Showing papers in "Review of Sociology in 1987"

Institutional Theories of Organization

Abstract: Institutional theories of organizations provide a rich, complex view of organizations. In these theories, organizations are influenced by normative pressures, sometimes arising from external sources such as the state, other times arising from within the organization itself. Under some conditions, these pressures lead the organization to be guided by legitimated elements, from standard operating procedures to professional certification and state requirement, which often have the effect of directing attention away from task performance. Adoption of these legitimated elements, leading to isomorphism with the institutional environment, increases the probability of survival. Institutional theories of organization have spread rapidly, a testimony to the power of the imaginative ideas developed in theoretical and empirical work. As rigor increases, with better specification of indicators and models, it is likely to attract the attention of an even larger number of organizational researchers. Institutional theory is inherently difficult to explicate, because it taps taken-for-granted assumptions at the core of social action. The main goal of this review, then, is to make institutional theory more accessible. The review begins with a brief summary of the two current theoretical approaches to institutionalization in organizations, moves to identification of indicators of central concepts, and then progresses to a review of empirical research. It concludes with two short sections, one on points of intersection with other theories of organization, the other on the "new institutionalism" in economics and political science.

Gentrification: Culture and Capital in the Urban Core

Abstract: Gentrification, the conversion of socially marginal and working-class areas of the central city to middle-class residential use, reflects a movement, that began in the 1960s, of private-market investment capital into downtown districts of major urban centers. Related to a shift in corporate investment and a corresponding expansion of the urban service economy, gentrification was seen more immediately in architectural restoration of deteriorating housing and the clustering of new cultural amenities in the urban core. Research on gentrification initially concentrated on documenting its extent, tracing it as a process of neighborhood change, and speculating on its consequences for reversing trends of suburbanization and inner-city decline. But a cumulation of 10 years of research findings suggests, instead, that it results in a geographical reshuffling, among neighborhoods and metropolitan areas, of professional, managerial, and technical employees who work in corporate, government, and business services. Ha...

Three Fragments From a Sociologist's Notebooks: Establishing the Phenomenon, Specified Ignorance, and Strategic Research Materials

Abstract: This occasionally biographical paper deals with three cognitive and social patterns in the practice of science (not 'the scientific method’). The first, “establishing the phenomenon,” involves the doctrine (universally accepted in the abstract) that phenomena should of course be shown to exist or to occur before one explains why they exist or how they come to be; sources of departure in practice from this seemingly self-evident principle are examined. One parochial case of such a departure is considered in detail. The second pattern is the particular form of ignorance described as “specified ignorance”: the express recognition of what is not yet known but needs to be known in order to lay the foundation for still more knowledge. The substantial role of this practice in the sciences is identified and the case of successive specification of ignorance in the evolving sociological theory of deviant behavior by four thought-collectives is sketched out. Reference is made to the virtual institutionalization of s...

Parenthood and Psychological Well-Being

Abstract: Recent studies suggest that parenthood may have negative consequences for the psychological well-being of adults. Adults with children at home report that they are less happy and less satisfied with their lives than other groups. They also appear to worry more and to experience higher levels of anxiety and depression. The overall difference between parents and nonparents appears to be small, although it has increased during the past two decades. Differences between parents and nonparents stem from economic and time constraints, which in turn arise from general social trends such as the increase in women’s labor force participation and the increase in marital disruption and single parenthood. We expect these trends to continue in the near future, reducing the desire for children and increasing gender conflict over the division of parental obligations. Parental strain might be alleviated by some form of state-supported childcare or child allowance.

