Showing papers on "Social change published in 1981"

Human Groups and Social Categories: Studies in Social Psychology

Abstract: Acknowledgements Foreword Jerome S. Bruner 1. The development of a perspective Part I. Social Psychology and Social Processes: Introduction 2. Experiments in a vacuum 3. Individuals and groups ion social psychology Part II. From Perceptual Judgement to Social Stereotypes: Introduction 4. The importance of exagerrating 5. Differences and similarities: some contexts of judgement 6. Cognitive aspects of prejudice 7. Social stereotypes and social groups Part III. Insiders and Outsiders: Introduction 8. The experience of prejudice 9. The beginnings of ethnocentrism 10. Children's international perspectives Part IV. Intergroup Conflict: Introduction 11. The attributes of intergroup behaviour 12. Social categorization, social identity and social comparison 13. The achievement of group differentiation 14. Exit and voice in intergroup relations 15. The social psychology of minorities References Indices.

The Focused Organization of Social Ties

Abstract: Sociologists since Simmel have been interested in social circles as essential features of friendship networks. Although network analysis has been increasingly used to uncover patterns among social relationships, theoretical explanations of these patterns have been inadequate. This paper presents a theory of the social organization of friendship ties. The approach is based upon Homans's concepts of activities, interactions, and sentiments and upon the concept of extra-network foci organizing social activities and interaction. The theory is contrasted with Heider's balance theory. Implications for transitivity, network bridges, and density of personal networks are discussed and presented as propositions. The focus theory is shown to help explain patterns of friendships in the 1965-66 Detroit Area Study. This paper is intended as a step toward the development of integrated theory to explain interrelationships between networks and other aspects of social structure. Implications for data analysis are discussed. Sociologists have long recognized the importance of patterns in networks of relations that connect individuals with each other. Simmel (1955) described modern society as consisting of loosely connected social circles of relationships. Granovetter (1973) has indicated the general significance of these social circles for communication, community organization, and social conflict. Various studies have supported this picture of the essential patterns in social networks, including Moreno's sociometry (1953), Milgram's "small world" experiments (1967), and Kadushin's observations (1966). Unfortunately, the study of social networks has often been carried out without concern for the origins in the larger social context. Most network analysis ends with description and labeling of patterns; and when explanations of patterns are offered, they frequently rely upon inherent tendencies within networks to become consistent, balanced, or transitive. As a consequence of such atheoretical and/or self-contained network theoretical approaches, data are collected and data analysis techniques are devised for

In Praise of Paradox: A Social Policy of Empowerment over Prevention

Abstract: The thesis of this paper is that the most important and interesting aspects of community life are by their very nature paradoxical; and that our task as researchers, scholars, and professionals should be to “unpack” and influence contemporary resolutions of paradox. Within this general theme I will argue that in order to do so we will need to be more a social movement than a profession, regain our sense of urgency, and avoid the tendency to become “one-sided.” I will suggest that the paradoxical issue which demands our attention in the foreseeable future is a conflict between “rights” and “needs” models for viewing people in trouble.

The Family as the Locus of Gender, Class, and Political Struggle: The Example of Housework

Abstract: Although the last decade of research on families has contributed enormously to our understanding of diversity in family structures and the relationship of family units to various other aspects of social life, it has, it seems to me, generally failed to identify and address sources of conflict within family life. Thus, the usefulness of this research for understanding women's situation has been particularly limited. The persistence and resilience of family forms in the midst of general social change, often forcefully documented in this research, have certainly helped to goad us, as feminists, to consider what women's interests may be in the mainte-

Christianity, social tolerance, and homosexuality : gay people in Western Europe from the beginning of the Christian era to the fourteenth century

Abstract: Illustrations Abbreviations Preface 1: Introduction 2: Definitions 3: Rome: The Foundation 4: The Scriptures 5: Christians and Social Change 6: Theological Traditions 7: The Early Middle Ages 8: The Urban Revival 9: The Triumph of Ganymede: Gay Literature of the High Middle Ages 10: Social Change: Making Enemies 11: Intellectual Change: Men, Beasts, and "Nature" 12: Conclusions App. 1: Lexicography and Saint Paul App. 2: Texts and Translations Frequently Cited Works Index of Greek Terms General Index

The Social Impact of Majorities and Minorities.

