摘要:

The life and work of Laud Humphreys is reviewed in an attempt to assess their effect on American sociology. We focus on the intersections between biography and professional contributions as they emerged from Humphreys’graduate work at Washington University, St. Louis through his years at Pitzer College. The commentary is couched in the theoretical traditions of C. Wright Mills, the sociology of knowledge, and the sociology of sociolog

ISSN:0038-0245    

DOI:10.1111/j.1475-682X.1991.tb00272.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1991

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

The study of the word‐of‐mouth flow of news to audiences is an important if somewhat neglected topic. First, this may be the only means by which some citizens receive information about events and issues in their community. Second, in disaster situations many people cannot be reached by conventional means, and critical information comes to them by word‐of‐mouth. The present experiment makes use of the Allport and Postman design for the study of the changes (leveling and sharpening) that messages undergo as they are passed from one person to another in serial retelling. A news story of just over 300 words was presented to a set of “starter” subjects. Each then passed on the information to another subject, who in turn passed it on to a third, and so on. Seven such chains were developed with six subjects in each of two versions of the experiment. In one the information was presented as a newspaper story. In the other, the (same) story was presented via television. Those in the newspaper chains remembered more details overall than those involved in the television version. However, a clear pattern of “leveling” was characteristic of all the chains. An analysis of the salient details that survived through the six subjects in each of the chains (regardless of medium) showed a coherent and more or less logical organization of the central ideas and not a random jumble of distorted facts. Thus, word‐of‐mouth transmission of news can convey meaningful, if greatly abbreviated, versions of stories to a secondary audience. However, the data suggest that audiences recall more complete information from a newspaper presentation of a story than from a

ISSN:0038-0245    

DOI:10.1111/j.1475-682X.1991.tb00273.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1991

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

In comparison with urbanites, rural residents live in environments that are less heavily modified by human activity. They also depend more directly on the extraction or use of natural resources and are more likely to suffer the kinds of economic weaknesses that could lead them to favor economic development even at the expense of environmental protection. Yet while some studies have found rural residents to express lower levels of environmental concern than do urbanites, other studies have found that low levels of rural environmental concern may actually reflect lower concerns among farmers in particular. These varied results may be affected by methodologies, including the degree of focus onlocalenvironmental concern and the need to separatelivins in polluted areasfromworkins for polluting industries. Drawing on rural areas with significant employment both in agriculture and in mining, this paper presents data on more specific local concerns about the environment and technological development. The findings show persons in agriculture expresshigherlevels of concern than do other rural personsin the same communities. The results suggest that widespread support for environmental protection may make it difficult to isolate groups having low levels of environmental concern unless greater attention is devoted to the specific environmental issues having the greatest local salience.

ISSN:0038-0245    

DOI:10.1111/j.1475-682X.1991.tb00274.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1991

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Residential segregation has long been a topic of investigation for urban scholars. In attempting to understand this phenomenon, most researchers have examined the characteristics of different residential neighborhoods (typically census tracts) and have often compared the composition of the population within the census tract over time. This study looks at the household characteristics of the mobile family, as well as the aggregate characteristics of the census tract into which the family moves. The findings reveal that households display a tendency to move to areas where the existing population has characteristics similar to their own. A multiple logit analysis reveals that the race/ethnicity of the household is generally the best predictor of the neighborhood where the household will move.

ISSN:0038-0245    

DOI:10.1111/j.1475-682X.1991.tb00275.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1991

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

In this paper an evaluation of Giddens’theory of structuration is focused on two related issues: first, the degree to which Giddens provides a theory of action which transcends the structure/agency dualism and, second, whether such a transcendence is possible. In the first instance, it is demonstrated that Giddens exaggerates the powers of agents at the expense of structural constraints. Second, it is argued that transcendence of structure/agency dualism and the specification of a definitive ontology of action is not possible and that the merit of structuration theory lies in its use as a sensitizing device for empirical researc

ISSN:0038-0245    

DOI:10.1111/j.1475-682X.1991.tb00276.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1991

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

One explanation of sexual harassment is that it is the result of differences in organizational or individual authority between harasser and victim. A competing conceptualization suggests that much of what is termed sexual harassment is the result of a particular definition of the situation by women possessing nontraditional or feminist gender‐role ideologies. Using a sample of university faculty, students and staff, this study examines the relationship among organizational position, demographic risk factors, and gender‐role ideology on the self‐reported incidence of sexual harassment. The findings show little relation exists between the various risk factors and the report of harassment in this s

ISSN:0038-0245    

DOI:10.1111/j.1475-682X.1991.tb00277.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1991

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Based on an analysis of twenty family albums, this study investigates how social class affects the family's portrayal of kin and friendship networks as well as its geographical boundaries. The results suggest the visual collections of middle‐class families are more likely to present a kin oriented image of family life, include friends, and portray the family as a system with broad geographical boundaries than those of the working‐class. Theoretical and methodological implications of these findings are discus

ISSN:0038-0245    

DOI:10.1111/j.1475-682X.1991.tb00278.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1991

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

The convergence and polarization hypothesis is tested using the standard English vocabulary score in the General Social Survey. Blacks scored significantly lower than whites, and this finding is consistent over the test period, and holds within similar educational, financial status and social class groupings. The hypothesis is not supported with General Social Survey data. Conditions maintaining nonstandard language usage apply to blacks in America, and sociolinguistic measures could be used to supplement the assessment of divisiveness of race in survey data.

ISSN:0038-0245    

DOI:10.1111/j.1475-682X.1991.tb00279.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1991

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Book reviewed in this article:Susan B. Anthony: A Biography of a Singular Feminist. Kathleen Barry. New York and London: New York University Press, 1988, 426 pages.Samhällsvetenskapens klassiker (The Classics of the Social Sciences). Margareta Bertilsson and Bjorn Hansson, eds. Studentlitteratur, Lund, Sweden, 1988.Feminist Perspectives on Wife Abuse, edited by Kersti Yllo and Michele Bograd. Newbury Park, CA: Sage, 1988, 318 pages, $35.00, hardback, $16.95, paperback.The New Black Middle Class. Bart Landry. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1987, xi + 250 pages, $22.50.Families and Economic Distress: Coping Strategies and Social Policy, edited by Patricia Voydanoff and Linda C. Majka. Newbury Park, CA: Sage, 1988, 306 pages, $29.95 hardcover, $14.95 softcover

ISSN:0038-0245    

DOI:10.1111/j.1475-682X.1991.tb00280.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1991

数据来源: WILEY

ISSN:0038-0245    

DOI:10.1111/j.1475-682X.1991.tb00281.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1991

数据来源: WILEY