Showing papers on "Social system published in 1972"

Causes and Consequences of Higher Edueation: Models of the Status Attainment Process

Abstract: OCIOLOGISTS' interest in education dates back to the earliest days of the discipline. Auguste Comte, Herbert Spencer, Lester F. Ward, Emile Durkheim, Charles H. Cooley, Edward A. Ross-to mention only a few-were writing on the sociological aspects of education more than a half century ago. Although their interests were more in education as a basic institution for melioration and for passing on the social and cultural heritage from generation to generation, they were not unaware of some of the consequences of educational attainment for the individual and for society. The role of education in social stratification systems, however, was first spelled out in some detail by the late Pitirim A. Sorokin in his classic book, published in 1927, Social Mobility [33]. Sorokin correctly saw the school to be a major channel of vertical circulation and emphasized the extent to which the school served as a mechanism of social testing, selection, and distribution of individuals within different social strata, thus determining the properties of the different social classes. Much later, Talcott Parsons [18] elaborated on Sorokin's theme in his well-known article, "The School Class as a Social System: Some of Its Functions in American Society." Parsons stressed not only the selection and allocation functions of the

The Community as a Social System

Abstract: Some assumptions common to traditional theories of the community are examined: (1) that social system boundaries are geographically determinable; (2) that the units comprising communities are either humans or families; (3) that cooperation based on common goals underlies community organization. Suggested here is a conflict model of community structure and behavior that focuses upon interstitial groups linking elemental groups and complex organizations to form the community system. Within interstitial groups social exchange and coordination occurs between groups and organizations whose orientations are in potential conflict. This social exchange between elemental groups, a consequence of the division of labor, is accomplished within interstices containing conjunctive relationships, and it is here that conflict is managed, enabling the operation of complex social systems. Community as a concept is employed by virtually all students of complex social systems. Nevertheless, sociologists are aware how illdefined and imprecise is the concept of community. Hillery (1955) measured the depths of confusion about this concept by inventorying a wide variety of definitions. An examination of these reveals that definitions of community are almost as varied as the number of sociologists attempting to deal with the concept. In the interim since Hillery's article, the amount of agreement over definitions of community has not increased significantly. This paper attempts a more logically consistent and empirically usable definition of community. It is hoped this attempt will reduce the confusion and ambiguity surrounding community as a concept and its behavioral referents (Simpson,

Analytical Dimensions in the Comparison of Social Organizations

Abstract: The paper focuses on differences in the way social situations are defined in different cultures and societies. It develops and illustrates some dimensions for comparing social systems in this respect, viz: their inventory of statuses, the repertoires of persons, and the cultural ways in which occasions are distinguished. Some contrasting types of society are compared on these dimensions; and the problem is raised as to the epistemological character of such types, and the importance of the variable of scale. The dual nature of social organization as an organization both of people and of tasks is emphasized.

General Systems Theory: An Inquiry into Its Social Philosophy

Abstract: This essay examines some of the values and assumptions of General Systems Theory (GST) in an attempt to show that: (1) Many concepts composing GST constitute nonrefutable hypotheses which serve the...

Cultural Revitalization and Educational Change in Cuba

Abstract: THE NEED TO DEVELOP more powerful theories to illuminate relationships between social development and educational change has recently received growing recognition. This call for "theory building," for the creation of logico-deductive explanatory systems which could serve to generate empirically verifiable propositions about critical knowledge needs is, I believe, a hopeful sign of maturation in the field of educational studies.' Theory-building has, of course, long been the central concern of social scientists in their efforts to produce knowledge about human behavior and change in social systems. It is a major contention of this paper that educators seeking to better understand the inter-relationships between any nation's educational complex of formal, non-formal, and informal educational subsectors to other developmental sectors will be well advised to look to existing theory in the social disciplines. Clearly, one need is to order, to synthesize the large number of existing assumptions, propositions, and hypotheses in the literature with the intent of constructing middle-range theories to guide further research and attempts at innovation and renewal within educational systems. Educational-change theories must be built not only retroductively working from the data to an explanatory framework, but also through the testing and reformulation of existing theoretical constructs.2 It is here, perhaps, in the testing and adaptation of existing social-science theory that the comparative educator has the best possibilities to make significant contributions to the basic task of science, to our understanding of how classes of systems work. This paper will concentrate on this second imperative, that comparative educators become more knowledgeable consumers of, and contributors to, theory in the social sciences. My objective will be, using the extreme case of Cuba, to explain how the process of rapid and thorough-going educational change is intricately bound up in the process of radical social reconstruction. The analysis draws heavily on the corpus of revitalization theory elaborated in large part by the social anthropologist Anthony F. C. Wallace. Although this theory offers an essentially anthropological or cultural explanation of the inter-connections between educational and social change, it is, nevertheless, as I will attempt to

An Empirical Study of Powerlessness Among High School Students.

