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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]

The article connects William Julius Wilson's conceptualization of the economic and social consequences of economic restructuring with a macrolevel social control framework to help explain the increase in juvenile homicide rates observed between 1970 and 1990. Recent research in urban sociology posits that the proliferation of female-headed families in American cities is a result of declining economic prospects due to profound changes in the structure of the urban economy. Meanwhile, macro-level theory and research in criminology suggest that an association exists between family structure and rates of lethal violence among juveniles. Among these problems are increasing rates of female-headed families and juvenile homicide. One prominent theoretical account for the rise of female-headed families posits that a general increase in public assistance benefits created an enticement for out-of-wedlock childbearing and a disincentive for marriage. Alternatively, Wilson suggests that declining economic prospects caused by the transformation from a goods-based to a service-based economy rather than liberal welfare policies are responsible for the proliferation of female-headed families. In particular, Wilson posits that declining economic prospects have depressed local marriage markets and increased the reluctance of Black males to take on family responsibilities, which has resulted in increased rates of children born out of wedlock.

A brief paradigmatic history of American sociology is presented. Conflict methodology is defined and exemplified. It is held to be an essential adjunct to a complete conflict paradigm. A conflict paradigm is relevant to sociological analyses in Eastern and Western Countries in view of the proliferation and power and of the large scale organization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this article is to deal with four main topics pertaining to the past two decades of the history of intergroup relations in the United States. First, changes in group structures and social identities, social structure and prejudice, thirdly, the base of organized protest and finally, processes of conflict and conflict resolution. great changes have occurred in the internal structures of and the relations among racial, ethnic and religious collection. As cultural differences associated with national origins and language have been reduced as a consequence both of greatly reduced immigration and of extensive acculturation, racial distinctions have moved into a more central position in the total societal structure. Racial prejudice, both as a sense of group position and as a belief in the "difference" and inferiority of subordinates is a major norm in American society today. In the case of Negro-white relations in recent times, the conflict has been centered upon pressure for change from Negroes, versus the resistance to change from white partisans of the status quo ante.