bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
YOU CAN'T AFFORD A CONSCIENCE IN BUSINESS: THE NATURE, OPERATION AND CONSEQUENCES OF CORPORATE CRIME
Authors: Kilroe Michael , Marsh Ian
Published: February 2008

In his examination of the links between power and crime, Steven Box defined corporate crime as crime committed for the corporate organisation and not against it. Thus, employee theft, including fraud and embezzlement against an employer, would not be categorised as such. Braithwaite adopts a similar definition to Box, suggesting that corporate crime refers to ‘the conduct of a corporation or individuals acting on behalf of the corporation that is proscribed by law’. Corporate crime, then, involves illegal acts of an individual or group within a legitimate formal organisation which are in accordance with the goals of that organisation.
OCCUPATIONAL HOMOGAMY WITHIN NORTHERN IRELAND AND THE REPUBLIC OF IRELAND: A LOG‐LINEAR ANALYSIS
Authors: Hayes Bernadette C.
Published: February 2008

Social mobility has long been viewed as an integrative mechanism for societies. For example, whereas earlier American researchers saw opportunities for social mobility as a vital factor in promoting political stability and the maximisation of equality of opportunity, more recent British sociologists have noted the role of social mobility in legitimising inequalities and impeding class formation and class action. Despite this stress on the importance of social mobility for societal stability, however, there has been little sustained empirical study of the influence of marital homogany either in terms of societal integration or the reproduction of class relations. Yet, as Jones (1987) notes, this neglect of the issue is somewhat puzzling. Not only have earlier studies of class phenomena such as Sorokin (1927) and Schumpeter (1951) paid considerable attention to marriage and the family in relation to social stability, class formation and class cohesion, but, marital patterns, in terms of the economic and social resources of parents, are consistently emphasised as one vital factor in accounting for the subsequent occupational achievements of children (Hayes and Miller, 1991; Miller and Hayes, 1990; Abbott and Sapsford, 1987; Boyd, 1985; Dale et.al., 1985; Cooney et.al., 1982; Marini, 1980) and the political attitudes of households in general (Leiulfsrud and Woodward, 1988, 1987; Abbott, 1987; Britten, 1984).
THE CASTE SYSTEM IN INDIA AND ITS CONSEQUENCES
Authors: Sana Arunoday
Published: February 2008

Caste is the basic structural feature of Hindu society; all social scientists are agreed on this. Since Hinduism is generally recognised to be as much a social system as a religion, its social framework embodying caste rituals has governed the lives of the majority of Indians for hundreds of years. Having deep roots in tradition and enjoying sanction in all religious literature belonging to the pre‐British era, caste has been the dominant principle of social organisation since ancient times. In fact, barring the recent past, Hinduism has always been identified in the minds of most Indians with caste observances. Writes R.C. Zaehner: “…until a century or so ago the acceptance of the caste system was considered by the orthodox to be the sole effective criterion of whether one was or was not a Hindu. In matters of belief it mattered not at all whether one believed in one god or many, or not at all, nor did it much matter on how one interpreted ‘liberation’ or whether one rejected it outright so long as one fulfilled the duties prescribed for one's caste.”
ORGANISATION IN TRANSITION: FROM GOVERNMENT TO NON‐GOVERNMENT SERVICE CENTRES
Authors: Yanay Uri
Published: February 2008

In many western, industrialised countries, the shrinking role of governments in providing direct services is manifested by the transfer of traditional government services to voluntary, non‐ profit organisations. An additional stage is marked by a significant reduction in government contributions to these non‐ profit organisations.
Uncertainty, Participation and Alienation: Lessons for Workplace Restructuring
Authors: Zeffane Rachid
Published: February 2008

In the past decade or so, workplace organisation and restructuring processes, have been subjected to the most intense scrutiny. Driven by rapidly intensifying competitive pressures, work organisations sought increased flexibility, especially from labour, as they struggled to maintain market shares in an economic environment increasingly characterised by excess in labour supply. Pressures for change were probably most evident in the public sector where economic and ideological forces combined to limit the growth of government services and increase their exposure to competitive forces.
Warnock and Research on Human Embyros: A Case for a Re‐Appraisal of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act (1990)
Authors: McLachlan Hugh V.
Published: February 2008

As Sir Anthony Alment has indicated: “Much of the public debate which followed publication of the report of the Committee of Inquiry into Human fertilisation and embryology in July 1984 has followed predictable polarities” (Alment, 1985, p.300).
An Experiment in Exporting U.S. Values Abroad: The Sullivan Principles and South Africa
Authors: Gray Kenneth R. , Karp Robert E.
Published: February 2008

The traditional role of business as essentially fulfilling a limited economic role has its articulate proponents (Milton Friedman, 1962; Theodore Levitt, 1958; Frederick Hayek, 1944). Friedman and others who see business as having a very central but limited role in society contend that the business of business is business — not social issues or politics.
ETHICS, BLACKMAIL AND OFFICIAL SECRECY
Authors: McLachlan Hugh V.
Published: February 2008

