Showing papers on "Social change published in 1991"
Posted Content•
TL;DR: In this article, the authors discuss points of convergence and disagreement with institutionally oriented research in economics and political science, and locate the "institutional" approach in relation to major developments in contemporary sociological theory.
Abstract: Long a fruitful area of scrutiny for students of organizations, the study of institutions is undergoing a renaissance in contemporary social science. This volume offers, for the first time, both often-cited foundation works and the latest writings of scholars associated with the "institutional" approach to organization analysis. In their introduction, the editors discuss points of convergence and disagreement with institutionally oriented research in economics and political science, and locate the "institutional" approach in relation to major developments in contemporary sociological theory. Several chapters consolidate the theoretical advances of the past decade, identify and clarify the paradigm's key ambiguities, and push the theoretical agenda in novel ways by developing sophisticated arguments about the linkage between institutional patterns and forms of social structure. The empirical studies that follow—involving such diverse topics as mental health clinics, art museums, large corporations, civil-service systems, and national polities—illustrate the explanatory power of institutional theory in the analysis of organizational change. Required reading for anyone interested in the sociology of organizations, the volume should appeal to scholars concerned with culture, political institutions, and social change.
8,449 citations
Book•
01 Jan 1991
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors discuss points of convergence and disagreement with institutionally oriented research in economics and political science, and locate the "institutional" approach in relation to major developments in contemporary sociological theory.
Abstract: Long a fruitful area of scrutiny for students of organizations, the study of institutions is undergoing a renaissance in contemporary social science This volume offers, for the first time, both often-cited foundation works and the latest writings of scholars associated with the "institutional" approach to organization analysis In their introduction, the editors discuss points of convergence and disagreement with institutionally oriented research in economics and political science, and locate the "institutional" approach in relation to major developments in contemporary sociological theory Several chapters consolidate the theoretical advances of the past decade, identify and clarify the paradigm's key ambiguities, and push the theoretical agenda in novel ways by developing sophisticated arguments about the linkage between institutional patterns and forms of social structure The empirical studies that follow--involving such diverse topics as mental health clinics, art museums, large corporations, civil-service systems, and national polities--illustrate the explanatory power of institutional theory in the analysis of organizational change Required reading for anyone interested in the sociology of organizations, the volume should appeal to scholars concerned with culture, political institutions, and social change
7,925 citations
Book•
28 Feb 1991
TL;DR: Social Movements and their Intellectuals: Social Movements as Cognitive Praxis as mentioned in this paper is a set of dimensions of cognitive praxis that describe social movements and their social context.
Abstract: Introduction. 1. Social Movements and Sociology. 2. Social Movements as Cognitive Praxis. 3. Dimensions of Cognitive Praxis. 4. Social Movements and their Intellectuals. 5. A Case Study: The American Civil Rights Movement. 6. Social Movements in Context. 7. Conclusions. Notes. References. Index.
879 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a baker's dozen is defined and four examples in search of a definition are given: 1. Definitions: a Baker's dozen 2. The uses of frameworks 4. Some descriptive frameworks 5. Status planning 6. Corpus planning 7. Acquisition planning 8. Social change 9. Summary and conclusions References
Abstract: Preface Overview 1. Four examples in search of a definition 2. Definitions: a baker's dozen 3. The uses of frameworks 4. Some descriptive frameworks 5. Status planning 6. Corpus planning 7. Acquisition planning 8. Social change 9. Summary and conclusions References.
858 citations
TL;DR: This paper argues that current applications of social validity assessments are straying from the point originally proposed for them, and several suggestions for improving current social validity assessment are proposed.
Abstract: The use of evaluative feedback from consumers to guide program planning and evaluation is often referred to as the assessment of social validity. Differing views of its role and value in applied behavior analysis have emerged, and increasingly stereotyped assessments of social validity are becoming commonplace. This paper argues that current applications of social validity assessments are straying from the point originally proposed for them. Thus, several suggestions for improving current social validity assessment are proposed, including (a) expanding the definition of consumers to acknowledge the variety of community members able and likely to affect a program's survival, (b) increasing the psychometric rigor of social validity assessments, (c) extending assessment to heretofore underrepresented populations, (d) implementing widespread application of well-designed social validity assessments, (e) increasing meaningful consumer involvement in the planning and evaluation of behavioral programs, and (f) educating consumers to make better informed programming decisions.
