Showing papers in "American Sociological Review in 1971"

Functional and Conflict Theories of Educational Stratification.

Abstract: Two theories are considered in accounting for the increased schooling required for employment in advanced industrial society: (a) a technical-function theory, stating that educational requirements reflect the demands for greater skills on the job due to technological change; and (b) a conflict theory, stating that employment requirements reflect the efforts of competing status groups to monopolize or dominate jobs by imposing their cultural standards on the selection process. A review of the evidence indicates that the conflict theory is more strongly supported. The main dynamic of rising educational requirements in the United States has been primarily the expansion of mobility opportunities through the school system, rather than autonomous changes in the structure of employment. It is argued that the effort to build a comprehensive theory of stratification is best advanced by viewing those effects of technological change on educational requirements that are substantiated within the basic context of a conflict theory of stratification.

Homicide and a Regional Culture of Violence

Abstract: The homicide rate in the United States has been very high relative to the rest of the modernized world for as far back as evidence is available. It has long been known that in the United States there is a wide variation in the rates of different races and between North and South. Both qualitative historical evidence and multiple regressions indicate that the degree of "Southerness" in the culture of the population of the states accounts for more of the variation in homicide rates than do other factors such as income, education, percent urban, or age. It is suggested that high homicide rates in the United States today are related primarily to the persistence of Southern cultural traditions developed before the Civil War and subsequently spreading over much of the country.

Some social implications of high density housing.

Abstract: The existing literature on the social, personal, and health consequences of high density housing is unclear regarding the significance that can be attached to the physical features of housing. The present study, which is based on interview information collected in Hong Kong, is able to control for deprivations and stresses related to "poor housing," and it is also able to distinguish superficial from more severe measures of personal strain. High densities are seen to have very little effect on individuals and families, although there is a suggestion that congestion is a potentially significant stress.

The affluent worker in the class structure

Abstract: Preface 1. Introduction: the debate on the working class 2. The design of the research 3. The world of work 4. The pattern of sociability 5. Aspirations and social perspectives 6. Conclusion: the affluent worker in the class structure Appendixes References Index.

Decisions and Exchange

Abstract: A formal theory is developed to deal with some aspects of social exchange behavior. Values are defined as "givens," and the exchange of values is defined as "decision-making." Exchange decisions can follow one or more "exchange rules"-rationality, reciprocity, altruism, status consistency, or competition. Formal definitions are developed for these rules using concepts from game theory. From the definitions and the assumption that exchange rules operate as social norms, a number of hypotheses about the properties of exchange situations and behavior are derived for two-person exchanges.

Inequality of Opportunity for Higher Education.

