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Based upon research in the state of Bihar, India, this article argues that informal access to medicines in Northern India is a core element of the government of healthcare. Informal providers such as unlicensed village doctors and unlicensed drug sellers play a major role in access to medicines in Bihar, in the particular context of the dismantling of public procurement services. Building on recent works in the socio-anthropology of pharmaceuticals, the article shows the importance of taking into account the political economy of drugs in India, in order to understand local problems of access more fully. If informal providers occupy such an important position in the government of healthcare in India, this is partly due to the shaping of healthcare as access to drugs on health markets. Elaborating the argument from interviews with health professionals and patients, the article first shows the situation of public healthcare and public procurement in Bihar; then it presents the role of informal medicine providers; lastly, it shows how patients deal with the fact that they live in a ‘pharmaceutical world’ where access to health equates with access to medicines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the distinction between expressive and instrumental motives, six theoretical mechanisms for the formation of trust relationships are elaborated and empirically tested. When expressive motives drive tie formation, individuals primarily attach emotional value to social relationships. Three mechanisms have been tested: the homophily, the balancing, and the gossiping effect. When instrumental, control-related, motives drive tie formation, actors strategically establish relationships because of their potential use for the realization of material benefits or the avoidance of material losses. Again, three mechanisms have been tested: the signalling, the sharing group and the structural hole effect. Longitudinal data come from a sociometric panel study of 17 members of the management team of a German paper factory. Actor-oriented statistical modelling shows that all effects significantly affect trust formation separately. In a simultaneous test incorporating all six mechanisms, the pattern of structural holes turns out to be the major predictor of network evolution. The implications of structural hole theory for modelling the evolution of intra-organizational networks are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This section introduces several articles related to Chinese sociology, published in the December 1989 issue of the Journal International Sociology.

Copyright of International Sociology is the property of Sage Publications Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of International Sociology is the property of Sage Publications Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

An interview with 2010 International Sociologists Association (ISA) Worldwide Competition for Junior Sociologists winners Rachel Busbridge and Sunne Billingsley is presented. When asked about the winning paper submitted, Rachel tells that her research focuses on the politics of recognition for Arab-Australians while Sunnee made a paper on the social effects of market reform in post-Communist nations. Both Busbridge and Billingsley were recognized as competition winners at the ISA Gottenburg Congress in July 2010.

Copyright of International Sociology is the property of Sage Publications Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of International Sociology is the property of Sage Publications Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of International Sociology is the property of Sage Publications Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of International Sociology is the property of Sage Publications Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article provides information on the conference on The Sociology of Social Security. Innovation and Change, held by the ISA Research Committee on Poverty, Social Welfare and Social Policy and the Department of Health and Social Policy Studies, University of Bergen, in collaboration with the International Social Security Association, held in Bergen, Norway in June 1984. Forty-eight people from 15 countries and 4 continents participated. The general aim of the conference was an assessment and comparison across national boundaries as to the present situation of social security research. The specific topic was innovation and change. During the last few years social security systems have been under pressure in most countries. Some of the suggestions represent innovations with great potential for change, while others are merely repetitions of recommendations which have accompanied the social security system from its early days. The conference papers touched on several of these issues. In focus were the distributional effects of different kinds of social security benefits, analyses of decision-making forces within the social security system and their relevance--or lack of such to the administration of the system, and the political forces influencing the future of social security.

