Nicotinic Modulation of Respiratory Rhythm
Authors: Shao Xuesi M. , Tan Wenbin , Xiu Joanne , Puskar Nyssa , Fonck Carlos , Lester Henry A. , Feldman Jack L.
Published: January 2008

Acetylcholine and nicotine can modulate respiratory patterns by acting on nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) in the preBötzinger complex (preBötC). To further explore the molecular composition of these nAChRs, we studied a knock-in mouse strain with a leucine-to-alanine mutation in the M2 pore-lining region (L9′A) of the nAChR α4 subunit; this mutation renders α4-containing receptors hypersensitive to agonists. We recorded respiratory-related rhythmic motor activity from hypoglossal nerve (XIIn) and patch-clamped preBötC inspiratory neurons in anin vitromedullary slice preparation from neonatal mice. Nicotine affected respiratory rhythm at concentrations ∼100-fold lower in the homozygous L9′A knock-in mice compared with wild-type mice. Bath application of 5 nmnicotine increased the excitability of preBötC inspiratory neurons, increased respiratory frequency, and induced tonic/seizure-like activities in XIIn in L9′A mice, effects similar to those induced by 1 μmnicotine in wild-type mice. In L9′A mice, microinjection of low nanomolar concentrations of nicotine into the preBötC increased respiratory frequency, whereas injection into the ipsilateral hypoglossal (XII) nucleus induced tonic/seizure-like activity. The α4*-selective nAChR antagonist dihydro-β-erythroidine produced opposite effects and blocked the nicotinic responses. These data, showing that nAChRs in the preBötC and XII nucleus in L9'A mice are hypersensitive to nicotine and endogenous ACh, suggest that functional α4* nAChRs are present in the preBötC. They mediate cholinergic/nicotinic modulation of the excitability of preBötC inspiratory neurons and of respiratory rhythm. Furthermore, functional α4* nAChRs are present in XII nucleus and mediate cholinergic/nicotinic modulation of tonic activity in XIIn.
Activity-Dependent Suppression of Miniature Neurotransmission through the Regulation of DNA Methylation
Authors: Nelson Erika D. , Kavalali Ege T. , Monteggia Lisa M.
Published: January 2008

DNA methylation is an epigenetic mechanism that plays a critical role in the repression of gene expression. Here, we show that DNA methyltransferase (DNMT) inhibition in hippocampal neurons results in activity-dependent demethylation of genomic DNA and a parallel decrease in the frequency of miniature EPSCs (mEPSCs), which in turn impacts neuronal excitability and network activity. Treatment with DNMT inhibitors reveals an activity-driven demethylation of brain-derived neurotrophic factor promoter I, which is mediated by synaptic activation of NMDA receptors, because it is susceptible to AP-5, a blocker of NMDA receptors. The specific effect of DNMT inhibition on spontaneous excitatory neurotransmission requires gene transcription and is occluded in the absence of the transcriptional repressor methyl-CpG-binding protein 2 (MeCP2). Interestingly, enhancing excitatory activity, in the absence of DNMT inhibitors, also produces similar decreases in DNA methylation and mEPSC frequency, suggesting a role for DNA methylation in the control of homeostatic synaptic plasticity. Furthermore, adding excess substrate for DNA methylation (S-adenosyl-l-methionine) rescues the suppression of mEPSCs by DNMT inhibitors in wild-type neurons, as well as the defect seen in MeCP2-deficient neurons. These results uncover a means by which NMDA receptor-mediated synaptic activity drives DNA demethylation within mature neurons and suppresses basal synaptic function.
Human Pavlovian–Instrumental Transfer
Authors: Talmi Deborah , Seymour Ben , Dayan Peter , Dolan Raymond J.
Published: January 2008

The vigor with which a participant performs actions that produce valuable outcomes is subject to a complex set of motivational influences. Many of these are believed to involve the amygdala and the nucleus accumbens, which act as an interface between limbic and motor systems. One prominent class of influences is called pavlovian–instrumental transfer (PIT), in which the motivational characteristics of a predictor influence the vigor of an action with respect to which it is formally completely independent. We provide a demonstration of behavioral PIT in humans, with an audiovisual predictor of the noncontingent delivery of money inducing participants to perform more avidly an action involving squeezing a handgrip to earn money. Furthermore, using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we show that this enhanced motivation was associated with a trial-by-trial correlation with the blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) signal in the nucleus accumbens and a subject-by-subject correlation with the BOLD signal in the amygdala. Our data dovetails well with the animal literature and sheds light on the neural control of vigor.
Adult Neurogenesis Requires Smad4-Mediated Bone Morphogenic Protein Signaling in Stem Cells
Authors: Colak Dilek , Mori Tetsuji , Brill Monika S. , Pfeifer Alexander , Falk Sven , Deng Chuxia , Monteiro Rui , Mummery Christine , Sommer Lukas , Götz Magdalena
Published: January 2008

