Showing papers in "Review of Sociology in 1983"

Resource Mobilization Theory and the Study of Social Movements

Abstract: Resource mobilization theory has recently presented an alternative interpretation of social movements. The review traces the emergence and recent controversies generated by this new perspective. A multifactored model of social movement formation is advanced, emphasizing resources, organization, and political opportunities in addition to traditional discontent hypotheses. The McCarthy-Zald (1973) theory of entrepreneurial mobilization is critically assessed as an interpretation of the social movements of the 1960s-1970s, and the relevance of the Olson (1968) theory of collective action is specified. Group organization is argued to be the major determinant of mobilization potential and patterns. The debate between the Gerlach-Hine (1970) and entrepreneurial theories of social movement organization is traced in terms of historical changes in the social movement sector and the persistence of organizational diversity. A model of social movement politics is outlined, building on Gamson’s (1975) theory of strate...

Distributive Justice, Equity, and Equality

Abstract: This chapter provides a general review of the research conducted over the past two decades on individuals’ conceptions of equity and distributive justice and their reactions to inequity. Various theoretical formulations are identified and important topics for further theoretical development and empirical investigation are discussed. In conclusion, the authors suggest that micro-level concepts of distributive justice have certain limitations. Consideration of more macrolevel concepts suggests possibilities for integrating equity and distributive justice theories with sociological theories of power, conflict, and collective action. This integration, if achieved, would bring notions of justice to the forefront in the analysis of social change.

Generation as a Sociological Problem

Abstract: For many millenia, in cultures around the world, the concept of generation has prospered. Its privileged place in Western societies is reflected in its codification in the Bible, while the most disparate societies of Africa, Asia and Australia have incorporated the generational concept in their notions of the social order. It is no surprise that the idea of generation should have come into prominent use in Western sociology, just as so many other terms have been preempted from popular to scientific vocabulary. It was perhaps also inevitable that this transformation from folk to analytical usage would occasion considerable conceptual confusion. The term's mulivocality, a virtue in popular discourse, became a liability in science. In this review, I identify the sources of confusion in the sociological usage of "generation" as I examine the recent literature. Though others have identified many problems with the sociological usage of the generation concept, their strictures have thus far had only limited effect. The concept of generation is important to future sociological research, but progress can only be made if an acceptable definition of generation is employed and other usages are abandoned. Here my focus is conceptual and methodological. I do not attempt a comprehensive review of substantive findings, though the bibliography should be useful to those interested in pursuing specific substantive inter­ ests. Along with the recent sociological literature, I examine closely related works by social psychologists, political scientists, and anthropologists. I first identify the diversity of meanings attributed to the generation concept and discuss the intellectual heritage bequeathed to contemporary sociology. I examine the literature of the past dozen years, identifying areas of concep-

America's Melting Pot Reconsidered

Abstract: America is God's Crucible, the great Melting Pot where all the races of Europe are melting and fe-forming! Here you stand, good folk, think 1, when I see them at Ellis Island, here you stand in your fifty groups, with your fifty languages and histories, and your fifty blood hatreds and rivalries. But you won't be long like that, brothers, for these are the fires of God you've come to-these are fires of God. A fig for your feuds and vendettas! Germans and Frenchmen, Irishmen and Englishmen, Jews and Russians-into the Crucible with you all! God is making the American.

Models of Neighborhood Change

Abstract: This review presents an analysis of current sociology and human ecology dealing with neighborhood change. The review is organized in four major sections. The first deals with the concept of neighborhood. The second discusses the classic models of neighborhood change—invasion-succession and life cycle. The third deals with the current perspectives on neighborhood change: demographic/ecological, sociocultural/organizational, political economy, and social movements. The final section focuses on urban revitalization and gentrification.

