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Presents a list of books on Sociology received for the "British Journal of Sociology." Some of the books are: "Democracy and Social Ethics," by Jane Adams; "Psychology and Social Problems," by Michael Argyle; "The New Frontiersmen," by G.S. Aurora; "The Penal Press," by Russell N. Baird; "Race Relations," by Michael Banton; "The Impact of Television: Methods and Findings in Program Research," William A. Belson; "The Social Construction of Reality," by Thomas Luckmann and Peter Berger and "Culture and Society in India," by N.K. Bose.

The article focuses on the author's comment on sociologists Kingsley Davis and Wilbert E. Moore's paper "Some Principles of Stratification." According to the author, the paper offers some important point but that the argument they advance is contradictory in certain of its implications and therefore defective. The source of the difficulty is to be found in one of the premises of their argument. To state it most simply, the premise asserts, "people desire rewards." This assertion is incontestable, but it is not adequately qualified in their argument. The author shows in the first part of this article how their argument, containing this premise, leads to contradictory implications. Then, in the second part of this article, the author attempts to provide qualifications which he believes will allow Davis and Moore's argument to avoid contradictions and thus give it greater force.

This paper attempts to show that the myth of the primal horde is of use in that: (1) It helps to account for behavior that is observable at formal meetings, (2) sheds some light on the earlier socialization process and (3) can give some insight into the operation of wider social groupings. This obviously is a formidable task, beyond the scope of any one paper. The author discusses the university seminar of the formal kind where there is a chairman and sometimes a vote of thanks. He hope to show that the myth of the primal horde not merely explains what goes on but can even be said to describe to some extent behavior at such meetings. There is also an attempt to show how the ideas first used in the context of the university seminar can be applied to formal settings that are apparently very different namely those of the military parade and the religious service. Formal behavior, according to the view expressed here, owes its significance to the triumph it celebrates. It must therefore be essentially unstable for where the triumph is too complete there will the need for defensive morality be dissipated.

The article focuses on the sociology in and of China. In the general history of social sciences it is assumed that the marriage between sociology and anthropology comes late, having been preceded by a long courtship. China does not fit this pattern. Almost as soon as social sciences were established there anthropology and sociology were intertwined, to be disentangled in a strange way when Communists arrived. To avoid a tedious recitation of evidence just one witness is called upon, a scholar whose later career in the U.S. makes his testimony underline the Chinese paradox. Writing in China in 1944 Francis L.K. Hsu has said in this paper that the word sociology is used synonymously with the term social anthropology. It is customary to date the beginning of sociology in China by the publication of Yen Fu's translation of two chapters of "The Study of Sociology" in 1898. Later a few original works were produced in Chinese and courses of instruction were introduced in universities, it was not until about the 1920s that sociological investigations of any great weight began to be made.

The paper asks whether mass media rather than being a homogenizing force, is in fact one that promotes differentiation, whether mass media is one for revolutionary change and whether rather than generating a crisis of identity, it aids in generating new identity. In other words, the advent of new communications techniques and patterns particularly television may have proven to have had precisely the contrary effect of that suggested by some of the classical views of the increasing massification of society and social relationships. The emergence of sundry militant minority groups in the 1960s, the black revolutionists, student and anti-war groups, neo-feminists, the poor, the Indians organized as red power with the aid of the electronic mass media implies that the social consequences of the new technologies of communication will profoundly alter the social order but not in the exact way foreseen by most of the contemporary mass society essayists. Although mass media may have a confirmative potential for majority groups, it possesses a transformative function for minority group identities. With future developments of multi-channel cable vision and other individualized media, an accentuation of the process may occur.

This article presents some questions for the attention of medical sociologists. Some medical educators, admittedly few, still subscribe to the view that they alone are competent to provide role models for medical students and that, therefore, no matter what the subject, the proper training of the physician requires that a physician teach it. Others, adopting a less extreme standpoint, appear to be prepared to accept the behavioral sciences on trust as it were, even while retaining some of these reservations and often questioning the relevance of sociological theory and method to the practical problems of health and illness. While there are then a few medical educators with reservations, it appears that the vast majority nowadays consider that sociology, psychology and anthropology, and perhaps other allied disciplines, have an acknowledged place somewhere in the medical curriculum. It is not proposed in this paper to enter into the general debate on whether the behavioral sciences have anything to contribute to medicine and should be incorporated into medical training.

