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Ordinarily an anniversary occasions the reification of an artificial period. In this case however, there is a certain juncture in the history of the point of view which makes of the past quarter-century something worthy of consideration for symbolic interactionism as well as for our celebration of the founding of the Midwest Sociological Society. The year 1937 lies virtually in the middle of a four-year period which saw the publication of Mind, Self, and Society, Movements of Thought in the Nineteenth Century, and The Philosophy of the Act. It would represent the greatest naiveté to suggest that thus the year 1937 represented the introduction of symbolic interactionism. We are all aware of the long development: from James, Baldwin, and Cooley to Thomas, Faris, Dewey, Blumer, and Young. Even the Tardean imitation and suggestion which underlay Ross's Social Psychology contributed a good deal ordinarily not credited to him in the development of interaction theory. Nor is it the fact that Mead represents the fullest development of the orientation that makes so significant the posthumous publication of his works (for which we may conveniently take 1937 as an anchoring point). Mead's ideas had been known for a very long time. He had taught University of Chicago students from 1893 to 1931. His notions were bruited about in classes and seminars wherever there were professors conducting them who had studied at the University of Chicago—not least in the great heartland included in the Mid-west of our Society. Some of Mead's students had published their versions of his ideas or quotations from some of his philosophical papers—Kimbali Young's Source Book in Social Psychology of a decade earlier contained a paper by Mead, and his Social Psychology bore the strong imprint of Meadian interactionism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper reviews sociological work dealing with American Blacks. In the past five decades three themes have largely dominated the work: (1) a description and documentation of Black disadvantage within American life; (2) an attack upon racist notions of Black biological inferiority; and (3) an interpretation of Black disadvantages as derived from White prejudice and discrimination. The work has been largely static and non-processual in character, derived largely from the structure-function model of society. The paper calls for the employment of multiple models and for emphasis upon a dynamic, processual model of social life. The concepts of network and field appear to offer much promise. [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]

Theory and research dealing with the consequences of rank inconsistency have concerned themselves almost exclusively with the portrayal of the disagreeable aspects of this situation and with the identification of relatively extreme reactions to it. The data reported above serve to counterbalance this emphasis by suggesting circumstances under which rank inconsistency may be accommodated to without a radical reaction and under which this inconsistency may even be downright palatable. First, the data showed one instance where the inconsistent individual's preoccupation with the area of endeavor in which he held his higher rank led him to be tolerant of his lower one. Secondly, we saw that three different kinds of rank inconsistency produced discontent with the lower rank only for respondents whose array of ranks was likely to be highly visible. It is hoped that the modifications of rank inconsistency theory suggested above will in the near future be subjected to a more ideal empirical test than was possible with the data employed in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A striking feature of the social participation literature is the tendency to concentrate on one type of activity. For example, studies dealing with formal organizations have described the character of such groups and their participants. Studies of friendship participation have traced the patterns of friendships and the type of people who are attracted to each other as friends. Consequently, few sociologists have focused their attention upon a question like: Are there any patterns or relationships between the different types of social participation? Participation in formal voluntary associations and informal voluntary interactions may be related to each other, influence each other, or at least be similarly influenced by other variables. This paper analyzes different types of social participation to determine if participation in one area of social activity is related to participation in other areas of social life. Specifically, we will try to determine (1) whether people who have many friends or who have a number of intimate friends are more apt to belong to formal voluntary organizations than those who have few friends or intimate friends; (2) whether participation in the family is related to participation in formal voluntary associations and informal voluntary interaction; and (3) whether ethnic generation status and sex alter the patterns between the different types of social participation. Generational status will be used as an independent variable since changes in ethnic status may modify the direction or the degree of relationship between the types of social activity. Sex will be used as a control variable since the roles which men and women play in society often differ considerably-especially among ethnics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Symbolic interaction theory as derived mainly from the work of George Herbert Mead views the self-concept as a structure of attitudes which arises in social experience and organizes the individual's perception of his social milieu. Recently, tests based upon this symbolic interaction orientation have been developed for the elicitation of self attitudes. One such test frequently used is the Twenty Statements Test (TST) constructed by Manford Kuhn and Thomas McPartland. The TST attempts to ascertain the specific statements respondents use to identify themselves to themselves. The applicability of the TST to problems of self theory is indicated by the rather wide use which has been made of the instrument. Investigations using the TST have