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By Stewart Tolnay. University of Illinois Press, 1999. 232 PP. Cloth $49.95; paper, $19.95. The Bottom Rung counterposes two theories of the rise of the current conditions of the African [...]

Extends research of how dairy farm couples allocate their labor across on- and off-farm work domains. Reports that farm, family, and individual characteristics influence the differentiation and integration of husbands' and wives' on- and off-farm work similarly, but that effects of these factors are mediated by crop. Contains 21 references (Author/DHP)

This article draws on the preceding seven histories of national associations to examine commonalities and differences among them. The histories portray different strategies of organizing associations and adapting themselves to state control, societal conditions and members' interests. A disciplinary model was the most prevalent organizing strategy, but its viability ebbed and flowed with political oppression, the state of sociology as a discipline and internal associational conditions such as disciplinary composition and dissension. Two of the seven associations have survived continuously since being founded, while the other five have perished and been reborn from one to five times. Political oppression and internal associational dissension are what are mainly responsible for these associational deaths; for the state of sociology and its place in the academy for rebirths; and for the organizational cooptation of member interests for associational survival and growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the gradual change in the work pattern and workplace organization. Work pattern changed from craft to mechanical and then to electronic technology. Mechanical technology increased workplace social density. The spatial concentration of large numbers of workers to operate costly equipment introduced new conditions of work. The machinery altered the relation of skills to final product. The worker-technology relation was inflexible, with workers having to adjust to the machine-dominated workplace. Workforces needed to be fitted to machine operations. One of the most significant features of the internal labor market was the seniority rule that governed labor assignment and benefits. Promotions were driven by seniority as well as pay and job changes. In many ways the seniority principle embodied the needs of mechanical technology for a stable work-force. Computer technology spread across diverse industries, including textiles, travel, law and medicine as well as information-based industries such as banking and insurance

The article compares the influences of social organization and economic resources on farm productivity. This article draws on the intellectual traditions of industrial sociology to argue that social organizational variables as well as economic inputs affect production. Using a sample of 683 North Carolina farms, varying in size from 50 acres or fewer to more than 4,500 acres, the study found that the social organization of production and the occupational community of farming significantly affect production, net of the influences of agricultural resources, and the socio-demographic characteristics of the farm operators. Participation in the occupational community and having a production organization that is family based, with relatively high variation across status groups in task performance, have substantial payoff in farm sales. Resources prove to be more important for the productiveness of small farms, whereas social organizational influences are more significant for medium to large farms, suggesting that farms must achieve a minimum scale of operations for social organizational variables to be most effective.

This article is in response to an article by educator Robert B. Howsam on public education. Howsam distinguishes between the teaching profession and schools. Schools are organizations for the delivery of education. He wants it to professionalize in the belief that this will improve its educational delivery system. Howsam has made a well-argued plea for teaching to professionalize. The author says that he is not as sanguine as Howsam that even if teaching were to professionalize, it would have much, if any, effect on the organization of schools or the delivery of education.

Uncertainties facing farm enterprises place a premium on flexibility and adaptability in the work force. A study of 695 North Carolina farm couples is used to examine the extent to which 12 tasks on a farm are shared among family members and hired workers. Using husband alone as the norm, this pattern is contrasted with husband and son, husband and wife, husband and hired help, and husband and other statuses. Production, support, and household tasks are distinguished. Type of crop and amount of machinery used make a difference to status variation in production tasks, requiring more sharing on the part of the husband, but have less impact on support and household tasks. The latter are affected more by whether the husband or wife works off the farm. Despite status variation, farm work remains highly gendered; if the husband shares production work, it is with his son or a hired worker. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents an introduction to the January 1, 1995 issue of the journal "Research in the Sociology of Work."

The article focuses on the impact of gender on women's work behaviour. The temperamental view of the female worker is congruent with the functional perspective on the family. The family is a reproductive organization based on sex differentiation of roles within and outside the family. Female functions are procreative and sustenance-oriented, male functions are protective and procurement-oriented. Early socialization implants a feminine character. The character is made up of traits or dispositions that are invariant across situations. Socialization subsequent to childhood may occur but is fitted to the feminine character. The character enables females to perform procreative and sustenance roles. Women can play other roles, but they are best performed if consistent with the feminine character. Work roles differ in the extent to which their culturally prescribed behavior coincides with the feminine character. Regardless of the degree of fit, women will behave as women. Women's socialization equips them for female-typed work and disadvantages them for male-typed work. The temperamental view implies that sex identity is so central to the person that other identities cannot overcome its influence.

The section presents comments on an article about the conflict of social philosophies in higher education. According to Troy Duster, double-digit inflation in the economy has its parallel in the grade inflation of universities, and both economists and sociologists grope around inside their disciplines trying to grasp, explain and articulate a corrective policy. Richard F. Tomasson argues that anyone with some experience in an U.S.-based college or university could fail to recognize the three contradictory philosophies of education--merit, contract and right. David Sallach points out that the battle within the university is not limited to the three interest groups identified by Martin E. Spencer. Where in this scheme do we find the legal controllers of universities, the trustees? At most private universities, the governing body is composed almost exclusively of the corporate elite and those universities strike the cadence to which academe steps. Edgar F. Borgatta believes that equating the philosophy of contract with the philosophy of the working classes is an oversimplification at best. For David B. Booth, Martin Spencer eloquently describes the conflict between academics and students over the role of effort and citizenship in the award of grades and jobs.

WE propose a role homophily theory which posits that marriages are enhanced when spouses' roles are similar. We use cross-sectional survey data to determine how respondents' marital solidarity is affected by whether wives are employed, and by the occupationally derived socioeconomic status of both husbands and wives. We find that wives' employment has a positive effect on marital solidarity as perceived by both husbands and wives. This finding is consistent with role homophily theory, but inconsistent with the predictions of both sex-role differentiation and bargaining theories. When we examine effects of husbands' and wives' socioeconomic status on marital solidarity we find little support for any of the three theories. We conclude that role homophily theory is the best supported of the three theories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study of the socialization patterns of student nurses. It has been suggested that socialization of an adult into an occupational role involves a sequential process. Socialization into a profession takes place in three analytically distinct phases, each involving learning of the cultural content of the role and self- identification. During the first phase, the person shifts his attention from the broad, socially derived goals which led him to choose the profession to the goal of proficiency in specific work tasks. During the second, certain significant others in the work force become student's main reference group. Third, a student internalizes the values of the occupational group and adopts the behaviors it prescribes. These three phases may overlap, but in general they constitute a sequence. Differences between socialization in early childhood and socialization into an adult role have been emphasized. The professional school accomplishes this transformation by emphasizing the mastery of technical skills and knowledge as a prerequisite for professional status.

This article deals with the economic and social status of the Negro in terms of their professions in the U.S. It explores at the kind of distribution of whites and Negroes into the different professions. It notes that the realities of professional segregation in the South and discrimination in the North, interfere at all points with true professional identification. Expression of belief in equality of chances is seen not as acceptance in the professional community, but as an expression of apathy.

Interviews with 380 workers in two cities show that workers who received advice from numerous sources, whose main advisers were outside their families, and who had positive orientations to work were relatively likely to obtain high-status first jobs. These relationships were to some extent independent of each other and of workers' class backgrounds, and for the most part they also applied to the workers' choice of their most recent jobs. However, workers' advice-seeking and values when they chose their first jobs were not related to their later job histories. The findings are examined in the light of alternative theories of occupational choice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents an introduction to chapters published in the book "Research in the Sociology of Work," vol.1, edited by Richard L. Simpson and Ida Harper Simpson.