The paper demonstrates the use of algorithmic thinking through an operational analysis of the "rural exodus" in Western Europe, focusing on several Swiss Alpine villages. (Author/KM)
CULTURAL pluralism, SOCIAL distance, SOCIAL participation, ETHNIC groups, GROUP identity, SOCIAL classes, COMPARATIVE studies, EMIGRATION & immigration, RESEARCH methodology, MEDICAL cooperation, RESEARCH, SOCIAL skills, STATISTICS, CITY dwellers, RESIDENTIAL patterns, SOCIOECONOMIC factors, EVALUATION research
Abstract
Using an ecological perspective, one aspect of the relationship of social distance and physical distance is analyzed in the three largest cities in Israel. The principal aim of the paper is to examine ethnic (country of origin) residential segregation as an indicator of social patterning within the society. Despite the different demographic, topographical and functional characteristics of the three cities, fairly similar patterns of ethnic segregation are found using the technique of Smallest Space Analysis (SSA-I) to analyze index of dissimilarity matrices. Patterns of ethnic segregation are then related to the SES of sub-quarters to determine the nature of the internal structure of the cities. It is suggested that ethnicity is an important variable in the process of social stratification in urban Israel, at least insofar as ecological relationships are concerned. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
FAMILY research, CONFERENCES & conventions, SOCIAL institutions, RESEARCH methodology, SOCIAL structure
Abstract
The article reports on the 13th Seminar on Family Research and its focus on the family life cycle as a social system. The conference, organized by the International Sociological Association's Committee on Family Research and the Centre d'Ethnologie Francaise, was held in Paris, France in September 1973. Four themes prevailed: changes in family cycle in Europe since the 18th century, social stratification and urban-rural differences, family life cycle theory, and research methods in social science.
SOCIOECONOMICS, REPRODUCTION, ANALYSIS of variance, MATHEMATICAL statistics, FERTILITY, DEVELOPING countries, AGE distribution, AGRICULTURE, BIRTH rate, EMPLOYMENT, INCOME, INFANT mortality, LIFE expectancy, RESEARCH methodology, META-analysis, OCCUPATIONS, REGRESSION analysis, SOCIAL change, STATISTICS, TIME, SOCIOECONOMIC factors, EDUCATIONAL attainment
Abstract
Recent studies by Adelman and by Friedlander and Silver, which have investigated whether regression equations derived from cross-section data can be used to predict the impact of socioeconomic development on changing levels of fertility, are reviewed critically. Regression analyses based on data for 57 countries c. 1960 show that fertility (gross reproduction rate) varies cross-sectionally with region as well as with level of development (as measured by per capita income, percent labor force in primary sector, expectation of life, illiteracy rate). Using equations derived from the cross-section study and time-series data for five European countries during the period that their fertility rates fell, it is shown that predictions about past fertility changes are in error. The results suggest caution in the use of cross-section relations to predict the course of fertility in developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]