Showing papers in "American Journal of Sociology in 1982"
TL;DR: In this article, a longitudinal causal model of the reciprocal effects of the substative complexity of work and intellectual flexibility is presented, showing that self-directed work leads to ideational flexibility and to a selfdirected orientation to self and society; oppressive working conditions lead to distress.
Abstract: In earlier work, we assessed a longitudinal causal model of the reciprocal effects of the substative complexity of work and intellectual flexibility. In this paper, we greatly expand the causal model to consider sumultaneously several structural imperatives of the job and three major dimensions of personality-ideational flexibility, a self directed orientation to self and society, and a sense of distress. The analysis demonstrates that the structural imperatives of the job affect personality. Self-directed work leads to ideational flexibility and to a self-directed orientation to self and society; oppressive working conditions lead to distress. These findings strongly support a learning generalization model. Personality, in turn, has important consequences for an individual's place in the job structure and in the system of social stratification. In particular, both ideational flexibility and a self-directed orientation lead, over time, to more responsible jobs that allow greater latitude for occupational ...
727Â citations
TL;DR: In this paper, structural hypotheses that link the relative advantage in certain ethnic enclaves to the structure of their economies are tested in a comparative analysis of the Cuban and black businesses in Miami.
Abstract: Structural hypotheses that link the relative advantage in certain ethnic enclaves to the structure of their economies are tested in a comparative analysis of the Cuban and black businesses in Miami. Findings suggest that the more advantaged community, the Cuban enclave, is characterized by highly interdependent industries, ones which are less dependent on majority industry; the less advantaged community, the black enclave, is characterized by weakly interdependent industries, ones which are more dependent on majority industry. In addition, hypotheses are suggested which link the structuring of enclave economies to traditional concerns with background cultural, historical, and situational influences. The usefulness of input-output analysis and the limitations of secondary data are discussed.
337Â citations
TL;DR: The authors found that black Americans are considerably more likely than white Americans to perceive criminal injustice, regardless of race, and that members of the surplus population are significantly more likely to perceived criminal injustice than other classes.
Abstract: The results of two research literatures, one dealing with criminal sentencing and the other with public ranking of crime seriousness, have raised doubts that conflict exists in American society about issues of criminal justice. This paper offers a different and more direct approach to this issue by analyzing public perceptions of criminal injustice and by assessing the capacity of conflict theory to explain them. Our analysis is based on a national survey, and it focuses on the race, class, and status positions of the respondents, with class position measured in neo-Marxian terms. Three major findings are (i) that black Americans are considerably more likely than white Americans to perceive criminal injustice; (ii) that regardless of race, members of the surplus population are significantly more likely than members of other classes to perceive criminal injustice; and (iii) that class position conditions the relationship of race to the perception of criminal injustice, with the division between the races i...
332Â citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors re-examine the classic Shaw and McKay model for Chicago and show that their model is tenable only between 1940 and 1950; since 1950, changing neighborhoods tend to be characterized by changing levels of delinquency.
Abstract: One of the most important findings of the classic Shaw and McKay delinquency research was that the distributional pattern of delinquency in Chicago remained relatively stable over time despite processes of ethnic and racial invasion and succession. This paper re-examines this proposal during three 10-year periods spanning 1940-70 using Shaw and McKay's own data as well as a more recent set of observations. Evidence is presented that their model is tenable only between 1940 and 1950; since 1950, changing neighborhoods tend to be characterized by changing levels of delinquency. Historical shifts in the nature of ecological processes that may account for this divergence are discussed.
331Â citations
TL;DR: This article examined the relationship between household composition and sources of household income among Hispanics, blacks, and non-Hispanic whites, and investigated the extent to which extended living arrangements help buffer the effect of labor market disadvantages faced by minority household heads.
Abstract: This research examines th relationship between household composition and sources of household income among Hispanics, blacks, and non-Hispanic whites. Specifically, we investigate the extent to which extended living arrangements help buffer the effect of labor market disadvantages faced by minority household heads. Results of logit and regression analyses indicate that differences in the prevalence of extented family households reflect primarily group-specific differences in the propensity to extend, but that this demographic mechanism may also serve as a compensatory strategy for supplementing the temporarily or chronically low earnings of minority household heads. In black and Hispanic households, nonnuclear members contribute significantly to total household income, although their relative contributions are approximately similar for poor and nonpoor households. Nonnuclear members in non-Hispanic white households appear not to participate significantly in the generation of household income.