The sociology of scientific knowledge: studies of contemporary science

Abstract: When, in 1975, Joseph Ben-David and Teresa Sullivan reviewed the "Sociology of Science" for this series, they did not need to mention the sociology of scientific knowledge. Just six years later, Ben-David (1981) published a review article with "Sociology of Scientific Knowledge" as the title. These two articles indicate the phenomenal growth of the subdiscipline in recent years. As Ben-David (1981:54) writes, "No paper on recent developments in the sociology of science can ignore the 'revolutionary' circumstances which prevailed in the field during the seventies." As a participant in the development of the subject I can bear witness to both the excitement and disappointment of the period. It was exciting because the sociology of scientific knowledge appeared to promise a kind of sociological perfection. It was a field in which detailed empirical research could have the most profound theoretical consequences. Accessible and self-contained institutions contained the fundamental secrets of certainty and we had only to split these social "atoms" to create the light of understanding. It was immediately disappointing because hardly anybody in the major sociological marketplace, the United States, saw the light; all they felt, as it were, was the draught. And it is recently disappointing because, though the field has only begun to fulfil its potential, disagreements are now taking up more space than substantive contributions, the standard for an

Contemporary Ethnic Mobilization

Abstract: Ethnic mobilization is the process by which groups organize around some feature of ethnic identity (for example, skin color, language, customs) in pursuit of collective ends. In this review I seek to uncover some of the material and ideological bases of this explosion of ethnic movements in such diverse regions as Quebec, Eritrea, Bangladesh, Brittany, Biafra, and Scotland, to name but a few. I limit this review to the occurrences of ethnic mobilization since World War II because many observers claim that during this period the character of ethnic movements has qualitatively changed toward increasing politicization of ethnicity (Glazer & Moynihan 1975), and has quantitatively changed toward increasing claims of autonomy, statehood, and independent status (Rothschild 1981; Smith 1981 b). In narrowing my scope to recent ethnic mobilizations, I accept the proposition that under certain conditions modernization 1 creates and sustains contemporary ethnic movements (Connor 1972; Young 1976; Esman 1977; Smith 1979; Enloe 1973, 1980a). Two research questions relating modernization to ethnic mobilization guide this review. First, why does modernization foster ethnic movements in some but not all states? More specifically, under what conditions does political

The Sociology of Values

Abstract: The history of the concept of values is reviewed from its beginnings in the 19th century to the present Work on values rose to preeminence under Talcott Parsons and his associates during 1950-1965, Nevertheless, the theory they produced was flawed: It lacked sophisticated empirical support, imposed preordained categories on reality, and was formulated at an unresearchable level of abstraction Alternative theories of values fared only somewhat better More vibrant is the long tradition of (nonParsonian) empirical studies in various subject areas (eg achievement, religion) This body of work, however, is ad hoc in nature: The data produced are essentially noncomparable and do not advance the concerns of value theory The recent work of Kohn (on class and values) and Rokeach (on general value systems) has begun to remedy the situation It is suggested that value analysis of the future can only solve past ditficulties if (a) it develops grounded theory and research methods—ie, hypotheses and techniques t

Individual and Collective Behaviors Within Gatherings, Demonstrations, and Riots

Abstract: The life cycles of gatherings, demonstrations, and riots begin with an assembling phase and end with a dispersal phase. The three types of events are primarily distinguished by the form and content of individual and collective behaviors that occur in the interim phase when a number of people are in the same locale at the same time. We review the past 15 years’ research on behaviors in this phase. We first consider some elementary forms of collective behavior that frequently occur in all gatherings, demonstrations, and riots. We next examine more complex dimensions and forms of behavior within political, religious, and sport demonstrations. We then review research on the individual and aggregate violence against person, property, and property rights that distinguishes riots. Finally, we note some recurring patterns in the research on all three types of events, and we identify problems warranting further investigation.

Sociological Aspects of Attribution

Abstract: Attribution theory, the study of the causal interpretations that persons give to events in their environment, has recently been a major emphasis in psychological social psychology. This paper explores the utility of the classic theoretical statements in attribution for sociological problems, and reviews the efforts of sociologists to apply attribution concepts in their research. The theory has been criticized regarding its limited applicability to attribution occurring in interaction or in natural contexts. These criticisms are reviewed, as well as arguments for synthesizing attribution theory with symbolic interactionism, and efforts to apply such a synthesis in the areas of labeling, impression management, and accounts. Future research and conceptualization agendas are suggested, along with a research strategy for accomplishing these.

