Showing papers in "Social Forces in 1987"

Structural equation modeling with LISREL: essentials and advances

Abstract: Hayduk is equally at ease explaining the simplest and most advanced applications of the program ...Hayduk has written more than just a solid text for use in advanced graduate courses on statistical modeling. Those with a firm mathematical background who wish to learn about the approach, or those who know a little about the program and want to know more, will find this an excellent reference.

Religious Involvement and the Health of the Elderly: Some Hypotheses and an Initial Test

Abstract: The study examines patterns of religious involvement, health status, functional disability, and depression among noninstitutionalized elderly residents of New Haven, Connecticut, in 1982. Controlling for demographic variables and physical health status, cross-sectional analysis of data from the Yale Health and Aging Project (N= 2811) shows higher levels of public religious involvement associated with lower levels of functional disability and depressive symptomatology; among men the analysis also shows that private religious involvement modifies the associations of health status with disability, and disability with depression. Four alterntive explanatory hypotheses with roots in classical sociological theories of religion are proposed and tested, three arguments for indirect effects of religious involvement through health behaviors, social cohesiveness, and cognitive coherence, and one for an interactive theodicy effect. Most research on the effects of social networks and social support on health status has barely begun to exploit the fact that neither networks nor support are evenly dispersed throughout people's social environments. Rather, they are found clustered together in social institutions which are frequently made up of nonintersecting networks and which offer substantively different kinds of support. Available epidemiological research, however, has tended to treat these social resources in the two simplest possi*An earlier version of this paper was read at the 1986 meetings of the American Sociological Association. Financial support for the analysis was provided by a U.S. Public Health Service Predoctoral Traineeship Grant 5 T32 MH15783-04, and a Charlotte Newcombe Dissertation Fellowship, Woodrow Wilson Foundation. I am indebted to Lisa F. Berkman, Adrian M. Ostfeld, Stanislav Kasl, and the Establishment of Populations for Epidemiologic Study of the Elderly (EPESE) Project of the National Institute on Aging for allowing me to use data from the Yale Health and Aging Project, and to Lisa F. Berkman, Jerome Myers, Allan Horwitz, Stephen Hansell, David Mechanic, and an anonymous referee for their comments. Address correspondence to the author, Department of Sociology, Lucy Stone Hall, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ 08903. C 1987 The University of North Carolina Press

Toward Desacralizing Secularization Theory

Abstract: The theory of secularization is a product of the social and cultural milieu from which it emerged The expectation of receding religious influence fits well the evolutionary model of modernization Critical reexamination reveals secularization to be an orienting concept grounded in an ideological preference rather than a systematic theory This paper examines the historical context which permitted the idea of secularization to go unchallenged for so long, and then develops four discrete types of evidence to account for the present challenge to the theory Few forecasts have been uttered with more unshakable confidence than sociology's belief that religion is in the midst of its final death throes Writes Gerhard Lenski in the introduction to The Religious Factor in 1961: from its inception [sociology] was committed to the positivist view that religion in the modern world is merely a survival from man's primitive past, and doomed to disappear in an era of science and general enlightenment From the positivist standpoint, religion is, basically, institutionalized ignorance and superstition (p 3)

The Effect of Residential Segregation on Black Social and Economic Well-Being

Abstract: This paper investigates some of the consequences of black residential segregation using specially compiled data for Philadelphia in 1980. Blacks, like whites, at- tempt to improve their neighborhood characteristics with rising social status, but unlike whites, they face strong barriers to residential mobility. As a result, high status blacks must live in neighborhoods with fewer resources and amenities than whites of similar background. Specifically, they live in poorer, more dilapidated areas characterized by higher rates of poverty, dependency, crime, and mortality, and they must send their children to public schools populated by low income stu- dents who score badly on standardized tests. These findings suggest that racial segregation remains an important basis for stratification in U.S. society. In December of 1985, four hundred whites stood in the streets of south- west Philadelphia shouting racial epithets and protesting the movement of a black family into the working class neighborhood. The newspaper head- lines provided the city and the nation with a shocking reminder of the constraints that blacks still face in choosing where to live (Cass 1986). However, at the same time, blacks and whites across town lived together peacefully in many other areas, including some of the city's wealthiest neighborhoods, where the regular entry and exit of black families elicited no comment at all. This paper explores this apparent paradox and explains why some blacks are allowed to assimilate spatially, while others are not. Using specially prepared data from Philadelphia, we document the detri- mental consequences of racial segregation for blacks in American society.

