Showing papers in "American Sociological Review in 1991"
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors propose a model of the relationship between stress and identity, and show that in a variety of situations known to produce stress, stress results from a common mechanism: disruption of the identity process.
Abstract: Social stress can be understood by incorporating interruption theory as developed in research on stress into a model of identity processes drawn from identity theory. From this perspective, social stress results from interruption of the feedback loop that maintains identity processes. I discuss four mechanisms of interruption of identity processes: broken identity loops, interference between identity systems, over-controlled identity systems, and the invocation of episodic identities. Each of these four mechanisms is associated with conditions known to produce feelings of distress. Finally, I discuss how personal evaluation relates to identity processes and distress, and how distress can lead to changes in identity. T hirty years ago inldentity andAnxiety, Stein, Vidich and White (1960) expressed the concern that the advent of a mass society would lead to a "loss of identity" and hence to widespread anxiety or stress. Today, research on social stress is more likely to emphasize the excessive demands and pressures arising from the many roles and identities that people maintain (Holroyd and Lazarus 1982; House 1974). While the implicit contradiction between these contrasting themes of too few or too many identities has not yet been resolved, interest in the relationship between stress or anxiety and identity has grown. In this paper, I propose a model of the relationship between stress and identity. I show that in a variety of situations known to produce stress, stress results from a common mechanism: disruption of the identity process. The importance of this common mechanism is two-fold. First, from the point of view of identity theory, it underlines the importance of understanding identity as a continuous process rather than as a state or trait of an individual. Second, it gives a focus to research on coping and problem solving as mechanisms for dealing with anxiety and distress. While Thoits (1991) has recently suggested that life events related to identities are more likely to produce distress than other life events, the present paper presents a model that helps to clarify this link.
1,583 citations
TL;DR: This paper examined the relationship between family structure and children's achievement in high school and found that children who live with single parents or stepparents during adolescence received less encouragement and less help with school work than children who lived with both natural parents, and parental involvement has positive effects on children's school achievement.
Abstract: Integrating ideas from child development with sociological models of educational attainment, the AA. examine the relationship between family structure―whether both parents are present in the household―and children's achievement in high school. Using data from the High School and Beyond study, sophomore cohort, 1986, they ask whether differences in achievement are accounted for by differences in parents' educational aspirations and parenting styles. Children who live with single parents or stepparents during adolescence receive less encouragement and less help with school work than children who live with both natural parents, and parental involvement has positive effects on children's school achievement. Differences in parental behavior, however, account for little of the difference in educational attainment between children from intact and nonintact families
1,427 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined trends in assortative mating using the 1% PUMS of the 1940 1960 1970 and 1980 US Censuses and the Current Population Surveys (CPS) of 1985-87.
Abstract: Trends in assortative mating were examined using the 1% Public Use Microdata samples (PUMS) of the 1940 1960 1970 and 1980 US Censuses and the Current Population Surveys (CPS) of 1985-87. 2 samples were drawn: 1) couples between the ages of 16-34 years and married for the 1st time 1 year prior to the census or CPS (newlyweds) and 2) couples between the ages of 21-39 years and married 5-6 years prior to the census/CPS. The methods of Hauser and Johnson are used to analyze trends that distinguish patterns of change in marginal distributions of husbands and wives traits from those which show an association between spouses traits. These "crossings" models indicate which educational differences between prospective spouses are serious barriers to intermarriage and reflect patterns of change between years. The implications are that marriages between persons who differ in educational attainment may be more common at some levels of the educational hierarchy than at others and that the effect of the time gap between school leaving and marriage is greater at higher levels of schooling than at lower levels. The proportion of marriages with spouses of the same educational attainment declined between 1900-50 and increased from 1950 to 1970 which was due to distributions of spouses schooling rather than from the association between spouses attainment. There is further discussion of the effects of changes in the timing of schooling and marriage and changing competitiveness of the marriage market. The results take into consideration log linear models that relate to the trends in schooling and educational assortative mating and that relate to the timing of marriage and educational assortative mating. The findings suggest that even after the relative timing of leaving school and entry into marriage are accounted for the trend remains for increased educational assortative mating particularly for college graduates and persons without college degrees. Although not empirically tested it is suggested that changes in rates of participation in the armed forces in rates of childbearing before marriage in the incidence of cohabitation in womens labor force participation and in the status of jobs held by women affect the timing of marriage and exposure to potential spouses of varying educational statuses. There may also be an influence on patterns of assortative mating. When barriers to marriage between educational strata increase between family inequalities increase and the effects on family inequality and educational mobility require further analysis. The findings suggest however that the structure of marriage and inequality within and between generations are affected by trends in age at marriage.