321Â citations
TL;DR: This article present a historical analysis of the rise of an international food order after World War II whose principal axis was food aid from the United States to formerly self-sufficient agrarian societies.
Abstract: The widespread perception of a "food crisis" since the early 1970s reflects a real turning point in the global structure of production and distribution of food grains. Scarcity is always an aspect of capitalist relations, but its specific form is determined historically through the international food order. The latter is a stable set of complementary state policies whose implicit coordination creates specific prices relative to other prices, a specific pattern of specialization, and resulting patterns of consumption and trade. The social consequences of those orderly international arrangements make sense within a Marxist conception of accumulation and class formation on a world scale. I present a historical analysis of the rise of an international food order after World War II whose principal axis was food aid from the United States to formerly self-sufficient agrarian societies. This order had contradictory effects, both economic and political, leading to a reorganization of aid and trade, higher prices,...
304Â citations
TL;DR: Men tend to belong to larger organizations when compared with women in similar categories, whether of work status, age, education, or marital status as mentioned in this paper, while women are located in smaller and more focused on domestic or community affairs.
Abstract: This paper explores some network consequences of dramatic differences between men and women in the typical size of the voluntary organizations they belong to.These size differences are greatest in organizations that are most economically oriented. Furthermore, the differences are remarkably consistent across social categories; men tend to belong to larger organizations when compared with women in similar categories, whether of work status, age, education, or marital status. Men are located in core organizations which are large and related to economic institutions, while women are located in peripheral organizations whichare smaller and more focused on domestic or community affairs. Even though men and women have almost exactly the same number of memberships on the average, thedramatic differences in the sizes and types of their organizations expose men tomany more potential contacts and other resources than women.
302Â citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explore the social process of establishing a standard time-reckoning framework and examine the introduction of Greenwich Mean Time to Britain, the establishment of the American railway time-zone system, and the almost universal enforcement of the modern international standard-time zone system.
Abstract: In order to clarify the fundamental distinction between the psychological and sociological perspectives on temporality, this paper explores the distinctly social process of establishing a standard time-reckoning framework. The paper examines the introduction of Greenwich Mean Time to Britain, the establishment of the American railway time-zone system, and the almost universal enforcement of the modern international standard-time zone system. The rise of standard time is viewed within the context of (a) the establishment of national and international communication networks following the introduction of railway transportation and telegraphic communication (which explains the need to synchronize different communities and countries with one another) and (b) the rise of rationalism (which is responsible for the dissociation of standard time from nature). The paper also examines the various grounds on which standard time has been opposed, as well as the relevance of the time-zone system to the development of mo...
277Â citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors developed and tested hypotheses that specify two conditions which affect the likelihood of bias: the characteristics and procedural constraints of processing agencies and the characteristics of their social environments.
Abstract: Studies of race bias in the juvenile justice system have yielded contradictory and inconclusive findings. The diversity of findings, though due in part to inadequacies in the methods used in previous studies, is also attributable in part to the differential possibilities for bias in different settings. This paper develops and tests hypotheses that specify two conditions which affect the likelihood of bias: the characteristics and procedural constraints of processing agencies and the characteristics of their social environments. Log-linear analysis is used, to allow simultaneous control for the influence of prior record, type of allegation, family type, sex, race, and country in analyzing data from police and court records in a populous eastern state. Consistent with the hypotheses, the findings indicate that racial bias is more apparent in police dispositions than in judicial decisions. In the more urban of the two social settings studied, minorities constitute a relatively high proportion of the population; police bias is especially pronounced there. In the same setting, however, this bias may be compensated for, to some extent, by the courts.
185Â citations
TL;DR: The adoption of commission and managerial administrative structures and their subsequent abandonment by the 267 largest American cities during the period 1900-1942 was studied using event-history methods as discussed by the authors, showing no significant direct effect of percentage Catholic (culture clash) or population size (hierarchical diffussion) and only a modest impact of city age.
