Showing papers in "American Journal of Sociology in 1957"
306Â citations
TL;DR: Proneness to sexual aggression appears associated with a lack of parental sex guidance and the absence of older male siblings, and certain characteristics of the pair relationship increase the probability of aggression.
Abstract: Approximately 62 per cent of a group of university Freshmen women reported experiencing offensive male sexual aggression during the year prior to university entrance. Proneness to sexual aggression appears associated with a lack of parental sex guidance and the absence of older male siblings. Certain characteristics of the pair relationship also increase the probability of aggression. The adjustive reactions of the offended female are strongly influenced by prior parental guidance and the severity and provocation of the aggressive episode.
216Â citations
TL;DR: In this paper, three modes of interaction-personal, parasocial, and vicarious-are found in television audience-participation programs, and the action can be analyzed in terms of the attribution, assignment, or forcing of status by the participants.
Abstract: Television audience-participation programs are systems of social interaction involving both audiences and performers. Three modes of interaction-personal, parasocial, and vicarious-are found in these systems, and the action can be analyzed in terms of the attribution, assignment, or forcing of status by the participants. It then becomes apparent that both audience and performers exert control over one another's responses, a process which conventional methods of content analysis fail to take into account.
131Â citations
TL;DR: In this paper, interviews with men in four neighborhoods of different social type in San Francisco reveal that informal relationships within the neighborhood are fairly frequent and likely to be personal, close, and intimate.
Abstract: Interviews with men in four neighborhoods of different social type in San Francisco reveal that informal relationships within the neighborhood are fairly frequent and likely to be personal, close, and intimate. The frequency and the nature of informal participation vary with the economic and family characterics of the neighborhoods. Compared to neighbors and co-workers, kin are generally more important in each neighborhood by all the measures of informal participation used. Formal group participation results in friendship for the majority.
118Â citations
TL;DR: The lyrics of American popular songs consist largely of elements of dialogue appropriate to a limited range of situations and relationships in the cycle of courtship as mentioned in this paper, providing a conventional language in which adolescents may formulate their changing and developing reciprocal expectations and self-conceptions.
Abstract: The lyrics of American popular songs consist largely of elements of dialogue appropriate to a limited range of situations and relationships in the cycle of courtship. They provide a conventional language in which adolescents may formulate their changing and developing reciprocal expectations and self-conceptions.
107Â citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the psychological significance of leisure activities to men and women in the age range forty to seventy was studied and a set of 19 "significance variables" was defined and used as bases for rat...
Abstract: This is a study of the psychological significance of leisure activities to men and women in the age range forty to seventy. A set of 19 "significance variables" is defined and used as bases for rat...
95Â citations
TL;DR: In this article, interviews with persons in disasters reveal that blaming for disasters arises out of seeking a satisfactory explanation for something which cannot be accounted for conventionally Once persons have defined the situation sufficiently to assess responsibility, blaming occurs when people are convinced that the responsible agents will not of their own volition take action to prevent a recurrence and the agents are perceived as in opposition to basic values
Abstract: Analysis of interviews with persons in disasters reveals that blaming for disasters reveals that blaming for disasters arises out of seeking a satisfactory explanation for something which cannot be accounted for conventionally Once persons have defined the situation sufficiently to assess responsibility, blaming occurs when people are convinced that the responsible agents will not of their own volition take action to prevent a recurrence and the agents are perceived as in opposition to basic values
77Â citations
TL;DR: In this article, the effects of group structure can be isolated by determining the relationship between X and Y for groups while holding constant the independent variable X for individuals, and these processes may be empirically investigated by adapting the panel method to organizational research.
Abstract: Impersonal controls in formal organizations, such as assembly-line production or evaluation on the basis of performance records, tend to affect the structure of work groups and reverse the flow of interaction between superior and subordinates. Three methodological problems are discussed: The effects of group structure can be isolated by determining the relationship between X and Y for groups while holding constant the independent variable X for individuals. The quantitative study of complex configurations of interdependent elements involves the internal and external elaboration of a relationship between two major elements. Dialectical processes characterize organizational change, and these processes may be empirically investigated by adapting the panel method to organizational research.