Beyond Anomalies: Rethinking the Conflict Perspective on Race and Criminal Punishment

Abstract: Research on race and punishment for crime has produced inconsistent findings. Most previous reviews of the literature have been focused primarily on the numerous methodological flaws that may give rise to such inconsistencies. In this paper I suggest that inconsistent or anomalous findings in this area of research may also result from problems of conceptualization and theory. More specifically, it is argued that the conflict perspective must be substantially revised to begin to account for various anomalies observed by empirical researchers. Such a need for revision is the consequence of both problems in the original formulation of the perspective and its oversimplification within the empirical literature. One of the most widely debated issues in the criminological literature is whether there is racial bias in the administration of justice. In addition to numerous empirical investigations, there have been efforts in recent years to review previous studies and to determine where the weight of the evidence lies (Green 1971; Hagan 1974; Hagan and Bumiller 1983; Hardy 1983; Kleck 1981; Spohn et al. 1981-82). As in other areas of social research, most studies of racial bias in the administration of justice involve black-white comparisons. Reviews of empirical investigations have shown a large number of these studies to report significantly greater rates and levels of punishment for blacks than for whites.1 Others report no significant differences between the races. Still others find that in certain instances, whites receive significantly more punishment for crime than do blacks (e.g., Bernstein et al. 1977; Bullock 1961; Gibson 1978; Levin 1972). This latter finding is often described as an anomaly or inconsistency given the theoretical model that has guided research on this topic. Released time to prepare this paper was provided by the R. J. Reynolds Foundation and by the National Science Foundation, Grant No. RII-8421196. I thank John Hagan, Michael Radelet, and anonymous referees for their helpful comments on earlier drafts. Address correspondence to the author, Black Studies Program and Department of Sociology, University of Illinois, Chicago, IL 60680. ? 1987 The University of North Carolina Press

Routine Leisure Activities and Rates of Crime: A Macro-Level Analysis

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to apply a "routine activities" approach to explain the relations between macro-level indicators of leisure activities and rates of serious crime. We hypothesize that indicators of the volume of leisure activities that typically take place within households will exhibit negative relations with rates of crime, whereas indicators of the volume of leisure activities that are usually conducted away from households will yield positive associations with rates of crime. Regression analyses for a sample of the largest Standard Metropolitan Statistical Areas (SMSAs) in the United States provide strong support for these hypotheses. A "household activities" index and a "nonhousehold activities" index exhibit negative and positive associations, respectively, with SMSA crime rates. We suggest that while these results are fully consistent with the routine activities approach, they are not readily interpretable with reference to other general perspectives on the relations between leisure and crime. An important, recent development in criminology has been the formulation of the "routine activities" perspective. The perspective derives largely from Hawley's (1950) human ecology theory and is based on the premise that there is a symbiotic relationship between legal and illegal activities. In essence, illegal activities "feed upon" the legal activities of everyday life

The Social Construction of School Punishment: Racial Disadvantage Out of Universalistic Process

Abstract: Black adolescents are much more likely to run afoul of the juvenile justice system than are similar white adolescents, even though the two groups self-report similar rates of offending. Within public schools we find the same differential pattern. Using three waves of longitudinal data collected in schools we evaluate several explanations for the disparity. The greater rates of punishment for blacks occur as a consequence of teachers' perceptions of the students' behavior, their knowledge of students' recent academic performance, and their knowledge of students' past record of being sanctioned. Since black adolescents in our sample received poorer grades and were rated as less well behaved in the past, they were more likely to have been sanctioned and therefore to acquire a cumulative disadvantage. The punishment disparity is best understood as the result of a social construction process. Official reports of juvenile delinquency show that the proportion of black adolescents processed and punished is much higher than the proportion of white adolescents. Yet research on differences in misbehavior using self-report evidence has generally found only slight racial differences. That the differential rates of punishment can be explained by differential rates of misbehavior is not convincing to many. A research debate continues about why black adolescents are disproportionately punished. In school settings a similar pattern seems to exist judging from a review of the available evidence. There is considerable research using offi

Discrimination in the Criminal Courts: Family, Gender, and the Problem of Equal Treatment

