Showing papers in "American Sociological Review in 1987"

Core Discussion Networks of Americans

Abstract: Aspects of interpersonal networks in which Americans discuss "important matters" are examined using data from the 1985 General Social Survey. These are the first survey network data representative of the American population. The networks are small, kin-centered, relatively dense, and homogeneous in comparison with the sample of respondents. Bivariate examination of subgroup differences by age, education, racelethnicity, sex, and size of place indicates that network range is greatest among the young, the highly educated, and metropolitan residents. Sex differences consist primarily of differences in kin/nonkin composition of networks.

Understanding labeling effects in the area of mental disorders : An assessment of the effects of expectations of rejection

Abstract: This paper hypothesizes that official labeling gives personal relevance to an individual's beliefs about how others respond to mental patients. According to this view, people develop conceptions of what others think of mental patients long before they become patients. These conceptions include the belief that others devalue and discriminate against mental patients. When people enter psychiatric treatment and are labeled, these beliefs become personally applicable and lead to self-devaluation and/or the fear of rejection by others. Such reactions may have negative effects on both psychological and socialfunctioning. This hypothesis was tested by comparing samples of community residents and psychiatric patients from the Washington Heights section of New York city. Five groups were formed (1) first-treatment contact patients, (2) repeat-treatment contact patients, (3) formerly treated community residents, (4) untreated community cases, and (5) community residents with no evidence of severe psychopathology. These groups were administered a scale that measured beliefs that mental patients would be devalued and discriminated against by most people. Scores on this scale were associated with demoralization, income loss, and unemployment in labeled groups but not in unlabeled groups. The results suggest that labeling may produce negative outcomes like those specified by the classic concept of secondary deviance.

Homophily in voluntary organizations: Status distance and the composition of face-to-face groups.

Abstract: Recent work on the organized sources of network ties and on the social structural determinants of association are synthesized to produce several hypotheses about homophily. These hypotheses are tested with data on 304 face-to-face groups from 10 communities. We find that friends are more similar on status dimensions than chance and that this homophily is produced both by the restricted opportunity structure offered by the group and by homophilous choices made within the group. Organizational heterogeneity leads to substantially greater dyadic status distance within the organization, while organization size consistently reduces dyadic status distance. At a given level of diversity, a larger group will permit more homophilous friendship pairing. However, correlated status dimensions create little reduction in dyadic social distance. In general, homogeneity within groups is the overwhelming determinant of homophily.

Classification in Art.

Abstract: A framework is proposed to analyze the relationships between social structure, patterns of artistic consumption and production, and the ways in which artistic genres are classified. This framework helps to integrate findings of consumption surveys and to explain the emergence of new artistic genres as a form of ritual classification. Societies' artistic classification systems vary along four dimensions: differentiation, hierarchy, universality, and boundary strength. These dimensions are affected by formal characteristics of social structure, the organization of educational systems, and internal relations among cultural dimensions. The dynamics of ritual classification are mediated according to whether artistic production is carried out through commercial, professional, or bureaucratic means.

Potentials, networks, motivations, and barriers: steps towards participation in social movements *

Abstract: Four aspects of mobilization are distinguished: formation of mobilization potentials, formation and activation of recruitment networks, arousal of motivation to participate, and removal of barriers to participation. Four steps toward participation in social movements are then distinguished: becoming part of the mobilization potential, becoming target of mobilization attempts, becoming motivated to participate, and overcoming barriers to participation. The relevance of these distinctions is justified theoretically by the claim that different theories are needed to explain separate aspects of mobilization and participation, and practically with the argument that different efforts are required from movement organizations depending on which aspect they are handling. Empirical support from research on mobilization and participation in the Dutch peace movement is presented. Nonparticipation in a mass demonstration can be based on four grounds: lack of sympathy for the movement, not being the target of a mobilization attempt, not being motivated, and the presence of barriers. These results are interpreted in terms of the literature on mobilization and participation.

Trends in the residential segregation of blacks Hispanics and Asians: 1970-1980.

