Showing papers in "Social Forces in 1983"

Measuring social judgments : the factorial survey approach

Abstract: 'Assign this book in a graduate social psychology methods course. It deserves to be read by social psychologists, and the factorial survey technique should be fully integrated into the tool kit of those who go on to practice policy-relevant research...The Rossi-Nock volume is a quite important work as it stands, and future developments will make it even more important.' -- Contemporary Psychology, Vol 28 No 6, 1983 'Measuring Social Judgments provides ready access to a highly adaptable technique for measuring complex perceptions of social objects, situations, and actions that is systematic and capable of considerable accuracy. Anyone with an interest in the state of this useful art should take a look.' -- Contemporary Sociology, Vol 12 No 6, November 1983

Fear of Victimization: A Look at the Proximate Causes

Abstract: Research on fear of victimization continues to overlook the proximate causes offear, relying instead on tacit and untested assumptions about those causes. For example, it is widely accepted that Americans are most afraid of violent or personal crimes, as if the perceived seriousness of offenses were the only determinant of fear. Were that true, fear would almost certainly be immutable (how does one reduce the perceived seriousness of crimes?). Data from a 1981 mail survey of Seattle residents indicate that, among types of offenses, fear of victimization is a multiplicative function of perceived risk and perceived seriousness, these two factors carry virtually identical weight (i.e., they may precisely offset each other), and fear is not necessarily highest for violent crimes.

Religiosity and Deviance: Toward a Contingency Theory of Constraining Effects

Abstract: Perspectives on the relationship between individual religiosity and deviance are examined and contextual properties thought to condition the relationship are identified. Hypothesized linkages between these contextual variables and the strength of relationship between religiosity and nine types of deviant behavior are tested. Results indicate the religiosity-deviance relationship varies predictably across sociodemographic contexts, but not always in directions suggested by extant theories. Individual religiosity appears to constrain deviant behavior most effectively in environments characterized by general normative ambiguity, low social integration, generalized perceptions of low peer conformity, and a relatively high proportion of religious nonaffiliates. An integrated interpretation of these counterintuitive findings suggests religious participation can operate as a unique deviance inhibitor only when conformity inducing mechanisms characteristic of religious communities are not reproduced in the larger community. Hence the impact of religious constraints is increased where secular controls are absent or weak.

Deterrence in the Workplace: Perceived Certainty, Perceived Severity, and Employee Theft

Abstract: The phenomenon of employee theft is examined empirically, utilizing a deterrence paradigm. Employees selected randomly from three different industry sectors and metropolitan areas were asked to self-report their involvement in a number of property theft activities within the employment setting. Using a weighted least-squares logit regression analysis, the study found that the perception of both the certainty and severity of organizational sanctions were related to employee theft. Males reported more theft than did females, but contrary to previous research, no gender/certainty or gender/severity interactions were observed. The best-fit model did, however, contain two significant first-order interactions: age/certainty and age/severity. These interactions strongly suggest that younger employees are not as deterrable as their older peers, especially under conditions of both high certainty and high severity of punishment. While a number of possible explanations might account for differential deterrability according to age, a commitment to or stakes in conformity explanation is proposed.

Theory and Method in Comparative Research: Two Strategies

Abstract: We examine the comparative strategies of Durkheim and Weber and link them to specific presuppositions. While both are compatible with goals of explanation and generalization in sociological analysis, they use different types of explanation and different degrees of generalization to produce variable-based (Durkheimian) and case-based (Weberian) studies. Several authors (e.g., Kapsis; Smelser, b) suggest that these two strategies converge. We show that these strategies are neither congruent nor convergent in their (1) units of analysis, (2) conception of causality, (3) conception of adequate explanation, or (4) logic of analysis. We examine contemporary comparative studies and trace lines of filiation between them and the strategies of Durkheim and Weber. Finally, we suggest how these strategies can be combined in complementary ways to take advantage of the unique strengths of each. One of the few priorities Durkheim and Weber shared was to establish a balance between competing claims of complexity and generality in sociological analysis. They both saw comparative research as the means to do this because such research avoided problems associated with older styles of inquiry. Comparative analysis separated sociology from traditional historical research with its atheoretical attention to detail; it also separated sociology from social philosophy and the philosophy of history with their emphasis on sweeping generalizations (see Zaret, a). These concerns shape Weber's conception of sociology as a science of historical reality. According to Weber, sociology uses ideal types to enable limited generalization about historical divergence (see Zaret, b). Limited