The sociological analysis of factions has been developing rapidly in sociological research. According to the definition, a faction is stipulated to be an ephemeral group which emerges in order to operate in the interest of a specific aim or conflict. The criteria of recruitment of members to the different factions in the community are based on upon personal aspirations which are involved in the acute cause of rivalry or conflict and not upon any pre-existing connection among its members such as kinship ties, religious affiliations, common caste membership etc. By this definition, it follows that when a faction develops into a more stable group based on some permanent criteria of membership, it is no longer a faction. The paper discusses the phenomenon of factions in communities of immigrants. It presents findings of a research project in Israel which tried to reconstruct and analyze the history and conditions under which factions first emerged and then disappeared in some newly created communities of immigrants in the course of ten years. It attempts to develop further analysis about the conditions under which factions may arise, some possible variations they may display in their composition and structure and most importantly, the function that they possibly perform in the process of adjustment of immigrants to the new social, political and economic conditions.

The article presents comments of the author on his article "Profiting from a Comprehensive School," published in the "British Journal of Sociology," to draw attention to the sociological study of comprehensive schools. Author defends his article on two grounds presentation and analysis, and conclusions. Any inadequacies on presentation are probably determined by the limitations of the article-intended as a research note and not a fully developed paper. The criticism in conclusions seems largely directed at presentation. The conclusions are in fact valid on the basis of the findings of the research itself. The same applies to statistical techniques employed. In short it would seem that no valid critique of the conclusions themselves is presented. However, here is a point-by-point reply. The tables present the most outstanding deviations in keeping with the summary nature of the article. They are condensations of tables in the thesis. Thus class categories are included or omitted in accordance with the importance of variations.

This article is the author's reply to sociologist E.R. Yeld's paper on Islam and social stratification in Northern Nigeria. The author focuses attention on the inappropriateness of Yeld's data, methodology and mixture of problems. According to the author, Yeld's paper is an instructive exercise in the misuse of controlled comparison. She set out to compare the differing effects of two variables which were defined so as to overlap considerably. She presents no conclusions on this point, and neither indicates these effects nor compares them. Yeld undertook the analysis of social stratification in Hausa capitals, but for this she only had materials from Kebbi, which is not representative of these units either in its level of development, size, complexity, or in its depth of Muslim culture. The author says that Yeld has constructed a melange which is placed before us as a correct restatement of Hausa stratification.

This article discusses matters concerning the pressures that play upon behaviour as a result of the fact that a symbol of status is not always a very good test of status. By definition, then, a status symbol carries categorical significance, that is, it serves to identify the social status of the person who makes it. But it may also carry expressive significance, that is, it may express the point of view, the style of life, and the cultural values of the person who makes it, or may satisfy needs created by the imbalance of activity in his particular social position. There are two important kinds of status symbols: occupational symbols and class symbols. On the whole, occupation symbols are firmly tied to an approved referent by specific and acknowledged sanctions, much in the manner in which symbols of social caste are rigidly bound. In the case of social class, however, symbols play a role that is less clearly controlled by authority and in some ways more significant. From the point of view of this paper, circulation of symbols has two major consequences. First, those with whom a symbol originates must turn from that which is familiar to them and seek out, again and again, something which is not yet contaminated. The second consequence is perhaps the more significant of the two. Status symbols provide the cue that is used in order to discover the status of others and, from this, the way in which others are to be treated.