focused upon the following: self-concept and social position; a self-concept and behavior; and the self-concept and attitudes toward other social objects. While TST results have been of substantive interest, little attention has been given to the methodological issues involved in the instrument and its use. For example, little is known concerning the validity and reliability of the test and its scoring procedures. If substantive assertions based upon TST results are to be considered as sound, judicious concern should be directed toward basic methodological issues. It is the purpose of this paper to consider empirically one methodological aspect of the TST. The focus is upon the test format itself. The question is posed: Do variations in the TST format produce variations in individuals' response patterns? Specifically, does the length of the test influence the number and the nature of statements made by respondents? This paper is directed toward answering this question. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Theories of symbolic interaction and ethnomethodology, assume that everyone undertakes a complex process of construction of reality, including self-identity, in interaction with significant others. Utilizing insights into variations in identity reformulation in marriage obtained from a study of American metropolitan women, this paper concentrates on variations of identity reformulation among widows. The major hypothesis guiding the discussion is that the higher the education of the woman, as measured by formal schooling, the more she is likely to experience and undertake identity reformulation in marriage and in widowhood. The less education a woman has, the less she will be consciously affected in her identity formulation by these events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is the analysis of the interactional patterns of Wisconsin farm couples with their parents. Step-wise multiple regression analysis provides a technique to solve a sequence of one or more multiple linear models by step-wise application of the least sum-of-squares method. The predictor variables used in this analysis include: distance, husband's age, stage in the family life-cycle, husband's education, wife's education, gross farm income, agricultural training of the husband, productive-man-work-units, and level of living. The results showed that distance is an important factor in the interaction between generations in rural areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, then, we investigate the extent to which persons using leadership styles of interaction in small groups adhere to a Machievellian approach, and the extent to which a Machiavellian approach may be successful outside the small group. The two hypotheses guiding the present research are as follows: 1) A Machiavellian orientation toward others is positively correlated with a leadership style of interaction, such as a greater amount of participation in discussion, and higher rates of asking for information, and making suggestions for action. 2) A Machiavellian orientation is correlated with successful implementation of a team plan within the community at large. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tins paper describes several problems that have appeared as a computer system of content analysis has been used in research on social interaction. In addition, prospective contributions of such computer systems are also indicated in the hope that evaluations of the method will include the consideration of both issues. The particular system called The General Inquirer was developed by Stone and his associates at Harvard and is undoubtedly the most sophisticated computer system of content analysis and information retrieval presently available. A description of the essential features of this system will first be presented. Then some results of its application to a particular set of data will be described in order to illustrate the kinds of problems that emerge in the use of the system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we attempt to do the following with respect to the symbolic interactionist approach to social psychological phenomena: (1) to add to its relatively meager empirical base; (2) to develop a neglected aspect of the position, namely, the time dimension; and (3) to contribute to both the replication and the extension of the limited systematic research which has used this particular framework to focus on the key concept of self. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Manford Kuhn in his review of twenty-five years of symbolic interaction theory noted that the "oral tradition" had sustained the theory during the years preceding the "age of inquiry." And, as Kuhn has accurately noted, this "age of inquiry" has utilized different subtheories and there was little consensus or "formalization" which preceded the empirical studies. This is true for Kuhn's own theory as well as for the other subtheories of the orientation. It is the purpose of this paper to correct this condition for Kuhn's theory. In doing this I have brought together, in a systematic manner, the ideas, definitions, assumptions, and propositions of the work of Kuhn and his students. With this foundation, I discuss several methodological problems of the theory which have not been previously investigated. It is hoped that this effort will contribute to the "age of inquiry" in Symbolic Interaction Theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The general theory of symbolic interaction, specifically self theory, is focused upon the importance of language as an instrument of definition and communication. People are seen as responding not directly to a resistant outer reality but to meanings of objects which are defined within a cultural system and social organization. G. H. Mead, in his discussion of the way persons develop self concepts and the accompanying ability to take roles effectively, speaks of the degree to which persons develop a "general other." This general other is an organized structure of attitudes believed to be common to all and is defined in terms of a universe of discourse growing out of the symbolic interaction of a community of individuals. Replies to the Twenty Statements Test, described by Kuhn