In the mammalian brain, neurogenesis continues only in few regions of the forebrain. The molecular signals governing neurogenesis in these unique neurogenic niches, however, are still ill defined. Here, we show that bone morphogenic protein (BMP)-mediated signaling is active in adult neural stem cells and is crucial to initiate the neurogenic lineage in the adult mouse subependymal zone. Conditional deletion of Smad4 in adult neural stem cells severely impairs neurogenesis, and this is phenocopied by infusion of Noggin, an extracellular antagonist of BMP. Smad4 deletion in stem, but not progenitor cells, as well as Noggin infusion lead to an increased number of Olig2-expressing progeny that migrate to the corpus callosum and differentiate into oligodendrocytes. Transplantation experiments further verified the cell-autonomous nature of this phenotype. Thus, BMP-mediated signaling via Smad4 is required to initiate neurogenesis from adult neural stem cells and suppress the alternative fate of oligodendrogliogenesis.
Film Games*
Authors: Mukerji Chandra
Published: January 2008

This paper presents data on how film students practice filmmaking skills by devising and playing games. In their games film students suggest images for films and correct one another's notions about the methods for or appropriateness of realizing these images on film. By using increasingly complex games as a series of exercises, students develop greater skill in anticipating programs in making films they imagine. The apparent effectiveness of these games suggests playful behaviors which may seem insignificant because they are not “serious” could be important mechanisms for socializing people's imaginations, tailoring them for a particular kind of problem and problem‐solving.
Art Without A Market: Creating Artistic Value In A Provincial Art World
Authors: McCall Michal M.
Published: January 2008

Symbolic interactionism is defined as the study of social acts and social objects. Paintings are social objects whose value is almost entirely created in the social acts called art worlds. Important art worlds are currently organized as art markets, in which art is created, exhibited, bought, sold and discussed by artists, museums, dealers, collectors, and critics. In St. Louis, where fieldwork was done, the art market is marginal; art schools and faculty artists replace dealers, collectors, museums, galleries, and critics in the local production of art, the creation of art value, and the determination of artistic status.
Bachelorhood and Late Marriage: An Interactionist Interpretation*
Authors: Darling Jon
Published: January 2008

This paper summarizes an exploratory investigation of the interactional careers of forty bachelors (men who had reached the age of 35 without marrying), twenty of whom later married. Depth interviewing was used to collect life history data establishing major career lines of specific heterosexual dyads as well as developments in preceding and paralleling universes of interaction. The findings support the contention that continuing social pressures rather than personal abnormalities of individual bachelors ultimately determine marital careers in that bachelorhood and late marriage are interactional products stemming from differential socialization and situational contingencies.
Convergences Between Symbolic Interactionism and Systems Theory1,2
Authors: Stover Stewart S.
Published: January 2008

This paper explores certain theoretical convergences between symbolic interactionism and systems theory. Important similarities between these two perspectives with respect to their basic ontological and epistemological assumptions are pointed out and discussed. The systems theory concepts of feedback and redundancy are seen to have important counterparts in symbolic interactionism. Finally, the parallel concerns of symbolic interactionism and systems theory with emergence is discussed in terms of the concepts of hierarchical structure and the law of requisite variety.
Childbirth As Negotiated Reality*
Authors: Rothman Barbara Katz
Published: January 2008

This paper will describe birth as a social as well as a physiological event, a process which is socially constructed and socially defined. The ways in which the medical establishment controls the birth experience, creating it as a medical event, will be presented. The role of childbirth education is presented here as supporting the medical model and preparing the pregnant woman and her mate for their roles in the institutional birth. We will briefly consider an alternative, non‐medical approach to birth.
Secondary Popular Culture
Authors: Bennett H. Stith
Published: January 2008

In the context of “primary process” assumptions concerning mass distributed culture, the idea of “secondary process” assumptions is developed. A secondary popular culture process (1) is focused on the time period after “legitimate” distribution is conventionally considered complete, (2) treats “finished” cultural materials as raw materials, (3) takes for granted the design and actualization features of “legitimate” production and distribution (which is tantamount to “sacredness”), (4) “turns over” nationally (and internationally) produced wants (“markets”) at the local level for local profit, and (5) creates localized occupational, professional, and stylistic identities which are unanticipated consequences of the centralized producer's work. The idea is then illustrated through a brief discussion of the author's research concerning local popular music performers.
Comic Relief In Everyday Life: Dramaturgic Observations On A Function Of Humor*
Authors: Stebbins Robert A.
Published: January 2008