76Â citations
TL;DR: In this article, the concept of societal complexity refers to a single dimension and data have been gathered from a sample of forty-eight societies and scored according to Guttman's scalogram analysis.
Abstract: Does the concept of societal complexity refer to a single dimension? Data have been gathered from a sample of forty-eight societies and scored according to Guttman's scalogram analysis. Six out of eight variables tested vary systematically and constitute an acceptable scale. This is empirical evidence for the relevance of societal complexity. The study demonstrates a technique for testing polar ideal types which allows the investigator to determine whether or not they are empirically based.
72Â citations
TL;DR: In this article, a small panel of couples married nearly twenty years and living together reveal that although the estimate from the initial average preference to the eventual aggregate number of children of the whole group is fairly accurate, the correlation between the two variables is quite low.
Abstract: Assumptions frequently made as to the value for purposes of prediction of stated preferences in size of family and the reliability of the recall of original preferences are called into serious question. Data collected from a small panel of couples married nearly twenty years and living together reveal that, although the estimate from the initial average preference to the eventual aggregate number of children of the whole group is fairly accurate, the correlation between the two variables is quite low. The high level of accuracy of the aggregate prediction appears to be a statistical artifact resulting from the sample proportions of couples who planned all pregnancies and those who did not. Recall of originally stated preferences after passage of time and intervening experience reveals considerable error, associated with both success in planning and acutal size of family.
71Â citations
TL;DR: This article found that popular music preferences among teen-age girls vary according to the neighborhood in which a girl lives and her relative popularity among her peers, suggesting that personal relations play an important role in musical fads and fashions.
Abstract: Preferences in popular music among teen-age girls vary according to the neighborhood in which a girl lives and her relative popularity among her peers. Highly popular girls are shown to conform more closely than the less popular to the prevailing neighborhood norms in popular music. Musical tastes and preferences for particular songs and for particular disk jockeys are found to be anchored in relatively small groups of friends, suggesting that personal relations play an important role in musical fads and fashions.
TL;DR: This paper found that the specific attitude to status offers a more satisfactory explanation of anti-Semitism than does the ill-defined aspect of personality, and raised the question concerning existence of a more general status-achievement ideology, of which the attitudes expressed in the A-S and F scales are only a part.
Abstract: To test the relationship of concern with social status and the authoritarian personality with anti-Semitism, the SC scale (status-concern) was constructed. When the SC scale, with the California F (authoritarianism) and A-S (anti-Semitism) scales, was administered to 213 non-Jewish undergraduates, it was found that the specific attitude to status offers a more satisfactory explanation of anti-Semitism than does the ill-defined aspect of personality. The question is raised concerning existence of a more general status-achievement ideology, of which the attitudes expressed in the A-S and F scales are only a part.
TL;DR: The natural history of fads of fashions, a particular type of social change, is described in this paper as a succession of chronological stages, each characterized by the interaction among producers, distributors, and consumers.
Abstract: The natural history of fads of fashions, a particular type of social change, is told as a succession of chronological stages, each characterized by the interaction among producers, distributors, and consumers. The process is thus: discovery of the potential fad, promotion by the discoverers and/or original consumers, labeling, dissemination, eventual loss of exclusiveness and uniqueness, death by displacement.
TL;DR: The current literature on decentralization in the United States suffers from a lack of historical perspective; as a consequence, testable hypotheses phrased in dynamic terms are exceedingly rare.
