Showing papers in "Social Forces in 1978"

Cannibals and kings : the origins of cultures

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A Structural Model of the Mobility Table

Abstract: We propose a multiplicative (log-linear) model for mobility tables (or other cross-classifications) which is helpful in locating cells where counts are especially dense or sparse. This specification eliminates the confounding of main effects and interaction effects, which has plagued many other methods of measuring and interpreting association in mobility tables, especially those methods based on the model of simple statistical independence. The model yields a parsimonious set of parameters which describe the table, and goodness of fit can be assessed with standard inferential procedures. For each cell of the table the model yields a useful measure of association, which we call the new mobility ratio. We illustrate the model by reanalyzing the classic British mobility table of 1949, and we use that example to compare our measure of association with other mobility measures. Occupational mobility is a fundamental indicator of the temporal aspect of social stratification (Duncan, b). The centrality of occupational roles in the organization of contemporary and especially industrial societies is coupled with strong commonalities across time and space in the differential access of occupational incumbents to social (including economic and political) rewards (Treiman). In this way occupational incumbency may be viewed as a proxy or index of social standing and occupational mobility as an index of social mobility. The terms "proxy" and "index" are used deliberately, for we would not wish to reify the concept of occupational status nor tc discourage the analysis of other aspects of social inequality.

Work Satisfaction and Age: Some Evidence for the ‘Job Change’ Hypothesis

Abstract: Previous research on work satisfaction has consistently shown that older people are more satisfied with their jobs than younger people. The present paper addresses three possible explanations for this tendency: (1) the "1now generation" of workers subscribes to a set of post-material values that contradict the demands of the industrial system and cause greater work discontent; (2) the standards of the old are systematically eroded by their years in the system, such that they learn to be satisfied with less; and (3) older workers simply have better jobs. A decisive choice among these hypotheses cannot be made without longitudinal data; nonetheless, the bulk of the evidence presented here (for economically active, salaried white males, drawn from the University of Michigan's 1972-73 Quality of Employment survey) clearly favors the last hypothesis. The academic literature on job satisfaction encompasses something in excess of 3000 independent studies (Campbell et al.; Kahn). Much of the existing research has focused on one of three basic topics: the sheer amount of satisfaction; the relationship between satisfaction and productivity; and the relationship between satisfaction and status, occupation, or social class. Concerning the first, the near-unanimous finding is that there is relatively little outright discontent; most people say they are "pretty satisfied" with their work (Kahn, 169).1 There is much less consensus on the second. Kahn's review, for example, concludes that "satisfaction is related to productivity in some circumstances and not in others, and that these circumstances have yet to be defined" (193). As for the link to social class, Jencks and associates have argued that the correlations between work satisfaction and various measures of social status "are surprisingly weak" (247). Prior studies, they suggest, simply "stress the importance of small differences between occupations." In contrast to the voluminous literature on work satisfaction and SES, there has not been much analysis of the relation between satisfaction

Perceived Risk of Punishment and Self-Reported Delinquency

Abstract: Using data from a survey of students in six Arizona high schools, this paper examines the relation between perceived risk of punishment and selfreported delinquency. Consistent with the deterrence doctrine, the relation is inverse regardless of the location of the schools (metropolitan or small town), type of delinquency, or the kind of measure of perceived risk. However, measures of perceived personal risk (the individual's perception of his or her own risk) provide more consistent support for the deterrence doctrine than measures of perceived aggregate risk (perception of the risk for all juveniles in the same community). Moreover, personal risk is inversely related to delinquency even when social condemnation of delinquent offenses, attachment to conventional persons, and several status characteristics (e.g., age, sex) of the students are taken into account.

