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This paper examines ‘alternative institutions’ in a variety of institutional domains as participatory-democratic modes of organization. Grounded in comparative data, it posits structural conditions, both internal to an organization and in its environment, which support or undermine the achievement of its collectivist-democratic ideals. While the literature on social movement organizations well demonstrates the fragility of democratic systems and their tendency toward oligarchization, goal displacement, and organizational maintenance, this work suggests, in propositional form, conditions which militate against these all-too-common transformation patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines attempts to synthesize three micro-level sociological theories, namely symbolic interaction, exchange theory, and the construction of social reality. The author argues that although these perspectives are not based on totally in- comparable assumptions, previous attempts to synthesize have not been useful in directing the course of research. An alternative to theoretical synthesis, using multiple perspectives, is suggested, and examples of multiple paradigm use are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes two analytical concepts that can be derived from and added to the theory of action. Using these concepts, a systematic exploration of the relationship between the pattern variables and the generalised media is given. A matrix of sanction situations generates four ideal-types of sanction interaction in which actors' orientations are aligned and twelve with misaligned orientations. A link with the joint action of symbolic interactionism is suggested and the use of a more developed concept of interaction recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents Peter M. Hall's response to Rosabeth Moss Kanter's comments toward his article "A Symbolic Interactionist Analysis of Politics," published in the 1972 issue of "Sociological Inquiry." The author concludes that Kanter misunderstands his perspective by subsuming it under American liberalism. If there is anything that he is not, it is an American liberal, and if there is anything he is criticizing in American sociology, political sociology, and symbolic interaction, it is consensual, pluralistic, and liberal bias. Hall also does not deny the need to see the totality of the society, its interdependencies, feedbacks, and impacts, in short, society as a system. To settle misconceptions, Hall emphasized that his paper had a special focus and set limits as to its goals and coverage. It was not intended to be a complete analysis of politics nor a complete analysis of American politics.

The article presents authors personal thoughts on the pursuit of sociological problems. The author intends to retrace his steps along one path of his intellectual career--the path that links two books, titled, "Social Change in the Industrial Revolution," and "Theory of Collective Behavior," and a number of recent articles and papers on sociological theory and psychological theory. The main emphasis in the article was on the need for a determinate synthesis of the several classes of variables that are essential for the explanation of collective behavior such as cultural, social, psychological, ecological and other variables. In attempting to sort out the major influences on his choice of sociological problems, he resorts to a device that he find congenial and helpful: to arrange these influences in a series extending from very general, predisposing influences which have steered his intellectual interests to the very specific, immediate influences that have determined a particular strategy of analysis in working on a sociological problem.

