Search

This article is a commentary to Benjamin Singer's essay on the criterial crisis in academe. It highlights several issues about which young academics and their elders routinely kitbitz at campus watering holes. Singer's lament is fundamentally an embroidery on lunchroom complaints and coffeehouse chatter dressed up with headings and a fine bibliography. Cynics may conclude that his article a good example of the "proliferation of journals and redundant and useless papers." And others may wonder, in the interests of reflexivity, whether Singer's paper was submitted to other journals before it was accepted by Sociological Inquiry and whether the paper as published was exempt from the vagaries and vicissitudes of peer review that Singer deplores. Since Singer suggests that few published papers are ever read, he will no doubt be surprised that his was discovered among the hundreds of sociological journals in our university library and that my reading of his work prompted the following observations about sociological publishing and tenure decisions.

The authors examine facilitative aspects of field research with deviant Street populations. Based on the authors' research with the homeless and with male Street prostitutes, the facilitative aspects include access to settings, social relationships, acquisition of information, and the maintenance of researcher interest. The authors argue that in each of these aspects street deviants may in some ways be easier to study than other populations. The paper concludes with suggestions for maximizing the efficiency and quality of fieldwork with specific deviant populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers an historical survey of problems arising in German mathematics during the rise and rule of National Socialism. Underlying this effort is the goal of developing a theoretical understanding of the social history of scientific disciplines in modern societies. The first part of the paper gives a brief description of the social system of mathematics and the characteristics of National Socialism. Second, an analysis of the background and structure of the attempt to construct a ‘German’ mathematics related to Nazi-ideology is given. This appears as an anti-modernist movement prompted by the rise of mathematical formalism. The basic relations between mathematical and political thought are analyzed and the reasons for the failure of the ‘German’ movement discussed. The third section examines the integration of mathematics into Nazi-German society, focusing on the twin processes of adaptation and resistance by professional societies. It is argued that social differentiation within the system of mathematics, as well as its modern cognitive and social universality, were preconditions of adaptation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

his paper examines the claim that positivism and humanism are mutually exclusive alternatives to the study and amelioration of human society. In the first part of the paper, eight theses normally associated with twentieth-century positivism are documented and explicated at length, ranging from the verification doctrine and the unified-language thesis to an emphasis on the nomological-deductive model of explanation and the fact-value distinction. In the second part the claims associated with a humanistic sociology are then examined, particularly those concerning scientism, the value-laden character of all scientific inquiry, and the relation between science and human emancipation. In the third part of the paper a distinction is between those claims which were definitive of positivism and those which were either peripheral or later amended by the leading positivists. It is then argued that a number of the criticisms leveled against positivism such as the latter's supposed affirmation of strict determinism, of scientism, and that normative considerations, being nondescriptive in character, are of little consequence, are entirely unfounded criticisms. Such claims were never an explicit part of the positivist program. On the contrary, it is argued that both contemporary positivism and humanism are motivated by parallel ideals of enlightenment-through-science, by a concern with reliable social knowledge as the basis for rational public policies, and—to quote Hempel—with ‘the broadening of our (moral) horizons.’ [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers discussion about reports published within the periodical and about how sociologists offers lose their ability to write creatively because of the emphasis placed on writing fellowship applications. In writing for sociology, students are taught to write logically rather that freely. The author relates how sociology writers utilize narrative, structure, and story telling to make writing fresh and alive. The author states that writers should never write as a habit or as a reflex, two processes which will produce stale composition.