658 citations
Book•
01 Jan 1991
TL;DR: A Theory of Life, Social Change, and Preservation in Poor Neighborhoods as discussed by the authors is a theory of life, social change, and preservation in poor neighborhoods, which is also related to our work.
Abstract: List of Tables and Figures Preface Introduction 1. A Theory of Life, Social Change, and Preservation in Poor Neighborhoods 2. Hosting a Home: Competing Agendas for Life in Public Housing 3. Living Refuge: Social Change and Preservation in the Housing Project 4. Provisions for Life: Making the Mom-and-Pop Store a Neighborhood Institution 5. Taking Care of Business: Social Change and Preservation in the Mom-and-Pop Store 6. Not Just a Clip Joint: Hair Shops and the Institution of Grooming 7. Life on the Edge: Social Change and Preservation in the Hair Shop 8. The Gang's All Here: Fathering a Bastard Institution 9. All in the Family: Mothering the Gang as a Bastard Institution 10. Whither the Neighborhood High School? Contending Roles and Functions 11. School Works: The Dynamics of Two Production Lines Conclusion Methodological Appendix Notes Bibliography Index
638 citations
TL;DR: The open-ended corporate interview as a qualitative research method is proposed as a valuable component of an evidentiary strategy in economic geography as mentioned in this paper, and it is argued to be more sensitive than other survey methods to historical, institutional, and strategic complexity.
Abstract: The open-ended corporate interview as a qualitative research method is proposed as a valuable component of an evidentiary strategy in economic geography. It is argued to be more sensitive than other survey methods to historical, institutional, and strategic complexity. The corporate interview method is particularly appropriate in periods of economic and social change that challenge traditional analytical categories and theoretical principles. Some problems inherent to the method, and strategies for minimizing their impact on the research project, are described.
476 citations
TL;DR: The findings suggest that the base of social knowledge that E.V.R. acquired during his normal development is still intact; and that his capacity to access and process components of such knowledge is also intact, in the conditions specified in the authors' experiment.
445 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a reflection-construction model of relations between social perception and social reality is presented, and the model is used to model the relationship between perception and reality in social perception.
Abstract: This article presents a reflection-construction model of relations between social perception and social reality.
441 citations
TL;DR: The authors found that the tourist self is changed very little by the tour, while the consequences of tourism for the native self are profound, and that tourist discourse promises the tourist a total transformation of self, but the native is described as untouched by civilization and as frozen in time.
427 citations
TL;DR: Critical theory is presented as an interdisciplinary approach to seeking knowledge about consumers as discussed by the authors, which holds that social problems often result from groups in society being constrained by social structures and processes that they themselves construct and maintain.
Abstract: Critical theory is presented as an interdisciplinary approach to seeking knowledge about consumers. Critical theory holds that social problems often result from groups in society being constrained by social structures and processes that they themselves construct and maintain. Critical research involves grasping both the intersubjective understandings of the groups involved and the historical-empirical understanding of the potentially constraining objective social conditions. Contradictions that are discovered provide the stimuli for change. Through the process of critique and dialogue, the critical researcher tries to help people imagine alternative social organizations that facilitate the development of human potential free from constraints.
TL;DR: In the past few years, U.S. society has witnessed the proliferation of an increasing number of initiatives that have extensively used the media to capture public attention about an issue of social concern in the hope that social action and changes in public policy would ensue.
Abstract: In the past few years, U.S. society has witnessed the proliferation of an increasing number of initiatives that have extensively used the media to capture public attention about an issue of social concern in the hope that social action and changes in public policy would ensue. Examples include Hands Across America's efforts to raise money for and awareness about the problem of hunger and homelessness in the United States, the Partnership for a Drug-Free America's ad campaign to change public attitudes toward drug abuse, Earth Day 1990's re-emphasis on environmentalism, and The Business Enterprise Trust's attempts to improve corporate social performance by seeking out and publicizing good corporate citizenship. Each of these initiatives was headed by an individual that we call a catalytic social entrepreneur. A brief description will highlight the roles that catalytic social entrepreneurs played in the Partnership for a Drug-Free America and Hands Across America.
TL;DR: In the early twentieth century in the United States and other Western countries, women were much less likely than men to smoke cigarettes, due in part to widespread social disapproval of women's smoking, but during the mid-twentieth century, growing social acceptance ofWomen's smoking contributed to increased smoking adoption by women.
