Showing papers in "American Sociological Review in 1968"

Commitment and social organization: a study of commitment mechanisms in utopian communities *

Abstract: This paper defines commitment and proposes three types, continuance, cohesion, and control commitment, which bind personality systems to areas of social systems, linking cognitive, cathectic, and evaluative orientations to roles, relationships, and norms, respectively. Two processes underlie the development of each of the three types of commitment: sacrifice and investment support continuance; renunciation and communion support cohesion; and mortification and surrender support control. On the basis of these processes, a large number of commitment mechanisms, or commitment-producing organizational strategies, are set forth. Use of these strategies generally distinguishes successful (enduring) and unsuccessful (shortlived) nineteenth century American utopian communities. OMMITMENT is a consideration which arises at the intersection of organiza

Professionalization and bureaucratization

Abstract: Analysis of structural and attitudinal aspects of professionalization, and of the organizational settings in which many professional occupations exist, suggests that there is generally an inverse relationship between professionalization and bureaucratization, although there is considerable variation within the relationship. The data further suggest that the structural and attitudinal aspects of professionalization do not necessarily vary together. The organizations in which professionals work also differ in their degrees of bureaucratization. It is suggested that the presence of professionals in an organization affects the structure of the organization, while at the same time, the organizational structure can affect the professionalization process.

Organizational interdependence and intra-organizational structure.

Abstract: The relationship between organizational interdependence was investigated specifically the number of joint programs and internal organizational behavior for health and welfare organizations. A model of organizational interdependence produces 5 hypotheses about organizations which are tested with data for 16 social welfare and health organizations located in a midwestern metropolis in 1967. The hypotheses were: a high degree of complexity varies directly with a high number of joint programs; a high degree of program innovation varies directly with a number of joint programs; a high rate of internal communication varies directly with a high number of joint programs; a high degree of centralization varies inversely with a high number of joint programs; and a high degree of formalization varies inversely with a high number of joint programs. 10 organizations were private; 6 were either public or branches of public agencies. These organizations were all the larger welfare organizations that provide rehabilitiation psychiatric services and services for the mentally retarded. Interviews were conducted with 520 staff members of these 16 organizations. The following were among the study findings: 1) organizations with many joint programs were more complex organizations i.e. they were more highly professionalized and had more diversified occupational structures; 2) organizations with many joint programs were more innovative organizations; 3) organizations with many joint programs had more active internal communication channels; 4) organizations with many joint programs had slightly more decentralized decision making structures; and 5) there was no relationship between formalization and the number of joint programs. A greater degree of complexity was observed i.e. more occupational diversity and greater professionalism of staff in those organizations with the most joint programs. Participation in joint programs is 1 mechanism for adding new occupational specialties to the organization at a reduced cost. With an increase in division of labor organizations become more complex and more innovative. The need for resources to support such innovations promotes interdependent relations with organizations and the greater integration of the organizations in a community structure.

Interaction and adaptation: Intimacy as a critical variable.

Abstract: This study is one of a series devoted to the analysis of the relation between adult socialization patterns and adaptation Panel data collected for an older sample are drawn upon to document further the equivocal nature of this relationship when conventional measures of social role and interaction are compared with three different types of indicators of adaptation The comparative importance, respectively, of social privilege and social deprivation for adaptation varies in accordance with the subjectivity of adaptive measure used It also differs for self as compared with professional appraisals of well-being Regardless of the overall pattern of these interrelationships, deviant cells are sizeable The introduction of a variable bearing on the quality of social relationships, in this case the presence or absence of a confidant, helps considerably to explicate both sets of findings The presence of an intimate relationship serves as a buffer both against gradual social losses in role and interaction and against the more traumatic losses accompanying widowhood and retirement Age and sex differences may have implications for the differential in the survival rates of men and women, as well as for the relation between socialization patterns and adaptation at earlier stages of the lifespan

Parents' education and children's educational aspirations and achievements.

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A Stochastic Model of Social Mobility

Abstract: Ginsburg, Norton. 1961 Atlan of Economic Development. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Huntington, Samuel P. 1965 "Political development and political decay." World Politics 17 (April) :386-430. Lerner, Daniel. 1958 The Passing of Traditional Society. Glencoe: The Free Press. Lenski, Gerhard E. 1966 Power and Privilege: A Theory of Social Stratification. New York: McGraw-Hill. Lipset, Seymour Martin. 1960 Political Man. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday and Co. Marsh, Robert M. and William L. Parish. 1965 "Modernization and communism: a re-test of Lipset's hypotheses." American Sociological Review 30 (December) :934-942. von der Mehden, Fred R. 1964 Politics of the Developing Nations. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall. Nettl, J. P. 1967 Political Mobilization. New York: Basic Books. Pye, Lucian W. (ed.). 1963 Communications and Political Development. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Riggs, Fred W. n.d. "The comparison of whole political systems." University of Minnesota Center for Comparative Political Analysis, mimeographed. Rostow, W. W. 1960 The Stages of Economic Growth. London: Cambridge University Press. Russett, Bruce M., et al. 1964 World Handbook of Political and Social Indicators. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press. Sawyer, Jack. 1967 "Dimensions of nations: size, wealth, and politics." The American Journal of Sociology 73 (September) :145-172. de Schweinitz, Karl, Jr. 1964 Industrialization and Democracy. New York: The Free Press. Shannon, Lyle W. 1958 "Is level of development related to capacity for self-government?" American Journal of Economics and Sociology 17 (July): 367-382. 1959 "Socio-economnic development and political status." Social Problems 7 (Fall):157-169. Simpson, Dick. 1964 "The congruence of political, social, and economic aspects of development." International Development Review 6 (June): 21-25.

