Showing papers in "American Sociological Review in 1945"

Sentiment and symbolism as ecological variables.

Abstract: SYSTEMATIZATION of ecological theory has thus far proceeded on two main premises regarding the character of space and the nature of locational activities. The first premise postulates that the sole relation of space to locational activities is an impeditive and cost-imposing one. The second premise assumes that locational activities are primarily economizing, "fiscal" agents.' On the basis of these two premises the only possible relationship that locational activities may bear to space is an economic one. In such a relationship each activity will seek to so locate as to minimize the obstruction put upon its functions by spatial distance. Since the supply of the desired locations is limited it follows that not all activities can be favored with choice sites. Consequently a competitive process ensues in which the scarce desirable locations are preempted by those locational activities which can so exploit advantageous location as to produce the greatest surplus of income over expenditure. Less desirable locations devolve to correspondingly less economizing land uses. The result is a pattern of land use that is presumed to be most efficient for both the individual locational activity and for the community.2 Given the contractualistic milieu within which the modern city has arisen and acquires its functions, such an "economic ecology" has had a certain explanatory adequacy in describing urban spatial structure and dynamics. However, as any theory matures and approaches a logical closure of its generalizations it inevitably encounters facts which remain unassimilable to the theoretical scheme. In this paper it will be our purpose to describe certain ecological processes which apparently cannot be embraced in a strictly economic analysis. Our hypothesis is that the data to be presented, while in no way startling or unfamiliar to the research ecologist, do suggest an alteration of the basic premises of ecology. This alteration would consist, first, of ascribing to space not only an impeditive quality but also an additional property, viz., that of being at times a symbol for certain cultural values that have become associated with a certain spatial area. Second, it would involve a recognition that locational activities are not only economizing agents but may also bear sentiments which can significantly influence the locational process.3 A test case for this twofold hypothesis is afforded by certain features of land use in central Boston. In common with many of the older American cities Boston has inherited from the past certain spatial patterns and landmarks which have had a remarkable persistence and even recuperative power despite challenges from other more economic land uses. The persistence of these spatial patterns can only be understood in terms of the group values that they have come to symbolize. We shall describe three types of such patterns: first, an in-town upper class residential neighborhood known as Beacon Hill; second, certain "sacred sites," notably the ' See Everett C. Hughes, "The Ecological Aspect of Institutions," American Sociological Review. I:i80-9, April, I936. 2This assumption of a correspondence between the maximum utility of a private association and that of the community may be questioned within the very framework of marginal utility analysis. See particularly A. C. Pigou, The Economics of Welfare. Second Edition, London: 1924, Part II, ch. 8. For a clear presentation of the typical position see Robert Murray Haig, "Towards an Understanding of the Metropolis-the Assignment of Activities to Areas in Urban Regions," Quarterly Journal of Economics. 40:402-34, May, 1926. 'Georg Simmel, "Der Raum und die ru cf. Hughes, op. cit.

Is “White-Collar Crime” Crime?

Abstract: T HE ARGUMENT has been made that business and professional men commit crimes which should be brought within the scope of the theories of criminal behavior.1 In order to secure evidence as to the prevalence of such white collar crimes an analysis was made of the decisions by courts and commissions against the seventy largest industrial and mercantile corporations in the United States under four types of laws, namely, antitrust, false advertising, National Labor Relations, and infringement of patents, copyrights, and trademarks. This resulted in the finding that 547 such adverse decisions had been made, with an average of 7.8 decisions per corporation and with each corporation having at least I.2 Although all of these were decisions that the behavior was unlawful, only 49 or 9 per cent of the total were made by criminal courts and were ipso facto decisions that the behavior was criminal. Since not all unlawful behavior is criminal behavior, these decisions can be used as a measure of criminal behavior only if the other 498 decisions can be shown to be decisions that the behavior of the corporations was criminal. This is a problem in the legal definition of crime and involves two types of questions: May the word "crime" be applied to the behavior regarding which these decisions were made? If so, why is it not generally applied and why have not the criminologists regarded white collar crime as cognate with other crime? The first question involves semantics, the second interpretation or explanation. A combination of two abstract criteria is generally regarded by legal scholars as necessary to define crime, namely: legal description of an act as socially injurious, and legal provision of a penalty for the act.' When the criterion of legally defined social injury is applied to these 547 decisions the conclusion is reached that all of the classes of behaviors regarding which the decisions were made are legally defined as socially injurious. This can be readily determined by the words in the statutes"crime" or "misdemeanor" in some, and "unfair," "discrimination," or "infringement" in all the others. The persons injured may be divided into two groups: first, a relatively small number of persons engaged in the same occupation as the offenders or in related occupations, and, second, the general public either as consumers or as constituents of the general social institutions which are affected by the violations of the laws. The antitrust laws are designed to protect competitors and also to protect the institution of free competition as the regulator of the economic system and thereby to protect consumers against arbitrary prices, and to protect the institution of democracy against the dangers of great concentration of wealth in the hands of monopolies. Laws against false advertising are designed to protect competitors against unfair competition and also to protect consumers against fraud. The National Labor Relations Law is designed to protect employees against coercion by employers and also to protect the general public against interferences with commerce due to strikes and lockouts. The laws against infringements are designed to