Differential participation after recruitment remains a black box in the social-movement and voluntary-association literatures. This paper identifies several dimensions of membership participation in a professional social-movement organization (SMO) with a national membership and analyzes the determinants of differential involvement in these forms. In general, members’ ideological beliefs, social and organizational ties, perceptions about their SMO, and communication with SMO officials all predict participation across the various forms. Our findings extend previous work on differential participation in three ways. First, we statistically isolate cultural dimensions of postrecruitment participation and, in so doing, complement recent ethnographic research. Second, our findings suggest that the distinct dimensions of external and internal participation found by Knoke (1988) in a national sample of voluntary associations may not generalize to national SMOs studied individually. Third, our results indicate that models combining ideological and microstructural factors should explain the multiple forms of participation in SMOs lacking these distinct dimensions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some macroecologists study population characteristics using a single variable, while others specify a system of interrelated variables. The purpose of this paper is to offer an ecological model which is theoretically appropriate and correctly bounded. Based on population (P), information (I), space (S), technology (T), organization (O), and level of living (L), or PISTOL, it is argued that the addition of two variables to the most famous ecological model (POET), namely L and I correctly bounds the POET model since each component is theoretically important. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social Impact Assessment (SIA) is a method of policy analysis that offers great potential for integrating scientific policy analysis into a democratic political process. This potential has not been realized in large part because there has been no theoretical framework to guide SIA. In this paper I propose such a framework, using Habermas' (1970) pragmatistic approach to policy. The framework suggests heavy emphasis on use of SIA early in the policy process and on methods that emphasize impact identification and portrayal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper attempts to analyze the social, economic, and political sources for the emergence of modern Soviet sociology in the 1950s. While it does not address extensively the characteristics of current Soviet sociology, it is suggested that those characteristics of a methodologically sophisticated and economically oriented sociology are largely the result of a compact between Soviet leaders and sociologists which allowed and required its post-Stalin emergence. Four sets of factors are evaluated in terms of their effect on the emergence of Soviet sociology. These are 1) the Marxist-Leninist vision (that is, the utopian elements of ideology), 2) the Soviet ideology (that is, the elements of ideology oriented toward system maintenance), 3) the diffusion of ideas, and 4) the mandate of Soviet economic development A brief evaluation of these sets of factors as they affect the emergence of Chinese sociology in the early 1980s is also provided It is concluded that the future shape of sociology in the USSR and China is dependent upon the evolution of ideology in the two countries, an evolution that is intimately tied to the succession of political leadership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to describe the shared orientations that are relied on in producing talk that is designed to elicit just that information that the speaker might want to know. If an interactant wants to find out something from a co-interactant, one of the ways of doing so is to directly ask about it. Information-eliciting tellings operate with respect to the participants' orienting to two types of knowables, designated in this paper as type 1 and type 2. Type 1 knowables are those that subject actors as subject actors have rights and obligations to know. For example, ones name, what one is doing, and so on are assumed to be available to a competent subject-actor. Type 2 knowables are those that subject actors are assumed to have access to by virtue of the knowings being occasioned. The recipient's work, as subject-actor, involves finding an event that will fit with and account for that which was reportedly experienced by the prior speaker.

This paper outlines a program of needed research on principled nonviolence as a conflict and conflict resolution strategy in international relations. A multi-pronged program of research is proposed, including, conceptual analyses and model generation, hypothesis and variable development; psychological analyses, laboratory simulation, and analyses of current ongoing, international conflict situations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a commentary regarding the depiction of Professor J. H. Turner of the symbolic interactionist position of Talcot Parsons. In his paper, Turner advances two simple and straight forward contentions, Parsons is a symbolic interactionist in the way in which he sees human society but for reasons of methodological strategy Parsons proposes to study human society differently than is done by symbolic interactionists. Turner endeavors to support the first contention by arguing that there are basic similarities between Parsons' view and the symbolic interactionist analysis suffers from several forms of theoretical weakness. This article, discusses these two contentions in the light of the symbolic intearactionist position of George Herbert Mead.

The article is a response to writer Michael Hill's comment on the author's essay regarding criterial crisis in academe. Hill alleges that "small journals" are being denigrated, a point which simply is not true since small journals have neither criticized nor mentioned. To the contrary, many of the problems delineated are connected with major journals, the kind described by Arnold Relman, editor of "The New England Journal of Medicine, as having "very exacting standards." The author has not argued against publications in "obscure" journals. In fact, a different method of assessment was called for, a means which could create a balance in favor of "small" and "obscure" journals, the kind in which ideas are more important than peer review or disciplinary status. The author has argued for greater intellectual risk-taking and originality and against the kind of centripetal academic culture which facilitates journals that publish massive amounts of trivial, fact-laden but largely irrelevant reports. The new media technologies that make possible the dissemination of scholarly knowledge and ideas were not criticized, nor has the author argued against the use of personal computers, information retrieval through compact discs, or any of the other communication technologies.

