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The article presents author's comments on the research paper "Casual Chain Models for the Socioeconomic Career," by Jonathan Kelly. The author argues that Kelley has not specified correctly the model of the process. Also, errors in measurement are mis-specified, and insufficient justification is offered for the appropriateness of the estimates of error. He suggests that with so many over-identifying restrictions in the dual-chain model, it would have been prudent for Kelley to estimate errors and their correlation from the model itself before deciding to accept the credibility of his mis-specified formulation. He further states that elements of Kelley's theory are not grounded in substance. Post-factum explanations for the presence of certain time-one and time-two lagged effects can be offered for the Princeton Fertility Study data. Finally, he comments that taken together these observations imply that Kelley's work is suggestive but not definitive.

We present a logical analysis of Hans Zetterberg's strategy of "axiomatic theory" construction, especially his derivation of "ordinary propositions" front "theoretical propositions." Using formal criteria for assessing the relative logical or empirical content of propositions, we show that not only is Zetterberg's distinction vague but his derivation rules are logically faulty, and his assessment of the relative informative value of propositions is inconsistent. Thus we argue that Zetterberg failed to produce a coherent strategy for theory construction. Finally, we suggest that for the critical analysis of strategies of theory construction in sociology in general, the logical apparatus of modern symbolic logic and nondeductive inference be used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Though we quite property value Durkheim's discussion of the division of labor, a close look shows that he limited his concept to specialization. I propose that the ineluctable condition of humans is interdependence and that this implies divided labor to complete the tasks that no one actor can do alone. importantly, actors may or may not be specialized in their interdependent activity, it is possible to examine different forms of the division of labor, as well as properties of whole systems of divided labor. The method adopted here is a non- technical, discursive analysis based on graph theory, which deals with the abstract properties of arrangements of points and lines. This analysis reveals several properties of the division of labor relatively common in sociological usage as welt as several that are relatively uncommon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Controversies over the value of statistical significance tests in assessing substantive significance in basic sociological research have persisted because the methodological issues involved have not been clarified. The issues are (1) the meanings or definitions assigned to the terms statistical ant substantive significance ; (2) the nature of relations between the definitions, and (3) the grounds for choosing definitions and their relations. An argument is made for : (a) defining subs'antive and statistical significance independently of each other and (b) forming methodological propositions relating these definitions in which statistical significance tests play no role in assessing substantive significance. The concept of methodological significance is introduced as a basis for choosing between alternative definitions and methodological propositions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A variety of scales of individual modernity have been developed to measure a universal set of attitudes and behaviors which presumably better fit men for life in modern society. The present study attempts to assess empirically the equivalence, reliability and validity of four such scales constructed by Smith and Inkeles, Kahl, Schnaiberg, and Armer. Data were collected from multiple-wave interviews of a sample of lower-to-middle class, ethnically heterogeneous, married males in the Uptown area of Chicago. The results indicate that the scales (a) are moderately equivalent (intercorrelations range from .40 to .64) despite differences in dimensions, items, and scale construction procedures, (b) have moderately high Internal consistency (ralpha .56 to .76) and test-retest (r11 = .66 to .81) reliabilities, and (c) have low discriminant validity with respect to anomia, alienation, and to a less extent, socioeconomic status. Low construct validity persists when corrections or tests are made for attenuation due to unreliability, acquiescent response, and other possible interpretations. In short, the modernity scales tend to predict scores on anomia, alienation, and socio- economic status about as well as they predict other measures of modernity. Conversely, measures of anomia and alienation appear to predict modernity scores almost as well as do the modernity scales. The findings call into serious question the meaningfulness of the construct and/or measurement of modernity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is argued and illustrated that conceiving and measuring social mobility in the conventional way, as a difference between two statuses, may lead to gross misinterpretations of evidence. These difficulties may be avoided by considering individual status measures and their causal relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper sets forth a framework for analyzing the role of organization-environment relations in defining the classification-disposition functions of people-processing organizations. People processing organizations are defined as attempting to achieve changes in their clients not by altering basic personal attributes, but by conferring on them a public status and relocating them in a new set of social circumstances. The paper's basic proposition is that people-processing organizations employ classification-disposition systems that reflect, in part, organizational adaptations to the constraints of their exchange relations with various market units receiving the processed clients. Using a power-dependence paradigm, variables which increase or decrease the organization's dependence on its market units are identified. The consequences of these exchange relations on the organization's classification-disposition system are then explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on reviews of the symposiums related to National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence. Some of the reports are: "The Politics of Protest: Violent Aspect of Protest and Confrontation," prepared by Jerome Skolnick; "Law and Order Reconsidered," prepared by James S. Campbell. Given the recently accelerated scholarly attention to social conflict and violence, a systematic codification of current knowledge of empirical patterns and of competing theoretical interpretations would itself be a contribution of very considerable magnitude. No social science discipline is unrepresented in the volumes under review; and there are contributions by representatives of all major psychological perspectives and of several biological sciences. Lawyers have played important roles in the work of the commission. The list of consultants an witnesses includes dozens of the nation's leading figures in government, in industry, in public service agencies, and in the academy. With such an eminent collection of experts and wise elder statesmen, it might seem reasonable to hope for an encyclopedia of violence which could stand as a monument to committed scholarship combined with intelligent public concern.