The comic relief of the theater has an everyday analog. It is seen in the momentary humorous respites from the seriousness or lengthy concentration on a collective task commonly found in certain spheres of daily life. These respites facilitate the completion of that task by refreshing the participants. Observations of social comic relief made during a series of rehearsals and performances of an amateur theater company are reported. The nature and function of this sort of humor is considered, first in theater, and then in other similar settings. A comparison of social comic relief as a function of humor with selected philosophical and psychological relief theories of humor follows. A concluding section considers the place of creativity and wit in social comic relief.
Characteristics And Types Of Participation In Social Worlds
Authors: Unruh David R.
Published: January 2008

The concept of social world is given greater analytical power by categorizing differential participation through a typology of social types—strangers, tourists, regulars, and insiders. These trans‐situational social types are examined in terms of their commitment, relationships, experiences, and orientation to social worlds. Social worlds are also discussed in terms of three qualities of interaction—relevance, accessibility, and receptivity.
The Interrelationship of Process And Content in Field Work
Authors: Allon Natalie
Published: January 2008

This paper discusses how the process and content of field work are deeply connected in the continual back and forth movements between concrete data, topical and generic conceptualizations, and disciplined abstractions. Consensus and conflict between researchers and those researched are at the heart of such movements. My experiences as researcher in‐process were similar to the experiences which others in the settings were having; those others' experiences formed the bases of the content of my studies. Important process and content dimensions included: 1) alienation and sociability in singles bars; 2) seriousness and playfulness alone and with others in health spas; and 3) rituals accentating and mitigating the stigma of overweight in group dieting.
Children's Interaction With Commercials*
Authors: Frazer Charles F. , Reid Leonard N.
Published: January 2008

Public policy attention to numerous issues arising from children's television commercials has resulted in considerable research interest in this area. Most studies have been based on 1) cognitive developmental approaches; 2) survey methods based on parental reports of child viewing; 3) a view of the child as an atomized entity in the viewing environment.

This study focuses on interactive episodes of child viewing. Behavior specimens of interactive viewing collected by naturalistic methods are presented illustrating children and parents actively shaping the commercial viewing situation.
THE EVERYDAY LIFE OF ART: VARIATION IN THE VALUATION OF ART WORKS IN A COMMUNITY ART MUSEUM*
Authors: Valentine Catherine
Published: January 2008

This paper examines variation in the valuation of art works in a community art museum. It often is assumed that art objects collected and displayed by museums are treated as highly valued if not sacred objects. Research at a community art museum indicates that the value of art works varies. Frontstage at the museum, art works are treated with care by museum workers. Backstage, they may be destroyed, misplaced, lost, or stolen. In addition, when not engaged in playing the conventional role of museum visitor, visitors to the museum may disregard and even mistreat art objects. Data are based on observations and interviews conducted over a two‐year period in a medium‐sized community art museum.
TOWARD A SOCIOLOGY OF SPACE: THE CONSTRAINED CHOICE MODEL*
Authors: LaGory Mark
Published: January 2008

Traditional ecology has been criticized because of its failure to link ecological factors to microscopic social variables. That criticism has led to increasing interest in, but only limited theoretical development toward, an egocentric approach. The paper attempts to develop a rudimentary theory of micro ecology. It presumes that two elemental macro ecological variables, density and segregation, have significance for human interaction. These elemental factors set the probability for choice behavior in the city. To demonstrate this point a set of logically interrelated propositions is contructed. This theoretical structure is then used to develop a taxonomy of social areas that summarize the distinctive differences in the urban experience of sub area residents of the city.
JÜRGEN HABERMAS AND THE RATIONALIZATION OF COMMUNICATIVE INTERACTION*
Authors: Ashley David
Published: January 2008

This paper analyzes J. Habermas's theory of “universal pragmatics” and examines the extent to which Habermas's ideal speech community is predicted upon a specific type of relationship between the individual and society. The ability of the theory of universal pragmatics to overcome the form of domination institutionalized by modern societies is questioned, and the argument is made that Habermas's radical program of emancipation is vitiated (1) by Habermas's conflation of “transcendental” and “situationally engaged” enlightenment and (2) by Habermas's inability to reintegrate practical‐emancipatory and technical forms of reason. Habermas's idea of “communicative competence” replicates, rather than displaces, the “modern” solution to the problem of the relationship between the individual and society.
PERSONAL INFORMATION AND SOCIAL LIFE*
Authors: Zerubavel Eviatar
Published: January 2008

This paper revolves around the informational aspect of social relationships, attempting to identify the fundamental social patterning of personal information and to establish the basic conceptual framework necessary for analyzing this topic from a sociological perspective. The paper explores the major parameters of personal information (amount, scope, and depth), relating them to sociological variables such as social distance, social power, privacy, and intimacy. It then examines the “information preserve”, a quasi‐spatial territory of the self, discussing various forms of defending it (such as discretion, concealment, and fabrication), as well as ways in which it is protected by others (with a particular emphasis on confidentiality and tact).
Performance and Rehearsal: Social Order and Organizational Life*
Authors: Mangham Iain L. , Overington Michael A.
Published: January 2008

