Showing papers in "Social Problems in 1962"

Thieves, Convicts and the Inmate Culture

Abstract: Dentro de la prolifica literatura sobre la organizacion social de las instituciones correccionales, se ha tornado bastante frecuente discutir la “cultura de la prision” o “cultura carcelaria” en terminos que sugieren que el sistema de comportamiento de los distintos tipos de presos se origina en las propias condiciones de encierro. La lectura estructural-funcionalista en la investigacion y observacion de las instituciones ha llevado por un lado a enfatizar la nocion de que las condiciones internas de las prisiones estimulan conductas de diverso tipo entre los detenidos, y por otro a recuperar las viejas nociones en torno de que los presos portan una cultura que llevan consigo al interior de la carcel. Nuestro objetivo es suge-

Notes on the Sociology of Deviance

Abstract: Reprinted by permission from Social Problems 9 (1962): 307-14. Copyright 1969 by The Society for the Study of Social Problems. Kai T. Erikson is Professor of Sociology at Yale University. The following selection sketches the theoretical orientation used in Wayward Puritans (Wiley, 1966), a historical and sociological study of deviance among the Massachusetts Bay Puritans in the 17th century, which won the 1967 Maclver Award of the American Sociological Association. In this book and other articles Erikson has contributed significantly to our knowledge of the processes by which society screens behavior and attributes deviance.

Good People and Dirty Work

Abstract: “& une secte est le noyua et le levain de toute foule& . Etudier la foule c'est juger un drame d'aprks ce qu'on voit sur la scene; etudier la secte c'est le juger d'apres ce qu'on voit dans les coulisses.” Sighele, S. Psychologie des sectes . Paris, 1898. Pp. 62, 63, 65.1

Anti-Minotaur: The Myth of a Value-Free Sociology

Abstract: This is an account of a myth created by and about a magnificent minotaur named Max-Max Weber, to be exact; his myth was that social science should and could be value-free. The lair of this minotaur, although reached only by a labrynthian logic and visited only by a few who never return, is still regarded by many sociologists as a holy place. In particular, as sociologists grow older they seem impelled to make a pilgrimage to it and to pay their respects to the problem of the relations between values and social science.

Two Studies of Legal Stigma

Abstract: Legal thinking has moved increasingly toward a sociologically meaningful view of the legal system. Sanctions, in particular, have come to be regarded in functional terms.1 In criminal law, for instance, sanctions are said to be designed to prevent recidivism by rehabilitating, restraining, or executing the offender. They are also said to be intended to deter others from the performance of similar acts and, sometimes, to provide a channel for the expression of retaliatory motives. In such civil actions as tort or contract, monetary awards may be intended as retributive and deterrent, as in the use of punitive damages, or may be regarded as a quid pro quo to compensate the plaintiff for his wrongful loss. While these goals comprise an integral part of the rationale of law, little is known about the extent to which they are fulfilled in practice. Lawmen do not as a rule make such studies, because their traditions and techniques are not designed for a systematic examination of the operation of the legal system in action, especially outside the courtroom. Thus, when extra-legal consequences-e.g., the social stigma of a prison sentence-are taken into ac-

The Impact of a ‘Total-Community’ Delinquency Control Project

Abstract: have three additional major campuses by that time, each eventually to be the equivalent of the Berkeley or Los Angeles campus. It is, of course, difficult to predict the effects of such changes on school spirit and on its concomitants, but the example of the large Eastern universities may be instructive. The collegiate subculture of big-time football, houseparties, and the "Gentleman's C" originated in the Ivy League. With an increase in the college-age population and in the proportion of that population actually seeking admission, these universities have changed remarkably. There is a new emphasis on scholarship and academic achievement; it has been said that the average Princeton graduate twenty years ago would not meet today's admission standards. This change in intellectual climate appears to have been accompanied by a decline in the more extreme manifestations of the collegiate subculture. It may be that the same long-term changes have already begun at the large state universities in the Midwest and West and that school spirit and its concomitants will diminish.19 In addition to these long-term changes, the recent crises in international affairs have introduced shortterm changes also, as students have becom more ac ive politically. Political issues, such as th achievement f peace, or the attainment of civil rights by Negroes, have become campus issues: for many students the times are too serious to waste on such "childish"

Pathology: A Study of Social Movements within a Profession

Abstract: disciplines the necessity of coping with rapidly changing conditions in their work life, changes which are dramatic even within one generation. A middleaged pathologist interviewed for this study reflected the sentiments of his peers when he remarked of the present shape of the specialty, "I wouldn't know it anymore." We can expect that specialization and rapid change will increasingly characterize professions, insofar as they are based upon an expanding body of scientific knowledge and the sources of change from a more complex social organization of professional endeavor multiply. Yet, so far the sociology of occupations and professions has not been systematically concerned with processes of specialization and change in occupations. A previous paper presented the beginnings of a "process" or "emergent" approach to the study of professions.' Its aim was to develop a theoretical framework which would focus more pointedly upon diversity and change in occupations, and provide some initial formulations of the main processes involved. The present study attempts to specify further the social processes involved in the development of professional groups. Briefly, the model with which we began posits the existence of a number of emergent groups within a profession. There are many identities, many values, and many interests to be found within the same profession, which tend to become patterned and shared. Coalitions develop and organize, both in opposition to older entrenched groups and for the furtherance of their own interests. We called these coalitions segments. We suggested, further, that segments tend to take on the character of social movements. They develop distinctive identities, a sense of the past, and goals for the future; they organize activities and tactics which will secure an insti-

