Showing papers in "American Journal of Sociology in 2017"
TL;DR: Desmond's Evicted as mentioned in this paper is an ethnography about the daily experiences of poverty with a unique focus on the causes and con- sequences of housing instability and housing quality, focusing on eight poor families and two landlords who rent apartments, houses, or trailer homes to the poor.
Abstract: Book Reviews that loosely weaves together ideas of relational subjectivity with the systems theory of Niklas Luhmann—I gave up. The world is in flames. We need good, clear, accurate, and powerful ex- planations for what’s happening so that we can figure out how to smartly move forward. Maybe a sociologist will read some critical realism and get inspired to produce a brilliant explanation she or he wouldn’t have other- wise. I hope so. But neither of these two books makes a convincing case that critical realism is the royal road to sociological truth. Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City. By Matthew Desmond. New York: Crown Publishers, 2016. Pp. xi1420. $28.00. David J. Harding University of California, Berkeley Matthew Desmond’s Evicted is first and foremost an ethnography about the daily experiences of poverty with a unique focus on the causes and con- sequences of housing instability and housing quality. Unlike prior poverty ethnographies that focus on a particular neighborhood, this book shadows eight poor families, both black and white, and two landlords who rent apartments, houses, or trailer homes to the poor. Following the experiences of these research subjects over multiple years in Milwaukee reveals in painstaking detail the central importance of eviction to the contemporary experience of being poor. These arguments are buttressed by other data sources as well, including surveys of renters and administrative records from housing court. In short, one cannot read Evicted without coming to the conclusion that eviction and its consequences play a central role in trap- ping individuals and families in poverty. Despite the focus on public housing and housing vouchers in public and academic discussions of housing and poverty, Evicted points out that most of the poor are on their own in the private rental market, one in which there is surprisingly little variation in rents across neighborhoods and almost no options that are anywhere near affordable for a family trying to get by on low-wage work or public assistance. Landlords who rent to such families can rarely count on consistently receiving the full payment of rent, and, as a result, the apartments, houses, and trailers available to such families are typically in chronic disrepair, including broken plumbing, inoperable appliances and furnaces, and broken doors and windows. The state is ab- sent from the market in many ways, with minimal proactive enforcement of building code violations, few resources devoted to affordable housing, and little regulation of rents. Yet when the state does play a role, it is over- whelmingly arrayed against the tenant. Nuisance complaints recorded by the police motivate evictions, sheriff’s deputies execute evictions, child wel- fare agencies take children away when families become homeless or live in unsafe housing, and the complexities of housing courts favor the landlord This content downloaded from 169.229.151.152 on June 30, 2017 10:30:27 AM All use subject to University of Chicago Press Terms and Conditions (http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/t-and-c).
385 citations
TL;DR: This paper investigated the multidimensional nature of gender-role attitudes in 17 postindustrial European countries and identified three distinct varieties of egalitarianism: liberal egalitarianism, egalitarian familism, and flexible egalitarianism.
Abstract: This article challenges the implicit assumption of many cross-national studies that gender-role attitudes fall along a single continuum between traditional and egalitarian. The authors argue that this approach obscures theoretically important distinctions in attitudes and renders analyses of change over time incomplete. Using latent class analysis, they investigate the multidimensional nature of gender-role attitudes in 17 postindustrial European countries. They identify three distinct varieties of egalitarianism that they designate as liberal egalitarianism, egalitarian familism, and flexible egalitarianism. They show that while traditional gender-role attitudes have precipitously and uniformly declined in accordance with the “rising tide” narrative toward greater egalitarianism, the relative prevalence of different egalitarianisms varies markedly across countries. Furthermore, they find that European nations are not converging toward one dominant egalitarian model but rather, remain differentiated by va...
229 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors use sequence analysis to examine how gender inequality in work-family trajectories unfolds from early adulthood until middle age in two different welfare state contexts, showing that in Germany, all work family trajectories are highly gender-specific irrespective of social class.
Abstract: This article uses sequence analysis to examine how gender inequality in work-family trajectories unfolds from early adulthood until middle age in two different welfare state contexts. Results based on the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth and the German National Education Panel Study demonstrate that in Germany, all work-family trajectories are highly gender-specific irrespective of social class. In contrast, patterns of work-family interplay across the life course in the United States are, overall, less gendered, but they differ widely by social class. In fact, work-family patterns characterized by high occupational prestige are fairly equally accessible for men and women. However, women are far more likely than men to experience the joint occurrence of single parenthood and unstable low-prestige work careers in the United States. The authors contribute to the literature by bringing in a longitudinal, process-oriented life course perspective and conceptualizing work-family trajectories as interlocked...
