Showing papers in "Review of Sociology in 1985"

Social Problems Theory: The Constructionist View

Abstract: This paper reviews and critiques the origin and development of a new specialty in sociology, the sociology of social problems. While social problems long has been a topic of sociological attention, it is only since the work of Blumer and, most especially, Spector & Kitsuse in the early 1970s, that a theoretically integrated and empirically viable tradition of writing and research has developed. The central proposition of this tradition is that social problems are the definitional activities of people around conditions and conduct they find troublesome, including others' definitional activities. In short, social problems are socially constructed, both in terms of the particular acts and interactions problem participants pursue, and in terms of the process of such activities through time. The founding theoretical statements are reviewed and the research is discussed in terms of the following categories: containing trouble and avoiding problems; the creation, ownership, and processing of problems; public reg...

Quality of life research and sociology

Abstract: This review examines research literature on the Quality of Life (QOL) pub­ lished in Canada and the United States since 1975. Of particular interest are the definition and measurement of QOL, theoretical perspectives of QOL, the findings of QOL research, and the impact of this research on public policy. A brief critical assessment accompanies the discussion of each topic, and a forecast is ventured of the future of QOL research in sociology.

Sociology of Mass Communication

Abstract: Mass communication has always been an object of interdisciplinary study, but it is currently gaining a greater degree of autonomy. The paradigm that is emerging has probably been more influenced by sociology than by any other discipline. This review deals with literature, mainly published during the last five years, chosen according to the significance or representativeness of the main themes. Among thesc is media theory, where the field has proved very sensitive to wider debates within the social sciences, especially those provoked by the advocacy of more critical theory and research and by attacks on positivism. The cultural studies approach has gained ground, and there has been more interchange between humanistic and scientific approaches. The question of media power has remained very much at the center of debate. The critical-cultural developments mentioned have made some contribution to a reconceptualization of the problem and to the adoption of new research strategies that pay more attention to long...

The nonmetropolitan population turnaround.

Abstract: Over the 1970-1980 period, US nonmetropolitan areas grew more rapidly than previously, achieving overall a faster growth rate than metropolitan areas, with more migrants going from metropolitan to nonmetropolitan areas than in the opposite direction. This paper reviews the literature that has emerged in seeking to understand this new trend, which was contrary to expectations and became known as the nonmetropolitan turnaround. Work includes macroanalyses of changes in nonmetropolitan settlement structure, changes in the distribution of employment, migration streams and differentials, as well as research on residential preferences and migration decision making. This is a new trend in terms of population distribution processes, although evidence that it reflects a greater importance of noneconomic factors in migration is mixed. Nonmetropolitan growth slowed in the latter part of the 1970s and overall the turnaround reversed in the early 1980s, but a return to a generally concentrating settlement pattern appe...

New Black-White Patterns: How Best to Conceptualize Them?

Abstract: Black-white relations have changed sharply in recent years. But no overarching sociological perspective has emerged to explain these changes. Many ideas with contrasting conceptualizations have been advanced, however. This chapter uncovers empirical agreements across these rival theoretical positions. At the structural level, race and class studies appear to converge on an interactional position—one that emphasizes the importance of both race and class factors as well as their interactions. A parallel convergence is emerging at the social psychological level. Though increasingly ambivalent and indirect, racist attitudes remain important; but racism must now be placed in a wider context of subjective self-interest, stratification beliefs, and cognitive bias. Hence, the causal complexity and indirectness of modern race relations are repeatedly shown in current research at both the macro- and microlevels. Closer attention to this emerging empirical convergence would further the needed theoretical convergence...

Effects of Sibling Number on Child Outcome

Abstract: This article reviews studies concerning the impact of sibling number on a selected series of outcomes including IQ, educational attainment, status of current job, and current earnings, Sibling number is a variable over time and cannot be properly measured unless data are available on the number and timing of all births and the age at which each child in the family ceases to be dependent. Unfortunately, existing research is too much based on secondary analysis of data sets for which all of the requisite information is not available. Controversies surround the question whether there is a causal impact of sibling number on IQ and, if so, how it can be explained; these are reviewed in detail. Research on the impact of sibling number on the other three dependent variables is reviewed, particularly where it contributes to our knowledge of the impact on educational attainment net of IQ, on job status net of education attainment, and on current earnings net of job status. It is concluded that decisions on the num...

Social Control of Occupations and Work

Abstract: Three largely separate literatures—on organizations, on professions, and on manual and clerical work settings—have treated the social control of work. From these writings we identify five modes of control over work: simple, technical, bureaucratic, occupational, and worker self-control. We discuss findings on conditions that underlie the occurrence of different controls. Contingency and resource dependence organization theories help explain the degree of bureaucratic control and the power of work groups within organizations. Literature on occupations and work groups suggests four categories of variables related to modes of control. These pertain to (a) the nature of tasks, particularly their degree of uncertainty, (b) relations between segments of occupation, (c) how an occupation fits into a division of labor, and (d) relations of an occupation to elements of its environment such as clients, markets, or government. Findings on professionals and those on lower-status workers are often similar although sta...