1,123 citations
TL;DR: For example, this paper found that the black response to degradation here was not to confront the white person or to acquiesce abjectly, but rather to reject the poor service and leave.
Abstract: Racial discrimination as a continuing and major problem for middle-class blacks has been downplayed as analysts have turned to the various problems of the ''underclass.'' Discrimination can be defined in socialcontextual terms as ''actions or practices carried out by members of dominant racial or ethnic groups that have a differential and negative impact on members of subordinate racial and ethnic groups''. The black response indicates the change in black-white interaction since the 1950s and 1960s, for discrimination is handled with vigorous confrontation rather than deference. The black response to degradation here was not to confront the white person or to acquiesce abjectly, but rather to reject the poor service and leave. The sites of racial discrimination range from relatively protected home sites, to less protected workplace and educational sites, to the even less protected public places. The cumulative impact of racial discrimination accounts for the special way that blacks have of looking at and evaluating interracial incidents.
866 citations
TL;DR: Carley et al. as discussed by the authors presented a simple model of individual behavior based on the thesis that interaction leads to shared knowledge and that relative shared knowlege leads to interaction, and examined the structural and cultural bases of group stability.
Abstract: Some groups endure longer, are more stable, and are better able than other groups to incorporate new members or ideas without losing their distinctiveness. I present a simple model of individual behavior based on the thesis that interaction leads to shared knowledge and that relative shared knowlege leads to interaction. Using this model I examine the structural and cultural bases of group stability. Groups that are stable in the short run do not necessarily retain their distinctiveness in the long run as new members enter or new ideas are discovered. A Theory of Group Stability Consider two hypothetical high-tech consulting companies -Fairview and Taliesin -that specialize in designing medical information systems. Over the years, both companies have gained considerable expertise. Despite these similarities, however, the companies are quite different. Fairview was founded by six men, all graduates of BL Tech with degrees in business. The current members of the company get along well -they frequently hold Monday evening meetings and tend to have a unified perspective on how to develop systems. Taliesin resulted from a chance meeting in an airport between a computer science major and a business major interested in health care. Taliesin currently employs 12 men and women, who graduated from different universities and who represent a variety of disciplines. As at Fairview, the Taliesin employees get along well. Even so, they spend less time together than do Fairview employees, and often split into subgroups to handle multiple clients. Fairview and Taliesin thus represent very different sociocultural configurations: Fairview is small, socially undifferentiated, and culturally homogeneous; Taliesin is large, socially differentiated, and culturally heterogeneous. Because of increasing requests by clients, both companies are considering moving into the area of limited medical expert systems. Such a move may require hiring at least one new person. Will the addition of a new member or new information destabilize these groups? What are the structural and cultural bases for group stability? For example, what types of groups are the most stable? What types of groups are least affected by the addition of new members? What types of groups are least affected by expansion of the group's knowledge base? Various theories attempt to explain why some groups endure longer than others. These explanations usually suggest that favorable contexts are necessary for group stability, particularly when memberships change and new technologies and ideas emerge, and that highly differentiated contexts produce multiple groups. Such contexts frequently are characterized in terms of their environmental (Aldrich 1979; Hannan and Freeman 1977), institutional (Blau 1967; Collins 1975; Etzioni 1964; Sills 1957; Simmel [1908] 1955), ritual (Durkheim [1912] 1954; Goffman 1959; Mead [1934]1962), or functional (Aberle, Cohen, Davis, Leng, and Sutton 1950; Mack 1967; Parsons 1949, 1951) characteristics, but rarely in terms as simple as "who knows what." Although these explanations tend to assume that groups members learn, interact, and communicate, the precise mechanisms underlying such processes are underspecified and the power of these fundamental "cognitive" mechanisms in producing and maintaining groups are ignored. In contrast to these context-dependent themes, I present a "constructural" perspective that is spare and highly general (see also Carley 1986a, 1986b, 1990, forthcoming a, forthcoming c) . According to this perspective, social change and stability result from changes in the distribution of knowledge as individuals interact and acquire and disseminate information. Constructuralism can be viewed as a modification of structural symbolic interactionism (Stryker 1980) in which knowledge mediates interaction and language, or it can be viewed as a modification of social differentiation theory (Blau 1977) in which knowledge mediates social dimensions (e.g., religion, sex, and age) and