120 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a search for population heterogeneity in this organizing logic was undertaken first by comparing 44 demographic sub-populations and then using inductive techniques, finding that belief systems of different groups vary in the amount of organization but not in the logic that o...
Abstract: Many accounts of political belief systems conceive of them as networks of interrelated opinions, in which some beliefs are central and others peripheral. This article formally shows how such structural features can be used to construct direct measures of belief centrality in a network of correlations. This method is applied to the 2000 ANES data, which have been used to argue that political beliefs are organized around parenting schemas. This structural approach instead yields results consistent with the central role of political identity, which individuals may use as the organizing heuristic to filter information from the political field. In light of recent accounts of belief system heterogeneity, a search for population heterogeneity in this organizing logic was undertaken first by comparing 44 demographic subpopulations and then using inductive techniques. Contra these recent accounts, the study finds that belief systems of different groups vary in the amount of organization but not in the logic that o...
106 citations
TL;DR: This paper examined the effect of Arizona's 2010 high-profile anti-immigrant law, SB 1070, on both public attitudes and behaviors toward immigrants using sentiment analysis and a difference-in-difference approach to analyze more than 250,000 tweets.
Abstract: Scholars have debated whether laws can influence public opinion, but evidence of these “feedback” effects is scant. This article examines the effect of Arizona’s 2010 high-profile anti-immigrant law, SB 1070, on both public attitudes and behaviors toward immigrants. Using sentiment analysis and a difference-in-difference approach to analyze more than 250,000 tweets, the author finds that SB 1070 had a negative impact on the average sentiment of tweets regarding immigrants, Mexicans, and Hispanics, but not on those about Asians or blacks. However, these changes in public discourse were not caused by shifting attitudes toward immigrants but by the mobilization of anti-immigrant users and by motivating new users to begin tweeting. While some scholars propose that punitive laws can shape people’s attitudes toward targeted groups, this study shows that policies are more likely to influence behaviors. Rather than placating the electorate, anti-immigrant laws may stir the pot further, mobilizing individuals alre...
98 citations
TL;DR: This paper explored distinctive features of the credit transaction that differentiate claims making in the credit market from more familiar forms of claims-making in the labor market, and showed that to the extent the status of ownership is institutionalized in credit transaction, borrowers may be able to overcome some of the disadvantages associated with occupying the weaker position in an...
Abstract: In recent years, sociologists have noted the increasing centrality of credit for determining life chances in our society, but they have not given adequate attention to the credit market as a key site where individuals assert claims over economic resources. This article explores distinctive features of the credit transaction that differentiate claims making in the credit market from more familiar forms of claims making in the labor market. Rather than the quid pro quo exchange between formal equals that characterizes the wage relation, the extension of credit creates an obligation that marks the debtor as inferior to the creditor. The hierarchical and asymmetrical nature of the loan contract appears to erode the possibility for effective political demands in this arena. However, this article demonstrates that to the extent the status of “ownership” is institutionalized in the credit transaction, borrowers may be able to overcome some of the disadvantages associated with occupying the weaker position in an ...
98 citations
TL;DR: This paper developed a framework for analyzing the risks of poverty in terms of prevalences (share of the population with a risk) and penalties (increased probability of poverty associated with the risk).
Abstract: This article develops a framework for analyzing the risks of poverty in terms of prevalences (share of the population with a risk) and penalties (increased probability of poverty associated with a risk). A comparison of the four major risks (low education, single motherhood, young headship, and unemployment) across 29 rich democracies reveals there is greater variation in penalties than prevalences. The United States has high poverty partly because it has the highest penalties despite below average prevalences. Also, U.S. poverty in 2013 would be worse with prevalences from 1970 or 1980. There is little evidence that penalties discourage prevalences, while welfare generosity significantly moderates the penalties for unemployment and low education. The authors conclude that a focus on risks does not provide a convincing explanation of poverty, single motherhood may be the least important of the risks, and studies based solely on the United States are constrained by potentially large sample selection biases.