Horizons of Observability and Limits of Informal Control in Organizations

Abstract: There are various views on the relationship between the interpersonal communication networks within organizations and informal social control. The relative merits of some of these viewpoints can be assessed by examining the distribution of interpersonal observability in communication networks. In a study of six communication networks, it is demonstrated that there is a "horizon" to observability (a distance in a communication network beyond which persons are unlikely to be aware of the role performance of other persons). Observability tends to be restricted to persons who are either in direct contact or who have at least one contact in common. It is shown, moreover, that the number of contacts shared by two persons is a powerful predictor of the probability that one person is aware of the role performance of another, according to a simple stochastic function. Based on this evidence, some viewpoints on informal control structures are more plausible than others. A theory is presented that is consistent with both the present evidence and current thinking on the relationship of communication network structure and informal control. It is hoped that the theory-will provide a useful starting pointfor future studies of this relationship. Most conceptions of social systems allow for gaps in the network of interpersonal relations within a system (i.e., places where face-to-face communications are absent), suggesting that these gaps do not necessarily impede the integration of a system. Social network analysis has developed various methods and concepts for describing the structure of such networks. But these studies have been less effective in ferreting out the implications of various structures for other substantively important phenomena. This paper addresses the relationship between communication network structure and informal social control. Informal control is defined as con

Organization Properties and Sex-Segregation in the Underworld: Building a Sociological Theory of Sex Differences in Crime

Abstract: In this report I examine institutionalized sexism in the underworld. Crime in its more organized and lucrative dimensions is virtually a male phenomenon. Still, sexsegregation in the underworld is variable, being more common in some crime groups than in others. To explain this, I offer a series of propositions and hypotheses linking female access to crime groups to their structure and methods of operation. The proposed framework elaborates on Cloward's opportunity theory by discriminating among illegitimate opportunities depending on whether they are for underworld or upperworld crime, for organized or unorganized crime, for lucrative or petty crime. The scheme can be extended, as well, to an interpretation of race and kinship segregation in the underworld and to an interpretation of sex differences in upperworld crime. My purpose in this report is to show how sex differences in crime are a function of underworld culture and organization and to offer a series of propositions which link properties of crime organizations to criminal roles of women. 1 I use the literature on criminal subcultures and crime organizations and also apply theory from the sociology of occupations and organizations2 to explain (1) the existence of sex-segregation in organized criminal enterprise, resulting in (a) the exclusion or underrepresentation of women in organized crime and (b) their allocation to less-valued roles within crime groups when they are allowed to participate; and (2) the variability of sexsegregation across the spectrum of organized crime activities. In examining these two, related issues, I focus mainly on the social and work relations of the underworld by which crime is organized and through which social positions of individual criminals and crime groups become differentiated. Whatever the historical reasons, roles and struc*For their helpful comments on earlier drafts of this paper I thank Lynne Appleton, Richard Bord, Gilbert Geis, John Hepburn, Roland Pellegrin, Larry Rhoades, Francis Slim Renee Hoffman Steffensmeier, Robert Terry, Mark Warr, and anonymous referees. ?' 1983 The University of North Carolina Press

Are self-reports of adolescent deviance valid? Biochemical measures, randomized response, and the bogus pipeline in smoking behavior.

Abstract: Two measures of questionnaire response validity were used in a survey of teenage smoking (student respondents in grades 7-12) in a midwest community. Responses to a confidential questionnaire were validated by responses to an anonymous ""randomized response" instrument and a biochemical measure of smoking (salivary thiocyanate). Both measures support the validity of questionnaire responses. The randomized response measure is an anonymous self-report check on the accuracy of confidential self-reports, and the biochemical measure provides a strong validity measure that is not subject to the problems of deliberate faking. The validity of responses was not significantly affected by the introduction of a "bogus pipeline" condition. In sociological research the standard technique of obtaining self-reports of behavior faces a standard problem, the possible or probable discrepancy between the actual behavior and the report of it. The validity of oral or written reports of behavior is at issue regardless of the behavior measured, but it is especially salient if the information asked for in the interview or survey questionnaire is sensitive, potentially incriminating, or embarrassing. 1 For this reason, the self-report technique was considered inapplicable to studies of deviant behavior until self-report studies of delinquency in the 1950s and early 1960s (Akers; Clark and Wenninger; Short and Nye). Since then, self-report has become the most frequently applied measure of *The research reported here was supported by Grant #HD 00376 of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R. W. Lauer and R. L. Akers, Co-principal Investigators), and by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Grant #HL 14230 (SCOR in Atherosclerosis), and Grant #HLRO1-20124 (R. M. Lauer, Principal Investigator). ? 1983 The University of North Carolina Press