Abstract: "Sex effects"-favoring women-typically found in criminal court pretrial release and sentencing outcomes have not been satisfactorily explained. Drawing on ob- servational studies and interviews with court officials carried out by the author and others, a social control/social costs framework is presented. This framework revises Kruttschnitt's social control arguments and introduces the idea that there are social costs to punishment. Hypotheses are tested on the impact of a defen- dant's familial status and the interactive effects of gender and family for five court outcomes. The results show that initially significant sex effects are explained by defendants' familial situations. Implications are drawn for future research on gen- der discrimination in the criminal courts and for the problem of equal treatment of groups and individuals before the law. A common finding in statistical studies of criminal court outcomes is a persistent "sex effect," one showing that women receive more lenient treatment than men. Although some suggest this sex effect may be more apparent than real, that is, an artifact of inadequate control variables (Stef- fensmeier 1980), reviews of multivariate studies that control for the defen- dant's prior record and the type/severity of the offense charged show a recurring pattern. Differences in the treatment of men and women are more often found in sentencing and pretrial release decisions than in those for case dismissal and conviction (Chesney-Lind forthcoming; Nagel & Hagan 1983; Parisi 1982). Research to date shows that sex effects are real, but arise in particular decision-making contexts. What explains the variability of the sex effect across differing court outcomes? And what explains the sex effect when it emerges? Interviews with court officials and observations of court practices suggest that pre-trial release and sentencing decisions are shaped by defendants' familial relations and, in turn, are infused with concerns for maintaining family life (Daly 1986, 1987; Eaton 1983; Mann, Wheeler & Sarat 1980; Maynard 1982). Drawing from this qualitative research, a social control/social costs framework is presented, and the hypotheses derived are subject to statisti- cal test. The social control/social costs framework revises Kruttschnitt's (1981, 1982, 1984) and Kruttschnitt and Green's (1984) social control argu- ments and introduces the idea that there are social costs to punishment, these being the negative consequences to the state of imposing criminal justice sanctions, especially jail time, on defendants.

Police Response to Interpersonal Violence: Defining the Parameters of Legal Control

Abstract: This paper examines factors influencing how police handle violence between citizens. Police decision-making in violent encounters reflects styles of control, three of which are considered in this analysis: whether to mediate the problem, to arrest the combatants, or to resolve the matter by separating the disputing parties. Drawing on Black's theory of law and previous studies of police behavior, factors hypothesized to influence styles of control include characteristics of the parties involved such as race, sex, and relationship; aspects of the encounter itself, such as weapon use, location, and whether the citizens involved have been drinking; and the context in which the encounter occurs, such as the type of neighborhood. The analysis indicates that how police handle these encounters reflects who is involved in addition to what has occurred. The implications of these findings for a more complete understanding of police decision-making are discussed. In recent years, social scientists have become increasingly aware of the discretionary nature of decision-making by legal officials such as the police. Numerous studies during the past two decades, for example, indicate that law alone is often a poor predictor of police behavior, especially decisions to arrest (Banton 1964; Berk and Loseke 1981; Black 1970; Lundman 1974; Smith and Visher 1981). In one of the first major studies of American policing, Michael Banton (1964) commented that the most striking aspect about the police was the frequency with which they choose not to arrest suspected offenders. This line of research has resulted in a clearer picture of routine police work and increased our sensitivity to the complexities of the police role within the social control process. It is now widely acknowledged, for example, that police perform a number of roles ranging from mediator to peacekeeper to law enforcer (Bittner 1967, 1970; Cumming et al. 1965; Goldstein 1977; Mastrofski 1983; Reiss 1971; Wilson 1967). *This research was made possible in part by a grant from the Law and Society Section of the National Science Foundation (NSF SES-83-19782). The paper has benefited from the insights of Christy Visher and anonymous referees. Address correspondence to the author, Institute of Criminology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742.