This article discusses the distribution of power in nationalized industries in the U.S. in 1951. The appointment of the National Coal Board was announced in the summer of 1946. In the following three years ownership of the fuel and power and transport industries was vested in a number of public corporations, two of which controlled, in terms of total undertakings and labour force, industrial organizations larger than any previously known in this country, or in the U.S. Nationalization offers a wide range of subjects of great interest to the sociologist. This paper, it is hoped, will indicate the degree of change which has taken place by considering the shifts in centres of power which transfer of ownership has produced. It describes the present distribution of power in nationalized industry as it is revealed by an examination, first, of the relation of Parliament, the Government and the trade unions to the controlling Boards; second, of the institutional forms, or patterns of organization adopted for each industry; and third, of the different groups to whom power has been apportioned within each industry. The aim of the paper is thus to define the effective power exercised by the Boards, to ascertain how power has been distributed within the various levels of organization, and to indicate some of the groups in the power structure and the conflicts between them. It is based on data collected in over two years' research into the working of the nationalized industries on behalf of the Acton Society Trust.

This article provides information on the biennial conference of the British Sociological Association at Queen Elizabeth College in London, England on March 22 to 24, 1957. The theme Sociology in Retrospect and Prospect was an appropriate one in view of the increasingly felt need to undertake a systematic re-assessment and clarification of the main issues involved in sociological theory and practice. A large theme of this nature could not be pursued in exhaustive detail, but the papers in both the plenary and the group sessions were such as to stimulate much thought, and the degree of interest shown in the conference was such as to suggest that this theme was one of central concern to all. The attendance was greater than had been anticipated. Although not central to the theme of the conference, perhaps one of the most significant facts about it was that it became the basis for a consciously contrived effort to begin and foster co-operative relations between the British Association and the American Sociological Society. Another encouraging feature was that 39 students were sufficiently interested to become student members of the association. The executive officers were very helpful throughout, and finally it proved possible to send over a small delegation.

The study of Asian societies has not yet had its share of attention within the framework of comparative sociology as a whole. As one step towards remedying this situation, a one-day conference, called by the British Sociological Association, was held in London, England, at the School of Oriental and African Studies on December 2, 1961, to discuss the position of sociology in Asia. Papers dealing with India, China, Japan, Malaysia, Thailand and Indo-China and Burma were presented at the conference. Coverage was thus fairly comprehensive, though certain areas, including the whole of the Middle East, were left out on this occasion. The aim of speakers present at the conference was to assess the present state of knowledge about societies they were considering, with special reference firstly to sociologists of Asian nationality and secondly to the current contribution of British scholarship. Papers that were presented, while they showed wide variation in the state of sociology in different countries, also showed for Asia as a whole a volume of work being done which western sociologists could ill afford to ignore. Some criticism arose in the discussion of the idea of regional research entrees and of inter-disciplinary teams assembled for area studies. There was discussion also of the alleged problem of translating sociological concepts into Chinese or Japanese.

The paper traces some consequences of characterizing the sociological discipline as an 'occupation.' The concept of 'occupation,' while suffering from abuse, nevertheless retains its reference to the crucial defining process which characterizes sociology. Using the concept of 'occupation' in its sensitizing function, it was suggested that evidence of phenomena in sociology which indicated efforts to achieve orientation could be found by the location and identification of 'pieties' of individual sociologists, by granting recognition to a form of knowledge termed mystique, by the identification of forms of ritual and what was termed 'secular prayer,' a form of character-building and by the location of different 'cognitive styles.' Two styles were mentioned, one being characterized by continuity, the other by 'conversion' experience. These phenomena it was suggested, would best be termed 'cultic' in character. Possible hypotheses were suggested. Some attempt was made to indicate types of interpretations and observations possible using cult as an orientational or sensitizing concept.

This article discusses the book "Readings in the Philosophy of the Social Sciences," edited by May Brodbeck. The author gives attention to three topics discussed in this anthology. The first is the controversy over whether the account of explanation given by sociologist Hempel is applicable in the human as well as in the natural sciences. The second theme in the anthology obviously relevant to sociologist is that of methodological individualism versus holism. Many of the papers in this anthology characterize at one level the alternatives confronting a scientist whose theorizing confronts either empirical or conceptual difficulties. Just because actions are informed by intentions and purposes, and intentions and purposes presuppose beliefs, so a social role-which specifies and prescribes or permits certain courses of action for certain types of person presupposes certain beliefs. The matter of the philosophy of science may not only be regulative as regards the form of our theories and the lessons to be learnt here may well be one that the sociologist now feels have been conveyed to him almost too often-but suggestive as to their content.