The Theory of Economic Progress.

Abstract: THE CLASSICAL tradition of economic thinking was formed in the eighteenth century in a climate of opinion one of the principle features of which was the idea of natural order. It also embodied an eighteenth century conception of human nature which antedates the modern science of psychology. Much has been made of both these points by later criticism, but without notable effect. No one doubts the influence of the philosophy of natural order upon eighteenth century economists; but contemporary economists protest vehemently that their use of such terms as “normal” and “equilibrium” has nothing in common with eighteenth‚century ways of thinking. Similarly no one doubts the psychological naiveté of the eighteenth‚century writers, but our contemporaries insist that no such traces of it are to be found in their work. So long as such charges are preferred and answered one at a time, the defense may be disconcertingly effective. How is the critic to prove, in the face of vigorous denial, that the phrase “normal price” is an evocation of the “laws of nature” of another age? The answer lies in the cumulative character of intellectual guilt. Modern representatives of the classical tradition may or may not talk the language of bygone ages at any particular point; nevertheless the whole theory of value which lies at the heart of all their reasoning is the embodiment and summation of all they disavow.

The Peckham Experiment.

Abstract: 1. Living things 2. Man in the making 3. Basic Technique 4. The health centre 5. Health overhaul 6. Findings of overhaul 7. New member-families 8. The family grows 9. Infancy 10. School days 11. Growing up 12. Courship and mating 13. The birth of a family 14. Social poverty 15. Social sufficiency 16. A community grows

The sociology of the family

Abstract: Course Description This course introduces students to the sociological analysis of families and gives them an understanding of family within the larger social system. The course begins by looking at different conceptual and theoretical issues, which challenge the commonly-held views of the family. We will consider how families are formed and look at the choices that people make regarding marriage and parenting. We will take a closer look at different aspects of family life, including the distribution of paid and unpaid work within families, diverse family forms and intergenerational issues. We will consider adversities that families experience, including violence and divorce. Finally, we will consider policy issues relevant to families and the future prospects for the family in a changing society.

An Analysis of Manuscripts Received by the Editors of the American Sociological Review from May 1, 1944 to September 1, 1945

Abstract: A NUMBER of questions have presented themselves to the current editors of the American Sociological Review with respect to the various factors involved in the selection of manuscripts to be published. Among the questions which arose were those concerning the supply of manuscripts available for publication, the factors involved in the selection of what manuscripts are to be published out of the total number received, and the possible criteria that may be used as bases for determining the acceptability of manuscripts. This analysis is for the most part an attempt to answer the above questions from the experience of the present editors from the time they assumed the responsibility for the American Sociological Review on May I5, I944, until the time of the present writing, September I, I945. The careful records kept by the former editor and submitted to the present editors made it possible to carry part of this analysis back as far as August I, I942, the date at which the former editor took over his duties.