Abstract: The adoption of commission and managerial administrative structures and their subsequent abandonment by the 267 largest American cities during the period 1900-1942 is studied using event-history methods. Full-period equations show no significant direct effect of percentage Catholic (culture clash) or population size (hierarchical diffussion) and only a modest impact of city age (modernization). A strong effect from average annual manufacturing wages is found, but in a direction contrary to that posited by the class-conflict hypothesis. The variable affecting transition rates most strongly appears to be regional adoption percentages, an indicator of neighborhood diffusion. These findings suggest revisions of the conventional image of the municipal reform experience.
181Â citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the association between husbands' and wives' occupational statuses and occupational mobility was investigated, and it was shown that most of the association is due to status consistency between husbands and wives, and the strongest status effect separates lower nonmanual from blue-collar occupations.
Abstract: The structure of a society's status hierarchy is usually investigated through the analysis of occupational mobility, that is, the association of fathers' and sons' occupations. This paper introduces another indicator that is conceptually similar but empirically distinct: the association of husbands' and wives' occupational statuses. Five important findings emerge: (1) the association is symmetrical-it does not matter whether husband or wife is taken as referent when assessing the association; (2) most of the association is due to status consistency between husbands and wives; (3) the strongest status effect separates lower nonmanual from blue-collar occupations; (4) the compound effect of consistency and status effects is to produce strong status-group boundaries separating farm from nonfarm and manual from nonmanual occupations; (5) a comparison with a father-son mobility table reveals a striking amount of similarity, reinforcing the view that the husband-wife association and father-son association tap t...
TL;DR: This paper examined the consequences of the Great Depression experiences of middle-and working-class women for their well-being in old age, 40 years later, using one of the oldest known achieves of longitudinal data.
Abstract: Economic change represents a major theoretical source of changing health states in populations and among individuals. The most impressive empirical documentation of this link at the aggregate level has come from time-series analyses. Studies at the individual level have begun to specify the causal elements in such relations, with emphasis on the variable health outcomes of economic deprivation. Specifying the duration of effect, however, requires longitudinal data. Such studies are still rare in the field and most are too limited in time span to test duration hypotheses. Using one of the oldest known achieves of longitudinal data, this study examines the consequences of the Great Depression experiences of middle-and working-class women for their well-being in old age, 40 years later. Adaptations to human and material loss in the 1930s varied widely by social class, reflecting the greater severity of economic stress and the greater resource disadvantage of working-class families. With health measurements b...
TL;DR: This paper presents the first systematic evidence that violent, finctional television stories trigger imitative deaths and near-fatal accidents in the Unites States.
Abstract: This paper presents the first systematic evidence that violent, fictional television stories trigger imitative deaths and near-fatal accidents in the United States. In 1977, suicides, motor vehicle deaths, and nonfatal accidents all rose immediately following soap opera suicide stories. The U.S. female suicides increased proportionally more than male suicides. Single-vehicle crashes increased more than multiple-vehicle crashes. All of these increases are statistically significant and persist after one corrects for the presence of nonfictional suicide stories, linear trends, seasonal fluctuations, and day-of-the-week fluctuations in the data. These increases apparently occur because soap opera suicide stories trigger imitative suicides and suicide attempts, some of which are disguised as single-vehicle accidents.
TL;DR: In this article, an asymmetric measure of isolation is described, one which takes composition into account, which provides a different way of approaching segregation and is found not to be a simple product of a composition variable coupled with the index of dissimilarity.
Abstract: Residential segregation is most commonly measured with the index of dissimilarity, an indicator that eliminates or at least minimizes the effect of group size. An asymmetric measure of isolation is described here, one which takes composition into account. Although it taps the same process in part, the measure provides a different way of approaching segregation and is found not to be a simple product of a composition variable coupled with the index of dissimilarity. Earlier conclusions about intercity differences and temporal changes in segregation between 1960 and 1970 are reconsidered. Centrain features of segregation are indicated that hitherto were unappreciated. Recognition of them yields some radically different conclusions about the segregation process, shifts over time, and differences among cities. The asymmetrical approach also explains why racial and ethnic groups have different perceptions about the magnitude of and the trends in segregation.