This paper reviews the literature providing reasons for why battered women“stay” in abusive relationships and examines the emergence of images of battered women as“survivors” in early and contemporary activists’ discourses, drawing on ideas from social constructionist approaches to social problems, identity, and deviance to explore this phenomenon. Most of the early representations of battered women I analyze emphasize their emotionality and their victimization, while the more recent constructions of this collective identity discussed here emphasize their rationality and their agency. Both“victim” and“survivor” typifications provide accounts for why battered women stay in violent relationships, thus providing a vocabulary of motive for this oft-imputed“deviance.” Constructing battered women as survivors, however, may also remediate some of the stigma that can attach to victimization more generally. After situating victim and survivor discourses and considering how the image of a survivor may meet normative expectations that a victim image perhaps violates, I briefly discuss some implications of these alternate collective identities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers elaborations on current knowledge about social-movement framing processes and cognitive liberation, especially regarding technical controversies and not-in-my-backyard (NIMBY) protest. The social-constructionist lens of the framing perspective also allows refinements in conventional explanations of NIMBY conflicts. Attention is given to the dynamics of emergence, continuity, and change in framing strategies over time in controversy regarding the U.S. Army's chemical-weapons disposal program. I focus specifically on dynamics involved in the development of cognitive liberation, particularly the framing difficulties that occur in the context of cognitive ambiguities produced by an "information haze." These ambiguities create problems for developing and linking the diagnostic, prognostic, and motivational elements of collective-action frames. I also attend to frame transformation, explaining how transformation may be both animated and constrained by a movement's opponent. I conclude that NIMBY is only one possible framing and can be transformed as the context of the dispute shifts. Moreover, framing activities in technical disputes may be particularly difficult due to the role of scientific rhetoric and experts in interpreting risks and shaping understandings of the situation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on interviews and participant observation, this paper presents a narrative account of the reactions of people in a small, Arkansas community to the religious claims of prophecy and divine mission made by an individual who temporarily comes to reside in the community. Public interpretation and evaluation of the prophecy is conducted informally through the rumor construction process. Naturalistic interpretations of fraud or delusion are mostly suspended as supernatural interpretations by community members become ascendent. People are eventually forced to rationalize their reactions when events fail to materialize in the manner originally prophesied. The unfolding of events is viewed from a sociology of knowledge perspective and treated as a case study of the social construction of reality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a way in which the concepts of alienation and anomic may be related in a single dimension of social experience and offers a refinement and expansion of traditional strain theories of deviance causation. It is argued that both alienated and anomic social actors seek a common goal—a sense of effective interaction with their environment; an experience of personal competence. Anomic persons are those who perceive the demands of primary roles as confusing and beyond their abilities and who respond by seeking to maximize certainty, security, and stability in social interaction. By contrast, alienated individuals are those who experience primary role requirements as simple but stifling and restrictive, bereft of meaningful challenges. These latter persons seek greater freedom and opportunities for creativity and self-expression. The ways in which deviance may emerge as these alienated persons adapt to the perceived discrepancy between their abilities and responsibilities are outlined and illustrated following the adaptive modes suggested by Merton for anomic persons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the author arranges some of the major treatments of alienation within a coherent framework. He introduces a distinction between disassociation (certain specified objective conditions) and alienation (a specified experience) and articulates the relationship between these two by presenting a series of intervening psychological issues. A typology of human association is presented, and it is argued that especially two types of disassociation (i.e., marginality and subordination) and, to some extent, another (i.e., privilege) may be productive of alienation These conditions are considered at the cultural, social, and psychological levels of analysis. Variables connecting these conditions and alienation include the perception of the condition, evaluation, integration, blame, and response. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay explores the relations between adolescents and adults. Although the generalizations of the paper are most apposite to middle-class American adolescents and adults, because the conflicts they refer to are pervasive they may be applied with qualification to other classes as well. Human learning is distinguished from that of other species by its cross-generational character. This cross-generational pattern of learning is apparently most effective for transmitting and acquiring the skills required of a human adult. At the same time, it requires the construction of social relationships which confront members of generations who, by their definition, have different knowledge of the world and different interests in it. In analyzing alternative methods for resolving these conflicts, the essay focuses on the functions of the permissive school in relieving the inter-generational conflicts and containing larger social conflicts.

This paper analyzes the nature of value-commitments, conceived as a generalized symbolic medium of interchange in the processes of social interaction, in this respect paralleling money, power, and influence. Commitments constitute moral obligations of units of a system of social interaction to maintain the integrity of a value-pattern and to strive toward its implementation in action through combination with non-value factors. Stability of commitments is a basic condition of the compatibility of wide moral freedom with the exigencies of social functioning. Like the other three media, commitments are not bound by a zero-sum condition, but can be expanded, especially through charismatic movements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a paper which examines Erving Goffman's contributions to the field of sociology, and his work on etiquette and front, and his theory of ceremony. Goffman's disinclination to situate himself within a theoretical heritage or tradition frustrates current efforts to establish his intellectual genealogy. He rebuked those who would attempt to lie him down to one tradition or approach, and he rejected the term symbolic interactionism, the intellectual movement with which he is often associated. Some researchers have sought to compensate for these difficulties by examining Goffman's citations, believing that this practice would yield answers to questions of influential figures. Others who were able to ask Goffman himself, have published their revealing interviews. Still others have offered creative reconstructions of the stages of Goffman's intellectual development. Yet, however rich and varied the influences on Goffman may have been, the literature continues to point to the intellectual centrality of Goffman's Chicago years. Etiquette provides one clue to understanding the social adjustments in personal relations reached in any one historical era. In a world of social and personal differences, of mutual and antipathies, etiquette operates as both a principle of social order and an index of the stability of the society in which it exists.

Being victimized can lead one to discover heretofore neglected elements of the social life-world. Discovery in vivid form of one's vulnerability to death reveals the pervasive importance of hopefulness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents Sidney R. Waldman's comments to David Easton's article "Some Limits of Exchange Theory in Politics," published in the 1972 issue of "Sociological Inquiry." In rebuttal to Easton's suggestion that the author is not clear as to the nature of the five propositions that form the core of exchange theory, Waldman emphasizes that exchange theory does not imply that men consciously calculate costs or benefits, that they consciously try to satisfice, or that they consciously calculate the probable outcomes of the various actions they see open to them. Also, Easton argues that exchange theory, despite its claims, is only a special theory which attempts to explain variation in support for political institutions and practices. However, in the author's opinion, a reading of the basic propositions should readily convince the reader that the theory is intended to explain all behavior, not merely behavior that involves support for regime, government, political party, or other institutions.