Socioeconomic Returns to Migration Among Married Women

Abstract: The aim of the present study is to (1) examine the effect of migration on changes in earnings among a cohort of older married women, and (2) assess whether "1returns" to migration vary systematically by the wife's educational and occupational resources in a manner consistent with the tenets of family resource theory. Using the older women cohort of the National Longitudinal Survey, we find that migration has a significant negative effect on earnings in the short-term, but that the longer-term effects are minimal. Contrary to our hypothesis, however, the negative effect of migration on married women's earnings is not diminished regardless of levels of educational and occupational resources. The implications of these results are discussed. A central tenet of sociological conceptualizations of migration is that it serves to loosen the ascriptive economic and social constraints of one's present location (Blau and Duncan; Lane). Migration allows individuals to take advantage of opportunities in other localities, thus serving as a mechanism for upward social mobility.I Indeed, this assumption underlies most cost-benefit or human capital models of geographic mobility. Economic models regard migration as an outcome of a rational assessment whereby individuals balance the benefits of migration against the costs or, alternatively, view migration as an investment expected to reap a socioeconomic "return" (Greenwood; Shaw). Utility-maximizing perspectives of migration decision-making have provided considerable impetus for research on

A Research Note on Adult Friendship Contact: A Dyadic Perspective

Abstract: This paper examines how often adult friends see each other. These questions are addressed: How do social and demographic characteristics of both members in a friendship affect their contact frequency? Do friends with similar characteristics see each other more than status-dissimilar ones do? Do friends who have known each other a long time or who live near each other get together more than recent or distant friends? Does deep affection increase contact? The first and last questions involve characteristics of both members; the second and third, characteristics of the dyad itself. Prior research on adult friendship has emphasized an egocentric perspective: interviewed people (egos) name their best friends (alters) and report on activities with those friends. In data analysis, ego's characteristics are used to predict the friendship behaviors. This is clearly one-sided; a friendship is intrinsically dyadic and depends on both people for its formation and maintenance. A dyadic perspective becomes possible if egos are asked about characteristics of their friends, or the friends are located and interviewed. Then, features of both ego and alter can be used to predict friendship behaviors. Dyadic models are more faithful to reality and are preferable.

Achievement and Ascriptive Processes in the Recognition of Scientific Articles

Abstract: Most studies in the sociology of science have used individuals or organizations as their units of analysis. Using scientific articles provides an alternative method for studying the distribution of recognition or influence in science. The study of citations to articles not only permits a better examination of the functionalist distinction between achievement and ascriptive processes (relying on universalistic and "Matthew effect" criteria, respectively) but also considers intellectual factors in scientific communications-some of the major concerns of the critics of functionalism. This paper develops a methodfor the study of citations and applies it to a sample of geoscience articles. The results indicate that achievement processes are more important than ascriptive processes in the distribution of scientific influence. Most research in the sociology of science has employed two principal units of analysis: individuals and organizations. But Randall Collins suggests that one might get further insight into social processes by studying more elemental units of analysis-for example, the study of conversations and discovery of the reasons that some conversations have more influence than others. Given the difficulty of such studies of everyday life, Collins proposes that the scientific community has several advantages for micro-level analysis: scientific articles are obvious micro-units of analysis, which are analogous to conversations; articles are available for public inspection; they constitute a key element in gaining scientific influence; and citations to articles provide a measure of their influence on others. This paper illustrates how an article level of analysis can provide a valuable supplement to our knowledge about the distribution of influence in science. The first section of this paper outlines the functionalist perspective in the sociology of science (Merton, a) and suggests how two of the pro

Black Migration in America: A Social Demographic History.