TL;DR: A social action view emphasizes social interdependence and interaction in personal control of health-endangering behavior and proposes mechanisms by which environmental structures influence cognitive action schemas, self-goals, and problem-solving activities critical to sustained behavioral change.
Abstract: Many illnesses can be prevented or limited by altering personal behavior, and public health planners have turned to psychology for guidance in fostering self-protective activity. A social theory of personal action provides an integrative framework for applying psychology to public health, disclosing gaps in our current understanding of self-regulation, and generating guidelines for improving health promotion at the population level. A social action view emphasizes social interdependence and interaction in personal control of health-endangering behavior and proposes mechanisms by which environmental structures influence cognitive action schemas, self-goals, and problem-solving activities critical to sustained behavioral change. Social action theory clarifies relationships between social and personal empowerment and helps explain stages of self-change.
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TL;DR: In this article, the functional, conflict, and cultural studies perspectives are reviewed, with additional discussion on how sport relates to the processes of socialization and social change, focusing on the evolution of sport from a playful, participation-oriented activity to one that resembles a corporate form guided by the principles of commercialism and entertainment.
Abstract: Sport is a very prominent social institution in almost every society because it combines the characteristics found in any institution with a unique appeal only duplicated by, perhaps, religion. The functional, conflict, and cultural studies perspectives are reviewed, with additional discussion on how sport relates to the processes of socialization and social change. The latter focusses on the evolution of sport from a playful, participation-oriented activity to one that resembles a corporate form guided by the principles of commercialism and entertainment. The role of sport in international relations and national development dramatizes the political meaning of sport to many societies. While sport may be integrative at the higher political levels, it has not been so at the interpersonal levels of gender and race. The inequality that characterizes society's relations of gender and race is found in sport as well. The sociology of sport will be able to shed more light on all of these issues when theory informs more of the research in this subfield.
Book•
10 Sep 1991
TL;DR: In this paper, leading social theorists address the broad-ranging issues facing society at the end of the 20th century, as our social environment changes from being based on primary units such as families and ethnicities and our physical environment becomes increasingly man-made.
Abstract: In this volume, leading social theorists address the broad-ranging issues facing society at the end of the 20th century, as our social environment changes from being based on primary units such as families and ethnicities and our physical environment becomes increasingly man-made. Examining recent changes in technology and social organization, the authors show how social theory can inform the construction of social organization and help provide avenues of future social development.
Journal Article•
Book•
27 Aug 1991
TL;DR: In this article, the model of social becoming has been studied in the context of the Ontology of the Constructed World and the Model of Social Movements: Double Morphogenesis.
Abstract: Preface. Part I: The Background: 1. Toward a Theoretical Reorientation. 2. Evolving Focus on the Agency. 3. On the Shoulders of Marx. Part II: The Theory: 4. Ontology of the Constructed World. 5. The Model of Social Becoming. 6. Active and Passive Society. Part III: The Follow-up: 7. Social Movements: Double Morphogenesis. 8. Revolutions: The Peak of Social Becoming. Name Index. Subject Index. Bibliography.
Book•
01 Jan 1991
TL;DR: The authors examines qualitative case studies of computerization in welfare agencies, urban planning, accounting, marketing, and manufacturing to examine the ways that computerization alters social life in varced ways: restructuring relationships and in other cases reinforcing existing social relationships.
Abstract: This article examines the relationship between the use of computer-based systems and transformations in parts of the social order. Answers to this question rest heavily on the way computer-based systems are consumed -not just produced or dissemtnated. The discourse about computerezation advanced in many professional magazines and the mass media is saturated with talk about "revolution, " and yet substantial social changes are often difficult to cdentcfy in carefully designed empirical studies. The article examines qualitative case studies of computerization in welfare agencies, urban planning, accounting, marketing, and manufacturing to examine the ways that computerization alters social life in varced ways: sometemes restructuring relationships and in other cases reinforcing existing social relationships. The article also examines some of the theoret ical issues in studies of computerization, such as drawing boundaries. It concludes with some observations about the sociology of computer sctence as an aca...
Book•
01 Jan 1991
TL;DR: Law in colonial Africa was a cultural project that lay at the heart of efforts by Europeans and Africans to channel social change as discussed by the authors, and studying law yields fresh insights into the meaning of colonialism to those Africans who were empowered by it and those who struggled against it.