interaction. According to both theories, groups can be defined by shared social, demographic, or sociocultural features -e.g., Catholic boys age 13. According to the constructural perspective, each position on a social dimension is associated with a particular body of knowledge that is acquired by individuals with that characteristic -e.g., Catholics learn the tenets of Catholicism, the order of the mass, the holy days of obligation, and so forth. It is the wealth and uniqueness of the information associated with that dimension, not the dimension per se, that determines behavior. Constructural theory derives group characteristics and behavior from the characteristics and behaviors of individual group members that, in turn, are generated by processes relating individual knowledge to individual behavior. Three axioms capture this relationship: (1) individuals are continuously engaged in acquiring and communicating information; (2) what individuals know influences their choices of interaction partners; and (3) an individual's behavior is a function of his or her current knowledge. According to the constructural perspective, groups form and endure because of discrepancies in who knows what. Groups typically are in flux simply because members are continually acquiring new information and communicating it to each other. A group is perfectly stable only when no new information enters the group and everyone in the group knows everything that anyone else in the group knows. From this perspective, neither institutional nor motivational factors are necessary for group stability, nor is a differentiated environment or a differentiated set of institutional or motivational factors necessary for distinct groups. Rather, these factors may serve as secondary forces modifying the impact of the primary force -interaction and the exchange of information. To the extent that institutions are forms of knowledge (Berger and Luckman 1966), this perspective suggests that the distribution of knowledge across the population corresponds to the distribution of institutions and that perfect stability signals the effective demise of institutions because individuals, by knowing everything, are effectively members of all institutions. Institutions can maintain their identity, stability, and cultural distinctiveness by preventing the flow of information. Differences in the information possessed by individuals may arise for many reasons, e.g., because they were born at different places or at different times. Demography, geography, and innovation permit information to be distributed unequally across the population. Regardless of the sources of these discrepancies, at any point societies can be characterized in terms of their social structure, culture (distribution of information), population, number of groups, size of groups, and total amount of information. According to the constructural perspective, this sociocultural configuration changes as individuals interact, communicate, and adapt to new information. The initial sociocultural configuration and the processes of information exchange will determine whether groups endure and whether these groups, when confronted with new members or new ideas, will be able to reconstruct, i.e., adopt new members or ideas without losing their uniqueness as a group. I develop a simple dynamic simulation model of the interaction shared knowledge cycle in which individuals interact, communicate, and adapt to new information. (The Appendix presents an outline of the simulation program.) A more detailed technical description of the model is presented in Carley (1990).) Despite its simplicity, important and complex social behaviors emerge, many of which are consistent with existent empirical data. I use the model to explore group stability and endurance in one-group and two-group societies in which there is no change in group membership and no new ideas. I then examine the ability of these groups to assimilate a new member or idea without losing their uniqueness as a group. Finally, I discuss the model's scope, some important extensions to the model, and the role of simulation in this type of analysis.
803 citations
TL;DR: A sociological model for mental health consequences of social organization is distinguished from a sociomedical model for the social etiology of particular disorders as discussed by the authors, which uses stress to explain associations between social placement and disorder.
Abstract: A sociological model for the mental health consequences of social organization is distinguished from a sociomedical model for the social etiology of particular disorders. Both models use stress to explain associations between social placement and disorder. These models are not interchangeable, despite apparent similarities, but researchers frequently apply the sociomedical model to sociological questions. Discrepancies between models are illustrated with survey data collected from a community sample of adults. We demonstrate that gender differences in the impact of stress are disorder-specific and do not indicate general differences between women and men in susceptibility to stress.
610 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyze data on insurgency in the Paris Commune of 1871 and show that organizational networks and pre-existing informal networks interacted in the mobilization process, even in the final moments of the insurrection, and they argue that disaggregating relational data into individual-level counts of social ties obscures the crucial issues of network structure and multiplexity.