Abstract: This paper examines trends in residential segregation for blacks Hispanics and Asians in 60 [U.S.] SMSAs between 1970 and 1980 using data taken from the 1970 Fourth Count Summary tapes and the 1980 Summary Tape File 4. Segregation was measured using dissimilarity and exposure indices. Black segregation from Anglos declined in some smaller SMSAs in the south and west but in large urban areas in the northeastern and north central states there was little change; in these areas blacks remained spatially isolated and highly segregated....Hispanic segregation was markedly below that of blacks but increased substantially in some urban areas that experienced Hispanic immigration and population growth over the decade....Asian segregation was everywhere quite low. (EXCERPT)

Social Differentiation in Criminal Victimization: A Test of Routine Activities/Lifestyle Theories

Abstract: Recent theories posit that social differentiation in the risks of criminal victimization is due to variation in routine activities/lifestyles which place some persons or their property in proximity to motivated offenders. For a sample of 107,678 residents in thirteen U.S. cities, measures of the nature and quantity of routine activities outside the home (major daytime activity, frequency of nighttime activity) are introduced to assess the mediational effects of these variables on the demographic correlates of victimization. Routine activities/lifestyle variables have relatively strong direct and mediational effects on individuals' risks of property victimization but not for violent victimization. These findings are discussed in terms of their implications for further research on the relationship between demographic variables, routine activities/lifestyles, and criminal victimization. (abstract Adapted from Source: American Sociological Review, 1987. Copyright © 1987 by the American Sociological Association) Victimization Causes Routine Activities Lifestyle Crime Victim Demographic Factors Property Crime Violence Victim 07-02

Family background, educational resources, and educational attainment.

Abstract: Family background has been prominent in models of educational attainment. In most research, family background has been measured by socioeconomic indicators (e.g., parents' education, family income), to the exclusion of other family characteristics that also affect educational attainment. This paper argues that parents use resources to create a home environment conducive to higher attainment in education. Data from the National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972 are used to test several hypotheses concerning the impact of educational resources. The results support the notion that educational resources increase educational attainment.

The Intraorganizational Power Struggle: Rise of Finance Personnel to Top Leadership in Large Corporations, 1919-1979

Abstract: Choosing a president in an organization is an important political decision that reflects who controls the organization and the bases for that control. In this paper, a model of power based on resources in the organization and the environment is specified in order to understand how power shifted between intraorganizational units in the 100 largest U.S. firms between 1919 and 1979. Early in the century, large firms were controlled by entrepreneurs or personnel who came up through manufacturing. In the middle decades, sales and marketing personnel controlled large firms. In the past 25 years, finance personnel have become increasingly dominant. These shifts resulted from changes in the strategy and structure of the organizations, changes in antitrust laws that promoted an increase in product-related and unrelated mergers in the postwar era, and the mimicking of firms in similar environments.

Disorder in the life course: how common and does it matter?

Abstract: In this paper we explore the patterning of early adulthood by examining the ordering of activities that make up nonfamily careers and how that ordering affects the timing of family transitions in particular the transition to parenthood. Data are from the U.S. National Longitudinal Survey of the High School Class of 1972 and its follow-ups. (EXCERPT)

Paternal Participation and Children's Well-being after Marital Dissolution

Abstract: Using a nationally representative sample from the National Survey of Children of 227 children in the US aged 11-16 who had experienced their parents marital dissolution this paper examines whether children generally fare better when their noncustodial father maintains an active presence in their lives. For measures of academic difficulty problem behavior and psychological distress there is little evidence that paternal involvement had either harmful or beneficial effects. Paternal economic support reduced somewhat the likelihood of problem behavior. The general absence of effects of paternal participation on childrens well-being is surprising in view of the widespread belief that children benefit from maintaining contact with their fathers. In addition the effects of fathers participation did not depend on the sex of the child or the presence of a stepfather. There are several possible explanations for these negative results. The relatively crude measures of well-being may not reveal subtle differences which are detectable using clinical or observational techniques. Closeness to the mother however is related to measures of well-being.

