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The foundation of this volume is the notion that the several processes of change constituting economic and social development are systematically interrelated. The essence of development is the appearance of rapid rates of increases in many different indices--output per capita, political participation, literacy and the like. These quantitative changes are, however, commonly accompanied by vast changes in the social structure--markets emerge, political bureaucracies arise, and new educational systems appear. Written by the leading authorities on the subject, this group of papers tackles the causes and consequences of social mobility. Each author brings his particular skills to bear on various aspects of the problem in studies of persons moving from rural to urban settings, from one kind of industry to another and from one prestige level to another. Several of the papers review the theoretical and methodological issues involved in comparative research on social mobility while others compare and contrast traditional and modern stratification systems. Various papers explore the economic, religious and psychological basis of social mobility, concluding with enquiry into the consequences of rapid mobility, especially in terms of the political stability of developing nations. Because social mobility is a central consideration in any study of economic and social change, every student of change will use this pioneering reference source as a text for all future research. Contributors include Otis Dudley Duncan, Harold L. Wilensky, Michael G. Smith, Bert F. Hoselitz, Wilbert E. Moore, Natalie Rogoff Ramsy, Gideon Sjoberg, Reinhard Bendix, Harry Crockett, David Matza, Lester Seligman, and Gino Germani. "Neil J. Smelser" is emeritus professor, Department of Sociology, University of California, Berkeley. "Seymour Martin Lipset" was professor of sociology and director of the Institute of International Studies at the University of California, Berkeley.

This chapter discusses the relevant literature in the books and learned journals of sociology, social psychology, psychology, and psychoanalysis. It explores sometimes invoke personality factors to account for the linkage between social change processes and behavioral outcomes and analyses the employ them to account for behavior that influences social change processes. The chapter reviews research on what might be regarded as the simplest kind of social change: shifts in the relationship between a person and the balance of rewards and deprivations in his or her environment. Despite a lingering appreciation of the importance of the “great man” in historical causation, research linking the individual person with processes of social change has been scattered and generally meager. The study of social change and personality also shows evidence of discontinuities in paradigmatic emphasis—discontinuities, moreover, that reflect certain general theoretical and ideological developments in the social and behavioral sciences.

This article challenges the widely held assumption that globalization is creating a new type of world society at the expense of the nation-state. Arguments assembled to support this challenge include the reminder that vast social changes are inevitably incremental in character; that increasing complexity rather than revolutionary transformation is the theme of contemporary social changes in the world; that the staying-power of sovereign states is impressive, and that a number of factors including the international terrorist threat are shoring them up; and with respect to cultural change the prospect is for continuity of processes already under way rather than radical transformation.

After identifying a number of distinctive processes of social change - and their associated social problems - that may be expected to continue into the next century, the argument turns to the role of social-science knowledge in understanding and dealing with such problems. The author develops a critique of the utilitarian model of applied social science - a model based on supposed analogies with the natural sciences and engineering. Next, the logic of a `social problem' is dissected into the necessary ingredients it must have to qualify as a problem. As an alternative to the utilitarian model, the author suggests that social-science knowledge provides multiple points of entry in understanding the social-psychological and political dynamics by which social problems are recognized and dealt with as such.

Never before has the legitimacy of a dominant American culture been so hotly contested as over the past two decades. Familiar terms such as culture wars, multiculturalism, moral majority, and family values all suggest a society fragmented by the issue of cultural diversity. So does any social solidarity exist among Americans? In Diversity and Its Discontents, a group of leading sociologists, political theorists, and social historians seek to answer this question empirically by exploring ideological differences, theoretical disputes, social processes, and institutional change. Together they present a broad yet penetrating look at American life in which cultural conflict has always played a part. Many of the findings reveal that this conflict is no more or less rampant now than in the past, and that the terms of social solidarity in the United States have changed as the society itself has changed. The volume begins with reflections on the sources of the current "culture wars" and goes on to show a number of parallel situations throughout American history--some more profound than today's conflicts. The contributors identify political vicissitudes and social changes in the late twentieth century that have formed the backdrop to the "wars," including changes in immigration, marriage, family structure, urban and residential life, and expression of sexuality. Points of agreement are revealed between the left and the right in their diagnoses of American culture and society, but the essays also show how the claims of both sides have been overdrawn and polarized. The volume concludes that above all, the antagonists of the culture wars have failed to appreciate the powerful cohesive forces in Americans' outlooks and institutions, forces that have, in fact, institutionalized many of the "radical" changes proposed in the 1960s. Diversity and Its Discontents brings sound empirical evidence, theoretical sophistication, and tempered judgment to a cultural episode in American history that has for too long been clouded by ideological rhetoric. In addition to the editors, the contributors are Seyla Benhabib, Jean L. Cohen, Reynolds Farley, Claude S. Fischer, Frank F. Furstenberg, Jr., John Higham, David A. Hollinger, Steven Seidman, Marta Tienda, David Tyack, R. Stephen Warner, Robert Wuthnow, and Viviana A. Zelizer.

This work examines the intended and unanticipated consequences of economic advancement in developing areas and the commitment of industrial labor. Both the short-term acceptance of the attitudes and beliefs appropriate to a modernized economy are discussed.