摘要:

Sociologists have been derelict in their failure to address the zoological component in human interaction and attendant social systems. Even a cursory examination of our language and other cultural inventory reveals a discernible animal influence on our social lives and behavior which has been largely neglected by sociological researchers. In this connection, several investigative directions in studying animal-related human behavior would seem to hold particular productive research promise. Research might be profitably directed at such topics as animals as social problems, ideological conflicts involving animals, the human—animal interface attendant to work, the animal as surrogate human, and animal-related crime and deviancy. As sociologists interested in understanding human behavior in all of its vagaries, we might be well-advised to add animal to the lexicon of our discipline, and so turn our research attention to the “zoological connection.” We might accordingly come to perceive whole new vistas of behavioral linkages and social causation.

ISSN:0430-0696    

DOI:10.1093/sf/58.2.399

出版商:The University of North Carolina Press    

年代:1979

数据来源: OUP

摘要:

Although objective measures of the decline of municipal services are hard to obtain and harder to interpret, there is a strong subjective sense that municipal services have declined from the level of some previous time. This sentiment is reinforced by the increase in municipal budgets and in serviceability ratios (number of service providers per 10,000 of population) in virtually all municipal service divisions. I propose that part of the decline in services can be explained by changes in the relative status of providers and consumers of services in many cities. Two aspects of status are pertinent. First, in earlier years, municipal service providers had by-and-large less or at least not very much higher status than those to whom they provided services. Thus service to others by these lower status providers conformed with sociological notions of deference and compliance with the interests and wishes of those of higher status. With the shift in population toward black and Hispanic in many central cities, service providers are now of clearly higher status than many consumers of services. This militates against service provision since it violates the proper direction of flow of benefits. A second status consideration is that recent relatively rapid increases in income for municipal service workers have temporarily elevated self-conceptions and status to the point where “dirty-work” can now be shunned as incompatible with the new status level. This too militates against the provision of service since much of the municipal service task consists of dirty work. Finally, in certain municipal service arenas, the usually higher status white group is at the mercy of the usually lower status black and Hispanic group. A form of class warfare ensues which also means lesser service. A rationale for a solution is proposed.

ISSN:0430-0696    

DOI:10.1093/sf/58.2.422

出版商:The University of North Carolina Press    

年代:1979

数据来源: OUP

摘要:

A study of the Garden of Eden mythology as it appears in three cultural contexts—ancient Jewish, early Christian, and early American—sheds light on the relationship between cultural forms and social organization. The paper argues that cultural expressions play a definitional role in boundary maintenance at times of social crisis. The Garden of Eden imagery was used for symbolic expression of conflicts among social groups, acting at times as a vehicle for conflict, and in other instances as a means of reducing conflict. By both compensating for fragmentation and social deficiencies on the one hand (the compensatory aspect of culture), and by reflecting the interests of status groups and individuals on the other (the reflective aspect of culture), the Eden saga provided symbolic expression of the issue central to processes of boundary maintenance, social change, and conflict.

ISSN:0430-0696    

DOI:10.1093/sf/58.2.443

出版商:The University of North Carolina Press    

年代:1979

数据来源: OUP

摘要:

On the assumption that prejudice affects women's entry to male-dominated professional and management occupations, this paper investigates preferences for men as bosses and professionals (BPs). Using a sample (N = 1,402) of university staff and academic employees, we found that highly educated women and men who are highly educated or married to women employed as academics or professionals are least likely to prefer men BPs. Preference for male BPs was also affected by the number of female BPs respondents had dealt with professionally and by exposure to reportedly good or poor ones. These findings imply that legislative policies which help women to enter professional and managerial occupations may be successful despite prejudice against women.

ISSN:0430-0696    

DOI:10.1093/sf/58.2.466

出版商:The University of North Carolina Press    

年代:1979

数据来源: OUP

摘要:

A model is presented of the decision-making process used by intermediaries in small world experiments in the United States. This involves allocating each of the population of the U.S. to one of 16 categories; the membership of each population is a function of the target in the small world experiment. This is shown to be equivalent, for modeling purposes, to a Markov process with 16 states.The Markov transition probabilities are derived partly from reverse small world data and partly by guesswork, but using as few disposable parameters as possible (3). Statistics of chain lengths from various types of starter (e.g., those far from the target, those in the target's occupation, etc.) are derived, and compare favorably with observations. The possibility of incompleted chains is included by allowing a constant probability of loss at every step in the chain. Again, there is good agreement with most observations.How such a model might be validated by suitable observations is discussed; in particular, a set of experiments is described which should produce a great deal of additional information about the small world experiment.