Understanding police violence is important in part because police violence, if generally tolerated, could transform a society based on law into one governed by political and personal whim. This research asks whether the conflict perspective can explain which groups are more likely to approve of police use of force, and whether several dimensions of power are at issue or just a few. Previous studies have found that race is the most important factor in determining approval of police use of force. Gender, age, class, and other variables have shown mixed results. Using a national sample (1998 General Social Survey), this paper contributes a more comprehensive examination of this issue to the small body of literature in this area. We look at approval of police use of force in five scenarios. Our findings show that minorities and women are more likely to disapprove of police use of force. Supporting a narrow application of conflict theory, other dimensions of power appear not to affect attitudes toward police hitting citizens. Context of violence matters too. When situations are not actively threatening for officers, by near consensus, violence is unacceptable. Disagreement comes from less clear-cut circumstances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The media, in the sociology of natural disasters, are mainly viewed as management tools used to influence people's preparedness and response to natural disasters. As a consequence, research in this area has been limited to the warning, preparedness, and recovery phases. Through interviews with residents of eight communities in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, impacted by Hurricane Georges in 1998, this paper shows that through integrating mass communication research to disaster theory we can obtain a more accurate picture of the media–audience relationship during natural disasters. In addition to the manifest functions of providing information, the media also have latent functions in disasters, which consist of emotional support and companionship. The media also help isolated individuals to feel connected with the “outside world.” These functions are most salient in the impact phase of disasters. These functions are also particularly crucial as they have been shown to reduce the negative effects of stressful life events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article the author introduces a series of articles that present highly divergent views on the present and future of sociology. The sciences command serious consideration for their rule-driven inquiries. Sociology, having failed to establish powerful rules, compels no such attention. Respect for science is respect for an enterprise transcending its participants. Unless they are themselves giants, individual physicists, chemists, or biologists, for example, must subordinate their analytic individuality to the collectively held paradigms that dominate their disciplines. Individual imagination is certainly useful, but it is not a necessary precondition to successful participation. Knowing the rules and being willing to work within them do, however, constitute such preconditions. In a literal sense, science constitutes an establishment and, like all establishments, it views the exercise of originality with discomforting suspicion. Sociology is in need of saving, but not from its perceived inadequacies. These can be tolerated so long as sociologists able to produce compelling alternatives do so. No, sociology needs to be saved from the silence of those most qualified to speak.

This paper addresses the standards of scientific behavior and research within the context of academic scholarship. Factors which lead some researchers to transgress the ethical boundaries associated with the publication process are presented and discussed. Included is an examination of the central issues related to the ‘publish or perish’ syndrome. It is argued that the intense pressure to get one's work into print often distorts the serious pursuit of knowledge. Linking tenure and promotion primarily to publications has led to emphasizing the length of the scholarly record rather than its quality. To avoid such outcomes, the academic/scientific communities are urged to develop policies which on the one hand protect the integrity of the scientific enterprise, and on the other strike a reasonable balance of expectations and performance regarding teaching, research, and service. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on the research techniques in fields with weak links between theory and method by briefly examining two sets of techniques, causal models and methods of network analysis, which have been used extensively in the sociology of science during recent years. The author emphasizes the ways the said techniques have interacted with substantive concerns rather than their formal methodological characteristics. The continuous appearance of essays criticizing the foundations of commonly used research techniques is symptomatic of the disjunction between theory and method in sociology and it also characterizes controversy in the sociology of science. New approaches to network analysis are still being developed, and the kind of interplay between technical innovation and substantive concern outlined above will probably also characterize future developments. Thus far, sociologists of science have used network techniques primarily for structural description rather than for detecting underlying principles that may govern network configurations. This is not a result of technical backwardness; it stems from the fact that substantive theory in the sociology of science does not yet embrace the latter issue. Like other methodological approaches in sociology, techniques for network analysis are only loosely related to substantive issues in the research areas that employ them.