Gender Differences in Religion: A Test of the Structural Location Theory

Abstract: One of the most consistentfindings in the sociology of religion is that women tend to be more religious than men. Surprisingly, given its universality, there are relatively few attempts to explain this phenomenon empirically. This article examines the extent to which gender differences in religious orientation can be attributed to the structural location of women in society. Three explanations to account for gender variations in religion are tested: (1) the child-rearing role offemales, (2) lower levels offemale work force participation relative to males, and (3) differing attitudes toward work and its relationship to family values. The analysis uses the nationally representative data collected in Australia in 1983 to show that the child-rearing role and differing attitudes toward work do not account for the greater religiousness of women. By contrast, the lower rate of female work force participation is an important explanatory factor. Possible reasons for this effect are discussed.

Initiation of coitus in early adolescence.

Abstract: It is assumed that in the case of 2 adolescents with similar social constraints the individual with higher motivation is more likely to begin sexual behavior. The models also include another dimension i.e. to have coitus one needs a partner. The partner is not usually a victim in this "deviant behavior" but a willing participant and it is necessary to consider the ability to attract a partner in the model. Conceptualizing adolescent coitus as the failure of age-graded controls: motivation attractiveness and social controls. This is a panel study in which several variables in each of the domains are measured at a period prior to the time when the sexual behavior of interest (1st intercourse) occurred. Data were used from sources other than the adolescent to examine variables that might be contaminated by the adolescents perceptual processes or about which the adolescent has only imperfect information. The sample and study design were dominated by the need to identify and interview the friends of respondents. The target sample thus was defined as all students enrolled in selected schools. The population finally identified was all students in grades 7 8 and 9 at selected public schools in a medium-sized city. The initial sample was 1405 respondents who completed a self-administered questionnaire with the interviewer in the home. Respondents ranged in age from 11-17 and represented a wide variety of socioeconomic levels. About 2 years later an essentially identical follow-up questionnaire was administered to the original sample. Of the 1405 respondents from the 1st round 1153 completed questionnaires in round 2. All variables used to predict the transition to intercourse between rounds 1 and 2 were measured at time 1. A preliminary analysis showed zero order race-sex group. For black males the round 1 virgin group was too small to permit a stable analysis of transition to coitus and no analysis is presented for black males. For white males the initiation of coitus in early adolescence was dominated by motivational hormone effects and social attractiveness with no observed effects of social controls. For white females the initiation of coitus was dominated by the effects of social controls. No effect of attractiveness no hormone effects and no effects of sexual motivation were observed. For black females the initiation of coitus was dominated by their level of pubertal development (an attractiveness variable) with no observed effects of social controls.

School Performance, Status Relations, and the Structure of Sentiment: Bringing the Teacher Back In.

Abstract: Research has failed to support the assumption that the academic difficulties of many minority and low-SES youth are due to their "outsider" standing relative to the middle-class culture that dominates schools. This study suggests that this proposition exaggerates the cultural hegemony of educational operations. Data on children in the first grade of a large, socially heterogeneous urban public school system show that not all teachers are given to status-related biases. Rather, teachers' own social origins exercise a strong influence on how they react to the status attributes of their students. In particular, low-status and minority pupils experience their greatest difficulties in the classrooms of high-status teachers. They are evaluated by their teachers as less mature, their teachers hold lower performance expectations for them, and their teachers score exceptionally low on perceived-school-climate measures. Moreover, year-end marks and standardized-test scores of such pupils apparently are depressed by these indicators of pupil-teacher social distance and teacher disaffection. A model of pupil-teacher background congruence is proposed as an alternative to the cultural hegemony framework, and the implications of such fit for the interpersonal dynamics of the classroom are discussed.

