Showing papers in "American Journal of Sociology in 1950"
TL;DR: The diffusion of sexual psychopath laws has followed this course: a community is thrown into panic by a few serious sex crimes, which are given nationwide publicity; the community acts in an agitated manner, and all sorts of proposals are made; a committee is then appointed to study the facts and to make recommendations.
Abstract: The diffusion of sexual psychopath laws has followed this course: a community is thrown into panic by a few serious sex crimes, which are given nation-wide publicity; the community acts in an agitated manner, and all sorts of proposals are made; a committee is then appointed to study the facts and to make recommendations. The committee recommends a sexual psychopath law as the scientific procedure for control of sex crime. This recommendation is consistent with the trend toward treatment policies in criminal justice in preference to policies of punishment.
156Â citations
TL;DR: Scale analysis of the findings reveals the probable need for two-dimensional classification of occupation-the vertical or status dimension and the horizontal, or situs, dimension-in achieving a possible refinement for stratification studies.
Abstract: Total social position is composed of both prestige and esteem values. Occupation, though not totally satisfactory, is often a usable index in the study of stratification. Because anomalies exist among the various forms of occupational rewards, the construction of a prestigue score was undertaken. Scale analysis of the findings reveals the probable need for two-dimensional classification of occupation-the vertical or status dimension and the horizontal, or situs, dimension-in achieving a possible refinement for stratification studies.
93Â citations
TL;DR: The doubtful validity of many of the obtained differences, as well as the lack of consistency in the combined results, makes it impossible to conclude from these data that criminality and personality elements are associated as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: During the last twenty-five years objective personality tests have been widely used to investigate differences between criminals and noncriminals. Of 113 such comparisons, 42 per cent showed differences in favor of the noncriminals, while the remainder were indeterminate. The doubtful validity of many of the obtained differences, as well as the lack of consistency in the combined results, makes it impossible to conclude from these data that criminality and personality elements are associated.
92Â citations
TL;DR: The Cincinnati Plan for the United Nations, a six-month experimental campaign of information, was used as a case study in mass education as mentioned in this paper, and the recommendation was made that the campaign be planned so as to interest certain specified classes which were found to be the most in need of enlightenment.
Abstract: The Cincinnati Plan for the United Nations, a six-month experimental campaign of information, was used as a case study in mass education. A survey of local opinion and attitudes on the United Nations, made by the National Opinion Research Center before the campaign opened, demonstrated that it is those already interested, even if poorly informed, who will welcome information, while the well informed, if not interested, pay little attention to it, and that the interested also tend to be favorably inclined toward the United Nations. Therefore, the recommendation was made that the campaign be planned so as to interest certain specified classes which were found to be the most in need of enlightenment. But a second survey made immediately after the campaign disclosed that the materials circulated by the plan, voluminous and ingenious though they were, reached few of these people. The principle derived from the experiment is that information, to be disseminated at all, must be functional, that is, interesting t...
86Â citations
TL;DR: Public opinion, defined for purposes of this historical review as free and public communications from citizen to their government on matters of concern to the nation, is a phenomenon of middle-class civilization.
Abstract: Public opinion, defined for purposes of this historical review as free and public communications from citizen to their government on matters of concern to the nation, is a phenomenon of middle-class civilization. Its attainment of political significance was accompanied and facilitated by certain changes in the economic and convivial institutions of society and by shifts in social stratification. In its early phase public opinion was preoccupied with domestic affairs, but during the French Revolutionary wars and after the Congress of Vienna the utilization of public opinion in international affairs, became generally respectable among statesmen. Effective government by public opinion in the field of foreign affairs today is jeopardized by various specified characteristics of modern democratic civilization.
74Â citations
TL;DR: In our culture, quick plausible "answers" in sociology and social psychology are rewarded in our culture; tedious, modest experimental design is not in demand, and hence our discipline is not cumulative.
Abstract: Quick plausible "answers" in sociology and social psychology are rewarded in our culture; tedious, modest experimental design is not in demand, and hence our discipline is not cumulative. In study ...
58Â citations
TL;DR: In this article, an analysis of the quantitative aspects of intragroup relationships is presented for the determination of the various possible combinatory subgroupings, and the question is then raised as to whether the dynamics of group behavior might be better understood through a derived ratio of actual to potential relationships (A.R/P.R.).