SUPPLY-SIDE SOCIOLOGY OF THE FAMILY: The Challenge of the New Home Economics

Abstract: In this paper we review recent developments in microeconomic perspectives on the family We focus on the "household production function," describing both the strengths and weaknesses of the "New Home Economics" We also extract some implications for sociological research on the family

Toward Integration in the Social Psychology of Emotions

Abstract: Contemporary research on emotions has been increasingly demarcated into four self-contained segments: the cultural, biological, inner, and outer aspects of emotional processes. A parallel trend is the increasing hegemony of the perspective of those who study only the cultural and outside segments. Research on cultural variation, the causation of emotional states, and cultural universals is reviewed and evaluated. This review suggests that the evidence does not support the exclusion of cultural universals from research designs. It is proposed that integration of these four approaches is urgently needed if we are to understand the interactions between culture and biology, between inner and outer, and therefore what is distinctively human about human beings. Some research that integrates these elements into single designs is described as pointing the way for future exploration.

Change in Military Organization

Abstract: Recent literature in military sociology is reviewed in the context of theories regarding increasing rationality on the part of societies, organizations, and individuals. Models that emphasize individualistic orientations to military service are compared with models that assume a more collectivistic orientation. Attention is paid to the shift from a mobilization-based armed force to a force in being, and to the convergence between military and civilian organizations. Several consequences of the rationalization of the military are considered, including potential changes in willingness to fight, military unionization, changes in professionalism, the substitution of management for leadership, increased utilization of women, and dependence on research, including social science research.

Dying and the Meanings of Death: Sociological Inquiries

Abstract: This review takes off from the remarkable decline in mortality as one of the most striking features of the social history of the past century. Most deaths now occur not among the young but among the old. Death, thus postponed, is taking on new meanings for both the individual and society. Three lines of sociological inquiry over the past two decades, together with an extensive bibliography, are critically reviewed. First, the literature on dying and the self includes dying as a social process, dying trajectories, attitudes toward death, and the potentially mortal impact of such social stressors as retirement, residential relocation, and economic change. Second, a broad and often confusing literature deals with bereavement, grief, and the meaning of loss by death to surviving significant others, touching upon such topics as the “broken heart syndrome,” widowhood, types of death and bereavement, and anticipatory grief. Third, sociological inquiries examine the norms and social structures found in all societ...

The Sociology of Transportation

Abstract: This article provides a comprehensive review of developments in transportation research relevant to sociological inquiry about urban transportation and its consequences for urban structure, both spatial and social. Recent research has gone beyond initial observations about the linkages between transportation use and the spatial form of cities to further detail its impacts upon residential segregation, decentralization, and inequalities in mobility access. Historical case studies of local transit firms and politics, industrial organization of the transportation industry and its impact upon transportation policy, and national and local studies of the political economy of urban transporation have advanced a comparative research framework for understanding the institutional forces that constrain transportation choices and technical development. Finally, social psychological research, through laboratory experimental studies, field studies, and time-budget analysis, has just begun to examine the impacts of tran...

Ownership and control of corporations

Abstract: The decade of the 19708 produced a convergence between organizational theorists who focused upon intercorporate relationships, and the subset of political sociologists whose concern with business-government connections led to an exploration of business structure. The marriage of these previously disconnected intellectual traditions has produced three major analytic develop­ ments. First, it has given rise to four new contending models of business structure: resource dependency, class cohesion, bank control, and financial hegemony. Second, the debate among these new theories has not only defini­ tively ended the 30-year domination of the managerial perspective, it has also produced a wealth of new evidence that has settled some old disputes; re­ directed others into new, more productive lines of research; and raised a host of new, as yet unsettled, empirical issues. Third, scholars with contradictory viewpoints have contributed to a redefinition and refinement of the concep­ tualization of power, pushing beyond recent developments in political sociolo­ gy to analyze the dual sources of institutional power: the structural constraints that operate between institutions; and the discretionary decision-making acces­ sed by institutional leadership.