I want to make some comments on recent discussions of the moral and legal status of blackmail and in their light look at official secrecy (see Owens, 1988 and Evans, 1990).
Historical Influences on the Adoption of Management Ideas
Authors: Huczynski Andrzej
Published: February 2008

In the history of business management thought, six idea families have predominated during the last eighty or so years — bureaucracy (Max Weber), scientific management (Frederick Winslow Taylor), classical management (Henri Fayol), human relations (Elton Mayo), neo‐human relations (Abraham Maslow). To these one can add the more recent contributions of different writers under the heading of guru theory. The first five idea families are well known, but the sixth requires explanation. Gury theory achieved prominence during the 1980s. While not yet featuring extensively in management textbooks it has received widespread attention in the financial and business press (Lorenz, 1986; Dixon, 1986; Clutterbuck and Crainer, 1988; Pierce and Newstrom, 1988; Heller, 1990). Guru theory consists of the diverse and unrelated writings of well‐known company chief executives such as Lee lacocca (Chrysler), Harold Geneen (ITT), John Harvey‐Jones (ICI) and John Sculley (Apple Computer); of management consultants like Tom Peters and Philip Crosby; and of business school academics like Michael Porter, Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Henry Mintzberg. Since their contributions are so heterogeneous, and as the writings draw so much of their authority from the individual authors themselves, the adopted label is felt to be appropriate.
Helpless and Omnipotent: Incongruencies in Canadian Perceptions of ‘Child’
Authors: Birenbaum‐Carmeli Daphna , Carmeli Yoram S. , Koren Gideon
Published: February 2008

During the last decades the socio‐political status of children in Western societies has become a focus of interest for researchers from various disciplines. As part of the more general trend of struggles for the human rights of specific sectors of society (e.g. African Americans, women, homosexuals) proponents established the “Children's Rights Movement” which has fought on behalf of the younger members of society, trying to secure them certain social rights and legal protection (e.g. Forer, 1973). Concern for children and their social status has been gradually institutionalised until gaining recognition also by major world organisations such as the United Nations which adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child in 1959 and established UNICEF, whose sole aim was to promote the welfare of children around the world. During the past decade extensive political as well as scholarly attention has been concentrated on problems of child abuse and neglect.
Rights, Rape and Abortion
Authors: McLachlan Hugh V.
Published: February 2008

Long has recently presented a statement of what the pro‐abortion position is and also a defence of it. I shall, as a pro‐abortionist, question the statement and attack the defence.
FAMILY POLICIES AND EFFECTIVE FAMILIES: A LIFE COURSE PERSPECTIVE
Authors: Moen Phyllis , Firebaugh Francille M.
Published: February 2008

Titmus defines “policy” as “the principles that govern action directed towards given ends”. Höhn and Lüscher definefamilypolicy as “public activities, measures, and organizations that attempt to recognize, support, complement, and thus influence or even enforce specifically or generally defined achievements of the family”. Thus family policy can include a wide range of activities of governments and organizations, including private associations, that seek to transform families and increase family well‐being.
RIGHTSIZING: SOCIO‐ECONOMIC SENSIBILITY AND A VISIONARY APPROACH TO WORKFORCE PLANNING AND EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS IN THE NINETIES
Authors: Zeffane Rachid , Mayo Geoffrey
Published: February 2008

In recent years, organisations around the world have been seriously affected by a range of economic, political and social upheavals that have gathered momentum in most parts of the globe. The viability of the conventional (pyramidal) organisational structures is being challenged in conjunction with major shifts in the roles of mid and top managers. In many countries, the pace of the above socio‐economic events and uncertainties is happening at an unprecedented pace. Some markets are showing signs of potential gigantic expansions while others (historically prosperous) are on the verge of complete collapse (Dent, 1991). In responding to the socio‐economic challenges of the nineties, organisations (across the board) have resorted to dismantling the conventional pyramidal structure and adopting so‐called “leaner” structures (see Zeffane, 1992). The most common struggle has been to maintain market share in an economic environment increasingly characterised by excess labour supply (Bamber, 1990; Green & Macdonald, 1991). As organisations shifted their strategies from “mass production” to “post‐fordism” (see, for example Kern and Schumann, 1987), there has been a significant tendency to emphasise flexibility of both capital and labour in order to cater for the niche markets which are claimed to be rapidly emerging, world‐wide. This has resulted in massive organisational restructuring world‐wide.
GOVERNMENT'S CHANGING POLICY IN THE PROVISION OF HOME CARE SERVICES FOR ISRAEL'S FRAIL ELDERLY
Authors: Schmid Hillel
Published: February 2008