Certain conceptions of motives are examined with regard to their sociological status: (1) motives as causal antecedent variables, (2) motives as characteristically private states of persons, and (3) motives as concrete speech acts, such as the giving of reasons, justifications, intentions, or accounts. These are found wanting because they do not permit a sociological understanding of motive as a public and observable course of social action. The relevance of motive to classical sociology resides instead in its status as a grammar of everyday language and conduct. We propose that any sociological account of motives requires attention to four public social conditions for the ascription of motive: (1) motives are observer's rules, (2) motivated objects are social members, (3) motives are a grammar of application, and (4) motives formulate social types of persons. These are confirmed sociological processes because they describe how motive is socially organized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is critical of some uses made of the "ideal type" and of the fruitless efforts to grasp the significance of this basic tool of science through the work of Max Wetter. Weber, a genius in many respects, did not have a scientifically mature grasp of the class of logical devices to which the ideal type belongs, namely, idealizations, which in the older sciences represent an inevitable, almost commonplace, research strategy. idealization; we suggest, may conveniently be thought of as falling along a continuum between the propaedeatic and the theoretical. Most of Weber's types and most others used in sociology either do violence to the basic strategy of idealizations or fall close to the propoedeutic extreme of the continuum. However, a few idealizations which remarkably approximate the purely theoretical ones found in physical science are available in the discipline, although they are not recognised as such. Several of these are herein singled out and briefly discussed. Sociology, we plead, must snake a special effort to recognize the theoretically fertile strategy of the idealization. A roper and deliberate use of this device helps avoid fruitless squabbles about extra-scientific aspects of theories and enhances our chance of getting down to the serious business of theory construction with a focused sense of purpose and a cumulative orientation. Finally, in order to avoid past difficulties, we suggest that the term "ideal type" be dropped altogether from our vocabulary in favor of its less troublesome relation, idealization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considering a cross-classification table that describes an aspect of social mobility (the relation between origin status and destination status) for a population of individuals, this paper shows that the usual indices of mobility (or immobility), which are based upon a comparison of the observed frequencies in the mobility table with the corresponding expected frequencies estimated under the assumption of "perfect mobility," are defective in an important respect. A different index is introduced which is not defective in this respect. For those individuals whose origins are in a given status category, the new index measures the degree to which an individual's status of origin "persists" from his origin to his destination. This index can be used to compare the different status categories of origin with respect to their degree of status persistence, and it can also be used for other comparative purposes. Calculating this index of persistence for the data in the classical studies of inter generation social mobility in Britain and in Denmark, we find, for example, that (1) its magnitude is negative for those whose origins are in the middle (M) status category (i.e., there is, in a certain sense, an "exodus" from the middle status category); (2) its magnitude is positive for those whose origins are in the upper (U) or lower (L) status categories; (3) it is greater for those whose origins are in the U status category than for those whose origins are in the L status category; and (4) the magnitudes of the index for the different status categories of origin differ from each other in statistically significant ways. The index of persistence introduced here can serve to supplement and extend some of the methods developed in the author's earlier work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Viewing diversity as the position of a population along a homogeneity-heterogeneity continuum, a general method is presented for describing diversity within and between groups that are classified by one or more qualitative variables. This method has a wide range of applications, including such phenomena as attitudinal consensus, political cleavage, residential isolation, linguistic communication, cohesion, as well as the general diversity of populations. Diversity is operationally defined as the probability of obtaining unlike characteristics when two persons are randomly paired. Computation of the indexes of diversity within a population, Aw, and between two populations, Ab, is illustrated with data drawn from several substantive areas in sociology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is argued that, despite the successes of social science in mitigating the mood of natural determinism by demonstrating the relevance of sociocultural variations and learning as modes of explanation, the concept of scarcity largely retains its naturalistic status in social thought. It is time for a preliminary attempt at synthesizing the various strands of thought which point in the direction of a sociocultural theory of scarcity. Scarcity is defined as an asserted deficiency of resources allegedly functional to the concretization of any given valued end in specific situations. Observer-defined scarcity is distinguished from the scarcity consciousness of social actors. Scarcities are seen to arise out of unconcretized implications of already existing value, norm, legitimizing symbols, integrative social organization, and technics viewed as patterns of social meanings constituting a total sociocultural order. Implications can work themselves out in the form of conflict, incompatibility and obsolescence. These points are exemplified and clarified. Directions for research necessary for the construction of a sociocultural theory of scarcity are outlined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Criteria for the selection, evaluation and utilization of "theoretical" concepts in sociology are advanced. It is argued that concepts functioning within scientifically acceptable theory sketches possess both epistemic and constitutive connections and may thus be potentially significant. Certain isolated abstract concepts cannot be evaluated on this basis, but they may be advanced as candidates for the theoretical language in either a theory sketch or an explicit theory via the process of explication. A program of explication, consisting of the inter-dependent phases of meaning analysis and empirical analysis, is introduced. It is suggested that explicated concepts may help to evaluate isolated abstract concepts on methodological grounds, and may rove instrumental for making implicit theories and theory sketches more explicit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Data from several studies overlooked in sociology are collected for the purpose of examining the relationships among corn pitted suicide, attempted suicide and suicidal warnings, and the bearing of these relationships upon the theories of suicide in common use. Evidence suggests that the Present working distinctions among types of suicidal behavior often emerge from differences other than those which they are taken to represent in sociological writings. Comparisons are drawn among studies dealing with the proportions of (1) suicides who have prior attempts; (2) suicides and attempters; and (3) attempters who subsequently commit suicide. Data show that forewarnings are more characteristic of corn pitted suicide than of unsuccessful attempts. The significance of nonfatal suicidal behavior in itself is also emphasized. It is suggested that current theories, which are based upon differentials among completed suicides, would be both more efficient and more reasonable if they were not imagined to deal with predisposing conditions, but instead were recast to explain how certain persons out of the population already predisposed to suicide are not deterred from suicidal death. Explanations of what predisposes to suicidal behavior of one or another outcome, and how it happens that persons move from one manifestation to another (or do not, or show no further concern for suicide) are important for a more fully developed understanding of suicide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The integration of sociological and genetic principles in the study of intelligence has been held in limbo as sociologists have sought first to articulate an environmental theory of human behavior. Their reluctance to compromise, however, is no longer justified, in part because the evidence from genetics, anthropology, and psychometrics on mental growth no longer can be refuted, and in part because heredity and culture can be shown to interact in the evolution of human societies. Genetic principles are explained and their relevance to sociological issues illustrated, with special reference to population genetics, the family, education, and social mobility. In a final note, a resolution is offered to the apparent contradiction that observed variations in intelligence between social classes, to some extent, are due to assortative mating and heredity, but that the same differences observed between races probably are not. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the authors review on the book "The Sociology of Religion," by sociologist Max Weber. According to the author 'The Sociology of Religion' reveals surprising integrity of structure, logic and aesthetics. The book is divided in to four parts based on the integrities. The first part of the book deals with the phenomenology of religion e.g., the origins of religion, primitive concepts of God, the relationship of men to supernatural forces, which take the form of prayer, sacrifice, and worship. The second part of the book discusses about the perspectives of sociology. Weber deals with prophet, priests, and laity in the relations of religious congregation, preaching and pastoral care. He scrutinizes the conflicting orientations of priests and prophets and the "rationalism" of different castes and classes, including the unprivileged groups. The third pat of the book explores value commitments, destiny-ideals, and life-ways, especially as these appear in the religions of salvation and rebirth. The fourth part surveys the relationship between culture religions and the world. According to the author Weber constantly laments the absence of brotherliness in modem capitalistic civilization and the attenuation of the spirit of charity as traditionalist close-knit communities give way to the rationalized bureaucratic organization of the great society.