Technology and the Structure of Organizations

Abstract: Data on 43 industrial organizations point to the existence of relationships between an organization's technology and aspects of its internal structure, including the number oJ specialized sub-units, the number of levels of authority, the ratio of managers and supervisors to total personnel, and the degree of program specification within the organization. A primary finding is that the less changeful an organization's technology, the more likely the foregoing aspects of structure are to increase. The findings hold with size and a number of other organizational variables controlled. The importance of considering technology in the comparative analysis of formal organizations is emphasized. It is also suggested that the technology variable, in connection with other aspects of organizational structure, serves to establish a rudimentary typology of sociotechnical organization and that the use of the typology may provide a useful analytic tool for the investigation of a number of organizational processes, including those of decision-making and patterns of intra-organizational conflict.

Systems of Organization : The control of task and sentient boundaries

Abstract: Anthony The Ideology of Work (1977) Hb: 0-415-26463-4 Capes and Wilson Communication or Conflict (1960) Hb: 0-415-26464-2 Crosby Creativity and Performance in Industrial Organizations (1968) Hb: 0-415-26465-0 Kets de Vries Organizational Paradoxes (1980) Hb: 0-415-26466-9 Miller and Rice Systems of Organization (1967) Hb: 0-415-26467-7 Pettigrew The Politics of Organizational Decision Making (1973) Hb: 0-415-26468-5 Rice Productivity and Social Organization (1958) Hb: 0-415-26469-3 Rice Learning for Leadership (1965) Hb: 0-415-26470-7 Sofer The Organization from Within (1961) Hb: 0-415-26471-5 Thornley Critical Path Analysis in Practice (1968) Hb: 0-415-26472-3

Reference groups, socialization and achievement.

Abstract: This paper suggests that there are three important types of reference groups which act together to foster achievement level striving. These are the normative group, the role model and the audience. The normative group defines the roles the individual is to assume, the model provides exemplification of how the role is to be performed, at least adequately, and the audience provides anticipation of rewards for outstanding performance in the role. Expectations for performance level attained in two types of situations are discussed: (a) instances where one or more of the three reference groups is missing in the individual's reference group reporters, and (b) instances where the three reference groups are not "located" in the same concrete group or person. Finally, the reference group theory of achievement is compared with David McClelland's theory of n-Achievement and Max Weber's theory of achievement implicit in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism.

Community structure, decision-making, budget expenditures and urban renewal in 51 american communities

Abstract: A BODY OF PROPOSITIONS RELATING COMMUNITY STRUCTURAL CHARACTERISTICS TO DECISION-MAKING PATTERNS AND TO BUDGET AND URBAN RENEWAL EXPENDITURES WAS TESTED USING DATA COLLECTED IN 51 AMERICAN COMMUNITIES. FROM 22 DIFFERENT STATES, THE COMMUNITIES RANGED IN POPULATION SIZE FROM 50,000 TO 750,000. DECISION-MAKING WAS INVESTIGATED THROUGH QUESTIONNAIRES ADMINISTERED TO A STANDARD PANEL OF COMMUNITY INFORMANTS. AN 'ERSATZ DECISIONAL METHOD' WAS USED TO IDENTIFY ACTORS INITIATING, SUPPORTING, OPPOSING, AND NEGOTIATING IN FOUR DIFFERENT ISSUE AREAS. THE DEGREE TO WHICH ACTORS OVERLAPPED FROM ONE ISSUE AREA TO THE NEXT AND THE TOTAL NUMBER OF ACTORS ACROSS ALL ISSUE AREAS WERE COMBINED IN A MEASURE OF CENTRALIZATION OF DECISION-MAKING. AS PREDICTED, LARGER, MORE ECONOMICALLY DIVERSIFIED COMMUNITIES WITH GOVERNMENTAL STRUCTURES FAVORING CITIZEN PARTICIPATION HAD MORE DECENTRALIZED PATTERNS OF DECISION- MAKING. A DECENTRALIZED DECISION-MAKING STRUCTURE, IN TURN, LED TO A HIGHER LEVEL OF COMMUNITY BUDGET EXPENDITURES, AND AND A LARGER URBAN RENEWAL PROGRAM. THESE FINDINGS GENERALLY SUPPORTED THE THEORY OF THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN COMMUNITY STRUCTURAL CHARACTERISTICS AND DECISION-MAKING PATTERNS, BUT CONTRADICTED THE HYPOTHESES REGARDING OUTPUTS. /AUTHOR/

Aging, Voting, and Political Interest

Abstract: Cross-sectional data on voter turnout and political interest from 28 American national surveys, and data from a cohort analysis of voter turnout, indicate a pronounced increase in political interest and participation from young adulthood to middle age. Voter turnout apparently remains almost constant from middle age to advanced maturity, and average political interest apparently increases. These findings are related both to theories of political participation and to Cumming's and Henry's notion of disengagement of the aged. Some pitfalls of the use of cross-sectional data to infer changes with aging are discussed.