The relationship between the governmerit and non‐government organisations (NGO's) providing welfare and human services has been dealt with extensively by researchers and scholars, from theoretical as well as empirical perspectives. Such research has addressed the changing role of the government and changing division of labour between the government and provider organisations, In this context, studies have discussed the strengths, weaknesses and level of effectiveness of the existing relationship, in which the government sets policies, provides funding and controls the quality of services while provider organisations actually deliver the services. Studies have also pointed to the organisational, managerial and economic differences between government agencies, non‐profit organisations (NPOs) and for‐profit organisations (FPOs). The findings indicate that neither sector has a clear‐cut advantage over the other. Rather, each sector has relative advantages in different areas of service provision.
THE FAMILIAL EFFECTS OF INCARCERATION
Authors: Kepford Lori
Published: February 2008

The basic family unit is an important institution whose scope and function has changed greatly over the past one hundred years. The contemporary form of the family is understood as “conjugal and nuclear.” This implies a greater emphasis than previously on individual roles and relationships within the private sphere of the contemporary family. Additionally, the family is understood to have lost many of its former functions, further separating itself from the external world. The separation has further stripped the family from many of the roles it once had, with traditional familial functions performed by other institutions.
OCCUPATION: A TYPOLOGY
Authors: Carlton Eric
Published: February 2008

Successful conquerors, imperialists and sundry would‐be expansionists face a common problem: they take what they can get — but how do they keep what they take? Having wrested lands and possessions from others, how do they contrive to retain them? More particularly, how do they organise and govern territories which are inhospitable and often actively hostile? This is the central concern of this discussion. The range of possibilities that is open to occupying powers in their dealings with conquered peoples is limited. Whatever method or combination of methods is adopted will involve different attitudes to, and applications of, some form of relevant ideology which we may define as a set of beliefs in a preferred social order which enables adherents to interpret their past, explain their present and develop a vision of the future.
INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION AND RETIREMENT
Authors: Hartman Moshe , Hartman Harriet
Published: February 2008

The short‐term effects of international immigration such as immediate unemployment and lowered occupational status, have been studied extensively (eg. Boyd, et al, 1980; Hartman, 1974; Matras, et al, 1976). International migration has been shown to have serious negative effects on occupational and educational achievement (Hartman and Eilon, 1973; Eilon, 1976; Hartman, 1981). For example the total number of years of education of immigrants under certain conditions is lower than their native counterparts, and may even be lower than the educational attainment expected from the person in his country of origin. Occupational achievement was found to be lowered immediately after immigration, and although it was found that some accelerated regain occurs for up to 10 years in the country, the migrant rarely attains the same achievements as his native counterparts (Eilon, 1976). Such consequences of immigration are bound to have long‐term implications for labour force participation throughout the working life and subsequent retirement provisions.
HOUSING SYSTEMS EAST AND WEST — THE USES AND LIMITATIONS OF COMPARATIVE STUDIES
Authors: Gregory Peter
Published: February 2008

Comparative studies of social policy in general, and housing is no exception, are always fraught with difficulties. There are very few attempts which entirely manage to escape both of the major traps. On the one hand is the danger of drifting into an abstract empiricism which can end up concentrating on such factors as the details of subsidy systems or the precise percentages of income which people pay for housing in various countries. At best this becomes numbingly boring and at worst (for example where payment or subsidy figures are described in local currency terms without indicating exchange rates) incomprehensible.
Drunkenness in the Context of Political Culture: The Case of Russian Revolutions
Authors: Shlapentokh Dmitry
Published: February 2008

The historian can provide quite a different explanation, other than the currently held views, for the emergence of the Red Terror in 1918.
THE “BIG BROTHER” FUNCTION OF BLOCK WATCH
Authors: Yanay Uri
Published: February 2008

This article deals with a social phenomenon in which individuals organise locally to promote their personal safety.
DISEMPOWERING AND DOWNSIZING MIDDLE MANAGEMENT?
Authors: Krau Edgar
Published: February 2008

At the turn of the decade the tendency of retrenchment in organisations appeared as a byproduct of an ongoing recession threatening with heavy consequences for the future. In the big organisations, like the Fortune 500 Companies, the number of people employed full time shrunk from 19% of the workforce two decades ago to less than 10% (Castro, 1993). Initially justified by marketing difficulties due to foreign competition, retrenchment has become fashionable and a kind of panacea, although actually only about a third of the companies which performed major lay‐offs reported increases in productivity and profits, while a plummeting morale surfaced in 80% of the cases. Therefore, more and more such organisations are getting, as it were, “lean and lame” (Henkoff, 1994).
SMOKING DURING PREGNANCY: CANADIAN POLICY IN THE CONTEXT OF MEDICAL AND LEGAL VIEWS
Authors: Birenbaum‐Carmeli Daphna
Published: February 2008

Western countries have invested considerable resources in efforts aimed at reducing the amount of cigarette smoking in their countries, along with its accompanying hazards. Canada is no exception to this challenge and takes pride in its participation in the global quest:
TOBACCO: POLICING AND SOCIAL POLICY
Authors: Kinman Bernard Frank , Vinten Gerald
Published: February 2008

