摘要:

Gorbachev's ascent to power created a new climate for sociological research in the Soviet Union. For the first time, Soviet sociologists find themselves in a position where they not only can pursue critical inquiry but also significantly affect the nation's political agenda. The present situation is not without its dangers, however, as it confronts social scientists with the need to balance scholarship and advocacy, scientific inquiry and political engagement. This article presents an overview of institutional, substantive, and methodological innovations in recent Soviet sociology. It examines the contribution that Soviet sociology has made to the reform process and assesses its future impact on the course of perestroika. An argument is made that even though for the time being Soviet sociologists and Party reformers act in concert, this alliance might come under strain if the pursuit of free inquiry interferes with the Communist Party's political agenda.

ISSN:0430-0696    

DOI:10.1093/sf/68.4.1019

出版商:The University of North Carolina Press    

年代:1990

数据来源: OUP

摘要:

The dominant paradigm in political participation studies largely ignores the microcontexts within which citizens are embedded. Drawing on generic processes of persuasion and selection, this study specifies six testable research hypotheses about individuals' attitudes and behaviors as consequences of the form and content of their ego-centric networks. Using the network measures from the 1987 General Social Survey, respondents'perceptions of their egocentric networks are found to predict involvement in national elections. The more frequently people discuss political matters with their intimates, the greater their interest and participation in national campaigns and voting. The partisan composition of the network strongly influences their participation, even after controlling for party identifications and selection effects of social attributes. However, respondents' closeness to network others has few substantial effects, and most of the interaction terms are not significant. For members of voluntary associations, having at least one other with whom they frequently discuss politics strongly boosts mobilization in internal organizational affairs and in the local community, again controlling for social attributes.

ISSN:0430-0696    

DOI:10.1093/sf/68.4.1041

出版商:The University of North Carolina Press    

年代:1990

数据来源: OUP

摘要:

Political sociologists have focused considerable attention on the extent to which corporate elites are politically unified. Few studies, however, have examined the extent to which corporations oppose one another. This study examines the determinants of corporate political conflict by focusing on the extent to which pairs of firms contributed to opposing Congressional candidates in the 1980 elections. Using a sample of 1,596 dyads created by relations among 57 firms, several hypotheses about the effects of interfirm social and economic relations on political opposition are tested.Variables found to decrease the likelihood of political opposition included common stockholdings, director interlocks with the same financial institutions, membership in the same primary industry, and market constraint relations between the industries in which firms produce. The findings are consistent with arguments that suggest the importance of social and economic networks in deterring conflict among firms.

ISSN:0430-0696    

DOI:10.1093/sf/68.4.1065

出版商:The University of North Carolina Press    

年代:1990

数据来源: OUP

摘要:

Émile Durkheim's early analysis of structural differentiation and modes of integration is reconciled with his later examination of interaction and ritual These ideas are reconciled by initially constructing an abstract causal model and then converting various causal paths into general laws of human social organization. It is argued that, despite a number of problems in interpreting Durkheim's analysis of cause and function, it is still possible to construct a general model that summarizes the basic classes of variables in his theory. And, despite Durkheim's failure to analyze power and inequality extensively, the contours of an important ecological theory are nonetheless evident By converting the causal model into abstract laws, this theory is seen to denote some of the most basic dynamics of the social universe.

ISSN:0430-0696    

DOI:10.1093/sf/68.4.1089

出版商:The University of North Carolina Press    

年代:1990

数据来源: OUP

摘要:

Using data from the National Survey of Black Americans, a national probability sample of black adults interviewed in 1980 (N-2,107), we find that blacks with lighter skin have higher socioeconomic status, have spouses higher in socioeconomic status, and have lower black consciousness than those with dark skin. Only the correlations of skin color with black consciousness variables are eliminated when we control for respondent's age, gender, and current and background socioeconomic status. We also find the impact of skin color on socioeconomic status among black Americans to be as great as the impact of race (black-white) on socioeconomic status in American society. We detect little evidence that the association between skin color and socioeconomic status changed during the 30-year period between 1950 and 1980. The association between skin color and life chances appears to be an aspect of black life in America that persists in spite of many social, political, and cultural changes that have affected black Americans in the present century.