In sociological theorising there is often too much disembodied 'structure' and 'process' without actors, or actors and action without structure. This paper proposes a solution to this dilemma with the conceptual aid of (1) so-called process matrices within which parameters of correlation, compability and contradiction of processes can be defined, and (2) actor-process matrices within which parameters of actor-process specialisation, crystallization, polarisation and criss-cross are defined. This relatively uninterpreted and formal conceptual framework is then applied and interpreted in terms of Marxist historical materialism, which in this manner can be seen as a special instance of actor-process theory comparable with, for instance, the theories of Durkheim and Parsons. Finally, part of the interpreted Marxist version of actor-process theory is applied to an analysis of the 'dynamic inefficiency of capitalism' as diagnosed by Kelvin Lancaster, and an evaluation sought of some recent reforms within Swedish Social Democracy in terms of this Marxist actor-process model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To explore how people attribute meanings to climate change in Taiwan, this study applied social representations theory (SRT) to develop a self-report semi-structured questionnaire that was used to collect data. To fill a research gap, structural equation modeling (SEM) was adopted to examine the determinants of social representation factors that may affect the public's intentions to engage in pro-environmental behaviors (PEBs). Exploratory factor analysis results obtained from 180 valid online responses indicated four factors for social representations of climate change, namely Emerging Climate Change Risk, Media Coverage and Influence, Psychological Distance, and Pro-environmental Behavior Intentions. The results of SEM analysis obtained from the total of 245 valid online and paper-and-pencil responses revealed that Emerging Climate Change Risk and Media Coverage and Influence helped explain the public's PEBs intentions, but Psychological Distance did not. This exploratory study provides preliminary knowledge of public understanding of and response toward climate change in the Taiwanese society and demonstrates a novel application of SEM analysis to test the direct effects of social representations of climate change on PEB intentions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of International Sociology is the property of Sage Publications Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses articles in the issue on topics including the expansion of men's rights movements, the emotions of femicide perpetrators in Latin America, and the feasibility of using the United Nations Statistical Framework to identify femicide.

Copyright of International Sociology is the property of Sage Publications Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of International Sociology is the property of Sage Publications Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of International Sociology is the property of Sage Publications Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of International Sociology is the property of Sage Publications Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This overview of the publication market for sociologists in Austria also examines a few recent publications by Austrian sociologists. Writing in German, Austrian sociologists are highly dependent on the market in neighbouring Germany, where approximately one-third of the books written by Austrians are published. Particular deficiencies of books by Austrians published in Austria are careless editing, indexing and copy editing. Among types of publication, most common are volumes of collected papers and monographs. A small number of publications attempt 'diagnoses of the era', addressing a larger audience. Core areas are the history of sociology and the humanities, immigration and the labour market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The world's centre of gravity is changing, from the North Atlantic to Eastern Asia. As world centres of knowledge have correlated historically with world centres of power, this ongoing geopolitical change is likely to bring changes also to the global map of cognition. Knowledge and power are intrinsically related, knowledge is power, it is based on power, and it produces instruments of power. Moreover, the vistas of social scientists and scholars are always circumscribed by the power relations of the social world they are studying. A way of looking into this is to analyse the concepts and the narratives they use and produce. What features do they highlight, and what do they hide? Cognitive change is driven by two kinds of change, change (i.e. new discovery) of evidence, and change of power. On a macro scale, the major forces of power change bearing upon cognitive change have been social mobilizations, for example, of classes, women, and ethnic groups, the rise and decline of states, and, third, economic or ecological crises disrupting the functioning of existing powers. Indigenization and de-Westernization are different programmes. The former is synonymous with nativization and rooting in the particular culture of a population, whereas the latter may be, and often is, an emancipation from Western cultural domination in the name of another universalistic culture. De-Westernization is inherently confrontational, whereas indigenization may range from supplementary to isolationist. Academic indigenization and de-Westernization have in their cognitive challenges similarities with contemporary critical identity movements, such as feminism and ethnic movements. The cognitive challenges mounted by both types of currents proceed across four levels of cognitive depths, claiming canon inclusion of certain thinkers and role models, questioning and rejection of prevailing social narratives, practising new forms of knowledge production, and fourth epistemological or meta-sociological reflections on the old and the new knowledge paradigms. Indigenization should be treated as a limited supplementary project, whereas