Abstract: Law in colonial Africa was a cultural project that lay at the heart of efforts by Europeans and Africans to channel social change. Studying law yields fresh insights into the meaning of colonialism to those Africans who were empowered by it and those who struggled against it. The contributors in this volume use different approaches and employ different sources to investigate the interaction between law and social history. This book simultaneously casts new light on the colonial experience of Africans and Europeans, assesses the research potential of untried sources and methods, and charts the intellectual agenda for further historical and anthropological studies of law.
01 Aug 1991
TL;DR: The authors analyzes General Social Survey data from 1972 through 1989 on the personal happiness of married and never-married individuals and shows that the effect of marriage on happiness returning to fairly typical levels in 1987 and 1988 after several years of relatively minimal differences in the early part of the decade.
Abstract: This report analyzes General Social Survey data from 1972 through 1989 on the personal happiness of married and never-married individuals. Earlier studies (Glenn and Weaver, 1988) had reported a significant decrease in the difference between these two categories, with the "advantage" of the married progressively declining from 1972 through 1986. This article shows that the process reversed somewhat during the latter part of the 1980s, with the effect of marriage on happiness returning to fairly typical levels in 1987 and 1988 after several years of relatively minimal differences in the early part of the decade. However, the difference diminished once again in 1989. The analysis shows that never-married males and younger never-married females were happier in the late 1980s than in the 1970s, and that younger married women were somewhat less happy in the late 1980s than in the 1970s. These trends, however, are generally weaker than earlier evidence suggested.
Journal Article•
31 Jan 1991
TL;DR: In this paper, leading anthropologists provide a comprehensive yet highly nuanced view of what it means to be a Greek man or woman, married or unmarried, functioning within a complex society based on kinship ties.
Abstract: In this collection leading anthropologists provide a comprehensive yet highly nuanced view of what it means to be a Greek man or woman, married or unmarried, functioning within a complex society based on kinship ties. Exploring the ways in which sexual identity is constructed, these authors discuss, for example, how going out for coffee embodies dominant ideas about female sexuality, moral virtue, and autonomy; why men in a Lesbos village maintain elaborate friendships with nonfamily members while the women do not; why young housewives often participate in conflict-resolution rituals; and how the dominant role of mature married householders is challenged by unmarried persons who emphasize spontaneity and personal autonomy. This collection demonstrates that kinship and gender identities in Greece are not unitary and fixed: kinship is organized in several highly specific forms, and gender identities are plural, competing, antagonistic, and are continually being redefined by contexts and social change.
TL;DR: Structural effects represent the influence of an individual s position in social space on that person because of the constraints and opportunities for interaction and social comparison that derive from the structural realities as mentioned in this paper.
Book•
[...]
01 Jan 1991
TL;DR: Rosenberg as mentioned in this paper offers a framework to explain when courts can and cannot bring about significant social change, emphasizing three constraints on judicial efficacy built into the structure of American political system: the limited nature of constitutional rights, the lack of judicial independence and the judiciary's limited enforcement powers.
Abstract: The book offers a framework to explain when courts can and cannot bring about significant social change. Rosenberg emphasizes three constraints on judicial efficacy built into the structure of the American political system: the limited nature of constitutional rights, the lack of judicial independence, and the judiciary’s limited enforcement powers.
TL;DR: This article used a pooled cross-sectional and time-series design of 584 U.S. cities for the years 1960, 1970, and 1980 to evaluate the empirical adequacy of criminal opportunity and social disorganization theories to explain the level of crime in cities and temporal changes in their crime rates.
Abstract: Two general theoretical perspectives, criminal opportunity and social disorganization, have been widely used to explain the level of crime in cities and temporal changes in their crime rates. Using a pooled cross-sectional and time-series design of 584 U.S. cities for the years 1960, 1970, and 1980, the present study evaluates the empirical adequacy of these theories. The cross-sectional findings were far more supportive of social disorganization theories than criminal opportunity theories. However, neither perspective was able to consistently explain changes in crime rates over time. Ethnic heterogeneity, household size, and the rate of crowding in households were the strongest predictors of the level and changes in official rates of homicide, robbery, and burglary. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for future research. Explanations for rising crime rates in the U.S. have taken various forms. Traditional theories of criminality (e.g., anomie, differential association, conflict, social bonding) identify the level of social integration, cultural conflict, economic inequality, and breakdown in social control as major correlates of crime. During the last decade, several opportunity-based theories (routine activities, lifestyle/exposure and rational choice models) have emerged as rival explanations for changing crime rates. Essentially, these criminal opportunity theories