Two perspectives on social order have been influential among interactionists—negotiated order and the dramaturgical. We explore the resources offered by the latter when the theater is taken more seriously as a source of theoretic invention. In particular we survey some of the more important elements in theatrical performance and rehearsal. The major part of the paper then takes social order as an alternation between performing and rehearsing in which social actors may be treated as “possessed” by their roles and the limits on performance located. We illustrate the analytic possibilities of this view in some organizational conversations.
The Presentation of Self and the New Institutional Inmate: An Analysis of Prisoners' Responses to Assessment for Release*
Authors: Watson Catherine M.
Published: January 2008

This paper bases an analysis of the prison experience on Goffman's The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life rather than on Asylums. It describes the situation of prisoners in an institution where release decisions are individualized and where release recommendations depend on official assessments of the character, background, and moral “change” of each prisoner. The paper then focuses on the work that prisoners do to demonstrate institutionally approved character and “change” to the prison staff or, in the words of prisoners, to “show them who you are.” The concepts and premises of dramaturgy are employed to analyse prisoners' techniques of self‐portrayal and to analyse prisoners' resistance to institutional assessment through describing their behaviour as simply “conning” and “manipulating.”
Killum and Eatum: Identity Consolidation in a Middle‐Class Poly‐Drug Abuse Sub‐Culture*
Authors: Kinsey Barry A.
Published: January 2008

This paper utilizes linguistic categories to analyze a middle‐class poly‐drug abuse group called “Killum and Eatum” (K and E). Core members ranged in age from 20‐25 and most were in college or had dropped out after one or two years. The term “Killum and Eatum” was derived from what the group leader (the Wizard) referred to as the group's “ethos”, a set of norms and beliefs based upon the assumption that individuals have a choice in life: to kill and eat or be killed and eaten. The K and E ethos served two functions for the group: (a) as an explanation (account) for their current status in the drug scene, i.e., they had been killed and eaten by the “establishment”, and (b) as a justification for continued commitment to this scene, i.e., to avoid being killed and eaten or to learn to be a killer and eater rather than a victim. K and E also provided a framework in which variations upon certain middle‐class values and skills such as competition and verbal fluency became the basis for improvisational activity around which each member could participate and consolidate a new identity. It is suggested that this fits closely to Gordon's description of the process through which deviant identities are consolidated by creative fusion of old and new belief systems.
CREDITS AND CRAFT PRODUCTION: FREELANCE SOCIAL ORGANIZATION IN THE HOLLYWOOD FILM INDUSTRY, 1964–1978*
Authors: Weiss Paul R. , Faulkner Robert R.
Published: January 2008

This paper describes a system of work and patterns of productivity in the Hollywood film industry. Describing the social organization of the film industry entails two primary tasks. One is to describe the administration of work activities among technical specialists. The second is to investigate empirically the organization of those work activities. We argue that because of the particular needs of filmmaking, efficiency is achieved utilizing craft methods of work administration. An analysis of longitudinal data on film specialist's productivity provides some preliminary answers to Becker's theoretical idea of the recurrent nature of work activities in the production of art works. Finally, accounting for the disproportionate work contributions among specialists, some explanations are offered based upon an analysis of the process by which coalitions of specialists are joined.
“ZA DUSHA”: AN INTERPRETATION OF FUNERAL PRACTICES IN MACEDONIA*
Authors: Ford George
Published: January 2008

Anthropologists and sociologists have generally approached an understanding of funeral rituals in terms of their psychological or social consequences. Such functional analyses have typically depended on regarding ritual behaviors as learned reponses that symbolically create or affirm the society's organizational “rules”. An alternative or supplemental approach is the view that ritual behavior, and thus ritual content, results from purposive interactions between individuals determined by their interpretations of the ritual's interactive situation. An elaboration of this view is offered in an examination of funeral practices in the developing city of Skopje in Yugoslav Macedonia where the many commemoratives for the dead typically result in great costs of time, money and effort. Variations and changes in funeral rituals are related to different strategies of adjustment to the city, and, in particular, to the creation and maintenance of relationships within a network of specific others that is essential to urban adaptation. Ritual is also described as providing a means of social boundary maintenance, in addition to the creation of these social networks, thus limiting obligations and claims on resources.
A CASE STUDY OF TWO TYPES OF OFFICER‐INMATE INTERACTION IN A CORRECTIONAL ESTABLISHMENT*
Authors: Andrews Florence Kellner
Published: January 2008

The paper argues that because studies of correctional institutions favor a focus upon inmates rather than a concentration upon the interaction between inmates and officers, it is quite likely that many accounts of prison life are distorted. Therefore, a focus upon this interaction is recommended in order to achieve a fuller and more accurate description of correctional social structure.

An illustrative case is presented which compares officer interactions with two types of inmates in a minimum security institution in the United States Northeast. These two types of interactions present the bases of order and disorder in a correctional establishment from the perspectives of both officers and inmates.