This article addresses the sociological issues of research problem retention and research problem change in science. A scientist rarely makes a career decision more consequential than the selection of a problem for research. Areas of ignorance in Science are variously defined as fundamental or peripheral for the advancement of knowledge. To recognize, to choose for investigation and to solve a fundamental problem provides greater satisfaction, derivative prestige and more diverse resources for research than solution of a peripheral problem. Patterns of problem choice have not been accorded much attention in the sociology of science. The handful of systematic analyses are largely found within studies of more encompassing sociological questions. This study of social structural conditions making for problem retention and problem change is only another step in the still barely explored subject of problem choice in science. It does not consider the sources and consequences of differing durations of research in a problem area; it does not consider the consequences of an expansion of the number of problem areas pursued at the same time by scientists; and it only hints at the biographical characteristics that may be related to incidence of one or another of these patterns of problem choices.

This article focuses on sociology of science. Research in the sociology of science cannot easily ignore related perspectives in the philosophy of science,just as research in that field has grudgingly begun to include sociological perspectives. In this article the aim of the author is to review current sociological and philosophical work bearing upon cognitive change so as to identify their potential convergences while recognizing their inevitable differences. Practically all sociological work on cognitive change in science focuses on one or more of three sets of questions: (1) theory choice and evaluation (2) problem choice and (3) resulting cognitive groups. In dealing with questions of theory choice, contemporary philosophers of science, at times it seems unwillingly, tend to oscillate between normative and descriptive accounts: how scientists should choose among competing theories and how they actually do choose. The foci of attention in the sciences are of course no more than the aggregated problem choices of individuals working in those sciences.

This article focuses on the social construction of documentary reality. A documentary reality is fundamental to the practices of governing, managing and administration of this form of society. The primary mode of action and decision in the superstructures of business, government, the professions, and other like agencies, is in symbols, whether words, mathematical symbols or some other. It is a mode of action which depends upon a reality constituted in documentary form. The social scientist's ordinary knowledge of her society originates in and depends upon these documentary forms. This is more, much more, than merely her use of statistical and other information produced by census bureau, departments of health welfare agencies, internal revenue departments and the like. The organization which actuality acquires in the accomplishment of a fact is not simply an explication of an order which is already perceived, though it may sometimes be just that. But it is important to recognize that facts are constructed in a context of telling. The organization that is created aims at this telling and aims therefore at the purposes for which it will be told. The selection of categories and conceptual procedures expresses that structure of relevance.

The article presents information on culture identity and dress. The sociology of dress is a vibrant field, exploring intriguing theoretical, methodological, and empirical domains. During the mid-twentieth century, clothing scholars began investigating the sociological and psychological implications of dress and appearance. In 1989, a group met to discuss the direction of the analysis of dress. The published papers from that meeting considered a wide range of topics, including identity, social psychology, cultural anthropology and sociology, semiotics, affect and cognition, social construction of gender, literary analysis, as well as qualitative and quantitative methodologies. Recent textbooks in the area continue to thaw from sociology and other fields to refine theories of dress and human behavior. Related to the misperception that dress only applies to the psychology of the self is the notion that dress is trivial both substantively and theoretically. Perhaps sociologists' neglect of dress might also be linked to a misperception that it is nonrational behavior similar to other actions that do not lend themselves to systematic analysis. Again these articles provide a contrasting view. In organizational and institutional settings, such as greedy organizations, total institutions, and mass media, dress and all it symbolizes are debated and discussed in ways that can be studied scientifically. Further, all of the articles have identified patterns in how dress is used in identity embracing and distancing that can be incorporated into broader theoretical frameworks.

The article focuses on the developments related to the periodical "Sociological Inquiry." The author would like to congratulate his predecessor, professor Harry Johnson, for the excellent job he did in editing the journal "Sociological Inquiry" and for the high quality of the manuscripts published during his tenure. The author would also like to thank him for the aid he has given him during the transition period. This issue as well as Volumes 52, Number 2 and 52, Number 3 contain manuscripts which were accepted and processed during the time Professor Johnson was editor. Alpha Kappa Delta (AKD) is the International Sociology Honor Society. Its purpose is to promote an interest in sociology, sociological research, and other social and intellectual activities concerned with the human condition. "Sociological Inquiry" is the official journal of Alpha Kappa Delta. It is designed to implement the scientific aims of AKD by communicating and reviewing developments of sociological interest in the service of faculty, investigators, and students alike. Since the journal has a broad constituency, to meet its objectives it must maintain a perspective general enough to cater to the interests and needs of sociologists and other social scientists with differing theoretical and methodological backgrounds engaged in a wide variety of activities in and out of academia. Thus it supports no particular theoretical, methodological or substantive area interest, but in a larger sense is concerned with them all.