A Durkheimian Analysis of International Crime Rates

Abstract: Emile Durkheim's theory of the emergence of the division of labor and consequent state of anomie was presented as a model by which the variance in international crime rates could be explained. Durkheim recognized the possibility that a "4chronic" state of anomie occurring concomitant with industrialization would produce an increase in the crime rate. A test of the model delineating the causal relationships suggested by Durkheim found that the variable of anomie was not predictive of crime rates. However, a modified model excluding anomie was examined and found to be useful in explaining property and total crime rates. Alternative interpretations consistent with a Durkheimian perspective were suggested and explored. The works of Emile Durkheim have long formed the basis for many sociological theories. Perhaps nowhere else is Durkheim's influence more apparent than in the sociology of deviance. The social bonding perspective (Hirschi, and the several varieties of anomie theory; Cloward and Ohlin; Cohen; Merton, a, b), need only be mentioned to testify to the pervasive and lasting impact of Durkheim's ideas in this area. Recently, there has been an effort to employ Durkheim's ideas on social change more directly in explaining the variation in rates of deviance which may accompany industrialization (Gibbs and Martin, c; McDonald; Miley and Micklin; Webb). The current effort continues and extends this line of inquiry by employing a Durkheimian model to explain the variation in cross-national crime rates.

The Impact of an Early First Birth on Young Women's Educational Attainment

Abstract: Women who become mothers at an early age tend to accumulate fewer years of schooling than those who delay entry into motherhood. In this paper, the impact of age at first birth on the process of educational attainment of young women is examined using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Young Women for the period 1968 to 1972. The results of this analysis indicate that (1) the younger the age at first birth, the fewer years of schooling completed, other things equal; (2) the effect of most determinants of educational attainment depends on age at first birth; and (3) the educational decrement caused by an early birth is about half as large for young black women as for their white counterparts. The key role played by educational attainment in determining the later occupation and income of individuals has been well documented. Education seems to be the mechanism through which characteristics of the family of origin are passed on to the next generation, thereby to influence the status of the occupation entered and the income obtained. To date, research on sex differences in education attainment has taken the model of this process, which was developed by Blau and Duncan, to describe the achievement process of males and estimated it for females. Using this strategy, differences between the sexes in the effects of the included variables on years of schooling completed could be estimated. The educational attainment of females, it was found, tends to depend more heavily on family background, and less on ability, than does that of males (Alexander and Eckland; Sewell and Shah, b). But the possibility that factors typically not

Crime and the Contemporary Woman: An Analysis of Changing Levels of Female Property Crime, 1960–75

Abstract: This report examines female property crime trends since 1960. Previous research on this issue has suffered because of a failure to specify the major questions on female property crime and because of inappropriate use of UCR arrest statistics. In this study, the central questions about female property crime are clarified and arrest rates are computed to determine the extent of change in female property crime since 1960. The effects of the women's movement on female property crime are also examined. I conclude that female levels of property crime are rising. But it is only for the offenses of larceny-theft and fraud lembezzlement that female levels are increasing at a faster pace than male levels. Moreover, absolute differences still exist and have generally increased so that female property crime levels continue to lag far behind those of males. The pattern of the data also suggests that the upward trend in female property crime is not due to the women's movement; that women are still typically nonviolent, petty property offenders; and that the "new female criminal" is more of a social invention than an empirical reality. In recent years there has been a proliferation of popular and scientific writing on the extent to which patterns and levels of female crime have been changing, and the impact of the women's movement and changing sex roles on criminal behavior (Adler; Bruck; Rosenblatt and Greenland; Simon). A common theme of these writings is that the criminal activities of women are coming to resemble those of men in kind and degree as convergence in role expectations and access to illegitimate opportunities increases. Supposedly, women are committing more crimes, catching up with their male counterparts, and increasingly engaging in traditionally *I wish to thank several colleagues of the Pennsylvania State University for statistical advice and useful comments on this manuscript. They include Clifford Clogg, Gordon Dejong, Alvin Rosenthal, Renee Hoffman Steffensmeier, Shannon Stokes, and Rex Warland. Thanks are also due to two anonymous referees for helpful suggestions.