The Bilingual as a Person--Linguistic Identification with Status

Abstract: A LTHOUGH almost one out of every five white persons living in the United States was reared in a home in which some language other than English was the principal one spoken during the years of early childhood,' only the psychologists and educators have concerned themselves with the study of bilingualism, and their interest has been mainly in its relation to the child's learning progress.2 This article seeks to emphasize the bilingual as a person, and the relation of bilingualism to personality development. What does the experience of being reared in a home in which one language is spoken, and living subsequently in a society which utilizes another language, do to a person? How do the vestiges of the earlier or "other" language enter the processes of personality development? What factors condition their role? Does the bilingual have "problems" per se, and what is their nature? Here, in other words, is an area for sociological analysis, in which the sociologist should do the definitive work. Methodological Note. This study is based upon I7 case documents. Some of them are self studies, furnished by bilinguals. These are highly intelligent persons, with some training in personal and social observation, and selected because they seemed to show evidence of a certain objectivity of insight into their own personality development. A second group of documents was obtained from members of the subjects' families, such as wife, niece, or cousin, who had opportunity for continued close association with the subjects and who have had some training in the obtaining and recording of social data. A third group of documents was obtained and recorded on the basis of repeated interviews in which, once the project had been explained, the subjects were encouraged to talk along the lines of the nondirective method.3 Finally, several personal documents already published, lending themselves to the purposes of this study, were utilized. This case material has been gathered during the past four years. Reference should be made to the relative difficulties encountered in obtaining valid * I am indebted to my colleague, Donald R. Young, for a critical reading of earlier drafts of this paper and for suggestions which have been incorporated in its final form. 1 For statistics on the extent and distribution of bilingualism in the United States, the reader is referred to the publication of the federal census on Mother Tongue for 1940. 2 Cf. Seth Arsenian, "Bilingualism in the PostWar World," The Psychological Bulletin, February 1945, pp. 65-86. This is an excellent summary article, with a bibliography of 46 selected references. 3 Carl R. Rogers, "The Nondirective Method as a Technique for Social Research," The American Journal of Sociology, January, I945, pp. 2.79-284.

An Experimental Sociographic Study of a Stratified 10th Grade Class

Abstract: A YEAR AGO we described a projected /..~ study of a ioth grade high school IL class, indicating some initial findings.' In June, I944, this work was concluded and the present paper is an overall report. Though similar studies are now in process, we shall confine discussion to the Crestview project. The viewpoint is that of an educational sociologist, interested in understanding child groups and peer cultures, and the work was done under a number of very practical limitations. I At a state educational conference in September, I942, the writer spoke on the use of sociographic methods. Among the school people expressing interest were two former graduate students, one a social studies teacher, the other the personnel officer, at the Crestview High School. As the study project shaped up, these persons, along with the principal and the writer, became the planning group, making decisions over the two year period. 2 The group selected was a ioth grade social studies class. It enrolled at the outset 44 pupils, all but seven of the eligible I 5 year olds in the school. The course was a flexible "core type" course, with students accustomed to planning units of study, making class trips and the like. No changes were made except that the teacher was to go with the class into its i ith year. Objectives for the first year of study were three. We wanted to determine, by sociometric test, the friendship structure of the group, comparing first and second semester sociograms for changes and stabilities. We 'wanted also to stratify these 44 adolescents by use of the Warner technic of social class analysis, and thirdly, to see what light these status data would throw on "best friend" choices. With these base lines known, the second year experimental program could be started. Its general aim was "to improve the learning situation by democratizing pupil attitudes and behaviors." For the first semesters, the approach was to be via individual guidance, for the second group management, with effects in either case to be noted in group and individual sociograms. As a community, Crestview cannot be exactly typed. Though a kind of residential suburb, it has a thriving socioeconomic life of its own. It is a small midwestern town of about 4,500, not far from a large city. Three fourths of its people are native white of native parentage, with the remainder about equally foreign born and Negro. Since mid-I942, over a third of its wage workers have been employed in city war plants. Close to a hundred family heads own their own business or are in professions. Over half of these are active members of the "old crowd," in distinction to the "new crowd," two thirds of whom have lived in Crestview for five year or more. At least three fifths of all families are said to "own" their own homes, with property values ranging from $3,500 to over $25,000. Wealth is concentrated in the "old crowd," with five or six kin groups reported as "running the town." A sense of "old family," while much less evident than in New England or the South, is distinctly present. There are some but not many exclusive cliques and clubs. As participants in civic affairs, through home visits and other contacts as supple1 "A Sociographic Study of a ioth Grade Class," Proceedings 9th Annual Guidance Conference. November, 1943. H. H. Remmers, Ed., Studies in Higher Education, No. 48, Purdue University, '943. 2 At the principal's request, this group is not named. Members are in effect joint authors of this report, though not responsible for interpretations. Crestview is a fictitious name.

Family Modes of Expression

Abstract: LANGUAGE and other media of communication are an element in the cultural systems of all societies. Each individual acquires this part of his cultural heritage as the result of membership in social groups, of which the family is first and foremost in importance. Transcripts of family table talk,' supplemented by other special case material, constitute source material for a study of the linguistic element in the family culture. This paper is a report of a research study of family modes of expression, based on a total of 5i. case records. The emphasis is primarily upon family linguistic situations. Its findings are to be related to the social development of the child and his induction into the prevailing culture.