摘要:

The premise of this article is that sociology suffers from continuous quarrels over methodological doctrines that have become foci for contesting camps. I examine four such doctrines — quantitative and qualitative, survey and comparative-historical methods, ethnomethodology, and micro-macro phenomena — and conclude that all reify false distinctions and, therefore, are not appropriate principles for guiding research. I suggest, instead, that research requires a clear sense of problem and purpose and that, when this condition is met, we must use logic to resolve several recurrent dilemmas that occur in all studies. To improve sociological research, those solutions need to be devised for each study and not adopted routinely.

ISSN:0430-0696    

DOI:10.1093/sf/70.1.1

出版商:The University of North Carolina Press    

年代:1991

数据来源: OUP

ISSN:0430-0696    

DOI:10.1093/sf/70.1.18

出版商:The University of North Carolina Press    

年代:1991

数据来源: OUP

摘要:

This article develops and tests an evolutionary model of the growth, decline, and demographic dynamics of voluntary organizations. The model demonstrates a strong analogy between the adaptive landscape of Sewall Wright (1931) and the exploitation surfaces generated by a model of member selection and retention for voluntary associations. The article connects the processes of membership recruitment and loss to the social networks connecting individuals. The model generates dynamic hypotheses about the time path of organizations in sociodemographic dimensions. A key idea in this model is that membership selection processes at the individual level produce adaptation in communities of organizations. The article concludes with an empirical example and some discussion of the implications of the model for a variety of research literatures.

ISSN:0430-0696    

DOI:10.1093/sf/70.1.19

出版商:The University of North Carolina Press    

年代:1991

数据来源: OUP

摘要:

This study evaluates a multilevel theory of community social organization and its structural antecedents. The main hypothesis derived from a systemic conceptualization of community is that the effect of residential stability on social cohesion is mediated by the density of friendship and acquaintanceship networks. This hypothesis is tested in two stages using data bases constructed from a 1984 national sample of 11,030 residents of over 500 localities in Great Britain. First, the community-level results show that the positive effect of residential stability on a measure of social cohesion is accounted for by the increased level of friendship/acquaintanceship ties and the decreased level of anonymity among residents, regardless of urbanization and other sociodemographic controls. Second, the individual-level analysis indicates that residential stability has both individual and contextual effects on local social ties, which in turn promote individual attachment to community. Social cohesion is also directly related to community satisfaction at both levels of analysis. Overall, the results support and extend a systemic theory that bridges the micro- and macrolevel dimensions of community social bonds.

ISSN:0430-0696    

DOI:10.1093/sf/70.1.43

出版商:The University of North Carolina Press    

年代:1991

数据来源: OUP

摘要:

Even among a successful group of small business owners, women generate lower sales volumes and derive less income than their male counterparts. Alternative explanations of women's relative disadvantage are evaluated systematically. The characteristics of the owner and the small business that differ between genders explain the discrepancy in financial success, with the smaller size of women's businesses emerging as the major explanatory factor. Women's lack of experience and their concentration in the least profitable industries contribute strongly to the gender discrepancy as well. The processes through which the female small business owner generates sales and derives income are quite similar to those of her male counterpart, but even successful women are not as well positioned to exploit business opportunities as their male counterparts because of their structural disadvantages both within and outside of the business arena.

ISSN:0430-0696    

DOI:10.1093/sf/70.1.65

出版商:The University of North Carolina Press    

年代:1991

数据来源: OUP

摘要:

This study examines the changing conditions under which art museums are founded in the United States. Three different theoretical approaches are helpful. First, consistent with economists' analysis of the relation between economic cycles and cultural development, significant epoch effects are discovered. Second, changing economic and social conditions affect the development of museums, but they do so differently within each of the epochs. These results are consistent with the observations of cultural and social historians. Third, relative change in organizational density, a measure of museum legitimacy, plays an increasing role over time. In the last two decades under consideration, the findings suggest that legitimacy, which reflects broad public acceptance of museums, transmits the effects of most social and economic conditions. In the article, I discuss the general implications of these results for understanding the historical institutionalization of culture.

ISSN:0430-0696    

DOI:10.1093/sf/70.1.87

出版商:The University of North Carolina Press    

年代:1991

数据来源: OUP

摘要:

The provision of public goods is a social dilemma in which individuals must decide whether to contribute to the group or not to contribute and therefore free ride. We posit that if individuals have information about how each of the other group members has contributed, free riding will occur less frequently than if they do not have this information. If individuals know how others have contributed, they are able to employ trigger strategies. Three experimental treatments are used to test our predictions: (1) no information about other members' contributions, (2) aggregated information about other members' contributions, and (3) individualized information about each member's contribution. We find that contributions to a public good in the individualized information condition are greater than contributions in the other two conditions. However, contribution levels for no information and aggregated information do not differ.

ISSN:0430-0696    

DOI:10.1093/sf/70.1.107

出版商:The University of North Carolina Press    

年代:1991

数据来源: OUP

摘要:

Continuing debates center on the causes of cult conversion and the mental and emotional effects of involvement. In recent years, expanded credibility has been given to the “brainwashing” or “coercive-persuasion” model by psychiatrists, psychologists, and psychiatric social workers widely influencing the courts, media, and public opinion. Members of nontraditional religions are likened to prisoners of war (POWs) and are depicted as victims of manipulative behavioral conditioning practices that produce special cult-induced symptoms. However, clinical evidence has been contradictory and empirical support has not been forthcoming. Consequently, a study was conducted to explore the attitudes and experiences of former members of three new religious cults (Unification Church, Hare Krishna, and Children of God/Family of Love) to assess the effects of participation and withdrawal. Focusing on disengagement, this study provides a comparative analysis of divorce and apostasy to demonstrate a more salient model for explaining commitment, disaffection, and withdrawal.

ISSN:0430-0696    

DOI:10.1093/sf/70.1.125

出版商:The University of North Carolina Press    

年代:1991

数据来源: OUP

摘要:

The routine activity approach to the etiology of crime has gained considerable attention in the last few years. Its propositions have been tested using a variety of data sources and analysis methods. To date, however, the majority of analyses have used data collected within one nation and have employed unidimensional indicators. This article explores the macrostructural tenets of the approach based upon a sample of 52 nations spanning a 25-year period (1960–1984). The findings offer qualified support for the approach and uncover interesting anomalies. First, the model appears to be crime-specific, applying more to property crime than personal crime. Second, the best fitting model is nonlinear and specifies threshold effects. These findings are discussed in light of current research on the routine activity approach.

ISSN:0430-0696    

DOI:10.1093/sf/70.1.147

出版商:The University of North Carolina Press    

年代:1991

数据来源: OUP

摘要:

Two general theoretical perspectives, criminal opportunity and social disorganization, have been widely used to explain the level of crime in cities and temporal changes in their crime rates. Using a pooled cross-sectional and time-series design of 584 U.S. cities for the years 1960, 1970, and 1980, the present study evaluates the empirical adequacy of these theories. The cross-sectional findings were far more supportive of social disorganization theories than criminal opportunity theories. However, neither perspective was able to consistently explain changes in crime rates over time. Ethnic heterogeneity, household size, and the rate of crowding in households were the strongest predictors of the level and changes in official rates of homicide, robbery, and burglary. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for future research.

ISSN:0430-0696    

DOI:10.1093/sf/70.1.165

出版商:The University of North Carolina Press    

年代:1991

数据来源: OUP