97 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a new research agenda is proposed for assessing the strength of linkages between educational credentials, including fields of study, and occupational positions, and the authors argue that a theoretically fruitful conception of linkage strength requires a focus on granular structure and macroinstitutional characteristics of pathways between education and the labor market.
Abstract: A new research agenda is proposed for assessing the strength of linkages between educational credentials, including fields of study, and occupational positions. The authors argue that a theoretically fruitful conception of linkage strength requires a focus on granular structure as well as the macroinstitutional characteristics of pathways between education and the labor market. Building on recent advances in the study of multigroup segregation, the authors find that Germany has stronger overall linkage strength than France or the United States. However, the extent to which the three countries differ varies substantially across educational levels and fields of study. The authors illustrate the substantive importance of the new approach by showing, first, that the standard organization space/qualification space distinction poorly describes the contemporary difference between Germany and France and, second, that relative mean occupational wages in Germany and the United States vary directly with the relative...
92 citations
82 citations
TL;DR: Wang et al. as mentioned in this paper argued that the effect of any religion's institutional features on its growth is contingent on the sociopolitical context of the religion, and that the state is the most powerful actor in creating and shaping that context.
Abstract: This article, using fieldwork from a Chinese county, seeks to explain why Protestantism has experienced explosive growth in post-Mao China, but not before It identifies six institutional features of Chinese Protestantism vital to the religion’s rapid growth, but it does not make a simple institutional argument Instead, it contends that each of these institutional features can facilitate or impede the spread of Protestantism depending on the context Protestantism flourished in the post-Mao era because the Maoist state had dissolved the locally entrenched social/cultural resistance to Protestantism and because the post-Mao state’s market-oriented economic reform created an environment conducive to the expansion of Protestantism Theoretically, this article makes a claim that the effect of any religion’s institutional features on its growth is contingent on the sociopolitical context of the religion, and that the state is the most powerful actor in creating and shaping that context
71 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a data set tracking the training and professional activities of academic biomedical scientists is used to show that young scientists adopt their advisers' orientations toward commercial science as evidenced by adviser-to-advisee transmission of patenting behavior.
Abstract: Actors and associates often match on a few dimensions that matter most for the relationship at hand. In so doing, they are exposed to unanticipated social influences because counterparts have broader attitudes and preferences than would-be contacts considered when they first chose to pair. The authors label as “partially deliberate” social matching that occurs on a small set of attributes, and they present empirical methods for identifying causal social influence effects when relationships follow this generative logic. A data set tracking the training and professional activities of academic biomedical scientists is used to show that young scientists adopt their advisers’ orientations toward commercial science as evidenced by adviser-to-advisee transmission of patenting behavior. The authors demonstrate this in two-stage models that account for the endogeneity of matching, using both inverse probability of treatment weights and an instrumental variables approach. They also draw on qualitative methods to su...
TL;DR: Using data from the Los Angeles Family and Neighborhood Survey, the authors find evidence that econetwork extensity and intensity are positively related to changes in social organization between 2000–2001 and 2006–2008.
Abstract: Drawing on the social disorganization tradition and the social ecological perspective of Jane Jacobs, the authors hypothesize that neighborhoods composed of residents who intersect in space more frequently as a result of routine activities will exhibit higher levels of collective efficacy, intergenerational closure, and social network interaction and exchange. They develop this approach employing the concept of ecological networks—two-mode networks that indirectly link residents through spatial overlap in routine activities. Using data from the Los Angeles Family and Neighborhood Survey, they find evidence that econetwork extensity (the average proportion of households in the neighborhood to which a given household is tied through any location) and intensity (the degree to which household dyads are characterized by ties through multiple locations) are positively related to changes in social organization between 2000–2001 and 2006–2008. These findings demonstrate the relevance of econetwork characteristics...
TL;DR: In this article, structural balance theory is used to understand the mechanisms that alter sentiments as a function of the configuration of sentiments in which they are embedded and the community commitment condition that is involved in the realization of structural balance.
