Showing papers on "Conceptualization published in 1972"

Conflict: Toward Conceptual Clarity.

Abstract: The mainstream of organizational literature is generally ambiguous in delineating the concept of conflict. This paper distinguishes conflict from competition in the intraorganizational context and presents a behavioral conceptualization of the process of conflict. It is proposed that goal incompatibility, perceived opportunity for interference, and interdependent activities among organizational subunits increase the potential for conflict. This conceptual scheme is then applied to a situation involving city government officials engaged in bargaining with a city employee union.'

A Framework for Conceptualizing Marital Conflict, A Technology for Altering It, Some Data for Evaluating It.

Abstract: : The paper summarizes a conceptualization of marital conflict, describes the assessment devices that were developed for measuring dyadic conflict, and analyzes intervention modules. The data on effectiveness of the intervention consist of the findings with regard to distressed couples, negative or aversive interacting and problem solving, increase in relationship satisfaction post treatment, and significant increases in reported pleasures from spouses. While the study did not employ a control group, the use of multi-leveled assessment techniques led a conclusion that the intervention package functioned as designed. (Author)

Informational Variables in Pavlovian Conditioning

Abstract: Publisher Summary Instead of specifying the notion of information formally, this chapter examines some of the empirical operations and results which have led investigators to the intuition that information matters in conditioning. The chapter then suggests a theory, which acknowledges the importance of these operations in producing conditioning and discuss some empirical assessments of that theory. To the degree that the theory accounts for those operations which suggest the intuition of information, it can be viewed as an explication of that intuition, however, that notion does not enter into the theory itself. As the theory is explored, a number of points are discovered at which it provides a better account of the data than does the original intuition. Consequently, it is suggested that although the informational intuition serves an initially useful purpose, it does not provide an adequate conceptualization around which the understanding of Pavlovian conditioning can be organized.

On the Concept of Ideology in Political Science

Abstract: Although the term “ideology” is ubiquitous in modern political discourse, it is used in diverse and usually ambiguous ways which limit its value as an analytical concept. The main ambiguity arises from the fact that, as most writers use it, the concept of ideology does not provide criteria for distinguishing ideological thought from nonideological thought. Lacking this power to make concrete discriminations, the concept fails to achieve empirical relevance. This paper attempts to remedy that deficiency and save the concept of ideology for the explanation of politics. The problem of conceptualization is approached by viewing ideology primarily as a cultural phenomenon. As such, it is argued, ideology has characteristics that distinguish it from other symbol systems. Of special importance in this regard is the identification of basic differentia between ideology on the one hand, and myth and Utopia (with which ideology is often confused) on the other. The features of ideology identified in this comparative analysis are then discussed in fuller detail with a view to understanding (1) the significance of ideology in politics, and (2) the way in which the concept of ideology can help us to understand politics, insofar as politics involves ideology.

Mythological-symbolic religious commitment: the lam scales

Abstract: The LAM scales permit the measurement of three religious meaning-commitment possibilities (Literal, Anti-literal, and Mythological) rather than the usual fundamentalisticliteralistic type of commitment which many single scales tend to measure. Twenty-five items consisting of three alternatives each, based upon McLean (1952), were given to 173 college students. The LAM scales consist of the 17 items which were retained on the basis of substantial item-scale correlations of each item alternative on its respective scale. Ways are discussed in which multiple scales like the LAM would force reinterpretation of studies of religious changes in college students and of research on the relation of religion to socialpersonality variables such as prejudice and hostility. A persistent flaw in studies of religious belief and commitment is the bias of the measuring instruments toward a literal-fundamentalistic interpretation of Protestant Christianity. This literal-fundamentalistic bias, although not deliberate in most instances, results from the way in which measuring instruments are typically constructed with a single statement to which the subject must respond with true-false, agree-disagree, or other variations of these essentially unidimensional response formats. Some of the issues which underlie this methodological problem of the disjunction between theological conceptualization and empirical measurement of religious commitment have been succinctly stated by Dittes. "What is your attitude toward the church?" Well, the church . . . is a divine institution, God's chosen instrument for the salvation of men; and the church is a self-serving institutional sham impeding men's search for spiritual salvation. The same man, whether he be Kierkegaard or Bonhoeffer or Tillich or Rahner or Brunner or the Niebuhrs, in effect chooses items from opposite ends of a Thurstone scale. . . . The church, conceptualized as it is really meant to be, is affirmed. But the church, as it is manifested in ways that researchers and others assume to manifest these conceptions, is repudiated (Dittes, 1969, p. 68). Unknowingly, the researcher has already included in the items of his scale implications and assumptions relating to hermeneutics, exegesis, teleology, eschatology, ontology, metaphysics, epistemology, ethics and metaethics, and many more theological and philosophical fields. It is rare for the researcher to ask his respondents how they perceived his favorite item statements. It is even more unusual for scientific researchers to collaborate in extended depth with equally well-qualified theologians and philosophers in editing statements about religion to provide a sample of the full range of theological and philosophical positions in his inventory.