Abstract: Previous theorizing about social influence processes has led to the emergence of two research traditions, each focusing on only a subset of influence situations. Research on conformity looks at the influence of the majority on a passive minority, whereas research on innovation considers the influence of active minorities on a silent majority. In the present article, we review these two lines of research, as well as some recent evidence, from the perspective of a new theory of social impact. This theory views social influence as resulting from forces operating in a social force field and proposes that influence by either a majority or a minority will be a multiplicative function of the strength, immediacy, and number of its members. Social impact theory offers a general model of social influence processes that integrates previous theoretical formulations and empirical findings and accounts for the reciprocal influence of majorities and minorities. By viewing social influence as a unitary concept, social impact theory permits comparisons between conformity and innovation and predicts the relative magnitude of their effects.

Religion, the social context

Abstract: The sociological perspective on religion. The provision of meaning and belonging. The individual's religion. Official and nonofficial religion. The dynamics of religious collectivities. Religion, social cohesion and conflict. The impact of religion on social change. Religion in the modern world. Epilogue. Appendices. References. Author index. Subject index.

The Relevance of social science for medicine

Abstract: 1. Clinical Social Science.- Section 1: How Academic Physicians View the Social Sciences.- 2. An Informal Appraisal of the Current Status of 'Medical Sociology'.- Section 2: Social Supports: Influences on Health and Illness.- 3. Physical Health and the Social Environment: A Social Epidemiological Perspective.- 4. Social Network Influences on Morbid Episodes and the Career of Help Seeking.- Section 3: Illness Behavior.- 5. Sickness and the Sickness Career: Some Implications.- 6. The Sickness Impact Profile: The Relevance of Social Science to Medicine.- 7. Cultural Influences on Illness Behavior: A Medical Anthropological Approach.- Section 4: Culture, Meaning, and Negotiation.- 8. The Meaning of Symptoms : A Cultural Hermeneutic Model for Clinical Practice.- 9. A Cultural Prescription for Medicocentrism.- 10. Attributions: Uses of Social Science Knowledge in the 'Doctoring' of Primary Care.- 11. Structural Constraints in the Doctor-Patient Relationship: The Case of Non-Compliance.- 12. Doctor-Patient Negotiation and Other Social Science Strategies in Patient Care.- Section 5: Social Labeling and Other Patterns of Social Communication.- 13. The Social Labeling Perspective on Illness and Medical Practice.- 14. The Double-Bind Between Dialysis Patients and Their Health Practitioners.- Section 6: Sociopolitical and Socioeconomic Analyses.- 15. A Marxist Analysis of the Health Care Systems of Advanced Capitalist Societies.- 16. Importance of the Economy to the Nation's Health.- List of Contributors.- Name Index.

Law, State and Agrarian Society in Colonial India

Abstract: Perhaps the most intransigent problem in the recent history of Indian society remains an adequate understanding of the processes of social change which took place under colonialism. As the continunig controversies within, as much as between, the traditions of modernization theory, Marxism, and the underdevelopment theory make plain, the Indian historical record is peculiarly difficult to grasp with conventional sociological concepts. In the study of Western European society, a focus on the evolution of legal ideas and institutions has proved a useful entry point to social history.The law may be seen to represent a set of general principles through which political authority and the state (however constituted) attempt to legitimize the social institutions and norms of conduct which they find valuable. As such, its history reflects the struggle in society to assume, control or resist this authority. Its study should help to reveal the nature of the forces involved in the struggle and to suggest the implications for social development of the way in which, at any one time, their struggle was resolved. The condition of the law may be seen to crystallize the condition of society. This, of course, could be said of any governing institution. But where the law becomes uniquely valuable is in that, because of its social function, the struggle around it is necessarily expressed in terms of general statements of principle rather than particular statements of private and discrete interest. At the most fundamental level, these principles demarcate the rules on which the contending parties seek to build their versions of society and provide useful clues to their wider, often undisclosed, positions.

Self-Help and Mutual Aid: An Emerging Social Movement?

Abstract: This paper reviews the social science literature that has appeared in the past two decades on self-help and mutual aid groups. It starts with a brief description of the nature, scope, and magnitude of current self-help mani­ festations, and a sketch of scholarly work concerning them. Indigenous and largely spontaneous groups organized on the self-help/mutual aid pattern constitute an important variety of informal, voluntary associations in modern societies; they have received little systematic study by social scientists.

The social cognitive development of abused children.