Earlier research indicates that the ‘academic hierarchy’ encourages and reflects both meritocratic standards and long-standing status distinctions. Using a nationwide survey of graduate and professional students, this study considers the relative and independent influence of students' social class, sex, race, undergraduate achievement, and rank of undergraduate institution attended on rank of graduate or professional school they attend. Students in the total group, universities and colleges, as well as public and private institutions are examined. Analysis of covariance results suggest that undergraduate rank is the strongest predictor of rank of institution attended. Attendance at highly ranked undergraduate institutions predicts appropriate location at prestigious graduate and professional schools. Level of undergraduate achievement also has independent effects. Higher achievement predicts attendance at both highly ranked and slightly lower ranked institutions. Social class influences location in the academic hierarchy, but in an unexpected direction. Working class students often attend higher ranked schools than their upper middle and middle class counterparts. Findings show that men and women attend similarly ranked institutions, and female students attend higher ranked schools than males. The independent effects of race also indicate that racial groups attend different as well as similarly ranked institutions. Finally, limited interactions of three independent variables show that expected merit, social class, and sex advantages do not persist for all students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hardcore positivistic or humanistic sociologies are rare. In the history of sociology), the two extremes have tended to converge, producing an awkward hybrid. A watered-down positivism is brought to the rescue of a stalled Verstehern sociology, or vice versa, and a difficult), like the free nature of human action is covered over with a veneer of pragmatism. Here it will be argued that Paul Tibbetts' recent recasting of the positivism-humanism debate in sociology into an arbitrary choice between linguistic grids perpetuates this unsatisfactory practice. Five propositions will be advanced in opposition to Tibbetts' perspective. First, it will be argued that Tibbetts' discussion clouds the real issues at stake through his failure to really transcend the positivist framework of analysis. Second, it will be shown that the humanistic pre- supposition of voluntarism involves an ontological commitment to a model of rational agency which provides a methodological base for the ‘scientific’ treatment of human freedom. Third, this commitment constitutes a necessary presupposition of all sciences of human action. Fourth, this fact means there are good epistemological reasons why a sociologist's choice of a linguistic grid is not arbitrary. Finally, it will be proposed that the most promising pattern of convergence between humanistic sociology and positivism stems from the formulation of a rough spectrum of principles of rationality to undergird a differentiation of ‘degrees’ and not ‘kind’ between what Tibbetts calls ‘free-will talk’ and ‘causal-deterministic talk.’ [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on the concept of responsibility in sociology. Responsibility is a concept for which there are many definitions, meanings, and understandings. It has legal, moral, and functional ramifications and numerous connotations which confuse as well as clarify. In one sense, it refers to responsibility as involving the idea of causation. In another, it refers to accountability. Responsibility helps in distinguishing between causation, subjection to punishment and obligation. People are concerned with accountability when it produces a punitive response, in which the collective body or society, through its legal and political institutions, is given a right to impose pain upon one or more individuals. Whatever may be the rationale that justifies the imposition of pain upon another, sociology and criminal law have been concerned with issues of diminished responsibility and mitigation. Crime is defensible as a good only if it is limited, contained and neither in the quantity nor in the enormity of the acts does it bring suffering beyond the benefits entailed.

A two-dimensional model of inner and outer self-esteem is discussed whereto inner self-esteem is hypothesized to be an outcome of self-evaluations of performance in prominent role identities. Outer self-esteem is hypothesized to be related to self- evaluations of both prominent and nonprominent role identities. The research context is a comparison of the different processes facilitating self-esteem in innovative schools (emphasis on student-initiated activities and control) and traditional (emphasis on pre-determined curriculum and teacher-administrator control). Data across school type demonstrate a modest correlation between positive self- evaluations of performance in prominent role identities and both types of self-esteem. The data suggest that high evaluation of performance in nonprominent role identities is related to outer self-esteem but not to inner self-esteem. Further empirical clarification of the concepts was established by viewing the relationships within school type. In the innovative schools both types of self-esteem were predominantly related to positive evaluations of prominent role identities, whereas in the traditional schools both types of self-esteem were related to both performance in prominent and nonprominent role identities. Thus the theoretical distinction gained partial support while the process of gaining self-esteem was shown to be essentially different between alternate school structures. Controls for social desirability, race, sex, and father's occupation did not change these findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines some aspects of the game called "Button Button Who's Got the Button," which is played by children around five to ten years old. There's a set of people sitting in a row; might be on a sidewalk somewhere. There's one person who is called It, and they walk down the row with a button concealed in their hand and they engage in possibly passing it to each person in the row, with their hands held in such a way as to keep the button concealed. Once a cycle is completed, the person who is it having possibly passed the button to each person, then the others try to guess who has it. When the guess is correct play ends and they begin again. Now the physical properties of the passed object are important; that is, a button is not an incidental phenomenon. It is very small and thin, and can then be passed in such a way that when players can see that someone has the button, other people don't see the button. So there is a notion of observability which involves something like "seeing that they know they have the button."