Comparison of Dependence and Punitive Forms of Power

Abstract: This research examines the impact of the power relationship on tactical action (i.e., damage and concession tactics) in conflict. It tests a theory of bilateral deterrence and determines whether theoretical principles designed for punitive power extend to power dependence. The theoretical principles are that unequal power will produce more use of power (i.e., damage tactics) than equal pozwer, and also that the total amount of power across actors in a relationship will be negatively related to power use. These hypotheses are tested in a laboratory setting that separates dependence from punitive pozer, enables actors to make offers and counteroffers across a series of rounds (i.e., engage in explicit negotiation), and contains the option to engage in damaging and threatening action. The results support the theory of bilateral deterrence with regard to punitive power, offer partial support to extension of the theory to power dependence, and demonstrate that the distinction between punitive and dependence forms of pozwer is important. This paper deals with the impact of power on tactical action in conflict. The theory and research is organized around two conceptual distinctions: one between power based on dependence versus punitive capability, and the other between relative power (i.e., power difference) and "total power" in a relationship (i.e., across actors). The paper will argue that these distinctions are important on both theoretical and empirical grounds. Theoretically, they are important to explicate the connection between conceptions of power that stress the coercive foundation of power (Bierstedt 1950; Tedeschi, Schlenker & Bonoma 1973) and those that treat power as dependence (Bacharach & Lawler 1981; Cook & Emerson 1984; Cook et al. 1981; *This research was supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation, and the order of authorship does not reflect differential contributions to this paper. This paper was presented at the 1986 meetings of the Midwest Sociological Society. Address correspondence to Edward J. Lawler, Sociology Department, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242. ? 1987 The University of North Carolina Press

Urbanism and Suicide: A Study of American Counties

Abstract: his study employs data from 3,108 counties in the United States to examine the effects of urbanism and a number of other variables on suicide. Grouping the counties into three categories (most urban, middle urban, rural) reveals a surpris- ing difference in the relative capacity of sociological variables to explain the inci- dence of suicide within each context. Sociological variables in the most urban counties tend to have a much stronger explanatory power than in the rural or middle urban counties. These results suggest that most sociological explanations for suicide apply primarily to urban environments and not rural ones. As Fischer (1982) has shown, types of relations which prevail in urban communities may be better conduits for social structural influences than those in rural environments. Structural explanations for suicide, therefore, may be best suited for urban envi- ronments and may be largely limited to them. Disagreement continues among social scientists about the effects of ur- banism and the extent and nature of differences between rural and urban life in American society. According to Wirth's (1938) influential classic formulation, the concentration of diverse people in large dense settle- ments produces social isolation and disorganization, excessive individual- ism, and other largely negative consequences. Other social scientists have supported an opposing thesis: that few, if any, sociocultural or social psy- chological characteristics are necessarily linked with the size, density, or heterogeneity of settlements (Dewey 1960; Gans 1962). Accordingly, pro- ponents of the latter view regard urban life as quite diverse, but with few

Marital Timing: Race and Sex Comparisons

Abstract: In this paper we explore the determinants of marital timing for males and females separately by race using a sequential model and data from the [U.S.] National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972. Results indicate that background factors are relatively unimportant in determining directly when marriage will occur. Rather events and circumstances that are more current are the determining factors as to whether marriage will occur. In addition the factors important in determining marital timing vary systematically according to sex and race. The models for blacks are distinct in that few measured predictors of marital timing show consistently significant effects contrary to the case for whites. This suggests a much different marriage market for each of the races. (EXCERPT)

A Test of “Gender” and “Job” Models of Sex Differences in Job Involvement

Abstract: The sources of gender differences in subjective job involvement are investigated utilizing cross-sectional and panel data from the 1972-73 and 1977 Quality of Employment Surveys. Analyses do not support previous arguments that differences in gender socialization and family responsibilities are the sources of females' lower involvement with a job. Instead, characteristics of the job setting, in particular work autonomy, are more important determinants of job involvement as men and wvomen generally react similarly to their wvork conditions. Women are found to be more involved with their jobs than men after controlling differences in wvork autonomy. The findings also indicate wvomen became more involved with their jobs over the period of study whereas men's subjective involvement decreased. The steadily increasing numbers of women entering the labor force in recent decades has generated a considerable body of research examining their work orientations and job attitudes. Most of this literature focuses on gender differences in work values (e.g., Lacy, Bokemeier & Shepard 1983; Simpson & Mutran 1981; Walker, Tausky & Oliver 1982) or job satisfaction (e.g., Jurik & Halemba 1984; Martin & Hanson 1985; Miller 1980). Few studies, however, have systematically investigated the sources of men's and women's psychological involvement with their jobs.' Existing research is largely descriptive and indicates that women are less psychologically involved with their work than men (Agassi 1982; Andrisani 1978; Clarke 1983; Lacy, Bokemeier & Shepard 1983; Mannheim 1983; Sekaran 1983). *The data were made available by the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research. The data for Quality of Employment Surveys were collected by Robert P. Quinn and Graham L. Staines. Neither the original collectors of the data nor the Consortium bear any responsibility for the analyses or interpretation presented here. The research was partially supported by the University of Houston Computing Center. The comments of Jeylan Mortimer and two anonymous referees are gratefully appreciated. Address correspondence to the author, Department of Sociology, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77004. ? 1987 The University of North Carolina Press