Abstract: Previous research on the impact of parental abuse on child development has typically been skewed to the more seriously injured or most socially disadvantaged families. The few studies attending to psychological consequences of abuse have further been limited by a failure to control for potentially confounding intellectual or demographic factors and have been too general in approach to provide effective guidelines for differential diagnosis, treatment, or theory building. The present study compared the social cognitive styles of abused children with a carefully matched control sample and found differences in perceived locus of control of social events and social role comprehensions. Similar trends emerged in perspective-taking skills and social sensitivity. These alternative social cognitions could not be attributed to IQ or class disparities between the groups. The implications of these results for treatment and as a theoretical model for understanding the intergenerational nature of abuse are discussed.

Psychology for Teachers

Abstract: Early Social Development - Play - Concept Formation and Development - Language - Intelligence - Creativity - Learning - Personality - Values and Moral Development - The Self - Social Behaviour and Social Skills - Educational Guidance and Counselling - Class Control and Management - Teacher Personality and Characteristics

Comparative Education: Some Considerations of Method

Abstract: Originally published in 1981. Presented here is a coherent theory of Comparative Education research, based on the traditions and innovations established by such pioneers as Joseph Lauwerys and Nicholas Hans. From the author’s substantive studies emerges a taxonomy for education based on Popper’s critical dualism, and a way of analysing problems based on Dewey's reflective thinking and the social change theories of people such as Marx, Ogben and Pareto. Models of formal organisations drawn from Talcott Parsons show how systems analyses can be made in comparative perspective and how the processes of policy formulation, adoption and implementation can be studied. The use of ideal typical normative models illustrates how comparative educationists can penetrate aspects of man's socially created worlds. These techniques are exemplified in succinct models against which debates about education in Western Europe (Plato), the USA (Dewey) and the USSR (Marx, Engels and Lenin) can be analysed. Against the crude use of comparative arguments and transplantation of foreign practices, Dr Holmes suggests that problems should be analysed and the outcomes of hypothetical solutions or policies should be tested under identified national circumstances. The distinctive feature of this book is that it takes account of the debate among social scientists, rejects both induction and ethnomethodology as adequate in themselves and brings together the problem-solving approach favoured by American research workers and the hypothetico-deductive method of enquiry advocated by natural scientists such as Sir Peter Medawar and Sir John Eccles.

The Justice motive in social behavior : adapting to times of scarcity and change

Abstract: 1 * Adapting to Scarcity and Change (I): Stating the Problem.- 2 * The Justice Motive in Human Relations: Some Thoughts on What We Know and Need to Know about Justice.- Basic Processes.- 3 * Theoretical Issues in the Development of Social Justice.- 4 * The Development of Justice and Self-Interest during Childhood.- 5 * Morality and the Development of Conceptions of Justice.- 6 * Social Change and the Contexts of Justice Motivation.- 7 * Retributive Justice.- 8 * The Social Psychology of Punishment Reactions.- 9 * Microjustice and Macrojustice.- Institutional Settings.- 10 * The Changing Longevity of Heterosexual Close Relationships: A Commentary and Forecast.- 11 * Giving and Receiving: Social Justice in Close Relationships.- 12 * The Exchange Process in Close Relationships: Microbehavior and Macromotives.- 13 * The Justice of Distributing Scarce and Abundant Resources.- 14 * The Allocation and Acquisition of Resources in Times of Scarcity.- 15 * Justice in "The Crunch".- 16 * The Relationship of Economic Growth to Inequality in the Distribution of Income.- 17 * Justice Motives and Other Psychological Factors in the Development and Resolution of Disputes.- 18 * Down-to-Earth Justice: Pitfalls on the Road to Legal Decentralization.- 19 * Law as a Social Trap: Problems and Possibilities for the Future.- Endnote.- 20 * Adapting to Scarcity and Change (II): Constructive Alternatives.- Author Index.

The Analysis of Dominance and Bidirectionality in Social Development.