Age structure and crime: symmetry versus asymmetry and the projection of crime rates through the 1990s

Abstract: This paper asks whether decreases in the proportion of the U.S. population in high crime-prone ages in recent years have produced decreases in crime rates which correspond approximately, but in an inverse direction, to the increases observed when the baby boomers reached the high crime-prone ages in the 1960s and 1970s. We examine age distributions of arrests for murder and motor vehicle theft and then specify and estimate structural-equation models of the time trajectories in annual rates of these crimes for the post-World War II period. With these models, we test the hypothesis that the relationship of crime to age composition is symmetric and infer that it cannot be rejected. We also find that simple models that contain effects of trends in the age structure, business cycles, trends in criminal opportunity, and the rate of imprisonment can account for most of the variance in annual rates of homicide and motor vehicle theft from 1946 through 1984. We discuss some implications of our findings for forecasting U.S. crime rates for the remainder of this century and for theories of the macrodynamics of crime causation. (abstract Adapted from Source: American Sociological Review, 1987. Copyright © 1987 by the American Sociological Association) Age Factors Crime Causes Crime Rates Statistical Data 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s Adult Violence Adult Offender Adult Crime Violence Causes Violence Rates 03-00

The Center Doesn't Hold: Church Attendance in the United States, 1940-1984

Abstract: Theories about the secularization of society notwithstanding, basic indicators of participation in organized religion show little change over the 50 years covered by the survey research record. Among Protestants, we find that 1950 was a point of low attendance with no prior or subsequent deviation from an average of 40 percent weekly attendance. Among Catholics, attendance rates fell rapidly between 1968 and 1975 but not before or after. Since there are few other trends in the data, we focus on this period of falling attendance among Catholics. The key to falling attendance was the conjuncture of vocal defense of traditional sexual teaching by the Pope and other leaders in the face of rapidly growing opposition to that position among the church-going population. Many Catholics who disagreed with Church teachings on sexuality reduced their attendance (very few actually left the Church). Among active Catholics, opposition to the hierarchy continues to grow, but there has been no decline in attendance rates since 1975. From a latent variable analysis, we conclude that loyalty to the community and communal values is the factor that separates the active from the lapsed Catholics in the 1980s.

CROSS-NATIONAL RESEARCH AS AN ANALYTIC STRATEGY* American. Sociological Association, 1987 Presidential Address

Abstract: In this essay, I discuss some of the uses and dilemmas of cross-national research. I argue that cross-national research is valuable, even indispensable, for establishing the generality of findings and the validity of interpretations derived from single-nation studies. In no other way can we be certain that what we believe to be social-structural regularities are not merely particularities, the product of some limited set of historical or cultural or political circumstances. I also argue that cross-national research is equally valuable, perhaps even more valuable, for forcing us to revise our interpretations to take account of cross-national differences and inconsistencies that could never be uncovered in single-nation research. My thesis is that cross-national research provides an especially useful method for generating, testing, and further developing sociological theory. As with any research strategy, cross-national research comes at a price. It is costly in time and money, it is difficult to do, and it often seems to raise more interpretive problems than it solves. Yet it is potentially invaluable and, in my judgment, grossly underutilized. This is hardly a radically new thesis. As Stein Rokkan (1964) long ago pointed out, to do cross-national research is to return to the preferred analytic.strategy of the forefathers of sociology, a strategy that was nearly abandoned in sociology's quest for methodological rigor but now can be pursued anew with the much more powerful methodological tools available today. I A sensible discussion of the uses and dilemmas of cross-national research requires that I first define the domain and delineate the principal types of cross-national research. Then I illustrate some of these uses and dilemmas by scrutinizing the body of cross-national research I know best, namely my own, my rationale being William Form's (1979) cogent observation that "probably no field has generated more methodological advice on a smaller data base with fewer results than has [cross-national] comparative sociology." Using my research as a source of illustrations makes it possible to discuss the issues concretely. I review this research in sufficient detail to highlight its accomplishments and its failures, my concern being only in part with the substance of the research for its own sake; I also want to extrapolate from this concrete example, to make some more general observations. Finally, I discuss some fundamental issues about the conduct of cross-national research. In so doing, I bring in studies dealing with quite different substantive problems from those that I have addressed in my own research, and using quite different methods, to see whether my conclusions apply as well to a much broader range of studies.

Race Differences in the Timing of Adolescent Intercourse.