New directions in environmental sociology

Abstract: Recent research in environmental sociology is reviewed. Following a brief overview of the development of environmental sociology over the past dec­ ade, five areas of environmental sociological scholarship are discussed: (a) the "new human ecology," (b) environmental attitudes, values, and be­ haviors, (c) the environmental movement, (d) technological risk and risk assessment, and (e) the political economy of the environment and environ­ mental politics. It is argued that while the early environmental sociologists sought nothing less than the reorientation of sociology and social theory, environmental sociology's influence on the discipline has been modest. In­ stead, environmental sociology has steadily taken on characteristics of the discipline as a whole, especially its fragmentation and its dualism between theory and the pursuit of middle-range empirical puzzles. Encouraging ex­ amples of recent work that creatively integrates theory and empirical research in environmental sociology are discussed.

Organizational Growth and Decline Processes

Abstract: Literature on the application of the life cycles analogy to the study of organizations is reviewed. The controversy over the use of life cycle stages to characterize the evolution of organizations is discussed. Research on the causes and consequences of organizational growth and decline, as well as the effective management of growth and decline processes, is examined in detail. Issues endemic to research on evolutionary processes are discussed, including the definition and operationalization of organizational growth and decline. INTRODUCTION AND HISTORICAL CONTEXT The increasing emphasis on the temporal aspects of organizations represents a significant trend in the study of organizations. Authors stress the need to examine dynamic, evolutionary processes within single organizations (Cameron & Whetten 1981, Kimberly & Quinn 1984, Miller & Friesen 1980, Kimberly & Miles 1980, Tushman & Romanelli 1985, Singh et al 1986), as well as in populations of organizations (Freeman & Hannan 1975, Tushman & Anderson 1986). Evidence of this trend is reflected in the extensive use of the organizational life cycles analogy, which focuses on the natural, metamorphic processes associated with birth, maturation, decline, and death in organic systems. Recent efforts to organize strands of organizational theory taxonomically have made clear that theories can be categorized as either mechanistic or organic. Further, some writers see a general trend in the field from mechanis­ tic to organic views of organizations (Van de Ven & Astley 1981, Perrow 1979, Scott 1981). Although economists have drawn on the biological analo-

Theories of the welfare state

Abstract: In the post-World War II era the apparent success of Keynesian economic principles in evening out the instabilities of the business cycle stimulated rapid growth in public welfare expenditures in Western capitalist democracies. For social science, welfare state expansion was not a puzzle but a given. When the economic crisis of the 1970s undermined faith in permanent and sustained growth in welfare programs, the new agenda for social theory concentrated upon the conditions that hindered or favored development. Ironically, both neo-Marxists and conservative economists reached the same conclusion: Welfare programs undermined profitability. The first half of this paper traces these theoretical developments, both in relation to internal debates among social scientists and in regard to external social and economic conditions that shaped the context of theorizing about the welfare state. Underlying the broader debates about the factors influencing welfare state development has been a more specific concern with ...

Everyday life sociology

Abstract: Everyday life sociology comprises a broad spectrum of micro perspectives: symbolic interactionism, dramaturgy, phenomenology, ethnomethodology, and existential sociology. We discuss the underlying themes that bind these diverse subfields into a unified approach to the study of social interaction. We outline the historical development of everyday life sociology, indicating the individuals, ideas, and surrounding context that helped to shape this evolving theoretical movement. We then examine three contemporary developments in everyday life sociology that represent significant theoretical, substantive, and methodological advances: existential sociology, the sociology of emotions, and conversation analysis. Within these areas, we outline major themes, review recent literature, and evaluate their contribution to sociology. Everyday life sociology has had influence outside its arena, stimulating grand theorists to create various micro-macro syntheses. We consider these and their relation to the everyday life t...

Making Sense of Diversity: Recent Research on Hispanic Minorities in the United States

Abstract: This is a review of the principal strands of the sociological literature on Spanish-origin groups in the United States. It emphasizes: (a) their labor market characteristics; (b) English acquisition; and (c) political participation and naturalization. We conclude that the label “Hispanic” is itself problematic because of the diversity of the groups included. There are trends toward convergence in political orientations and voting, but there are major divergences in patterns of social and economic adaptation. The rapid increase of new Latin American immigrant communities is likely to add to the diversity characterizing the major Spanish-origin groups already settled in the country.