TL;DR: The case of Taiwan as discussed by the authors represents a challenge to two predictions from dependency theory: that foreign economic penetration leads to slow economic growth and also to heightened inequality, but it has also had one of the highest sustained rates of growth in the world, while income inequality on the island has decreased substantially.
Abstract: The Case of Taiwan represents a challenge to two predictions from dependency theory: that foreign economic penetration leads to slow economic growth and also to heightened inequality. Since the early 1950s Taiwan has received massive foreign aid and investment, but it has also had one of the highest sustained rates of growth in the world, while income inequality on the island has decreased substantially. An examinatin of this deviant case is pursued by consideration of the various mechanisms dependency theorists claim are responsible for the linkage of foreign economic penetration to stagnation and inequality. In the Taiwan case, none of these mechanisms work out as predicated. Instead, a variety of factors-including the nature of the Japanese colonial experience, the emphasis on labor-intensive enterprise, and the absence of an entrenched burgeoisie-created a situation in which both rapid growth and increasing equality could occur. Consideration of Taiwan draws attention to flaws in the arguments of most...
TL;DR: The log-multiplicative association model has been used in a variety of research situations in which ordinal variables are encountered, such as reconciling response distributions that differ because of question wording (or other context effects), assigning a metric to an ordinal variable, assigning scale scores to response patterns which arise from a Guttman type model, and analyzing multiple (ordinal) indicators as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: This paper discusses the log-multiplicative association model and demonstrates how it can be used in a variety of research situations in which ordinal variables are encountered. The examples pertain to (a) reconciling response distributions that differ because of question wording (or other context effects), (b) assigning a metric to an ordinal variable, (c) assigning scale scores to response patterns which arise from a Guttman-type model, and (d) analyzing multiple (ordinal) indicators. The log-multiplicative model presents a unified framework for analyzing each of these problems. This paper considers some suggestive applications of the log-multiplicative association model recently presented by Goodman (1979; also see Andersen 1980). This model does not appear to have been utilized thus far in social research, even though a similar log-linear model has been used rather frequently (see Goodman 1981c). However, the log-multiplicative model has a rich potential for sociological application, and the objective of this paper is to present examples which suggest some uses the model might ultimately have. The chief advantage of the log-multiplicative model, at least for the examples considered here, is that it provides information about intervals between categories of ordinal variables. Each example considered stresses this aspect of the model, and the assumptions necessary to "scale" ordinal variables are explicitly stated and critically discussed. First I consider how response distributions obtained from two similar questions on attitudes toward the courts can be reconciled by appealing to the association model. An interesting feature of this application consists of discerning the proper placement of the response, don't know, along the underlying scale of the attitude. The second example pertains to the "general happiness" item used
TL;DR: This paper traces Christian intolerance of homosexuality to the ascetic movements that arose from the social crises of the ancient Mediterranean world and to the Gregorian reforms of the medieval Church.
Abstract: From late antiquity to the Middle Ages there was historical variability in Christian responses to homosexuality. This paper traces Christian intolerance of homosexuality to the ascetic movements that arose from the social crises of the ancient Mediterranean world and to the Gregorian reforms of the medieval Church.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors systematically assess the neo-Marxian view that military expenditures are used by the state as a countercyclical fiscal policy either to forestall a serious recession or to facilitate economic recovery.
Abstract: In this paper we systematically assess the neo-Marxian view that military expenditures are used by the state as a countercyclical fiscal policy either to forestall a serious recession or to facilitate economic recovery. In particular, we examine the post-World War II political-economic experience of the United States, because the military expenditures thesis was most fully developed initially in an attempt to explain postwar American prosperity. We evaluate what we term the "naive" model of Baran and Sweezy, which suggests that the degree to which national output is absorbed by military spending should be dependent on aggregate economic conditions such as unemployment. Finding only inconsistent evidence to support the naive view, we incorporate the insights of recent neo-Marxists (especially O'Connor) on the linkages among the monopoly corporate sector, the unionized sector of labor, and the state. The empirical evidence appears consistent with this "modified" view, with unemployment in the unionized sect...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors describe the intermarriage patterns of five Hispanic groups in New York City using 1975 marriage records and find that, for the second generation, there are high rates of out-group marriage, both with other Hispanics and with non-Hispanics.
