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Showing papers in "Clinical Sociology Review in 1989"





Journal Article
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the source of infertile couples' anger by focusing on the structural power imbalance between infertiles and the physicians and adoption agency personnel to whom they turn for help in becoming parents.
Abstract: This paper focuses on anger experienced by prospective adoptive parents as they go through infertility and the formal adoption process. Qualitative interviews were done with seventy-four infertile couples who were at various stages in their consideration of adoption. Using a sociology of emotions perspective, I examine the source of their anger by focusing on the structural power imbalance between infertile couples and the physicians and adoption agency personnel to whom they turn for help in becoming parents. I analyze the way that this power unbalance constrains their anger and examine the way it is managed according to the "feeling rules" that then come into play. The implications of this anger for practice are discussed. The anger experienced by prospective adoptive parents as they go through infertility and the formal adoption process will be examined along two axes. First, the structural power imbalance between infertile couples and those who they turn to for help in becoming parents will be considered. Typically, couples turn to, and become dependent on, physicians for help in becoming biological parents; when that doesn't work they turn to, and become dependent on, adoption agency personnel in an effort to become adoptive parents. In both instances, their dependence on others results in a sense of powerlessness and feelings of anger. Second, the way that this power imbalance constrains the expression of this anger will be analyzed, specifically, the way anger is managed in interactive situations by prospective adoptive couples according to the "feeling rules" that come into play (Kemper, 1981:346). The powerlessness that couples experience is compounded by the structural restrictions that inhibit the expression of anger

17 citations



Journal Article
TL;DR: C Couto as discussed by the authors described redemptive organizations as a variant of voluntary associations that are distinguished by their explicitly political purpose of social transformation and concomitant requirement of personal sacrifice and transformation.
Abstract: The politics of hope of this article is rooted in the local leadership of low income, repressed communities One central element of the politics of hope is redemptive organizations These organizations are a variant of voluntary associations that are distinguished by their explicitly political purpose of social transformation and concomitant requirement of personal sacrifice and transformation This article specifies the internal characteristics of redemptive organizations and their role in change over time The history of four rural, southern, low-income, and predominantly black communities offer numerous instances of redemptive organizations that deal with educational, economic, and political conditions These organizations link change efforts from Reconstruction through the civil rights movement to the present As such, they offer insight into constituent elements of social movements Voluntary organizations play a peculiar role in American society De Tocqueville commented on this early in our history, and recently, Robert Bellah and his associate authors (1985) reminded us about voluntary associations and their peculiar significance for Americans They elaborated on de Tocqueville's analysis of voluntary agencies in American life to include a set of explicitly political organizations related to those that James Q Wilson termed "purposive" and "redemptive" (1973) This article deals with redemptive organizations, a set of voluntary associations with explicitly political purposes of social transformation and a concomitant requirement of personal transformation It traces their role in political change efforts over more than a century in four different communities These *Material for this article is taken from Richard A Couto, Sick for Justice: Race, Leadership and Change (forthcoming from Temple University Press)

10 citations


Journal Article
TL;DR: The authors explored the utility of triadic analysis as a conceptual tool for clinical sociologists and found that triads are the irreducible foundation of small group dynamics, and that groups are composed of interdependent and interlocking triads.
Abstract: This paper explores the utility of triadic analysis as a conceptual tool for clinical sociologists. Departing from earlier research on patterns of interaction, triads are emphasized over dyads as the structural basis of both microand macro-processes, and interdependency is recognized as a decisive influence in the formation and dynamics of triads. Clinical examples and applications of triadic analysis suggest that stress and conflict within a dyad prompt its members to seek out a third party to neutralize the tension. A third party functions to stabilize the dyad, in some cases as participant in a new dyadic coalition within the triad. Until the original dyadic stress is effectively lowered, third parties are continuously sought. This predictable outreach creates networks that stabilize dyads and relationship systems. Delineating representative patterns of interdependency within and between triads can deepen our understanding of a variety of social forms and processes (Wolff, 1950). Departing from most earlier sociological research on patterns of interaction, this paper suggests that triads are the irreducible foundation of small group dynamics, and that groups are composed of interdependent and interlocking triads. Group dynamics are viewed as being shaped and reshaped by the continuous shift of dyadic coalitions between and among triads. Triads are most readily activated in conflict, stress, and contingency situations. Triadic relations are more clearly illustrated by clinical data than by data from community settings, primarily because of the higher levels of dependency *An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 1986 annual meeting of the Eastern Sociological