The case study is linked to recent correctional literature to propose some generalizations concerning social order in correctional institutions.
WORKING FOR TELEVISION: THE SOCIAL ORGANIZATION OF TV DRAMA*
Authors: Mast Sharon
Published: January 2008

Data collected in a case study of a British TV play provide the basis for an analysis of the social organization of TV drama production. The perceived needs of mass audiences and the ways in which the technical requirements of television are interpreted and acted upon set the preconditions for the ongoing interaction between actors, directors and technicians. The conventions of TV production are upheld and reinforced by continued use, though subject to renegotiation by all participants.
G. H. MEAD'S SOCIAL BEHAVIORISM VS. THE ASTRUCTURAL BIAS OF SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISM*
Authors: Wood Michael , Wardell Mark L.
Published: January 2008

Symbolic inleractionism has been criticized for having an astructural bias. This paper presents a response to that criticism by examining the ontological stance contained in Mead's social behaviorism and contrasting it with the ontological stance of symbolic interactionism's chief architect, Herbert Blumer. Mead's social behaviorism is shown to be a nondualist philosophy of conduct based solidly on conceptions of the human community and of individual conduct as organized on the basis of social acts–a view not shared by Blumer.
Identity: Its Emergence within Sociological Psychology*
Authors: Weigert Andrew J.
Published: January 2008

Identity is an oft used technical term in sociological social psychology. Yet, its rather recent emergence remains uncharted. Discussion of its origin in the post World War II period from the writings of Erikson leads to recognition of its rapid development in the 1960's and 1970's. Five theoretical sources are currently informing the development and use of the concept. Its continued strength is apparently in response to the need to interpret contemporary American society. By the 1980's, identity serves as a powerful bridging concept stretched across micro and macro levels of theory and reaching from laboratory analyses to cultural criticism.
Role Performance and Person Perception: Toward an Interactions Approach*
Authors: Colomy Paul , Rhoades Gary
Published: January 2008

This paper examines and critiques the manner in which one strand of attribution theory has addressed the relationship between role performances and person perception. An interactionist approach is formulated as an alternative, and an experiment is designed to test its viability. The experiment supports our hypothesis that the informational value of “in‐role” performances is similar to the informational value of “out‐of‐role” performances, and that neither type of performance is consistently more informative than the other. Further, it is suggested that the informational value of role performances is not adequately explained by the in‐role/out‐of‐role dichotomy. The interactionist conception of role, combined with a notion of informal role types, provides a more accurate understanding of role performance and person perception.
Language and the Self: An Expanded View from a Symbolic Interactionist Perspective*
Authors: Schwalbe Michael L.
Published: January 2008

Language and the self are two of the most important elements in Mead's account of human development and action. Despite the importance of language and the self to symbolic interactionism, little attention has been devoted to exploring their interrelationhip, either theoretically or empirically. Some reasons for this neglect are suggested. By merging Mead's view of language and the self with a functional linguistic perspective new possibilities are displayed for expanding our understanding of this relationship. These are developed by considering the: a) ontogenetic, b) categorical, c) expressive, d) performative, and e) transformative aspects of the interrelationship between language and the self.
THE ROMANTIC ANTECEDENTS OF MEADIAN SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY*
Authors: Shalin Dmitri N.
Published: January 2008

Mead's life‐long interest in Romanticism is the least studied aspect of his work. As summarized in Movements of Thought in the Nineteenth Century, Meadian explorations in romantic philosophy and sociology provide a valuable insight into his substantive contributions. The present paper seeks to amplify this insight and explores its relevance to the interactionist tradition in sociology. Special attention is given to the Meadian claim that the modern notion of self first appears in the romantic literature. Mead's emphasis on the interplay between the social structure and the structure of the self is linked to the romantic vision of the self as the microcosm of the social macrocosm. The current controversy over Mead and Chicago sociology is given a new interpretation in light of the dialectical premises inherent in the Meadian and romantic theories of self.
CHILDREN'S NEGOTIATION OF MEANING*
Authors: Mandell Nancy
Published: January 2008

Focusing on the interaction of children with other children in day care centers, this paper examines the various ways in which children take the role of the other toward oneself. Using a sample of sixty‐two children aged two to four, data was provided from a field work study involving intensive participant observation. Within a Meadian perspective, a model of negotiating meaning emerged with four characteristic stances of children's involvement in the process of taking children into account. Each stance is outlined using field work examples. The overall result is the provision of a continuum of interaction which documents the basic ways in which individuals move from the realm of private understandings to public or shared objects of attention.
SOME ASPECTS OF NEGOTIATED ORDER, LOOSE COUPLING AND MESOSTRUCTURE IN MAXIMUM SECURITY PRISONS*
Authors: Thomas Jim
Published: January 2008