de-Westernization is likely to advance. It should be an opening of global horizons, not a closure. Pluralism of critique, challenge, and search for other, better ways are decisive for the development of knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is an analysis of the identity patterns of Muslims and Christians. the two largest minority communities in India, based on a field study in Lucknow. The focus of the paper is on ethnicity' as a social construction of reality by the individual as a member of the minority ethnic group. The self-society axis in the ethnic sphere of existence manifested in private and public identities has been studied from the perspective of the phenomenological sociology of knowledge. Theoretical partnership with structural Marxism permits the construction of a mapping of 14 identity categories of minoritiness-minoritisation for 230 case histories which cast doubt on mechanistic and monolithic notions of minority communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports the results of a cross-national research study examining the argument that the values and attitudes generated by post-industrial society tend to be incongruent with the imperatives of industrialism. The empirical findings suggest that the 'economic culture' of the Western public, as indicated by attitudes toward economic growth and technological change, as well as by work-values and commitment, is generally supportive of the logic of industrialism. However, there also exists evidence for significant inter- and intra-societal differences which reflect the mediation of various contextual effects on the outcomes of industrialisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper takes up the question of historical subjects, social agency and working-class consciousness by examining a recent case, that of the role of industrial workers in the 1978-79 Iranian Revolution and in the political and social struggles of the Islamic Republic. Combining structural analysis and an interview with a founding member of a radical factory council in Tabriz, the paper examines the linkages between economic development, social structure and class politics, suggesting that cultural and economic arrangements are critical factors in understanding working-class consciousness and politics, and workers' capacity for both independent action (i.e. as part of the industrial proletariat) and collective action (i.e. as part of a mass, revolutionary movement). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The conditions under which men and women can claim benefits from the British State income maintenance systems have always been different. This paper shows that one of the main reasons for this is that men's and women's work is assumed to be, and indeed it is thought, ought to be, different. Men's work is, or should, be located in the labour market and is paid: they are breadwinners. In contrast women are primarily dependants whose unpaid work within the family as wives, mothers and daughters only rarely, and then reluctantly, gives rise to a claim to a state benefit. As a result the development of women's claims to maintenance from the state have always been constrained by the desire not to erode women's incentives to give priority to their caring responsibilities or work within the family. Women's paid work in the labour market is accorded less importance than men's work and their claims to maintenance from the state both determine, and are determined by, their relationship to their families as well as to the formal labour market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper advocates internationalising the sociology curriculum for both practical and theoretical reasons. Macro-sociology must drop the parochialism of implicitly confining itself to intra-state phenomena, based on Western historical experience, and develop a conceptual framework adequate to deal with the emergent transnational scene and transnational global structures and processes of change. Correspondingly, the sociology curriculum must be geared to increasing the international competency of students, both undergraduates and graduates. Doing so will attract better undergraduates seeking careers in the international field, and will for graduates provide training and research that will promote the number of sociologists actually engaged in international studies. Specific recommendations to internationalise the sociology curriculum include (1) an introductory course dealing with large-scale phenomena and their global interdependence and manifestations, including major attention to colonial situations, (2) a topical course on major international issues and problems, (3) a methodological training course in comparative analysis, and (4) a senior seminar regarding the international sphere and its impact or relation to the local national setting. To complement the course work, the curriculum should also provide field research and an internship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using the theoretical framework developed in the first paper ('Unfulfilled Systemic Functions of Social Mobility: A Theoretical Scheme'), we analyse the Polish case. We argue that the contribution of collective mobility to politico-revolutionary legitimation processes has been minimal and the contribution of individual mobility to the economic development and to economico-reformist legitimation processes has also been negligible. Our research strategy has been to demonstrate that many aspects of mobility processes taking place in Poland are incompatible with conditions that we have listed in the first paper as conducive to the formation of legitimation beliefs and the sustenance of economic efficiency. Specifically we demonstrate that (1) because collective mobility of the working class and the peasantry encompassed several changes in their economic and cultural positions but did not include major changes in their political position, it could not contribute to the politico-revolutionary legitimation and (2), because individual mobility did not occur according to the qualificational/occupational principle of