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Tins paper is intended as an effort at taking-stock of the reference group concept after nearly three decades of use, the latter two of which have been marked by its more than ample employment. Its popularity indeed has so frequently led to its serving as an all-purpose post hoc explanation of behavior that it has led to the wry definition, "Your reference group is a group that you behave like and you behave like them because they're your reference group" (Cohen, 1962: 104). The inconsistencies, lack of clarity, but also areas of agreement which have marked the varied formulations of the concept, will be apparent from the following review and commentary. The Final discussion indicates some of the matters still to be considered in the use of thin important but perhaps overworked concept. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents an integrative analysis of voluntary associational leadership and reputational influence. It is noted that the degree to which leadership in voluntary organizations contributes to reputational influence patterns in the general community is not an easily predictable phenomenon. It becomes clear that no "a priori" assumptions can be made about the role of voluntary groups in the general leadership of any given community. There is a need, however, to distinguish the "organizational community" from the community in which formal voluntary groups are of considerably less significance. The study results of the overlap of reputational influentials and formal leaders in four towns are given in tabular form. The factors are number of reputational individuals, number of formal leaders, maximum possible overlap, actual overlap and percentage overlap. From the point of view of influence structures, it was discovered that the larger the town the greater the number of persons who receive a given proportion of nominations as an influential. The results of the study presented in this paper justify the trend toward the use of a combination of the positional and reputational methods of identifying leaders.

This paper examines the community situation of shipyard workers on Tyneside, certain aspects of their orientations to work and general social perspectives, and the relationship of these to each other and to the structure of social relations at work. In terms of their community situation shipyard workers would seem to come close to Lockwood's traditional proletarian type of worker. There is evidence to suggest, however, that these workers' social perspectives are not at all clearly traditional proletarian. The explanation for this is found, at least m part, m the much greater complexity of social relations at work than are accounted for in the model of traditional proletarianism. The paper suggests that existing typologies of the orientations and social perspectives of workers need to be refined by more detailed studies of the structural and relational aspects of both work and community situations. The paper concludes with a brief examination of changes in both industry and community and the likely effect of these on the social perspectives of shipbuilding workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

IN A RECENT paper Mr. Runciman concludes by inviting replies to his argument that it is logically and conceptually useful to employ the tripartite distinction between `class' `status' and `power' in the analysis of social stratification. Mr. Runciman does not, of course, deny the existence of links between these three dimensions, but suggests that such links must be seen contingent empirical relationships and not necessary logical ones. I hope that the following paper will provide such a reply. It must be clear that the following criticism is directed, in the main, to those parts of the paper in which Mr. Runciman is concerned with the logical and conceptual problem. The essay in question also contains a clear and valuable assessment of the problems encountered in any attempt to measure the three types of inequality. In the first part of the paper I propose to give a critical assessment of certain central aspects of Mr. Runciman's argument and, in the second part, I will put forward a very brief formulation of what I consider to be a more meaningful alternative view of the relationships between class, status, and power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sociologists and social psychologists, perhaps more than some of their fellow social scientists, have striven for what is in many respects one of the most elusive aims of science—valid generalizations. Examination of the results of the past thirty years of research are, however, far from encouraging. Arnold Hose, in addressing himself to the problem of generalization in the social sciences, is tempted to raise the question as to whether or not there has been considerably more striving than achieving. Certainly it is apparent that the replications often do not verify the original study. The data presented in this paper are drawn from a study of delinquent behavior which I conducted in New Zealand. My research in this field constituted in part a replication of research conducted by Nye and Short in the United States. The data from these two studies provided an opportunity for fruitful cross-cultural comparisons in the area of delinquent behavior. The rationale presented in this paper may be interpreted as a modest attempt to pursue what Rose has called "generalizability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports the results of a sample survey of ZPG members undertaken in April 1971 to ascertain if any changes had occurred in membership attributes since the first survey in September 1970 and to investigate additional characteristics. Age, education, religion and student/ non-student status are considered in relation to length of membership of ZPG. Income, political activities, intended family size and opinions about ideal population size and population control are also examined, including attitudes towards vasectomy and abortion.It is concluded that, among members of voluntary organizations, demographic factors such as age, education, religion and sex do not possess a causal relationship with social behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The paper reports on a study dealing with emergent regionalization among veteran settlements in Israel. Regional organization is approached in a functional way, as a social system in a process of change and is considered in its micro and