Abstract: Structural balance theory attends to a group’s network of sentiments and posits that this network alters over time toward particular structural forms. Current work on the theory is focused on understanding the mechanisms that alter sentiments as a function of the configuration of sentiments in which they are embedded. Although the theory assumes tension reduction mechanisms, there has been no effort to directly measure and model the temporal changes of individuals’ relational tensions that are predicted by the theory. This article elaborates and tests balance theory with an empirical analysis of its posited interpersonal tensions and their reductions via a sentiment conversion process. In addition, the authors open a new line of inquiry on the theory’s scope conditions and point to a community commitment condition that is involved in the realization of structural balance. Their analysis draws on a unique suite of multiwave measures obtained from the Urban Communes Data Set.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors study how rule evasion affects the evolution of markets or how the interaction between regulators and the regulated about the meaning of compliance influences this effect, and propose a synthesis of relational and institutional accounts of the embeddedness of markets.
Abstract: While the role of laws and regulations in structuring markets is well established, it is less understood how rule evasion affects the evolution of markets or how the interaction between regulators and the regulated about the meaning of compliance influences this effect. The authors study this issue by looking at the development of the asset-backed commercial paper (ABCP) market in France, Germany, and the Netherlands from 1999 to 2009. In all three countries, this market involved financial innovations designed to evade regulations. The authors identify diverging trends in the ABCP market that are a result of whether and how regulators were embedded in the different interpretive communities that defined regulatory compliance, such embeddedness being dependent on their discretionary and sanctioning power as well as their expertise. Focusing on these regulatory networks that embed institutions in markets, they propose a synthesis of relational and institutional accounts of the embeddedness of markets.
TL;DR: In this article, a case study of the early days of the modern U.S. securitization market is presented, showing how the effort to mobilize capital and influence outside of budgetary constraints can organize government engagements with finance.
Abstract: Sociologists have frequently noted the relationship between fiscal institutions and the development of national financial markets, but the centrality of national budgets for structuring that relationship has received scant attention. This article uses a historical case study from the United States to address that gap. A 1960s political battle between the federal government and the Johnson administration over asset sales and the budget culminated in a reorganization of U.S. housing finance policy: Fannie Mae was “spun off” and authorized to issue mortgage-backed securities. This case study situates the early days of the modern U.S. securitization market within a broader political effort to use financial engineering and liberalization to avoid the redistribution of wealth, revealing how the effort to mobilize capital and influence outside of budgetary constraints can organize government engagements with finance. Implications are drawn for fiscal sociology, the sociology of finance, and the interaction betwe...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigate the role of nonstate leaders in the production of state knowledge and propose an analytic approach that focuses on the motivations of non-state leaders, the obstacles of noncompliance they confront, and the persuasive tactics used to foster public cooperation.
Abstract: In recent decades, the sociology of the state has become engrossed in the relationship between knowledge and modern statecraft. Heeding recent calls for “society-centered” approaches, this article investigates the role of nonstate leaders in the production of state knowledge. It takes up the following question: How have nonstate leaders (i.e., civil leaders and community advocates) contributed to what James Scott has termed “state legibility”? While historical traces suggest that these actors have worked to lessen opposition to state projects, this activity remains empirically understudied and conceptually underdeveloped. Addressed to this problem, this article introduces the concept of consent building and proposes an analytic approach that focuses on the motivations of nonstate leaders, the obstacles of noncompliance they confront, and the persuasive tactics used to foster public cooperation. To illustrate the purchase of this approach, it presents a case study of local Latino promoters of the 2010 U.S....
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the effect of public housing redevelopment via the federal HOPE VI program on the reproduction of urban inequalities and found that public housing policy plays a central role in urban inequalities.
Abstract: Housing policy plays a central role in the reproduction of urban inequalities. This study asks whether one such policy—public housing redevelopment via the federal HOPE VI program—altered the traje...
TL;DR: In this paper, a large-scale natural setting with longitudinal data was used to test the effect of dense networks on norm violations in Wikipedia, the largest user-generated online encyclopedia.
Abstract: Since Durkheim, sociologists have believed that actors in dense network structures experience fewer norm violations. Coleman proposed one explanatory mechanism, arguing that dense networks provide an opportunity structure to reward those who punish norm violators, leading to more frequent punishment and in turn fewer norm violations. Despite ubiquitous scholarly references to Coleman’s theory, little empirical work has directly tested it in large-scale natural settings with longitudinal data. The authors undertake such a test using records of norm violations during the editing process on Wikipedia, the largest user-generated online encyclopedia. These data allow them to track all three elements required to test Coleman’s mechanism: norm violations, punishments for such violations, and rewards for those who punish violations. The results support Coleman’s mechanism.