8 citations


Journal Article
TL;DR: Milton C. Winternitz's ideas about clinical sociology are presented and his unsuccessful pursuit of funds to establish a department of clinical sociology is discussed.
Abstract: The earliest published statement of the value of clinical sociology was written by Milton C Winternitz, dean of the Yale School of Medicine from 1920 through 1935. This article presents Winternitz's ideas about clinical sociology and discusses his unsuccessful pursuit of funds to establish a department of clinical sociology The article also introduces two documents written by Winternitz and correspondence from 1931 between Winternitz and Michael M. Davis, director of medical services for the Julius Rosenwald Fund. The words "clinical" and "sociology" were paired in a sociology journal for the first time in 1931 by sociologist Louis Wirth in an article in The American Journal of Sociology. But it now appears that the earliest published statement of the value of a clinical sociology came one year earlier—from a physician writing in the Yale University Bulletin. Milton C. Winternitz (1885-1959), "one of the country's foremost pathologists" (The New York Times, 1959), was dean of the Yale School of Medicine from 1920 through 1935. In reviewing his work at Yale, a prominent critic of medical education described Winternitz as "one of the most energetic, keen and able administrators" in medical schools (Flexner, 1940:258). Winternitz thought of medicine as a social science and in the earliest known publication discussing clinical sociology (Winternitz, 1930a), he wrote of his intention to form a "clinical sociology section." He said this plan's "actual realization only depends on securing the funds and the necessary personnel." Winternitz's brief 1930 note on clinical sociology mentioned that the "details Copyright © 1989 by Jan M. Fritz.

8 citations


Journal Article
TL;DR: The role of the sociologist in helping communities to recognize a social problem is analyzed in the context of social construction of reality theory as discussed by the authors, and strategies for community-based sociological practice are discussed.
Abstract: Strategies for community-based sociological practice are discussed. The role of the sociologist in helping communities to recognize a social problem is analyzed in the context of social construction of reality theory. Once a community accepts that it has a problem with adolescent drug abuse, control and peer association theories can guide sociologists who wish to join with community leaders to combat drug abuse. By strengthening bonds among community organizations, parents, and other groups, the community tolerance for drug abuse is reduced and support for peer prevention is built. This paper discusses the role of the sociologist in defining drag abuse as a problem and in mobilizing community resources to deal with it. Based on an on-going intervention project, strategies are introduced for practicing sociologists, who wish to assist communities in the prevention of and intervention with adolescent drug abuse. Grounded in social construction of reality, social control, and peer association theory, the model may be generalizable to other forms of social deviance of concern to communities. A previous version of this paper was presented to the Sociological Practice Association, June 1988, Washington, D.C. This paper benefited from discussion and comments by the reviewers and David J. Kallen, Loyd S. Wright, Ann Marie Ellis, Paul Hodges, Nina M. Wright, and Susan B. Thompson.

8 citations


Journal Article
TL;DR: The history of clinical sociology at Yale is described in this paper, where the authors use the sociological perspective of Alfred Schutz to turn attention to the linkages of generations of sociologists reflected in the construction of our history.
Abstract: This article recounts one version of the attempt to create a department of clinical sociology in the Medical School of Yale University in the late 1920s. The theoretical perspective of Alfred Schutz is used to turn attention to the linkages of generations of sociologists reflected in the construction of our history as told to young sociologists by their elders. Historical documents and the recollections of John Dollard are used to recount the history of attempts to develop support for the Institute of Human Relations, including a department of clinical sociology at Yale Medical School. The idea was supported by Dean Winternitz of the School of Medicine, but drew powerful opposition from other Departments at Yale and from Abraham Flexner, whose report on American medical schools set the course of medical education in America. The science of history has the momentous task of deciding which events, actions, communicative acts to select for interpretations of "history" from the total social reality of the past. (Schutz, 1984:61) A recognition of the tentative nature of our past is necessary when we attempt to reconstruct the history of clinical sociology. Understanding this history requires information about a complex intertwining of lives, organizations, politics, and science that has never been completely passed on from preceding to current generations. The history of clinical sociology at Yale is a case in point. This work on the history of clinical sociology has been guided by Alfred Schutz's thoughts about the sociology of knowledge (Gordon, 1981). As Schutz (1962) points out, people use the knowledge of the past to deal with their situation in the present. For instance, when Glass again turned attention to the practice of clinical sociology at the 1978 meeting of the American Sociological