macro aspects. The focus of the analysis is threefold: the function of the region as a mechanism of developmental change in terms of social integration, increased participation and redistribution, and improved mobilization; the factors which influence the process of regionalization, in its initial emergence, and in its sustained functioning; and the relationship between different regional organization and social structure and institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the often repeated assertion that Parsons abandoned the notion of ‘voluntarism’ in favor of ‘macrofunctionalism’ or ‘behavioristic naturalism’ and that the Parsonian scheme therefore reveals marked discontinuity. When Parsons' strategy for theory building is appreciated, this prevalent assumption proves to be incorrect. In fact, the Parsonian action scheme evidences a considerable degree of continuity from 1937 to the present. While a prevalent piece of sociological folklore is refuted by a careful examination of the Parsonian theory building strategy, a number of significant problems in following this strategy are felt to remain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The late 1960s saw the emergence of a few "super gangs" whose political and economic activities attracted much attention. More recently, gangs apparently similar to those of the 1950s have become newsworthy again in several major cities. This paper surveys these developments against the background of a variety of macro- and microsociological processes. Research conducted in Chicago and elsewhere during the late 1950s and early 60s suggests that delinquent gangs were rather "innocent" participants in the broad social trends of the times and that most gang members were relatively unaffected by the ideological currents associated with them. The primary effect on gangs was indirect, by changing the perceptions and attitudes of others toward gangs, and their behavior in relation to them. Gang life for most members of most gangs, individually and collectively, appears to have changed little in recent years. The prospects for channeling the energies of gangs into socially constructive programs seem bleak, because of the operation of group processes, and the limited experiences and social abilities of most gang members. Basic structural limitations on opportunities for the poor and the powerless to achieve economic and political power provide the framework within which these processes operate today as in the past. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unidimensional conceptions of socioeconomic status require that alternative indicators of one's position in the stratification system have similar elects upon the consequences of socioeconomic level. We show herein that different indicators of social participation and psychological well-being are in fact associated with different indicators of socioeconomic status. Thus, any attempt to combine these indicators—educational attainment, occupational pursuit, family income, or occupational origins—into a single index of socio- economic status will prove unsatisfactory because its component parts have different consequences for the same variable. We also show in this paper precisely how certain formulations of the effects of inconsistency and mobility are wholly redundant and only represent a logically possible way of interpreting the linearly additive effects of the variables used to define inconsistency and mobility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the research reported in this paper is to assess the usefulness of the instrumental-expressive typology in the study of voluntary associations using data provided by university students. The hypotheses center around two basic considerations. The first one extents to which members of the two types of associations differ according to a number of significant sociological variables (e.g., the degree of involvement in friendship networks outside the association). The second consideration is the possible differences in the ways new members are incorporated into instrumental and expressive associations. The three criteria determining the differentiation between the instrumental and expressive association are given. It also discusses personal influence and associational membership. Instrumental and expressive scores of nine associations are presented in tabular form. In conclusion, the instrumental and expressive dimensions represent a sociologically significant way of classifying associations. This distinction may be more useful in some sociological research than the more common systems of classification that are not directly related to sociological theory.

This paper tries to utilize the cross-cultural material presented by G. P. Murdock in the Ethnographic Atlas to analyse the concomitants of differences in the system of inheritance, particularly with respect to the contrast between Africa and Eurasia. In the major Eurasian societies property tends to be distributed directly, from parents to children of both sexes (i.e. by diverging devolution); in Africa property largely devolves between persons of the same sex, laterally as well as lineally. An attempt is made to show the distribution of diverging devolution and its association with the payment of dowry, with monogamy, with in-marriage of various sorts, and with kin terms that differentiate the nuclear family from more distant kin. The tight control of property represented by diverging devolution is in turn seen as .deriving from the intensive exploitation of resources which is also linked to the growth of complex political institutions. These associations are tested and held to be established. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the significance of friendship on the intellectually gifted child. The paper reaffirms the assumption that the power fields of friends strengthen each other. Some views close friendship as a personal, mutual awareness, liking and confidence, and a secure satisfaction in interchange. From the perspective of some people, close friendship often referred to as genuine interaction with other persons does many favorable things such as increasing individual socialization, making life more satisfying, widening and deepening his power field, establishing and maintaining good health. Should this be an established fact about friendship, then it is a necessity that arrangements be made for intellectually gifted children which will offer them appropriate social contacts to enable them to build friendships.