Abstract: Researchers have long been aware of sizeable racial differences in the prevalence and timing of premarital sexual behavior. In a national US sample of youth aged 15-16 blacks are shown about 4 times more likely than whites to report ever having intercourse. Various explanations are hypothesized: a demographic composotion explanation that stresses differential socioeconomic position; an explanation that focuses on the consequences of low socioeconomic position a higher incidence of female-headed households or differences in school performance or educational aspirations; and a contextual explanation based on differences in subgroup attitudes or norms. Results provide limited support for the demographic composition argument and stronger support for a contextual subgroup explanation. Blacks in predominately black classrooms are much more likely to report ever having intercourse. For whites attending a class that is mostly white lowers the odds of having several sexually active friends. Youths reporting several or more friends having had intercourse are over 3 times more likely to report that they have had intercourse. In racially isolated and mixed classrooms blacks are 18.6 and 2.1 times more likely than whites to expect parenthood to occur before or at the same time as marriage. Perhaps adequate treatment of social context will push us further toward understanding teenage sexual behavior than will more refined analyses of individual characteristics.

So happy together? The impact of gender segregation on men at work.

Abstract: How does gender segregation at work affects men's well-being, as expressed in their psychological orientations toward work? Analyzing a sample of employed males in the 1973 Quality of Employment Survey, we find that men in mixed work settings report significantly lower job-related satisfaction and self-esteem and more job-related depression than men in either maleor female-dominated work settings, even after controlling for individual, job, organizational, and economic determinants of well-being. These findings are difficult to reconcile with theories suggesting that men dislike gender integration at work simply for economic reasons or with the view that male tokens suffer psychologically by occupying low-status positions viewed as "female" jobs. Rather, our findings are more consistent with perspectives that emphasize how the quality and quantity of intergroup relations decline as groups become more balanced. The implications of our results for segregation theories and for efforts to remedy segregation are discussed.

Nonverbal behavior, dominance, and the basis of status in task groups.

Abstract: Linking nonverbal behavior to influence in task groups has been interpreted as evidence that behavioral dominance is the basis of status. Challenging this interpretation, this paper proposes that both the power processes that underlie status formation and the structural implications of dominance hierarchies indicate that expectations about task performance will be the usual basis of status in task groups. Furthermore, while some nonverbal behavior communicates dominance, it is not linked to influence. Influence results from nonverbal task cues that affect the performance expectations of an actor. An experiment tested this hypothesis by measuring the influence achieved by a female confederate in a three-person female group. As expected, the confederate was most influential when she displayed high-level task cues. When she displayed a high level of dominance cues, the confederate was not more influential than when she displayed submissive or low-task cues. The results suggest that status is a collective product of the entire network of group members, rather than an aggregate of pairwise competitions among members.

Celebrities and suicide: a taxonomy and analysis, 1948-1983*

Abstract: Research on the impact of suicide stories in the media on imitative suicides has been marked by poor theory and undifferentiated indexes. This study focuses on celebrity suicides. It uses a taxonomy of celebrities based on Tarde's laws of imitation and Pareto's concept of elite. Propositions are drawn from differential identification theory, using mass cultural values and beliefs as points of identification. The imitation effect holds only for American entertainers and political celebrities, not for artists, villains, and the economic elite. The amount of publicity given to suicides was positively related to the monthly incidence of suicide, but problems common to the celebrities and the suicidal population (divorce, physical illness, and poor mental health) were not. An interactive model in which the impact of a suicide story is mediated by the suicidogenic mood of the media audience did not improve on the simple additive model. Age, gender, and race-specific suicide rates tended to support identification theory.

Urbanization and Underdevelopment: A Global Study of Modernization, Urban Bias, and Economic Dependency

Abstract: The causes and effects of 3rd World urbanization have been addressed in theories of modernization urban bias and economic dependency but no single cross-national study has tested the arguments advanced by all 3 theories This paper uses panel regression analysis to assess the validity of the 3 perspectives in 61 underdeveloped countries between 1960 and 1980 The modernization theory asserts that industrial employment attracts people to urban areas where they work in modern-sector employment that facilitates national economic expansion The urban bias theory posits that the disparity in welfare between country and city increases rural-to-urban migration and thereby expands both urbanization and service/informal employment Dependency and world-system arguments assert that foreign investment promotes both urbanization and service/informal labor with foreign investment in agriculture pushing farmers townward and foreign investment in urban manufacturing pulling them there Results suggest that underdeveloped nations are experiencing a gradual transition from an agrarian to a service and informal economy a transformation that impedes economic expansion Unfavorable agricultural conditions alone will not push rural citizens to urban areas 2 theories help explain the relationship between relatives urbanization and economic growth If future studies of urbanization and underdevelopment are going to be useful then they must transcend current theoretical and ideological particularism