The paper attempts to outline some of the major problems and opportunities involved in efforts to apply sociology to social work training. Social work, along with other professional disciplines, is becoming increasingly interested in the application of sociological theory and research to its particular field of activity. Social workers have been encouraged to investigate the social factors surrounding the social and psychological causalities whom they have attempted to help. Social workers' interest in social factors has met, however, some formidable obstacles which have generally prevented them until recently from developing this interest into a fuller exercise of the sociological imagination, an exercise which demands a sound appreciation of sociological theory. The areas of social work research are closely linked and should provide eventually interlocking analyses giving an overall picture of social work practice, for the study of the professional development of social work students leads inevitably to the study of social work practice in its organizational and wider sociocultural setting. The sociology of social work, based as it must be upon theoretical analysis and empirical research can provide for the sociologist a new field of investigation and for the social worker an important part of professional training.

The article presents a paper on the theory of working-class Conservatism. In any study of voting behavior in industrial society, social class would figure prominently as a predictor of party choice and political loyalty. Whilst it is obvious that other influences are brought to bear upon individuals which help to shape their political commitments, such as religious, historical, ethnic, regional factors, and so forth, social class membership has proved to be one of the most reliable single indices of voting behavior. This theory of working-class conservatism would make the notions of deference and class perception unnecessary, in so far as it seeks to encompass both of these within its explanatory orbit. These two concepts differ from the ones employed here in that they are essentially socio-psychological in character, in the sense that they focus upon individual attitudes and perceptions as a means of explaining political behavior.

This paper present results obtained from a study of workers in a British car assembly plant; results which, in certain respects, differ fairly clearly from the pattern which has emerged from previous investigations. In the literature of industrial sociology since World War II studies of workers in car assembly plants have almost certainly outnumbered those of any comparable industrial or occupational group. Furthermore, the findings of these studies have shown a relatively high degree of consistency. In most previous studies of car assembly workers, attention has been given to the way in which assembly-line technology inhibits the formation of cohesive work groups. Although the majority of men work in fairly close proximity to others, the fact that they tend to be strung out along the length of the "track" means that the "development" of specifically group relations is usually impeded; that is to say, workers are prevented from sharing in common networks of social relationships, set off from others by more or less distinct boundaries. Furthermore, following this interpretation, assembly-line technology has also been seen as having important implications for the attitudes of assemblers towards their first-line supervisors. Because of the limits on group formation, it is argued, the relationship between worker and foreman is of increased significance. It was apparent from observation in the assembly departments that the nature of technical organization did in fact largely rule out the possibility of the formation of cohesive work groups.

The purpose of this paper is to review some of the structural determinants of the interaction between the civilian government and military organizations in developing countries. Perhaps the most obvious expressions of this interaction are coups d'état. Both their frequency in recent years and their dramatic quality have ensured their study, mostly by historians and political scientists, rarely by sociologists. Societies always have difficulty in adapting themselves to change, especially where the change undermines the power of existing elites. Military involvement in politics is symptomatic of the centripetality of conflict; the more the dissensus, the more alternative sources of power become involved in the dispute. Military power, by virtue of its organization and equipment, is usually supreme. At first sight it may seem an ideal solution for the management of conflict. But its very supremacy prevents the independent growth of other mechanisms of tension management and limits further change.

The growing application of science and technology to production involves the increasing employment of scientists in industrial organizations. Industry will soon be the main employer of scientists. Nearly 70 per cent of all chemists engaged in research and development work are to be found in industrial laboratories. The research reported here arises out of the now familiar theme that the employment of professionals in organizations gives rise to problems which derive from the conflict between professional and bureaucratic authority. The professional demands autonomy in the exercise of his expert knowledge. But at the same time, he is expected to comply with the demands of the organization which employs him, and in particular is subject to the authority of administrators. This paper will firstly attempt to construct a typology of scientists based on fresh research data. But once it is recognized that there are varying degrees of attachment to scientific values, and that in this sense, there are different types of scientist, the problems of role strain and organizational tension take on a new perspective. In particular, the author will attempt to demonstrate how the mechanisms of occupational choice and selection may reduce the conflicts between scientists and organizations, and the resultant strains.