Life Satisfaction and Religion: A Reanalysis

Abstract: Findings by Campbell et al. in The Quality of American Life suggesting that religious people tend to be somewhat less satisfied with their lives than the nonreligious are reexamined in this paper. Using the same data source and variables it is shown that their interpretation is in error, and that to the contrary, religion functions more as a resource than as compensation. In recent years the quality of life in American society has received a good deal of attention. But for the most part studies of life satisfaction and happiness have relied either on local samples or the few subjective items found in such national samples as the National Opinion Research Center's general social surveys and the Survey Research Center's national election studies. Fortunately, however, the recent Quality of American Life Survey conducted by the Survey Research Center has made possible much more complete analyses of life satisfaction in the United States. The first body of findings to be reported from this survey was The Quality of American Life (Campbell et al.). Campbell et al. treated a great range of issues, but my primary interest is with their findings about the relationship between religiosity and life satisfaction. A number of these findings contradicted earlier works that had shown religious persons to be more satisfied with their lives than is the tendency for nonreligious people. In this research note I report a reanalysis of their results in order to examine more fully the empirical relationship among religiosity and feelings of satisfaction. Research into Religion and Quality of Life

Sex Differences in the Educational-Occupational Expectation Process

Abstract: This study presents a path analytic model of status expectations that focuses on how sex influences the educational and occupational expectations of a large sample of American adolescents. While female and male expectations can be predicted by the same model variables, the process is by no means identical for both sexes. Exogenous background variables have greater total effects for females, while intervening social-psychological and achievement related variables have substantially lesser effects for females than males. The same-sex parent is found to have a greater effect on adolescent expectations than the opposite-sex parent. No significant sex differences are found in the mean level of either expectation, but the distribution of occupational choices parallel the current sex segregation of the occupational sector. Further, relative to academic achievement, the females have lower expectations than the males. These results are interpreted as consequences of traditional sex role socialization. Research on social inequality has shown that women are underrepresented in the higher echelons of the American occupational structure. Women constitute approximately 40 percent of the labor force; more than half of all adult women work outside of the home. Yet only 8 percent of all physicians, dentists, and other related practicioners are women; the ratio of women to men in managerial and administrative positions is low (.20), and even lower (.05) among lawyers and judges (Featherman and Hauser; U.S. Bureau of the Census). Undoubtedly, the relatively low occupational attainment of women, given their large numbers in the labor force, reflects in large part the discrimination they encounter seeking work and on the job: among other things, discriminatory employment practices severely limit women's occupational choices and channel them into positions with highly restricted chances for promotion. But job discrimination does not tell the *This research was supported by a grant to the senior author from the National Institute of Mental Health (MH-23542).

On the Social Control of Industries

Abstract: One of the master trends of modern society is the emergence and growth of large, differentiated industry complexes. Yet out theory of social control is largely focused on the control of individuals, not industries. Understanding the processes of control requires integrating perspectives of several disciplines--economics, law, political science, and sociology. A relatively comprehensive theoretical framework of the middle range is proposed consisting of five main conceptual clusters, norms, performance curves, structural context, compliance capability and readiness, surveillance and sanction capacity of control agent. The framework helps us identify areas for further research and conceptualization, stakes out a sociological claim for involvement in an area of great policy relevance, and helps bridge the gap between two levels of analysis, society and complex organization.

Productivity and Reproductivity: Fertility and Professional Achievement among Research Scientists

Abstract: Data for a group of research chemists are examined to test the hypothesis that marital fertility is associated with lower levels of research productivity and to assess the extent to which the fertility-productivity relationship varies by sex. The results show a negative relationship between fertility and productivity among the scientists; the relationships for the sexes are similar in direction and magnitude. We argue that previous studies of the impact of marital fertility on career attainments have failed to find the expected negative association because they have dealt with workers who cannot freely invest extra time and energy in work efforts and because they have used inadequate measures of attainment such as occupational mobility rather than more direct measures of job performance. The idea that occupational success is negatively associated with fertility is a classical hypothesis in social demography. Ambition for social achievement, it is reasoned, motivates couples to limit the number of their children in order to free the time, energy, and money which are usually required to rear a large family, for economic and occupational pursuits (Berant; Westoff et al.). Investing these resources in occupational activities should result in superior economic or occupational performance, which should in turn be reflected by later career success. The hypothesized negative association between career success and fertility should be due in part to deliberate attempts by ambitious couples to limit their fertility and in part to the advantages which extra resources confer on couples who have fewer children, regardless of the reasons for their lower fertility. *We are grateful to Paul D. Allison and Paula M. Hudis for their comments on a previous draft of this paper.