This issue of "Sociological Inquiry" presents a new and rather exciting feature which I believe will be of great interest to the readers of this journal. They are, for the first time, publishing the winning paper of the Alpha Kappa Delta (AKD) undergraduate paper competition. The editorial advisory board strongly recommended publishing the winning paper as "Sociological Inquiry" is, after all, the official journal of AKD, the international sociology honorary society. They also know that many of their subscribers are students. The editor hope that they enjoy this rather unique look at an aspect of human society that has been virtually untouched by sociologists. As they read this article, he hope also that they come away with a sense of satisfaction with knowing that the next generation of sociologists is being well trained in their discipline. Recognizing that much of this behavior has little to do with intended suicide, and cannot necessarily be linked to other pathologies, Sarah Hodgson interviews individuals who engage in this type of self mutilation through online chat rooms. Her analysis reveals several layers of learning that take place, as well as numerous mechanisms that are employed to maintain their credibility in a society that otherwise stigmatizes such behavior.

In his popular introductory sociology text, Stark identifies W. E. B. Du Bois and Albion Small as important cornerstones of the U.S. sociological tradition. While the work of the “Chicago School” is well known in sociological circles, Du Bois’ sociological legacy is not. The Philadelphia Negro ([1899] 1996) is a classic empirical sociological study that is rarely included in discussions of the development of scientific sociology. Likewise, The Negro Church ([1903b] 2003) represents one of the first empirically based sociological studies of a religious institution. Sociologists of religion routinely discuss the contributions of Durkheim, Weber, and Simmel while virtually ignoring Du Bois. This is ironic because Du Bois’ work on religion was based on ethnographic data, field interviews, surveys, and census data. This article provides an overview of Du Bois’ sociological study of the Black Church in the United States by identifying some of the main themes developed in The Philadelphia Negro ([1899] 1996), The Souls of Black Folk ([1903a] 1994), and The Negro Church ([1903b] 2003). These studies reveal that Du Bois was a pioneer in the areas of evaluation research, public sociology, service learning, and congregational studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many recent signs, empirical and analytic, raise questions about dependency/world-systems theory. The difficulties are not new warnings but reminders that the theory has always had problems stemming from the close and logically unavoidable connections among three major beliefs or tenets. (1) the unchallenged omnipotence of the North Atlantic metropole throughout the world; (2) the neglect of indigenous variables as possible explanations of development; and (3) the implied assumption that growth and development are the normal state of affairs. It is argued that the first, and defining, tenet of dependency theory cannot be sustained unless the other two are also true and that this is the source of an increasingly ill-fitting correspondence between the theory and major characteristics of the Third World. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two important traditions of research on the causes of voting preferences, one that stresses social variables and is associated with the University of Columbia and the other that examines current issues and is identified with the University of Michigan Survey Research Institute, are drawn upon to help provide an analysis of political party preference in Greece. Among the social variables used in the study, age is the only significant one. Issues related to foreign policy concerns, socioeconomic redistribution, and government record tend to have strong effects on left-leaning party preference. It is suggested that Greek parties do tend to proclaim rather distinct positions on foreign policy issues and socioeconomic redistribution, and Greeks perceive a difference between the parties on these issues. However, the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) in reality may not be as radical on foreign policy issues as some of its rhetoric suggests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

