Showing papers in "Review of Sociology in 1989"
TL;DR: In contrast to conventional approaches that view market and hierarchy as mutually exclusive control mechanisms (or as poles of a continuum), the authors argue that price, authority, and trust are independent and can be combined in a variety of ways.
Abstract: This review article focuses on the three control mechanisms that govern economic transactions between actors: price, authority, and trust. In contrast to conventional approaches that view market and hierarchy as mutually exclusive control mechanisms (or as poles of a continuum), we argue that price, authority, and trust are independent and can be combined in a variety of ways. For instance, price and authority are often played off each other within firms, while trust and price are sometimes intertwined to control transactions between firms. We also identify a type of organization largely ignored in the literature: the plural form. In the plural form, organizations simultaneously operate distinct control mechanisms for the same function. For example, organizations operate franchises and company-owned units under the same trademark, and companies sometimes make and buy the same part. To understand this form, the analytic focus must move from individual transactions to the broader architecture of control mec...
2,193 citations
TL;DR: More work has been done at the micro-level than the macro-level of analysis as mentioned in this paper, where emotion most commonly is treated as a dependent variable, although increasingly, its role as an intervening and independent variable in social processes is being recognized, especially with regard to problems in substantive fields as diverse as gender roles, stress, small groups, and stratification.
Abstract: Recent work in the sociology of emotions has gone beyond the development of concepts and broad perspectives to elaboration of theory and some empirical research. More work has been done at the micro-level than the macro-level of analysis. At both analytical levels, emotion most commonly is treated as a dependent variable, although increasingly, its role as an intervening and independent variable in social processes is being recognized, especially with regard to problems in substantive fields as diverse as gender roles, stress, small groups, social movements, and stratification. Considerable gaps exist in sociological knowledge about emotions; in particular, little is known about distribution of different emotional experiences in the population, the content of emotion culture, emotional socialization processes, emotional interactions, and relationships between social structure and emotion norms. More empirical research is necessary, to build on the theoretical groundwork that has been laid. Problems in measuring emotional experience and aspects of emotion culture have not been addressed and are likely to become critical issues as empirical work accumulates in the future.
1,015 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a review examines the nature of selfefficacy and related terms, reviews the research literature on the development of self-efficacy, how social structure and group processes affect this development, considers changes of self efficacy over the life course, and reviews the consequences of self empowerment for individual functioning and for social change.
Abstract: The topic of self-efficacy is part of a broad literature which has developed around the issues of human agency, mastery, and control. Its more delimited focus is on perceptions and assessments of self with regard to competence, effectiveness, and causal agency. Self-efficacy has become an important variable within social psychological research because of its association with various favorable consequences, especially in the areas of physical and mental health. It is also quite congruent with the Western emphasis on such values as mastery, self-reliance, and achievement. This review examines the nature of self-efficacy and related terms, reviews the research literature on the development of self-efficacy and how social structure and group processes affect this development, considers changes of self-efficacy over the life course, and reviews the consequences of self-efficacy for individual functioning and for social change. The focus of the review is on the social psychological literature within sociology, ...
857 citations
TL;DR: The authors describe the changes in family organization that define men as income producers and women as caretakers, who base child rearing on love and feminine virtue rather than patriarchal authority and religious doctrine.
Abstract: This paper defines the concepts of gender and social reproduction as developed in feminist theory and discusses their utility for synthesizing recent historical research on women. We review literature on the emergence, institutionalization, and reorganization of “separate spheres” in nineteenth and early twentieth century Europe and North America. Focusing on social class differences in family strategies, procreation, sexuality, consumerism, professionalization, and state policy, we argue that the organization of gender relations and social reproduction crucially shaped macrohistorical processes, as well as being shaped by them.
396 citations
TL;DR: The authors conducted a selective review of theoretical and empirical studies of internal labor markets (ILM) and identified three different conceptualizations of ILM: (a) ILM as all jobs within a firm; (b) variable describing firms or present in discrete clusters of jobs within firms; and (c) a phenomenon present in some occupational labor markets within and across firms.
Abstract: This paper undertakes a selective review of theoretical and empirical studies of internal labor markets (ILMs). Three different conceptualizations of ILMs are identified in existing literature: (a) ILMs as all jobs within a firm; (b) variable describing firms or present in discrete clusters of jobs within firms; (c) and a phenomenon present in some occupational labor markets within and across firms. Some empirical research using each conceptualization is described. Evidence apropo sseveral arguments about the theoretical origins of ILMs is assessed and some topics of future research are indicated. This review documents the absence of consensus about the characteristics defining the 1LM concept; a resulting diversity of approaches to the measurement or location of ILMs further hinders both accumulation of findings and the comparative study of ILMs. The most promising of the theoretical origins of ILMs relates scarcities of highly skilled workers to job structures generating increasing skill and knowledge a...