Abstract: IGHER education in American society gains only a part of its significance from the personal satisfactions and self-realization that come from general learning and the mastery of high level skills. More importantly, higher education confers increased chances for income, power, and prestige on people who are fortunate enough to obtain it.' In modern technological societies the allocation of social position is increasingly dependent on higher education. Entrance into an ever enlarging range of valued occupations is restricted to those whose educational attainments beyond secondary school are presumed to have given them the habits of thought, attitudes, and special skills that these occupations require (Sorokin, 1927:169-172, 187-193; Lenski, 1966:389-395; Blau and Duncan, 1967: 401-441; Miller and Roby, 1970:119-141; Hauser, 1970). It has long been accepted that training for the higher professions should be an almost exclusive monopoly of colleges and universities. More recently this near monopoly has been extended to include many subprofessional and technical occupations as well. Even the training required for the skilled blue-collar and lower level whitecollar occupations-which formerly was acquired on the job, through apprenticeships, or in vocational curricula in high schoolshas increasingly been shifted to post-secondary institutions. Recently there has been a good deal of criticism of the overemphasis on credentialism and the certification role that colleges and other educational institutions perform (Miller and Reissman, 1969; Berg, 1970; Newman et al., 1971:38-43). This criticism is particularly persuasive whenever it can be shown that the educational requirements for entry into an occupation have little bearing on the activities of that occupation. It is especially unfortunate that when such requirements are artificially high, many otherwise qualified persons from disadvantaged * Presidential Address, 66th Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association, August 30, 1971, Denver, Colorado. The research reported herein was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Public Health Service (M-62 75) and the Social and Rehabilitation Service, Social Security Administration (CRD-3 14). I wish especially to thank Robert M. Hauser for his critical comments and suggestions and for his contribution to the analytical work reported here. David Mechanic and Bryant E. Kearl made valuable suggestions for the revision of an earlier draft of this paper. I wish also to acknowledge the contributions of my professional associates on this project over the years: Archibald 0. Haller, Kenneth G. Lutterman, Vimal P. Shah, Janet A. Fisher, Ronald M. Pavalko, Robert M. Hauser, J. Michael Armer, Alan M. Orenstein, Eldon L. Wegner, Alejandro Portes, George W. Ohlendorf, Herschel Shosteck, Victor Jesudason, Dorothy M. Ellegaard, and Ruth M. Gasson. 1 There is a vast literature on the economic benefits of education which shows that those with advanced education enjoy much higher annual and lifetime earnings than those with lesser education. See especially Schultz (1963), Morgan and David (1963), Becker (1964), Innes et al. (1965), Weisbrod and Karpoff (1968), and Bowman (1971). Our own unpublished results indicate that, even when we control for ability, average annual earnings of college graduates are considerably higher than the earnings of those who obtained less posthigh school education. These results are based on 1967 data, and these earning differentials doubtless will increase over the years as those in the professions and business enter the more productive phases of their careers.

Organization Structure and Communications

Abstract: A theoretical model is developed in which organizational structure is related to the type of coordination in the organization-planning or programming versus feedback or mutual adjustment. It is argued that the nature of the mechanism of coordination employed in the organization in turn affects the volume and direction of communications in the organization. Hypotheses are developed relating the variables of complexity, formalization, and centralization to communication rates. These hypotheses are tested in a 1967 study of 16 health and welfare organizations using a number of different measures of communications. In general, interdepartmental communications, both scheduled and unscheduled, are found to be affected most by these structural characteristics.

Civil disorder participation: a critical examination of recent research.

Abstract: Explanations of civil disorder occurrence and participation have focused upon community and individual attributes and to a great extent have employed some variation of the deprivation-frustration-aggression (DFA) model. Spilerman's (1970) examination of community attributes concludes, "an explanation which identifies disorder-proneness as an attribute of the individual seems better able to account for (rioting)." Recent civil disorder research provides data relevant to this contention. An examination of the literature yielded 287 associations between five measures of participation and 24 categories of individual variables. Secondary analysis reveals that only 7% yield correlations of .30 or higher. Of the 173 associations bearing on the DFA explanation, only 8% yield correlations of .30 or higher. The variables in the moderate and high associations are critically examined. Independent variables have been static attributes and measures of participation have treated riot behavior as a monolithic phenomenon. An alternate focus for future studies is advocated which acknowledges variation in riot behavior and which focuses on interactional environments of individuals prior to and during civil disorders.

Political orientation and riot participation.

Abstract: The relationship between political trust, political efficacy and riot participation is analyzed in a survey of 237 black males in Newark, New Jersey. Self-reported riot participants are more likely to be found among the dissident-those high on political efficacy but low on political trust, rather than among the alienated-those who are both distrustful and ignorant of government. When compared to civil rights activists and voters, rioters are similar in their generally higher levels of political information but lower in trust of the government. Rioting appears to be a disorganized form of political protest rather than an act of personal frustration, or social isolation, as has been suggested in some past research.

The Social Ascription of Motives

Abstract: Certain conceptions of motives are examined with regard to their sociological status: (1) motives as causal antecedent variables, (2) motives as characteristically private states of persons, and (3) motives as concrete speech acts, such as the giving of reasons, justifications, intentions, or accounts. These are found wanting because they do not permit a sociological understanding of motive as a public and observable course of social action. The relevance of motive to classical sociology resides instead in its status as a grammar of everyday language and conduct. We propose that any sociological account of motives requires attention to four public social conditions for the ascription of motive: (1) motives are observer's rules, (2) motivated objects are social members, (3) motives are a grammar of application, and (4) motives formulate social types of persons. These are confirmed sociological processes because they describe how motive is socially organized.