Network approaches to social evaluation

Abstract: Social evaluation—the way that people learn about themselves by comparing themselves with others—is a prosaic, age-old process. Periodic efforts have been made to integrate theories and empirical studies of reference groups, social comparison, equity and justice, and relative deprivation (e.g. Pettigrew 1967). Despite these efforts, research has remained fragmented and continues to be dominated by psychologists. Network imagery, models, and findings run through this literature as far back as the last century and play a central role in contemporary applications of social evaluation to research on social support, class consciousness, and the diffusion of innovations. I argue that the network approach will help to resolve fundamental, unanswered questions about social evaluation first raised in 1950 by Merton and Rossi—specifically, the origins of comparative frameworks and the relation between individual and categorical or group reference points. Such an approach provides an integrative focus for sociologic...

On the Degradation of Skills

Abstract: Although social scientists have long believed that mechanization degrades skills, they disagree on the meaning and measurement of skills. A dominant view stresses that capitalists simplify skills to increase efficiency and profits; another, that managers deskill jobs to increase control over workers and work organization. Although case studies document the disappearance of many crafts during the industrial transformation of Britain and the United States, they do not show that skills as a whole declined. Recent historical studies reveal that industrialization may have created as many new skills as it destroyed, that early manufacturing used many traditional skills, and that new industrial skills were genuine. They also show that scientific management deskilled workers slightly and that management successfully wrested control of work organization from the traditional crafts. Twentieth-century census data reveal little aggregate compositional change in the skill distribution of major occupations. Short-term ...

Time budgets and their uses

Abstract: The paper summarizes the state of the art of time budget surveys and analyses. It first treats the new methodological developments, than reviews the different fields of utilization of time budget data: mass media contact, demand for cultural and other leisure goods and services, urban planning, consumer behavior, needs of elderly persons and of children, the sexual division of labor, the informal economy and household economics, social accounting, social indicators, quality of life, way of life, social structure. It deals also with the lessons from intertemporal and international comparisons of the results of time budget surveys.

The Welfare State, Citizenship, and Bureaucratic Encounters

Abstract: The growth of welfare state programs inevitably leads to an increase of citizen encounters with bureaucratic agencies. Moreover, theories of the welfare state differ in the extent to which citizenship rights are a central aspect of the explanation of the shape of the welfare state. After reviewing major theories of the expansion of the welfare state, we examine determinants of client encounters. The determinants are framed in a social exchange model that draws upon individual resources and agency and program characteristics. The model predicts differences in power-dependence relations and clientele satisfaction with their encounters. The legitimation and protection of citizenship rights may vary from program to program, may vary over time, and may be differently institutionalized in societies at similar levels of economic development. How rights are linked to citizen obligations is also an historical and sociological issue. The chapter concludes with a discussion of methodological issues in evaluating enc...

Decision-Making at the Top of Organizations

Abstract: Strategic decision-making processes at the top of organizations are examined. Research is reviewed on types of process movement, on the matters under decision, the problems raised, the interests implicated, the rules of the game, and its outcomes and implementation. Methodology is found to have gone through a conventional sequence of development from the small-scale intensive study to the large-scale extensive study, the latter very recently. Methodology has been catching up with theory, which has long been well developed. There are three main theories, overlapping and complementary—the incrementalism theory, the garbage-can theory, and the dual rationality theory. Five areas for further research are indicated.