allocation, promotion and remuneration, it could not contribute to the economico-reformist legitimation nor could it sustain effective utilisation of human resources in economic development. We conclude that the chance to use mobility for the systems's benefit has been wasted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contrary to the views of some Marxists, we are firmly convinced that social mobility is not a 'bourgeois problematic'. We believe that, given certain preconditions, mobility processes may contribute significantly to the effective functioning of a socialist socio-economic system. In this respect they have great potential but the effective utilization of that potential is problematic. So far the sociology of socialist countries has paid little attention to the systemic meaning of social mobility. In an attempt to change this state of affairs, we are endeavouring here to pave the way for research into two possible functions of mobility for the social system.' By such functions, we understand: (a) the legitimation of the social and political system; (b) an incentive to processes of economic development and to efficiency. Two types of mobility are distinguished in this text and linked to their potential contribution to the functioning of the socio-political system. The collective-class type mobility is considered relevant to 'politico-revolutionary' legitimation, and individual occupational-qualificational type mobility is considered relevant for both 'economico-reformist' legitimation and incentive for economic growth and efficiency. In this paper the authors try to develop a theoretical scheme for sociological and historical analysis, and in a following paper they spell out some tentative substantive hypotheses related to the Polish case. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of International Sociology is the property of Sage Publications Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of International Sociology is the property of Sage Publications Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of International Sociology is the property of Sage Publications Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of International Sociology is the property of Sage Publications Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This review article assesses recent developments and perspectives in the history of sociology as evidenced in two recently published conference volumes emanating from the ISA Research Committee on History of Sociology. Both these volumes address questions arising from recent debates in the discipline about the nature and role of sociology in the public domain. The article argues that history of sociology is ‘coming of age’ in the richness of topics, and varieties of methodological approaches and perspectives used in attempts more firmly to ground the sociological enterprise in its changing cultural and geographic contexts. The article also raises critical questions about the role of the history of sociology in contributing to a sharpened understanding of the complex and contradictory role of sociology in relation to its publics, and to the meaning of globalization in social science, both in theory and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scientometrics has become a popular discipline, both as a field of study and a set of methods. Scientometric studies are carried out at varying levels from micro to macro. Institutions of higher learning and governments adopt scientometric measures to inform their decisions and to develop policies pertaining to ranking, standing, funding, impact, visibility and future plans. Institutions, countries and scholars can be evaluated using reliable scientometric indicators which are meaningful instruments in the study of disciplines. Scientometrics serves the purpose of determining the future of academic disciplines as well. However, it has not been applied to the study of the social sciences, including sociology, as much as it has been used in science disciplines. In this essay the need for scientometric studies in the study of sociology is put forward. Reviewing some prominent studies, the essay shows applicable models for scientometric studies for the study of sociology. As the use of scientometrics has not been effectively applied to qualitative studies, the essay presents the potential of scientometric data for qualitative studies of sociology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of International Sociology is the property of Sage Publications Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of International Sociology is the property of Sage Publications Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of International Sociology is the property of Sage Publications Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of International Sociology is the property of Sage Publications Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of International Sociology is the property of Sage Publications Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of International Sociology is the property of Sage Publications Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of International Sociology is the property of Sage Publications Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of International Sociology is the property of Sage Publications Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Sociological research in South Africa presents characteristic features in line with its historical and political phases. This article maps the production of sociological research in South Africa during the apartheid and democratic periods. The data used in the article were drawn from the publication records of South African scholars stored in the database of the Web of Science (WoS). A total of 2342 publications representing the period 1970-2015 was sampled for this scientometric analysis. Employing appropriate statistical tests, the article examines the role of collaboration in the production of sociological knowledge in South Africa, and the relationships that exist among collaboration, international partnerships, subject areas and citations. The analysis