Marxist Perspectives in the Sociology of Law

Abstract: This review considers the problems and prospects associated with the development of Marxist perspectives in the sociology of law. Taking as its starting point the efforts to construct a Marxist understanding of law through the traditional approach of legal economism, a number of directions and themes in the development of a new Marxist vision of law are explored. Alternatives to “legal nihilism” are examined in conjunction with a survey of the movement of Marxist theory toward a “looser” and “flatter” conception of the relationship between law and society. The role of politics, ideology, and history in the reconstruction of Marxist legal theory are then considered with special attention to the virtues and limits of “imbricationist” and “constitutive” accounts. The analysis ends with a reexamination of the points of convergence and divergence among Marxism, sociology, law, and socialism.

The New History of Sociology

Abstract: In 1967, Robert Merton both reaffirmed his distinction between the “history” and “systematics” of sociological theory and lamented the failure of his colleagues to observe it. Since then, however, the influence of what Merton called the “new history of science” (e.g. Thomas Kuhn) has been felt in the historiography of anthropology ( e. g. George W. Stocking, Jr.), political theory (e. Quentin Skinner), and, more recently, in sociology. It is thus possible to speak optimistically of a “new history of sociology” that is, in Merton’s phrase, “authentically historical.” A summary of this literature is presented. Since the value of this new history for sociology itself is avowedly different from that of its “systematic” counterpart, the alternative functions of “authentic histories” of sociology are discussed in the conclusion.

Changing Family and Household: Contemporary Lessons from Historical Research

Abstract: This essay examines the recent historical research on the family with the objective of identifying useful lessons for students of the contemporary family. The following themes in the historical research are discussed: household and family structure, production and reproduction, life course transitions, the emotional content of family life, and the distinctiveness of the 1950s. The essay concludes with a discussion of theoretical and methodological issues in historical research on the family.

The Sociology of Agriculture: Toward a New Rural Sociology

Abstract: Rural sociology has recently developed a new research agenda focussing on the sociology of agriculture. This has led to a revitalization of a field of research that had lost its way since the decline of the rural-urban continuum in the 1960s. The crisis that occurred in rural sociology in the 1970s is discussed in relation both to this theoretical vacuum and to the failure to achieve a policy impact. It is argued that the sociology of agriculture offers a potentially successful means of overcoming this crisis, but some of the difficulties in utilizing this approach are also discussed. Observations are made on the institutional setting of rural sociology and on whether it is compatible with the development of a critical sociology of agriculture.

The Sociology of Knowledge: Retrospect and Prospect

Abstract: Before World War II the intellectual climate of American sociology was congenial to the growth of a sociology of knowledge akin to Mannheim's. Yet in the postwar period American sociologists committed themselves to ahistorical theory, positivist methodology, and team research; their “scientistic” sociology did not permit the historicism, relativism, and holism necessary to Mannheimian analysis. Currently, however, convergent trends in a number of disciplines—not only sociology but also philosophy, anthropology, literary criticism, and the histories of ideas, science, and art—favor a revival of the Mannheimian program. Analysts of culture now seek to integrate the sociological goals of “explanation” and “understanding”—the formulation of quasilaws of behavior, based on identification of the social structural elements of culture production, and the interpretation of the subjective meaning of culture, based on recovery of actors' intentions. Their research program requires investigation of the peculiar socio...

Middletown iii: problems of replication, longitudinal measurement, and triangulation

Abstract: This paper considers the present state of replication in the social sciences with special reference to a subtype of replication, longitudinal research as it applies to community research. Opportunities and pitfalls in replication are illustrated in the experience of the Middletown III Project, a 50-year follow-up of Robert and Helen Lynd's study of the same community in 1924-1925. Replication is defined as research undertaken with reference to a particular baseline study, and a replication may differ from the baseline study in any of its major features. A typology of replicative studies is offered based on four properties of research: time, location, subjects, and method. Longitudinal research is defined as a subtype of replication, and growing interest in and practice of longitudinal research are noted. Community research, which may involve mUltiple replications within a single local context, is contrasted with the usual longitudinal studies that trace specific individuals over time and through a variety...