Japanese Industrial Organization in Comparative Perspective

Abstract: This review examines theory and research on Japanese patterns of work and indu strial organizat ion in broad comparison with the United States and other Western societies. Four topics are considered: labor markets, internal organi­ zation structure, employee work attit udes, and industrial organization. Two issues that pervade the discussion are: (a) the extent to which real differences exist between Japan and Western industrial economies in the orientations of workers and the structure of labor markets, firms, and industries; (b) the extent to which such differences can be explained within general theories of social and economic organization, as opposed to heavi ly culturalist or histori­

A Critical Examination of Macro Perspectives on Crime Control

Abstract: A large number of studies examine the causes and the consequences of crime control at both the micro and macro levels of analysis. This paper focuses on the macro studies. Most macro research on crime control is loosely organized and weakly linked to theoretical perspectives. Studies are reviewed that relate to one of two general sociological perspectives-structural functionalism and conflict; and these perspectives are contrasted with the economic perspective. Empirical studies are employed both to specify more clearly and to evaluate the causal structures and processes implied by the perspectives.

The Effect of Women's Labor Force Participation on the Distribution of Income in the United States

Abstract: Because the wives of highly paid men participate less in the labor force, the earnings of working wives make the distribution of pretax, money income more equal for families than it might otherwise be Although there is con­ siderable speculation that future developments in women's labor force participation may foster greater inequality, the empirical results are mixed To assess the impact of women's labor force participation on the distribution of well-being, future research will need to consider the implications of taxes, job-related expenses, fringe benefits, and the value of homemaker services Future research would also benefit from linking empirical research to an implicit sociological theory of family income-getting-o ne that recognizes the motivational structure of household decision-making as well as the chang­ ing environment that families face Rising housing costs, poorer economic prospects of young men, and women's higher wage rates, for example, make wives' paychecks more salient, but family dependence on married women's earnings means secondary earners become a less viable way of coping with

Income inequality and economic development

Abstract: Although good theoretical reasons exist for expecting development to be inegalitarian in its early phase, a reverse-U pattern of change in measured inequality might just as easily derive from a statistical composition effect. That such a pattern occurs in reality, however, is far from certain, and all authors agree on governments' ability to keep inequality in check, if they so desire. The effects of redistribution on income and employment do not seem to be appreciable. All empirical studies, including those offering elaborate models of less developed economies, suffer from the inadequacy of historical data, as well as from unresolved problems in definition, methodology, and measurement. Most authors, but not all, would subscribe to the statement that absolute poverty (which should cause more concern than, and should not be confused with, relative inequality) is reduced by economic development.

Class mobility in the industrial world

Abstract: The main interest of this review is in the developments in social mobility research during the last ten years. These can be characterized as the revitalization of the class perspective, intensive comparative (cross-national and cross-temporal) research efforts, and the large-scale application of the log-linear modeling approach. After discussing the basic ideas of mobility studies conducted in an explicit class framework and the developments regarding class concepts, the review summarizes the major results of empirical research as to intergenerational mobility of men and women. These results are yielded within different conceptual frameworks for several industrialized countries. It continues by examining the constituent worklife processes, stressing the effects of different institutional arrangements and of labor market conditions for intragenerational mobility. Finally, a brief summary of the research desiderata still existing in social mobility research closes the review.

Theory and Research on Industrialization

Abstract: Sociological approaches to industrialization are framed by two major theories: social differentiation, based on classical liberalism and Durkheimian sociology, and uneven development, derived from the critical work of Marx and Weber. Although social differentiation continues to influence general treatments of the subject, uneven development has proven more fruitful in research. Important themes in recent research are reviewed by means of a property space based on epochs and processes of industrialization. A summary of five key research areas describes the important issues in current work and, by way of conclusion, suggests some convergence.

Changing Perspectives on the American Family in the Past

Abstract: Past reviews of American family history, while providing useful information about certain aspects of family life in the past, have inadequately addressed the conceptual framework informing the discipline. This article begins by reviewing four approaches developed by social scientists for studying the family: household composition, generations, family cycle, and life-course. The life-course perspective seems the most promising for a dynamic, complex view of families that links changes in the domestic sphere to wider societal trends and concerns. Using the analytical perspective of the life-course, we then examine significant historiographical contributions in four areas of family life—childbearing, early child development, adolescence, and old age.