Abstract: The current literature on decentralization in the United States suffers from a lack of historical perspective; as a consequence, testable hypotheses phrased in dynamic terms are exceedingly rare. Historically, decentralizations was a response to technological innovations, particularly to new facilities for the movement of persons, commodities, and information. Urban centers are assuming a new pattern of spatial relations, but full undestanding of the process requires further research designed to test dynamic hypotheses. The greatest deficiencies are to be found in the inadequate empirical study of transportation and communication.
TL;DR: The authors examined variations in the symbolism employed by persons of different socioeconomic levels when asked to bestow status and observe the status of anonymous others, and found that "style symbolism" mediated observations, while symbols of social position and participation mediated bestowals.
Abstract: Status symbols are important in urban sociology because, as many social contacts in the city are segmental and anonymous, symbols of status are necessary for strangers and passing acquaintances to place and appraise one another. This study attempts to examine variations in the symbolism employed by persons of different socioeconomic levels when asked to bestow status and observe the status of anonymous others. In general, "style symbolism" mediated observations, while symbols of social position and participation mediated bestowals, whit differences in the symbolism used by different strata.
TL;DR: The neighborhood tavern and the cocktail lounge exhibit a relationship between the use of leisure and its meaning to the individual as mentioned in this paper, and the tavern, a product of neighborhood and catering to individuals with similar backgrounds, becomes the center of a voluntary association enforcing group norms and organizing group action.
Abstract: The neighborhood tavern and the cocktail lounge exhibit a relationship between the use of leisure and its meaning to the individual. The lounge caters to a transient clientele which does not form a cohesive group. But the tavern, a product of neighborhood and catering to individuals with similar backgrounds, becomes the center of a voluntary association enforcing group norms and organizing group action.
TL;DR: In this paper, the effect of military experience on attitudes toward authority was measured by testing a group of Air Force cadets in their first week of training and again one year later.
Abstract: The effect of military experience on attitudes toward authority was measured by testing a group of Air Force cadets in their first week of training and again one year later and by comparing populations with varying periods of military experience. Contrary to expectation, authoritarianism and orientation toward superiors decrease with increasing military experience. The principal measures used were the F-scale measure of authoritarian personality trends and a test of leadership knowledge, scored for orientation toward superiors or subordinates.
TL;DR: In this article, the use of two interviewers, or tandem interviewing, eliminates a major source of bias inherent where there is a single interviewer and contributes to the efficiency with wich data are gathered and analyzed.
Abstract: Interviewing top-ranking business executives raises several problems of procedure, among which are: enlisting co-operation, preliminary preparation, qualifications of respondents, and multiple respondents. Practical resolution of these and other problems was achieved largely on a trial-and-error basis. The use of two interviewers, or tandem interviewing, elimanates a major source of bias inherent where there is a single interviewer and contributes to the efficiency with wich data are gathered and analyzed. Other decisive conditions are the sponsorship and affiliation of the researchers, the practical emphasis given to the subject, and the competence of the interviewers.
TL;DR: The most common techniques for identifying a community's power elites are focused either upon position, delineating elites on the basis of formal status in the local economic or political-civic structures, or upon reputation, determining elites through nominations by "juries" of presumably knowledgeable local informants as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: The commonest techniques for identifying a community's power elites are focused either upon position, delineating elites on the basis of formal status in the local economic or political-civic structures, or upon reputation, determining elites through nominations by "juries" of presumably knowledgeable local informants. Utilizing both techniques, research undertaken in a middle-sized midwestern community indicates that the two approaches produced sharply disparate results. Considering only the technique based on reputation, however, use of variously derived nominating panels did not yield significantly different results.
TL;DR: Cosmetic and grooming practices are universal among human societies as mentioned in this paper and these practices may be analyzed according to casualness and control, exposure and concealment, and plasticity and fixity.
Abstract: Cosmetic and grooming practices are universal among human societies. These practices may be analyzed according to casualness and control, exposure and concealment, and plasticity and fixity. The modern brassiere illustrates the dialectic of exposure and concealment as well as the plastic manipulation of the body. Permanent waving illustrates the dialectic of casualness and control (manageability): the young girl exemplifies casualness in grooming; the older woman, control. Grooming is employed not merely in the service of sexuality but primarily to denote the status and role of the person in relationship to some audience.