Abuse-Resistant Youth: Some Factors That May Inhibit Violent Criminal Behavior

Abstract: VioLit summary: OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study by Kruttschnitt et al. was to identify those factors in the lives of victims of abuse that might have protected them from subsequently becoming violent offenders as adults. METHODOLOGY: The authors employed a quasi-experimental cross-sectional design with a non-probability sample of 100 males incarcerated for a violent crime (murder, rape, armed robbery and aggravated assault) in a Minnesota State Correctional Facility, and a control group of 65 male volunteers who had no history of violent crime. The two groups were matched by age, race, and neighborhood of residence during adolescence and childhood. Interview and record data were gathered for each of the respondents, and the final sample consisted of the 106 respondents who had been spanked, whipped, or beaten by their parents. Data were collected about family stability, strength of family attachments, exposure to violence in the home and through the media, feelings of deprivation, schooling and dating experiences, and experiences early in life with agencies such as the criminal justice system, child protection and welfare. The dependent variable for this study was violent criminal behavior, and the independent variables included the presence or absence of a nurturing adult figure, the number of stressful life events experienced (number of family moves, health problems of the respondent, whether the family received welfare, stability of father's job, and number of illegitimate children fathered by the subject during adolescence), number of siblings, the presence of alternative caregivers, the degree of emotional neglect (emotional neglect scale and parents' knowledge of respondent's whereabouts), the identity of the abuser, outcomes of parental conflict, a history of arrest among family members, and the strength of the respondent's support system (siblings, friends in school and team sports). Analysis involved a logit model with regression, estimating the likelihood of success (no violence) for each variable when scores on all other variables were held at their means. FINDINGS/DISCUSSION: The authors found that six of the variables were significant in the model, with outcome of parental conflict and family criminality being the strongest variables. With the youth having mean scores on all the other variables, over one-half (57%) of those whose parents settled conflicts verbally were likely to be successes (no violent crime committed), whilst only one-third (37%) of those whose parents resorted to violence had no history of violent crime. For the family arrest variables, those youth who had siblings or multiple family members arrested were the least likely to report no violence (22%), and those subjects with no family arrest were being the most likely to be successes (70%). Other variables that played significant roles in the model were the emotional neglect scale, the identity of the abuser, the support system, and the number of team sports. The emotional neglect variable showed that those youth who reported the highest levels of neglect were least likely to be successes - only 21% of these high-neglect youth reported no violence, compared with 55% of the low-neglect group. The combination of abuse and neglect, rather than abuse alone, was thought to lead to antisocial behavior. For those subjects who were abused by their fathers, only 27% reported no violence; 34% who were abused by their mothers reported no violent crime, and 61%, who had no primary rule enforcer, were successes. The consistency of this latter type of disciplinary environment was thought to enhance the likelihood of success. Youth who reported being close to some of their siblings had a 56% chance of success; those who were close to all had a 37% chance, and those close to none, or without siblings, had a 26% chance of violence. The authors suggested that this finding might be due to a differential identification with siblings who had not been arrested over those who had been - 45% of the subjects had a sibling with an arrest record. By identifying only with those who had no record, the chance of violence crime was lowered. Turning to team involvement, the authors found that 81% of those youth involved in up to 8 sports were likely to be successes, compared with only 26% of those involved in no team activities. The authors suggested that team sports might boost self-esteem , or might act as outlets for aggression. The authors concluded that, whilst physical abuse might be a necessary element in the cycle of violence, it is not a sufficient one - when the environment provides few positive experiences to counterbalance the abuse, the victim might end up violent in the future. AUTHORS' RECOMMENDATIONS: The authors suggested that future research should focus on examining the effects of each of these variables, independently and combined, on different types of violent crimes. EVALUATION: The authors present an interesting discussion of some of the factors that might help protect abused youth from becoming violent criminals in later life. However, the small sample size, and the self-report nature of the data, suggest that the results be interpreted with some caution. A more detailed discussion about selection of respondents would have been helpful, as would have a more thorough explanation of the measurement of variables. At times, the findings were presented in a somewhat confusing fashion, and few implications of the results were offered. Despite these limitations, the study should be seen as an informative addition to the study of the cycle of violence. (CSPV Abstract - Copyright © 1992-2007 by the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence, Institute of Behavioral Science, Regents of the University of Colorado) KW - Minnesota KW - Domestic Violence Effects KW - Domestic Violence Victim KW - Child Abuse-Violence Link KW - Child Abuse Effects KW - Child Abuse Victim KW - Child Physical Abuse Effects KW - Child Physical Abuse Victim KW - Child Male KW - Child Victim KW - Male Victim KW - Childhood Experience KW - Childhood Victimization KW - Long-Term Effects KW - Home Environment KW - Male Violence KW - Male Offender KW - Violence Causes KW - Family History KW - Psychological Victimization Effects KW - Adult Male KW - Adult Offender KW - Adult Violence Language: en