Tobacco has exercised the interest of the nation since Elizabethan times, and the inhalation of its smoke for pleasure has become very widespread. It was not until the mid‐twentieth century, however, that its effects upon health were suspected. It is now widely accepted that tobacco smoke is implicated in a range of dangerous diseases, although the tobacco industry sometimes argues that the link is not proven. The arguments about the conflicting needs of a large, world‐wide industry and the health and prosperity of individuals and society are complex, and often influenced by conflicting vested interests. Government's involvement in the issues is further complicated by its reliance upon large tobacco revenues. The link between advertising and increased smoking, either by existing or new smokers, is not proved by research, although there are strong indications that it exists. The behaviour of most parties involved, including the tobacco companies, indicates that they share the belief of a link. Voluntary controls upon tobacco advertising have had some effect, in that, for example, advertising in the U.K. is no longer overtly directed at children, but various anti‐smoking lobbies believe voluntary control to be ineffective. The present British government has toyed wth the possibility of statutory control, but faces stiff opposition from back‐benchers and within the cabinet; it is also probably philosophically opposed to such measures. More research is needed into the link between advertising and smoking behaviour.
THE MEANINGS OF WORK IN SPAIN
Authors: Luis Alvaro José , Dergere Joelle , Crespo Eduardo , Ramón Torregrosa José , Garrido Alicia
Published: February 2008

It is difficult, both from a layman's point of view and from the perspective of work psychology and sociology, to provide a definition of the concept of work. Various factors contribute to this difficulty. The first problem lies in the use of employment and work as synonyms. Even though some authors have established distinct differences between these terms in the sense that employment implies remunerative work, thus excluding other types of work in which a contractual relationship of the definition of employment does not exist, the truth is that indiscriminate use is still a characteristic feature of the bibliography of work psychology and sociology (see Jahoda, 1987). In addition to this confusion, we have to confront the problems originating from the conceptual distinction between work in an abstract sense of the word and work considered as a category of subjective experience.
Sociological Theory and Mental Retardation
Authors: Weiner Terry , Davis Felmon
Published: February 2008

The most salient fact about the relationship between sociology and mental retardation is its lack of interest in the topic. Sociologists, as well as anthropologists, who study medical care, health systems, the insane, deviant behaviour and social stratification have conspicuously avoided the examination of those individuals in society who are developmentally disabled. As the British sociologist Richard Jenkins (1991) asks regarding the study of the mentally retarded
Social Development Reconsidered: A Eulogy for the United Nations World Summit for Social Development
Authors: Arnopoulos Paris
Published: February 2008

Since the end of the East‐West military‐ideological bipolarity in 1990, the world's attention has been increasingly focused upon the North‐South ecologic‐economic dichotomy. The Rio Global Summit in 1992 brought out this point with the confrontation of the world's contradictory priorities: environment versus development, whose dialectical synthesis or diplomatic compromise is captured in the slogan of “sustainable development”.
Le Grand, Racism and the Nature of Equity
Authors: McLachlan Hugh V.
Published: February 2008

Le Grand gives an illustration of an employment situation which would generally be considered racist ‐ (Amanda and Catherine are equally talented and hard‐working employees. The former is white and better paid than her black colleague) ‐ and gives an analysis of the ethics of the situation in terms of his theory of equity. I shall discuss his analysis and his theory of equity. Is the situation inequitable? If it is, is it ‘inequitable’ for the reason that Le Grand puts forward as constituting the essence of ‘inequity’?
Social Destabilization and the Development of Early Warning Systems
Authors: Atteslander Peter
Published: February 2008

In fall 1994 a group of social scientists from different parts in the world met in Switzerland. The Swiss Academy for Development (SAD) organized a symposium to discuss problems of contemporary developmental policy and research. The meeting focussed on the upcoming World Summit of Social Development in Copenhagen in 1995 and so the participants intended to present themes of international interest that would be introduced to a greater audience. The important contributions and propositions of this symposium are found in this publication.
Sustainable Development: A Common Challenge for North and South
Authors: Leisinger Klaus M.
Published: February 2008

Sustainable development seems to be something like motherhood and apple pie — everyone finds it a good thing, there is almost universal appreciation. At first sight, this is highly positive, as this could signal the entering of a holistic and responsible thinking into the world of politics and society. But as it often happens with other catch phrases that suddenly come into vogue, like “empowerment” and “participation”, it might not be more than a rhetoric which fails to translate into practice, this all the more so because sustainable development can be given several different interpretations.
Economic Globalization and Growing Anomie
Authors: Gern Jean‐Pierre
Published: February 2008

When civilization went beyond the stage of Neolithic villages, when cities and cultural activities developed, external trade played an important role. It was not possible for a city to develop without a network of long distance exchanges. They made non‐domestic activities possible and so favored the development of institutional and political structures. The same is true of the cities of the Ancient world, of the medieval cities (French Historians contended whether trade or urbanization was first; but could they develop without each other?). It is true that the result was not an homogeneous society, but centers with a high level of culture and organization in the midst of a traditional peasantry world.
Nationalism and Internationalization—The Function of Social Behavior Patterns in International Relations
Authors: Roth Hans J.
Published: February 2008