Two Decades of Health Services: Social Survey Trends in Use and Expenditure.

Abstract: During the decade 1953-1963, the Health Information Foundation and the National Opinion Research Center conducted three area probability sample surveys of the country's civilian noninstitutionalized population to determine their utilization of personal health services, expenditures for services, methods of meeting the cost of services, extent of coverage under voluntary health insurance and the relationship of these factors to certain characteristics of individuals and families such as age, sex, place of residence and family income. The present volume is a detailed report of the results of the 1964 survey, reflecting the experience of the population for the year 1963, with some comparative data from the 1953 and 1958 surveys. The sample size was 2,852, with 17 per cent nonrespondents. There were a few surprises: 41 per cent of the sample still considers a general practitioner its regular source of care; of those families who have a personal physician as the regular source of care, 56 per cent have a general practitioner, 12 per cent use a general surgeon and only ten per cent use an internist and eight per cent a pediatrician; only nine per cent of ambulatory patients, aged 65 years and over, are seen in hospital clinics, whereas 81 per cent are seen in the office (and this figure has not changed since 1958, although fewer home visits are made than formerly). As expected, a strong positive correlation was found between income level and percentage of individuals seeing a physician, par-

Sex Structure of Occupations and Job Mobility

Abstract: Despite the differences in the mean levels of occupational attainments of men and women over the life cycle, men and employed women attain the same mean level of occupational attainment at mid-life and do so through quite similar processes. Although human capital theory is helpful in understanding differences in mean levels of occupational attainment over the life cycle for men and women, it cannot explain why women's occupational attainments are minimally affected (if at all) by labor force interruptions. To account for the above findings, we develop explanations concerning the effects of labor market structure on occupational achievement, derived from the literature on occupational segregation by sex and dual labor market theory. For this explanation to be useful, two propositions derived from it must be true: (1) female occupations are easier to reenter after labor force interruptions; and (2) female occupations tend not to be stepping stones upward in the occupational structure, at least for women. Using log-linear analysis, we test these propositions utilizing 1970 Census data. Research on occupational attainment has largely neglected the potential effects of characteristics of labor market structure on individual's achievements. Rather, sociologists have been concerned with the effects of individual characteristics and experiences at different points in the life cycle on subsequent occupational attainments. Aspects of labor market structure can potentially explain some inconsistent findings in studies of sex differences in occupational attainment, that cannot be adequately explained by individual characteristics. In this paper, we present the paradoxical

The Structure of Opportunity in School

Abstract: Official school records are used to analyze the opportunity structure and selection mechanisms within a school. Critics' charges that tracking systems preclude choice and mobility are not entirely supported, but more complex and subtle mechanisms for restricting opportunity are found to operate. Moreover, the analysis discovers that even if college admissions committees wished to admit high-achieving lower-track students, the use by many high schools of a grade-weighting procedure by which lower-track students' achievements are belittled reduces their post-graduate opportunities. These findings suggest that customary assumptions about the influence of choice and achievement may be too simple and customary conceptual models of contest and sponsored mobility may be less appropriate for describing actual track systems than a tournament model. Even after a decade of great progress in understanding the educational and occupational attainment process, we still know very little about the structure of opportunity within schools and its influence on youths' opportunities in society. Researchers have looked at school-wide effects, and they find much greater variance in educational attainment within schools than among different schools (Coleman et al.; Jencks et al.). This suggests that it is important to study selection systems within schools. Turner and S0rensen have proposed models of the opportunity structure within schools, but no research has looked at such structures directly. A number of recent studies have considered the effects of high school curriculum tracks on post-school attainment, but they have been largescale studies unable to examine selection processes within schools in detail (Alexander and Eckland; Alexander and McDill; Hauser et al.; Heyns; Jencks et al.). Cicourel and Kitsuse investigated in detail how a single school selects students for track placements, but they did not look at what kind of track mobility was permitted within the school. *This research was supported by the Institution for Social and Policy Studies, Yale University. Lee Rainwater and Paul V. Smith contributed many ideas throughout this work. I am also indebted to Wendell Bell, Goeffrey Bock, David Cohen, Christopher Jencks, Alan Kerckhoff, John Low-Beer, Rosemary Morazzini, Virginia Warcholik, Harold Wechsler, and anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments.