The Reestablishment of Sociology in the PRC: Toward the Sinification of Marxian Sociology

Abstract: The article analyzes the process of restoring sociology as an academic discipline in the PRC after its official abolishment in 1952. It focuses on the interaction between the Marxian and the bourgeois traditions of Chinese sociology and the efforts toward Sinification. The article reviews briefly the state of sociology before 1949, relating its development to Western penetration and internal political struggles. Post-1949 developments are discussed, including the abolishment of sociology in 1952. Comparisons are made between the 1957 campaign to restore sociology (which failed) and the more recent 1979 drive (which succeeded). Two issues are analyzed that were central to both campaigns: (a) the relationship between Marxism and sociology, and (b) the usefulness of sociology to socialist China. The authors attribute the failure of the 1957 campaign and the success of the 1979 one to the changing sociopolitical context rather than to the difference in substance of the issues. The current state of sociology, in terms of professional training, curriculum, and research development, is also discussed. Discussion of the pre-1949 history of sociology is based on secondary sources; that of the post-1949 period is based largely on interviews with

Recent Neo-Marxist Urban Analysis

Abstract: Despite Castells's (1976a,b,c) critique of the concept of "urban" and his call for a major reformulation of the subfield, many of the phenomena and issues studied by conventional urban researchers are also central to neo-Marxist urban research. These are studied with different analytical concepts, and often new results are produced; but as will be shown, there are also areas of agreement and convergence with conventional work. Neo-Marxist urbanists are critical of studies done by others, especially when the city or some aspect of it is viewed as separate from and independent of the larger society, when urban problems are viewed as discrete isolated phenomena, or when certain urban forms or processes are considered inevitable or universal. According to the neo-Marxists, conventional urban social science explains urban phenomena only partially, failing to identify fundamental causes. For example, a conventional explanation of US urban growth (Borchert 1967) emphasizes two factors, major changes in technology and population migrations, as principal causes of urban structural change. In a neo-Marxist analysis, however, these are not the underlying causes but instead are intermediate factors produced by something more fundamental, the basic requirements and social relations of capitalist production. In a neo-Marxist interpretation, important technological innovations, mass migration, and the urban transformations that accompanied them are all explained as results of capitalists' need for a large, cheap, easily controlled labor force and ever increased production. Another difference between conventional and neo-Marxist urban sociology lies in the latter's stress on the importance of class conflict. Conventional sociologists have emphasized urban communities' complex division of labor, which differentiates the population into interest groups, vocational types, and

Psychoanalysis and Sociology

Abstract: The repeated assertion that a combined psychoanalytic and sociological framework would provide a comprehensive model of human behavior has met with a variety of resistances. Because so few sociologists are interested in psychoanalysis (Wallerstein & Smelser 1969; Rabow & Zucker 1980; Endel" man 1981; Rabow 1979, 1981), views differ widely on what a combined framework should include and on what problems merit study. I Indeed, while authorities from various disciplines have argued that psychoanalysis adds to the social sciences by providing a comprehensive and useful model of human behavior (Ruitenbeck 1962; Goodman 1977; Fine 1977; Levine 1978; Gabriel 1982), receptiveness to this argument varies with the discipline (Levine 1978; Rabow 1983). In this paper I review and evaluate selected efforts, past and present, to integrate psychoanalysis and sociology. I do not try to convince my sociologic­ al audience that psychoanalysis has something to offer sociology. A number of sociologists have found psychoanalytic concepts useful and have made this argument. I do not introduce or evaluate the considerable efforts to translate Freud into a positivist framework (Hook 1959; Wollheim 1971; Wollheim 1974) . The controversy over the scientific validity of psychoanalysis continues and little would be gained from assessing the arguments (see Sulloway 1979 and Breger 1981 for the latest psychological-biological debate). I generally