The fall of the Soviet Union and the end of socialism has come as a surprise but has been hailed nearly all over the world. The failure of the socialist model seems to have shown the superiority of the capitalist approach. The first sentence of Erich Fromms famous work “The Sane Society”, written at the end of the Second World War, is not strong enough to stimulate a discussion any longer. It is not less true nowadays than it was some forty years ago: “Nothing is more common than the idea that we, the people living in the Western world of the twentieth century, are eminently sane”.
Options to Realize: Towards a Pragmatic Modeling of Man in His World
Authors: Löckenhoff Hellmut
Published: February 2008

When considering an agreeable development a realistic attitude towards presumed options is to be taken. Two prerequisites in particular prove necessary: first, a realisticmodel of man in his world, and second, a pragmatic philosophy to evaluate the given facts towards an appropriate, sustainable strategy of action. Mere tradition, wishful thinking, emotion, just hopeful illusions or escapism will not help. A responsible,guided attempt to control changeis needed. Man, the dominant factor for the evolution of the life sphere has no other choice than consciously using his capacity to understand and to decide responsibly on his future.
Human Ecological Change in Kinshasa. Zaïrian Urban Anomie and African Palaver Systems
Authors: Friedli Richard
Published: February 2008

Analyses based on sociology, cultural anthropology, and the study of religion as well as interpretations of the situation in colonial and postcolonial Africa point out emphatically the growing tendency of confronting the world view, economics, and human ecological makeup of modernity with more or less occult magical practices. Description of urban development in Leopoldville/Kinshasa, the Congo/Zaïre respectively allows no exception to this. Analysts sensitized by pastoral sociology show anxiety over this “return to Kindoki magic” in the West African metropolis. Since these phenomena of urbanization—characterized more and more under the sociological categories “social pathology” or “structural anomie”—have recently received specific forms of expression in the capital of Zaire which are typical for Black Africa, the following should first briefly describe a few modern aspects of these developments in terms of traditional lifestyle interpretations. In the second part, one of the many possible forms of therapy should be presented which—and this is our working hypothesis—opens past encoding models useful in the current search for methods of resolving conflict: the African Negro palaver system.
New Values and Anomie in the People's Republic of China Attitudes toward Modernization and Reform Policy
Authors: Gransow Bettina
Published: February 2008

The incredible tempo of the ongoing process of social change in the People's Republic of China has led to profound shifting and reorganization in society. The social structure has become more complex and diversified, new social groups have emerged such as private business people and migrant workers. The gap between the wealthy and the poor is increasing and structures determining status and income are widely divergent.
Power, Resources, and Exchange in the Chinese “Work Unit Society”
Authors: Hanlin Li
Published: February 2008

The development of a sociological theory is a process which can often only reach a temporary conclusion. A new theory's potential and an old theory's stagnation are invariably a matter either of solved problems which require a new theoretical construction or of the old theory failing which means that a new one is needed. The anomie theory finds itself precisely in that stage of its development in which the old concept for explaining the current “social facts” is considered unsatisfactory, yet more promising prospects are not yet clearly in view. This, therefore, is our objective, to attempt to provide the anomie theory with new insights and meaning.
The Overall Framework of China's Market Economy
Authors: Jie Wu
Published: February 2008

It is well known that before the commencement of the reform in 1978, China practiced a planned economic system (to be exact, an examination and approval economy). This system was characterized by its over‐centralization, the practice of planned management, exclusion of market mechanisms and neglect of the law of value. As a kind of exploration for the initial construction of the socialist state, this highly centralized planned economic system achieved notable results. It played a positive role in accelerating economic construction, especially industrial construction, by concentrating limited resources of a backward country in specific ways. However, with the development of socialist production and the expansion of the construction scale, the planned economy's defects of overlooking the law of value and the role of the market became greater with each passing day, it led to the irrational allocation of resources, low economic returns and serious hindrance to the enhancement of overall national strength, thereby restraining the vitality and vigor of socialism. The history of world economic development has proved that under state macro‐control, the market economic structure and operating mechanism based on the full development of commodity production and the law of value are so far the more effective economic structure and operating mechanism in human history that can properly realize the optimum allocation of social resources and promote the development of productive forces. Therefore, in China at the present stage, the replacement of the administrative economic system by the market economic structure is a major reform aimed to liberate and develop productive forces and bring about fuller development of the superiority of the socialist publicly owned economy.
TOWARDS A SOCIOLOGY OF MORALITY
Authors: Stivers Richard
Published: February 2008