Abstract: Although sociologists increasingly recognize the importance of networks in social movement mobilization, efforts to understand networkfactors have been hampered by the operationalization of network factors as individual-level variables. I argue that disaggregating relational data into individual-level counts of social ties obscures the crucial issues of network structure and multiplexity. I analyze data on insurgency in the Paris Commune of 1871 and show that organizational networks and pre-existing informal networks interacted in the mobilization process, even in thefinal moments of the insurrection. Network autocorrelation models reveal that enlistment patterns in the Paris National Guard created organizational linkages among residential areas that contributed to solidarity in the insurgent effort, but the efficacy of these linkages depended on the presence of informal social ties rooted in Parisian neighborhoods. Thus the role of networkfactors can only be understood by studying the joint influence offormal and informal social structures on the mobilization process. A decade ago, Snow, Zurcher, and EklandOlson (1980) pointed to the importance of social networks for understanding the mobilization of social movements, but the state of research in this area is still best described as inchoate. Despite widespread acceptance of the idea that "network" or "structural" factors play a role in mobilization or recruitment, only a handful of studies have made genuine progress toward understanding the significance of these factors. A principal reason for this state of affairs is that - often because of data considerations researchers have typically used purely scalar variables to measure networks of social relations. "Network effects" are examined by simply counting social ties and using these counts as interval variables in regression equations, so that the process by which social ties influence mobilization is analyzed as though it operates exclusively on the individual level. This in turn means that two key issues - network structure and multiplexity - have received insufficient consideration in theory and research. My goal is to demonstrate that the effect of social relations on the mobilization of collective action depends on the way in which these relations are structured and, more precisely, on the correspondence between organizational and informal networks. I use data on patterns of insurgency during the Paris Commune of 1871 to show that successful mobilization depended not on the sheer number of ties, but on the interplay between social ties created by insurgent organizations and pre-existing social networks rooted in Parisian neighborhoods. Organizational networks maintained solidarity because they were structured along neighborhood lines. Paradoxically, neighborhood ties even determined the importance of organizational links that cut across neighborhoods. Previous studies have rarely demonstrated that structural properties of relational systems are important for social movements, and there is no discussion in the literature of the ways in which formal and informal networks interact in the mobilization process. In the conclusion, I argue that these issues are best addressed through data collection procedures and analytic strategies that respect the structure of networks rather than reducing networks to individual-level counts of social ties.
506 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a framework that integrates social structural and cultural arguments to explain the rise of social dislocations in inner-city ghettos in the last quarter of the twentieth century.
Abstract: Simplistic eitherlor notions of "culture versus social structure" have impeded the development of a broader theoretical contextfrom which to examine questions raised by the continuing debate on the "ghetto underclass" In this paper I present a framework that integrates social structural and cultural arguments I hope elaboration of this framework can move social scientists beyond the narrow confines of the underclass debate in two ways: (1) by outlining empirical and theoretical issues that guide further research, and (2) by suggesting variables that have to be taken into account to arrive at a satisfactory explanation of one of the most important domestic problems in the last quarter of the twentieth centurythe rise of social dislocations in inner-city ghettos
484 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors assess whether intermarriage between Protestants and Catholics has increased over the course of the twentieth century and whether the declining salience of religious boundaries has been accompanied by a rising importance of educational boundaries in spouse selection.
Abstract: I assess whether intermarriage between Protestants and Catholics has increased over the course of the twentieth century and, if it has, whether the declining salience of religious boundaries has been accompanied by a rising importance of educational boundaries in spouse selection. By analyzing a set of national surveys that were conducted between 1955 and 1989 and using a research design that separates the effects of period and duration of marriage, I examine changes over a longer period of time than any previous study has done. Multivariate loglinear analyses show that intermarriage between Protestants and Catholics has increased dramatically since the 1920s, while intermarriage between different educational groups has decreased. Currently, the social boundaries that separate educational groups seem to be stronger than the boundaries that separate Protestants and Catholics. In addition, there is some evidence that interfaith marriages have become increasingly homogamous with respect to education, suggesting that education has replaced religion as afactor in spouse selection.
445 citations
TL;DR: Granovetter's threshold model of collective action as mentioned in this paper shows how each new participant triggers others until the chain reaction reaches a gap in the distribution of thresholds, and thus outcomes depend on the network of social ties that channel the chain reactions.
Abstract: Granovetter's threshold model of collective action shows how each new participant triggers others until the chain reaction reaches a gap in the distribution of thresholds. Hence outcomes depend on the network of social ties that channel the chain reactions. However, structural analysis is encumbered by the assumption that thresholds derive from changing marginal returns on investments in public goods. A learning-theoretic specification imposes less stringent assumptions about the rationality of the actors and is much better suited to a structural analysis. Computer simulations suggest that threshold effects may be the key to solving the coordination problem: When individual choices are contingent on participation by others, this interdependence facilitates the coordination of contributions needed to shift the bistable system from a noncooperative equilibrium to a cooperative one. Further simulations with low-density networks show that these chain reactions require bridges that link socially distant actors, supporting Granovetter's case for the strength of weak ties.
430 citations
TL;DR: In contrast to existing explanations that conceptualize the enclave as a special case of the primary sector, the authors emphasize the distinctive characteristics of ethnic economies, and explain the enclave effect using a single, consistent account of recruitment and skill acquisition processes in primary, secondary, and enclave labor markets.