James P. Spradley developed a systematic program for using personal experiences as data for cultural analysis. According to the program, the diversity of urban culture can be studied using ethnographic interviewing, participant observation and life history techniques. Spradley studied a Kwakiutl chief, tramps, cocktail waitresses, and deaf people and stimulated the study of variety in modern society. Teaching and research are integrated in Spradley's work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Does accumulation of knowledge occur in the social sciences, and if so, under what conditions? Three research programs in Dutch sociology are evaluated with regard to theory accumulation: figurational sociology at the University of Amsterdam; structural individualistic sociology at the University of Utrecht; and data-based sociological practice at the University of Leyden. In the first two schools, a wide international orientation is accompanied by the use of a closure mechanism, i.e. a publication and citation network that is restricted to members of the same research program. The result is a high degree of theoretical unity within a context of program diversity. The article concludes with some observations on the future of Dutch sociology, followed by a list of publications in each of the three programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay articulates a comparative approach to the sociology of science. It suggests that even historically there have been numerous scholars interested in the national components of scientific knowledge. I develop a model which allows me to compare the differences in scientific growth in Sweden and Denmark. My model consists of three interrelated levels: metaphysical bias, national scientific interests, institutional structures. The comparison between the two countries shows them to be markedly different on all three levels. Finally, I suggest how the model can be applied to contemporary material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay focuses on one epoch in one culture, the ‘war painter’ system m Nazi Germany, and considers its social trappings (professional, political) as characteristics shared by another epoch and culture, evaluation systems in contemporary Western science. The parallels are instructive not only for a self-critical sociology of knowledge such as that envisioned by Karl Mannheim and Alvin Gouldner, but moreover as an anthropological test of cultural relativism as explanation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Earlier research indicates that the ‘academic hierarchy’ encourages and reflects both meritocratic standards and long-standing status distinctions. Using a nationwide survey of graduate and professional students, this study considers the relative and independent influence of students' social class, sex, race, undergraduate achievement, and rank of undergraduate institution attended on rank of graduate or professional school they attend. Students in the total group, universities and colleges, as well as public and private institutions are examined. Analysis of covariance results suggest that undergraduate rank is the strongest predictor of rank of institution attended. Attendance at highly ranked undergraduate institutions predicts appropriate location at prestigious graduate and professional schools. Level of undergraduate achievement also has independent effects. Higher achievement predicts attendance at both highly ranked and slightly lower ranked institutions. Social class influences location in the academic hierarchy, but in an unexpected direction. Working class students often attend higher ranked schools than their upper middle and middle class counterparts. Findings show that men and women attend similarly ranked institutions, and female students attend higher ranked schools than males. The independent effects of race also indicate that racial groups attend different as well as similarly ranked institutions. Finally, limited interactions of three independent variables show that expected merit, social class, and sex advantages do not persist for all students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Authors' professional status, subfields within sociology, types of analysis, and sources of data were compared between two categories of manuscripts submitted to three editors of the American Sociological Review: those manuscripts about which authors complained and those randomly selected. Thirteen percent of the authors who complained succeeded in having the decision reversed and their manuscripts accepted for publication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A two-dimensional model of inner and outer self-esteem is discussed whereto inner self-esteem is hypothesized to be an outcome of self-evaluations of performance in prominent role identities. Outer self-esteem is hypothesized to be related to self- evaluations of both prominent and nonprominent role identities. The research context is a comparison of the different processes facilitating self-esteem in innovative schools (emphasis on student-initiated activities and control) and traditional (emphasis on pre-determined curriculum and teacher-administrator control). Data across school type demonstrate a modest correlation between positive self- evaluations of performance in prominent role identities and both types of self-esteem. The data suggest that high evaluation of performance in nonprominent role identities is related to outer self-esteem but not to inner self-esteem. Further empirical clarification of the concepts was established by viewing the relationships within school type. In the innovative schools both types of self-esteem were predominantly related to positive evaluations of prominent role identities, whereas in the traditional schools both types of self-esteem were related to both performance in prominent and nonprominent role identities. Thus the theoretical distinction gained partial support while the process of gaining self-esteem was shown to be essentially different between alternate school structures. Controls for social desirability, race, sex, and father's occupation did not change these findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parsons's analysis of Marx and its conclusion that Marx was a utilitarian are criticized. I endeavor to demonstrate that Marx succeeded in avoiding the pitfalls of both idealism and positivism and that he must be viewed as the founder of the voluntaristic theory of social action. In addition, I contend that this categorization makes a difference; if we incorporate Marx into action theory, build action theory on a Marxian foundation, certain problems within Parsons's work can be resolved. I illustrate this contention in a discussion of the relationship between structural and Junctional theory. "An earnest warning is given against … premature claims to finality. The author has been more or less intensively concerned with the major works of the men treated in this study over periods ranging from six to ten years. After considerable periods of occupation in other fields, he has come back to intensive reconsideration of their works. Every time this reconsideration brought to light fundamentally important things about them which had been missed before. The most important points, for the purposes of this study, were not understood at the first reading, but generally only alter repeated consideration." (Parsons, 1948:40) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on a study of how people talk about their troubles. Participants to a conversation in which troubles are reported are engaged in proposing that some event or situation is both a problematic departure from the course of ordinary events that warrants special treatment and is manageable in such a way that it need not drastically interfere with their familiar, everyday activities. Further, the downgraded conventional response can provide that, should there be a trouble, the actual telling of it will be negotiable. Another sort of negotiation that may be involved has to do with whose trouble it is and, thus, how it will be talked about. The possibilities raised in the forgoing considerations will now be brought to bear on a single, extended interchange that will be examined segment by segment. This article focuses on one device with which this dual aspect of "troubles-talk" is present: the "trouble-premonitory" response to inquiry.