Abstract: GOTTMAN, JoHN M., and RINGLAND, JAMES T. The Analysis of Dominance and Bidirectionality in Social Development. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1981, 52, 393-412. This paper is a reexamination of 2 concepts that have played a role in the direct observation of social interaction and the study of social development, namely, the concepts of dominance and bidirectionality. This paper argues that a reconceptualization based on the sequential character of social interaction would add much theoretical clarity to these 2 concepts. In this paper the sequential nature of social interaction is addressed by applying time-series analysis to redefine (as a function of social context) the concept of dominance as asymmetry in predictability in the behavior of 2 interacting individuals. The potential benefits of this redefinition are then discussed in the context of literature on children's social behavior with their peers. Bidirectionality in social interaction, defined as symmetrical predictability in behavior, is then discussed in the context of parent-infant interaction. A serious methodological problem is then raised, namely, the problem of autocorrelation in each person's behavior in making inferences about cross-correlation between people. Mathematical models and corresponding statistical procedures are presented to solve this problem. Procedures are discussed that address the concepts of cyclicity within a person and synchronicity between people who are interacting and that assess asymmetry and symmetry (i.e., dominance and bidirectionality) in social interaction. Previously published data on mother-infant play is then reexamined to illustrate the practical use of this approach. These techniques are, however, completely general for inferring relationships between 2 variables that change with time and thus may provide a foundation for the study of other developmental problems.

The social origins of illness: a neglected history.

Abstract: Although interest in the social origins of illness has grown recently, the sources of this concern in Marxist thought have received little attention. Friedrich Engels, Rudolf Virchow, and Salvador Allende made important early contributions to this field. Engels analyzed features of the workplace and environment that caused disability and early death for the British working class. Virchow's studies in "social medicine" and infectious diseases called for social change as a solution to medical problems. Allende traced poor health to class oppression, economic underdevelopment, and imperialism. These analysts provided divergent, though complementary, views of social etiology, multifactorial causation, the methodology of dialectic materialism, an activist role for medical scientists and practitioners, social epidemiology, health policy, and strategies of sociomedical change. The social origins of illness remain with us and reveal the scope of reconstruction needed for meaningful solutions.

Racial Insurgency, the State, and Welfare Expansion: Local and National Level Evidence from the Postwar United States

Abstract: This paper addresses systematically the possible nexus between insurgent political action and the state apparatus, concentrating specifically on the relationship between urban riots and welfare or reliefgiving activity in the postwar United States. The theoretical warrant for the analysis has its genesis in Piven and Cloward's influential thesis relating insurgency and relief giving in capitalist society. This perspective is juxtaposed with the orthodox developmental perspective of welfare institutions, and the causal processes and underlying images of the state are compared. A critical review of the empirical work on the riot-welfare relationship suggests several deficiencies and questions which we attempt to redress and address, respectively, in a cross-level empirical analysis of (a) changes in welfare expenditures from 1960 to 1970 in a panel of U.S. cities and (b) annual changes in national aggretate relief-program categories for the postwar United States (1947-76). The results of the city-level anal...

Context Effects on Survey Responses to Questions About Abortion

Abstract: ALTHOUGH context effects in survey data are always a possible problem, they pose a particularly serious threat when surveys are used to study social change. In such research, a response difference due to questionnaire context is quite likely to be interpreted as a reflection of true change. Yet is is difficult to hold context constant from one survey to another: questions are almost always repeated on a selective basis, and it is rare for an earlier question order to be maintained perfectly. Even a vehicle like the National Opinion Research Center's General Social Survey (GSS), designed in part to measure change, rotates items in and out of the survey for practical reasons, which in turn alters context. Thus, it is important that we

Women of the Andes: Patriarchy and Social Change in Two Peruvian Towns

Abstract: Studies women of two Peruvian highland communities and the cultural implications of gender differences

Origins of the Modern World System: A Missing Link

Abstract: The paper situates the recent attempt by Immanuel Wallerstein to provide a theoretical account of the emergence of the modern world system in the broader context of contemporary social scientific controversies, exposes the major flaws in the work, and suggests elements of an alternative framework that provides a sounder foundation for the construction of macroanalytic theories of social change. The inadequacies of Waller-stein's theory are revealed on the basis of internal evidence: he treats force as an unaccountable “error factor” which often determinatively shaped relationships among European states as well as between them and the larger world; and he does not account satisfactorily for the structure and the boundaries of the system, nor for the position specific countries came to occupy within it, nor for regime variation among them. The concurrent formation of several states must be considered an irreducible particularity of medieval European social organization. Interactive effects among them shaped the course of each during the early modern period and simultaneously contributed to the emergence of a system of states with its own dynamic. Since these political processes contributed as much to the formation of the modern world system as the economic processes emphasized by Wallerstein, theories of the system's origins and subsequent development must be founded on the notion of co-determination.