TL;DR: In this paper, the social distance between Negroes and whites of low status and progressively less distance between those of higher status was analyzed in the form of a social-distance pyramid.
Abstract: Social theories of the relationship between social class and prejudice toward minorities are so incoherent and contradictory that clear-cut hypotheses as regards expected empirical relationships between class and prejudice cannot possibly emerge The selection of one interpretation (of findings after the fact of investigation) from its diametric opposite can hardly be more than arbitrary Two studies are presented here which are guided by a procedure which, it hoped, avoids baseless hypotheses and the arbitrary selection of particular interpretations from a number of possibilities The empirical findings, when graphically arrayed, took the form of a pyramid, which is here called "The social-distance Pyramid," showing the greatest social distance between Negroes and whites of low status and progressively less distance between those of higher status
TL;DR: In this paper, a detailed description of the personal experiences of a field worker attempting to begin work in a relatively difficult situation is presented, which suggests that one of the most salient tasks faced by the novice in a difficult field situation is the definition of his role.
Abstract: This paper is an analysis of that crucial period of field work during which the student changes from a novice to a professional. The data are provided by a detailed description of the personal experiences of a field worker attempting to begin work in a relatively difficult situation. The account suggests that one of the most salient tasks faced by the novice in a difficult field situation is the definition of his role. In achieving this definition he passes through three stages: (1) the stage of insecurity of role, (2) the stage of gradual definition of role, and (3) the stage of validation of role. In the course of this development the student usually believes that he is achieving his ends by learning from his informants. In point of fact, however, he is teaching them to assume the role behavior which will enable him to learn from them.
TL;DR: A hypothesis formulated by Lipset to explain the relatively inferior urban occupations achieved by farm persons was tested by comparing the occupational and educational aspirations of a rural and an urban sample, indicating that the farm youth underestimates the importance of education in achieving an occupation.
Abstract: A hypothesis formulated by Lipset to explain the relatively inferior urban occupations achieved by farm persons was tested by comparing the occupational and educational aspirations of a rural and an urban sample. Among high-school Senior girls, neither educational nor occupational aspirations are significantly related to residence. Among boys, occupational aspiration is not, but educational aspiration is, associated with residential background and is not to be explained by intelligence. This indicates that the farm youth underestimates the importance of education in achieving an occupation. Lipset's hypothesis is only partially correct, and other hypotheses should be tested.
TL;DR: The authors found that 48% of Japanese war brides with Japanese husbands have very congenial relationships with their in-laws, while only 15% of those with non-Japanese husbands shared the cultural background of their husbands' families.
Abstract: In a sample of Japanese war brides 48 per cent of those with Japanese husbands have very congenial relationships with their in-laws. These were the only war brides in the sample who share the cultural background of their husbands' families. They are in contrast to the larger proportion of war brides who have congenial relationships with their in-laws to be found among the Japanese wives of non-Japanese (72 per cent), European wives of Japanese (60 per cent), and European wives of non Japanese (55 per cent). Evidently, sharing the cultural backgroud tends to restrict personal relations to the prescribed forms and to hamper spontaneous interaction, while where cultural backgrounds differ, behavior is determined by the necessity to adjust one's self to another on the basis of the situation at hand. There is then mutual roletaking and hence spontaneous identification of one's self with the other and appreciation of one another.
TL;DR: In this paper, a model for the simultaneous measurement of several attitudes associated with a set of dichotomous items is presented, which provides an extension of the usual scale analysis into higher dimensions, although to date the techniques have been worked out only for two dimensions.
