Showing papers in "Social Problems in 1967"

Police Discretion in Emergency Apprehension of Mentally Ill Persons

Abstract: The official mandate of the police includes provisions for dealing with mentally ill persons. Since such dealings are defined in terms of civil law procedures, the mandate of the police is not limited to persons who for reasons of illness fail to observe the law. Rather, in suitable circumstances the signs of mental illness, or a competent allegation of mental illness, are in themselves the proper business of the police and can lead to authorized intervention. The expressed legal norms governing police involvement specify two major alternatives. On the one hand, policemen may receive court orders directing them to locate, apprehend, and convey named persons to specified hospitals for psychiatric observation and/or sanity hearings. On the other hand, policemen are authorized by statute to apprehend and convey to hospitals persons whom they perceive as ill, on an emergency basis. The first form parallels the common procedures of serving court warrants, while the second form involves the

Territoriality: A neglected sociological dimension.

Abstract: Territoriality, or the attempt to control space, is conceived as a fundamental human activity. Distinguished are four types of territory (viz., public territories, home territories, interactional territories, and body territories), three types of territorial encroachment (viz., violation, invasion, and contamination), and three types of reaction to encroachment (viz., turf defense, insulation, and linguistic collusion). Certain groups are spatially deprived of free territory—that is, the ecological conditions that afford opportunities for idiosyncrasy and expression of desired identities. In response to this absence of free space, spatially deprived groups respond to various kinds of body manipulation, body adornment, and body penetration (i.e., the modification of inner space).

Moral Passage: The Symbolic Process in Public Designations of Deviance

Abstract: The fact of public affirmation of a norm through law and government action expresses the public worth of one sub-culture vis-a-vis others. Because different forms of deviance affect that normative status in different ways, they incur different responses from the designators. Three forms of deviance are disinguished: repentant, sick, and enemy. One form threatens the public affirmation of the norm more than another. The public definition of deviance undergoes changes from one form to another, as illustrated in issues of drinking control. Where consensus on the norm is lacking and deviants become enemies, movements for legal restrictions are most likely. It is not the frequency of deviant acts but the symbolic import of deviance for the status of the norm which is determinative of these reactions.

A Comment on Disguised Observation in Sociology

Abstract: We would suggest that, in principle, anyone is publicly accountable for the actions which it is his duty to perform. Most of the time, however, since sociologists are not muckrakers, it is not necessary or desirable to single out individuals or even clearly identifiable small groups. In such situations one may reasonably use confidentiality as an inducement to cooperation. In other situations, however, this is clearly unwarranted. If one wishes to study the functioning of courts, or of a mayor's office, or of General Motors, or of unions, it is perhaps better to put up with the difficulties of only doing what one can do without promising to keep information confidential. Since publicly accountable individuals often recognize the fact of their accountability and the useful purposes that might be served by sociologists studying them, one can often gain a good deal of cooperation without the promise of confidentiality.5 We are suggesting that sociologists in this respect have the same rights that journalists have. Our understanding of the social process may be such that we do not use this right in the same way as journalists, because we are not interested in momentary sensations but in developing an understanding of the persisting tendencies of social systems, large or small.

The Ethnic Mobility Trap and Stratification Theory

Abstract: A mobility trap is a structural condition in which the means for moving up within a stratum are contrary to those for moving to the next higher stratum. The underlying metaphor is that of climbing a tree, rather than a “social ladder,” with various possibilities of non-vertical and dead-end forms of ascent. Within this framework several theoretical issues are reformulated: (a) the chances for mobility at different levels within a stratum, (b) the meaning and utility of “anticipatory socialization” in mobility analysis, (c) the conditions under which the members of a class will misperceive the norms of other classes, (d) the conditions under which mobility will bring stress, (e) the nature and effects of status inconsistency, and (f) the restraints against political radicalism in the United States.

The Woman Ph.d.: A Recent Profile

Abstract: This article describes the professional characteristics of women, married and unmarried, who have received their doctorates in four major academic divisions between the years 1958 and 1963, and who are employed full time. Such characteristics as type and place of employment, professorial rank, tenure, and salaries are compared against men who have received their doctorates in the same substantive areas and over the same period of time. It also compares productivity, as measured primarily by publications, professional recognition, and identification, among unmarried women, married women, and men with doctorates.

A phenomenological study of suicide notes

Abstract: The author has attempted to categorize a set of suicide notes according to their formal aspects. The perspective adopted is that of the actor, what he must experience, how he must view these experiences, the social constraints restraining him from suicide, how he succeeds in overcoming them, and finally, the precautions he takes to prevent the recurrence of a similar set of circumstances after his death. The paper is based primarily on an analysis of 112 suicide notes of persons who succeeded in suicide in the Los Angeles area. Insights gained by the author through his work with adolescent suicide attempters and their parents also aided in the formulation.