Abstract: Intermarriage provides an excellent indicator of assimilation and of the social distance separating ethnic groups. Using 1975 marriage records this report describes the intermarriage patterns of five Hispanic groups in New York City. Particularly for the second generation, there are high rates of out-group marriage, both with other Hispanics and with non-Hispanics. Puerto Ricans provide a major exception to this pattern, having low rates of out-group marriage in both generations. A control for group size does not explain the low Puerto Rican second-generation rate. A comparison with 1949 and 1959 data indicates that an earlier trend toward Puerto Rican marital assimilation has reversed. Several possible explanations for the Puerto Rican pattern are suggested.
TL;DR: The authors analyzed data from a national survey of American Jews and found that denominational differences are substantial and more influential within this highly educated and acculturated minority than they have been assumed to be.
Abstract: This study focuses in the significance of denominational differentiation for American religious life. Some scholars have argued that the affiliates of the various Protestant denominations are becoming more and more alike in their socioeconomic and demographic characteristics and in religious behavior and orientations. Hence, they argue, denominational affiliation has little independent impact on either religious or secular behavior. Others have suggested that denominational affiliations continue to be important influences on individual behavior. In this paper we analyze data from a national survey of American Jews wich show that denominational differences are substantial and more influential within this highly educated and acculturated minority than they have commontly been assumed to be. These findings suggest that recent research may have underestimated the potential importance of contemporary denominational differentiation for American religious life.
TL;DR: The authors decompose total changes in the degree of proletarianization into two components: an industry shift effect, which measures the changes in proletarianization due to changes in overall sectoral distribution of the labor force across industries; and a class-composition-based class composition.
Abstract: This paper attempts to address empirically the debate between two opposed images of the transformation of work in contemporary capitalism. The first, commonly associated with "postindustrial theory," sees work as becoming more humanized, more autonomous, less routinized; the second image, associated with Marxist theories of proletarianization, sees work as becoming more routinized and degraded, with less autonomy and responsibility for the worker. The debate between these two perspectives has largely been waged at the theoretical level, with at best anecdotal evidence in support of one side or the other. This study uses national data to make a preliminary assessment of the adequacy of each perspective. The central analytical strategy is to decompose total changes in the degree of proletarianization into two components: an industry-shift effect, which measures the changes in proletarianization due to changes in the overall sectoral distribution of the labor force across industries; and a class-composition-...
TL;DR: The strong taboos against homosexuality, bestiality, and transvestim that exist in many Western societies are the result of attempts to establish and defend strong ethnic, religious, or institutional boundaries as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: The strong taboos against homosexuality, bestiality, and transvestim that exist in many Western societies are teh result of attempts to establish and defend strong ethnic, religious, or institutional boundaries. If religious, military, or political leaders decide to strengthen the boundaries of their group, they tend in consequence to impose harsh penalties on forms of sexual behavior that breach social or symbolic boundaries. This may be because they have adopted a code of belief and conduct that emphasizes the need to maintain boundaries of all kinds, including those between humans and animals and between males and females, or because they wish to prohibit the formation of sexual relationships that cut across the internal and external boundaries of their group or organization. The principal groups and institutions examined are the Old Testament Jews, the Parsees, ancient Greek states and their armies, early and medieval Christianity, the German National Socialist movement, and the modern British armed f...
TL;DR: In this paper, a conceptual scheme that merges the qualitatively stated propositions of Blau's recent axiomatic theory of social structure with the quantitative approach of social network analysis is developed.
Abstract: This paper develops a conceptual scheme that merges the qualitatively stated propositions of Blau's recent axiomatic theory of social structure with the quantitative approach of social network analysis. The conceptual scheme is used to describe a set of inescapable features of intergroup and intragroup relations. We examine, both qualitatively and formal equations, the tautologies that govern contact rates and network densities for any population that can be divided into two categories. We show how assumptions about the partitioning of populations into social categories can be translated into precise probabilities of contact within and between categories. We present several illustrations of the immodest implications of apparently modest assumptions. Following simulations of a high school within an adult community and an old boy network within a larger bureaucracy, we apply our conceptual scheme to actual data on social relations within a regional elite. Accompanying these examples is a discussion of new p...