Home-Based White Collar Employment: Lessons from the 1980 Census

Abstract: Home-based employment in the United States is studied using data from the 1980 census. The results indicate that only 1.6 percent of the work force worked at home as a primary place of employment in 1980 a percentage that has been declining since 1960. Consideration is given to reasons for working at home the characteristics of those so employed and income in comparison to those working outside the home. (ANNOTATION)

Mobilizing Weak Support for Social Movements: The Role of Grievance, Efficacy, and Cost

Abstract: While most studies concentrate on relatively high levels of commitment to social movements, pervasive weak support has received less attention Ballot initiatives are one of a class of tactics which translate latent support into concrete influence Because they are "low cost" mobilizations for individual supporters, such initiatives can minimize free riding, and are ideal for exploring weak support A social psychological analysis complementary to resource mobilization theory reveals the impact and interactions of voters' social definitions, along with background factors Levels of grievance, cost, and efficacy, along with demographic and political variables predict support for a recent nuclear free zone campaign Social movements rise or fall not just on the deeds of organizations and activists, but also on the strength of a mass base While most of the social movement literature concentrates on actors at relatively high levels of commitment, that is, those who contribute time or money to a social movement organization (SMO), less intense support within the constituency is more pervasive and potentially as important This paper argues that attending to the margins of social movements, to those whose attachment to movements is weak, broadens our understanding of how movements survive and grow Weak, widespread, or "low cost" support can be a key factor in the ability of groups to enter the political arena, and to achieve goals within it Movements nearly always face the problem of "political capital formation" This problem has two key elements: representation and resources