TL;DR: This paper found evidence supporting the view that as of 2006, the corporate elite were relatively unified both within the United States and trans-nationally, indicating a shift in center of corporate class organization and the interests likely represented by corporate political action in the 21st century.
Abstract: Long-term structural changes to the American economy, such as the decline of labor unions, the era of deregulation, and the decline of commercial banking and concomitant rise of investment banking, have led to scholarly debate over the extent to which the American business class is politically unified At the same time, the increasing globalization of economic activity over the last half century has generated similar academic disagreement regarding a potential transnational business class and its implications for national capitalist unity In this article, I present evidence supporting the view that as of 2006, the corporate elite were relatively unified both within the United States and transnationally Furthermore, I find that the network mechanisms that facilitate this unity are largely transnational, indicating a shift in center of corporate class organization and the interests likely represented by corporate political action in the 21st century
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine the mutually constitutive relationship between global institutions and local social movements and develop a theoretical framework for understanding the transformative impact of global human rights on local activism.
Abstract: This article examines the mutually constitutive relationship between global institutions and local social movements. First, drawing on social movement theories and the world society approach, it develops a theoretical framework for understanding the transformative impact of global human rights on local activism. Using interviews and archival and other data sources, the empirical analysis demonstrates that global human rights galvanized (1) the politically dormant Ainu into a thriving indigenous rights movement, (2) the politically active but factious resident Koreans into a more united and successful social movement, and (3) an established Burakumin movement into an international human rights organization. The fundamental similarity of rising activism for all three groups supports the world society thesis, but in-depth examination of concrete mechanisms unpacks complex global-local interplay and reveals intranational diversity in the impact of global human rights. Second, drawing on organizational institu...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors proposed a method for predicting the behavior of individuals in a social and behavioral sciences research group at the University of Arizona and the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University.
Abstract: National Science Foundation [SES-0963418]; University of Arizona Social and Behavioral Sciences Research Professorship; Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University
TL;DR: Analysis of state and local tax burden data indicate that an increasing proportion of Latinos within states is associated with more regressive tax systems, and evidence from a nationally representative survey experiment suggests that individual preferences for taxation may be influenced by changes in the racial composition of communities.
Abstract: States redistribute wealth through two mechanisms: spending and taxation. Yet studies of the social determinants of redistribution typically focus exclusively on government spending. This article explores how one determinant of social spending—racial composition—influences preferences for, and the structure of, tax systems. First, analyses of state and local tax burden data indicate that an increasing proportion of Latinos within states is associated with more regressive tax systems. Second, evidence from a nationally representative survey experiment suggests that individual preferences for taxation may be influenced by changes in the racial composition of communities. Finally, analyses reveal that in-group solidarity is a key mechanism through which racial threat shapes preferences for taxation. In demonstrating a relationship between racial change, tax preferences, and tax structures, this article contributes to our understanding of the determinants of redistribution as well as the broader project of th...
TL;DR: The authors examined the distinct roles played by different organizations (embedded in distinct state-society relations) in different stages of collective action (occurrence and success) in rural China with both quantitative and qualitative data.
Abstract: Existing research highlights a lack of organizational basis for collective action in nondemocratic regimes This study reevaluates this view by examining the distinct roles played by different organizations (embedded in distinct state-society relations) in different stages of collective action (occurrence and success) in rural China With both quantitative and qualitative data, the authors study two types of organizations: (1) informal lineage groups and (2) semiautonomous civic associations, exemplified by seniors associations The results demonstrate that lineage groups serve as mobilizing structures for collective resistance but face limited success given their informal status and weak vertical linkages with the state By contrast, seniors associations, which maintain close relations with authorities while conserving a high degree of autonomy, act as a genuine intermediaries between the government and aggrieved citizens to suppress collective resistance When collective action emerges, the associations
TL;DR: The authors observe two mechanisms of interorganizational reciprocation: organizational embedding and resource dependence and show how these two mechanisms operate on distinct time horizons: dependence applies to contemporaneous exchange structures, whereas embedding develops through longer-term historical patterns.