Utilizing replies from a selected sample of contributors to the literature of symbolic interactionism, this paper examines the nature and extent of institutional ties among respondents holding similar views as to appropriate methodology in sociology. The specific institutional ties examined are those as: (1) fellow graduate students, (2) teachers and students, and (3) departmental colleagues. The methodological differences between the Chicago and Iowa schools, described in other studies, manifest themselves in the present sample, as do other views not neatly classifiable within either of these schools of symbolic interactionism. The more unconventional the conception of methodology held by a respondent, the more likely is the respondent to have been a fellow graduate student, a departmental colleague, and/or involved in a teacher-student relationship with other symbolic interactionists favoring the same conception. Respondents preferring the more orthodox methodological stances in modern sociology are less likely to have shared in such institutional flea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports an exploration of the relationship between members' role performance and the benefits they receive from their organizations. The general relationship is interpreted in the context of a "social exchange model" for voluntary associations. Data for the analysis pertain to members of four voluntary farm organizations: Farm Bureau, Farmers Union, National Farmers Organization, and Grange. The data were obtained in a state-wide survey of Wisconsin farm operators in 1965. In general, the data show a moderate relationship, in a positive direction, between benefits and role performance. The benefits tend to differ in the magnitude and, in some instances, in the direction of their relationships to such performance. The findings indicate the importance of taking into account magnitude and direction of relationship, as well as interaction among the benefits and among costs, in order to devise a viable social exchange model of cost benefit relations for voluntary associations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on the first of a series of investigations we are attempting on this topic. Because games are social in nature, we assume that they mediate and shape the mutual socialization which is occurring in peer groups. Hence the type, frequency, and social context in which games are played may be important for understanding differential socialization outcomes. Given that there are important differences in the socialization process within racial groupings, it was decided to ask whether similar differences occur with regard to games. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This review of but a small amount of the empirical and theoretical research should suffice to indicate the areas of focus and concern in relating family and home environment with juvenile delinquency. It is evident that significance is attached to family cohesion, affection and adjustment both between the parents and between parent and child. Many authors (Udry, 1966; Blood and Wolfe, 1960) maintain that communication is a basle ingredient for a successful marriage. The open communication between spouses facilitates an understanding of expectations, interests, and frustrations. A marriage void of communication may lead to inhibited and ritualistic discussions, inner frustrations, and an absence of expectations and desires. If one accepts this position concerning communication between spouses, then there is reason to believe that based on the above-cited works, facilitation of the channels of communication within the family may influence the delinquency of the children. It appears plausible that a child who perceives the channels of communication within his family to be dosed may feel alienated from the family as a primary group. Without communication, the child may feel that the parents are not interested in his ideas and behavior, that the parents underestimate his desires and expectations, and that the parents reject him. Without communication the parents may not, indeed, be aware of the child's desires, values, and actions and may not succeed in transmitting their own values to the child. Although the parents would not condone delinquent behavior, as a result of their lack of communication with the child the parents may, by remaining silent, be sanctioning behavior of which the child feels the parents are aware. That is, if the child engages in delinquent behavior and feels that the parents are aware of that behavior, then he expects some negative sanctioning by his parents; due to the lack of communication, the parents may not be aware of the behavior, they do not sanction the child, and thereby reinforce his delinquent behavior. A lack of communication of this nature indicates a misunderstanding between parents and child concerning acceptable behavior and values. With the assumptions set forth above, it is of value to investigate the relationship between communication within the family and the delinquency of the child. It is the intention of this paper to ascertain: (1) the degree of communication that exists between the parents and the child concerning the child's participation in various forms of delinquent behavior; (2) the degree of communication that exists between the parents and the child concerning the punishment to be meted out for such behaviors; and (3) the effect of this communication on the child's participation in delinquent forms of behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The significance of occupational status and income for suicide is not clear. One study indicates a positive relationship; five reveal a negative relationship; two show a higher suicide rate for very high- and very low-status occupations than for middle-status occupations; and the combined results of a study of three English cities are inconsistent. Although evidence is strongest for a negative relationship, no definitive conclusion can be made. Very likely, the relationship varies depending upon other conditions. In particular, it may vary with employment status; income may be directly related to suicide under conditions of unemployment, but inversely related under conditions of employment, or vice versa. In this paper an attempt will be made to determine whether and in what way employment status may influence the effects of income. In addition, effort will be made to determine whether unemployment is related to suicide at all income levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The major purpose of this paper, therefore, is to develop a more general model of compliance-gaining behavior. Particular emphasis will be placed on those variables which differentiate among individuals with regard to the compliance-gaining techniques they use. In this discussion we shall attempt to specify a preliminary list of interpersonal strategies which will encompass the wide range of compliance-gaining behaviors. Finally we shall illustrate the usefulness of the model by discussing one problem to which it may profitably be applied, the relationship between social class and the generation of school-children defined as "behavior problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Beginning with Ogburn, the place of economic