Toward a sociological theory of motivation

Abstract: Bringing motivational dynamics back into the mainstream of sociological theory and research requires an examination of how the early theoretical legacy was incorporated in five of the most eclectic approaches in contemporary theorizing on social interaction. The paper analyzes (1) the incorporation of utilitarian and behaviorist theories into exchange theory, (2) the transformation of Mead's social behaviorism into interactionist theory, (3) the evolution of Schutz's phenomenology into ethnomethodological theory, (4) the blending of Freud's psychoanalytic approach with elements of interactionist and phenomenological theory in structuration theory, and (5) the combining of Durkheim's structuralism with ethnomethodology and interactionism in interaction-ritual theory. For each of these five theories, the underlying and largely implicit theory of motivation is schematically modeled. Then, a composite of all the models is constructed in an effort to present a provisional theory of interpersonal motivation.

The Stability of Students' Interracial Friendships.

Abstract: In this paper we study the determinants of the stability of schoolchildren's interracial and same-race friendships. We argue that classroom organizational features and student characteristics affect the cohesiveness of social ties with consequences for friendship stability. The hypotheses are tested on longitudinal data from 375 fourththrough seventh-grade students in 16 desegregated classrooms. Descriptive and inferential analyses show that interracial friendships are almost as stable as same-race ones. Further, while the stability of interracial and same-race friendships is influenced by classroom characteristics, it is more strongly influenced by ascribed and achieved characteristics of students. We conclude that while individual characteristics of students are the strongest determinants of interracial friendship stability, schools can adopt policies and practices that promote stable friendships between black and white students.

Demographic foundations of family change.

Abstract: As a result of the decline in mortality current cohorts have the theoretical potential to spend more time in the conjugal family statuses of parent child and spouse. To determine the extent to which this potential has been realized in the US a model was developed to simulate demographic conditions in 1800 1900 1960 and 1980 and then calculate how long women remained in the various family statuses in each historical period. Despite declines in fertility and increases in divorce the 1980 simulated cohort spent more years as children as parents as currently married spouses and in conjugal family units than people in the 1800 and 1900 cohorts. The 1980 cohort spent about 27 adult years with spouse and surviving children--4 years more than the 1800 cohort. The proportion of adult life spent in the status as child of at least one parent over 65 years of age has increased from 15% in 1800 to 29% in 1980. On the other hand time spent as a spouse is far lower than its potential. If 1800 marriage patterns obtained concurrently with 1980 mortality years married would increase from 27 to 45 whereas the actual 1980 figure is 35 years. If 1800 mortality were combined with 1980 marriage patterns 15 of the 1980 years married would be lost showing the preponderant effect of mortality. Compared to earlier cohorts contemporary cohorts have chosen to spend a smaller proportion of their adult years as a spouse as a parent of a young child and as a member of a conjugal family unit. Time spent with spouse and children declined from 56% of adult lifetime in 1800 to 43% in 1980. The proportion of lifetime spent as a parent of a child under 18 years has declined by half and that spent as a parent of a child under 5 years has declined by 2/3 as a result of reductions in family size preferences. More attention is urged to the changing time spent in various family statuses as a potential source of social change.

Time Together Among Dual-Earner Couples

Abstract: This study examines the amount of time dual-earner couples spend together by analyzing time diaries (N= 177) from the 1981 Study of Time Use. We find that time together is substantially reduced by the number of hours couples work (combined) and how they schedule these hours. Sociocultural and life-cycle factors appear to have very limited net effects on time spent together. There is a theoretically predictable relationship between marital quality and time couples spend together: the more time together in certain activities, the more satisfactory the marriage. As the number of dual-earner families increases, more spouses may be less able to sustain each other emotionally.