Abstract: While research on ethnic enclaves has shown that workers employed in the enclave appear to enjoy at least some of the advantages associated with the primary sector, this « enclave effect » has not been adequately explained. In contrast to existing explanations that conceptualize the enclave as a special case of the primary sector, we emphasize the distinctive characteristics of ethnic economies, and explain the « enclave effect » using a single, consistent account of recruitment and skill acquisition processes in primary, secondary, and enclave labor markets. Unlike other sectors of the economy, the ethnic enclave is characterized by an external, informal training system that shapes the employment relationship and increases the availability and quality of information for workers and employers. We apply the concept to a case study of the New York garment industry
TL;DR: The authors extended market transition theory to an analysis of inequality under the conditions of partial reform in China and found that despite the rise of a hybrid elite of entrepreneurs who are currently cadres that capitalizes on redistributive power to gain competitive advantage in the marketplace, increases in income inequality are modest.
Abstract: This article extends market transition theory to an analysis of inequality under the conditions of partial reform in China. Logit regression analysis indicates cadres (officials) have no greater odds than other households of being among the privileged or avoiding poverty. Entrepreneurs andformer team cadres, however, are advantaged. Despite the rise of a hybrid elite of entrepreneurs who are currently cadres that capitalizes on redistributive power to gain competitive advantage in the marketplace, increases in income inequality are modest. When market reform stimulates improved economic performance, the poor appear to benefit and experience comparable improvements in household income. As a result, there is only a slight increase in inequality, at least in the early stages of market reform. The empirical analysis is based on survey data collected in rural China in 1985.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors combine the concept of drift, drawn from social control theory, and a life course conceptualization to elaborate a paradigmatic model to study cultural stratification.
Abstract: I combine the concept of drift, drawn from social control theory, and a life course conceptualization to elaborate a paradigmatic model to study cultural stratification. I apply this model in a thirteen-year panel study to examine the effects of adolescent subcultural preferences on later adult status attainments. Adolescents adrift from parental and educational control are more likely than those with more controls to develop mild or more seriously deviant subcultural preferences. I identify two distinct adolescent subcultural preferences: a subculture of delinquency and a party subculture. Among males with working-class origins, identification with the subculture of delinquency has a negative effect on trajectories of early adult status attainment. However, among males from non-working-class backgrounds, identification with a party subculture has a net positive effect when the negative effects of partying on educational performance are removed.
TL;DR: In this paper, the emergence and fall of radical reflexivity within ethnomethodology, the processes contributing to its diminishing role, and the implications of the decline are discussed, and discussed in detail.
Abstract: The growing recognition of ethnomethodology has come at the expense of one of its most original and promising initiatives radical reflexivity. Although prominent in early ethnomethodological work, the recognition that all renderings of reality including those of the social scientist-are contingent accomplishments has diminished in contemporary studies. I describe the emergence andfall of radical reflexivity within ethnomethodology, the processes contributing to its diminishing role, and the implications of the decline. Because radical reflexivity breaches the taken-for-granted practices of disciplines purporting to describe reality, it is a vital resource for ethnomethodology and sociology generally.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the argument that predominantly "female" occupations attract women because they are relatively easy to combine with family responsibilities and found no effect of occupational sex composition on the likelihood that prospective or recent mothers are employed.
Abstract: Using data on womens employment in the US the authors examined the argument that predominantly "female" occupations attract women because they are relatively easy to combine with family responsibilities. Some traditionally female occupations offer relatively low penalties for labor force withdrawal but others reduce the costs of employment to mothers by facilitating the combination of worker and mother roles. The authors test the hypothesis that a womans response to the characteristics of her occupation and to other factors depends on her preference for employment vs homemaking over the long run. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth in the US the analysis focuses on the period from the year prior to the 1st birth through the 2 years following the birth as a time of maximum conflict between employment and childrearing. The authors find no effect of occupational sex composition on the likelihood that prospective or recent mothers are employed. Occupational characteristics that raise the cost of labor force withdrawal (high education high wages and job-specific training) tend to decrease the probability of womens withdrawal from work as do nonmonetary occupational characteristics. All women are influenced by the cost of labor force withdrawal but women with low work commitment are also influenced by financial pressures and convenience of the work setting. (authors)
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explore the problem of transferring organizations from one environment to another and find that the organization/environment relation works in both directions and that organizations have the resources to alter their environments in light of their functional requirements.
Abstract: Industrial sociology and organization theory suggest that it is difficult to transfer organizations from one environment to another and that organizations that are transferred will take on characteristics of the new environment. We hypothesize that the organization/environment relation works in both directions and that organizations have the resources to alter their environments in light of theirfunctional requirements. We explore these issues in light of recent debates over new models of production organization and interfirm production networks. Japanese automotive assembly plants and their suppliers in the United States provide an ideal case to explore such questions because they represent organizations that are being transferred from a supportive to a foreign environment. We find that these Japanese automotive transplants have effectively transferred both intraand interorganizational characteristics, e.g., team-based work organization and 'just-in-time" supplier relations to the United States. Thus, they have actively transformed their environments to suit their needs.