Elite and Specialized Interviewing.

Abstract: contents New Introduction by Alan Ware and Martin Sanchez-Jankowski Editor's Foreword Acknowledgments CHAPTER I Introduction CHAPTER II Suggestions for Getting, Conducting, and Recording the Interview CHAPTER III Working Paper on Interviewing Procedures for a Law and Psychiatry Project CHAPTER IV On Oral History Interviewing by Charles Morrissey CHAPTER V What Kind of Truth Do You Get? \"How Do You Know if the Informant Is Telling the Truth?\" by John P. Dean and William Foote Whyte Facts, Inference, and Analysis CHAPTER VI Toward a Transactional Theory of Interviewing: Self-Assessment in the Interview Process References and Sources Index

Trends in Voluntary Association Memberships of American Adults: Replication Based on Secondary Analysis of National Sample Surveys

Abstract: A small but noteworthy increase in the percentage of American adults who belong to voluntary associations has occurred since the mid-1950's (the date of an earlier study of this topic by the authors), as documented through several replications of national sample surveys. These same replications also confirm a major generalization of the earlier study that such membership is less common than had been assumed; indeed, voluntary association membership is not characteristic of the majority of American adults. Data from the replications confirm the previously demonstrated relationship between membership and major socioeconomic characteristics; but subgroup trends suggest that during the more recent period there has been a sharper growth in associational membership among the lower status groups. Although the findings are not completely consistent, there also seems to have been a sharper growth in association memberships on the part of Negroes. All of these findings, like those in the earlier study which has been replicated, are based on secondary analysis of national sample surveys. These social trends should be systematically measured and documented in the future by additional replications and new primary surveys.

The Sociology of Marx.

Abstract: This classic study by Henri Lefebvre raises the question whether today we must study Marx as we study Plato, or rather whether Marx's work retains a contemporary value and significance; in other words, whether his work contributes to an elucidation of the contemporary world. For Lefebvre, Marx's thought remains a key--perhaps even the key--to an understanding of modern societies and modern reality.

The Causes of Racial Disturbances: Tests of an Explanation

Abstract: U.S. Public Health Service 1966 Vital Statistics of the United States (Mortality Rates by Race). Vogt, Evon Z. 1955 "American subcultural continua as exemplified by the Mormons and Texans", American Anthropologist 57:1163-1173. Wolfgang, Marvin 1958 Patterns in Criminal Homicide. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. Wolfgang, Marvin, with Franco Ferracuti 1967 The Subculture of Violence. London: Tavistock Publications. Zelinsky, Wilbur 1951 "Where the South begins." Social Forces 30:172-178. 1961 "An approach to the religious geography of the United States." Annals of the Association of American Geographers 51 (2): 139-193.

Family and Kinship in Chinese Society.

Abstract: Family Life in ChinaFor the Sake of KinshipChinese Family & KinshipArchitecture and EthnologyWomen and the Family in Rural TaiwanFamily and Kinship in Chinese SocietHandbook of World FamiliesFamily structure and extended kinship in a Chinese communityPracticing KinshipWomen and the Family in Chinese HistoryGetting an HeirWomen, the Family, and Peasant Revolution in ChinaUnderstanding Global CulturesPowerful RelationsThe Individualization of Chinese SocietyChinese Men’s Practices of Intimacy, Embodiment and KinshipKinship, Contract, Community, and StateFamily Structure and Extended Kinship in a Chinese CommunityMarriage, Kinship, and Power in Northern ChinaTransforming PatriarchyA Society Without Fathers Or HusbandsChinese Family and KinshipReligion, Family, and Chinese Youth DevelopmentChinese Family and KinshipUnderstanding Chinese SocietyChina: Promise Or Threat?Chinese KinshipChinese Student Migration, Gender and FamilyFamily and Kinship in Chinese SocietyWomen and the Family in Chinese HistoryTransforming PatriarchyFamily and Kinship in Chinese SocietyPaper FamiliesChinese Families Upside Down: Intergenerational Dynamics and Neo-Familism in the Early 21st CenturyThe Transnational History of a Chinese FamilyFamily, Ethnicity and State in Chinese Culture Under the Impact of GlobalizationContemporary ChinaPapers Presented at the Conference on Family and Kinship in Chinese History, Asilomar, California, January 2-7, 1983Chinese KinshipFamily, kinship and ethnic identity among the overseas Chinese