Abstract: Although the nature of relationships within groups has been widely discussed by sociologists and social psychologists, the numbers and forms of the relationships which inhere within the group framework have received little attention. This paper is an analysis of the quantitative aspects of intragroup relationships. Specific formulas are presented for the determination of the various possible combinatory subgroupings. The question is then raised as to whether the dynamics of group behavior might be better understood through a derived ratio of actual to potential relationships (A.R./P.R.). Fields of inquiry are set up in which the A.R./P.R. hypothesis can be tested.
56Â citations
TL;DR: A paradign for the analysis of leadership is presented in this paper, which stresses the fact that the group and individual variable commonly examined in leadership studies may be viewed in five ways: as results of the leader's behavior; as concomitants, determiners, or conditioners of a leader's behaviour; and as criteria for evaluation.
Abstract: A paradign for the analysis of leadership is presented. The model stresses the fact that the group and individual variable commonly examined in leadership studies may be viewed in five ways: as results of the leader's behavior; as concomitants, determiners, or conditioners of the leader's behavior; and as criteria for evaluation. Ten major questions about leadership are stated in the paradigm, and their application to research is illustrated.
48Â citations
TL;DR: A census tract study of Chicago from 1898 through 1940 shows that the foreign-born of each ethnic group eventually move radially from the first area of settlement as mentioned in this paper, and those foreign groups that have lived the longest in Chicago have moved the farthest from the slums.
Abstract: A census tract study of Chicago from 1898 through 1940 shows that the foreign-born of each ethnic group eventually move radially from the first area of settlement. Those foreign groups that have lived the longest in Chicago have moved the farthest from the slums. The Negro Population has not moved in the same way as have other ethnic groups. The depression of the 1930's slowed up the outward movement.
42Â citations
TL;DR: The problem of popular culture has always been discussed in either a moralistic or a psychological vein this paper. But popular culture may be studied as a phenomenon of social expedients in contrast to art, which follows its own immanent norms.
Abstract: Since the Renaissance the problem of popular culture has always been discussed in either a moralistic or a psychological vein. But popular culture may be studied as a phenomenon of social expedients in contrast to art, which follows its own immanent norms. Difficulties which the standard methods of empirical research incur in dealing with the concrete phenomena of popular culture may be avoided if a historical and philosophical frame of reference is used. Such qualitative approaches as exist are permeated with categories like the decline of the individual, the interdependency of social control and mass communications, the psychology of wish-fulfilling, and the like.
32Â citations
TL;DR: In a sampling interview study of about four hundred families in northwest St Louis, between onethird and one-half of their reports of the uses of facilities such as shopping, going to school, attending church, employment, and going to movies, could be classified as "local" as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: In a sampling interview study of about four hundred families in northwest St Louis, between onethird and one-half of their reports of the uses of facilities such as shopping, going to school, attending church, employment, going to movies, could be classified as "local" Selected types of uses of facilities were ranked from the most local to the least local In general, a greater degree of local use was found to be associated with automobile nonownership, children and the aged, females, little formal education, and high residential density
TL;DR: The anthropological approach to family studies is defined in terms of intensive case studies of families as functioning wholes, utilizing all the conceptual categories and methods generally employed in studies of the total culture as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: The anthropological approach to family studies is defined in terms of intensive case studies of families as functioning wholes, utilizing all the conceptual categories and methods generally employed in studies of the total culture. Family case studies of this type are particularly useful for problems in the field of culture and personality. They provide a level of description intermediate between the conceptual extremes of the individual at one pole and the culture at the other, thereby avoiding the high level of abstraction and generalization of cultural analysis in which individuals as real human beings may be ignored. Studies made in Tepotozlan, Mexico, are cited as a demonstration of the method.
TL;DR: In this article, a consideration of limitations and sources of error in research on the problem leads to proposals concerning more adequate study of opinions, clearer analysis of class attributes and their interrelations, more critical procedures in interpreting variables as determinants, and, above all, the use of coherent theory dealing with the processes by which class influences produce given effects.
Abstract: Grave difficulties are encountered in efforts to demonstrate that social class accounts for differences in opinions on economic and political questions and that particular class factors are especially decisive. A consideration of limitations and sources of error in research on the problem leads to proposals concerning more adequate study of opinions, clearer analysis of class attributes and their interrelations, more critical procedures in interpreting variables as determinants, and, above all, the use of coherent theory dealing with the processes by which class influences produce given effects.
TL;DR: Encouraging behavior is rare among parents of the schizophrenics and the behavior problems, and demanding-antagonistic behavior isRare among the normals.