TL;DR: The link between family structure and the changing economic well-being of American children since 1960 is examined using child records from the 1960, 1970, and 1980 Public Use Microdata Sample, and from the 1988 March Current Population Survey as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: The link between family structure and the changing economic well-being of American children since 1960 is examined using child records from the 1960, 1970, and 1980 Public Use Microdata Sample, andfrom the 1988 March Current Population Survey. We find that: (1) childpoverty rates would have been one-third less in 1988 iffamily structure had not changed since 1960; (2) changingfamily structure accountedfor nearly 50 percent of the increase in child poverty rates since 1980; (3) changing maternal employment patterns placed significant downward pressure on child poverty from 1960 to 1988, but could not prevent the overall rise in child poverty during the 1980s; (4) racial divergence in family structure since 1960 exacerbated the persistent black-white differences in children's economic status; (5) racial differences in parental work patterns since 1960 acted to reduce racial differences in child poverty; and (6) that changing family-size differentials between poor and nonpoor households exerted upward pressure on child poverty rates, especially among whites. Our results reinforce the view that child poverty and racial inequality cannot be separatedfrom the issue of changing family structure in America.
TL;DR: This paper used a combination of ETHNO and sociolinguistic analysis to examine the overall ordering of acts in gossip episodes and found that the first response to an initial evaluation strongly influenced subsequent responses.
Abstract: Previous studies of gossip among adolescents have found a strong tendency toward consensus and negative evaluation in gossip episodes. However, few attempts have been made to examine the actual structure of this common speech activity. We recorded and analyzed 16 gossip episodes that occurred in adolescent conversations in a middle school setting. We used a combination of ETHNO and sociolinguistic analysis to examine the overall ordering of acts in the gossip episodes. Ourfindings reveal a gossip structure among adolescents that promotes the expression of negative evaluations - there are many opportunities to express support and limited opportunities to challenge a negative evaluation. We alsofind that gossip has a flexible structure but that the ordering of acts is critical. In particular, the first response to an initial evaluation strongly influenced subsequent responses. These findings highlight the importance of examining how evaluations develop in gossip and encourages a broader approach to the study of power in discourse which includes the power inherent in responses.
TL;DR: For example, this article analyzed the evolution of George Washington's image between 1800 and 1920, a period that included an industrial revolution, a reform era to correct its abuses, and a war from which America emerged as a world power.
Abstract: Between 1800 and 1865, Americans remembered George Washington as a man of remoteness, gentility, and flawless virtue; after 1865 they began to remember him as an ordinary, imperfect man with whom common people could identify. Washington's post-Civil War transformation adds weight to Mead's and Halbwachs's belief that the past is mutable, made and remade for present use. Yet Americans never forgot Washington's original, aristocratic image. Setting limits on later generations' ability to democratize Washington, this enduring image reflects Durkheim's and Shils's ideas on how collective memories outlive changes in society. The very nature of these societal changes, however, determined how much of Washington's original image was revised and retained. Thus separate theories cannot explain change and continuity in collective memory; a single theory must explain both. T he memory of George Washington, a nondemocratic military and political leader, was democratized between 1865 and 1920, a period that included an industrial revolution, a reform era to correct its abuses, and a war from which America emerged as a world power. Beyond this period Washington's image continued to evolve. Throughout the 1920s, Washington came to be regarded by some as a complete businessman and captain of industry. In the late 1920s and early 1930s he became the object of both cynical debunking and spectacular bicentennial birthday rites. After World War II, biographers wrote about him in unprecedented detail. The full complexity of his image, however, was established by 1920. An analysis of this image-making process promotes fuller understanding of both the collective memory of Washington and the collective memory as a general aspect of culture.
TL;DR: The structure of school curricula is closely linked to the rise of standardized models of society and to the increasing dominance of standardized model of education as one component of these general models as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Classical theorists in the sociology of knowledge such as Marx, Durkheim, Mannheim and Scheler sought to establish that the content and validity of ideas are ultimately tied to the social and economic interests in society. National educational institutions—which presently enroll about one-fifth of the world’s inhabitants —have become the most important mechanism for organizing and transmitting knowledge to the young. The types of socially approved knowledge taught in mass and elite educational institutions and the official endorsement of that knowledge as reflected in national school curricula deserve more attention from sociologists. School curricula are nationally patterned collections of socially approved knowledge that, if compared cross-nationally, should show considerable diversity. The structure of school curricula—especially mass curricula—is closely linked to the rise of standardized models of society and to the increasing dominance of standardized models of education as one component of these general models.