The general symbol manipulating capacities of the modern digital computer offer a valuable tool for theory development and verification. Diverse applications of computer models in Social Science are discussed, along with a validation study involving HOMUNCULUS, a Computer model of social behavior. Hypotheses concerning decision making in a role-conflict dilemma Were stated operationally as computer routines compatible with HOMUNCULUS. In computer runs using input data from actual questionnaires, alternative formulations regarding role conflict resolution were tested. Since the data generated by each run represented the logical consequences of the hypotheses operating in that run, it was possible to assess the adequacy of each programmed formulation by comparing the simulated responses with the actual decisions of living respondents. Such flexibility and dynamic capacity are major benefits accruing from testing a social theory through computer simulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper I explore the ramifications of charismatic sensitivity, i.e., the propensity to impute charismatic qualities to actions, persons, institutions and cultural objects. My analysis takes its point of departure in Max Weber's analysis of charismatic authority, in trying to analyze charismatic authority more systematically than Weber was able to do, I have concluded that he was dealing with one particular variant of the charismatic propensity, which has more far-reaching, more permeative manifestations than his analysis has hitherto led us to believe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The anti-rationalist tradition, especially as expressed in the writings of Schopenhauer, influenced Weber and Burckhardt. With regard to the role of ideas in human action both men emphasize the interplay of "material and ideal interests." With regard to the struggle for power both emphasize its central importance but differentiate themselves from the ethical nihilism of Nietzsche and the Social Darwinists. The two scholars differ greatly, however, in their approach to knowledge and to public affairs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent critiques of Weber have come particularly from younger German writers concerned with a reassessment of their country's history. These critiques, however, fit into a general pattern of attacks that either use a sociological approach for political purposes or deny altogether the resent rationale of political sociology. The major critiques have been undertaken by Marxists, Nazis and spokesmen of natural Law. The Marxist and Nazi views have been remarkably similar, and both single out Weber and Thomas Mann as the lest great representatives of the bourgeois era. The natural law critique tends to consider Webers work, if not all of sociology, as a step toward relativism or nihilism. These attacks raise general questions as to the ideological and institutional presuppositions of political sociology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Weber's earliest involvement in empirical social research included three investigation of agricultural and industrial labor conditions, workers' attitudes and work histories, using both questionnaires and direct observation. Weber used a relatively modem statistical approach in his fourth study, concerning psychological aspects of factory work, and in a fifth episode, a critique of another person's study of workers' attitudes, he advocated a quantitative or typological approach to qualitative data. In all his work Weber was explicitly concerned with quantitative techniques and with the notion that the meaning of social relationships can be expressed only in probabilistic terms. Nevertheless he was ambivalent about the value of quantitative methods and about the role of empirical research in sociology. The sources of this ambivalence include two contemporary issues that Weber never resolved in his own work: the debate as to whether sociology and psychology should be sharply distinguished, and the "action-language" then current in German social science as a conceptual device, to be used deductively without reference to empirical research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A method is described for analyzing panel data to indicate which of two variables (A and B, each measured at time 1 and 2) is more likely to have "causal priority" over the other. If A determines B rather than the reverse, then the cross-lagged correlation A1B2, should exceed B1A2. In one test using heights and weights of boys measured at various ages, the zero-order correlations did not show the expected differences, but they did appear (height causally prior to weight) when the initial state of the "resultant" variable was partialed out. When the method was applied to panel data on variables of economic behavior and attitudes, results were generally in agreement with predictions of three economists; the method also indicated some causal priorities not anticipated by the judges. Certain conditions under which the method will not work are also identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Axiomatic theories, following Zetterberg, derive propositions according to the logic of classes. This procedure is valid if postulated relationships are perfect, but is subject to serious error when postulates are stated, or derivations are tested via correlation or association coefficients with absolute values less than unity. Given variables A, B, and C, with rAB and rBC treated as independent, the potential range of rAC is explored. If no further assumptions are made, r2AB+r2BC ≥1 is a necessary and sufficient condition for validation of the axiomatic deductions. But when asymmetric, causal relations in a closed system are assumed, axiomatic deductions are validated regardless of the magnitude of the independent correlations. A similar examination of systems of association, as measured by Q, is undertaken, including operating curves specifying the range of QAC for varying magnitudes of QAB and QBC, and for varying marginal conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A theory of a phenomenon is an explanation of it, showing how it follows as a conclusion from general pro positions in a deductive system. With all its empirical achievements, the functional school never produced a theory that was also an explanation, since from its general propositions about the conditions of social equilibrium no definite conclusions could be drawn. When a serious effort is made, even by functionalists, to construct an explanatory theory, its general propositions turn out to be psychological-propositions about the behavior of men, not the equilibrium of societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information on the various announcements and meetings, to be held in October, November and December. The National Council on Family Relations will be holding its 26th annual meeting from October 9-11 in Washington. The Social Science Research Council will again offer grants to mature scholars, not candidates for degrees, for research on American Governmental and Legal Processes, and for research on International Organization. The University of Michigan Center for the Study of Higher Education announces the seventh annual competition for the Michigan Fellow- ships in College Administration. The fellowships are intended to make it possible for the recipients to devote a post-graduate year at the Center in preparation for a career in college or university administration. Finally, the American Association for the Advancement of Science will be holding its 131st annual meeting from December 26-3, 1964 in Montreal. The Bureau of Social Science Research has announced the initiation of a study of the differential contributions of poverty and old age to social isolation.