Abstract: The authors trace the history of black migratory patterns and processes in the United States from the time of the Atlantic slave trade to the 1970s. Major causes of migratory movements characteristics of migrants the propensity to migrate the size and direction of migration streams and the consequences for migrants and the areas of origin and destination are examined for various periods of U.S. history. The transition in the character of black migration from forced to free movement is described. The mass movement of black Americans to northern and western metropolitan areas during the 1950s is studied and the reversal of this pattern in the early 1970s is discussed

Joint Retirement in the Dual Worker Family

Abstract: The large increase in labor force participation rates of older women has raised questions regarding the joint timing of retirement among older working couples. We define three patterns of family retirement: joint retirement in which both spouses retire at the same time; substitute retirement, a pattern in which the wife works after the husband; and secondary retirement, a pattern in which the husband works longer than the wife. Using data from the Social Security Longitudinal Retirement History Study for 1969-75, we examine determinants of these family patterns. We find that both spouses' characteristics affect retirement timing. Husband's and wife's age, hourly wage, and pension coverage have parallel, symmetric effects on the retirement pattern chosen. Though a great deal of attention has been paid to family influences on the retirement patterns of men (Barfield; Barfield and Morgan), almost no attention has been given to family structure and the joint timing of retirement among working couples (Scanzoni and Szinovacz; Streib and Beck). Timing of retirement in dual worker families is of increasing importance because of the large number of older women now in the labor force. In 1979, 48.7 percent of women aged 55-59 were in the labor force (Masnick and Bane) and current trends suggest that this proportion will be larger for future cohorts. As more couples approach retirement as dual worker families, the later stages of the family life course will be significantly affected by the pattern of retirement chosen. Whereas in the past the retirement of the husband has signaled a major change in the family, it is increasingly the case that the relative timing of retirement of both spouses defines variant family patterns. Division of household work, leisure time patterns, as well *Support for the research reported here was provided, in part, by a grant from the Social Security Administration (10-P-97004-4-02) and a grant from the National Institute on Aging (NIH AG02136). We thank Felix M. Berardo for his comments on an earlier version of this paper. Address correspondence to John Henretta, Department of Sociology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611. ' 1983 The University of North Carolina Press

Social Class and Criminal Behavior: A Critique of the Theoretical Foundation

Abstract: Theories of crimeldeviance are examined to determine how strongly the popular, but now controversial, hypothesis of a negative class lcrime association is rooted in theory. This review of eight theories shows that none actually provides an adequate rationale for predicting such a relationship. It is found that the theories lead to a negative class Icrime hypothesis only by addition of external assumptions, most of which are embodiments of preconceived notions about the lower class. Thus, the scientific status of the class Icrime hypothesis is further challenged. Possible explanations for the persistence of a belief in a negative association between class and crime, despite problematic empirical evidence and theoretical inadequacy, are suggested. A pervasive theme in sociology and criminology has always been that law violation is linked to the individual's position in the social structure (Schafer). Although the form of that postulated association varies (Hirschi, b; Tittle and Villemez), the most frequently hypothesized relationship is negative; i.e., criminal behavior is seen to vary inversely by social status, with particular concentration in the lowest socioeconomic stratum of any society. As Vold notes, "Discussion of the sad state of the poor, with allegations of such undesirable consequences as sickness, vagrancy, crime, and hopeless despair go far back into antiquity" (165-6). And Schafer's review of the literature demonstrates that "Hardly any of the thinkers of the causes of criminality omitted poverty or economic conditions from their catalogue of crime factors, and thus an endeavor to present those who have treated this issue would mean to list almost all who treated the problem

A Note on Sex, Geographic Mobility, and Career Advancement

Abstract: The article presents information on sex, geographic mobility and career development. Over the past four decades, major changes in the extent and nature of female labor force participation have led to increased concern about the under-representation and lower pay of women in professional and managerial positions. Social scientists have offered a number of explanations for these disparities. One such explanation asserts that, with increasing career aspirations among women and greater prevalence of dual career marriages, sex differences in geographic mobility for occupational advancement are one barrier to women's career advancement. Both human capital theory and the crowding hypothesis suggest that lesser geographic mobility among women contributes to sex stratification in the labor force, and there is evidence that geographic mobility is related to income and occupational status. In addition, willingness to move may be valued by managers as a sign of organizational commitment.