7 citations


Journal Article
TL;DR: During the two-year training program, familiarity was gained with the general perspectives and treatment strategies of the various professionals involved in inpatient and outpatient care and the opportunity also existed to apply sociological insight and skills as a researcher and clinician.
Abstract: Clinical sociologists can play an important role in understanding and treating psychiatric disorders They can provide insight into the linguistic and emotional processes that form social psychological pathways to disorders; they can illuminate the sociocultural contexts from which certain disorders emerge and on which they have an impact; and they can facilitate individual and social change A permanent place for clinical sociology in the therapeutic community of a psychiatric facility will not be created, however, without the interdisciplinary adoption of a unifying conceptual framework in which biological, psychological, and sociological factors are defined as of potentially equal importance in the development of psychiatric disorders. What can clinical sociology contribute to the therapeutic community of a psychiatric facility? Does it add just one more discipline to the plethora of professionals serving individuals with psychiatric disorders; 1 and bring one more variable—social factors—into an established medical perspective on the origin and consequences of mental illness? Or can it make a valuable contribution in its own right as an essential element in a comprehensive, biopsychosocial approach to understanding and treating psychiatric disorders. These questions will be answered from the standpoint of a clinical sociologist who recently completed a two-year training program at a psychiatric hospital and medical center. In the process of working in the hospital setting, familiarity was gained with the general perspectives and treatment strategies of the various professionals involved in inpatient and outpatient care. The opportunity also existed to apply sociological insight and skills as a researcher and clinician. During the two-year program close contact was maintained with over seventy-five patients who were part of an ongoing, longitudinal study of manic depressives:

Journal Article
TL;DR: This paper presented a model of conflict resolution which draws resource from sociological theory, research, and practice and delineates an adaptable strategy applicable to a wide range of social structures and concomitant relational problems Theoretical Relevance Regardless of one's theoretical preference, conflict resolution is an essential process in creating, sustaining and modifying social structures.
Abstract: Social connectedness constrains individuality in favor of relationship. Group affiliation contributes to a tension between self and social motivation. Often, it becomes difficult to find mutually acceptable solutions to common problems In such cases, conflicts may emerge which require professional intervention to resolve. This article presents a model of conflict resolution which draws resource from sociological theory, research, and practice It delineates an adaptable strategy applicable to a wide range of social structures and concomitant relational problems Theoretical Relevance Regardless of one's theoretical preference, conflict resolution is an essential process in creating, sustaining, and modifying social structures. The functionalists emphasize structural equilibrium as a means of perpetuating existing social relations. Unsettled conflicts are interpreted as dysfunctions which threaten to undermine social solidarity. Conflict theorists attribute value to the process of conflict mediation as a method of achieving successive social formations which are more egalitarian than previous ones. Symbolic interactionists focus on the importance of agreement by all parties forming a social set on the meanings attached to various interactional behaviors. Theorists from the social exchange perspective are most concerned about the the cost/benefit differential associated with alternative choices available to negotiating actors. Sociologists from the phenomenological school utilize resolution procedures as a means of constructing social reality in the first place and reconstructing it

Journal Article
TL;DR: A survey of B.A. sociology graduates at St Cloud State University between 1965 and 1985 was conducted to assess the extent to which the sociology curriculum prepares students for practice roles after graduation.
Abstract: Results from a survey of B.A. sociology graduates are used to assess the extent to which the sociology curriculum prepares students for practice roles after graduation. The respondents graduated from St. Cloud State University between 1965 and 1985. During these years the sociology program had a traditional liberal arts emphasis. Graduates were asked to report on several aspects of their occupations (use of sociology, level of authority, and income being the most important) They also were asked to comment on which courses they found most useful, which courses they wished they had taken, and what advice they had for current sociology majors and for the sociology department at St. Cloud State. The results suggest that the general skills emphasized in the liberal arts curriculum contributed to the occupational success of graduates However, in their comments graduates showed some dissatisfaction with the traditional curriculum. The general thrust of these comments was that, while the liberal arts emphasis is important, more attention should be devoted to career preparation This confirms the value of the recent trend toward sociology curricula that are more directly addressed to practice issues It also suggests the need for further change, particularly in the area of career advising



Journal Article
TL;DR: In this article, the authors discuss three conceptual models of program implementation that provide valid standardization of program evaluation and adjustment, and demonstrate the relationship of those three methods to the modal cycle of policy making.
Abstract: In program monitoring, social policy researchers often use multiple case methods of analysis, comparing cases with low and high impact. In view of the low "observer" reliability of case analysis, a standard analytical approach is recommended. The article discusses three conceptual models of program implementation that provide valid standardization of program evaluation and adjustment. Three Methods of Policy Research In the field of data-based sociological practice, new methods and applications of social policy research and intervention are proliferating. In this process of methodological diversification, three major categories of social policy research and utilization can be distinguished: (1) diagnosing a social problem, including the assessment of needs; (2) monitoring the implementation of a program aimed at reducing the problem; and (3) evaluating the intended and unintended impacts of a policy program. The relationship of those three methods to the modal cycle of policy making is illustrated in Figure 1. Monitoring Program Implementation Of the three methods in Model 1, implementation monitoring is different from the other two methods. While diagnosing a problem and evaluating a program's impact focus on such static tasks as, for instance, describing deviant behavior and measuring whether it has been reduced by the program, implementation