ISSN:0430-0696    

DOI:10.1093/sf/68.4.1105

出版商:The University of North Carolina Press    

年代:1990

数据来源: OUP

摘要:

Traditional models of local labor market racial inequality have emphasized regional location, differences in economic and social organization, and human capital differentials as explanatory factors. Such models, however, were developed before the rise of the Sunbelt, before the transformation from a goods-producing to a service-based economy was seriously under way, and before women were a substantial portion of the United States labor force. In this article we investigate whether traditional predictors successfully explain male and female racial inequality across the 100 largest MSAs in 1980. We argue that previously developed perspectives, emphasizing singular causes, lead to misspecified models that fail to capture the diversity of factors that currently impact inequality. We show how the resource approach to economic segmentation (Hodson&Kaufman 1982; Hodson 1983) provides a conceptual framework suggesting variables that more adequately explain racial inequality in major metropolitan areas, particularly for males.

ISSN:0430-0696    

DOI:10.1093/sf/68.4.1121

出版商:The University of North Carolina Press    

年代:1990

数据来源: OUP

摘要:

This article tests basic propositions from the Burgess growth model which indicate a positive relationship between social status and residential distance from the urban core. The study is longitudinal, using data for 318 American metropolitan areas from 1950 through 1980. The study shows that over the thirty-year period: (1) Cross-sectionally the Burgess pattern is modal for American metropolitan areas; however, most communities do not show the clear-cut positive status/distance gradient (2) The Burgess pattern is found most often in metropolitan communities that are industrially based, older, larger, more dispersed, and located in the industrial Northeast (3) Over time, all categories of metropolitan areas moved in the direction of status distribution predicted by the model even though at any one point in time they may display the direct opposite of the Burgess model — upper status more residentially centralized than the lower status. (4) Longitudinal movement toward the Burgess pattern is associated with age, size, and industrial base.

ISSN:0430-0696    

DOI:10.1093/sf/68.4.1143

出版商:The University of North Carolina Press    

年代:1990

数据来源: OUP

摘要:

Third World “development” often is characterized by rapid growth in trade and service jobs, not in manufacturing employment. Prior explanations emphasize materialist conceptions: a widening division of (white-collar) labor is required to match technological complexity. Or the central state pushes investment of capital-intensive industry, and resulting urban immigration outpaces growth in labor demand. This article focuses on how thecentral state's penetrationinto rural hinterlands sparks growth in trade and service jobs. The Mexican state not only employed rising numbers of service workers; it also legitimated socially constructed forms of work, urbanlike knowledge and forms of status. We find that variation in state penetration across 299 rural and urban counties, especially the sanctioning of written literacy and mass schooling, is related to growth in white-collar and informal-sector jobs (1900–1940), net the influence of counties' wealth and demographic features.

ISSN:0430-0696    

DOI:10.1093/sf/68.4.1165

出版商:The University of North Carolina Press    

年代:1990

数据来源: OUP

摘要:

Deviance management (the identification and sanctioning of norm breakers) practiced in the military enhances the legitimacy of social-control agents, in part, by keeping intact the social distinctions between leaders and followers. Three “turning points” in organizational reaction to social deviance since World War II (shifts in the severity of sanctions, court expulsions, and the rate at which “bad paper” discharges were given) are examined in light of the war-peace cycle, the changing social qualifications of the forces, and contingencies commonly thought to characterize the Vietnam War. Official responses to deviance became moreintenseduring periods when the social superiority of those in charge was most problematic Moreover, after experiencing hegemony with regard to educational credentials which set them apart from the troops, the rate of discretionary sanctioning used by the officer corps expanded significantly.

ISSN:0430-0696    

DOI:10.1093/sf/68.4.1191

出版商:The University of North Carolina Press    

年代:1990

数据来源: OUP

摘要:

An investigation of the processes of disaffiliation from voluntary associations is conducted, focusing on membership in religious denominations, using a panel study to trace different paths from a point of origin in high school denomination. A theory of religious affiliation based on family formation is used to construct two models, one for apostasy and one for switching. Within each model the effects of gender on processes of disaffiliation are examined. Changes in family status are found to affect apostasy but not switching, the latter being more influenced by denomination of origin. Men are most affected by family variables while women are most affected by religion variables. Religion variables are important discriminators in the case of switching, but have little impact on apostasy. The results underline the importance of taking family variables into account when studying disaffiliation and of treating apostasy and switching as qualitatively different variables.

ISSN:0430-0696    

DOI:10.1093/sf/68.4.1211

出版商:The University of North Carolina Press    

年代:1990

数据来源: OUP