This article presents a list of books on sociology, received by the "British Journal of Sociology," between January and March 1964. Some of the books include "Local Government in Developing Countries," by H.F. Alderfer, "The English Voter," by A.J. Allen, "Dimensions of Work," by N. Anderson, "The People Called Shakers," by E.D. Andrews and "Population and Society in the Arab East," by G. Baer.

Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, are a group of countries that have boundaries with each other and lie between India and China. In all but Vietnam, Theravada Buddhism is the predominant religion. Apart from these resemblances, the pattern of cultures and of political trends is variegated and complex. Thailand, however, is relatively homogeneous in culture and tranquil in politics. Yet in spite of its notorious charm, it has not attracted many field investigators. The major exception to this is the work of the Cornell University Thailand Project, and especially its study from 1948 to 1958 of the village of Bang Chan near Bangkok. From the improvised fieldwork in a north-east province the impression one gets is that some factors that divide and cause conflict within other societies are absent or at least well concealed in Thailand. The Thai intelligence is pragmatic rather than theoretical and hitherto sociology has had no very great appeal in Thailand. Of countries in the list, the one most fitted by temperament and intellectual tradition to produce its own sociologists is probably Vietnam. Unfortunately the widespread political disturbance is an adverse factor.

The purpose of this short paper is to review the present the position of industrial sociology as an academic discipline as of September 1959. It will focus therefore on its approach, its field of inquiry, the selection of problems for study, methods used and the present provision for its pursuit. The treatment given to the article is analytical rather than descriptive, since it can be assumed that most sociologists will have some knowledge of particular developments and various researches in this field, and only passing reference will therefore be made to them. There is still a tendency to use the term industrial sociology compendiously, to refer to all developments in the study of social relations in industry, in a manner which is reminiscent of the way in which the role of sociology itself was seen at one time simply as synoptic. This tendency of course is indicative of the developmental stage of the subject, but is quite illegitimate and emphasizes the need for clarification of the special position of industrial sociology.

This article discusses, by way of general outline, some of the recent sociological treatments of conflict in industrial relations by U.S. social scientists. Conflict in this paper is measured primarily in the form of the strike. The first text in the field of industrial sociology, Wilbert Moore's Industrial Relations and the Social Order, however, goes beyond the cursory description of the broad environmental factors in industrial conflict. In two chapters devoted to conflict, he outlines the range or types of collective bargaining relations, from extreme conflict, to issue bargaining, to problem bargaining, and to cooperation. There has been, however, an attempt to use a basically human relations approach towards conflict between a union and its management. It is William F. Whyte's Pattern for Industrial Peace. It is a case-study of the union-management relations in a small subsidiary plant of the Inland Steel Company, in Chicago, of less than 1,000 employees. It traces the development of these relations, through the improvement of the nature of the personal contacts between union officials and managers, from conflict to co-operation in a brief span of seven years. The study itself took place after the event, a fact which mitigates the value of the interpretation by Whyte.

This article highlights the first conference of the British Sociological Association held in London, England on March 27-29, 1953. The conference was attended by 233 persons of whom 125 were members of the Association. The theme was Social Policy and the Social Sciences. The conference opened with a plenary session which was addressed by Myrdal on the Relation Between Social Theory and Social Policy. For the second day the conference divided into three groups, each of which devoted its attention to a topic chosen to illustrate the general theme. The three topics chosen for group discussion were: health; design and planning of buildings, towns and countryside; needs and standards in the social services.

This article discusses the concepts of cybernetics and social science. Cybernetics is the analytic study of the isomorphisms of communication structure in mechanisms, organisms and societies. On the other hand, the development of science as a social enterprise is a function of the growth of certain new kinds of communication and their formalization into patterns of behaviour. The immediate origin of cybernetics is to be found in the development of calculating machines, of guided missiles and of the anatomy and physiology of the brain. The problems of the sociology of scientific organization are intrinsically interesting and of contemporary concern. One of the major problems of sociology is the difficulty of knowing when a prediction is fulfilled or falsified. This paper will also deal on the status and sociological relevance of cybernetics itself. There is, however, a fundamental weakness in the whole of the cybernetic analysis of purpose. Purposive behaviour in cybernetics is a consequence of an overt change in the milieu. There may be no new science of cybernetics but there is at least a stimulus for a large number of already existing disciplines.