The petite bourgeoisie in late capitalism

Abstract: Over the past decade or so social scientists and policy makers have grown increasingly interested in the role of the petite bourgeoisie in capitalist societies. The paper begins by sketching the major sociological approaches to the study of this stratum and the diverse characteristics of and propositions put forth about the fortunes of the petite bourgeoisie. The second section draws together evidence from several western societies in an attempt to appraise arguments about the alleged archaism, the long run decline, or the possible regeneration of the small business sector of western economies. The economic significance of the petite bourgeoisie is assessed with respect to information about the capacity of the stratum to provide employment, to generate new jobs, and to stimulate innovation. The small business sector also has considerable political significance. Though its role in the political life of particular societies shows considerable variation it is everywhere an important repository of ideas and s...

The political attitudes of professionals

Abstract: In the 1960s and 1970s, political events and polling data indicated a significant rise in liberal and dissenting political attitudes among American professionals. These data seem to run counter to the historically typical connection between social privilege and conservative politics. The major purpose of this paper is to provide a descriptive portrait of the politics of professionals since 1960, through a review of American survey research. Business executives and nonprofessional workers are used as the principal comparison categories. Professionals are conservative on most economic policy issues and on commitments to American “core values.” Like business executives, they are comparatively liberal on civil rights and civil liberties issues. Like nonprofessional workers, they are comparatively liberal on welfare state and business support issues. They are more liberal than either business executives or nonprofessional workers on personal morality and military force issues. Within the professional stratum, ...

Social mobility and fertility.

Abstract: Studies in a number of different countries, which have shown that rates of mobility between different occupational classes are more alike than they were expected to be, have raised questions about the mechanisms underlying social mobility. In preparation for a large-scale investigation, we have made two small pilot studies designed to clarify certain preliminary problems. In the second half of this paper we are going to concentrate on the second pilot study, whose concern was with fertility. Before proceeding to that discussion we shall in the first part give a brief outline of the main idea we hope to explore in the large-scale investigation. It has been rather more fully developed elsewhere.29

The Impact of School Desegregation: A Situational Analysis

Abstract: The effects of school desegregation will become clearer as we develop a more comprehensive awareness of variability in the desegregation “situation.” In this paper, we distinguish three dimensions of a situational analysis: macro/micro, objective/subjective, and proximal/distal. We use these dimensions to evaluate the research on students' academic achievement, self-esteem, and intergroup relations, identifying points along each dimension where research seems well advanced and points where more research is needed.

The Organizational Structure of the School

Abstract: The sociology of school organization is today fragmented by a bewildering variety of theoretical perspectives—interactionist, neo-Durkheimian, phenomenological, to name a few. Central to the development in this field over the past decade has been the rejection of the ideal-type of bureaucratic organization as formulated by Weber and the attempt to locate formal structures of the school within the strategies and motives of teachers, pupils, and administrators. The result has often been, however, a certain loss of theoretical focus and a failure to think through the contradictions of particular perspectives and to formulate their partial insights into more rigorous and embracing conclusions. The ascendant model of school structure is now that of the loosely coupled system, in which technologies are uncertain, goals unclear, and the formal structures of which tend towards anarchy. This model contrasts markedly with other dominant perspectives, notably those in the structuralist tradition (e.g. Bernstein, Fou...

Social Theory and Talcott Parsons in the 1980

Abstract: In recent years a revival has occurred in analytical and empirical studies related to the social theory of Talcott Parsons. The newer analytical work addresses the whole of Parsons' effort in the context of general questions that bear on all social theory. Especially important works by Bershady, Habermas, Munch, and Alexander establish a new baseline for future analytical assessments of the theory. Much of the empirical work focuses on specification and assessment of theoretical propositions, particularly concerning the more normative components of social systems, and on "general action complexes" that synthesize social, cultural, personality, and behavioral aspects of major phenomena in modern societies.

Macrosociolinguistics and The Sociology of Language in the Early Eighties

Abstract: The topics, journals, and languages of publication for articles and books on sociolinguistic matters listed in LLBA and in Sociological Abstracts in 1981-82 are reviewed. It is clearly necessary to examine a large number of journals

Urban policy analysis

Abstract: Four overlapping subfields of urban policy analysis are reviewed. The political leadership analyses include elite theories, group theory, neo-Marxist work, and network analyses. Consideration of citizen preferences involves populist spatial theories, budget pies, and policy responsiveness. Bureaucratic theories include incrementalism, the dynamic bureau head, and professionalism. Population and economic location analyses increasingly stress small firms, simultaneity of job and residential choice, and impacts of public policy. These alternative approaches were often advanced as one-factor interpretations. But a contextual relativism approach seeks to reconcile their ostensibly conflicting results. Results differ by context. Current work specifies how rules of the game, identified by distinct political cultures, shift processes across contexts.