and McPartland, display this quality. Self-identifying statements which people make fall along a rough spectrum of reference which can be broken up in various ways. The distinction which Kuhn and McPartland have reported is between what they call consensual and nonconsensual statements. Consensual statements are defined as those statements which would be generally understood by persons in the larger society without explanation. Nonconsensual statements are defined as those requiring interpretation before their social relevance can be assessed. The consensual statement is language behavior directed to the general other, while the nonconsensual statement is language directed to a more limited audience. H. S. Sullivan's contribution in developing the notion of the "significant other" consists in accounting for the fact that persons often do not seem to internalize standards and norms from the whole society but from segments of it on some selective basis. In this paper, the number of consensual statements made in response to the Twenty Statements Test will be called the locus score. Respondents are assigned to "high" and "low" locus categories as they make more or less than the median number of consensual statements. Expanding upon this frame of reference, it seems reasonable to propose that the locus quality found in self-conceptions of a given person is also characteristic of his conceptions of other objects. This hypothesis is based on the assumption that the self is the core of a set of interrelated attitudes, and that the level of reference employed by the respondent in his attitudes toward the self would therefore be applicable to other attitudes as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shifts in the structure of sentiments, taking place in two stages, underlie the emergence of existential sociology to its present significance, A challenge to Parsonian structuralfunctionalism initiated the first shift which was in turn followed by a period containing the development of the basis for a possible synthesis of existential sociology. This position is developed as are some of the characteristic features of an existential perspective on social life. Research based upon existential view and employing the concepts sentiments, body, self, situation, structure, massification and levelling, is presented. Some of the implications of these ideas are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dramaturgical and the ethnomethodological positions on the definition of the situation is discussed, after a brief history of the concept. The ethnomethodologists claim to take their cues from Wittgenstein and Schutz, whereas the dramaturgists take theirs from G. H. Mead; these positions are examined in terms of their relative power to explain the problem of the definition of the situation, concluding that the Meadian position is the more powerful one. It is then argued that the essential sociological ontology&dmash; that given expression by Weber and Durkheim—is best realized by adopting some form of the dramaturgical argument. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Greer's theory of opportunity structure attempts to explain variations in neighborhood intimacy within the urban community. The present study describes how fifty-five residents of a luxury apartment house complex in a highly urban area defined the neighbor role and interacted with each other. The results tend to support Greer's theory. Few respondents had a high degree of intimacy associated with their neighboring interaction. This was also reflected in the definition given the neighbor role. In addition, some evidence is presented that individual characteristics such as long residence, being unmarried, living alone, and frequent participation in other formal and informal groups, were associated with high neighborliness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main leaders of a large rural county were identified and classed into visible, symbolic, and concealed leader-types by Bonjean's technique. The composition of each type was summarized. The leadership pattern in this county was found to be distinctly different from the leadership pattern of places previously studied. Leaders were more visible and had stronger anchorage to public offices. Little variation existed in the locations of the leader-types in the generalized social structure of the community. The typology was, nonetheless, useful. It served as a good index for the factional and clique memberships of the leaders, which were recognized as crucial in the decision-making structure of the county. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A number of general propositions are proposed concerning the manner in which reference-others and ethnic attitudes influence intergroup behavior. In a laboratory setting, it is shown that the influence of individual reference-others upon behavior is partially determined by certain structural properties of these others which are labeled importance, visibility, centrality, legitimacy, and control. Among other findings, it is also shown that the relative influence of the two predictor variables depends upon the type of activity considered. An explanation for these results is framed in terms of the reference-other properties mentioned above. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A social movement is a dynamic phenomenon that necessitates an appropriate theoretical perspective for adequate analysis. An interactionist perspective provides a useful dynamic mode of analysis. Following a historical resumé of the LSD movement led by Timothy Leary, the genesis of the movement, the development of its ideology and program, and motivational factors involved in the recruitment of adherents are analyzed from an interactionist perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the relationship of interviewer characteristics to the responses of their interviewees in a survey in a relatively sensitive area—drinking practices. Generally, respondents seem to have reacted to easily ascertainable characteristics of the interviewers, such as sex, status (as measured by education, occupation, and clothing), and religion. The attitudes of the interviewer toward his interviewing were also related to