332 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a review of the issues of defini- tion, measurement, and methods of estimation in event analysis is presented, and two general varieties of event analysis: approaches that model the dynamics of collective action as a process, and those that do not.
Abstract: Recent research on collective action has focused on the occurrence, timing, and sequencing of such events as regime changes, riots, revolutions, protests, and the founding of social movement organizations. Event analysis allows information on the duration, number of participants, presence of violence, or outcome of some particular type of collective action to be compared across social systems or across time periods. This review considers issues of defini tion, measurement, and methods of estimation in event analysis. It also compares two general varieties of event analysis: approaches that model the dynamics of collective action as a process, and those that do not. A process oriented approach evaluates how time and covariates (including past events) affect the timing and sequence of repeatable events, and it attempts to explain how events unfold over time. The nonprocess approaches summarize static relationships between levels or characteristics of units and some type of event count.
301 citations
TL;DR: The emerging field of macro-social and theoretical research on the impact of the state on the structuring of life course highlights overarching and integrative mechanisms for institutionalizing the life course as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Traditionally, the study of the life course has been divided into research on different age groups, different life phases, and different life domains such as the family cycle, fertility history, occupational careers and employment, the dynamics of income and consumption, migration, and normative patterns of aging. The emerging field of theory and research on the impact of the state on the structuring of the life course highlights overarching and integrative mechanisms for institutionalizing the life course. Therefore, the field constitutes a new analytical perspective rather than a specialized area of research. This review attempts to make the theoretical perspective explicit and to collect the various contributions from very scattered research reports. The major emphasis is macrosociological and theoretical. Examples are drawn from research on childhood, education, military service and wars, public employment, retirement, and old age. Particular attention is paid to the historical aspects of increasing s...
226 citations
TL;DR: The authors reviewed the current state of knowledge on sex differences in earnings in the United States and reviewed explanatory theories advanced to account for the wage gap and the empirical evidence relevant to their evaluation.
Abstract: This paper reviews the current state of knowledge on sex differences in earnings in the United States. The paper has three sections. The first describes the phenomenon under consideration, reviewing what is known about the size of the wage gap, historical and life course variations in the wage gap, and race differences in the wage gap. The second section, which constitutes most of the paper, reviews explanatory theories advanced to account for the wage gap and the empirical evidence relevant to their evaluation. This section is divided into two principle parts. The first considers “supply-side” explanations that focus on the characteristics and decisions of individual workers. These include the human capital theory of economics and alternative views offered by sociologists and social psychologists that focus on processes of socialization and allocation and the operation of social networks. All of these explanations attribute the sex gap in earnings to differences in the qualifications, intentions, and att...
225 citations
TL;DR: The changing orientation of adolescent research is in part a function of the breakdown of traditional barriers between fields as discussed by the authors, which is a product of contributions by sociologists who have helped to reshape the research agenda.
Abstract: The study of adolescence has long been dominated by psychologists, beginning with G. Stanley Hall (1904). In the 1980s a great increase in research activity has occurred, culminating in the founding of the Society for Research in Adolescence. Along with that increase in volume has come a major shift in the focus of adolescent research. Whereas most earlier research was limited to the study of individual adolescents carrying out their developmental tasks (Erikson 1968), an increasing proportion of research now places the biological, cognitive, and emotional development of adolescents in a broader social context. The changing orientation of adolescent research is in part a function of the breakdown of traditional barriers between fields. Outstanding developmental psychologists now perceive adolescence as occurring in historical, social, organizational, cultural, and institutional contexts (Bronfenbrenner 1979, Lerner & Foch 1987). Biological determinism has been discredited, and the study of pubertal development is now concerned with the evaluation of physical development by social actors (Brooks-Gunn 1984, Dornbusch et al 1987a). Some of the changes in orientation within the field of adolescent research are a product of contributions by sociologists. Sociologists who have helped to reshape the research agenda include Zena Blau (1981), Orville G. Brim, Jr. (Brim & Kagan 1980), Albert K. Cohen (1955), James S. Coleman (1961, 1987), Glen H. Elder (1974, Elder et al 1985), Joyce Epstein (1981), Howard
176 citations
TL;DR: The author develops a framework that emphasizes the interaction between supply-side developments that create vacancies for immigrants and those demand-side consequences of their arrival that make immigration a self feeding process.