Abstract: Statistically significant differences appear among the parents of selected groups of schizophrenics, behavior problems, and normals. Among the schizophrenics, the parents of the same sex show heavy incidence of demanding antagonistic behavior. Among the behavior problems, both parents show a similar heavy incidence of the same type of behavior. Among the parents of the normals, encouraging behavior predominates. Encouraging behavior is rare among parents of the schizophrenics and the behavior problems, and demanding-antagonistic behavior is rare among the normals. The samples used in this study conformed rigorously to thirteen criteria of selection.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors analyze the stages from the pure community of religiosi to the fully developed order: monasticism, as a total way of life; the canons regular and military orders combining life"in religion" whit the status of priests or knights "in the world", the friars, who tend toward a purposive organization in the service of the church; and, finally, the Jesuit order, the mature product of a long evolution, with its professional devotion to the objective institute, rationality, individualization, and depersonalization of intrag
Abstract: From a sociological viewpoint two phenomena have to be distinguished: the community of religiosi and the religious order properly speaking. The former corresponds to the psychological group and the familistic or Gemeinschaft type, while the latter represents an organized group of the Gesellschaft type. The principal historical types are analyzed to show the stages from the pure community of religiosi to the fully developed order: monasticism, as a total way of life; the canons regular and military orders combining life"in religion" whit the status of priests or knights "in the world"; the friars, who tend toward a purposive organization in the service of the church; and, finally, the Jesuit order, the mature product of a long evolution, with its professional devotion to the objective institute, rationality, individualization, and depersonalization of intragroup relations.
TL;DR: Social-role concepts provide behavior pathology with a background of reciprocal social interaction which makes it unnecessary to build synthetic social constructs out of the fictitious activities of hypothetical, asocial, solitary individuals.
Abstract: Role concepts provide behavior pathology with a background of reciprocal social interaction which makes it unnecessary to build synthetic social constructs out of the fictitious activities of hypothetical, asocial, solitary individuals. Social skills may be formulated on the same plane with mechanical skills; and the acquisition or practice of both skills can be investigated by similar procedures. Behavior pathology is related to a paucity of social roles, to difficulties in shifting perspectives, and to inadequate social self-regulation through the acquired self-reactions. The use of social-role concepts is illustrated in relation to specific behavior disorders.
TL;DR: A critical review of studies of the political deviant suggests that though the data are incomplete for any final appraisal, it is type of personality which characteristically urges reforms as discussed by the authors, and the major weakness of the studies is that thy ignore the sociological context in which this behavior develops.
Abstract: Assumptions about motivation are implicit in theories of social change. Who deviates from established political, social, and economic norms and why are basic problems for an analysis of social movements. A critical review of studies of the political deviant suggests that though the data are incomplete for any final appraisal, it is type of personality which characteristically urges reforms. The major weakness of the studies is that thy ignore the sociological context in which this behavior develops.
TL;DR: The authors discusses certain constraints on a priori expectations that public, and more especially, political opinion is influenced by personality characteristics and discusses two major themes that have played a considerable role in theory and research on public opinion and personality.
Abstract: The paper discusses certain constraints on a priori expectations that public, and more especially, political opinion is influenced by personality characteristics. Two major themes that have played a considerable role in theory and research on public opinion and personality are that of withdrawal and that of displacement. The former, linking problems of personal adjustment and immersion in mass divertissement with the poverty of public opinion, is unconvincing. The latter theme's relevance is questionable because displacement is rarely upon nonhuman and public phenomena.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors show that when the data of such heuristic diagrams consist of (I) incoming choices; (II) number of outgoing choices; and (III) social status scores or some other rating, and are plotted in a three-dimensional model, instead of drawn on a two-dimensional flat surface, the "stars" no longer appear as in the center but as on the periphery of the total group structures.
Abstract: Conventional sociometric diagrams represent "stars" or leaders as the persons most often chosen as the center of a circle of admiring friends. When the data of such heuristic diagrams consist of (I) number of incoming choices; (2) number of outgoing choices; and (3) social status scores or some other rating, and are plotted in a three-dimensional model, instead of drawn on a two-dimensional flat surface, the "stars" no longer appear as in the center but as on the periphery of the total group structures. Thus, in social space (not mere direction of choices), "stars" conform to Cooley's concept of the isolation of the leader.
TL;DR: The circumstances of joining a union become relatively unimportant where the union's method of operation, the status it achieves, or the pressure of events leads people to become active in its affairs.