The Desirability of Using the Index of Dissimilarity or any Adjustment of It for Measuring Segregation: Reply to Falk, Cortese, and Cohen

Abstract: First, let me say that I no longer hold the position I took in my original 1977 paper that the index of dissimilarity or some adjustment of it should be used to measure segregation. A reading of the economic literature on measures of inequality has convinced me that the index of dissimilarity has faults that are irreparable and which make it unusable as a measure of segregation. Before discussing these faults, however, let me address the specific criticisms that Falk et al. have made of my earlier paper. Falk et al. quote Duncan and Duncan out of context. The quote has nothing to do with the "stability"' of the index of dissimilarity over populations that differ in proportion minority (hereafter referred to as q). Rather the Duncans are concerned about whether there is an adequate criterion for deciding whether a measure is independent of the proportion q. Their point is that comparisons between cities with different q's should not be made unless one has such a criterion. The Duncans' suggest a criterion for independence: that a measure should only be dependent on the segregation curve. I suggested another criterion in my paper: that a measure's expected value not be a function of q. The appropriateness of using a measure to make intercity comparisons depends on which criterion one adopts. If one wants to measure segregation as the deviation from randomness, thus adopting my criterion (and the Denver group's), then the index of dissimilarity is not a suitable measure. If one wants to adopt the Duncans' criterion and measure segregation from "evenness" then use of my measure, Ed, or the Denver group's Zd iS inappropriate. With respect to the Duncan criterion both are dependent on q. As I showed in my article, no measure can be independent of q with respect to both criteria. One must choose the criterion that is appropriate to the substantive problem being investigated. I still hold the position I took in my original paper that it is inappropriate to use a measure conceived of as the degree to which a city deviates from random segregation when the measure is to be used as an indepen-

A Theory of Ethnic Oppression: Toward a Reintegration of Cultural and Structural Concepts in Ethnic Relations Theory

Abstract: Recent theories of racial and ethnic oppression, with their focus on social structural variables, have tended to ignore the impact of culture. This oversight is redressed by considering the effects of cultural values and beliefs on patterns of racial oppression against black Americans. Beginning with a concise summary of the structure of racial oppression and racial beliefs in American history, we note patterns and then present, in propositional form, a theory incorporating both structural and cultural variables. Beliefs are seen to legitimate, as well as pose periodic challenges to, the structure of racial oppression. The study of minority relations in America has moved through several distinctive phases. Prior to the last decade, minority groups were viewed as the victims of prejudice and discrimnination and the moral dilemmas represented by this fact seemed to dominate sociologists' work (cf. Allport; Myrdal; Westie). Not only did sociological analysis of minority problems suffer from the limitations of such concepts as prejudice and discrimination, as well as a preoccupation with moral dilemmas, it tended to be individualistic, ahistorical, and confined to the United States. During the 1960s, however, a clear reaction to these shortcomings occurred, as sociologists began to view structural patterns of discrimination. Moreover, analysis became historical and comparative as scholars sought to find universal principles of structured oppression. In keeping with the rejection of functional analysis, emphasis shifted to concern with power, control, and conflict relations among different ethnic populations. By the end of the decade, a number of theories of minority oppression had emerged (e.g., Blauner; Lieberson; Noel; Schermerhorn; van den Berghe). And into the present decade, minority relations research has tended to concentrate on structural variables and their opera