Cycles of Illegality: Antitrust Violations in Corporate America

Abstract: This paper explores the relations between antitrust behavior and variations in macroeconomic conditions and Republican-Democratic administrations. Its major premise is that corporate antitrust criminality results when business conditions deteriorate (i.e., during recessionary periods) and corporate profits are squeezed. This hypothesis is tested using longidutinal data from 1927 through 1981 and OLS time series analysis. Fifty-two "survivor" firms are tracked as to their patterns of antitrust criminality across these sample years. Interpretation of the findings suggests that both economic and political variables are directly related to the criminal behavior of these firms. Antitrust behavior increases as unemployment rates climb and aggregate stock prices drop. It is also apt to occur during Republican administrations. The implications of these findings, as well as how they integrate into the extant literature, are discussed. Corporate crime is perhaps the most enigmatic of all the possible areas of research in criminology. Originally conceptualized by Sutherland (1949) as white-collar crime, in recent years corporate misbehavior has been defined and dissected by sociologists and criminologists (Clinard et al. 1979; Coleman 1985; Geis & Meier 1977; Shapiro 1985; Simon & Eitzen 1982; Vaughan 1983), lawyers (Clark 1983; Hay & Kelley 1974; Posner 1970), and business/organization scholars (Staw & Szwajkowski 1975; Strachan, Smith & Beedles 1983; Walton & Cleveland 1964). Within this growing literature, there has been very little hypothesistesting research. Indeed, most studies of corporate crime are descriptive and/or theoretical; they focus on particular corporations, industries, or "cases" of misbehavior. Therefore, findings may not be generalizable. An*This is a revised version of a paper presented at the annual meetings of the Society for the Study of Social Problems. I thank Andy B. Anderson and Alan Lizotte for advice on statistical techniques, appropriate methods, and logical data base construction. Also, I acknowledge the contributions of my friends and colleagues, Robert Faulkner, Anthony Harris, Lawrence Zacharias, Victoria Swigert, Steven Ainley, Royce Singleton, Rhys Williams, and two anonymous referees. Address correspondence to the author, Department of Sociology, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403. ? 1987 The University of North Carolina Press 943 This content downloaded from 207.46.13.124 on Sun, 11 Sep 2016 06:07:50 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 944 / Social Forces Volume 65:4, June 1987 other problem with the literature is a conceptual tendency to subsume a variety of violations-labor, trade, manufacturing-under the rubric "corporate crime" (e.g., Kramer 1982). This conceptual monolith passively encourages scholars to view all corporate crime as having the same etiology. The present paper addresses these problems by isolating one type of corporate illegality (antitrust violations) and testing for its occurrence using economic and political variables. Theoretical Framework Many scholars implicate corporate financial difficulty as a source of intraorganizational pressure which culminates in illegal actions (Barnett 1981; Conklin 1977; Finney & Lesieur 1982). When corporate profit goals are not achieved, severe organizational strain is likely. "Performance pressures mount because of reduced salaries and dividends, declining stock values, and shrinking market shares" (Finney & Lesieur 1982, p. 270). A firm's reaction to profit-squeeze typically involves ways of reducing costs and increasing revenues. Firms may engage in strategic interaction with competitors, potential industry competitors, and producers of substitute products as well as negotiate with labor and/or governmental regulators-all without making significant changes in the legitimate behavior of the corporation (Porter 1980). Yet, there are reasons to suspect that when "legitimate" market manipulation fails, illegitimate behaviors may substitute. Theoretically, the literature does not distinguish which types of illegality are likely to occur during profit-squeeze periods. Empirically, however, certain types of corporate crime are more apt to occur than others. One such illefality is antitrust (e.g., Asch & Seneca 1975; Staw & Szwajkowski 1975). Low or declining profits may stimulate interfirm conspiracy with subsequent high prices (improved profitability) and strong demand causing conspirators to persist (Lean, Ogru & Rogers 1982; Sultan 1975). Sharply declining profits and performance pressure may trigger attempts to forcefully increase the dependence of purchasers on the firm's products, to heighten entry barriers, and/or to pass profit constraints on to others within a transaction network. Opportunism and self-interest in the search for comparative advantage encourages the cultivation and continuation of transactions through which buyers are moved into weaker bargaining positions. Vehicles for that movement may be illegal tying agreements, selective price negotiation and price discrimination, refusals to deal, and other strategies designed to secure structural leverage and market control (Denzin 1977; Farberman 1975). Finally, large firms may resort to predatory pricing as a means to undermine the market share of weaker competitors. This content downloaded from 207.46.13.124 on Sun, 11 Sep 2016 06:07:50 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms Antitrust Violations / 945 The profit-squeeze-antitrust thesis has been tested empirically with poorly performing firms (Clinard et al. 1979; Staw & Szwajkowski 1975) and/or industries (Bain 1951; Hay & Kelley 1974). Certainly, firm-level decision-making and product market scarcity or munificence have an impact on a company's ability to operate profitably. Yet, other environmental factors also may impose constraints on the firm. Those scholars who acknowledge the role of market in affecting firm action effectively ignore the plausible influence of macroeconomic fluctuations on these same processes. This oversight is troublesome as firms often plot strategy and action based on trends in the economy as a whole, rather than relying solely on industry movements. Gordon (1961) points out that downswings in the business cycle are carefully monitored by firms for forecasting purposes. Companies will isolate some systematic relations between sales of their products and variability in macro indicators (such as GNP, stock price, or industrial production) and adjust their activities accordingly. Thus, the primary goal of this research is to isolate the macroeconomic factors and circumstances which produce antitrust behavior by corporations. The relation between changes in economic conditions and antitrust criminality is traced longitudinally, across all business cycle phases (depression, recession, recovery, and growth). This paper differs substantively from earlier works in that it addresses crime causation issues (corporate action) as well as variations in government prosecution/regulatory activity (government action). Several researchers (Moe 1980; Neuman 1983; Posner 1970) hypothesize that antitrust will vary by administrative policy, that is, certain political administrations are more likely to pursue corporate violators than others. From this perspective, criminality may be viewed as a consequence of the political labeling process, typically produced through regulator edict. This argument is examined in conjunction with the economic "profit-squeeze" model where the state plays a secondary, albeit important, role. Given these concerns, it is important to expand upon the idea of business cycle activities.

The Challenge of Social Control: Citizenship and Institution Building in Modern Society.

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