Conjugal Power Structure: A Re-Examination.

Abstract: : A representative sample of 776 husbands and wives in the Los Angeles area were interviewed regarding relative power of husbands and wives in various decision areas, following the basic procedures utilized by Blood and Wolfe in their 1959 study of wives only in Detroit. Essentially, the results paralleled those obtained by Blood and Wolfe, extending their findings to responses from husbands and in a different area. Husband power was greatest among oriental couples and least among Negro couples; it decreases with age, with length of marriage, and is less where a second marriage is involved; husband power increases with occupational status and educational level. The current study questions the effects of sampling of conjugal decision areas. With a somewhat more representative sampling of decisions, the distribution of power changes dramatically. Husband dominant families tend to show high authoritarianism scores for both husbands and wives. Least marital satisfaction is associated with wife dominance. (Author)

The Socioeconomic Achievement of White Religio-Ethnic Subgroups: Social and Psychological Explanations

Abstract: In longitudinal data for the decade 1957-67, the socioeconomic achievement of white metropolitan native males from five religio-ethnic backgrounds is examined. Jews, regardless of ethnic ancestry, attain higher levels of education, occupation, and income than all other subgroups, while Roman Catholics of Italian and Mexican heritage achieve the lowest levels. Controlling statistically for social origins reduces the gross differentials by about one-third; no net effect of religio-ethnic affiliation remains during the ten-year period after both social origins and prior achieved statuses are controlled. Thus, there is no evidence of occupational and income discrimination on purely religious or ethnic grounds. Contrary to current emphasis in the social psychology of religio-ethnic achievement, achievement-related work values and motivations of adults are neither key intervening variables nor do they influence the process of stratification to a substantial degree. The most important variable in explaining the differential socioeconomic achievement of the religio-ethnic subgroups is education, after the variation owing to the handicaps and benefits of social origins has been removed statistically.

Voluntary Association Joining: A Cross-National Comparative Note

Abstract: Secondary analysis of data from national surveys of Americans, Canadians and adults in four other countries are offered in order to provide perspective on the "Americans as a nation of joiners" observation and related propositions in the literature. The broad hypotheses considered are that: (1) the uniqueness and scope of the American pattern of association joining have been overemphasized; and (2) previous American findings on correlates of association membership should obtain in other democracies as well. For each nation, findings on the relationship of membership to social class, sex, age level and marital status are in essential agreement with earlier American findings. Results on affiliation by community size indicate no consistent direct relationships. Subgroups of Canadians and Americans have similar, comparatively high, proportions of memberships. Analysis of memberhip by sex shows that the uniqueness of the affiliation patterns in these two countries may be, in large part, a result of national differences in the participatory roles of women.

Functions of children's perceptions of the stratification system

Abstract: The purpose of this study has been to examine children's perceptions of the stratification system and to consider the possible consequences of these perceptions for the larger social order. There has been an attempt to extend one aspect of Davis and Moore's classical stratification theory by exploring the status attitudes requisite for an adequate number of children to strive toward prestigious, socially-important occupations. A sample of 1,917 black and white children from grades 3-12 from Baltimore City were interviewed. Findings indicate that young children have developed a type of status consciousness that should facilitate such occupational striving: that is, a clear awareness of occupational prestige differences as early as third grade (based on a comparison with 1963 adult North-Hatt ratings), and a continuing optimism about their own opportunities to achieve desirous occupations. In addition, several mechanisms are noted that appear to be dampening anger against the class system among the disadvantged school children.