This article focuses on the factors affecting speech delivery such as acoustical noise in the environment. Sociology has its themes of role complementarity and behavioral reciprocity; linguists and speech act philosophers refer to speakers and hearers, sources and goals, or, more generally, to interlocutors. There are also differences in degree of understanding, both in the sense that understanding can be full, incomplete, or nonexistent and in the sense that it can be partial with regard to different units of either individual utterances or extended discourse. The investigation of language use in social context involves conceptual schemes that constitute the theoretical orientations of several disciplines. Any comprehensively descriptive sociolinguistic theory of these phenomena will require attention to the issue of acquisition.

The reductionist position of Homans and Skinner has generated substantial debate among sociologists over the past two decades. Much of the debate can be resolved by examining the issues in light of the history of science. A historical analysis suggests that modern sociology has little to lose—and something to gain—by reevaluating its traditional stance on reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on the postmovement groups. Following the movement of the 1960s, youth culture in the early 1970s was characterized by mass psychic depression and some extremely bizarre phenomena: youthful ex-acidheads shaving their heads, swearing off drugs, sex, hedonism and the rise of various Marxist sectarian groups out of ashes of the New Left. The sociology profession has treated these phenomena under such rubrics as the new religions; the new morality or social movements, even though they are not engaged in overt conflict with dominant institutions. Almost all researchers have noted that these religious groups received an influx of ex-movement participants in the period between 1969 and 1973. These groups are also called as postmovement groups which emerged in the wake of the youth movement of the 1960s. Each group attempted to reconcile the freak vision of an anarchist communard post-scarcity society generated by the 1960s movement with the reascendance of dominant institutions and the attenuation of the movement. Postmovement groups were indicative minorities and as such tended to draw trends in youth culture to their logical conclusions.

This article focuses on the objectivity and transnational character of basic science which lend to its historical development a much larger element of determinism and of imperviousness to local socioeconomic factors than one is accustomed to elsewhere in human affairs. It follows that a vital task of the historian of science and technology is to analyze such quasieautomatic secular change as it proceeds regardless of particular causes; only then can nonautomatic and significant events that require special adhoc explanation be dissected. There is a need to perceive and understand regularity of behavior before getting to second-order explanation of the deviations therefrom. In this article the author takes the conventional view of historians of science to be that, ancient and medieval groundings notwithstanding, modern science began with bursts of activity in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, which led to the seventeenth-century scientific revolution, setting the tone for all later developments, including a postponed revolution in chemistry and still other postponed events in other fields.

This article focuses on the possible relationships between the history and sociology of science. Philosophy of science without history of science is empty; history of science without philosophy of science is blind. The history of science has passed through a number of changes in emphasis, beginning with litanies of scientific heroes, an associated quest for heroic precursors, and a moralistic spirit of scientific humanism. In the institutional perspective attention centers on the interaction and mutual influence of social organization and cognitive structures; the social processes of scientific innovation; and the emergence, growth, and development of scientific specialties. Interactional studies are more concerned with the social activity of science as a communication system. They focus on research organization and productivity, systems of reward and evaluation, patterns of communication, and the norms and values of science. Still other prominent research areas involve relationships between scientific institutions and the larger society; factors influencing the popularization of scientific knowledge; and, most recently, historical and sociological prosopography.