TL;DR: This article examined the impact of team, organizational, and societal status characteristics on interaction patterns in long-term work groups and found that team status is significantly affected by each of the external characteristics studied.
Abstract: We examine the impact of team, organizational, and societal status characteristics on interaction patterns in long-term work groups. Data are from 2077 respondents representing 224 research and development teams drawn from 29 large corporations. Hypotheses based on status characteristic theory are supported: Both external (organizational and societal) and internal (team) status characteristics affect team interaction. When status within a team is controlled, only one external characteristic has a significant positive effect. Team status, in turn, is significantly affected by each of the external characteristics studied. While most of these external characteristics may reflect a team member's past performance, gender, when past performance is controlled, also has an independent effect on team status with males being accorded higher status. This suggests that competence and performance are not the sole bases for team status. Status processes in enduring work teams behave very much like those observed in ad hoc groups: Beliefs associated with diffuse status characteristics affect the ordering of interaction.
TL;DR: The authors found that women with employed husbands are less supportive of efforts to reduce gender inequality than women without a male wage earner, and that women are more likely to perceive inequality than men and are more supportive of combating gender inequality.
Abstract: A model explaining consciousness of gender inequality is tested using data for the United States, Great Britain, West Germany, and Austria. Well-educated people tend to be less favorable toward efforts to reduce gender inequality than less well-educated people. Women with employed husbands are less supportive of efforts to reduce gender inequality than women without a male wage earner. Women are more likely to perceive gender inequality than men and are more supportive of efforts to combat gender inequality. These findings differ from findings in prior U.S. research. Moreover, U.S. women are unique in several respects, including a positive influence of labor force participation on support for efforts to reduce gender inequality. Ourfindings call into question the generalizability of U.S. studies. Nearly a quarter of a century has passed since the feminist movement began a resurgence in the United States in the mid-1960s. Within a few years, second-wave feminist movements had sprung up throughout Europe. Although the specific causes underlying these movements differed from country to country, a common factor was a growing awareness of gender inequalities in the workplace and home and a growing belief that these inequalities were sufficiently unjust that they should be eliminated. In studies of U.S. women and men, attitudes toward gender inequality have been associated with employment and family structure (Mason and Bumpass 1975; Cherlin and Walters 1981; Thomton, Alwin, and Camburn 1983; Smith 1985; Plutzer 1988). However, because these studies have not been replicated in other countries, it is unknown whether findings for the U.S. apply to other societies. We propose a model of consciousness of gender inequality based, in part, on hypotheses derived from prior research in the U.S., then test its generalizability using national survey data of women and men in four Westem societies - the United States, Great Britain, West Germany, and Austria.
TL;DR: Mediation is an institutional interactional system in which disputing parties discuss and resolve differences with the help of a third party as discussed by the authors, which de-emphasizes the adversarial nature of the situation and encourages cooperation.
Abstract: Mediation is an institutional interactional system in which disputing parties discuss and resolve differences with the help of a third party. Conflicts can be resolved with minimal confrontation or argument in part because mediation de-emphasizes the adversarial nature of the situation and encourages cooperation. By analyzing the interactional organization of mediation hearings I show how mediation promotes agreement and minimizes argument. Mediation accomplishes these goals by an interactional organization that constrains how accusations and denials are positioned andformulated. Because this organization precludes the use of disputing techniques routinely used in ordinary conversation, disputes can be discussed and agreement reached without argument.
TL;DR: This article found that the absence of change in persistent poverty masks a number of important changes in the demographic and statistical structure of persistent poverty, such as increasing inequality in the distribution of permanent socioeconomic position, greater dependence on social assistance, and the more familiar demographic changes such as increased numbers of single-parent families, higher educational attainments of parents, and decline in family size.
Abstract: Iffood-stamp benefits are counted as income, there is little change in estimates ofpersistent povertyfor children between the late 1960s and early 1980s. However, the absence of change in persistent poverty masks a number of important changes in the demographic and statistical structure ofpersistent poverty. These changes include increasing inequality in the distribution of permanent socioeconomic position, greater dependence on social assistance, and the more familiar demographic changes such as increased numbers of single-parent families, higher educational attainments of parents, and decline in family size.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors apply the framework of contemporary exchange theory to the analysis of satisfaction using data from a series of experiments on power in exchange networks and investigate how the base of power (reward or punishment) affects the relation between outcomes and satisfaction.
