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Alvin L. Bertrand's career and research have made him an exemplar of humane social scientist, scholar, and academician. For many of his peers, Bertrand is the quintessential rural sociologist. Spending almost all of his career at Louisiana State University, Dr. Bertrand has addressed an extraordinarily broad array of social phenomena, often of a community problem variety, in his research. His research employed a social systems analysis frequently focused on the rural context and had a strong applied orientation with the result that his findings have been widely used as the basis for the formulation of important national and international program and policy decisions. Bertrand's work has attracted wide attention abroad as well as in the United States. Because of his many contributions to the discipline of sociology, he has received numerous awards and recognitions and has also been elected to various offices in professional societies and associations, including the presidency of five such groups.

This paper examines the bingeing process and posits three conceptual paradigms that articulate various elements, dynamics, distinctions and nuance attendant to the bingeing process: the potentiality of temporal opportunity structure, the intention of deviance compression, and the operationalization of this intention through three types of bingeing behavior. The three types of bingeing behaviors offered are: the relief, addictive, and occasional binge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Few art forms in America are more singular than that of taxidermy. In the art of taxidermy the goal is to make dead animals look alive. It is unique in that it is a creative attempt to make nature, in the form of dead animals, imitate art, in the shape of organic statuary, rather than art imitating nature. Culturally speaking, taxidermy is a complex artistic configuration, and possesses several identities within the context of social life. As a technical process, taxidermy possesses elements of both science and art. As a social identity, it may either be an occupation or avocation, or in some instances, both. It ranges considerably in following from the upper to the middle and lower classes, and in sophistication of style, from a relatively ubiquitous folk art to that of an elaborate set of artistic and technical procedures practiced largely by a relatively modest number of museum technicians. Taxidermy could best be labeled as one of the plastic arts similar to sculpting. Yet it also includes painting, tanning, leather working, wood carving and, on some occasions, even glass blowing, not to mention numerous other ancillary activities and procedures.

Data from the responses of 120 park and forest rangers at both the state and federal levels were analyzed relative to stated levels of job satisfaction and perceived degree of bureaucratization in their respective work organizations. While park rangers expressed significantly higher levels of job satisfaction than forest rangers, no significant difference was found between state and federal rangers. The self‐perceived degree of bureaucratization under which the rangers worked was found to be negatively related to their job satisfaction. Such perceptions, however, did not appreciably diminish the original differences in job satisfaction noted to exist between park and forest rangers. A tentative explanation for the significant difference in job satisfaction between park and forest rangers is based on the differences in work roles and missions, particularly as these relate to the public. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article presents a sociological observation of young women in massage parlors as masseuses. The massage parlor is clearly an ubiquitous service establishment on today's urban scene. While no systematic content analysis of massage parlor names has been attempted, it is evident that most bear a name or logo suggestive of the exotic. Some masseuses working in the massage parlors of Mountain City, Georgia, were interviewed. They were essentially the progeny of lower-middle and middle class parents. Most of them were either natives or having lived there for several years. They were between the ages of 19 and 24. They were remarkably mobile group in terms of occupation and considering their youth. Most of them had been masseuses for around two years on the average. Some girls mentioned that they knew other masseuses in town, and they had known other girls before they started working in massage parlors. Few girls reported that they did not know what they were getting into, until they were on the job.

he article presents organizational and occupational commitment , obtained from 120 park and forest rangers working in state and federal organizations in Virginia. Findings yield partial support for Howard Becker's original side-bet hypothesis, especially with respect to organizational commitment. Stronger support, however, is found for an alternative social psychological explanation of commitment. Since neither explanation of organizational or occupational commitment is totally supported by the data, future research should take into account the various fields and levels of those surveyed. The research reported here sheds additional light on the divergent findings of these two studies: research investigates the relationships between various social and demographic variables pertinent to Becker's theory of the side-bet and organizational and occupational commitment. Preliminary analysis indicated a statistically significant difference in organizational and occupational commitment between federal and state rangers. Consequently, the data are analyzed separately for federal and state rangers. Among federal rangers there are significant positive correlations between organizational commitment and age and length of service. Among state rangers there are significant positive correlations with education and number of locations assigned.

Almost half a century ago, Howard W. Odum introduced the concept of the technicways. It was intended that this concept would provide a normative perspective of various social processes additional to those afforded by the folkwoys and mores. Unfortunately, Dr. Odum's notion did not excite the imagination of sociologists at the time, with the result that the concept of the technicways fell into disuse, and has largely been neglected, if not ignored, since then. Odum used the term to refer to normative behavior patterns that arise in response to innovations or grow out of new technological processes. The concept of technicways is explored in detail with special reference to its analytical utility as well as its conceptual shortcomings. Odum's technicways would seem to be a very relevant concept for today in that sociologists need to be able to accurately understand the complex dynamics of accelerating social and technological change and the subtle nuances of the attendant social impact and import. The concept of the technicways would appear to appropriately identify and implicitly describe such a complex social phenomenon in a parsimonious fashion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]