Even in total institutions, control is far from total. In custodial organizations, for example, staff and inmates negotiate their own interpretation of the social order, often rejecting formal rules and control techniques, and substituting alternatives that may be just as formal, although tacit, as those they replace. This creates “gaps” betwen formal organizational structure and individual behaviors which partially decouple formal rules from the behaviors intended to carry out those rules. This study integrates organizational and prison research to develop the concepts of negotiated order, loose coupling, and me‐sostructure. The goal is to examine the context in which negotiations occur and the manner in which negotiated order activates the interactions and understandings through and by which organizational structure is generated and maintained.
GOOD PEOPLE DOING DIRTY WORK: A STUDY OF SOCIAL ISOLATION*
Authors: Davis David S.
Published: January 2008

Everett Hughes (1964), in his essay “Good People and Dirty Work”, implies that those who engage in dirty work may be defective in some way, a view that reflects society's perception of dirty workers. However, many of them perceive themselves to be good people doing dirty work. In this paper we examine the consequences of this disjunction between the audience's and the self's perception.

We examine members of a dirty work occupation: bailbondsmen. Many of these individuals are found to be socially isolated. This isolation is the result of their belief that they have been unjustly accused of corrupt and corrupting behavior and their desire to be seen and accepted as respectable. Rejected by members of respectable society and rejecting association with like others who may taint their attempts for respectability, they become socially isolated. Ironically, by proclaiming their innocence they, unlike their truly accused counterparts, find little social support or possibility of becoming integrated into respectable society.
PURCHASING PRODUCTS FOR RESALE: ASSESSING SUPPLIERS AS “PARTNERS‐IN‐TRADE”*
Authors: Prus Robert
Published: January 2008

Speaking to the more general topic of commitments and the relationships implied therein, this paper examines “purchasing” decisions on the part of businesspeople. The material on which this paper is based was gathered through interviews with people involved in retail, wholesale, manufacturing, and commercial trade, attendance of “trade shows”, and involvements in a craft enterprise.

While focusing mainly on buyers, some attention is also given to suppliers as together they attempt to assess one another relative to their interests and styles of doing business (e.g. relevancy, quality, pricing, and financing). The interdependence of buyers and suppliers is much greater than it might first seem (a “zero‐sum” game), and the development of “good working relations” represents an element of considerable significance to parties involved in both aspects of the exchange. However, the reflective planning and negotiation involved takes place in a setting characterized by much uncertainty, potential misunderstanding, and reserved trust. Thus, in addition to providing some sociological material on buyer‐supplier relations, this paper also sheds light on the emergence and maintenance of cooperation among (independent) entities endeavoring to maximize their returns in a highly competitive environment.
Dignified Joking: Humor and Demeanor in a Public Speaking Club*
Authors: Bjorklund Diane
Published: January 2008

An investigation was made of the joking that occurs during meetings of a club which gathers weekly to practice public speaking. In this setting, humor is expected as part of a good speaking performance. It is assumed that the use of humor can establish rapport with an audience and aid in persuasion. This paper describes how such joking must be managed to avoid both a potential disintegration of the club's focused gathering and an undermining of the face‐work involved in doing public speaking.
Marx and the Category of Individuality' in Communist Society*
Authors: Ashley David
Published: January 2008

Marx was one among the great humanist philosophers who, like the humanists from the Renaissance up to those of our day, have stressed the idea that all social arrangements must serve the growth and the unfolding of man; that man must always be an end and never a means; that each individual carries within himself all of humanity; that human progress in science and in art depends upon freedom; that man has the capacity to perfect himself in the process of history…. It is an ironical fact that the main accusation against Marxism in the capitalist countries has been his “materialism”; this is ironical because it was precisely Marx's aim to fight the materialism engendered in bourgeois life and to create a society in which man—the creative, “self‐active” human being—is the summon bonum, in which the rich man is the one, as Marx put it, who is much, and not the one who has much.
The Social Shaping of Emotion: The Case of Grief*
Authors: Lofland Lyn H.
Published: January 2008

This article addresses the issue of how deeply social arrangements may penetrate into private emotion, in this instance, grief. It argues that the data necessary to address the issue satisfactorily are not available and thus current assumptions in the literature about the universality of the grief experience are at least suspect. However, there are theoretical reasons, derived from interactionist thought, to suspect that if certain components of the grief experience vary, so will the experience. Four of these components are examined (level of significance of the other who dies; definition of the situation surrounding the death; character of the self experiencing a loss through death; and the interactional situation/setting in which the prior three components occur). Evidence is also presented which is suggestive of space‐time variation in these components. It is concluded that an assumption of the deep social shaping and thus the variability of grief is fruitful for further empirical inquiries.
Love and Death in Classical Music‐Methodological Problems in Analyzing Human Meaning in Music*
Authors: Harris Catherine T. , Sandresky Clemens
Published: January 2008