Abstract: Recent theory and research on social exchange neglects a central concern of early exchange theorists: the satisfaction of actors with their relations. I apply the framework of contemporary exchange theory to the analysis of satisfaction using data from a series of experiments on power in exchange networks. I investigatefour main questions: (1) how the base ofpower (reward or punishment) affects the relation between outcomes and satisfaction; (2) how withinand between-relation outcome comparisons affect satisfaction in negatively-connected exchange networks; (3) how dynamic exchange processes, net of exchange outcomes, affect satisfaction; and (4) how actors' positions of power affect each of these relations. Based on a theoretical analysis of how the structure, process, and outcomes of exchange should affect actors' expectations, I test predictions of their effects on satisfaction. The results provide substantial supportfor the hypotheses.
TL;DR: In this paper, the effect of religious diversity on the prevalence of Church Membership in the United States has been investigated using county-level census data for 1910, 1920, and 1930.
Abstract: Recent empirical research on the effect of religious pluralism on church membership in the United States has produced contradictoryfindings. One study reported that religious pluralism had a positive effect on the prevalence of church membership, whereas another study reported a negative effect. Using county-level census datafor 1910, 1920, and 1930, wefind that religious diversity generally retards church membership. We also extend research on this topic. We introduce a measure that summarizes the effect of church adherence in surrounding counties on church adherence in a particular county. Examining the effects of a variety of social and economic conditions on church membership, we find that, in the early decades of this century, church participation was high in counties for which there are indications of social deprivation and marginality. Ethnic and religious diversity retard church membership and the positive impact of religious adherence elsewhere on a particular county's religious participation declines over time.
TL;DR: The authors found that within-cohort factors are much more important in producing variation in verbal scores than within-family background factors, such as social and economic characteristics of the respondent's family of origin and amount of schooling.
Abstract: Do birth-cohort differences in family configuration brought about by post-World War II increases infertility explain declines in verbal test scores of young people in the 1960s and 1970s? Datafrom nine representative samples of the U.S. population in the General Social Survey data file confirm systematic declines in verbal scores for cohorts born in the postWorld War II era, but reveal a trend beginning much earlier, at least with cohorts born prior to 1920, and one sustained through cohorts born in the 1960s. Despite the significance of these intercohort patterns, within-cohort factors are much more important in producing variation in verbal scores. Social and economic characteristics of the respondent'sfamily of origin and amount of schooling are associated with the largest differences in vocabulary knowledge. Sibship size has a significant influence on the development of verbal skills, but is relatively less important than other family background factors. Birth order, however, is not independently linked to verbal scores. Finally, owing in part to the relatively weak role of family configuration in producing variation in verbal scores, there is no support for the hypothesis that cohort differences in family experiences account for the trends in verbal ability across cohorts in the U.S. population.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyzed the relationship between the structure of airline network and employment growth in 104 metropolitan areas in the United States and concluded that the reorganization of the airline network has been a critical factor transforming and integrating the spatial economy of the U.S.
Abstract: The article analyzes the relationship between the structure of airline network and employment growth in 104 metropolitan areas in the United States. Structural changes that accompanied the expansion of the airline system between 1950 and 1980 are documented using network methodology, and the effects of these changes in the airline network on metropolitan employment growth rate, focusing on employment in manufacturing and producer servicises, are assessed using regression analysis and nonrecursive models. Results show that position in the airline network has pervasive effects on metropolitan employment growth and that changes in the network position is a cause rather than a consequence of this employment growth. The article concludes that the reorganization of the airline network has been a critical factor transforming and integrating the spatial economy of the U.S.
TL;DR: The authors analyzed the effects of ethnic conflict,fluctuations in the economy, and organizational density on the rates offounding and failure of white immigrant and African-American newspaper organizations in a system ofAmerican cities, and in New York and Chicago, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Abstract: Contemporary research on collective action claims that organizations play a central role in facilitating many kinds of collective actions. We reverse the causal link and ask whether ethnic conflict affects the life chances of social movement organizations. We analyze the effects of ethnic conflict,fluctuations in the economy, and organizational density on the rates offounding andfailure of white immigrant and African-American newspaper organizations in a system ofAmerican cities, and in New York and Chicago, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Our results indicate that hostility and violence encouraged white immigrants to found ethnic newspapers, whereas racial attacks significantly deterred the founding of African-American newspapers. Existing immigrant newspapers thrived under attack, whereas African-American newspapers did not. Thus, the results suggest that the consequences of repressive attacks on ethnic and racial communities depend on the levels of collective violence in addition to the resources controlled by the victimized group.