respondents' reported drinking. It is concluded that interviewing is a social relationship of brief duration in which the respondent's performance reflects norms that tend to emerge based on the information each of the participants is able to learn about the other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A method of analyzing social interaction is proposed which: (a) delimits the number of categories by reference to previous work supporting a two-dimensional model of interpersonal relations, (b) uses a molar rather than molecular definition of the unit act, and (c) classifies each act on both dimensions. Data from husband-wife pairs are analyzed using this system. Patterns of both intra- and interpersonal action tendencies are noted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In summary, then, social acts are complex patterns in terms of which participants structure their activity. These unit acts are conventional and are in most cases named. Their observation requires the development by the observer of a set of descriptions of these acts against which he compares the observed activity and in terms of which he records his observations. Social acts are thus different units of action than behavior which is the observation of activity with quite a different set of descriptions. The essential character of the procedure is that the observer make the judgment that what he sees does or does not agree with a previously developed description of acts or catalog of meanings. Whether the degree of reliability required necessitates the externalization of the list or permits it to remain as part of the professional skill of the observer depends upon the requirements of the research problem. This is neither a new conception nor a new method. Competent field workers in sociology and anthropology have been using this procedure for many years. I have attempted merely to formalize the conception and to make the method explicit in the hope that we can reduce some of the irrelevant arguments over the objectivity of the sociological enterprise. Furthermore, the recognition of the essential criteria of the method and especially the separation of the verstehen inference from the observation of meaning should have some extended implications for our theories of action and of meaning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The view of Mead (1934) that the self has its origin in the process of social interaction is fundamental to all sociologically-oriented social psychologists. It is somewhat surprising, therefore, that so little attention has been given to analysis of the nature of this "social process." Mead himself assumes, as Glaser and Strauss (1964) have pointed out, that the encounter of the person with others occurs in what these authors have called an "open awareness context" in which "each interactant is aware of the other's true identity and his own identity in the eyes of the other." Mead goes further to argue that, not only are persons thus aware of their identities in others' eyes, but that they see their own identities as they perceive these others to see them: The individual experiences himself as such, not directly, but only indirectly, from the particular standpoints of other individual members of the same social group, or from the generalized standpoint of the social group as a whole to which he belongs. For he enters his own experience as a self or individual, not directly or immediately, not by becoming a subject to himself, but only insofar as he first becomes an object to himself just as other individuals are objects to him or in his experience; and he becomes an object to himself only by taking the attitudes of other individuals toward himself within a social environment or context of experience and behavior in which both he and they are involved (Mead, 1934:138). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study centered around the following two research interests: (1) What is the position of the jazz musician in the larger society? (2) To what extent do jazz musicians tend to form into communities of their own? After having developed a theory of the jazz community, six hypotheses were derived and tested by means of an ex-post-facto study design. It was predicted that jazz musicians would rank lower than commercial musicians on the major social dimensions of class, status, and power in the wider community and higher than commercial musicians on these same dimensions within the jazz community. In general, this study confirmed these hypotheses on a single population of jazz and commercial musicians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social dancing, although a discreetly public and legitimate activity, is one form of intimate human interaction that sociologists have not yet examined fully. This observational study of American social dancing patterns is an attempt to describe systematically styles of contemporary dancing and patterns of social behavior which attend dancing. In addition, the origin and development of styles will be investigated along with the function that dancing reputedly serves for the participants. Before observing, we assume that social dancing, like many activities, is imitative. One may first choose to engage in any dance and, through imitation, may select more personalized techniques. But individual techniques are going to change as groups selectively retain certain forms and exclude others. Dancing, then, will undergo changes as groups impose their personal and social preferences upon dancers. The inherent intimacy, however, makes dancing uniquely different from most other observable social interaction. Not surprising, dancing takes on different forms in the upper, middle and lower classes. Upper-class dancers, for the most part, demonstrate formalized skills, perform similar dances over time, and maintain a restraint in action particularly in the masking of sexual aspects of dancing. Elites are characterized by group allegiance, traditionalism, and a de-emphasis of intimacy. Middle-class dances, considerably freer in their actions, manifest fewer conflicts regarding sexual overtones in dancing. Eager to experiment with new steps and leaving invention to others, they are characterized by expressions of individual interpretations