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The objectives of this paper are threefold. First, it traces briefly the use of the comparative method La sociology. It documents that what is currently called 'cross-national research' is an interest that has antecedents running back for at least a century in a great variety of field. Secondly, the paper argues for a closer interplay between sociological theory construction and cross-national data. Because current sociological theory is exceedingly culture-bound, basing its propositions largely on data derived from modern American and Western European societies, the need for testing hypotheses within truly cross-cultural settings is most timely and urgent. Thirdly, the paper delineates three major methodological problems in cross-national research. These problems include (I) the requirement of equivalence of meaning, (2) the requirement of concept equivalence, and (3) the requirement of equivalence of cultural variability. It concludes with a recommendation for furthering interest in cross-national research in rural sociology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article seeks to provide some tentative answers to issues arising from comments on the paper "Current Folklore in the Criticisms of Parsonian Action Theory," which was written because certain features of sociologist Talcott Parsons' work have consistently been misinterpreted by the critics. According to the authors one of the purpose of this paper was to clarify what they perceived to be Parson's position on persistent theoretical issues social theory. The authors argue that critics incorrectly contend that the voluntaristic thesis has been abandoned, primarily because they fail to recognize that the analysis of emergent system levels requires the elaboration of additional concept. Critics have thus assumed that conceptual elaboration and specification represents an abandonment of the voluntaristic thesis, but in point of fact, just the contrary is true. The basic elements of the unit act-the actor, objects, orientations, informational organization, and energic constraint-have served as the general framework for subsequent developments in Parsonian theory.