Surely the absence of a sociology of morality has to be one of the major weaknesses of academic sociology, and a mysterious one at that. For Durkheim, one of sociology's founding fathers, morality was to have a central place as an object of inquiry; moreover, he was passionately interested in it on the existential level, as was Weber.
“CULTURE WARS” OR STATUS GROUP IDEOLOGY AS THE BASIS OF US MORAL POLITICS
Authors: Evans John H.
Published: February 2008

Debates in US politics over abortion, homosexuality and other socio‐moral issues are increasingly explained by sociologists, politicians, policy advocates and the media as the result of a “culture war” in American society. Contained in this explanation is a theory that explains the moral value attitudes driving these debates as the product of conflicting worldviews. Since the worldviews that ultimately drive these debates cannot be compromised, the debates are said to be insoluble using normal democratic processes. The widespread dissemination of the hopeless aspect of this theory generates concern of self‐fulfilling prophesies. In this paper I outline the “culture war” and traditional “status group” theories and offer a critique. I conclude with an explanation of how the traditional “status group” explanations of these conflicts offers a more accurate — and more hopeful — vision of US society that avoids potentially self‐fulfilling prophesies of war.
ASSISTED REPRODUCTION IN ISRAEL AND SWEDEN: PARENTHOOD AT ANY PRICE?
Authors: Landau Ruth
Published: February 2008

The technological innovations in the field of human reproduction which have been advancing at a dizzying pace, especially in Israel, have posed complex ethical dilemmas for social workers and social scientists. Do these developments, particularly in vitro fertilisation, offer a feasible solution for infertile couples or are they at the same time creating difficult, intricate problems whose outcome has yet to be clarified? Is it not paradoxical that attempts to “assist” nature by artificial means have led to such results as the birth of a child to a 60‐year‐old woman from eggs donated by another woman?
MARITAL STATUS AND MEN'S HEALTH
Authors: Mullen Kenneth
Published: February 2008

The literature on the relationship between health and marital status has considered both mortality and morbidity. The work which has been done on mortality is reasonably conclusive. Researchers have found a graduation in mortality rates over marital status with the divorced faring worst for almost every cause of death, with the single occupying the mid position, and the married being best off (Morgan 1980; Macintyre 1986, 1992).
THE CURRENT STATE OF SOCIAL THEORY: AN INTRODUCTION
Authors: Fuchs Stephan
Published: February 2008

The following papers represent a selection from presentations made to the Theory Session of the 1995 Annual Meetings of the American Sociological Association in Washington, D.C. The papers document the broad diversity of styles and topics of sociological theorizing. While this diversity appears to many as an impediment to science and paradigmatic closure, others celebrate it as a sign of intellectual liveliness and excitement. Without taking sides in this debate, one can appreciate the range of the papers published here, and one may even discern some commonalities, such as the attempt to bridge the gaps between various ideological camps and perspectives. If anything, what holds this collection together is a willingness to engage a variety of arguments, and to listen to what other schools of thought have to offer. In my view, this is the foremost task of theory today, for theory is uniquely equipped to detect unity in diversity. Without this effort, sociology is in danger of disintegrating altogether.
MODERNIZATION, GENERATIONAL RELATIONS AND THE ECONOMY OF LIFE TIME
Authors: Weymann Ansgar
Published: February 2008

A classic study of generation‐specific life situations and life worlds under conditions of high speed modernization, and of the resulting changes in generational relations, life courses and biographies is Thomas and Znaniecki's The Polish Peasant in Europe and America (Thomas/Znaniecki, 1918–1920). In that volume, letters dating from the beginning of this century exchanged between young Polish emigrants to the USA and their parents who remained in Poland are reprinted and interpreted. Re‐analysing materials from their study, the theoretical usefulness of the concepts of “generation” and of “economy of life time” for understanding the relationship between socio‐structural, institutional, and biographical change will be shown.
SYSTEMS THEORY AND POWER/KNOWLEDGE:
Authors: Rempel Michael
Published: February 2008

Although Niklas Luhmann refrains from an explicit treatment of power as a force of social constraint, I propose that, if partially reconstructed, his Systems Theory can illuminate the subject considerably. I show this by distinguishing between five elements in Luhmann's treatment of each of the following six social subsystems: the economy, politics, law, science, religion and education. The five subsystem elements are: (1) a binary code, (2) a basis of authority, (3) a language of social communication, (4) a generalized medium of communication, and (5) a social function. Whereas Luhmann assumes that each subsystem approximates autopoiesis, or self‐contained internal operation and autonomy, I assume the pervasiveness of interpenetration, whereby operations is one subsystem nonetheless affect operations in others. Subsequently, I juxtapose the reconstructed systems‐theoretic framework developed in the first half of the paper with Michel Foucault's power/knowledge framework. I conclude that the use of a reconstructed systems‐theoretic approach, based loosely on Luhmann's original theory, could greatly illuminate the specifics of power/knowledge in modern societies, to an even greater extent than Foucault does himself.
THE REFLEXIVE ORDER OF LANGUAGE AND ACTIVITIES: SECOND THOUGHTS ON GARFINKEL'S ETHNOMETHODOLOGY
Authors: Ruggerone Lucia
Published: February 2008

