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Herbert Blumer sought to develop 'naturalistic inquiry' to provide sociologists, especially those who subscribe to the perspective known as 'symbolic interactionism,' with an alternative methodology to positivism for them to use in their research. Since Blumer died before he could complete the job, an attempt is made to finish the work that he left undone on the method of naturalistic inquiry along the lines originally envisioned by him. Among other things, more details are provided to help researchers to carry out the two stages of naturalistic inquiry that he identified: 'exploration' and 'inspection.' A third stage, confirmation, is also added to the method. Although Blumer described naturalistic inquiry only in theory, it is described here both in theory and actual practice, which is essential to make the method more understandable to others. In addition to providing a more complete statement of naturalistic inquiry, the ideas that he drew on to develop the method are revealed. Several myths surrounding the method and the grounded theories that can be potentially developed from using it are also exposed. Finally, the case is made that naturalistic inquiry occupies a relatively unique position in the social sciences.

Two tales from an unpublished creative nonfiction novel 'Melting Pot Boils Over' are presented to draw attention to the experiences of the marginalized Greek immigrants and their children in the South at the end of the Jim Crow era.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I would like to acknowledge the assistance of Scott A. Hunt. His detailed comments helped me greatly improve both the article's introduction and its conclusion. I delivered a short paper on violent encounters in which I provided a brief discussion of 'violent engagements' at the European Criminological Society Meeting held in Amsterdam from August 25 to 28, 2004. I later delivered a much longer paper on violent encounters in which I not only discussed violent engagements in much more detail but also discussed 'violent skirmishes' and 'dominance tiffs' at the Natural Decision Making Conference held in Amsterdam from June 14 to 15, 2005. From the author's study of violent and nonviolent offenders and non-offenders 'accounts, he drew two main conclusions about the interaction that takes place between the perpetrator and victim when violent crimes are committed. First, these crimes are committed during violent encounters that encompass five stages: (1) role claiming, (2) role rejection, (3) role sparring, (4) role enforcement, and (5) role determination. Second, based on how many of these stages are completed, violent encounters can be divided into three subtypes: (1) engagements, (2) skirmishes, and (3) tiffs. Violent dominance encounters that go through all five stages constitute engagements, those that enter only four of the stages constitute skirmishes, and those that enter only three of the stages constitute tiffs. Thus, for any theory to provide a complete explanation of violent crimes, it must be able to account for not only violent engagements but also violent skirmishes and tiffs. Keywords: dominance; encounters; skirmishes; violent interaction; violent situations; violent social action

The Case of Greek Immigrants in the South Many new immigrants to America could profitably follow the example of the Greeks who immigrated to our southern states. My maternal grandfather, [...]

Greek Americanism is the only viable mode of adaptation to the United States for people of Greek descent. It is not only simple in principle, but also possible in practice, [...]

Dramatic self-change is a long, arduous process that occurs over five stages. First, people must witness firsthand the splintering of their own selves during the fragmentation stage. In the second or provisionality stage, they must desperately struggle at assembling new, unified selves to replace the former ones that split apart. If this challenge is not enough, they must then somehow summon the courage and conviction to subject their newly unified selves to the 'test of experience' during the praxis stage. Should their newly unified selves withstand this test, then people must patiently await the social repercussions that they hope will follow in wake of their feat in order to generate the psychological momentum needed for them to embrace fully their new unified selves during the consolidation stage. Finally, during the social segregation stage, people must invariably gravitate toward groups in which they will be most comfortable and away from groups in which they will be least comfortable expressing their new selves. Thus, once started, dramatic self-change may never be completed.

The major shortcomings in the Meadian and Neo-Meadian views of the self are identified. An alternative view of the self as a soliloquy that avoids these particular shortcomings is presented. In this alternative view, an 'us' or 'phantom community' is seen as playing the premier part in our soliloquies. Thirteen principles that govern soliloquizing are explicated, including ones governing the nature and form of our soliloquies, the creation of our emotions, the hidden sources of our emotional sensitivities, the painting of our self portraitures, the origin and nature of our phantom communities, as well as governing our display of individuality and conformity.

A short story about Nick who wants to arrange a marriage for his sister-in-law Penelope with Yiannos, an older Greek man who owns a thriving restaurant but wants a virgin bride for himself is presented.

Two tales about confrontations between Americans from various ethnic backgrounds that took place in Virginia during the twilight of the Jim Crow era are narrated. Both tales feature a character Pete Aegean, whose parents are Greek immigrants and who works as a counterman in a Greek-immigrant-owned cafe, and narrate his conflicts with his patrons who are White native Southerners.

Floyd Pumice, a romantic product salesman is welcomed by his counterman 'Pete the Greek', to watch Pumice ply his trade on the cafe's patrons. Pumice, who adroitly tailors his sales pitch to his customers closes sales with a long married, middle-aged man with a wife of the same age, a young single man who is desperate for sexual relations with his girl friend, and a young single man suffering from feelings of sexual inadequacy.

Romantic product salesmen traded in the Bible Belt by selling sex toys catering to a primarily male clientele, and taking advantage of their sexual ignorance and sexist attitudes, were able to sell merchandise that decreased rather than increased their customer's sexual frustration, at exorbitant prices. With the spread of X-rated bookstores to the Bible Belt in the mid-1960s, this little-known and secretive occupation disappeared from American cultural landscape.

The tales from the Melting Pot Boils Over describes the predicament of a Greek immigrant, who is operating a segregated cafe, where he has to deal with the patrons who are African American as well as American, in order to get their goodwill and keep the cafe running profitably. Three different situations involving an American patron, an African American patron and a riot in the cafe, are described separately.

Across the minor communities that comprise the heart of our larger corporal communities, the problem of violent crime expresses itself in characteristically different ways. All violent crime is a by-product of the struggle for domination that occurs in one form or another among all types of people in every type of minor community. However, the predominant individual type that inhabits a minor community varies along with a minor community's prevailing norm for settling dominance disputes and, in turn, the severity of its violent crime problem. In 'malignant' minor communities, the ultraviolent and violent people are the predominant individual types, the prevailing norm for settling disputes over dominance is the proverbial 'tooth and claw;' and violent crime is rampant. In 'civil' minor communities, the predominant individual types are the marginally violent person and pacifist; the prevailing norm for settling dominance disputes involves a variety of nonviolent tactics; and violent crimes are a rarity. In 'turbulent' minor communities, there is neither a predominant individual type nor a prevailing norm for resolving dominance disputes, so violent crime is a smaller problem than in malignant minor communities, but still a much bigger one than in civil ones.