The present article is an effort to extend the investigation of informal patterns within the discipline by focusing on the relationship between the doctoral origins of session organizers and participants in the Annual Meetings of the American Sociological Association. In this study the author will be concerned with two issues: An examination of the pattern indicated in his 1971 study, that is, do session organizers with doctorates from Chicago, Columbia, or Harvard tend to favour as participants individuals who also hold doctorates from these three schools. This is in keeping with the session, several sessions in each Annual Meeting were excluded from this study; a discussion of findings from several recent empirical studies in the sociology of sociology with the aim of integrating such findings into an explanatory scheme. Originally, the author intended to examine the Annual Meetings for the last five years 1966-70. This is in keeping with the session, several sessions in each Annual Meeting were excluded from this study.

American sociology is distinguished from British and continental European sociology by, among other things, a lack of interest in identifying and measuring social class, as distinct from social status. Indices of occupational prestige ratings have served as indices of social status. This article explicates the most popular American scale of occupational prestige ratings, and concludes that this index is not a plausible index either of the relative prestige of occupations or of social status, and furthermore, that such an index in principle is not obtainable. The errors of proponents of the scale lie in an idealistic theory of the social order and repetition of the classic mistake once committed, but now long avoided, by economists: aggregation of subjective evaluations. A well-known characteristic feature of American sociology, in contrast to British and continental European sociology, has been the absence of serious attempts to establish numerical indices of social class. Yet there have been a number of attempts to establish indices of what is variously known as social status or socio-economic status, mainly by means of polled verbal evaluations of occupations.

Roots of the increasingly close collaboration between sociology and medical care are to be found partly in a common interest in certain aspects of disease and therapy and partly in their similarity of approach to research problems. This article reports a study in the sociology of medical care that is characterized not only by the multiplicity of disciplines represented in it, but also by the cross-cultural comparisons which it introduces. It is concerned with the contribution that the study makes to the refinement and development of social theory, and especially to the theory of illness and sick-role behaviour given by sociologist T. Parson. The article presents data from three small-scale populations surveys, in different cultures to examine some of the components of Parsons' analysis of illness and sick-role behaviour. Central issues concern the criteria that define entry into and performance in the sick role, and they are both conceptual and methodological issues. The underlying objective is to examine sociology of illness and illness behaviour.

This article focuses on the theory of sociology given by sociologist Talcott Parsons. The fate of the functional requisites in Parsonian sociology can be regarded as happy or sad according to one's theoretical predilections. It has been shown that in many respects the development and changes that have taken place in and around the concept have reflected the development and changes in Parson's theory of society. The caveat on theory-building expressed in the book "The Structure of Social Action," has held good over the years as of March 1970. This is especially the case with respect to the universal imperatives. They are not subject to change for they are not empirical realities; they are, however, real in their consequences for social systems and for the structure of social organization in terms of all human societies. Parsons has made and elaborated the important distinction between social and personality systems in such a fashion that old notions of the individual versus the society have been seen to be inadequate. This is particularly relevant here as it paves the way to an understanding of individual and social requisites of human society, though Parsons himself has not taken full advantage of the possibilities in this context.

This article deals with sociology in India. It does not attempt to review all the sociological work which is being done at present in India. The background of Indian sociology is outlined, some present styles of work are discussed and finally the place of Indian studies in British sociology is considered. Sociology was first introduced into Indian universities some forty years ago, in 1919 in Bombay, India-based University of Bombay. But the discipline grew very slowly thereafter. Much of the theoretical writing was devoted to presenting speculative schemes of social evolution and it was remote from the major intellectual controversies of the times. Empirical research was almost entirely descriptive and largely confined to the sphere of social work or social problems in the narrow sense. There are two particularly important reasons which account for the lack of progress. In the first place, Indian sociology, like other disciplines, was intellectually dependent upon British universities and since academic sociology in Great Britain itself developed slowly in this period it was hardly to be expected that it should burst into vigorous life in India. Secondly, while sociology is not necessarily subversive it is always likely to engender social criticism, in order to flourish it needs, in greater measure than many other disciplines, a general freedom of thought and it does not flourish under authoritarian, or colonial, governments.