The reflections presented in this paper were inspired by a simple consideration: that, although the kind of sociological investigation indicated as ethnomethodology originated as a reaction to the institutional sociological establishment, it has eventually become part of it (see Pollner, 1991). Some might quite rightly object that this is hardly surprising; actually, it is the destiny of most revolutionary movements inside and outside the sociological discipline. Moreover, the concern, often emerging from inside the field, that the term ethnomethodology has become no more than a confusing label for a variety of sociological investigations, may seem a pedantic issue of purity caused by the sectarian mentality of insiders.
PRESENTATIONS ON ALCOHOL AND DRUGS AT THE 1995 AMERICAN SOCIOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION
Authors: Hoffman Fred
Published: February 2008

The etiology and treatment of substance abuse are matters of great concern in applied social science. This special issue of the International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy consists of a collection of papers on these matters presented in regular sessions on Alcohol and Drugs of the American Sociological Association at the 1995 meetings. Also included are models for study of the progression of substance abusing careers and for the evolution of drug alcohol treatment developed by the panels' discussant and co‐editor of this issue, Mark Peyrot.
REEXAMINING GENDER DIFFERENCES IN CIRCUMSTANCES SURROUNDING INITIATION AND ESCALATION OF BINGE DRINKING
Authors: Liu Xiaoru , Kaplan Howard B.
Published: February 2008

Hypotheses regarding gender differences in circumstances surrounding the initiation/escalation of binge drinking are tested in a sample of young adults from a general population. The circumstances are measured by six scales. Multiple regression analyses suggest a congruence between observed gender differences in circumstances surrounding initiation and escalation of binge drinking and the literature on gender‐related sociodevelopmental processes: For males, initiation of binge drinking is associated with self‐importance, to be influenced by peers, and to experience confrontation with the authorities. For females, initiation of binge drinking is associated with greater feelings of distress and interpersonal problems. For escalation of binge drinking, no gender effect on peer influence is observed. However, all other gender‐related effects continue to be observed at even greater levels. The results also support the conclusion that the gender‐related effects are at least partially independent although certain of the effects are attenuated when other circumstances are included in the model.
THE CONSTRUCTION OF TOPIC IN THE TURNS OF TALK AT THE MEETINGS OF ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS
Authors: Arminen Ilkka
Published: February 2008

This is a study of how members of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) produce their talk, using the principles of ethnomethodological conversation analysis. The focus is on two interralated phenomena of the openings of turns. Recurrently, the first words of the turns, i.e., greetings and self‐identification, are followed with a resonse space during which members display their orientation to coparticipants through allusions to prior speakers. Positive references to prior speakers are stated directly and addressed explicitly, typically through a phrase such as: “I identified with X and what X said,” wheras critical remarks are stated implicitly and without any address. Through this procedure, members establish their individual position in each meeting without posing challenges to other members. The allusions occasions initiation of a subsequent topic of the turn that characteristically is biographically relevant for the speaker. This procedure of organization of talk permits AA meetings to handle delicate issues in a sociable, nonconfrontive way.
THE ROLE OF PERSONALITY IN TREATMENT OUTCOME FOR DRUG INVOLVED OFFENDERS
Authors: Gossweiler Robert S. , Martin Steven S.
Published: February 2008

This study examines the relationship of personality characteristics to drug treatment effectiveness for prison releasees. Prison releasees from two drug treatment programs (an out‐patient setting and a therapeutic community setting) are compared with each other and to releasees from a comparison group. Treatment success is measured 6 months after release from prison in terms of 1) abstinence of illicit drug use and 2) lack of recidivism. The data are analyzed using logistic regression with demographic, criminal history, past drug use, psychological, and treatment measures included in the equations. Findings suggest that several personality dimensions are related to treatment effectiveness, sometimes in unexpected ways. The findings also reveal that different personality characteristics are associated with each of the two measures of treatment success. The results are discussed in terms of policy implications for treatment programs.
VIOLENCE: A BARRIER TO METHADONE MAINTENANCE TREATMENT FOR WOMEN INJECTION DRUG USERS
Authors: Kelley Margaret S. , Rosenbaum Marsha , Knight Kelly , Irwin Jeanette , Washburn Allyson
Published: February 2008

We investigate the relationships between violence, drug use and methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) for women injection drug users (IDUs). The data presented here come from a longitudinal study of 233 IDUs both in and out of MMT in the San Francisco Bay Area. Each was interviewed five times over a period of three years, both qualitatively and quantitatively. Using grounded theory principals, we analyze 55 women's accounts of violence. We find that violence acts both as a barrier to entry to treatment and to successful treatment outcomes. Violence is related to drug use and treatment in several ways, primarily in that violence is a traumatic experience to which some women respond by using drugs. Violence may include forced drug use or methadone diversion. Violence may cause women to interrupt or postpone treatment. Finally, two women experienced violence from their treatment providers, which forced them to leave their programs. We suggest that in order to maximize successful treatment outcomes and reduce drug‐related harm for women, violence must be addressed in the treatment process.
THE ETIOLOGY AND TREATMENT OF SUBSTANCE ABUSE
Authors: Peyrot Mark
Published: February 2008