TL;DR: It is shown that the majority of detailed census occupations conform to one of five basic age profiles, which have meaning as they derive from the operation of well-defined institutional forces.
Abstract: Age segmentation in the labor force can be analyzed in terms of the age distributions of occupations. In this paper we show that the majority of detailed census occupations conform to one of five basic age profiles. Further, these age profiles have meaning as they derive from the operation of well-defined institutional forces. We discuss the relevance of industry for a refined understanding of occupational-age patterns and conclude with some observations about the likely consequence of a change in teh age of compulsory retirement for the age distributions of different occupations.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors describe the class structure of East European state-socialist societies, positing the existence of a class dichotomy between the working class and the intelligentsia, and suggest that in contemporary Eastern Europe private ownership and market mechanisms of expropriation have been replaced by central planning and redistribution of the economic surplus.
Abstract: The paper describes the class structure of East European state-socialist societies, positing the existence of a class dichotomy between the working class and the intelligentsia. This thesis challenges those theories which claim that the importance of class conflicts declined under state socialism and that therefore such societies should be described as containing nonantagonistic classes or strata. It also challenges the critical theories which acknowledge the existence of a new dominant class in Eastern Europe, but which describe that class as the bureaucracy or technobureaucracy. This paper attempts to base its class analysis on the exploration of the mechanisms and institutions of expropriation of surplus under state socialism. It is suggested that in contemporary Eastern Europe private ownership and market mechanisms of expropriation have been replaced by central planning and redistribution of the economic surplus. All those who have vested interests in the maximization of redistributive power are memb...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors tested two models of black offender-white victim (BW) rape on a set of 443 rape victimizations collected by the National Crime Panel from 1973 to 1977 and found that BW rapes were no more violent than black or white intraracial rapes.
Abstract: Previous research in criminology assumes that rape is primarily an intraracial phenomenon. But empirical studies since the late 1950s have shown substantially higher rates of black offender-white victim (BW) than white offender-black victim rape. The present study tested two models of BW rape on a set of 443 rape victimizations collected by the National Crime Panel from 1973 to 1977. The normative model interprets BW rape as a correlate of increased social interaction between black men and white women. The conflict model interprets BW rape as a correlate of increased black politicalization. The results did not support the normative model and only partially supported the conflict model. Discriminant analysis showed that the characteristics of victims were unrelated to BW rapes and the BW rapes were less likely than other rapes to follow legitimate social interaction between the victim and offender. By contrast, BW rapes were no more violent than black or white intraracial rapes. Implications for a sexual s...
TL;DR: The authors developed a typology of American metropolitan juvenile courts through factor analysis of 96 court characteristics and a cluster analysis of courts based on indicators of five derived factors representative of structural dimensions, and its implications for future comparative studies and studies testing differential processing are discussed.
Abstract: The research reported in this paper develops a typology of American metropolitan juvenile courts through factor analysis of 96 court characteristics and a cluster analysis of courts based on indicators of five derived factors representative of structural dimensions. The data were collected through a mail and telephone survey of court personnel in a saturated sample of 150 metropolitan juvenile courts. The empirical typology is presented and its implications for future comparative studies and studies testing differential processing are discussed.
TL;DR: In this paper, a regression analysis of the links between provincial socioeconomic patterns and the incidence of the rebellions disconfirms the structural theory and corroborates the basic propositions of the historical theory.
Abstract: Recent analyses of the sources of 20th-century peasant rebellions have centered on two basic theories: a structural theory of class relations that points to the greater political volatility of smallholder tenancy and a historical theory pointing to the strength of traditional village institutions in the midst of the increasing economic insecurity of the peasantry brought about by the expansion of the market economy, increased exactions by landowners and the state, and the pressure of rapid population growth. These theories are evaluated against the experience of the large-scale rebellions that occurred throughout the Russian Empire in 1905-7. Although the historical record provides preliminary support for both theories, regression analysis of the links between provincial socioeconomic patterns and the incidence of the rebellions disconfirms the structural theory and corroborates the basic propositions of the historical theory. Peasants rebel because of threats to their access to an economic subsistence, not because of the particular form of class relations in which they are enmeshed.