摘要:

This paper examines the causal and explanatory role assigned to intrapersonal (or P‐) variables in the recent sociological literature on collective behavior. In Part I emphasis is on the use–or nonuse–of P‐variables as factors mediating between collective behavior episodes and their antecedent social and situational determinants. It is suggested that P‐variables have been (1) excluded on methodological grounds in favor of more directly observable and/or manipulable behavior, (2) analyzed as dependent variables, defined by and contingent on antecedent social and situational considerations, or (3) introduced as independent variables and therefore significantly figuring in any explanatory account of collective behavior. Part II deals with the conceptually deeper issue concerning the terminology and metaphors employed in the literature regarding collective behavior and its causal an

ISSN:0038-0245    

DOI:10.1111/j.1475-682X.1985.tb00868.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1985

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Hardcore positivistic or humanistic sociologies are rare. In the history of sociology the two extremes have tended to converge, producing an awkward hybrid. A watered‐down positivism is brought to the rescue of a stalledVerstehensociology, or vice versa, and a difficulty like the free nature of human action is covered over with a veneer of pragmatism. Here it will be argued that Paul Tibbetts’recent recasting of the positivism‐humanism debate in sociology into an arbitrary choice between linguistic grids perpetuates this unsatisfactory practice. Five propositions will be advanced in opposition to Tibbetts’perspective. First, it will be argued that Tibbetts’discussion clouds the real issues at stake through his failure to really transcend the positivist framework of analysis. Second, it will be shown that the humanistic pre‐supposition of voluntarism involves an ontological commitment to a model of rational agency which provides a methodological base for the “scientific” treatment of human freedom. Third, this commitment constitutes a necessary presupposition of all sciences of human action. Fourth, this fact means there are good epistemological reasons why a sociologist's choice of a linguistic grid is not arbitrary. Finally, it will be proposed that the most promising pattern of convergence between humanistic sociology and positivism stems from the formulation of a rough spectrum of principles of rationality to undergird a differentiation of “degrees” and not “kind” between what Tibbetts calls “free‐will talk” an

ISSN:0038-0245    

DOI:10.1111/j.1475-682X.1985.tb00869.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1985

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

This study examines aspects of a major research tradition in sociology which developed from Seeman's classic work on the meanings of alienation. It argues that the Powerlessness Scale contains an unintended, latent ideological content (one that was excluded in Seeman's delineation of alienation's meanings through his translation of alienation theory into the language of Rotter's social learning theory). However, the Powerlessness Scale that was developed from Seeman's conceptual analysis drew on the person's perception of the nation‐state, its functions and legitimacy, thus reintroducing both polemical and political content into the empirical assessment of alienation. Using a panel of expert judges we tested the hypothesis that high‐powerlessness statements on this scale are associated with critical perceptions of the nation‐state and its functioning while low‐powerlessness statements tend to reflect a more conformist perspective (the former being similar to the theoretical assertions of “power elite” theory and the latter to the “pluralist” form of political theory). The data provided by the expert judges are in general agreement with the hypothesis. A critical interpretation of the Powerlessness Scale is suggested in terms of O'Connor's model of the state and its m

ISSN:0038-0245    

DOI:10.1111/j.1475-682X.1985.tb00870.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1985

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Frame analysis has been severely criticized for its reliance on fictive and newspaper domains and its static portrayal of social behavior. Published and refereed studies, many of the participant observer vintage, are examined to investigate these charges. Conclusions include: (1) transformations are significant occurrences in Americans’daily lives, (2) societal definitions cannot be validly depicted apart from the emergent aspects of personal and interpersonal histories, (3) a new form of keying,negative keying, a not‐reality, is conceptualized, (4) the relationship between Goffman's transformations and Glaser's and Strauss’awareness contexts is delineated. Recommendations for the future study of layered definitions are of

ISSN:0038-0245    

DOI:10.1111/j.1475-682X.1985.tb00871.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1985

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

The research discussed in this paper examined the performance of male and female minority students in the subject areas of mathematics and reading. The subjects for the study consisted of over one thousand junior and senior high school students who were enrolled in fifty‐nine different mathematics classes at eleven different schools across the country. Most of the students–69 percent–were of non‐minority background. Blacks represented the largest portion (87.6 percent) of the minority segment. The study had four objectives: (1) to compare the performance of minority students on achievement tests in mathematics with their performance on achievement tests in reading; (2) to compare the performance of minority students on achievement tests in mathematics and reading with the performance of non‐minority students in those tests; (3) to compare the performance of male minority students with that of female minority students; and (4) to consider the relationship between performance on achievement tests in reading and mathematics to course grade in mathematics. The overall purpose of the study was to further our understanding of the type of academic preparation occurring among pre‐college students from minority

ISSN:0038-0245    

DOI:10.1111/j.1475-682X.1985.tb00872.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1985

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Book reviewed in this article:Basic Dilemmas in the Social Sciences, by Hubert Blalock

ISSN:0038-0245    

DOI:10.1111/j.1475-682X.1985.tb00873.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1985

数据来源: WILEY

ISSN:0038-0245    

DOI:10.1111/j.1475-682X.1985.tb00874.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1985

数据来源: WILEY