factors within the modem conjugal unit has been minimized. It has been argued that the major dimension of the current nuclear unit is the affective, the emotional, the expressive. The very term "marital adjustment" connotes that external constraints are less vital than the "ability" of the couple to "work out" interpersonal problems. The observers leaped from the data-the decrease of joint economic participation between husbands and wives-to the inference that modern marriage coheres or collapses almost solely on the basis of affective elements. Parsons has recently restated and expanded this position by asserting that "it is of course a commonplace that the [my italics] American family is predominantly … an urban middle-class family … there has emerged a remarkably uniform, basic type of family." For Parsons, this "uniform family" rests chiefly on personality variables which he analyzes in a psychoanalytic context. It may be that except at the most general structural level, Parsons' "uniform family" may be as unfortunate a term as was his "isolated family" of a decade ago. For it is also possible to leap from the data to the alternative hypothesis that economic factors still play a vital role within the conjugal family albeit in a differentiated form. Is it not strange to realize that an inherent feature of modern society is complexity, specialization, and differentiation, and that this can be seen in every part of society-every part, that is, except the conjugal family system? Here we are told that there is "remarkable" homogeneity based on the "indispensable function" of expressive gratifications. It seems just as simple and perhaps more logical to assume the opposite, viz., that increasing societal complexity should be related to a more complex family system. In any event, given the ever increasing complexity of our society, the burden of proof is on those who argue that the conjugal family is going the other way occupations of the last century. Yet while agricultural occupations were supposedly inextricable from the family, the impact of modern occupations is largely ignored and thus unexplored.Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to set forth a conceptual schema which indicates that there is significant differentiation among types of conjugal families, and that this differentiation is based on differing relationships to the occupational structure. First, we will outline the five sets of variables within our schema; second, we will attempt to present a rationale for these particular kinds of variables; and finally, we will try to link them in ways that meaningfully demonstrate differentiation between conjugal families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to report on the relationship found between a variety of content dimensions of the self and the expectations of each of four biographically significant others. The subjects whose self-conceptions are examined are 256 business executives and managers, and the four significant others whose expectations are perceived are wife, boss, a colleague, and father. Before turning to the findings it is necessary to discuss at least three methodological questions: (1) How do we know who is a significant other? (2) How do we measure the self? (8) What forms the link between others and the self? These issues are discussed in order below. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports a purely exploratory attempt to locate the role-specific-significant others (Sullivan's significant others) and the orientational others of a small sample of college students enrolled in a large midwestern university. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The instrumental-expressive differentiation, employed extensively by Talcott Parsons, has been applied to the field of voluntary associations by several writers. Thus, Lundberg, Komarovsky, and McInery wrote of instrumental, mixed, and leisure associations in an early study, and Rose concerned himself with two types of associations, the social influence group and the expressive group. This means of classifying voluntary associations has appeared recently in at least one introductory sociology textbook. A recent impetus to the use of the instrumental-expressive categorization in this field was the publication by Gordon and Babchuk of a typology of associations utilizing this concept. They define the ideal type of instrumental association as differing from the ideal type of expressive association in the following three ways. (1) The member of the expressive association achieves immediate and continuing gratification from taking part in the organization's activities. The instrumental association member may even find the group's activities distasteful, but he will get satisfaction from the knowledge that they help to accomplish certain long-range goals. In other words, personal gratification is more remote (in terms of time) from participation in the group's activities for the member of the instrumental group than the member of the expressive group. (2) The activities of the instrumental association tend to be externally oriented, whereas those of the expressive association are focused inward. Expressive organizations "perform a function primarily for the individual participants through activities confined and self-contained within the organization itself…. In contrast, the major function and orientation of the instrumental organization are related to activities which take place outside the organization." (3) The activities of members of expressive associations represent ends in themselves, while, for instrumental association members, participation in the group's activities is seen as a means of accomplishing external, long-range goals. The major questions raised in this paper are whether members of instrumental associations differ predictably from members of expressive associations regarding (1) the manner in which persons become members of associations and (2) their involvement in primary group situations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article the author presents an empirical discussion of urban terrorism in the U.S. According to the author the purpose of this paper is twofold, first, to point out some of the problems in collecting data on urban terrorism and, second, to propose a theoretical perspective of terrorism somewhat different from the customary revolutionary or counter-insurgency model. Among the most frequently cited indicators of urban terrorism in the U.S. is the rising number of bombing incidents and threats combined with the sensational discovery of various bomb plots and caches. The authors remark that since explosive bombs require more effort in acquisition of materials, preparation and detonation than incendiaries, their greater frequency in densely populated areas suggests that explicit terror bombings as distinguished from vandal-type arson are more prevalent in an urban environment. While urban areas provide the concentrations of symbolic victims necessary for mass anxiety, unless the terrorist is very well organized into hierarchical cells and can demonstrate an escalating omnipresence, has access to resupply from a secure or liberated zone and is operating in conjunction with regular insurgent forces, any attempt at social paralysis is doomed.