Abstract: The immigrants to the United States since 1965 are overwhelmingly an urban population; they have converged on a small number of large metropolitan areas. This article describes the characteristics of the new immigration and its geography. It then focusses on the key immigrant-receiving metropolitan areas and discusses the relationship between the restructuring of their economies and land markets and the employment and settlement patterns of the new immigrants.
126 citations
TL;DR: The authors reviewed findings in the areas of economic development, community organization, bureaucracy, and social stratification that reflect these changed perceptions and that should be of wide interest in the discipline of sociology.
Abstract: As sociological research on China has accumulated over the past decade, perceptions of social change after the revolution have altered markedly. This essay reviews findings in the areas of economic development, community organization, bureaucracy, and social stratification that reflect these changed perceptions and that should be of wide interest in the discipline.
TL;DR: In the 25 years or so that began with World War II, there was a great wave of enthusiasm for interdisciplinary social psychology which resulted in the establishment of interdisciplinary Social psychology training and research programs in some of the major universities in the United States as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: In the 25 years or so that began with World War II, there was a great wave of enthusiasm for interdisciplinary social psychology which resulted in the establishment of interdisciplinary social psychology training and research programs in some of the major universities in the United States. By the mid-1960s however, this seeming Golden Age had largely vanished. This article, by one of the participants in this movement, is devoted to an elaboration of how this Golden Age came about and the forces that led to its demise. Its origins are traced to the World War II experiences of social psychologists in interdisciplinary research on the adjustments of the American soldier under the leadership of Samuel Stoffer and with Rensis Likert on the US strategic bombing surveys in Germany and Japan. Many of the participants in this research were greatly impressed by the fruitfulness of interdisciplinary collaboration and were determined to establish interdisciplinary social psychology programs on their return to their u...
TL;DR: The authors assess the adequacy of various economic and sociological explanations in accounting for certain key features of change in large-scale corporations, including vertical integration, product related and unrelated diversification, and the implementation of the multidivisional form.
Abstract: The purpose of this review is to assess the adequacy of various economic and sociological explanations in accounting for certain key features of change in large-scale corporations, including vertical integration, product related and unrelated diversification, and the implementation of the multidivisional form. We first review the various economic theories that purport to explain these phenomena, including the structure-conduct-performance perspective, the literature on managerial discretion, transaction cost analysis, contingency theory, and the evolutionary theory of economic change. All of these literatures have efficiency mechanisms that drive their explanations although they work in different ways. We then consider sociological approaches including the literatures in organizational theory on institutionalization and power. Our review of the empirical work provides little support for the economic view of vertical integration and unrelated product diversification, and only modest support for the economic view of product-related diversification and the multidivisional form. The sociological views aid in understanding all of these phenomena to some extent. We conclude by suggesting that the concept of organizational fields may be useful in understanding these structural changes.
TL;DR: Sociologically relevant alcohol research of the last few years is by no means exhausted and holds great potential to illuminate issues of general interest to sociologists as well as to specialists in medical sociology or deviance.
Abstract: This review of sociologically relevant alcohol research addresses definitions of alcohol problems, describes patterns and trends in adult drinking practices and problems and correlates of alcoholism, and describes social policy responses to alcohol. With implications for many measures of social wellbeing, alcohol research is relevant to almost all areas of traditional sociological interest, intersecting with religious and ethnic studies, with studies of social change and social movements, with theories of social control, with criminology and social deviance, with media research and analysis of social organizations, with study of age and gender roles, with medical sociology, and with sociology of the work place. Sociologically relevant alcohol research of the last few years, while rich in the above areas, is by no means exhausted and holds great potential to illuminate issues of general interest to sociologists as well as to specialists in medical sociology or deviance.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors review the evidence on the changing well-being of the elderly in the United States and present two models, a "pay-as-you-go" model and a pension model, within which equity issues are discussed.
Abstract: Improvements in the living standards of the elderly over the past 25 years have been dramat ic. The rising affluence of the elderly has prompted a debate over what constitutes an equitable distribution of resources between genera tio ns. The purpose of this essay is to review the evidence on the changing well-being of the elderly in the United States. successive cohorts of elderly have attained higher levels of economic well-being, a review of the longitudinal evidence also shows that some elderly individuals, especially women and the chronically ill, remain economically vulnerable as they age. Whether Social Security and other public expenditures that benefit the elderly are equitable is a key issue in the debate over whether the economic position of the elderly is "fair". We present two fra mewor ks, a "pay-as-you-go" model and a pension model, within which equity issues are discussed. The central role played by health concerns in assessing the weU:being of the elderly leads us also to review evidence on two important health issues: recent trends in the phy sical frailty of the elder ly, and the likely burd ens, both to the elderly themselves and to society at large, of providing medical care for future cohorts of elderly .