and a desire to derive personal and private gratifications from dancing. This tends to produce a quality of erotic aloneness. Lower-class dancers demonstrate the greatest degree of invention and innovation. Their constantly changing repertoires include the most overt expressions of sexuality and their gratifications derive from the pleasures they both give and receive while dancing. Our study is not an investigation of leisure or recreational activities. Nor do we wish to push too far the differences of class. Our findings indicate, however, that many of the differences between populations do reflect the control of class patterns upon freedom of form in social engagements. The plan employed in the study necessarily emphasizes these differences in class patterns but we acknowledge as well the many similarities extant in the three groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Max WEBER utilized the ideal-type in various ways. One of them was in his analysis of bureaucracy as a form of social organization. Generally, he stated that the bureaucratic type of administration is "from a purely technical point of view, capable of attaining the highest degree of efficiency and is in this sense formally the most rational known means of carrying out imperative control over human beings." More specifically, he stated the following characteristics of the ideal-type of bureaucracy: (1) It consists of a formation of offices with each office having a specified "span of control," and specified duties and responsibilities. (2) The offices are organized into a hierarchy with each lower office under the control and supervision of the next higher one. (3) Operations are governed by a system of rules and consist of the application of these rules to particular cases. (4) Each office is occupied by an official who conducts himself in a spirit of formalistic impersonality. (5) The occupancy of an office is based on technical competency, and the hierarchy is a career line for the office occupant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present undertaking began by trying to specify what there is about a group that makes it a distinctive kind of collectivity and to delineate those major attributes which it is necessary to refer to in speaking of groups. Some of the principal assumptions underlying the effort are these: (1) A restrictive definition is desirable if progress toward a rigorous scientific concept is to be achieved. Many sets of persons now loosely referred to as groups would not qualify under such a definition. (2) It is useful to view a social group as an emergent which takes form or crystallizes over time as the result of certain interactional processes. At some point the interaction becomes systematic enough and certain attributes become stable enough to say a group exists. (3) The developmental patterns of different groups are similar enough so that general processes can be identified. (4) Groups are real, and the reality of groups is attested by the distinctive effects they have on the behavior of participants and the collective character of the products of such groups. It appears to be economical and illuminating to view the selected group characteristics and their posited relationships in terms of a descriptive developmental model. In the process of specifying the elements of the model, clarity seems to result from setting forth the model graphically in a diagram (Figure 1). As the diagram indicates, the model posits two preconditions, establishes nine major group attributes, classified as "rudimentary," "emergent," and "mature"; portrays the main linkages among the attributes; and refers to two closely related terms—member satisfactions and group products. The meaning intended for each of the elements will be discussed briefly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the interacting group influence on interaction profiles. Research in the area of group size has the important advantage of being replicable and cumulative. Groups tend on the average to devote a certain proportion of their interaction to each of the interaction process categories. Groups vary in the proportion of interaction devoted to each of the categories--there is considerable variation from the average profile. The data for the investigation were twenty-seven interaction profiles, each of which was the average of the amount of interaction of the individuals in several groups of a given size. A matrix of correlation coefficients for the twelve interaction categories and group size was calculated and then factor analyzed using the principal axis method and an oblimax rotation. No factors were importantly related to group size. As group size increases, the tendency for the group to become divided into centralized factions increases. The tendency is for interaction to become more objective and less subjective as group size increases.

The present article is an attempt to make certain distinctions, which seem to be basic and to state the theory of competition in such a way as to make possible the application of some of the newer contributions in decision and game theory. In this article, a basis is proposed for a theory of competition, which will cover all its forms and all areas of social relationship where it occurs. Forms may be classified as either autonomic, in which entities are ordered or winners determined by the process itself; or decisive, in which results are determined by a decision-maker. The first category includes two subclasses: crescive, in which relative rates of growth determine winners, and Richardson competition, in which competitors seek to out-achieve one another. According to the author, decisive competition is inextricably bound up with values. The observer or researcher can determine the values of a decision-maker by the way he makes his choices. This is, in fact, the principle a fair-employment-practices commission usually uses. It studies the employment record of the firm under consideration. As culture moves a society farther and farther away from brute nature, interposing more and more protection against catastrophe, competition may tend to move in the direction of decisive rather than autonomic forms. In a crisis, however, the tendency is back toward autonomic competition.