In his conclusion, Downes states that "cities experiencing hostile out- bursts have a very distinctive set of social, economic, and even political structural characteristics."19 It is true that Downes expresses reservations about his analysis, cautioning the reader that"… this analysis represents a preliminary examination of the information we have collected,"20 and adds that he intends to undertake more extensive analysis of his data.21 By coincidence, our work involves more sophisticated analysis of data related to some of the variables which Downes studied. Furthermore, while Downes treats variables which characterize city populations in toto, and deduces from these the conditions of nonwhite persons in the cities, our study employs direct measures of characteristics of the nonwhite population and of differentials between the white and nonwhite groups. Of course, our study examines just a few socioeconomic variables, using only one bit of demographic data, and is thus less broad in scope than Downes'. Nevertheless, the results using these variables cast doubt on some of Downes' conclusions. Thus, contrary to Downes' conclusion, we find that the per cent of the population in SMSA's that is Negro does not appear to be related to the occurrence or intensity of civil disturbances. Where Downes finds low educational levels to be related to outbreaks of violence, our results are equivocal on this score. In the study most closely related to Downes (Study I), we are in partial agreement on the role of education; however, when an intensity index is used or where white-nonwhite differentials are studied, no clear relationship is observed, Furthermore, where Downes concludes from per capita income data for entire city populations that income levels are inversely related to occurrence and intensity of disturbances, we find almost the reverse to be true when nonwhite income levels are studied. When white-nonwhite income differentials are used, the results are again equivocal. Using crowding as a surrogate for housing quality we find no relationship between housing quality and the disturbances, where Downes concludes that this characteristic may be important. On the other hand, we find that home ownership, which may be a kind of proxy for community stability, is related to the disturbances in both their existence and severity. In fact, in this case the white-nonwhite differential becomes important. Finally, it is important to emphasize that our results do not go very far in "explaining" the causes of the disturbances. As Cohen has said, "One of the major errors in both the white and Negro communities has been seeking a single answer to a complex of problems. Integration, for example, has now given way to a theory of upgrading the slums. Status frustration has `lost ground to economic frustration. These are false dichotomies. The racial problem is a complex of many problems which have accumulated over the years."22 Relatively simple deprivation models of the type discussed in Downes' paper may shed light on some of the roots of urban discontent, but are over simplifications. In a way, their failure indicates the existing lack of understanding of these complex and urgent problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Part I of this paper is a review of the literature concerning the effects of culture on cognition. The relevance of these studies to interpersonal relations in international organizations is explored. A number of broad hypotheses are suggested. At a more specific level three hypotheses are presented. In the case of high-status visitors working in a low-status culture: (1), the visitor's stereotype of the hosts will be negative; (2) the visitor's stereotype of the host culture will be more negative than the stereotype of members of the visitor's culture who have not come into face-to-face relationships with the host culture; and (3) the stereotype of the hosts toward the visitors will be negative, but will also reflect the presumed higher competence of the visitors. Part II reports a study which supports these hypotheses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information on the possibilities and limitations of cross-national and cross-regional research. In approaching cross-national and cross-regional research, the author has taken for granted the fundamental rationale of comparative study as such, and disregarded general problems of its validity. This is so, as the last Congress considered this issue, and the main points of these deliberations are on record. Instead, the author has tried to focus on more specific topics of conceptualization, methodology and organization, as they bear directly upon rural social study. Accordingly, the papers included have two major foci and fall into two groups; in each of which the author has tried to secure a discussion of both theoretical as well as applied and practical aspects. The first group, focuses on problems of the proper meaning or nature of comparative research and on the essential qualities it must have to be effective. The second group is related to problems attending the execution of comparative projects. The first of the two deals mainly with major questions of methodology: firstly, with problems of interpersonal relations, including those of political clearance, of tackling cultural variations and of stereotyping; and secondly, with technical ones, chiefly the comparability of secondary data, the utilization of and relationship to theoretical models and the standardization of field procedures.

The article presents an account of the book "Person Perception and Interpersonal Behavior," by R. Tagiuri and L. Petrullo. The book is a collection of papers originally presented at the Harvard-Office of Naval Research Symposium on Person Perception held at Harvard University, Harvard, Massachusetts, in March 1957.