Secondary analysis: a strategy for the use of knowledge from research elsewhere

Abstract: out too much chance of the perpetrators being caught. The boys reacted accordingly. Direct observation of the antiSemitic children in the New York sample (not the youths over 16) indicated that, by and large, they were not arrogant, swashbuckling personalities. Even the most aggressively antiSemitic among them tended rather to be beset with feelings of weakness and ineffectiveness, frustrated in their capacity to achieve and unable or unwilling to assert themselves openly. These children were inclined to be

The Micro-Neighborhood: An Approach to Ecological Patterns of Ethnic Groups

Abstract: anti-Jewish behavior Two indicators of the educational level of communities-percentage of those between 1417 years old enrolled in school and the median years of education completed by those 25 years old and above --displayed no relationship with the incidence of anti-Semitic acts With respect to minority population characteristics, both the absolute size and relative size of the Jewish population manifested consistent and positive associations with the incidence of anti-Semitic acts As the number nd percentage Jewish inc eased, the number of acts increased Similarly, change in the size of the Jewish population showed a direct association

Social Class, Diagnosis, and Treatment in Three Psychiatric Hospitals

Abstract: in violative behavior were far stronger than any counterpressures the Project could bring to bear. This explanation will derive from a general theory of gang delinquency whose tentral proposition, to be expanded at length, will be that patterned involvement in violative behavior by gangs of the Midcity type occurs where four cultural "conditions" exist concurrently-maleness, adolescence, urban residence, and low-skill laboring class status. Each of these conditions is conceptualized as a particular type of subcultural system-each of whose "demanded" sets of behavior, taken separately, contribute some element of the motivation for engagement in gang delinquency, and whose concerted operation produces a subcultural milieu which furnishes strong and consistent support for customary involvement in criminal behavior. Data on "impact" presented here document the influence of two of these conditions-age status and social status. Court-appearance frequency trends (Tables I and II) would appear to indicate that the single most important determinant of the frequency of that order of criminal behavior which eventuated in court appearance for Midcity male gangs was age, or more specifically, movement through a series of age-based subcultural stages. Commission of criminal acts of given types and frequency appeared as a required concomitant of passing through the successive age-stages of adolescence and a prerequisite to the assumption of adult status. The influence of these age-class demands, on the basis of this and other evidence, would appear to exceed that of other factors-including conditions of the family, school, neighborhood or job world; police arrest policies, sentencing, confinement, probation and parole policies, and others. Data on social status (e.g., footnote 27, passim) along with much additional data not reported here, indicate a systematic relationship between social status within the lower class, and delinquency. 1. Within the 21 gang sample of the Midcity study, crime was both more prevalent and more serious among those whose social status, measured by occupational and educational indexes, was lowest. 2. Relatively small differences in status were associated with relatively large differences in patterned behavior; as lower status levels were approached, delinquency incidence increased exponentially r ther than linearly; this indicates the necessity of making refined intra-class distinctions when analyzing the social "location" of criminal behavior. 3. Groups of lower social status showed the least reduction in

The Swastika Epidemic of 1959-1960: Anti-Semitism and Community Characteristics

Abstract: are to them indicative of patients' attempts to retain the prerogatives of high extra-hospital status in a ward setting. CONCLUSION Previous research has demonstrated that nurses' attitudes about (a) the nature and treatment of mental illness (custodialism) and about (b) the effects of patients' extra-hospital social status on nurse-patient relationships (status disaffection) vary from one type of psychiatric hospital to another.'5 This paper has attempted to show that these attitudes also vary from one type of ward to another and from work shift to work shift within the

Hollywood Films on British Screens: An Analysis of the Functions of American Popular Culture Abroad

Abstract: by law. American television programs make up 14 per cent of commercial television's weekly schedule, also the legal maximum, although a number of other programs are based on American formats and occasionally even on American scripts. The sale of American popular music is not restricted, and a majority of the ten top selling records has usually been American. Why should American popular culture be able to lure societies away from their own entertainment? What enables it to induce acculturation in countries whose people have little or no personal contact with Americans? The answers to these questions were sought in a study begun in England during the summer of 1957.1 England was chosen because of the absence of language barriers; only there can audiences of all educational levels choose

Social Instability and Attitudes Toward Pregnancy as a Social Role

Abstract: erice, pregnancy may be regarded as a social role to the extent that expectations and proscriptions for behavior may attach to the status of the expectant mother. Thus, the expectant mother may view herself and be viewed by others as expected to act "as-if" she were sick during pregnancy, while others may not so regard themselves.' Typically, the role of the sick means that the afflicted individual is exempt from normal social responsibilities during the course of the incapacitation. Moreover, the affliction is regarded as "abnormal" and, therefore, the ill person feels expected to "get over it" and return to normal as soon as possible. In addition, the person who enacts a sick role considers that pain and suffering are expected corollaries of one's being ill and of getting better. Further, the person who regards himself as sick is expected to be sensitive to and concerned about possible organic changes and complications-he is expected to be concerned about the crisis in which

Caste, Class and Vandalism

Abstract: aged, the physically deteriorated-in short, the patients with the very poorest prognoses. One wonders, indeed, about the nature of the "treatment" psychiatry would recommend for these people. But without such psychiatric prescription and the resources to go along with it, the chronic services proceed, as would any social system, to receive, to socialize, and to integrate patients into the life of the basic social unit.