Yam Symbolism in the Sepik: an Interpretative Account

Abstract: In this essay yam-oriented beliefs and behavior patterns are analyzed in an effort to understand the symbolic complexities surrounding yams in the Sepik area of New Guinea. It is postulated that the yam is symbolically multivalent with regard to "male pride," "body," and "penis." The symbolic equations linking yams to these referents function, respectively, at the conscious, preconscious, and unconscious levels of individual awareness. In formulating this conceptualization attention is paid to certain results of neurophysiological experimentation and to the relevant clinical findings of psychoanalysis. The resulting model of yam multivalence is applied to the analysis of observed instances of yam-oriented behavior, and it is found to enable interpretations of behavior patterns not comprehended in a unidimensional view of yam symbolism. This suggests that the levels of symbolic meaning interact in a mutually reinforcing way and that this dynamism contributes to the persistence of the symbolic complex over ...

Some Issues Facing the Field of Learning Disability

Abstract: The author, who for more than three decades has been associated with the field presently called “learning disabilities,” examines some of the issues coincident to its unprecendented rapid growth. The field is seen as complex and confused both from the point of view of theory and personnel. Among numerous problems relating to an appropriate conceptualization of the field, three are selected for emphasis: (1) failure to adequately operationally define “learning disability”; (2) the lack of qualified college professors, and, in the absence of quality personnel, the lack of quality programs for children and parent involvement; (3) the threat of class action suits reminiscent of those which are current in the education of retarded children. In combination, these three factors constitute significant hurdles to the education essential for children with specific learning disabilities.

The “Family” as a Sociological Problem: Conceptualization of the Taken-for-Granted as Prologue to Social Problems Analysis

Abstract: Definitions of the family are considered as a source of familial social problems, and the conceptual distinction between families and households is examined. Families are ordinarily conceptualized in terms of kinship, and may involve at least three kinds of kin: conventional, discretionary, and fictive; households are constituted by residential propinquity and domestic functions, and not necessarily kinsmen. An alternative focus, people living together in domestic and sexually consequential relationships is proposed as more empirically useful. Whether families or households, a central social problem for people living together involves the division of labor, and the commitments and attachments of persons socially differentiated on the axes of age and sex. The question of just what constitutes the generic categpry of "social problems" has continued to occupy the attention of sociologists, if not perplex them for an extended period (Mills, 1943; Bend and Vogelfanger, 1964; Merton, 1961; Douglas, 1971, and forthcoming). This definitional issue

Depression: Comparative Studies of Normal, Neurotic, and Psychotic Conditions

Abstract: The title of this work might lead us to expect a comprehensive text on depressive illness, but this is not the author's intent. Edith Jacobson is an outstanding psychoanalytic clinician and theoretician. This book is a collection of her papers on the psychoanalytic conceptualization and treatment of depression, as it appears in normal mood swings and in neurotic and psychotic personalities. Furthermore, the book is not designed to be a comprehensive study of all psychoanalytic views of depression. Rather, it records the struggles of one particularly gifted person to understand depression within the framework of classical Freudian psychoanalytic theory and the ego-psychological studies of Heinz Hartmann. In all of the papers Dr. Jacobson presupposes familiarity with classical psychoanalytic concepts and with the influential work of Hartmann. The book starts with a 40-page paper on the psychoanalytic theory of affects. Some readers may have difficulty following Jacobson's theoretical exposition. For them

Power in New Haven: A Reassessment of ‘Who Governs?’

Abstract: One of the issues that has dominated American political science in the last twenty years has been the debate between those who assert that America is ruled by an elite, and those who believe that the pluralist model is a more accurate description. Robert Dahl, who is the most influential of the pluralists, has attacked ‘elitists’ on two fronts: negatively, he has argued that they misperceive the nature of power and are sloppy in their criteria for determining a ruling elite; positively, in Who Governs?,he has attempted to apply his own conceptualization of power to an American community and thus give empirical backing to the pluralist model.

The Scaling of Gaming Skill, Strategy, and Chance

Abstract: Sociological employment of games and the game concept as both metaphor and model (Manning, 1967, 1968) has been as frequent as it has been fruitful. Less common, but possibly of equal fertility, is the empirical investigation of games themselves. If taking games seriously has been beyond the concern of most sociological investigators (however, see Avedon and Sutton-Smith, 1971; Luschen, 1970), this is certainly not the case for the many who immerse themselves within them, either as player or participant, in the mundane world. Prominent among the few social scientists who have taken games seriously is the anthropologist John Roberts (along with his several associates). Unlike Roger Caillois (1961), who has looked at games in a scholarly but anecdotal way, Roberts has attempted their systematic conceptualization along with the collection and analysis of comparative and cross-cultural data.