The time has come for forthright consideration of a rapprochement between the humanist and social science concepts of culture. This is needed, not only to overcome one version of the "two-cultures" spilt, but also to provide a better theoretical foundation for the sociology of culture. It is argued that this outcome may be achieved in a theory that stresses (a) the psychic source of culture in the quest for person-centered meanings and authentic experience; (b) symbolic elaboration as a major resource for, and product of, this quest for meaning; and (c) the esthetic potential in symbolization as well as in consummatory experience. Thus culture is viewed as expressive symbolism and any social product, including language, contributes to culture insofar as it sustains symbolic experience. A pro per theory of culture is normative in the sense that it permits diagnostic evaluation of both symbolism and symbolic experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the science of the forum and functions of human groups, sociology is predicated on the assumption that different social groups occupy different positions within the social structure. Social structure may be conceived as a form of n-dimensional space in which each group occupies a given position. The dimensions delineating such a structure, and the positions occupied by the various social groups within it, are definable only for a set of specified group attributes. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate multiple discriminant analysis, a technique that permits the sociologist to study empirically the configuration of social groups across multiple criteria in n-dimensional social space. The discriminant function was originally proposed by sociologist R.A. Fisher and was designed to aid in the classification of an individual observation into one of two groups. The two-group discriminant function served as an excellent substitute for multiple regression techniques when no clear criterion existed other than group membership by which to evaluate or classify a single observation.