Ethical Problems in Studying a Politically Sensitive and Deviant Community

Abstract: during the conduct of a research dealing with various forms of deviant and problem behavior in a public housing project on which the spotlight of publicity and political interest has shone for over ten years From such a case study certain more general implications concerning ethical issues in social problems can be drawn Rather than attempt an inventory of the ethical issues that have arisen during the two years the study has been in progress, we will choose issues that we feel are neither completely familiar nor part of the conventional wisdom of our profession The issues dealt with are, also, ones that have seemed crucial to the direction and continuation of the research THE ORIGIN OF THE PRUITT-IGOE RESEARCH

An Abortion Clinic Ethnography

Abstract: of deviance have usually been, in some degree, removed from the actual phenomena under investigation. Thus all too often reports dealing with unconventional social behavior and/or its organization have been based on official statistics produced by variously concerned agencies and on self-reports by the apprehended violators of formal rules and regulations. Neither of these sources is likely to produce an unbiased sample of deviant actors, their actions, and the social organization of these phenomena.' An alternative method of pursuing the study of deviance, one rarely utilized, is to develop contacts with unapprehended deviants themselves, i.e. to go directly to unconventional actors and their subcultures; it is only with such procedures that the natural context of deviance can be studied without the

The selection of clients by social welfare agencies: the case of the blind*

Abstract: The purpose of social welfare is to promote the social betterment of a class or group of people who are defined as disadvantaged, handicapped, or deprived. A set of common problems are attributed to such persons based upon the nature of the trait or quality which sets them apart from the rest of society. Programs of social welfare are then planned to meet the needs which arise out of these problems. It is believed that the form and

Deviance as Performance: The Case of Illness

Abstract: This theoretical bias of the labeling approach has helped form a more purely sociological analysis of deviance and social control. Neglect of the deviant, however, while possibly justified operationally, creates large gaps in the study of deviance. Using as data the social labels only and omitting the activity, intentions, or self-view of the individual deviant make it impossible to distinguish between the falsely accused and the true deviant, and between the truly innocent and the hidden deviant. The argument of the situational theorists would be that the

The Relative Contribution of Family Status and Economic status to Juvenile Delinquency

Abstract: untrue; it is merely incomplete."2 The general hypothesis of this study is that economic status and family status make both joint and independent contributions to deviant behavior. Family instability is aggravated by economic insecurity but is not limited to poor households. Also, inadequate family finances do not always result in broken marriages. It is of particular importance to study this hypothesis (1) since doubt has been cast upon the assumption that family instability and economic insecurity are but different reflections of the same phenomenon, and (2) because of the recent debate surrounding the Moynihan Report on

The Gradual Disappearance of Skid Row

Abstract: Annual enumerations of the Bowery, Manhattan's skid-row area, have shown a consistent decline in population. Inquiries were sent to commissioners of welfare in forty United States cities to determine if the declining skid-row population is a local or a national phenomenon. Results indicate that in most cities the skid-row population is declining. Apparently, this decline is not due to a decrease in the absolute size of the homeless population, but rather to several factors which have operated to disperse homeless men from the traditional skid row to other parts of the city.

The Factory as a Social Service Organization: Goal Displacement in Workshops for the Blend

Abstract: This paper describes the process of goal displacement which has occurred in sheltered workshops for the blind, and analyzes the impact which it has had on two factors in this welfare system The first concerns the effect which goal displacement has had upon blind workers and the whole employment program for the blind generally The second concerns the ideologies which workers for the blind maintain about the capacities and desires of blind persons to work in commercial settings, and of the receptivity of sighted persons to hiring the blind

An Evaluation of the Lander Approach to Ecology of Delinquency

Abstract: A review of Bernard Lander's ecological study of delinquency and several replications of the study has led us to question the usefulness of further studies employing the statistical techniques of Lander. Lander's statements about the “fundamental” relationship of “anomie” and delinquency are not warranted in the light of the non-orthogonal rotation procedure utilized by Lander in his factor analysis. The major criticism, however, of the Lander approach is its inability to uncover unsuspected interaction effects. We suggest as an alternative Predictive Attribute Analysis, a multi-variate predictive technique which is capable of sensing unsuspected interaction effects. To illustrate this procedure, an ecological study of delinquency in Philadelphia is presented. Finally, alternate procedures of handling interaction are discussed in the light of six issues which criminal ecology faces.

