摘要:

An increasing number of studies, particularly in the area of comparative and historical research, are using the method of agreement and method of difference proposed by Mill (1872) to infer causality based on a small number of cases. This article examines the logic of the assumptions implicit in such studies. For example, the research must assume: (1) a deterministic approach rather than a probabilistic one, (2) no errors in measurement, (3) the existence of only one cause, and (4) the absence of interaction effects. These assumptions are normally inappropriate, since they contradict a realistic appraisal of most social processes, but are mandatory if we follow Mill's causal analyses based on smallN's. Research should not attempt employment of such methods in small-Ncases without a more rigorous justification of heroic assumptions and a guard against possible distortions.

ISSN:0430-0696    

DOI:10.1093/sf/70.2.307

出版商:The University of North Carolina Press    

年代:1991

数据来源: OUP

摘要:

Drawing from the experiences of 3,126 enlisted men from North Carolina who fought for the Confederacy in the U.S. Civil War, this article focuses on the determinants of desertion. I argue that men deserted because their identity as Southerners was eroded by an emergent localism, sustained and organized within the Confederate army. Desertion rates were highest in companies that evidenced a high degree of local homogeneity — company solidarity thus bred rather than reduced desertion rates. There is no support for any of the historical models of desertion that search for individual-level determinants, such as social class, occupation, status, family structure, age, or time of enlistment. Finally, contextual variables seem to be weak proxies for the central variable accounting for desertion — the emergence of a localist identity.

ISSN:0430-0696    

DOI:10.1093/sf/70.2.321

出版商:The University of North Carolina Press    

年代:1991

数据来源: OUP

摘要:

Assassination transformed Abraham Lincoln from a controversial president into a sacred emblem of his society. To identify the mechanism of this remarkable change is to solve a Durkheimian puzzle. This article shows how extraordinary funeral rites elevated Lincoln's political status even as many Americans continued to condemn his wartime policies and reconstruction plans. The contrast between what people actually believed about Lincoln and how they felt and acted in response to his death makes problematic the ultimate meaning of his mourning rites. It also requires new ways of conceptualizing the relations between belief and ritual, consensus and solidarity. These new conceptions build on Durkheim'sElementary Forms of the Religious Life([1912] 1965) and are generalized to the assassinations of James Garfield, William McKinley, and John Kennedy.

ISSN:0430-0696    

DOI:10.1093/sf/70.2.343

出版商:The University of North Carolina Press    

年代:1991

数据来源: OUP

摘要:

This article describes micro-macro processes through which simple structural conditions cause a nominal characteristic such as gender or race to acquire independent status value. These conditions are sufficient but not necessary and may or may not be involved in the actual historical origin of a given characteristic's status value. The argument assumes that a nominal characteristic becomes correlated with a difference in exchangeable resources. Blau's (1977) structural theory specifies the effects of the distribution of resources and the nominal characteristic on the likely characteristics of interactants in encounters. Expectation-states theory describes the situational beliefs about worthiness that develop among the resulting types of interactants. I combine the two theories to show where the nominal characteristic is likely to be connected with such situational beliefs, how this connection is affected by transfer and diffusion among types of interactants, and how this process can produce consensual beliefs in the characteristic's status value.

ISSN:0430-0696    

DOI:10.1093/sf/70.2.367

出版商:The University of North Carolina Press    

年代:1991

数据来源: OUP

摘要:

The best-developed theoretical model for research on minority group incorporation into society predicts gradual but progressive assimilation. This study investigates the residential patterns of Chinese residents of the New York metropolitan area, questioning whether this model adequately accounts for the differences in personal characteristics of the Chinese who live in different parts of the metropolis and for the segregation of the Chinese from other racial and ethnic groups. We conclude that socioeconomic status, marriage, and fertility operate among the Chinese, as for other groups, to promote residential location outside the Chinatown enclave. But the unique characteristics of the enclave economy, the new immigrants' kinship ties to the ethnic community, and the ethnic segmentation of the housing market jointly structure the locational pattern.