Abstract: Previous research on interaction behavior among organizations (resource exchange, collaboration, communication) has typically aggregated those behaviors over time as a network of organizational relationships. The authors instead study structural-temporal patterns in organizational exchange, focusing on the dynamics of reciprocation. Applying this lens to a community of Italian hospitals during 2003–7, the authors observe two mechanisms of interorganizational reciprocation: organizational embedding and resource dependence. The authors show how these two mechanisms operate on distinct time horizons: dependence applies to contemporaneous exchange structures, whereas embedding develops through longer-term historical patterns. They also show how these processes operate differently in competitive and noncompetitive contexts, operationalized in terms of market differentiation and geographic space. In noncompetitive contexts, the authors observe both logics of reciprocation, dependence in the short term and embed...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors consider the question of why the poor respond to some populist appeals and not to others, and they find that the poor support Estrada because they perceive him to be sincere, or someone who cares about them beyond electoral considerations.
Abstract: Why do the poor respond to some populist appeals and not to others? Populist support is largely attributed to a leader’s “populist style.” Populist style is seen as consisting of tactics aimed at cultivating popular identification. This explanation, however, cannot tell us why the poor discriminate among leaders employing similar tactics. This article considers the question with respect to the Philippine populist Joseph Estrada. It finds that the poor support Estrada because they perceive him to be sincere, or someone who cares about them beyond electoral considerations. They see him as sincere because his political performance engages their expectations and has proven coherent over time. The collective nature of their belief in Estrada’s sincerity helps account for its objectivity, durability, and diffusion. The empirical case presents an opportunity to develop a more sophisticated account of populist style and to show that it depends as much on the political savvy of supporters as on the skill of leaders.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that deference is the price outsider organizations pay to pass categorical and symbolic boundaries and gain acceptance in contexts where insiders regard them as impure.
Abstract: Why would market organizations engage in symbolic and material acts conveying appreciation and respect to other organizations that confirm their inferior position in an established hierarchy? The authors argue that deference is the price outsider organizations pay to pass categorical and symbolic boundaries and gain acceptance in contexts where insiders regard them as impure. Because not all organizations can or are willing to pay the price, deference varies according to positional, dispositional, and interactional characteristics. The authors examine and find support for the view of organizational deference as strategic behavior using empirical evidence on market finance organizations investing in film production in France over two decades. The analysis expands research on nonconflictual interactions and symbolic boundaries in market settings.
TL;DR: In this paper, a theoretical framework that resolves conflicting ideas found in extant theory pertaining to moral reform movements is proposed, focusing on community attributes, particularly the relative size of populations affiliated with supportive belief systems, shape moral reform activism by affecting both the convictions and motivations of potential supporters.
Abstract: The authors offer a theoretical framework that resolves conflicting ideas found in extant theory pertaining to moral reform movements. The framework focuses on how community attributes, particularly the relative size of populations affiliated with supportive belief systems, shape moral reform activism by affecting both the convictions and motivations of potential supporters. The theory is applied in an analysis of county-level variation in the presence of antiabortion pregnancy centers (PCs). The authors find that the proportion of individuals affiliated with Roman Catholicism or evangelical denominations has a curvilinear relationship with PC establishment, reflecting the way in which group size can affirm convictions that are the lifeblood of moral reform but can also reduce motivation to act when the size of the group surpasses majority status. The authors also find that PCs are more likely to be found in communities where gender roles are relatively egalitarian.
TL;DR: The author develops pragmatist semiotics as a novel analytical strategy to capture collective processes of signification to broker monogenic causality in next-generation genomic sequencing technologies.
Abstract: Based on three years of ethnographic research, the author examines how laboratory geneticists using next-generation genomic sequencing technologies causally link a patient’s genotype and phenotype. At stake is the extent to which this technology breaks with Mendelian single gene–single trait genetic determinism. In spite of an abundance of genetic information that could be used to establish complex multicausal interactions at the molecular level, geneticists actively work to reconcile uncertainties, unknowns, and anomalies to broker monogenic causality. The author develops pragmatist semiotics as a novel analytical strategy to capture collective processes of signification.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that organizations influence the behavior of both members and proximate nonmembers in a process they term "organizational leakage" and that competition between organizations moderates the impact of any one of them on individual behavior.
Abstract: Individuals who join an organization often adopt its characteristic behaviors, but does the same effect extend to nearby nonmembers, and is this process impeded or enhanced by the competition between organizations? This article argues that organizations influence the behavior of both members and proximate nonmembers in a process we term “organizational leakage” and that competition between organizations moderates the impact of any one of them on individual behavior. This article finds, using the Add Health data, that an individual’s location in an organizational ecology is an important predictor of his or her behavior, even while controlling for other factors, including membership.