A strategy for studying social differentiation in ethnically diverse situations is outlined and applied to Maoris and non-Maoris in New Zealand. Four propositions are formulated on the relations between religious and occupational status differentiation, between status differentiation and spatial, fertility, and mortality differentiation, and between status differentiation and biological amalgamation. The propositions are restated and tested in the form of nine hypotheses on intercensal changes in New Zealand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The assertion that systematic sociological analysis cannot explain specific occurrences and directions of change is critically examined. On the basis of analysis of the social and political structure of traditional centralized Empires and of the development of religions within them, it is argued that the institutionalization of any social system creates possibilities for specific and defined types of change, which develop not randomly but in specific directions to a large extent set by the very process of institutionalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transition from early to late industrial society is accomplished by a general decline in economic crises, the class struggle, and class militance. Nevertheless, economic insecurity rooted in structural change continues to contribute to the formation of working-class consciousness. A recent study of workers in a modern industrial community reveals that the unemployed express more militant views than the employed, while a disproportionate number of Negro workers voice class-conscious opinions. Negroes who are unemployed generally do not acquire militant perspectives unless they belong to unions. Interpretative comments on this finding stress the impact of industrial unions, since almost all of the unionized unemployed Negroes belong to these organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The theory of mass society Proposes that organizations mediating between individual and state serve as a bulwark against the development of alienation. An empirical test of this proposition is presented, focusing on perceived powerlessness as a critical form of alienation. As predicted, members of work-related organizations are generally lower in powerlessness than non-members; this difference is sustained under appropriate controls for socio-economic status and mobility. The clearest associations between non-membership and powerlessness are found among the mobility-minded workers. Systematic exceptions to the mediation thesis are noted; and the problem of causal imputation (organization leads to a sense of mastery) is reviewed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The inter-related effects of three factors--socio-economic status, organizational involvement, and alienation--on political participation are shown, using data from a general population sample of three small midwestern towns. All are associated with participation, but in a second- order partialling operation, alienation drops out as a predictor. This is attributed to the simultaneous correlation of alienation with socio-economic status and organizational involvement. Organizational involvement, despite its high correlation with socio-economic status, exerts an independent effect. A method of summarizing partial operations in percentage tables with a single coefficient of association is introduced. Processes through which organizational involvement might be associated with political participation are considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents information related to sociological affairs. The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania announce three awards, each of $5,000, for distinguished works in the Humanities and the Social Sciences, which may appear as the first volumes of the Haney Foundation Series. All decisions pertaining to the granting of these awards and the publication of the winning entries will be determined by the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania and will be final. The final date for submission of manuscripts is August 1, 1965. The Institute of International Education announces scholarship opportunities for graduate study in Asia, 1964-65. Scholarship awards in most cases cover tuition, books, travel and maintenance. For eligibility requirements and details regarding application, students should consult the Fulbright Program Adviser on campus, the Summaries of Study Opportunities and the brochure, "the U.S. Government Grants for Graduate Study Abroad, 1964-65". Through the kindness of Judge Thurman Arnold, the firm of Arnold, Fortas and Porter, 1229-19th Street, Washington D.C., has agreed, in the public interest, to act as legal counsel for the American Sociological Association.

