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Showing papers in "American Journal of Sociology in 1986"


Journal Article•DOI•
TL;DR: This paper argued for the importance of a distinction between "low-and high-risk/cost activism" and outlined a model or recruitment to the latter, emphasizing the import of low-risk and high-cost activism.
Abstract: This article proposes and argues for the importance of a distinction between "low-" and "high-risk/cost activism" and outlines a model or recruitment to the latter. The model emphasizes the importa...

1,585 citations


Journal Article•DOI•
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors describe paths in research and in theory development, that will reconstitute relevance of each for the other, and use a theory of purposive action as a foundation for social theory; this entails acceptance of a form of methodological individualism and rejection of holism.
Abstract: After an extraordinarily promising beginning in 1937 with The Structure of Social Action, Talcott Parsons abandoned his attempt to ground social theory in a theory of purposive action. The functionalism that resulted moved in one direction, while social research has progressively moved in an individual-behavioristic direction, resulting in an ever-widening divergence between research and theory. This paper describes paths in research and in theory development, that will reconstitute relevance of each for the other. The essential elements are two. The first is use of a theory of purposive action as a foundation for social theory; this entails acceptance of a form of methodological individualism and rejection of holism. The second is a focus in social research and theory on the movement from the level of individual actions to macrosocial functioning, that is, the level of system behavior.

1,293 citations


Journal Article•DOI•
TL;DR: In this article, the determinants of sex segregation in occupations employing both men and women are investigated. But, little evidence is found that employers' practices reflect efficient and rational responses to sex differences in skills and turnover costs.
Abstract: This article develops and tests hypotheses about the determinants of sex segregation in occupations employing both men and women, analyzing data on a diverse sample of California establishments. In the few instances in which men and women perform similar work roles, the jobs are typically done in distinct organizational settings, and when an enterprise employs both sexes in the same occupation, men and women are usually assigned different job titles. The findings are consistent with the theory of statistical discrimination, wich posits that employers reserve some jobs for men and others for women. However, little evidence is found that employers' practices reflect efficient and rational responses to sex differences in skills and turnover costs. Alternative explanations for gender segregation within and among organizations are suggested and the research necessary to develop a more accurate account of the sexual division of labor in the workplace is outlined.

883 citations


Journal Article•DOI•
TL;DR: The concept of "habit" was long a staple term in the conceptual vocabulary of Western social theorists and continued to function as a major background factor in the substantive writings of both Emile Durkheim and Max Weber as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: This article is a historical investigation of the concept of habit in sociology. Beginning with the claim that historians of sociology need to look beyond the now-famous ideas that appear in the foreground of the works of the sociological masters, the article examines the neglected idea of habit to document that this concept was long a staple term in the conceptual vocabulary of Western social theorists and that it continued to function as a major background factor in the substantive writings of both Emile Durkheim and Max Weber-a factor that previous scholarship on Durkheim and Weber has almost completely overlooked. It is shown that Durkheim viewed habit not only as a chief determinant of human action in a great variety of areas but also as one of the principal supports for the moral fabric of modern societies. Similarly, habit is found to be significant in Weber's treatment of modern economic and political life, Calvinism and the spirit of capitalism, and the force of traditionalism, which is so centra...

515 citations


Journal Article•DOI•
TL;DR: In this article, the authors chart the transformation of the employment relationship in different industries during the second quarter of this century and is based on a representative sampling of US business organizations, including labor unions, personnel professionals, and the state.
Abstract: This paper charts the transformation of the employment relationship in different industries during the second quarter of this century and is based on a representative sampling of US business organizations The first section documents changes in the control systems that prevailed in US industries between the Depression and the end of World War II The descriptive analyses generally corroborate portraits that have recently been provided by neo-Marxists of how and where technical and bureaucratic controls evolved The second section sketches and explanation for the rapid diffusion of bureaucratic controls that apparently occurred between 1939 and 1946 It examines the role of three key constituencies in shaping modern system of work force control: labor unions, personnel professionals, and the state In particular, the analyses underscore the large role of government intervention in manpower activities during World War II in bureaucratizing employment This effect of the state blurs the distinction betwe