It has been clear since the work of Weber that the relationship between social structure and musical syntax is an important potential area of sociological investigation. Little work has been done in this area, however, probably because of methodological problems. Discussions of methodological problems in analyzing meanings in music converge in music theory and sociology on the issue of objectivity. Recent comparisons of musical syntax with language and the work of Heinrich Schenker in music theory provide the basis for an interdisciplinary methodology for analyzing typified collective meanings communicated through musical syntax. It is suggested that, on the basis of this methodology, these collective meanings could be analyzed “objectively.” Two examples of this approach are provided through typified collective musical expressions of love and death.
COMMUNITY, COMMUNICATION, AND MEANING: THEORIES OF BUCHLER AND HABERMAS
Authors: Tejera V.
Published: January 2008

The scope of Jürgen Habermas's “universal pragmatics” and communicative interaction theory are critically assessed in this article. Habermas's pragmatics are seen to reveal different assumptions than those of Peirce or Mead. This difference yields different assumptions about the research program embodied in Habermas's work. The ideas of Justis Buchler are presented in order to develop a comprehensive theory of meaning and community. This article provides the basis for an assessment of linguistic rationality, meaning, and human interests in daily life.
The 1985 Distinguished lecture: The Bureaucratizing of Impulse: Self‐Conception in the 1980s
Authors: Zurcher Louis A.
Published: January 2008

This article selectively reviews and interprets the literature on self‐concept and social change. It summarizes the view that in the 1970s the self‐conception of Americans, modally considered, manifested a shift from institution to impulse, from social to reflective. The argument is made that in the 1980s the expression of impulse is becoming bureaucratized, newly formated in rationalization and modernization, effectively being institutionalized by assorted societal agents, including sociologists. Speculations are offered about the implications of that change. Several suggestions are made regarding future research on self‐concept and the broader notion of “self”, particularly by symbolic interactionists and for the purpose of application.
Impact of Bereavement on the Self‐Conceptions of Older Surviving Spouses
Authors: Lund Dale A. , Caserta Michael S. , Dimond Margaret F. , Gray Robert M.
Published: January 2008

The purpose of this longitudinal study was to assess the extent to which the social anchorage dimension of the self‐concept is impacted by the death of a spouse among a sample of older surviving spouses. Social anchorage was measured by the Twenty Statements Test (TST) in mailed questionnaires and consisted of self‐statements that signify important social relationships and group memberships. As hypothesized, the 42 bereaved persons had lower social anchorage scores than the 72 nonbereaved controls. This significant effect was evident as early as three to four weeks following the death, and it persisted through five more measurement periods that covered the first two years of bereavement.
One‐Dimensional Protestantism
Authors: Antonio Robert J.
Published: January 2008

American Sociology: World Rejection of Religions and Their Directions, by Arthur Vidich and Stanford Lyman
MEDIA LOGIC AND SOCIAL INTERACTION
Authors: Altheide David L.
Published: January 2008

Media logic and formats associated with television programming are shown to contribute to our understanding of the role of reflexive communication in defining a situation, and suggest the relevance of a theory of mediation for clarifying how an agent's communication products can influence the time, place, and manner of activities for us all. Social rules informed by conventional temporal and spatial considerations can be transformed through electronic content and formats. Viewers obtain information from mass media content that can transcend conventional personal experience (e.g., a 10‐year‐old child can learn how to be a teenager in 1940 or 1990). Materials illustrate how media logic and formats compatible with popular culture increasingly guide the form, content, and scheduling of social interaction. By the same token, certain kinds of experience are recognized for their mediated characteristics (e.g., rhythm, pacing, syntax, and grammar). As these patterns are incorporated into other realms of social life, temporal and spatial features of organized activities will embody the new formats. Viewing mass mediation from this perspective can illuminate a path for development of a theoretic understanding of mediation throughout social life.
AMERICAN GREETINGS: HAND SIGNALING ON THE HIGHWAYS
Authors: Turnbaugh William A. , Turnbaugh Sarah Peabody
Published: January 2008

We describe and interpret hand signaling on the highways of the United States as a form of symbolic interaction. Results of this observational case study suggest that hand signaling is most frequently encountered in some sparsely populated regions of North America and is characterized by behaviors similar to those observed in comparable situated activity systems.
STUDENT VOCABULARIES OF MOTIVE: ACCOUNTS FOR ABSENCE
Authors: Kalab Kathleen A.
Published: January 2008

An analysis of actual accounts produced by students who missed class illustrates how they were intended to explain inappropriate behavior. In justifications, which took the form of appeal to loyalties, students accepted responsibility for the absence but emphasized that such action was positive in some other context. Excuses, rather than justifications, predominated. Most students admitted to the negative aspect of the act but attempted to lessen their individual responsibility through the use of five major themes, which included reference to biological factors, control by another person, oversleeping, other coursework, and accidents. The reality of the act of nonattendance was aligned and negotiated within the framework of university culture. Examples, in the words of the students, provide some understanding of their perceptions of their own behavior and self‐presentation.
Identity, Time, and Situated Activity: An Interactions Analysis of Dyadic Transactions
Authors: Katovich Michael A.
Published: January 2008