The article presents a symposium on family and kin ties in Great Britain and their social implication. Kinship in Britain, pervasive, intangible, still largely unstudied, with its significance either not appreciated or in danger of being overestimated, such was the background to the conference on family and kin ties in Britain and their social implications, that was held in London under the joint auspices of the British Sociological Association and the Association of Social Anthropologists. One finding of the conference was the decision by the British Sociological Association to set up a small Working Party to pursue the subject further, in particular by discussion of work in progress. One major question discussed was methods in kinship study. Exchanges of view seem to indicate that methods and techniques in vogue at present are reasonably satisfactory. As regards substantial propositions regarding kinship in Britain, it is clear that yet, Britain lacks adequate body of broad comparative data.

This article offers recommendations for the study of minority groups. Relatively little is gained by their classification according to external characteristics into ethnic, culture, language, racial, religious, etc., groups. A better understanding of individual social systems and sub-systems of this type can probably be reached by classifying them according to true sociological categories such as relative closure. In this respect it should be found that one and the same group will at different stages of its development conform with different sociological types. Furthermore, in some cases religious, ethnic or racial groups can be legitimately grouped together, while in others the fact that several minorities are being classified as, let us say, ethnic groups does not indicate that they belong to the same sociological category. The possibility should be kept in mind that at times populations which are conventionally considered as social groups of the type discussed in this paper do not at sill represent real functioning social systems, but that reference is actually being made to status categories within a given social system. It is not permissible to treat groups of immigrants as if they were simply fractions of the peoples from which they are derived since they may be, and often are, the result of secondary group formations due to conditions prevailing in the new social environment rather than in the old country.

Presents news briefs related to sociology publications as of December 1950. Issues of the periodical Planning of interest to sociologists; Paper on the matrilineal social organization of the Nagas of Assam released by K. M. Kapadia; Pamphlets on the sociology of education.

Presents news briefs concerning the field of sociology in Great Britain as of December 1952. Initiation of a conference by the British Sociological Association from March 27 to March 29, 1953 at King's College of Household and Social Science in London, England; Information on the Second World Congress of Sociology being organized by the International Sociological Association from August 24 to September 1, 1953; Appearance of the obituary of Professor T. Geiger in the March 1953 issue of the "British Journal of Sociology."

This article presents information regarding the sociology of anti-institution. Most social groups or collectivities, other than those of a most impermanent kind, seek to perpetuate their existence and identity over time. The modern formal organization, for example, tends to adopt a rational, bureaucratic structure in order to ensure its survival, i.e., it sets rational goals, assesses the efficiency of performances in pursuit of those goals, specifies behaviour requirements in written rules or an understood code of conduct, replaces inefficient personnel, clearly demarcates lines of authority to minimize conflicting claims, plans for unforeseen contingencies, socializes personnel to play the required roles, and trains successors to take over the leadership when required. Face-to-face few individuals could match W.B. Curry, in set pieces he was almost irresistible to both adults and children. But just occasionally the collective illusion was pierced. A very real danger was that the pupil society which was vulnerable to his manipulation might also fall sway to an alternative leader, now and again, a boisterous boy with a kind of natural authority would magnetize a group and begin to define deviance as social so that it threatened to become a slavishly followed norm.

This article presents information regarding methodological implications of symbolic interactionism for the study of deviance. Theoretically symbolic interactionism rests on three primitive assumptionst reality as it is sensed, known and understood is a social production. As such it consists of social objects, the meanings of which arise out of the behaviours persons direct towards them. Humans are granted the capacity to engage in minded, self-reflexive behaviour. In the course of taking their own standpoint and fitting that standpoint to the behaviours of others, humans interact with one another. Interaction is seen as an emergent, negotiated, often times unpredictable concern. Interaction is symbolic simply because minded, self-reflexive behaviour demands the manipulation of symbols, words, meanings and diverse languages. Language refers to all the utterances, gestures and movements one interactant communicates to self or other. It is viewed as a conversation of gestures arising out of the interaction process. Interactants can communicate in a silent-gestural language or in a set of personally specific vocal utterances. Their languages may transcend situations.