Abstract: A model for the simultaneous measurement of several attitudes associated with a set of dichotomous items is presented. It provides an extension of the usual scale analysis into higher dimensions, although, to date, the techniques have been worked out only for two dimensions. As an example of the applicability of the model, a set of items previously analyzed as a one-dimensional scale of "particularism-universalism," but with considerable deviation from a perfect scale, are reanalyzed. The analysis allows going beyond the original particularism-universalism continuum into a study of the relative strength of responsibility to one's friend, to a generalized other, and to one's self. This example and the nature of the model itself indicate the possibilities of this model and others based on the same underlying theory for attitude measurement.
TL;DR: The role of psychiatry in medicine demonstrates the dissociative forces within a profession and the range of differences tolerated and the conflict-filled role-reciprocal of psychiatrist-physician.
Abstract: The role of psychiatry in medicine demonstrates the dissociative forces within a profession and the range of differences tolerated. Divisive forces include technical skills, conceptual systems, scientific orientation, historical background, and problems of confidentially. Integrative forces are the professional politics of psychiatry and medicine, changing concepts in medicine, high social rewards to physicians, and, most important, the continuing identification provided by the shared early medical training. The results is the conflict-filled role-reciprocal of psychiatrist-physician. The responses of individual psychiatrists to the conflicting strains of differentiation and integration provide an area for collaborative research by psychiatry and sociology.
TL;DR: To be effective, propaganda to improve race relations should show the Negro in non-stereotyped settings, and pictures showing Negroes in stereotyped and in non -stereotypes evoke judgments that accord with the total setting and not with their individual appearances.
Abstract: Propositions concerning similarities and differences in perception were tested upon two groups of sociology students selected by previous testing as the most and least prejudiced among three hundred. Impressions of the situation rather than of the individual are found to determine how the individual will be seen: a Negro seen in a stereotyped setting will be commented on more unfavorably than a Negro seen in a non-stereotyped setting. Pictures showing Negroes in stereotyped and in non-stereotyped settings evoke judgments that accord with the total setting and not with their individual appearances. To be effective, propaganda to improve race relations should show the Negro in non-stereotyped settings.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors classified collective protest by people of Japanese ancestry in relocation centers according to the degree of collective protest and compared with the communication channels open in each, finding that there was a relationship between protest degree and the utilization of channels of communication by contending groups.
Abstract: Collective protest by people of Japanese ancestry in relocation centers was related to the communicative process among groups mobilized about issues of mutual interest. One hundred and fifteen incidents were classified according to degree of collective protest and compared with the communication channels open in each. In every case there was a relationship between the degree of collective protest and the utilization of channels of communication by contending groups. In centers marked by little collective protest communication remained open and contending parties achieved consensus, whereas in centers marked by violent protest contending groups ceased to communicate and developed conflicting perspectives.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors analyzed data from eighty churches and their two largest subgroups, membership (M) and Sunday-school enrolment (SS), for evidence of optimum size and showed that relative size, as measured by the ratio F"=(M)/(M+SS), is symmetrically distributed, approaching chance about the mean and modal values, varies directly with age, size, and a measure of "institutional strength," CIC (combined institutional criteria), and varies inversely with growth rates.
Abstract: Data on eighty churches and their two largest subgroups, membership (M) and Sunday-school enrolment (SS), analyzed for evidence of optimum size, demonstrate that relative size, as measured by the ratio F"=(M)/(M+SS), is symmetrically distributed, approaching chance about the mean and modal values, varies directly with age, size, and a measure of "institutional strength," CIC (combined institutional criteria), and varies inversely with growth rates. The Fibonacci proportion, F'=.6180, is apparently a limiting value in which (F"-F') tends to approach zero as the rating on institutional strength (CIC) increases in magnitude. In twenty-eight pairs of churches, each made up of a smaller younger and an older larger institution of the same denomination, the over-all size (M+SS) is multiplied by 2.6180 (another constant derived from the Fibonacci proportion) as a way of predicting the theoretical size of the church at a later stage. The difference between the size of the older church and the predicted size shows ...