This article focuses on the type of breach that occurs as a result of what may be called "street remark," a comment in public taking place between the unacquainted. unacquainted. The occasion of concern here is the male to female street remark. But before treating this kind of street remark specifically, we should examine other occasions for street remarks in order to appreciate the context in which the male-to-female street remark occurs. The act of walking past another person in a public place often involves features that are not breaches of civil inattention but constitute mere markers of the act. In addition to the mechanical signals that another persons passing, there is a group of physiological signals that are usually considered as occurring involuntarily or without awareness. Another class of the man-made markers of passage is differentiated from the previous class in that these markers are often contrived in nature.

Weber's interpretive sociology requires the understanding of motives, affectual states, and actions. These are understandable because they themselves represent or embody interpretations. The Weberian statements are shown to be compatible with a conception of the human individual as a being who interprets subjective experiences in terms of cultural categories and guides his conduct by such interpretations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A social-psychological perspective, used in the analysis of three cases of nonviolent direct action, combines the ‘exchange theory’ of Homans and the two and three dimensional approaches for the analysis of interpersonal behavior suggested by Leary and Bales. The three dimensions are: dominance-submission, positive-negative, and goal oriented-deviant. Once the behavior of a nonviolent actor has been identified in this three dimensional space. the expected behavior of his opponent can be predicted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The term ‘nonviolent resistance’ is frequently assumed to refer to a single and coherent theory about the proper way to manage conflict. There are, however, two quite different theories subsumed by this general term. One assumes a basic human harmony and denies the morality of or necessity for either coercion or violence. The second regards conflict as normal, even healthy; nonviolence is perceived as an economic way of testing strength and the only limit set upon means is that of threatening or using physical force. Because activists, advocates, and observers often fail to distinguish these views, the effectiveness of nonviolent resistance is frequently impaired. This is because resisters of differing views fail to find a common basis for cooperation and because the spectator is confused by apparently contradictory professions and actions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this article is to discuss the Barnard-Simon model with reference to its usefulness in providing theoretical insights into participation in community action organizations. The article is divided into three parts. The first part discusses the Barnard-Simon model and its theoretical relevance for community action organizations. The second part explores several theoretical ideas about participation, organizational viability, and the relative importance of certain classes of variables in community action organizations. The actual development of an organization is the source of data for that discussion. The third part is devoted to the discussion of general implications. The community action organization is rooted in many of the human failings of formal social organizations. The Barnard-Simon model has more immediate and direct behavioral implications, therefore, for this type of organization. The Barnard-Simon model postulates an organization as a coalition of participants or group of participants.

The article focuses on the rehabilitation of the physically disabled as a process of socialization. It has been suggested that many conditions influence the course and outcome of socialization. Differences in socialization result from qualitative as well as quantitative variations in factors such as the antecedent life experiences of novices and agents, the structure of the relationships between novices and agents, the social organization of the socialization setting, the cultural and subcultural definitions of the role in question, and the course of novice and agent interaction during the socialization process. A conceptual scheme for the study of socialization and to use this scheme to organize a description of the readjustment of paraplegics has been presented. The conceptual scheme has been presented in broad outline and the analysis of paraplegics is confined to major changes which they have experienced. The initial decisions that influence this scheme include that the work of the symbolic interactionists provides an advantageous base for a psychological theory of socialization, that socialization should be treated as a process rather than as a static phenomenon, and that every attempt should be made to keep the scheme sufficiently general to be applicable to socialization into any new role.