Abstract: The circumstances of joining a union become relatively unimportant where the union's method of operation, the status it achieves, or the pressure of events leads people to become active in its affairs. All the leaders of a union local identified themselves with the union and believed it had brought about substantial gains. Such identification indicates that the union has become a way of life, serving the needs of its members apart from, and in additon to, the reasons that initially brought it into existence. Convictions such as these leaders reported make it appear certain that the union is here to stay.
TL;DR: In three research projects on intra-urban mobility in Omaha over a period of some twenty years, the secular trends and the relation of mobility to other social phenomena in the city were investigated.
Abstract: In three research projects on intra-urban mobility in Omaha over a period of some twenty years, the secular trends and the relation of mobility to other social phenomena in the city were investigated. The highest rate of horizontal mobility was found in the order, deteriorated areas; but, as the population movel toward the fringe of the city, more families moved into dwellings which they owned, which means an incrreasing rate of vertical mobility. This condition contributed to greater stability, less child dependency, fewer cases of old age relief, and less habitual juvenile delinquency. On the other hand, high rates of horizontal mobility were found in areas of instability, unrest, dependency, and crime.
TL;DR: Data are presented to demonstrate that educational differences between matched groups of migrants and nonmigrants are statistically significant when 58% of the original experimental group is matched but not when 89 per cent of the cases is matched.
Abstract: In every ex post facto matched-group study a large proportion of the cases in the experimental group are not matched bacause of the limited size of the control panel. This introduces a serious sampling problem, since the difference between experimental and matched group may not be the same for cases matched easily as for those for which matching is difficult. Data are presented to demonstrate that educational differences between matched groups of migrants and nonmigrants are statistically significant when 58 per cent of the original experimental group is matched but not when 89 per cent of the cases is matched.
TL;DR: In this article, population pressure threatens western Europe perhaps more than ever before because the needs of the population are growing and the proportion between population and available resources will probably be less favorable than in the past.
Abstract: Superficially, population pressure may not seem a problem which will concern western Europe in the future, since, for the most part, it shows a net reproduction rate of less than I, and before long the population will probably decrease. In reality, population pressure threatens western Europe perhaps more than ever before because the needs of the population are growing and the proportion between population and available resources will probably be less favorable than in the past.
TL;DR: The development of peacetime uses of nuclear energy will not be automatic, nor is it likely to produce short-run revolutionary consequences as discussed by the authors, and like other major technological innovations, atomic power may meet with strong resistences, the strength and character of which will reflect to a considerable degree the patterns of cultural organization in various regions modified by the local demographic, ecological, and psychological conditions.
Abstract: The development of peacetime uses of nuclear energy will not be automatic, nor is it likely produce short-run revolutionary consequences. Like other major technological innovations, atomic power may meet with strong resistences, the strength and character of which will reflect to a considerable degree the patterns of cultural organization in various regions modified by the local demographic, ecological, and psychological conditions. The understanding of an invention is not to be equated with its use.
TL;DR: The authors described research findings of the National Opinion Research Center's project on the isolation, measurement, and control of the interviewer effect, which is a central problem in the collection of data is the effect of interviewer on the quality of the results.
Abstract: A central problem in the collection of data is the effect of interviewer on the quality of the results. This paper describes research findings of the National Opinion Research Center's project on the isolation, measurement, and control of interviewer effect. Variations in results derive from interviewer fallibility, unreliability of respondents, and, finally, interactional processes. Disparities in the group memberships of interviewer and respondent affect the results; beliefs the interviewer has about the respondent produce expectations which in turn affect results. Experiments on the role of situational factors in mediating interviewer effects and on the validity of interviewer data are describred.
TL;DR: The authors pointed out that the distrust which Indonesians have developed toward Western civilization as represented by Dutch colonial rule was the main reason for social conflicts in Indonesia. But they did not consider the economic self-interest of the Chinese, European, Eurasian, and Arab minorities.
Abstract: Contemporary social conflicts in Indonesia are due to the wide differences in acculturation of indigenous groups with respect to Western civilization and to the economic self-interest of the Chinese, European, Eurasian, and Arab minorities. Ethnological differences between the native Idonesian groups can be adjusted only through a more rapid Westernizatin program than that inaugurated by the Dutch. Nationalist leaders realize that the chief difficulty in this respect lies in the mistrust which Indonesians have developed toward Western civilization as represented by Dutch colonial rule. Since the European group is by no means homogeneous culturally, those elements in its ranks referred to as blijvers can best be relied upon to help an independent Indonesia to adjust to the modern world.