The sociology of leisure can be illuminated by examining the four main themes that have preoccupied its contributors. These preoccupations are: the definitions of leisure, the diffusion of leisure, Leisure and life styles, Macro and micro-social perspectives on leisure. According to the Countryside Recreation and Research Advisory Group(CRRAG), leisure is the time available to the individual when the disciplines of work, sleep and other basic needs have been met. The essential elements of leisure, an antithesis to "work" as an economic function, a pleasant expectation and recollection, a minimum of involuntary social-role obligations, a psychological perception of freedom, a close relation to the values of the culture, the inclusion of an entire range from inconsequence and insignificance to weightiness and importance and often, but not necessarily, an activity characterized by the element of play. Leisure is none of these by itself but all together in one emphasis or another."

In this article the author focuses on the controversy surrounding sociologist Thomas S. Kuhn's book entitled "The Structure of Scientific Revolution." The author here makes two points that are raised for sociology by Kuhn's argument. The first point will detail the non-radical and the radical responses to his account, both responses being characterized by a belief that Kuhn's argument about natural scientific development somehow legitimates the sort of sociology they are currently practicing. The second point is that it does not follow from this that Kuhn is of no interest to sociologists; on the contrary, he has an extremely interesting although limited sociology of natural scientific knowledge. What are the non-radical and radical sociological reactions that have developed or could develop in response to this thesis? Central to both and to Kuhn's argument is the notion of a paradigm. The none radical sociological reaction is the claim that if sociology is to develop it must transcend the present situation where there are multitudinous pre-pre-paradigms competing with each other, where work is done at all sorts of levels and significance, and where there is excessive methodological neurosis.

In this article the author focuses on the sociological career in Great Britain. The author remarks that as a student he knew nothing of working-class life, and the great industrial north was a nightmare land of smoke and grime through which one had to travel to get from London to the Lake District. At Cambridge he read history, which was at that time, with a few exceptions, very badly taught. The experience was not, on the whole, either attractive or enlightening. Nevertheless his whole outlook on life changed very rapidly. Although, history was in general badly taught at Cambridge in the years just before the First World War, there were two teachers who not only taught the author a lot but also left their mark on his subsequent career. The author says that if only he had been a sociologist then, what an opportunity this would have given him to study, by participant observation and any other survey method not requiring a computer, the emergence of a structured society from a miscellaneous collection of individuals flung together by chance in a confined space and its subsequent fortunes.

This article presents a note stating that the Max Weber Centennial Commission has been established in order to mark the year 1964 as the one-hundredth anniversary of the birth of the German social scientist Max Weber by focusing attention on Weber's impact on the social sciences. The Commission is designed to co-ordinate the efforts of co-operating institutions of higher learning and academic organizations by arranging visiting professorships, exchange lectureships, seminars, and institutes. The activities of the commission will culminate into a symposium to be held in April 1964 in Kansas City.

This section presents a list of reviewed books on sociology published in the September 1952 issue of the "British Journal of Sociology."

Differences between residential institutions may be greater than existing theory on the subject would have one to believe. The study describes the development of a questionnaire to assess the ways boys in approved schools perceive their social environment. Considerable differences were found between schools and it is concluded that approved school training is not homogeneous form of treatment. The differences could be explained by a number of factors. First, the questions could have been answered differently if schools had differed in the percentage of boys faking good or faking bad. A second source of spurious variation could have been tendency for some boys to agree with any statement favorable or unfavorable. A third source of variation may have resulted from halo effect. Thus while the act of faking good or faking bad would have involved a deliberate effort on the part of the respondent, it is also possible for a respondent to genuinely believe that all is right, or alternatively everything is wrong, with his surroundings. There is an evidence of large differences in the way approved schools are perceived and have produced a questionnaire for measuring these differences. This or similar questionnaires may play a useful part in the increasingly important field of cross-institutional research.