Psychological, Neuropsychological, and Educational Correlates of Reading Deficit

Abstract: Forty-four children who were at least one year behind in reading ability were tested on 59 psychoneurological, psychological, and educational tests. The present study contributed considerable information on how children with reading disability perform on these variables; these results were compared with previous research. Support was provided to show that these children may be classified as being predominantly analytic or nonanalytic in conceptualization. Evidence was also found to indicate that learning depends upon the integration of different sense modalities.

Class, Property, and Authority: Dahrendorf's Critique of Marx's Theory of Class

Abstract: The central concern of this paper is the conceptual interrelationship among "class," "property," and "authority"; the context is Dahrendorf's well-known critique of Marx's theory of class, wherein Dahrendorf contends that Marx erroneously specified the determinant of class, in part because of his alleged reliance on organismic analogies. After reviewing certain features of the structure of Marx's theory, the paper examines the foregoing and two related criticisms made by Dahrendorf, and concludes that the latter (1) overlooks crucial characteristics of Marx's theory, (2) engages in confused comparisons of "organism" and "society" in order to support part of his critique, (3) misrepresents Marx's usage of "property," (4) obfuscates the concept of authority by equating it with domination, and therefore (5) constructs an alleged supersedent to Marx's theory of class that is actually grounded not in class or any other material difference but in the fabric of justifications ("ideologies," "derivations," etc.) that are socially provided the material differences. In his study of Class and Class Conflict in Industrial Society, Dahrendorf (1959) sets forth a number of criticisms of Marx's theory of class, in anticipation of his own intended supersedure of that theory. Three of these criticisms are the concern of this paper: first, and most important, Dahrendorf's critical remarks about Marx's conceptualization of class, in particular the relationship between property and authority vis-a-vis the structural conditions of class formation; second, his criticisms of Marx's analysis of structural change; third, his contention that Marx claimed for his theory an improperly broad scope. We shall examine each of these charges, especially the first-mentioned, in some detail and attempt to show that they are host to serious misapprehensions of Marx's theory and to obfuscations of the concepts of property and authority with respect to that theory.' In the section that follows, Dahrendorf's statements of criticism are presented briefly, and then in a subsequent section we address the particulars of each of his arguments. Inasmuch as his criticisms are faulted not only by the manner in which he employs the concept "authority" and interprets Marx's usage of "property" but also by certain failures in understanding the structure of Marx's theory of class, it will be necessary to interject some considerations of such matters as the logical characteristics of the Marxian theory. It should be stressed that our argument is not that all of Dahrendorf's points in critique are ill-founded-quite to the contrary in some instances, as for example, his (1959:145) recognition that Marx "deliberately avoided" in his structural analyses a corresponding concern with the "relation between social roles and their personnel." One of the most underdeveloped parts of Marx's theory is (still) that which pertains to class behavior at the interpersonal level, especially the part of it that rests upon considerations of class consciousness.2 Similarly, we must agree at the outset about another important matter. Marx was political activist and polemicist as well as sociological * Special acknowledgement is due to Joseph Lopreato and Barclay Johnson, who provided helpful comments on an earlier draft of the paper. The author of course retains sole responsibility for any errors that may have been committed. 1 For present purposes, Dahrendorf's publications subsequent to Class and Class Conflict (1959) will be ignored (e.g., 1967a; 1967b; 1968), although in fairness it should be noted that he himself has questioned the 1959 formulation (cf. e.g., 1967b) . 2 Perhaps the "deliberately avoided" is a bit stretched, although it is arguable that Marx wittingly chose as a tactical concession to his polemics against the idealists a deliberate avoidance of issues regarding the causal significance of actor conceptions and attitudes.

Forrester's Urban Dynamics: A Sociologist's Inductive Critique

Abstract: The formal aspects of Forrester's general procedure and some of the substantive assumptions incorporated in his model are discussed. The evaluation is based on the methodological dictum that the status of a model's predictions should be assessed in terms of the assumptions that determine these outcomes. In order to identify the control structure of Forrester's model, the implications of variations in the following parameters or structural assumptions are studied: the basic transition rates in the sectors industry and housing; the multipliers that relate to the competition for scarce land; an alternative conception of industrial regeneration; the conditions governing pressures and flows in the population sector that induce an overall "converter" cycle; and the underemployed/labor job ratio and its concomitants. The latter two sets of conditions are reviewed in terms of their relationship to the general development of industry. The situation of the underemployed is analyzed and their existence set in relation to general features of the present stage of industrialization. The particular closed-system conceptualization that underlies the model is discussed, and an assessment of its adequacy to the problem is presented.