Femininity in the Lesbian Community

Abstract: A major deficiency in the limited available literature on the female homosexual has been its use of a deviant sexual commitment as a primary explanatory variable. The present paper re-examines selected aspects of both the sexual and non-sexual adaptations of lesbians in terms of general female patterns. Within the limits set by a deviant gender preference, much of the behavior of the lesbian can be explained in terms of non-deviant sex role expectations. The analysis points to the need to consider the lesbian, as well as other deviant actors, in terms not only of the degree of failure of conventional socialization, but also the degree of success of conventional socialization.

Dimensions of Drinking Among Male College Students

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to define quantitatively salient aspects, or dimensions, of drinking in terms of observationally identifiable traits of the college drinker which would facilitate description and measurement of drinking patterns. Drinking among young adults, such as college students, by and large represents beginning stages of drinking careers and, in extreme cases, incipient phases of what will eventually become alcoholism. A frame of refer-

Sex as Work: A Study of Avocational Counseling

Abstract: This paper examines how sex play is represented in fifteen popular marriage manuals. The authors of these books are viewed as avocational counselors advising Americans about sexual activity in marriage. An analysis revealed that sex play is treated as work by these authors. Those engaged in sexual relations are urged to put forth a great deal of effort. The orgasm is portrayed as the product of marital sex. Other aspects of a job deemed necessary in sexual behavior are a work schedule and special techniques and equipment. Depicting sex as work is probably the consequence of the need of Americans to justify and dignify play and to resolve the contradictory values of work for work's sake and pleasure for pleasure's sake.

The Rise and Decline of a Subculture

Abstract: Cohen has suggested that a new subculture arises when it provides a solution to certain problems of adjustment shared among a community of individuals. This concept is tested against the history of a drug subculture in Kentucky, and found to apply to it. Before 1914, when narcotics could be obtained legally, easily and cheaply, there was no drug subculture. After 1914 drugs could be obtained only with difficulty, but could be obtained through contact with addicts, and a subculture emerged. After 1940, the subculture no longer provided a solution to the problem of obtaining drugs, and it declined. These conclusions are based on a measure of involvement in the subculture, and the changing associations, over time, of other variables with this measure.

Poverty and Political Movements

Abstract: The analysis of the rise of the Social Credit party in Quebec in the federal election of 1962 revealed that there is a strong linear and positive relationship between short-term changes for the worse in one’s economic conditions and Social Credit support. Unemployment in the respondents’ family, for instance, bears a strong positive relationship to the support for this political movement.1 On the basis of this, one could be tempted to infer that the party got a disproportionate support from the lower classes and, more specifically, that the poor were the most likely supporters of the new party. Is this so? Were the poor particularly strong supporters of Social Credit? And, more generally, do the poor form the basis on which protest movements are built?

The Effect of Media Stressing Crime and Violence Upon Children's Attitudes

Abstract: As a measure of acceptance of the ideas, attitudes, and values expressed in crime comics and related media, items for a Likert type attitude scale were derived directly from the ideological content of comic books. The resultant scale (Children's F scale or CF scale) was found to satisfy conventional requirements of reliability, internal consistency, and relative absence of response bias. In two separate studies, scores on the scale were related to measures of exposure to (a) mass media stressing crime and violence, and (b) constructive moral influences. It was concluded from the results that (a) exposure to the media studied influences children in the direction of acceptance of the ideology measured by the CF scale, and (b) exposure to constructive moral influences subtracts from the effects of the media.

Residential History and Educational Status of Delinquents and Nondelinquents

Abstract: The feasibility of the records matching approach is examined with data pertaining to the interrelations of residential mobility, educational status, and juvenile delinquency. Findings are reported by race and sex for comparisons of approximately 7,000 delinquent and 325,000 general population youth 14-17 years of age. Recent mobility was not systematically associated with delinquency; educational status was directly related to delinquency; and little interaction was observed between the mobility variables or between mobility and educational status.

Welfare as a Moral Category

Abstract: Sociologists trying to account for social arrangements in the United States today must carefully consider "welfare," both in itself and in its articulation with virtually all other aspects of American life and social structure. Not only is welfare extremely important today but its significance in the future will be even greater. The role of welfare is even more impressive from the wider perspective of industrial societies in general. There is reason to suppose that some form of welfare activity characterizes all such societies, perhaps amounting to a structural requisite. One might argue that certain functional requisites satisfied by various institutions in other societies can no longer be satisfied by them, because advanced industrial societies place strict limits on their operations. This line of reasoning is most familiar with regard to the family. As a result, it is argued, requisites must be met by the peculiarly modern institutions of welfare. All discussions of welfare which start from these intriguing points should refer to a conceptualization or definition of welfare which would