shows that South African sociological research has distinctive characteristics that represent the two periods of study. It has benefitted from collaboration, both domestic and international. Collaboration continues to grow in specific subject fields of sociological research in South Africa, and has importance in the visibility of sociological research in the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Massive post-war migrations have posed a fundamental challenge to the nation-states of North-Western Europe. Constructing an ideal-typical model of nation-state membership, this paper begins by specifying the multiply anomalous character of the membership status of immigrants. Next, it seeks to explain the striking and persisting difference in the citizenship status and chances of immigrants in France and Germany. While birth and residence in France automatically transform second-generation immigrants into citizens, birth and residence in Germany have no bearing on citizenship. Vis-à-vis immigrants, the French citizenry is defined expansively, as a territorial community, the German citizenry restrictively, as a community of descent. These diverging definitions of the citizenry embody and express distinctive understandings of nationhood, state-centred and assimilationist in France, ethnocultural and `differentialist' in Germany. Focusing on pivotal moments in the shaping and reshaping of citizenship law -- the 1880s in France, the Wilhelmine era in Germany -- this paper argues that the politics of citizenship vis-à-vis immigrants has been informed by distinctive national self-under-standings, deeply rooted in political and cultural geography and powerfully reinforced at particular historical conjunctures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This comment is stimulated by Max Haller's contribution The Challenge for Comparative Sociology in the Transformation of Europe which appeared in the 1990 issue of International Sociology, and takes it as a starting point and as a challenge for some basic reflections on how to approach the emerging European society. This article gives a short abstract of Haller's argument and appreciates its merits and examines some of his propositions. This will allow the author to formulate a significantly different position. The last paragraph draws some conclusions. Although he does not make this point extremely explicit, the intention behind Haller's paper is, in the author's perception, to demonstrate that Europe is an optimal constellation for making international and intercultural comparisons. Thus, the problems he has to solve are what to compare with what, why, and how. But it is clear that in his view Europe forms an entity, with nations as sub-units. The paper's argument starts with crisis phenomena in Europe and continues to describe Europe's striking internal differentiation. The unity and diversity of Europe are seen as optimal preconditions for comparative research, where unity means external delimitation and internal interlinkage, and diversity means internal differentiation.

The four articles that appeared in the 1990 issue of the journal "International Sociology," by William Rogers Brubaker; Dongno Kim, Solomon Mombeshora and Nao Oyama, have won the first Worldwide Competition for Young Sociologists that the International Sociological Association (ISA) launched in 1988. The fifth winning paper, by Lu Jianhua, will be published in the March 1991 issue of the journal "International Sociology." All authors are under 35 years of age. Being the top winners of an international competition for young intellectuals, these papers could be read as indicators of the topics and ways of thinking characteristic of the rising generation. However, that they deserve first to be read for what they are: to put it simply, first-grade articles. Started three years ago in very hazardous conditions, this first Worldwide Competition ended up landing in its net a rich catch of 335 papers written in ten different languages and coming from all parts of the world. As such it was not only a competition; it was also an experiment, yielding unexpected and at times very surprising results. This is why it may be of interest to retrace, however briefly, its short history and salient features. The idea of such a competition was first put forward in March 1987 by Margaret Archer, who had in summer 1986 been elected President of the International Sociological Association for four years. Chairing the first meeting of the new Executive Committee, making people understand that ISA finances were quite low, she nevertheless expressed her wish to reach out towards the immense regions of the so-called Third Worlds where the ISA was little known.

Theoretically, this paper deals with two problems: firstly, how we can understand the relationship between the macro social structure and micro individual social action, and secondly, if the modernisation theorists failed to explain the process of modernisation, how we can grasp the radical social change which has occurred in Third World countries in recent decades. With this general theoretical orientation, this paper investigates the transformation of a social norm, familism, in Korea during her transition from peasant society to industrial society. This paper argues that, although there are some ideological elements, such as Confucianism and nationalism, social actions of Korean people in both traditional and contemporary society have been strongly motivated by their economic and political interests. This tendency is especially prominent among urban middle- and upper-class people in modern Korean society, who were beneficiaries of economic growth since the 1960s. Under the distorted structural conditions of industrialisation, these people actively transformed traditional familism into modern, amoral familism. In the end, the pursuit of individual interests and rationality in the process of industrialisation has brought about collective irrationality, destroying the traditional cooperative mechanisms of human interaction in peasant society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]