489 citations


Journal Article•DOI•
TL;DR: The authors examines the diffusion of this once "deviant" innovation, focusing on the relationship between changing business practices and American business culture; more specifically, how the processes of the normative framing of hostile takeovers facilitated their diffusion and legitimation, helping to recreate or sustain order despite the disruptions engendered by takeovers.
Abstract: Ownership contests for control of large American corporations have become increasingly problematic and public with the advent of the "hostile takeover." This article examines the diffusion of this once "deviant" innovation. Its focus is on the relationship between changing business practices and American business culture; more specifically, on how the processes of the normative framing of hostile takeovers facilitated their diffusion and legitimation, helping to recreate or sustain order despite the disruptions engendered by takeovers. Three eras in the diffusion of this deviant innovation are delineated. Each is characterized by a language and argot that serve to cushion the hard fact of status loss by acquired executives. Neither culture nor social structure is seen here to dominate this interactive process. The provision of incentives to remain within the institution while career goals and pathways are redefined constitutes a case study of institutional reintegration, within a subsystem of society seld...

458 citations


Journal Article•DOI•
TL;DR: In this paper, the body and society explorations in social theory are used as a good way to achieve details about operating certain products and to obtain a user's guide to operating them.
Abstract: the body and society explorations in social theory are a good way to achieve details about operating certainproducts. Many products that you buy can be obtained using instruction manuals. These user guides are clearlybuilt to give step-by-step information about how you ought to go ahead in operating certain equipments. Ahandbook is really a user's guide to operating the equipments. Should you loose your best guide or even the productwould not provide an instructions, you can easily obtain one on the net. You can search for the manual of yourchoice online. Here, it is possible to work with google to browse through the available user guide and find the mainone you'll need. On the net, you'll be able to discover the manual that you might want with great ease andsimplicity

438 citations


Journal Article•DOI•
TL;DR: The major delinquency theories differ significantly in the ways in which they have portrayed the friendship patterns of male and, more recently, female delinquents as mentioned in this paper, and they have been criticised by the authors of this paper.
Abstract: Major delinquency theories differ significantly in the ways in which they have portrayed the friendship patterns of male and, more recently, female delinquents. Psychological studies and control th...

427 citations


Journal Article•DOI•
TL;DR: This paper found that a marked decline in the density of acquaintanceship did in fact lead to significant consequences in areas other than psychological functioning, such as control of deviance, socialization of the young, and care for the community's weaker members.
Abstract: One of the most basic characteristics of a community's social structure is the proportion of its residents who are acquainted with one another-in the terminology of this paper, the community's "density of acquaintanceship." Although versions of this variable have been discussed for at least three-quarters of a century, quantitative studies have found little evidence that it has any significant consequences for psychosocial adjustment. Using a different focus, however, may lead to different conclusions. Drawing from a study of rapid community growth, this paper reports that a marked decline in the density of acquaintanceship did in fact lead to significant consequences-but that the effects were strongest in areas other than psychological functioning. Changes were particularly evident in control of deviance, socialization of the young, and care for the community's weaker members. Psychosocial impacts, by contrast, were lessened by the continuing vitality of intimate social supports. The paper concludes that the density of acquaintanceship variable warrants systematic but refocused investigation in the future.

392 citations


Journal Article•DOI•
TL;DR: The authors found that seven basic rhetorical formats were associated with nearly 70% of the applause produced in response to 476 political speeches to British party political conferences in 1981, and that the relationship between rhetoric and response is broadly independent of political party, the political status of th speaker, and the popularity of the message.
Abstract: Recent work in conversation analysis suggests that audience responses to political speeches are strongly influenced by the rhetorical construction of political messages. This paper shows that seven basic rhetorical formats were associated with nearly 70% of the applause produced in response to 476 political speeches to British party political conferences in 1981. The relationship between rhetoric and response is broadly independent of political party, the political status of th speaker, and the popularity of the message. Performance factors are found to influence the likelihood of audience response strongly.

341 citations


Journal Article•DOI•
TL;DR: The authors examined the transition to marriage and how it differs by sex, testing the extent of variation in the desirability of marriage for men and women, and the effects of marriage market factors and marital and nonmarital roles.
Abstract: Among the many transitions young people make as they enter adult-hood, marriage is perhaps the most important. This paper uses data from the National Longitudinal Surveys of Young Women and Young Men to examine the transition to marriage and how it differs by sex, testing the extent of variation in the desirability of marriage for men and women, and the effects of marriage market factors and marital and nonmarital roles. The design of the analysis allows the effects of these factors to vary over the young adult years. The pattern of findings suggests that recent declines in the marriage rate have not resulted from increased barriers to marriage but from declines in relative preferences for marriage.

