ISSN:0430-0696    

DOI:10.1093/sf/59.4.1071

出版商:The University of North Carolina Press    

年代:1981

数据来源: OUP

摘要:

Birth and death are distinguished from other points of status passage because they connect humanity with the unknown. Comparing the social structuring of birth and death, this paper proposes a more general realm of study: transitions into and out of life. After a discussion of the changes in the experience of birth and death fostered by modernization, the similarities of these experiences are explored in six general categories: the role of the dying and birthing individual, the place of the family in these transitions, the control of information surrounding the event, medical components of the experience, collective action pertaining to birth and death, and the uses of ritual. The reasons for the similarities in the structuring of birth and death are examined as are the benefits of comparing these two events.

ISSN:0430-0696    

DOI:10.1093/sf/59.4.1074

出版商:The University of North Carolina Press    

年代:1981

数据来源: OUP

摘要:

This study examines the Goldscheider-Uhlenberg theory of minority group fertility by making a direct assessment of the importance of assimilation and minority status variables on Puerto Rican fertility behavior before and after controlling for social characteristics. The utility of the theory is evaluated in two generations of currently married Puerto Rican women. For both methodological and theoretical reasons, the younger generation represents a more adequate study group for assessing the theory than the older generation. The influence of assimilation on the fertility behavior of both generations is mediated through social characteristics. Minority status insecurity, however, significantly adds to explained variance in the fertility behavior of the younger generation. Thus minority-related insecurity supplements the importance of social characteristics in understanding minority group fertility.

ISSN:0430-0696    

DOI:10.1093/sf/59.4.1094

出版商:The University of North Carolina Press    

年代:1981

数据来源: OUP

摘要:

Age-parity-specific birth probabilities and central birth rates cumulated over successive five-year age groups for U.S. birth cohorts (whites only) are analyzed using age, period, and cohort as possible independent variables. The main effects of age and period jointly account for virtually all of the variance of age-parity-specific birth probabilities; period accounts for a greater proportion of the variance at higher parities, while the opposite is true of age. The main effects of age and period and the age-period interaction jointly account for virtually all of the variation in central birth rates; about two-thirds of the overall age-period interaction is captured by the interaction components of observations in the age group 20 to 24 years. Both the variation by parity of the age and period effects on birth probabilities and the presence of age-period interaction in the case of reproduction in successive age segments, support the proposition that different fertility determinants come into prominence at different stages in reproduction history.

ISSN:0430-0696    

DOI:10.1093/sf/59.4.1114

出版商:The University of North Carolina Press    

年代:1981

数据来源: OUP

摘要:

A computer-based content analysis of British Speeches From the Throne, 1795–1972, is reported which indicates a 52-year cycle of changing thematic concerns or issues. This thematic cycle replicates earlier results from an analysis of party platforms in American presidential elections. The thematic cycle is correlated with the Kondratieff economic cycle, the latter reflecting recurring crises in capitalist societies. The 52-year thematic cycle reflects a debate within society as to the legitimacy of capitalist political economy under varying economic conditions and in light of periodic structural reorganizations of the economy. Finally, the content-analytic findings are discussed in terms of Wallerstein's “world system” concept and the two dominant conceptions of power in macrosocial analysis.Do you know those charts, where the movement of prices, discount rates, etc … during the year is plotted? To analyze the phenomenon of crisis, I have attempted several times to compute the formulas of those irregular curves (I think that is possible if sufficient reliable material can be made available) in order to determine mathematically the main laws governing the crisis.

ISSN:0430-0696    

DOI:10.1093/sf/59.4.1130

出版商:The University of North Carolina Press    

年代:1981

数据来源: OUP

摘要:

Although many of the variables used in sociological propositions can be conceptualized as having continuous underlying values, it is common practice to accept rank category measures of these variables as adequate surrogates for the underlying values. This widespread practice results in an unacceptable amount of distortion in the metric of underlying variables. Using computer simulations, the influence of four factors on the degree of distortion is examined: (1) the number of categories, (2) the marginal proportions for the categories, (3) the shape or form of the underlying distribution, and (4) how the categories are scored. Given the amount of distortion found, it is suggested that sociologists concentrate on the improvement of their measures.

ISSN:0430-0696    

DOI:10.1093/sf/59.4.1149

出版商:The University of North Carolina Press    

年代:1981

数据来源: OUP

摘要:

The paper reports a study from a research program designed to examine the effects of social resources on the status attainment process. Social resources are defined as the wealth, status, power, as well as social ties, of those persons who are directly or indirectly linked to the individual. We propose that access to and use of social resources through one's network provide an essential transition between family background and education on the one hand, and the socioeconomic status achievement on the other. The study focuses on the social resources individuals used in seeking first and last jobs. By identifying the occupational status of the personal contact used, it was possible to assess the relative contributions of family background (e.g., father's educational and occupational statuses), education, and social resources (source status) to the explained variation of achieved occupational statuses. Data from a representative sample of males, 20–64, who were then or had been in the civilian labor force in a tri-city area of Northeastern United States confirmed the important and independent effect of social resources on occupational achievement. Potential shift toward a theory of social stratification and mobility with a focus on the use and manipulation of resources from one's social network is discussed.

ISSN:0430-0696    

DOI:10.1093/sf/59.4.1163

出版商:The University of North Carolina Press    

年代:1981

数据来源: OUP

摘要:

This paper examines gender differences in perceived chances of arrest for six familiar types of lawbreaking. Most crime theories predict that women should give higher arrest estimates than men, and we note five common explanations for this prediction. These include differential stakes in conformity, differential cognitive dissonance between gender role expectations and objective risks, differential perceived visibility, differential conventionality, and differential knowledge of crime and sanction. Survey data from a sample of U.S. adults show that women perceive systematically higher chances of arrest than do men, and that differential visibility and differential stakes in conformity seem to be the most promising accounts for these differences. At the same time, these variables are only modest predictors of overall individual patterns in perceived arrest risks. This suggests that much additional work on the patterns and determinants of risk perception is necessary before an adequate picture of more general variation in risk perceptions can be drawn.

ISSN:0430-0696    

DOI:10.1093/sf/59.4.1182

出版商:The University of North Carolina Press    

年代:1981

数据来源: OUP

摘要:

This paper considers the manner in which marital status, age and residential location operate to affect male-female differences in the odds of a psychiatric disorder. Log linear and logit techniques are employed in order to model these male-female differences. The resultant model suggests that male-female differences may be expressed in terms of a model with main effects only, no interactions being observed among the marital status, age and residential location variables. The model is shown to be quite consistent with the theoretical work of Gove and his associates with a few pertinent exceptions.

ISSN:0430-0696    

DOI:10.1093/sf/59.4.1200

出版商:The University of North Carolina Press    

年代:1981

数据来源: OUP

摘要:

This paper tests the hypothesis that the widely noted earnings advantage of first-generation northern blacks over native northern blacks results from differences in career strategies of men in these groups. Based on data from a nationally representative sample of black men, a canonical correlation analysis indicates that better educated and single black men are more commonly found in occupations which have relatively high status but pay low wages or salaries. Northern natives display a stronger tendency to convert human capital resources into status instead of earnings, and they are more frequently single and college-educated. Because of these differences in labor market processes and personal attributes, native northerners are more often found in jobs with relatively high status but low salaries or wages. Data from a representative sample of black men residing in Milwaukee indicate that these differences in labor market processes probably result from the differing career strategies of migrant and northern-born black men.

ISSN:0430-0696    

DOI:10.1093/sf/59.4.1217

出版商:The University of North Carolina Press    

年代:1981

数据来源: OUP