In contemporary American sociology, there exists no unified and comprehensive theoretical system that could serve as an instrument for coordinating and integrating existing sociological knowledge. Present-day American sociology represents a multiverse of theories and approaches. For the purpose of bringing at least some external order into a rather chaotic situation, the author suggests a classificatory system that distinguishes three main categories of sociological theory on the basis of general methodological criteria: positive or natural-science theories; interpretative sociologies treating sociology as a science sui generis, and non-scientific or evaluative social theories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a conception of action drawn from the five major pre-world War II volumes of Znaniecki, Maclver, and Parsons, the contributions of Ward, Giddings, Ross, Small, Cooley, Mead, Thomas, Faris, and Park were investigated for antecedents of the action scheme.. References to consciousness, subjectivity, the subject-object relationship, ends, means, reflection and choice, rules, and a distinctive subjective investigative technique were found in their works. The bases of an action orientation in American sociology can be discerned in the two decades before and after World War I and in both the traditions of positivistic evolutionism and subjective idealism. Cooley's concept of valuation, Mead's notion of the individual act, and Thomas' definition o/the situation probably provide the most significant antecedents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information about various American institutes and associations. The Committee on UNESCO year plan for the Social Science Division of UNESCO. A session at the annual meeting of the Association in Los Angeles will be devoted to proposals by sociologists regarding this UNESCO plan. The great success of UNESCO in the physical sciences with the geophysical year program and the recent contribution of the social sciences to such practical and important problems as social and economic development in the non-industrialized areas and intergroup relations have prompted leaders of UNESCO to request the contribution of sociologists in the development of along range plan. Anthropological Forum, a new annual journal focusing primarily on social and cultural anthropology-comparative sociology in the areas: Aboriginal Australia; European Australia; the Pacific, particularly New Guinea; and South East Asia; is being published by the University of Western Australia Press for the Department of Anthropology. Ronald M. Berndt serves as General Editor assisted by an International and Australian Advisory Panel of Editors.

This article presents news and announcements of various conferences to be held in the field of sociology. Calendar of annual meetings for April and May are given. 8th Inter-American Congress of Psychology which will be held during April 2-6, in Mar del Plata, Argentina. American Academy of Political and Social Science will hold its meeting during April 5-6, in Benjamin Franklin Hotel, Philadelphia. National Council on Alcoholism which will be during April 17-19, in Sheraton-Gibson Hotel, Cincinnati. Upstate Sociological Society will be held during April 19-20, in State University College, New York. Association for Childhood Education International will be held during April 21-26, in Miami Beach, Florida. Population Association of America will be held during April 26-27, in Warwick Hotel, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Association of Social Science Teachers will be held during April 26-28, in Durham, North Carolina. American Psychoanalytic Association will be held during May 3-6, in Chase-Park Plaza Hotel, St. Louis, Missouri.