ISSN:0430-0696    

DOI:10.1093/sf/70.2.387

出版商:The University of North Carolina Press    

年代:1991

数据来源: OUP

摘要:

This study analyzes self-employment of blade workers in large metropolitan areas in 1970 and 1980 as an outcome affected by human capital, gender, and family structure and by local area demographic, ecological, and labor market characteristics. Data are from the Public Use Samples, census volumes, and other sources. Differences between the 1970 and 1980 results suggest that major transformations occurred in the environment of black self-employment during the study period. Logistic regression analysis indicates that in 1970 black self-employment was dependent upon niches created and maintained by racial disadvantage, but by 1980 black self-employment was encouraged by niches supported by a sizable and relatively high-status black community. Also, in 1980 the odds of black self-employment were inversely related to the proportion of blacks employed in government agencies, suggesting that the attraction of publicsector jobs may have discouraged black entrepreneurship.

ISSN:0430-0696    

DOI:10.1093/sf/70.2.409

出版商:The University of North Carolina Press    

年代:1991

数据来源: OUP

摘要:

This study explores the hypothesis — popular in the 1960s — that growing impatience with traditional theologies and organizational styles of major black denominations would prompt blacks (1) to join more progressive, this-worldly religious groups, or (2) to abandon organized religion altogether. This racial and political explanation of apostasy and religious switching from the black mainline is juxtaposed with alternative hypotheses drawn from studies of denominational switching in the general population. Multinomial logit regression techniques are used to analyze data from the National Survey of Black Americans. Results lend qualified support to the racial and political hypothesis and provide equally strong support to generational and network explanations of changes in black denominational preferences. We discuss several promising directions for future research and data collection.

ISSN:0430-0696    

DOI:10.1093/sf/70.2.431

出版商:The University of North Carolina Press    

年代:1991

数据来源: OUP

摘要:

This article demonstrates that interpersonal network density can serve as a resource for organizational processes. This theory relies upon the notion of organizational recruitment and the selection mechanisms of organizational ecology. Data on confiding relations between people are used to construct two demographic networks. A series of log-linear models are fitted to the data to test implications of the theory. In most cases, models which include parameters to capture the location of organizational niches significantly reduce the residual chi-square from independence and homophily models. Thus, partial support is found for the basic premise of the theory, indicating that network density does serve as a resource for organizational survival. Further avenues for research are suggested.

ISSN:0430-0696    

DOI:10.1093/sf/70.2.455

出版商:The University of North Carolina Press    

年代:1991

数据来源: OUP

摘要:

Previous studies of decision making using mathematical models have focused on repetitive choices in simple situations. As a result of such work, very precise models have been developed — but at the expense of breadth and applicability to nonrepetitive-choice situations. In this study we apply a formal theory of decision making, the satisfaction-balance model, to cases involving nonrepetitive choices with uncertain outcomes. We also examine a survey approach to determining subjects' subjective perceptions of probabilities and magnitudes of values and costs. We develop a measurement model to account for this survey method and examine the ability of the adjusted model to predict single choices. Our results support the applicability of the satisfaction-balance model in nonrepetitive-choice situations, using direct numeric estimation.

ISSN:0430-0696    

DOI:10.1093/sf/70.2.475

出版商:The University of North Carolina Press    

年代:1991

数据来源: OUP

摘要:

Previous studies addressing the issue of child-care constraints on women's employment have drawn on specialized samples or used cross-sectional designs. Using the Census Bureau's Survey of Income and Program Participation, this study draws a 1985 sample of employed women paying for child care. After correcting for selection bias, I used logistic regression analysis to predict the log odds of quitting work by 1986. Weekly child-care payments were a significant predictor of employment turnover. In addition, the effect of child-care expenditures: (1) was stronger for mothers of preschool-aged children, (2) did not vary by the woman's wage, and (3) was not associated with transitions between full- and part-time work statuses.

ISSN:0430-0696    

DOI:10.1093/sf/70.2.495

出版商:The University of North Carolina Press    

年代:1991

数据来源: OUP