Showing papers in "Sociology in 1969"

Graph Theory and Social Networks: A Technical Comment on Connectedness and Connectivity:

Abstract: Concepts taken from graph theory and other branches of topology have been used by many sociologists and social psychologists, in particular Kurt Lewin and J. L. Moreno. Similar ideas have been used...

Social Class Differences in the Relevance of Language to Socialization

Abstract: This paper reports social class differences in the emphasis placed upon the use of language in two areas of the socialization of the child: inter-person relationships and the acquisition of basic skills The sample of 100 mothers is a sub-sample of 120 mothers who live in a middle class area and 192 mothers who live in a working class area (The correlation between area and the social class position of the family is 074) The results obtained from the use of a closed schedule show that the middle class mothers, relative to the working class mothers, place a much greater emphasis upon the use of language in the person area; whereas the working class mothers, relative to the middle class mothers, place a greater emphasis upon the use of language in the transmission of basic skills The results are consonant with the prediction derived from the theory of restricted and elaborated linguistic codes which has also been used to generate a model for the understanding of social learning and forms of cultural disc

Inheritance, Property, and Marriage in Africa and Eurasia

Abstract: This paper tries to utilize the cross-cultural material presented by G. P. Murdock in the Ethnographic Atlas to analyse the concomitants of differences in the system of inheritance, particularly with respect to the contrast between Africa and Eurasia. In the major Eurasian societies property tends to be distributed directly, from parents to children of both sexes (i.e. by diverging devolution); in Africa property largely devolves between persons of the same sex, laterally as well as lineally. An attempt is made to show the distribution of diverging devolution and its association with the payment of dowry, with monogamy, with in-marriage of various sorts, and with kin terms that differentiate the nuclear family from more distant kin. The tight control of property represented by diverging devolution is in turn seen as deriving from the intensive exploitation of resources which is also linked to the growth of complex political institutions. These associations are tested and held to be established.

Professionalization in Britain: A Preliminary Measurement

Abstract: An attempt to construct a measure of differences among occupations in degrees of professionalization was prompted by the literature on the process of professionalization. Data were obtained on a sample of 43 `qualifying associations'; so that, in effect, the study is limited to those occupations sufficiently professionalized to have an association which aims to examine individuals wishing to practise. The data were subjected to a cumulative scaling procedure which gave a mean scale value of 0.73. This suggests that there is a substantial unitary variable within the concept of professionalization as it is usually defined. Within the limits of the data and sample, the items linked by the scale may be held to denote the characteristics of a profession. The professionalization scores of qualifying associations in various fields of work are examined. A positive correlation with the age of the association is found.

Status Consistency, Relative Deprivation, and Attitudes to Immigrants

Abstract: The first section of the paper criticizes the concept of inconsistency between status ranks as an explanation of variations in attitudes and behaviour between different groups. The second section a...

Scaling and Multivariate Analyses in the Study of Organizational Variables

Abstract: A previous paper (Hinings et al. 1967) described an approach to the study of the structure of bureaucratic organizations based on the creation of scaleable dimensions for multivariate analysis. The present paper considers in detail the process of the scaling of an organizational variable and the use of two multidimensional analyses, namely, factor analysis and multiple regression analysis. These are illustrated by analysis of the operationally defined concept of functional specialization. The central points made are: (i) that any data analysis is a function of a theory of organizational behaviour, an error theory, and a computing algorithm; and (ii) that the choice of a method of analysis necessarily implies a choice of a theory of organizational behaviour. In the case of scaling, Guttman's scalogram method and item analysis, borrowed from psychological test theory, are compared. They are found to differ more in computing technique and in their representation of error than in their measurement theory. It ...

Reflections on Power

Abstract: The author explains how his interest in rights, as they were established in the 18th and 19th centuries, led to an interest in the forms of power that emerged in the 20th Theories about the innate

Navvies: Their Work Attitudes

Abstract: In the Civil Engineering industry the attitudes of the navvies have been found to conform to a broad pattern imposed by their like interest in, and value of, individual independence. This interest and value appear to have originated in the circumstances of the industry which enforce on the workers a reaction of individual independence of, and an evasion of relationships with, the employers. The resulting like interest and value become dominant among the interests and values held by the navvies in their industrial situation inhibiting the growth of common interests and of collective action. This paper describes a participant-observer study carried out in 1953 on a hydro- electric construction site in the north of Scotland. The purpose was to study patterns of group behaviour among the navvies in order to compare them with those found in printing and other industries previously studied (Sykes: i960 and 1967). It was found that the patterns of group behaviour among the navvies were unusually weak and ill-defined. In the other industries studied the workers showed attitudes of hostility to their employers whom they opposed by means of collective action. Cohesive work groups were formed and group rather than individual responses to the work situation were cultivated. The navvies showed similar attitudes of hostility but they sought to evade rather than to oppose the employer. A high value was set on individual independence and on the evasion of obligations to others. This led to very weak work groups and to an emphasis upon an individual rather than a group response to aspects of the work situation. The author lived for five weeks in a camp in Northern Scotland at a site for the construction of a hydro-electric generating station. The period of observation was brought to an end by an accident which led to a week's hospitalization in Inverness - also amongst navvies. As navvies are intensely suspicious of outsiders, partici- pant observation seemed the only way by which an effective study could be made. To check on the representativeness of the author's observations in the one camp, he made frequent visits during the study to the bars in two adjacent camps belong- ing to other firms. Later a series of interviews, both formal and informal, were held with navvies, trade union officials and engineers with experience in the civil engineering industry: these were held in Glasgow and Edinburgh, the navvies being mostly men in transit through Glasgow. Finally, the results of study were checked against published accounts of the industry. These other sources of infor- mation suggest that the attitudes and ethos found in the camp studied were widely held throughout the industry. The camp had a labour force of 208 men, excluding foremen and office staff, at

Aspects of Social Change in Modern Japan

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Simple Models of Group Behavior

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Navvies: Their Social Relations

Abstract: The navvies' like interest in, and value of, individual independence affects their social behaviour at work and their social status and relations with society. It would appear that this like interest inhibits not only the growth of common interest groups but even the development of social groups of any kind. Comparisons with other industries provide additional grounds for concluding that the nature of employment determines the pattern of interests and thereby many features of social relations at work and in the community. Following an earlier description of navvies' work attitudes (Sykes 1969), this paper considers the social relations of the navvies with each other. It goes on to examine their social status and relations with society, and then suggests some general conclusions. Social Relations between Navvies Relations between the navvies within the camp appeared to be very friendly. The men invariably spoke to each other when passing in the camp or at work; they would converse freely with anyone they found next to them at meal times or in the ablutions, or the bar, and they welcomed and assisted any new man joining the camp or joining the gang with which they worked. In the evenings, after work, there was a constant movement of men between the huts gossiping or passing on news from home or from other camps. The main recreation of the men was talking, and in the huts small groups were constantly forming for an hour or so, then breaking up to move off individually to join, or form, other groups in the same or other huts. These groups were not at all exclusive but absorbed total strangers with complete social ease. At work men would help each other and would go to considerable lengths to warn each other about the movements of the foremen and to 'cover up' for other men when necessary. They would lend money to men who were short, even strangers, and at times such loans were freely offered without any request being made or hinted. A sum of thirty-five pounds was raised for the widow of one man who was killed in the camp, while a sum of sixty pounds was raised in the next camp for a similar case. Neither of the men killed was widely known in his camp. Relations in general were far more friendly than in any industrial works or in any army camp that the author had experienced. Howevei, there was another and related feature that was in direct contrast with the author's previous experience; this was the absence of social groups among the navvies. Men could be seen in groups