Weber's interpretive sociology requires the understanding of motives, affectual states, and actions. These are understandable because they themselves represent or embody interpretations. The Weberian statements are shown to be compatible with a conception of the human individual as a being who interprets subjective experiences in terms of cultural categories and guides his conduct by such interpretations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on professionalism in social sciences. Professional social science in North America arose as a repressive response to the early socialist movement, in short, that it is intrinsically repressive, ideologically and institutionally. The organized profession itself serves to preserve the hegemony of liberal ideologies in the social studies against all challengers, not by means of intellectual excellence or intellectual debates in the "free market place of ideas," but by job discrimination, character assassination, purging, hounding and blacklisting. Universities are institutions which require capital to function; the capital to function is derived from state funds or from private endowments. The "autonomy" of the university, and the special "professional" status of its teachers depends upon their utility to the ruling bourgeoisie. The intellectual history of American sociology is the triumph of the new monopoly powers and the "men of ideas" who forged the ideology of monopoly capitalism the ideology of corporate liberalism on which modem U.S. sociology is founded.

This article focuses on the life story of Jack Seeley as a sociologist. A proper study of Seeley's sociology as a lived practice would be sympathetic in a precise sense, it would honor the terms of that sociology, attempting to understand integrally the full spectrum of personal and social meanings encoded in his life and the dimensions of purpose and tragedy; it would be fully critical and advocative, an agency of loving justice. Each man's life is a gesture of meaning in the social cosmos, and Seeley's life provides one definition of sociology-a definition in the flesh rather than the word, as true definitions are, grown in the day's circumstance rather than inherited. One theme of Seeley's work is to recognize the integrity of the way the personal and the social nestle together, in intimate conjugation, in each human circumstance. Analysis gave Seeley a much richer sense of the complexity of motives which underlie the practices of scholarship and an integral sense of the relation between private and public drama, which came increasingly to be reflected in his work.

The formation of the concept ‘sense making practices’ in ethnomethodology receives attention. The referents and uses of the concept suggest that ‘sense making practices’ form a family rather than a class. Family membership is a matter of family resemblance. Thus claims about new family members run a risk of intelligibility. Finally, the search for universally invariant properties is fundamentally misguided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Action theory's substantive image of social organization, theory building strategy, and methodological tenets are compared with those of interactionism. Despite polemics to the contrary, action and interaction concepts denote a similar image of social organization and personality. As is argued, the principle difference between the two perspectives revolves around the issue of the most appropriate theory building and methodological strategy. The ontological implications of this fact are examined and found not to justify the continued partitioning of social theory into antagonistic metaphysical camps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 200 year old debate about convergence is indicted for one-sidedness in theory and lack of clarity in its propositions. A functional typology of solidarities is developed with predictions of convergence, divergence, and evolutionary invariance. Specific hypotheses for comparative survey research are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay attempts to identify some underlying commitments of ethnomethodology. The commitments explored are the idea of reflexivity, science, normal practice and the radical empirical stance—all of which are essential to ethnomethodology. Finally, it is argued that as an upshot of these commitments, ethnomethodology harbors a political implication which allows for its use as an instrument for de-objectification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The prominent recent repetition of a widespread miscue on the date and description of Weber's magisterial Author's Introduction to the Collected Essays in the Sociology of Religion may serve as an apt point of departure for this essay which I happily dedicate to Talcott Parsons. Apart from his other writings to which only passing reference is made in the present essay. Prof. Parsons' Structure of Social Action and his annotated translation of Weber's Protestant Ethic offered me—and offered very many others—indispensable aid in uncovering the structure and meanings of Weber's pioneering investigations into the comparative historical sociology of the world religions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents information related to historical sociology of science. The sociology of science, not unlike the general discipline of sociology, studiously has avoided comparative/historical investigations. Notwithstanding the fact that comparative/historical work has merited the most prestigious awards available in the profession,' this style of work does not fill the pages of sociology journals. Rather, work in the sociology of science generally has focused on factors contributing to productivity on the part of individual scientists, the normative structure of science and the social organization of science. Most studies, including recent ethnographic analyses, focus on a selected science in a particular country. Yet, however interesting ethnographic investigations may be in generating certain kinds of insights concerning the "constructed" or craft like quality of science, they simply cannot generate hypotheses about the embeddedness of science in larger cultural traditions and institutions.