The article presents the author's comments on an article on humanism by American historian Arthur M. Schlesinger. Schlesinger in his article states that, as an aid to the understanding of society and man, quantitative social research is admirable and indispensable. As a guide to the significance of problems, is misleading when it exudes the assumption that only problems acceptable to quantitative solution are important. As a means of explaining human and social behavior, it is powerful but profoundly incomplete. As a source of the theory of human nature and the universe, it is but a new formulation of an ancient romantic myth. According to the author, Schlesinger acknowledges his indebtedness to sociology and modestly expresses his awareness of the epistemological and methodological shortcomings of history. He does not deny that the quantitative method has value. The author criticizes Schlesinger's line of argument in two parts: (1) his sins of commission, and (2) his sins of omission. He suggests that in order to achieve the objectives of science one must strive for predictability along with explanation.

To judge something as functional or dysfunctional is to evaluate rather than explain. This evaluation, however, amounts to objective measurement of the dynamic properties of the system concerned. Stability, adaptive change and integration can be considered the three major dimensions of such measurement. But be/ore we can measure how functional they are for man, we have to ask whether the products of operating systems meet human needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents news updates from the field of sociology. Fellowship Program in Business Administration, 1963-1964—Faculty or Doctoral dissertation, for social science research on business (sociology, anthropology, psychology, political science, statistics). The American Society of Criminology will hold its annual meeting jointly with the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on December 29 and 30, 1962. Among the participants in the five sessions on the theme, "Interdisciplinary Approach to the Problems of Crime and Delinquency," was Peter Lejins, president-elect of the American Correctional Association. A session organized by the American Sociological Association jointly with the Population Association of America by Charles F. Westoff for the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, was held on December 26-31, 1962, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Indonesian Association for Social Sciences has been established as a means of communication for scholars and interested laymen in the various branches of the social sciences.

The question of the effect that federal government support of research may be having upon scientific development in this country is one which deeply interests everyone devoted to extending the boundaries of knowledge. This is a large and complex problem, and no satisfactory measures of effect exist. In the meantime, it appears pertinent to inquire into the extent to which current contributions to the development of specific scientific fields have come from work which has been financed in part at least from sources outside of the investigator's own institution. This article attempts a pilot analysis of this latter problem for the field of sociology. The problem of this report requires, first, some means of identifying contributions to the development of sociology, then, data on external support, and finally, a system for classifying the nature of the contribution. The first two requirements are met relatively satisfactorily if it is assumed, and this seems a reasonable assumption, that the editorial boards of national sociological journals select articles for publication on the basis of their scientific contribution, and accordingly these articles have been used as the data to be analyzed.

The reputational method for the study of local politics is one of the marvels of contemporary social science—the heavier the weight of evidence against it, the more uses its champions find for it, and the more ambitious are the theories based on its findings. For some time the reputational researchers did not reply to their critics, but within the past year three defenses of the method have appeared—Lawrence J. R. Herson has written a favorable evaluation, William V. D'Antonio and Eugene C. Erickson present a variety of reputational findings in an attempt to refute criticisms by Robert A. Dahl, Nelson W. Polsby, and the author. Since to some extent the arguments presented in these three articles differ, they have been discussed in detail. These rebuttals, together with the criticisms which occasioned them and the reputational literature itself, provide ample material for a conclusive evaluation of the reputational method. Two approaches to the evaluation of a research technique are to see in its empirical assumptions are congruent with existing knowledge, and to compare its findings with information about the subject matter gathered by other means.

The article reports on various developments related to sociology and community. American Academy of Arts and Sciences' committee on space efforts and society received a grant of $181,000 from the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Agency to investigate the reciprocal relationships between the space program and other aspects of social organization and to commission relevant research. Programs of fellowships and grants to individual scholars have been announced by the American Council of Learned Societies for the year 1962-1963. The programs are designed to advance research on a post-doctoral level in many fields including sociology with a predominantly humanistic emphasis. National Conference of Jewish Communal Service held its 64th annual meeting in Atlantic City in June to discuss social and health issues and their effect on Jewish life. Topics covered by specialists in health, welfare, education, and community planning included implications of extreme rightist activity for Jewish communities, church-state relationships and religion in public schools, worldwide Jewish-Catholic relationships, delinquency among middle-class adolescents.