Abstract: is growing evidence to suggest that high school students are seeking a greater role in the governing of their society and its institutions. Whether the issue is war, poverty, pollution or curriculum change, students are coming to consider it both their right and their responsibility to speak out on those concerns which touch their personal and social lives. Efforts to convert their views into social action, however, are leaving many of them frustrated. This is due in part to a feeling among ait least some of the young that they are powerless in the face of an unresponsive and uncaring society. Powerlessness, a principal component of alienation, is defined by .Seeman as "the expectancy or probability held by the individual that his own behavior cannot determine the occurrence of the outcomes, or reinforcements, he seeks."1 The root cause of the powerlessness condition lies in an alienating social order. Advancing technology, accelerating social change, increasing bureaucratization and a complex maitrix of other social forces, argue social scientists (e.g., Mills,2 Nisbet,3 and Blauner4), are serving to fragment, disorient, and diminish contemporary man, thereby alienating him from the very social systems he himself has created. Of man's powerlessness in post-modern society, Kris and Leites write:

The Ratio Measurement of Social Status: Some Cross-Cultural Comparisons

Abstract: Social scientists have recently found the scale construction techniques developed in psychophysics relevant to the measurement problem in social science. This paper reports some efforts at the ratio measurement of social status, and some attempts at fitting functional forms to the relation between valued social characteristics (e.g., education and income in our society) and the status accorded various levels of these variables by judges from three distinct cultural groups. We take exception to some of the forms fitted by earlier researchers. To social scientists in many disciplines social status is a crucial variable in the explanation of the social, political, and economic behavior of individuals. Most modern social scientists recognize the necessity of adequate measurement of that variable; however, attempts to measure the status which is accorded to individuals by those with whom they interact seldom if ever transcend what Torgerson (1958: 22) terms "measurement by fiat." S. S. Stevens (1968:172) characterizes measurement as "the assignment of numerals to objects or events according to rules"; when the rules are assigned arbitrarily (but not necessarily capriciously), measurement by fiat obtains. This state of nature obviously exists when an index of social status is constructed from, say, income, education, and occupation, in which weights of the three components are assigned arbitrarily. In the present state of social science, weights in such indices as this are necessarily allocated arbitrarily, simply because we know so little about the nature of the relationship between the status continuum and the continua which are thought to indicate status, e.g., income, education and occupation. In a recent series of experimental investigations, Robert Hamblin has begun clarification of these relationships, using the ratio measurement techniques which have originated and matured in psychophysics; these experiments have been replicated and extended by Allen Shinn (1970). In these studies, status is treated as a consensual or "norm" variable, a variable which involves "values which are so widely held within a cultural group or subgroup that any normal adult member of that group could constitute a competent observer" (Shinn, 1970:18-19). These investigators also conceive status as an involuntary response to social stimuli. In any social system, individuals present certain characteristics to others with whom they interact. In mass society, status is likely to be accorded at the presentation of the objective stimuli of education, income, and occupation, although in less extensive social systems, status may be accorded because of superior knowledge, physical beauty, or experience, depending on the group or organization. In the short run the characteristics for which status is accorded by others, and the amount of status accorded for various amounts of these characteristics, are probably involuntary responses. Such connections between stimulus and response are established early in the socialization process and, while they may be modified by later learning, are certainly intractable in the immediate situation. As Shinn (1969:934-935) argues, "it may also be that responses to social stimuli are nonvoluntary in the short run-that an individual is in a sense a prisoner of his conditioned values." The impetus for assigning status-giving to the stimulus-response paradigm has been the corroboration of a general psychophysical law on various continua of "sensations produced in sensory receptors by physical stimuli . .. [t]he magnitude of a psychological sensation

Local Control over Formal Education in Two American-Indian Communities: A Preliminary Step toward Cultural Survival:

Abstract: A basic problem underlying all educational programs in the War on Poverty involves the understanding that, without specific skills and behavior, the culturally different cannot attain a higher socioeconomic level than they now have. The American school system has, therefore, attempted to develop particular capabilities in minority group members in the hope of thus aiding them toward economic improvement. For members of groups whose values and social system resemble that of the dominant society, adaptation to the school's norms will take place relatively easily and successfully. However, among American Indians generally, tribal structural characteristics and values serve to set their members against the norms which prevail in the dominant culture. Tightly integrated institutions, a pervasive religious order stressing particularism, a deep-rooted belief system emphasizing subjugation to nature, and an extended family structure direct the individual's orientation and commit him to the fate of his group. In order to help the Indian student adjust more successfully to American schools, social scientists and educators have developed academic programs which stress such approaches as bilingualism and individualized instruction. Indian students, however, regard these solutions as superficial and continue to view the educational system as a basically alien structure. As a result, they remain unmotivated to learn those skills taught in school which would aid them toward improving their social and economic position. Recently, preliminary guidelines for instituting complete local control over the schools on Indian reservations were developed by governmental officials in the hope of thereby making school more relevant to the Indian child. Underlying this reasoning are the following assumptions:

The Dynamics of Social Change and Discontinuity

Abstract: For specific groups and individuals, as our framework suggests, to be located in society involves having a social position at the intersection point of a variety of social forces. Individuals move within clearly defined systems of power, and the definition of the situation constitutes the set of rules to be obeyed or challenged by the individual. The social situation is defined by participating groups, and social conflict arises when definitions of the situation conflict. The process of change can then be understood as a process in which individuals and groups seek to change their social position by redefining their situation, involving a reallocation of resources towards new goals and a change in the balance of power. The resulting strains and tensions from attempts at redefinition may give rise to regressive development, breakdown of the institutional order, or the transformation of the social order towards alternative values and goals. The potential transformation of the social systems towards one of the proposed alternatives will depend on this process of redefining situations between power groups.

A Framework for Science and Technology Policy

Abstract: Science by itself has no impact on society. Its impact is mediated through the professions, all of which are concerned with design in some sense. Science and technology are both option-generating processes, and the options have a high mortality. It is only the application of technology in a replicative process that is option-choosing and commits us to its social consequences. Social systems do not conform to traditional systems analysis. They do not have single objective functions. They exhibit conflicting and internally inconsistent goals. Systems analysis which aims to incorporate society as part of the system must incorporate these conflicts and inconsistencies as part of the analysis. Paretian environmental analysis and Allison's models of governmental decision-making are described as illustrating how the concepts of systems analysis might be broadened to take into account the response of social groups and bureaucratic structures to technocratic plans. If engineers are to bring systems thinking to bear on social problems, they must learn how to incorporate social and political theory into their analytical framework ab initio.

A critical review of the social systems models of Jay Forrester

Abstract: Professor J. W. Forrester of the Massachussetts Institute of Technology has published three major works-Industrial Dynamics, Urban Dynamics, and World Dynamics-each of which uses simulation modeling to explore the features of the system of concem. The underlying message of each is technocratic: that there is a technique, system dynamics, which facilitates the process of managing complex systems. Forrester's horizons have expanded with each book, the latest of which explores means to stabilize human activities for global management. This review is an analysis of World Dynamics, but more than that it is an analysis of the technique, the promise, and the problems of system dynamics, especially for urban and global affairs; for it is the technique, not the specific results, which is really important. With the publication of World Dynamics, Forrester appears to join the ranks of concerned environmentalists-doomsayers to some-who have warned of a threat to the future of mankind from food shortage, resource depletion, and pollution. The dangers of continuing on our present course are amply illustrated, and recommendations are made to reduce birth rates, rate of industrialization,

Possible futures of European education : numerical and system's forecasts

Abstract: Possible Futures of European Education.- 1. On General Problems of Social Forecasts.- 2. Forecasts of Educational Expenditures in Fourteen European Countries and the United States.- 3. A Systems Prognostication of the European Social System.- 4. On a Theory of Education.- 5. Trends in the System's Development.- 6. Summary.- How Should the Future be Studied?.- 1. Necessity of studying the future, but reservations with regard to long-range forecasting.- 2. Outstanding socio-economic trends today.- 3. All planning is based on a system of values.- 4. Necessity of modifying the methods of planning.- 5. The international system.- Social and Cultural Futures in Western Europe a Framework for Analysis.- 1. Social Change or Continuity - Problems in Social and Cultural Futures.- 2. A sociological framework for Hypothetical Futures.- 3. The dynamics of social Change and Discontinuity.- 4. Emerging European Futures - The Basic Qualitative Dilemma.- Biographical Notes.