In this article, the attempt has been made to put nonviolence into a sociological framework, and to suggest some of the sociocultural and sociopsychological factors which affect the forms and outcomes of nonviolent direct action movements This examination will, hopefully, indicate the utility of nonviolence as an experimental aide in developing the tools of social science research. The first problem is one of definition. What does nonviolence mean? The article summarize in a brief way the ideological tenets held in common by the advocates of what can be termed nonviolent resistance as a philosophy of life. The attempt to communicate in order to change the heart of an opponent ultimately may lead to suffering on the part of the non violent opponent by changing his heart. Nonviolence is often used as a technique because the user realizes its efficacy as a public relations weapon. It distinguish between two modes of action within the nonviolent discipline: non-cooperation and civil disobedience.

The article presents information on the sentimental basis of group solidarity. Ascertaining the conditions of group solidarity is one of the perennial problems of sociology. Some groups are able to maintain their identity and way of life even when others around them collapse and disappear. When confronted with adversity, the unity of some groups is enhanced, others disintegrate into bickering factions. In conjunction with other hypotheses on organizational patterns, ideologies, conflict with external foes, and special techniques of social control, however, statements about interpersonal relations may provide an important segment of a theory of group cohesion. The importance of sentiments is widely recognized in daily life, and the literature of the world abounds with descriptions of love, hatred, jealousy, resentment, pride, and hero worship. Since sentiments are so difficult to define and to measure, social scientists on the whole have shied away from them. It is apparent, then, that sentiments play an important part in sociologist George Homans' treatment of group solidarity. What is his conception of sentiments? In his earlier work he defines the term very broadly, using it to include various "internal states of the human body." He includes drives, emotions, feelings, affective states, attitudes, and "more complicated psychological states as liking or disliking for individuals, approval or disapproval of their actions."

The article sheds light on the response generated by the work of sociologist George Homans. There is no lack of reviews, summaries and analyses of the work of sociologist George Homans, yet Homans himself would probably agree that the influence of a leader is to be seen in the response of his followers, rather than in the activity originated by the leader. Probably this response is never completely what the leader intended. The scope of this review is limited to all footnoted citations appearing in six journals, "The American Sociological Review," "The American Journal of Sociology," "Sociometry," "Social Forces," "Sociology and Social Research," and "Human Relations," over the period from 1951 through 1962. The approach does not take account of implicit influences and of general references to Homans in text, without footnote. Books and monographs have been excluded from the analysis largely because of the difficulty of defining a universe feasible to study. Certain journals have been omitted either because they have changed significantly in twelve year period or because they are not primarily sociological in orientation or sponsorship. The listed journals are surely representative of at least one level in the continuing discourse of the discipline and it is the fate of Homans' ideas in this universe that the article examines.

The author attempts to indicate some of the limits of Peter M. Hall's usage of symbolic interactionism, by looking at the issues which he does not address very well in his article, "A Symbolic Interactionist Analysis of Politics." Two traditions in political sociology can be identified: the behavioral and the systemic. The behavioral approach considers the interactions and exchanges among political actors as they struggle for power and influence. The systemic approach, on the other hand, considers the system as a whole, the relation of system parts to one another, and how the overall system maintains itself or disintegrates over time and regulates conflict. The limits of symbolic interaction theory as a paradigm for political analysis can be understood, then, in contrast to a systems perspective. Meaning, that the level of analysis of symbolic interaction theory is micro-sociological because it deals with the behavior and interactions of elements of a system rather than considering the system as a whole.

The purpose of this article will be to outline a symbolic interactionist approach to the study of politics in the United States. In the course of this presentation, the basic assumptions and concepts of the interactionist perspective will be presented, culminating in a model of society as a negotiated order. This model in conjunction with definitions of power and politics will provide the basis for analyzing the processes of power. The article will focus on and emphasize two mechanisms of power, information flow control and symbolic mobilization of support, which have previously been unrecognized and unanalyzed. In the conclusion, the strengths and weaknesses of the approach will be discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on the effectiveness of sensitivity training is summarized and sensitivity training is compared to other training methods. The extent of participant involvement and learning through experience are the factors found related to the impact of four different kinds of training, and sensitivity training appears to be no more effective than other methods utilizing these factors. Other factors related to the attractiveness of sensitivity training are analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a means of increasing the theoretical relevance of sensitivity training for sociologists engaged in evaluative pursuits, the concept of role-based sensitivity is suggested for use in an evaluative research perspective. Results of the application of a role-based sensitivity scale, as a pre-training diagnostic device, in a training program for local human relations commissioners, suggest that the area of sensitivity training has potential as an arena for the refinement of sociological role theory and hence is deserving of the increased interest of sociologists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article attempts to make explicit the strategic goals and the rationale of various ways sensitivity training has been used in industrial and business organizations. Much has been written regarding the design and effectiveness of sensitivity training. Instead of covering this material again, this study attempts to make explicit the strategic goals and the rationale of various ways such training has been used in industrial and business organizations. Doing this provides a basis for considering how effective such training has been indoing what it was intended to do in the organizations where it was used. A wide variety of activity is called sensitivity training. Training so called varies in length, in focus, in the qualifications of the trainer and in participant mix. Such diversity in usage of the team has led to considerable confusion, as witnessed by articles which have recently appeared in several popular magazines in which activities as different as nude marathons and in-company team development sessions are referred to as "sensitivity training." Even in technical journals studies purporting to assess the effectiveness of sensitivity training fail to specify the design of the training.