The abuse of alcohol and other drugs (AOD) has become one of the most important social problems in modern society. AOD abuse causes untold personal anguish to the abusers and their families, is associated with high levels of crime, and the health consequences include death and disability. Billions are spent on treatment, prevention, and incarceration. The papers in this special issue focus on two key issues in the study of AOD abuse: etiology and treatment. Etiology is a key factor because it is the foundation for prevention and treatment programs. If the etiology of AOD abuse can be unraveled, abuse can be prevented and treatment can be effectively targeted. But, effective treatment also requires an understanding of how treatment works.
U.S.‐MEXICO TRADE LIBERALIZATION AND ITS EFFECTS ON SMALL‐SCALE ENTERPRISES IN TWO DISTINCT REGIONS: WEST CENTRAL MEXICO AND THE TEXAS BORDER REGION COMPARED
Authors: Spener David
Published: February 2008

As has been widely recognized in the literature, the post‐war economic boom which drew to a close by the early 1970s has been followed by an intense period of industrial restructuring characterized by marked instability in all three major spheres of economic activity: production, distribution, and finance. This process has taken place both at the global level and at the level of national economies (Cardenas, 1990). It reflects a profound change in the mode of capitalist accumulation. Prior to the current round of restructuring, accumulation was taken to be principally the inward‐oriented task of each nation's own economy. Now, it seems that successful capital accumulation (i.e. development) depends most upon a nation's competitive integration into the world market for goods and services (Garrido, 1995). The present mode of accumulation implies an opening of national economies to international trade in commodities and capital, both among the advanced industrial nations and between the industrialized and the newly‐industrializing countries. This has generated a heightened degree of competition among countries and among firms, given that the easy movement of capital, goods, and services has allowed for real competition to emerge among dispersed places around the globe based upon their comparative financial and productive advantages.
THE FUTURE OF THE WORLD‐SYSTEM
Authors: Boswell Terry
Published: February 2008

Global cycles of leadership and hegemony have repeated since 1492, leaving to history Dutch, British, and now declining US hegemonies. Theoretical models (Chase‐Dunn and Rubinson 1977; Hopkins and Wallerstein 1979; Arrighi 1994), historical narratives (Wallerstein 1974, 1980, 1989; Kennedy 1989), and statistical analyses (Modelski and Thompson 1988; Boswell and Sweat 1991) portray the cycle of hegemony as a fixed dynamic inherent to the world‐system. Can we expect the future to be any different?
INTRODUCTION: SOCIOLOGY OF EMOTIONS
Authors: Tenhouten Warren D.
Published: February 2008

The articles in this Special Issue of the IJSSP, entitled ‘Sociology of Emotions’, were, with two exceptions, presented at the 90th Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association held in Washington, D.C., U.S.A., from August 19–23, 1995. These outstanding papers do much to develop the theoretical grounding of two closely related fields of inquiry ‐ the social psychology of emotions and the sociology of emotions. No social relations are carried out in the absence of either thought or emotion. It immediately follows that the sociology of emotions is not so much a nascent, exotic sub‐discipline of sociology as it is a level of analysis that must be carried out if meaning is to be found in any social system, in any social process, or in any social relationship of the everyday world.
EMOTIONS, HABITUATION, AND MACRO‐SOCIOLOGY: THE CASE OF INEQUALITY
Authors: Hammond Michael
Published: February 2008

Habituation is one of natural selection's tools to limit the activating role of positive emotions. It is a barrier to expanding needs. The structural requirements for getting around this barrier are similar to the characteristics of a system of expanded inequality. Such inequality was the most likely social structure to first break this barrier. Only much later in human history could mass production technology offer an alternative means to bend habituation rules.
CULTURE AND EMOTION IN CHRISTMAS: THE ELEMENTARY FORMS OF THE SPIRITUAL LIFE
Authors: Schervish Paul G. , Halnon Raymond J. , Bettez Halnon Karen
Published: February 2008

I think it's the most wonderful time of the year and the most difficult time of the year. I think it is the worst of holidays and I think it's the best of holidays. I really do. I think just because of all the depression and the mental illness and watching people react to it and the fact that people are alone and it's supposed to be this great get‐together‐bonding‐experience. Supposedly here is the light of the world that's gonna make everything better. He's gonna take people and bring them together and all this kinda great stuff and it just isn't reality. I mean it's a nice little Hallmark card but it's not really reality. So I think that it's the best of times, it's the worst of times. And I think I can actually sit somewhere and say that truthfully, because for me it has been the best of times, and it has been the worst of times.