The Multiplication of Social Ties: The Strategy of Credit Transactions in East Nepal

Abstract: Anthropologists concerned with the study of credit (or other kinds of economic) relationships in non-Western peasant societies emphasize the need to take account of the wider social system in which such relationships are "embedded"' Indeed, it has been suggested that whereas economists are interested primarily in "specialized or single-interest relations," the anthropologist's attention is "focused on the way different relations-economic, political and ritual-are linked to one another"2 If there is agreement among anthropologists as to their primary concern with multipurpose social ties, there is no consensus on the implications of this multiplicity for the provision and servicing of credit in smallscale societies

Toward a model of social change.

Abstract: This paper outlines a model of social change. In what follows I shall first briefly list the shortcomings of existing models, second, note the premises behind my model, and third, formally present ...

The School: A Psychosocial Ecosystem.

Abstract: Current concepts and research in the behavioral sciences affirm that the social settings which an individual confronts on a day-to-day basis serve as an important determinant of the patterns of his psychological growth and development, his adaptation or maladaptation (Brim, 1966, 1968; Parsons and Bales, 1955; Orth, 1963; Mechanic, 1962; Bachman et al. 1967, 1968). At heart this is an ecological statement. It specifies that there are important relationships between an individual and his social environments. We can assume, on the basis of psychological knowledge, that there is some regularity in the growth and development of individuals, and we may assume, on the basis of sociological knowledge, that there is some regularity in the functioning of social organizations. At the same time our everyday experience tells us that there are differences between individuals and differences between organizations. The biologist studying flora and fauna has come to realize that it is the biological system itself which is the important unit for analysis. He has found a particular kind of harmony within each system; for example, animal and plant life exist in relation to each other and are in a very real sense interdependent upon one another for growth and survival. The various resources in the system are consumed and reappear in new forms: there is a cycling of resources. A particular kind of animal or plant adjusts to the interdependencies and resources of its particular habitat and thus becomes somewhat different from the same kind of animal or plant in another habitat. The life forms, in essence, adapt to their surroundings. Finally, the biologists affirm that successful life perpetuates itself even to the point of gradually transmitting adaptive changes to future generations of their life form. Mechanisms for successions

Vision, Faith, and Knowledge

Abstract: The authors discuss the general relationships between technology and personal and social values. They attempt to stimulate consideration by individuals and societies of the changing judgments and ethics now required both for the engineering profession and individual engineers. They suggest that values and actions in the social environment are symbolic and that most of our present institutions are responsive to an environment of the rather distant past. Laissez-faire, the Adam Smith "hidden hand," and "caveat emptor" no longer can be the guiding principles of a technology or of an affluent social system.

Social health insurance in the six countries of the European Economic Community.

Abstract: The possibility of harmonizing health insurance, the most important and most controversial sector of social security, is analyzed in this article. Harmonization of economic and social systems is a major objective of the European Economic Community. Social security is an important aspect of this policy, and extensive developments in social welfare have been made in these countries. Tracing a common pattern of social health insurance in the six countries by a comprehensive comparison of the systems was an original objective of this study. It proved, however, that no common pattern existed. The “European model” of health insurance did not appear. On all points remarkable differences in the various national systems can be found. A different approach in the second part of the study produced better results. A historical comparison of the various systems showed the existence of very important convergent trends, tending toward a common model of health insurance for the future.

The Conceptual Framework Applied to South African Society

Abstract: In this chapter we shall apply the concepts we discussed in Part II to a sociological analysis of South Africa, keeping in mind the society’s unique historical evolution and the complexity of her plural social system. As in Part II, we shall begin with the microscopic level of analysis moving to the macroscopic. We must also emphasise, once again, that our analysis will be purely exploratory and analytical — never definitive. The huge gaps in scientific knowledge concerning the society make it impossible to be conclusive in what we state. Our main aim is to stimulate the student into analysing the social system around him for himself and it is in this regard that the framework may prove useful. We turn, then, first, to the microscopic level.

Trends in the System’s Development

Abstract: The European social system shows a number of disparities between highly differentiated functional elements on the one hand, and quite unorganized structures on the other.

Jamaica social system and the norms of individual achievement in

Abstract: the wider society. It is suggested that these local conflicts may have integrative functions for the total society. Finally, the implications of these findings for the study of education and social change in other new and developing nations are discussed.