The Impact of Race on Housing Markets: A Critical Review

Abstract: The literature on race and property values is reviewed with special attention to problems of conceptualization, measurement, and analysis. Strategies in gathering and validating selling price data are reviewed, as are strategies in standardizing prices for “real value” in order to provide a benchmark against which to assess price changes. Other major issues raised are strategies for the statistical control of the influences of other housing market forces and the conceptualization of the processes involved in creating putative effects of neighborhood racial integration on housing prices. Some suggestions for future sociological research on neighborhood residential change are made.

The Affiliated Family: A Continued Analysis

Abstract: The concept of an affiliative kin structure, introduced by the authors at the 1971 Groves Conference, is further developed to include its necessary attributes of propinquity, commitment, and flexibility. Consideration of these variables permits a conceptualization of the American family as other than "isolated nuclear" or "extended kin network. " The affective and instrumental dimensions of an affiliative family form are discussed. Ethnographic data based on a currently evolvingaffiliative family arrangement are presented to demonstrate some of the issues involved. It is suggested that this family form lends itself to modem industrial life by permitting a wide variety of family arrangements suitable to personal situations.

Cognitive development after age five: a future factor in the failure of early intervention with the urban child.

Abstract: Book reviewed in this article: Drawing upon the work of Piaget, this paper asserts that it is the multiple experiences of cognitive disequilibrium in the course of vitally meaningful encounters with the environment that necessitates the child's accommodation to that environment. When home environment functions at a lower level of conceptualization than that required in school, the child will be at a cognitive disadvantage. Suggestions for educational programs and policy are presented.

International integration: multidimensional or unidimensional?:

Abstract: As Boulding has so aptly noted, increases in scientific knowledge are dependent upon precision in prediction, which can only be obtained through precise conceptualization and operationalisation of concepts (1966, pp 12-14) Thus recent attempts to conceptualize and operationalize international integration as a "multidimensional phenomenon requiring multivariate measurement" (Lindberg, 1970; Nye, 1968) should be of great concern to all scholars in the field' Conceptually it is not quite clear what the modern multidimensionalist means He

Measurement of statements made about emotion: an investigation of the affect-cognition scale'

Abstract: Summary.-For 40 male undergraduate students, rank-order correlations were calculated between scores on the Affect-Cognition Scale, a measure of the conceptualization and differentiation of statements about emotion, and scores on measures of cognitive complexity, dogmatism, field independence, originality, verbal intelligence, and social desirability. This research and Zimring, er al.'s (1970) suggest this scale also measures a process involving the apprehension and selection of incoming information and the ability to create meaning our of these stimuli. Because these properties are involved in many aspects of human functioning, the scale may have considerable utility. The Affect-Cognition Scale was recently developed to measure the conceptualization and elaboration of statements about emotion made in writing TAT stories (Rachman, 1965). Each story told in response to one of six TAT cards (1, 2, 3BM, 5, 6BM, 8BM) is rated along a four-point scale. This scale rates stories with little or no conceptual elaboration of affect (e.g., "This picture seems like a happy one.") as Category I. Stories with the mosc differentiated affective reaction ("He got so angry at her for embarrassing him that he hit her.") are rated Category IV. The writing of such stories requires S to create characters who can experience and conceptualize their emotional experience in response to TAT stimuli. Originally this scale was used co distinguish clients in successful and unsuccessful therapy (Rachman, 1965) in the belief that personal change is, in part, reflected in the incressed conceptual elaborations and differentiations of affective reactions. Subseqliently, the scale was used to predict differences in children's behav~or both in and out of the classroom (Gerber, 1968). A student's score pred~cced whether or not he was an active participator in the classroom as well as what kinds of activities he was involved in outside the classroom. In rhac snidy a successful attempt was made to expand the view of rhe functioning measured by the scale from a purely internal process to one that has links with observable behavioral patterns. Finally, a more recent research effort (Zimring, Nauman, & Balcombe, 1970) was successful in relating the scales to measures of selective attention. Given these varied and interesting findings, it seemed appropriate to explore further the properties of the scale to delineate the cognitive-emotional 'The author wishes to express his gratitude to James Boulger and Donald Leventhal for their comments and advice during the preparation of this manuscript.

Public policy and religious research: methods and techniques

Abstract: Religious researchers must help their program colleagues state program goals in operational terms so that they can be evaluated. This process usually involves recasting positive accomplishments in negative terms. Conceptualization and design are essential, if appropriate data are to be collected. Religious research is our hope for understanding impediments to loving and just relationships.

Distance Model Conceptualization for the Stone-Coles Method of Multidimensional Scaling

Abstract: A rationale is presented which suggests that the Stone-Coles multidimensional scaling paradigm can be interpreted in terms of providing distances within a metric space.