We describe some training designs, exercises, and procedures that nave been used in laboratory training for organizational development in schools. We have selected and developed these methods over some years to serve as components in a training strategy that focuses on teaching, legitimizing, and making normative a specific procedure for group problem-solving. A vital adjunct is training in specific skills in face-to-face communication. These processes are illustrated by descriptions of actual interventions in schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We do not believe that the T-group is a vital tool for refurbishing organizational life. We present theoretical reasons for believing that organizational training to improve organizational functioning must help participants to function more effectively as components of working bodies carrying out specific tasks in a particular job-setting. We present a sequence of three steps useful in interventions, drawing upon actual examples of interventions in schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional small group concepts have been derived from experimental decision-making groups. Encounter groups not only locus on functional problem-solving but also attempt to facilitate participants' spontaneous and open expression of their authentic emotions in-situ. Through this emphasis the encounter group leader attempts to provide an antidote to role-oriented everyday societal transactions. The complex nature of encounter group interactions defy standard codification by a non-participant researcher. Recently certain small group researchers have become participants in their groups under study as a way of capturing more dynamic processes of group interaction. The small group researcher as participant and encounter group leader/researcher have become united through their use of empathic identification as an artful method in linking up abstract theoretical concepts with observed group happenings. An ethnography of a Youth Encounter Group (that I lead) is presented to illustrate the complex features of leadership in an encounter group. Through an analysis of my ethnography I attempt to show (1) how both small group researchers and encounter group researchers have presented idealizations of group process divorced from the practical features that organize and sustain the on-going group interactions and (2) how both the small group researcher as participant and encounter group leader/researcher have used the process of empathic identification as an unexplicated resource that has obscured and masked the interpretive work carried on by participants—lay and professional—during the encounter group and by researchers in their professional reports. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last 25 years the sensitivity training movement has steadily expanded. Growing out of the behavioral sciences, selected interrelated concepts underlie its development and distinguish it sharply from group therapy. The central role of feedback is carefully defined and described and its impact upon individual members as well as upon the evolving group culture are explicated in detail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The social institutions of modern technological culture often fail to provide adequate opportunity for the exchange of emotions and personal feelings of affect and esteem. The widespread development of alternative institutions such as sensitivity training can be seen as an attempt to compensate for the scarcity of this type of interpersonal communication. Reasons for this scarcity are examined in terms of a structural model of individual and societal resource differentiation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

George Homans' numerous claims that sociological propositions could be reduced to psychological propositions are examined in terms of the various ways Homans has used the word ‘reduction’ and in terms of the development of Homan' reductionist position over the course of his career. Attempts to answer Homans' reductionism are reviewed and Homan' challenge to his critics is presented. A general sociological proposition is then presented as an answer to Homans' reductionism and to his challenge. It is then shown that the sociological proposition is not less general than psychological proposition cannot be deduced from psychological propositions, and cannot be analyzed without residue into the behavior of individual men. It is shown that psychological variables may be used as independent or intervening variables in such a proposition but that such an inclusion of psychological variables would not constitute psychological reduction. Some implications of a distinctive sociology are then discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents information on those people who contributed a lot in the publication of the current issue of the journal Sociological Inquiry. Some of the contributors are: Jennifer L. Dunn, assistant professor of sociology at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, where she teaches courses in social problems, social psychology, deviance, and victims of crime; Jason A. Ford, assistant professor of sociology at the University of Central Florida. His research interests include substance use, life course criminology, and deviant behavior; Joyce Tang, associate professor and deputy chair of the sociology department at Queens College of the City University of New York. Her research interests include stratification and mobility, and science and technology.