Journal Article•DOI•
TL;DR: Support is found for Durkheim's thesis that Catholics have lower suicide rates than non-Catholics and strong Catholic/non-Catholic suicide differences are found even when the analysis is extended to 414 counties in 1970 and 1980.
Abstract: With a set of relevant controls, including population change, income, urbanity, unemployment, and female labor-force participaion, Durkheim's religious and family integration hypotheses are tested with new and highly reliable church membership rates and similar divorce rates. Eight data sets are analyzed at two levels of analysis, state and county: 50 states at six different times betwen 1933 and 1980 and 216 counties in 1970 and 1980. The religous and family integration variables are generally supported at both levels of analysis and across the 47 years of the study. Contrary to previous studies, support is found for Durkheim's thesis that Catholics have lower suicide rates than non-Catholics. Strong Catholic/non-Catholic suicide differences are found even when the analysis is extended to 414 counties in 1970 and 1980.

Journal Article•DOI•
TL;DR: In this article, a number of areas in which creative work is likely to go on in the next 10 years are sketched: historical change; emotion versus cognition; the micro-macro connection; an integrated theory of organizations, networks, and markets; and sex and gender.
Abstract: Recent feelings of malaise about the condition of sociology confuse the institutional level of the profession's material support with sociology's intellectual content. The "crisis" has been largely the result of a very rapid increase in the number of sociologists in the late 1960s and the 1970s, which has not only caused career problems but has brought increased specialization and mutual metatheoretical recriminations among contending specialties. Both the touting of new quantitative methodologies and the antipositivism of opposing camps tend to operate as ideologies for particular specialties and to obscure the substantive advances that are possible. A number of areas in which creative work is likely to go on in the next 10 years are sketched: historical change; emotion versus cognition; the micro-macro connection; an integrated theory of organizations, networks, and markets; and sex and gender.

Journal Article•DOI•
TL;DR: Anthony Giddens's The Constitution of Society as mentioned in this paper is an "outline of the theory of structuration", which is the most extensive statement so far of Gaddens's theoretical approach.
Abstract: Anthony Giddens's The Constitution of Society is exactly what its subtitle proclaims, an \"outline of the theory of structuration.\" As an outline, it is comprehensive in scope and sparse in detail, but nonetheless it does represent he most extensive statement hus far of Giddens's theoretical approach. Therefore, I think it timely to review here Giddens's conceptual work as it has evolved over the past decade and to offer a general assessment of his theoretical project. Let me turn first o his criticisms of social theory that appear toward the conclusion of The Constitution of Society and in long critical notes at the ends of various chapters. Then, I will summarize Giddens's theory and assess his general strategy for developing social theory.

Journal Article•DOI•
TL;DR: This paper analyzed changes in the organizational structure of a local newspaper industry over a 125-year period, drawing on the distinction between task and institutional environments, analyzes changes in organizational structures of local newspapers.
Abstract: Drawing on the distinction between task and institutional environments, this article analyzes changes in the organizational structure of a local newspaper industry over a 125-year period. The ananl...

Journal Article•DOI•
TL;DR: In this article, the relationship between religion and family life giving particular attention to parental values for children and approaches to child rearing is examined. Butler et al. focus on the relationship of religious values and economic rationalism in American society and the changing role of religious ethnic differences in shaping the child-rearing orientations of parents.
Abstract: Weber's interpretation of the relationship between religious values and economic rationalism led observers of American society in the past to posit fundamental between-group differences in values to account for differing social and economic orientations of American religious groups, particularly those between Protestants and Catholics. This paper focuses on the relationship between religion and family life giving particular attention to parental values for children and approaches to child rearing. First, the differences in parental values that exist among religioethnic groups in American society and the changing role of religioethnic differences in shaping the child-rearing orientations of parents are examined. Data from Detroit surveys and other sources are used to demonstrate substantial changes in parental values across the past several decades. Also examined are reports of socialization practices, which reflect a high degree of similarity in patterns of behavior among religioethnic groups in modern so...