ISSN:0430-0696    

DOI:10.1093/sf/58.2.477

出版商:The University of North Carolina Press    

年代:1979

数据来源: OUP

摘要:

Currently dominant Durkheimian and Marxian models of criminal justice assume a tight fit between structure and function in the criminal courts. This paper offers an alternative conception of crime and punishment as a loosely coupled organizational system. Our discussion focuses on the historical shift from a classical to a positivist philosophy of sentencing and the emerging profession of probation as a symbol of this transition. However, our empirical analysis of sentencing decisions in felony cases reveals that the influence of probation officers in the presentencing process is subordinate to that of prosecutors. This finding suggests that the involvement of probation officers in sentencing decisions is often ceremonial, and we suggest that the concept of “loose coupling” from organizational theory provides a means of understanding how this finding reflects the dominant legitimation and efficiency needs of contemporary criminal courts.

ISSN:0430-0696    

DOI:10.1093/sf/58.2.506

出版商:The University of North Carolina Press    

年代:1979

数据来源: OUP

摘要:

In this paper sample survey data are used to compare the degree of status consistency for males in nine societies. Relationships among education, occupation, and income are examined as well as the relationship between industrialization and the degree of status consistency. The data show that there are substantial dissociations between the major hierarchies of inequality in these nine societies. Furthermore, the results suggest that level of industrialization may be a key determinant of the degree of status consistency; more specifically there appears to be a positive relationship between per capita energy consumption and the degree of status consistency.

ISSN:0430-0696    

DOI:10.1093/sf/58.2.528

出版商:The University of North Carolina Press    

年代:1979

数据来源: OUP

摘要:

Research has consistently shown that marital status and rates of mental disorder are related, but few studies provide an answer to the causal question: Does marital status determine mental status, as a social causation model of individual attributes would stipulate, or does mental status cause marital status, as an individual causation model of social status would stipulate? Analysis of admissions to Tennessee state mental hospitals between 1956 and 1965 consistently supports the view that a person's marital status is determined more by mental status and behavior rather than the reverse.

ISSN:0430-0696    

DOI:10.1093/sf/58.2.540

出版商:The University of North Carolina Press    

年代:1979

数据来源: OUP

摘要:

Previous research has shown that both symptoms and sociocultural factors are related to use of psychiatric outpatient facilities. However, the utility of using treatment rates from these facilties to make etiological inferences depends on whether sociocultural effects on utilization are trivial or substantial. In this paper data are presented for one such inference, that women are more in need of treatment than men. We find that observed sex differences in the use of a student psychiatric clinic are due both to differential propensities to seek help for problems and also to differential numbers of problems, both of which are higher among women than men. However, the differential propensity to seek help is found to be by far the more important of these two effects.

ISSN:0430-0696    

DOI:10.1093/sf/58.2.557

出版商:The University of North Carolina Press    

年代:1979

数据来源: OUP

摘要:

This study is an examination of patterns of drug use, and the relationship of drug use to mental health among a representative sample of young (18 to 29 years of age) adults in the United States. The major findings may be summarized as follows: (1) in general, users of any one drug have a higher probability of using each of the other drugs than do non-users of that drug, (2) in general, use of drugs is strongly related to the experience of psychiatric symptoms, but is only weakly related to low positive affect, (3) the more kinds of drugs which are used, the worse the mental health of the respondent, and the analyses presented here suggest that the relationships are additive, rather than being interactive. We speculate that drug use may be a coping strategy for persons who experience various forms of psychological distress, and who use drugs in an attempt to improve their mental health.

ISSN:0430-0696    

DOI:10.1093/sf/58.2.572

出版商:The University of North Carolina Press    

年代:1979

数据来源: OUP