Showing papers in "British Journal of Sociology in 1975"

Survival in a Marginal Role: The Professional Identity of the Physical Education Teacher

Abstract: Any organization is a mass of integrated roles with constant demands and adaptations.l Role behaviour arises from these organizational demands and idiosyncratic needs, the person balancing advantages and disadvantages in given situations, making adaptation to both personality needs and organizational 'press'. Thus, Getzels and Guba have described role behaviour as the outcome of interplay between ideographic and nomothetic dimensions in an institutional setting2; and, in his analysis of organizations, Levinson took a similar position and suggested the concept of 'personal roledefinition' as a link between personality and social structure.3 As Parsons has pointed out, there is an element of'looseness' between personality and role performance.4 This element may be crucial within marginal roles in organizations. What are marginal roles? Stonequist has utilized the term 'marginality' to define roles in an organizational setting which are peripheral to the main functionings of the institution. Such individuals can be alienated.5 They may work very hard but lose direction because their roles are not clearly defined and they are subject to role strain.6 Where there is no clear system of rules which adequately defines the actor's behaviour in the system, and where his role is not central to the goals and function of the organization a marginal role-then he can be subject to type-casiing and role pressures. Wilson has discussed conflict which arises:

Sex Discrimination among University Teachers: A British-American Comparison

Abstract: In recent years great concern has been expressed in the United States about opportunities for women in the universities and this has led both to government intervention and to internal measures to stamp out sex discrimination. In the United Kingdom such concern as has been expressed has not yet been translated into action.l In this article we attempt to discover whether the difference in the degree of concern and activity in the two countries is justified or not. We examine for both countries the proportions of university staff who are women and consider whether rewards in the profession in terms of pay and promotion to senior grades are distributed to men and women equally. Where this is not the case, we consider how far it can be justified in terms of the differential qualifications or performance in their jobs of women compared with men. Finally, where the qualifications and performance of women are different from those of men, we put forward some tentative ideas to explain why this occurs. The evidence on which the ariicle is based is drawn from national surveys of academics in both countries undertaken in Ig6g.2

Female deviance and the female sex role: a preliminary investigation.

Abstract: The primary questions towards which this paper is directed lie within that area Frances Heidensohn aptly described as 'obscure and largely ignored'l, that is, deviance in women. The intent here is to delineate certain of the parallels between the attributes of the female sex role and the eharacteristics of female deviance. Given that the participation of women in deviant roles is found primarily within the areas of prostitution, and given that prostitutes are almost exclusively female, any understanding of female deviance and therefore of prostitution can best be achieved through an understanding of the female sex role. The speeifie questions towards which this investigation is direeted are the following: what characteristics of the female sex role are conducive to the entrance of some women into the area of prostitution and why is prostitution a uniquely female form of deviance? Working from the interactionist approach to deviance as formulated by Edwin Lemert,2 this analysis will (a) delineate the complexities of prostitution and specifically distinguish the eall girl form of prostitution, (b) point out past inadequacies in the analysis of prostitution, and (c) utilize the call girl pattern to illuminate the charaeteristics of the female sex role. It vill be argued that prostitution utilizes the same attributes characteristic of the female sex role, and uses those attributes towards the same ends; that the transition from non-deviance to devianee within prostitition requires only an exaggeration of the situation experienced as a non-deviant woman; and that given Lemert's definition of primary deviance, all women, to the degree to whieh they refleet the contemporary female sex role, are primary deviants. For a period of nine months I spent most of my leisure time with a group of five 'outlaw' call girls,3 i.e., call girls operating without pimps. While I will frequently use my experience with this group to provide examples of specifie points, the discussions and eonclusions are based primarily on the published literature.

Determinants and controls of scientific development

Abstract: Section A / After the Kuhnian Revolution: New Trends in Metascience- Prescriptive Theory and the Social Sciences- Components of Scientific Activities, Their Characteristics and Institutionalisation in Specialties and Research Areas: A Framework for the Comparative Analysis of Scientific Developments- On the Possibility of Objectivity and Moral Determinants in Scientific Change- The Moral Limits of Scientific Research: An Evolutionary Approach- Preserving Science: Virtuosity as Virtue- Section B / Cognition and Communication in Science Development- A Sociological Theory of Scientific Revolution- The Social Function of Cognitive Structures: A Concept of the Scientific Community Within a Theory of Action- The Nature of Scientific Consensus and the Case of the Social Sciences- Images of the World and Societal Icons- Section C / Societal Components in Scientific Development- Measurable Aspects of the Concept of Scientific Career- Scientists from Rich and Poor Countries- The Autonomy of Science in Totalitarian Societies: The Case of Nazi Germany- Philanthropic Foundations and the Production of Knowledge - A Case Study- Comment on David E Morrison's Paper on Philanthropic Foundations and the Production of Knowledge - A Case Study- The Social Determinants of Reproduction Science and Technology- Social Technologists and Social Emancipists: Factors in the Development of Sociology- Index of Names- Index of Subjects

Direct Action and Liberal Democracy

Abstract: 1. The Meaning of direct action. 2. Direct Action in the Constitutional Tradition. 3. The Politics of Direct Action Campaigns. 4. Violence and Power. 5. Civil Disobedience and Constitutionalism 6. Direct action and liberal values. 7. Direct action and democracy. Conclusion.

Concepts and explanatory structure in durkheim's theory of suicide

Abstract: In Suicide, Durkheim attempted to derive a sociological explanation of variations in social suicide rates. He postulated identical relations between each of two independent variables-integration and regulation-and suicide. When either is high or low, the suicide rate is high; when either is moderate, the rate is low. Changes in rates are proportional to changes in the strength of these two variables. The low and high points of each are named-egoism and altruism (integration), anomie and fatalism (regulation) and identified as the causes of suicide.laObviouslythe relationship between integration and regulation is crucial; yet writers do not agree on what, if anything, distinguishes them. Parsons maintained that integration refers to value content, regulation to the strength of social control.2 Nisbet suggested that anomie is a breakdown of moral community; egoism, of social community.3 Coser defined the difference in terms of structural integration versus normative regulation.4 Agreeing with Coser on the meaning of regulation, Wallwork saw integration as a matter of attachment to group morals.5 Giddens felt that Durkheim linked egoism with moral individualism, and anomie with a lack of moral regulation.6 Finally, Lukes argued that integration refers to the social bonds tying the individual to socially-given ideals and purposes; regulation, to those that regulate the individual's desires.7 Others, however, noting the overlap between integration and regulation, have stressed the difficulty of identifying any sociological distinction.8 Some have implicitly acknowledged the overlap by coupling egoism and anomie or by attributing to one characteristics that Durkheim links with the other. Wolin characterized anomie as a 'riot of egoism', and LaCapra referred to an 'anomic absence of meaning in experience'.9 Although numerous authors have explicitly recognized a difficulty, most have either ignored the problem altogether, simply restated the distinctions Durkheim enumerated, or otherwise failed to clarify a viable difference.l° In short, if a difference exists, writers disagree on what it is; furthermore, the distinctions they draw