Journal Article•DOI•
TL;DR: The role of class forces on U.S. schooling has been very limited when compared with Europe as mentioned in this paper, which has been a function of the political system, which has operated to limit the extent to which class interests and conflicts could be politically transformed into those political decisions that shaped schooling.
Abstract: Recent studies of education in the United States have explained schooling as a consequence of either capitalist class domination or class conflict. What is distinctive about the structure of U.S. schooling is its limited degree of stratification. The ways in whih class analyses have explained this pattern are reviewed critically. Class anlayses have failed because (1) they neglect the role of the political process in transforming class interests into institutional patterns, and (2) they neglect the process by which political structures themselves become important determinants of class formation. The role of class forces on U.S. schooling has been very limited when compared with Europe. This minimal effect of class has been a function of the political system, which has operated to limit the extent to which class interests and conflicts could be politically transformed into those political decisions that shaped schooling. The American "exceptionalism" in Schooling is traced to the "exceptionalism" of its cl...



Journal Article•DOI•
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explored the relationship between the dimensions of social structure identified by Blau-group size, heterogeneity, intergroup inequality ("consolidation"), and segregation-and these two forms of social association.
Abstract: Using data on interracial marriage and interracial violent crime for a sample of 25 metropolitan communities, this article tests several hypotheses derived from Blau's theory of social structure. Consistent with theoretical predictions, moderate, positive correlations are found between rates of interracial marriage and crime. The article also explores the relationship between the dimensions of social structure identified by Blau-group size, heterogeneity, intergroup inequality ("consolidation"), and segregation-and these two forms of social association. Both interracial marriage and interracial crime are influenced significantly by at least one of these structural conditions. Contrary to initial expectations, however, the effects of social structure vary by the form of association. The rate of interracial marriage is positively affected by the degree of racial income equality, whereas interracial crime rates are more strongly influenced by relative group size and racial residential segregation. The articl...

Journal Article•DOI•
TL;DR: Schutz's reconstruction of Max Weber's methodology is examined from two points of view: Schutz's decade-long affiliation with the Austrian school of economics and his project for the unification of the social sciences.
Abstract: Alfred Schutz's reconstruction of Max Weber's methodology is examined from two points of view: Schutz's decade-long affiliation with the Austrian school of economics and his project for the unification of the social sciences. Biographical and textual evidence shows that Schutz's methodological goals for his first book, Der sinnhafte Aufbau der sozialen Welt (published in 1932), wereshaped by the epistemological debates within the Austrian school of economics, rather than some abstract and unmotivated attempt to "synthesize" Weber and Hussl. Schutz modified Weber's concepts of Verstehen and the ideal type to meet Austrian objections, and revised them further to comply with canons of reliability adopted from the logical empiricist theory of science, with which he was familiar through his friend Felix Kaufmann. The essay concludes with a depiction of Schutz's little-known program for the unification of the social sciences, whose origin can be traced to the same intelectual context.

Journal Article•DOI•
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors developed a mathematical model of contagion and applied it to aircraft hijackings in the United States between 1968 and 1972, and found no contagion effects of unsuccessful hijacking attempts.
Abstract: It has often been claimed that aircraft hijacking is a "contagious" phenomenon, that the motivation to hijack aircraft spreads from one individual to another as a result of media coverage of hijacking incidents. This article develops a mathematical model of contagion and applies it to aircraft hijackings in the United States between 1968 and 1972. Analyses show that successful hijackings in the United States did generate additional hijacking attempts of the same type (either transportation or extortion). There were no contagion effects of unsuccessful hijacking attempts in the United States or any effects on U.S. hijacking attempts of such attempts outside the United States.

Journal Article•DOI•
TL;DR: In this paper, a model of the relationship between self-rejection and deviance mediated by disposition to deviance is proposed to examine the linear structural equations in data provided by a threewave panel study of junior high school students.
Abstract: This paper estimates a model of the relationship between self-rejection and deviance, mediated by disposition to deviance, to examine the linear structural equations in data provided by a threewave panel study of junior high school students. The measurement models and latent structure more accurately reflect the theoretical basis of the postulated structure than do earlier multivariate analyses of panel data. The latent construct "self-rejection" (modeled in terms of global self-derogation, lack of desirable attributes, and experiences of rejection and failure in family and school) a Time 1 has the expected strong positive effect on the latent construct "disposition to deviance" (measured in terms of disaffection from, and readiness to adopt deviant alternatives to, conventional family, school, and community patterns) at Time 2 which in turn has the anticipated strong positive effect on the latent construct "deviance" (reflecting the commonality underlying the adoption of any of a range of deviant behavio...