TL;DR: Litigation, in ordinary speech, refers to actions contested in court; this involves a claim, a dispute or conflict, and the use of a specific institution, the court, to resolve the conflict or dispute as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Litigation, in ordinary speech, refers to actions contested in court; this involves a claim, a dispute or conflict, and the use of a specific institution, the court, to resolve the conflict or dispute. In the past most legal research has consisted of analysis of doctrine and theory about doctrine. But litigation is an important phenomenon in its own right and research lately has shown this. This chapter aims to sketch out a few major areas of research and theory and to add a few brief remarks about the significance of the work thus far. The topics covered include: dispute-centered and court-centered research; quantity of litigation and the so-called litigation explosion; and the impact of litigation on society.
TL;DR: In this article, the origins of capitalism in Western Europe have been investigated using the insights of Marx and Weber in a renewed effort to explain the origins and origins of Western Europe in the seventeenth century.
Abstract: Recent scholars have drawn upon the insights of Marx and Weber in a renewed effort to explain the origins of capitalism in Western Europe. Few Weberians or Marxists have addressed the specific role of Protestantism in fostering rational economic action; instead they speak of modernization or of the rise of the West. Marxists are divided over whether capitalism developed out of conflicts among classes in feudal society or whether an external market sector served to undermine feudalism and to stimulate new forms of production. Analyses of the world system, proto-industry, and the seventeenth century crisis attempt to explain the concentration of capital and of production in a few Western European countries. Studies of agrarian class conflict and of absolutism address the formation of the bourgeoisie. The most valuable recent syntheses have come from scholars who combine class analysis with an examination of the particular interests of those actors who inhabited the complex of institutions that cohered into ...
TL;DR: Covariance structure models are particularly useful in survey research where the number of variables can be large and the researcher envisions many "causal" connections among them and these are thus nonintuitive to the researcher.
Abstract: Over the last 16 years, since Karl Joreskog first introduced the LISREL model', the covariance structure model has gained considerable popularity among serious researchers in many research and applied fields. This has happened for two reasons. First, covariance structure models depict in a natural way the "causal" models researchers have in mind when thinking about the processes they are looking at. And equally important, the computer software has simplified the estimation of the parameters of covariance structure models, making it possible to estimate large, sometimes intricate, models using an uncomplicated syntax. With other methods of analysis, the method itself often determines the features of the model, and these are thus nonintuitive to the researcher. A loglinear model for 10 or 15 observed variables can produce a staggering number of parameters, many without clear theoretical implications. A covariance structure model, on the other hand, can be represented by intuitive path diagrams that do not require math courses to understand. And the estimated coefficients generated by the computer software are directly analogous to regression coefficients in multiple regression (which in fact may be regarded as a special case of the general covariance structure model) and have identical substantive interpretations. Covariance structure models are particularly useful in survey research where the number of variables can be large and the researcher envisions many "causal" connections among them. But the large survey also presents another theoretical problem that covariance structure models can handle with ease:
TL;DR: After World War II, a rapid development of sociology occurred in the Scandinavian countries, Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden by combining national intellectual traditions with different specialities in American sociology.
Abstract: After World War II a rapid development of sociology occurred in the Scandinavian countries, Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden By combining national intellectual traditions with different specialities in American sociology some clearly distinctive features developed within the sociology in the four countries The student revolt at the end of the 1960s and its aftermath had substantial effects on the development of Scandinavian sociology The dependence on American sociology weakened considerably although it did not totally disappear Another effect was that the differences among the sociologies of the Scandinavian countries began to disappear Rather than national sociologies there are now various orientations and code systems more or less shared by different groups in all Scandinavian countries Sociology has become much more pluralistic, but in the process there is also an increased fragmentation and a loss of unity among the sociologists In the Scandinavian countries there are studies of good quali
TL;DR: In this article, a framework of sociological analysis of love in with reference to "Sociology of Emotions" was made, and to understand the character of the love institution in modern society by using the fruits of Social History.
Abstract: There have been few articles on the sociological analysis of love. In this paper, it is tried to make framework of sociological analysis of love in with reference to ‘Sociology of Emotions’, and to understand the character of the love institution in modern society by using the fruits of Social History. It is understood that love is constructed subjectively by feeling rules regulating the relation between situations, desires to act, emotional words. And love is institutionalized by the several types of norms. In modern society, the love institutions are characterized by the enclosure in marriage.