This article uses the symbolic interactionist perspective to discuss situated identities as linked to the projection of shared futures. First, a theoretical discussion is provided on how interactionists have defined identities and conceptualized the future. This discussion includes definitions of identities as instrumental or categorical, and general depictions of the future as restoring or externalizing. Then a role‐playing study is illustrated involving dyads constructing a job interview. Their videotaped interactions are thickly described. This analysis demonstrates how the process of linking interpersonal situated identities to broader future‐oriented concerns involves the construction of four distinct but interrelated empirical shared futures: the performable, patterned, implied mandatory, and codified futures. Further, the construction of identities and projection of futures involves a negotiated reality whereby interactants reassert, bolster, challenge, and reframe identities.
Coordination and Convention: The Organization of the Concert World
Authors: Gilmore Samuel
Published: January 2008

The organization of collaborative work is generally the focus of formal organization researchers. This article examines collaboration organized through an alternative framework, the “social world.” The substantive focus is the concert world, where the interdependent activities of composition and performance are routinely coordinated to produce concerts. Coordination of these activities takes place through musical conventions, which act as an alternative to administrative processes used in formal organization. But the use of conventions vary in the concert world depending on the organizational characteristics of concert collaboration, called “coordination problems”, and the aesthetic interests of participants. The first part of this article develops a model to assess coordination problems in social worlds, and the second part of the article uses the model to analyze collaboration in repertory, academic, and avant‐garde concert activities.
Producing Family Problems: Organization and Uses of the Family Perspective and Rhetoric in Family Therapy
Authors: Miller Gale
Published: January 2008

This article applies and extends literature on the micropolitics of trouble and family rhetoric perspectives by analyzing how therapists in a family therapy agency practicing the brief model used family rhetoric in defining and responding to client problems. Family rhetoric is the use of images of family (the family perspective) to (1) persuade others to one's preferred orientation to issues of mutual concern and (2) attribute identities to one's self and others. The article focuses on how the therapists rhetorically enacted and applied the family perspective in interactions with colleagues and clients to define and remedy client troubles. In general, troubles were defined and remedied by treating them as products of clients' family systems, defined as enduring roles, relationships, and perspectives. The therapists sought to remedy client troubles by initiating changes assessed as appropriate for their troubles and family systems. The article concludes by considering some of the implications of the findings and analysis for the sociological study of human service work.
Socialism, Democracy and Reform: A Letter and an Article by George H. Mead
Authors: Shalin Dmitri N.
Published: January 2008

This article is intended to serve two purposes by presenting a selection from George Herbert Mead's correspondence with Henry Northrup Castle and his little‐known series of five articles on the issues of war and democracy. This presentation should renew an interest in Mead's political writings and reform activities. It should also draw the attention of sociologists to the substantial body of unexplored, unpublished writings, which will hopefully continue to be investigated.
Review Essays
Authors: Frank Arthur W.
Published: January 2008

Fragments of Modernity, by David Frisby.

The Flight from Ambiguity, by Donald N. Levine.

Schopenhauer and Nietzsche, by Georg Simmel Translation and Introduction by Helmut Loiskandl, Deena Weinstein, and Michael Weinstein.
HERBERT G. BLUMER (1900–1987): A LEGACY OF CONCEPTS, CRITICISMS, AND CONTRIBUTIONS
Authors: Morrione Thomas J.
Published: January 2008

This article introduces a collection of articles written in honor of Herbert Blumer. It is noted what contributing authors identify as strengths and weaknesses of his theoretical and methodological analyses. Emphasized, however, is his view of reality as an ongoing emergent process. This view, coupled with his fundamental pragmatist stance, are the unifying and enduring themes in his life work. Blumer's impact on the social sciences will grow as more scholars become familiar with the full range of his ideas.
RECONSIDERING BLUMER'S CORRECTIVE AGAINST THE EXCESSES OF FUNCTIONALISM
Authors: Sciulli David
Published: January 2008

Blumer's corrective to Parsons' excesses is presented against a backdrop provided by two reformulations of Parsons' concepts: The problems of social order is recast as the problem of nonauthoritarian social order, and voluntaristic action is distinguished from normative action. Blumer's corrective, then, was to see that distinctively voluntaristic action is ineluctably the product of actors' negotiations of meaning (whereas both purposive‐rational and non‐rational action can more legitimately be abstracted from this process and treated as more reified by social analyses). Parsons' optimism about social order was unwarranted, as was Blumer's complacency about the problem of arbitrary power. It is suggested in conclusion that Parsons' theory ironically evinces more respect for the individual's integrity than does Blumer's.