Journal Article•DOI•
TL;DR: In this article, two distinct models are estimated for a succession of cohorts of Philippine men and women born in the first half of the 20th century to assess trends in the effect of parental status as a determinant of educational outcomes.
Abstract: In order to assess trends in the effect of parental status as a determinant of educational outcomes, two distinct models are estimated for a succession of cohorts of Philippine men and women born in the first half of the 20th century. The linear models shows some decline across cohorts in the effects of background on years of schooling; the logistic response model, used to estimate the effects of background variables on specific grade progression probabilities, shows remarkable constancy over time. These results are consistent with an image of the educational system as an ever-expanding pie that is always sliced in the same proportions.


Journal Article•DOI•
TL;DR: The emergence of the postself through sport contributes to our understanding of selfhood, time, social worlds, social structure, and social process as mentioned in this paper, and the characteristics of the social world of sport that foster concerns about immortality as well as the reactions of individuals to these factors.
Abstract: The processes through which Americans seek to leave their mark through achievements in sport are explored. The postself is conceptualized as an idealized role-identity that links the present to the future and to the past. Various media forms indicate that athletes and their others frequently become concerned about how they will look to future audiences. The characteristics of the social world of sport that foster concerns about immortality as well as the reactions of individuals to these factors are discussed. The emergence of the postself through sport contributes to our understanding of selfhood, time, social worlds, social structure, and social process.

Journal Article•DOI•
TL;DR: This paper developed and tested a formal time-series model of the pressures leading to state breakdown in England in 1640-42 and applied a quantitative analysis to the logic of structural-historical studies of revolution that generally proceed in a qualitative fashion.
Abstract: This essay develops and tests a formal time-series model of the pressures leading to state breakdown in England in 1640-42. The model has several novel features: it applies a quantitative analysis to the logic of structural-historical studies of revolution that generally proceed in a qualitative fashion; it yields a strong prediction of political crisis in mid-17th-century England and of relative stability in the preceding and succeeding centuries; and it helps resolve several problems in the historiography of the English Revolution and the current theory of revolutions.


Journal Article•DOI•
TL;DR: By the time of his last major work, The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life (1912), Durkheim's arguments concerning the influence of society on individual action were no longer couched predominantly in a language of externality and constraint as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: By the time of his last major work, The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life (1912), Durkheim's arguments concerning the influence of society on individual action were no longer couched predominantly in a language of externality and constraint. In 1913, defending the "principal ideas" of that work, Durkheim supported his conception of the "duality of human nature" (simultaneously social and individual) by emphasizing the "dynamogenic quality of religion," its ability to inspire human aciton a well as to curb it. These arguments do not represent a straighforward development of Durkheim's earlier work but must be undestood within the borader intellectual context within which he worked. Of particular importance were the growing differences among British social anthropologists, notably William Robertson Smith and James Frazer, concerning the mythic or utilitarian nature of primitive religion. On the evidence of this context, it is argued that one of the most critical shifts in the development of Durkheim's ...

Journal Article•DOI•
TL;DR: From 1929 to the present time, women applicants to medical school had just as good a chance of being accepted as men applicants, and the qualifications of the men and women applicants were essentially equal.
Abstract: Beginning in the early 1970s there was a dramatic increase in the proportion of women admitted to medical school. The previous low proportion of women entering medicine could have resulted from sex-role socialization that influenced women not to aspire to careers in medicine and/or from direct discrimination by medical schools. Utilizing historical data on both application and admissions to medical school, this paper tests the specific hypothesis that medical school admissions committees discriminated against women: from 1929 to the present time, women applicants to medical school had just as good a chance of being accepted as men applicants. Also, the qualifications of the men and women applicants were essentially equal. These findings suggest that as far back as 1929 the low representation of women in medicine was primarily a result of differences in socializtion-based occupational choice. The paper does not deal with the important question of whether women had experienced discrimination either before a...