Journal Article
TL;DR: The treatment approach which removed the hair in a ritual acceptable to the client was successful and Sophie Koslowski was moved to outpatient services designed for higher functioning clients and began to do piecework at Cedar Industries, the sheltered workshop affiliated with Hutchings Psychiatric Center.
Abstract: The last volume of the Clinical Sociology Review contained an article that presented a planned intervention for an unusual circumstance—the removal of a longlasting hex This article provides additional information from the client, an update, and some further reflections from the clinical sociological perspective The case of Sophie Koslowski, a woman of Polish and Catholic heritage whose behavior was oriented around a hex placed on her hair, was presented in Volume 6 of the Clinical Sociology Review (Freedman, 1988). That article discussed the hexing of her hair by a neighbor, her fear that cutting it would lead to her death, her refusal to cut it for eleven years, and the search for an appropriate healer. The healer, a black minister named Doc Jones, was found and, with appropriate ritual, he cut her hair and buried it in several different places. The treatment approach which removed the hair in a ritual acceptable to the client was successful. Sophie Koslowski was moved to outpatient services designed for higher functioning clients and began to do piecework at Cedar Industries, the sheltered workshop affiliated with Hutchings Psychiatric Center. She continues to improve and to feel better. She states that she is no longer nervous and \"as the buried hexed hair rots, I will continue to get better.\" Her hair is now growing at a normal rate as compared with the rapid growth when it was hexed. It is now just shoulder length. Where she previously had worn a waist-length wig to cover her uncut hair, she now seldom wears it—\"only for dressing up and not for camouflage.\" She wants to be the first Polish blues singer and is studying voice

Journal Article
TL;DR: The context of victimology has been discussed in this article, where a dynamic theory of personal criminal victimization has been proposed and its implications for the growing field of clinical sociology have been discussed.
Abstract: Although victimology as a field is in its infancy and is undergoing definition, several theories of victimization that have implications for clinical practice have already been published. Several are specific and segmented, but one theory relates victimization to its broader cultural, social organizational-institutional, interactional and personality contexts Richard A. Ball presents a "Theory of the Victimological Cycle," while the late Michael J Hindelang, Michael Gottfredson, and James Garofalo discuss "A Theory of Personal Criminal Victimization," modified in 1987 by James Garofalo. Against this backdrop, Richard D. Knudten offers insight into his "Dynamic Theory of Victimization 1 2." After their characteristics are identified, implications for the growing field of clinical sociology will be discussed The Context of Victimological Theorizing Development of the science of victimology has been stimulated by demand for action to alleviate personal and social needs. Early calls for a science of victimology came from such diverse sources as Beniamin Mendelsohn, a Romanian-Israeli lawyer; Hans von Hentig, a sociological victimologist; and Stephen Schafer, a Hungarian law professor turned American criminologist-victimologist. Marvin Wolfgang provided impetus by his seminal work in criminal homicide and victimization in Philadelphia (1958), while others added insight in discussions of offender derogation of victims and the need for justice systems to restore offender and victim equity (Sykes and Matza, 1957; Lamborn, 1968). Ezzat Fattah (1979) argued that criminal behavior is dynamic and thus can only be explained by a dynamic examination of antisocial conduct and the processes of stigmatizing, legitimating, desensitizing and stereotyping of the victim.


Journal Article
TL;DR: The School of Community Service at the University of North Texas as mentioned in this paper provides training in interventionist, multidisciplmary, humane, and holistic approaches to sociological practice with a focus on social welfare.
Abstract: This article contains a description of a model for training in sociological practice at the School of Community Service at the University of North Texas This model for training is predicated upon four themes in sociological practice: interventionist, multidisciplmary, humane, and holistic The article also contains a description and a discussion of various academic programs within the School which provide training with respect to these four themes In 1979 Dr. Glass, co-founder, first coordinator, and first president of the Clinical Sociology Association, outlined his vision for clinical sociology and sociological practice for the 1980s. It was his aspiration that there would be, somewhere, several graduate programs providing training in sociological practice and clinical sociology. In less than a decade after his presidential address, Although Cliff Black took the lead in writing this article, the fact that it came to fruition is a result of two years of dialogue between Bill Luker and the other three authors, and his mentoring of them. The identity of the School of Community Service and the clarity of its mission or purpose are direct results of his activities and leadership in the role of