The article presents information about various congresses and meetings in the field of social science. The Bureau of Social Science Research, has established a summer fellowship program for training in survey research techniques. Recent graduates in the social sciences who intend to continue with graduate study in the field are being offered practical experience in the applications of research methods. The Population Council is offering about twenty-five fellowships for study in population at the predoctoral and postdoctoral levels to qualified persons from any country, with particular consideration given to those from economically underdeveloped areas. The Social Science Research Council invites inquiries and requests for the detailed announcement of its annual fellowship and grant research programs including predoctoral and postdoctoral training, faculty research, and grants-in-aid. International Conference Travel Grants will again be offered to American social scientists for travel to Certain meetings outside North America.

The article presents information related to sociology. It states that National Institute of Mental Health has announced that pre-doctoral, postdoctoral and special faculty, fellowships are available to support mental health research training in the medical, biological, psychological and social sciences leading to an understanding of normal and abnormal human behavior. Application for review in the fall of 1961 should be submitted before August 1, 1961. The institute also announced the availability of grants to social science departments in support of research training relevant to mental health. These training grants are awarded only to university departments to administer funds and select trainees. It also states that University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England, has established a postgraduate course in criminology leading to a diploma from the Institute of Criminology under the direction of criminologist L. Radzinowicz. The new program will begin in October 1961. It will offer both academic courses and practical work in criminology and penology.

This article presents information on various books related to sociology. The book "The Citizen Volunteer: His Responsibility, Role, and Opportunity in Modern Society," edited by Nathan E. Cohen, is a useful volume of information and inspiration, sponsored by the National Council of Jewish Women to celebrate its sixty-filth anniversary, directed primarily to those social agency executives and others interested in volunteer work. This book will serve a purpose beyond the one for which it is intended if it inspires some of our graduate students and colleagues to work in this field of sociological and moral importance. The book "Motivation for Child Psychiatry Treatment," by Philip Lichtenberg, Robert Kohrman, and Helen MacGregor, focuses on motivation for treatment and reports the findings of a research study involving 30 families who initiated contact with the child psychiatry clinic of the Michael Reese Hospital. The writers regard motivation for treatment as a complex process of sociological and attitudinal factors and the study represents a fairly comprehensive analysis of motivational determinants.

This article presents news and announcements related to regional sociological societies in the U.S. as of February 1961. Over 400 Americans joined delegates from 45 countries at the 10th International Conference of Social Work in Rome, January 8-14, 1961. The theme of the conference was "social work in a changing world-its functions and responsibilities." In addition to the formal meetings, 16 study groups were arranged where delegates came together in small groups to exchange experiences and knowledge in their particular fields with people from other countries. A world conference of eminent social scientists was held at the University of Chicago September 15 to 22. The theme was the social implications of industrialization and technological change, a subject to which UNESCO currently giving major emphasis in its social science program. The meeting was called under the combined sponsorship of UNESCO, the Canadian and the U.S. National Commissions for UNESCO, and the University of Chicago. Scholars from 14 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, and South and North America reported on their research work. The Moreno Institute announces that it has moved to new headquarters.

This article reports on various developments related to the field of sociology. The Third World Congress of Psychiatry will be held June 4-10, 1961, in Montreal, Canada, at the invitation of McGill university and under the auspices of the Canadian Psychiatric Association. A symposium of Section O on land-zoning in relation to agricultural, suburban, industrial, forest, and recreational needs of the future is being organized by American Association for the Advancement of Science at the Biltmore Hotel, New York City from December 27-30, 1960. The Illinois Academy of Criminology at the Tenth Annual Meeting held at Northwestern University in May 1960, officers elected include Solomon Kobrin of Illinois Institute for Juvenile Research as President, Francis A. Allen of University of Chicago Law School. The sociologist Wayne Wheeler, who has resigned as Chairman of the Department of Sociology, Park College, has become Field Director of the Kansas City Study of Adult Life. The Study is a project of the Committee on Human Development of the University of Chicago under a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health.

This article discusses the objectives of sociological training. Those who are concerned with the staffing of liberal arts colleges would minimize the time devoted to training for research, while many non-academic employers are interested only in intensive training in a narrow range of research techniques. To yield to demands for speedier production of advanced degrees at the price of neglecting either research training or broad study of the corpus of sociology as a whole would threaten the future development of sociology as a scientific discipline. Thus, to the perennial problem of combining the training of teachers with that of research scholars, there has been added a third dimension the preparation of technical specialists for jobs in governmental, commercial, and other types of organizations. Graduate schools cannot evade the question of the extent to which they should offer special programs for those intending to engage in activities ranging all the way from market research and delinquency control to consultation on technical assistance to "underdeveloped" nations.