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Tins paper is intended as an effort at taking-stock of the reference group concept after nearly three decades of use, the latter two of which have been marked by its more than ample employment. Its popularity indeed has so frequently led to its serving as an all-purpose post hoc explanation of behavior that it has led to the wry definition, "Your reference group is a group that you behave like and you behave like them because they're your reference group" (Cohen, 1962: 104). The inconsistencies, lack of clarity, but also areas of agreement which have marked the varied formulations of the concept, will be apparent from the following review and commentary. The Final discussion indicates some of the matters still to be considered in the use of thin important but perhaps overworked concept. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The importance of the concepts of role and consensus has been so well documented that it can now be treated as an assumption by sociologists. Still, however, the measurement of role consensus is not without difficulty since the concept itself imposes a number of methodological problems. This paper represents a suggestion of an alternative measurement combining a number of innovations from our present body of sociological knowledge. In brief, this involves the merger of the following: (1) the problem of comparing intraposition with interposition consensus; (2) the utilization of dyadic consensus; (3) the application of a correlational measure based on ordinal assumptions; and (4) the possibility of furthering the concerns of both macroscopic and microscopic analysis. Our approach will be direct and somewhat abbreviated in terms of (1) a brief rationale; (2) a working hypothesis; (3) a description of the instrument; (4) measurement; and (5) discussion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent decades limited research attention has been given to those smallest population centers, beyond the individual farmstead, commonly referred to as hamlets. Alluding to this fact, the following statement made in 1943 by the geographer, Glenn T. Trewartha, is still indicative of the situation: "… one of the most numerous and widespread settlement types in the United States, the unincorporated hamlet, does not deserve the near oblivion that has been accorded it by geographers and other workers in the social sciences." The lack of research interest may be attributed partially to the dimunition of the farm population and rural institutions and the increasing significance of industrialization and urban development. Because of these and other changes, students of society may share the opinion that hamlets are rapidly disappearing and consequently not worthy of study. Various studies, however, are not in agreement concerning whether or not hamlets have increased or decreased in size and numbers. According to Fuguitt, the contradictory findings stem from the fact that previous researchers have not made "a clear distinction between (1) changes in population size categories over time, and (2) changes in individual places over time." In a study based on Census data, Fuguitt examined Wisconsin's incorporated small towns for the period 1880-1960. He simultaneously analyzed the two analytical components indicated above through the use of the Markov model. His general conclusion was: "While fewer small towns are being 'born' these days, they aren't 'dying,' but are growing up to be big towns, in some cases." Although it is possible, as Fuguitt also suggests, that small unincorporated places are declining in size and number, there is little reported data to suggest they are rapidly diminishing as a rural collectivity or settlement center in contemporary society. In general, the purpose of this paper is to make a contribution to our descriptive knowledge of hamlets. Initially, an effort is made to determine the main activity pursued by the principal family supporters within or near the hamlet area. Secondly, based on the major activity pursued by each resident family's primary income recipient, a statistically derived typology of hamlets is described. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent research and theory relative to the lower class adolescent male peer group has focused largely on the culture and behavior of group members. Further, the focus has been on the different types of behavior characteristic of different groups. While this analysis has been quite fruitful, it has led us away from attempting to place all such groups on any single continuum which might involve structure as well as culture. Specifically, the concept of "gang" has either been used loosely to include all groups of lower class male adolescents or has been omitted altogether. This paper maintains that the concept of gang still has considerable utility as a category for research. This paper will be presented in five parts: (1) an analysis of the concept as used in the past into a set of empirical variables; (2) a description of a method used to get data on these variables; (3) a presentation of data relative to these variables; (4) an analysis of the correlation of these variables; and (5) an attempt to place gangs on continue representing variables found in small groups in other contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The late 1960s saw the emergence of a few "super gangs" whose political and economic activities attracted much attention. More recently, gangs apparently similar to those of the 1950s have become newsworthy again in several major cities. This paper surveys these developments against the background of a variety of macro- and microsociological processes. Research conducted in Chicago and elsewhere during the late 1950s and early 60s suggests that delinquent gangs were rather "innocent" participants in the broad social trends of the times and that most gang members were relatively unaffected by the ideological currents associated with them. The primary effect on gangs was indirect, by changing the perceptions and attitudes of others toward gangs, and their behavior in relation to them. Gang life for most members of most gangs, individually and collectively, appears to have changed little in recent years. The prospects for channeling the energies of gangs into socially constructive programs seem bleak, because of the operation of group processes, and the limited experiences and social abilities of most gang members. Basic structural limitations on opportunities for the poor and the powerless to achieve economic and political power provide the framework within which these processes operate today as in the past. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper suggests a new way of applying "Proportional-Reductions-in-Error" related measures (i.e., Gamma, dyx, dxy, and Kendall's Tau's) to link logical forms of hypotheses to types of ordinal measures of association. First, the basic form of associations for ordinal data are examined. Second, the analytical properties of "P-R-E" related measures are investigated. Finally, it is proposed that "P-R-E" related measures be used in testing the logical form of the relationship between variables implied in a hypothesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is intended as an effort at taking stock of the reference group concept after three decades of use in sociological research. The inconsistencies and some areas of agreement shared by social scientists are presented. Throughout its history, the phenomena of the reference group have been described by the idea of social groups, namely in-groups and out-groups, primary groups and significant others. The crucial problem in the reference group theory is stated as that of "ascertaining how a person defines such a situation, which perspective he uses in arriving in a definition, and who constitutes the audience whose responses provide the necessary confirmation and support for his position." The value of the reference group concept in specifying the types of others "represents a vast simplification and fairly sharp specification of the idea of the other" and the idea that groups other than one's own may serve to shape one's frame of reference is economically articulated by the concept.

Small group research has dealt at some length with the phenomena of competition and cooperation. Task performance and, to a lesser extent, group structure have been examined under different conditions of competition and cooperation. The two group-types most frequently encountered in the literature are the intra-competitive group in which the members of a group compete with each other for a reward which only one of them may obtain, and the intra-cooperative, inter-competitive group in which the members are competing as a unit against another group. In the course of a recent experiment, the behaviors and attitudes of two additional group-types have also been studied. One of these types, the Intra-Aud-Inter-Competitive Group shall be the focus of this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Proprietors of a society, in order to gain their ends, frequently resort to the use of force and violence. An important tool is the organization of violence. Massive violence is instituted by these organizations and at the behest of the societal proprietors as a means of goal attainment. One of the consequences of this massive violence is the disruption of the experience of everyday life and the imposition of another experience upon the actor. The organization, as a result of its own action, creates problems which must be solved in order that action may be continued. The organization must make combat action meaningful by making it relevant; it must devise strategies for successfully moving individuals from one reality to the other; it must define the parameters of the most relevant action, i.e., violence; it must socialize men into violence; it must devise strategies to constrain, channel, and direct the actions of men socialized into violence; it must, in short, construct a social reality designed to cope with the exigencies of the battle-moment. A discussion of some of the factors relevant to the success or failure of this project has been the subject of this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, then, we investigate the extent to which persons using leadership styles of interaction in small groups adhere to a Machievellian approach, and the extent to which a Machiavellian approach may be successful outside the small group. The two hypotheses guiding the present research are as follows: 1) A Machiavellian orientation toward others is positively correlated with a leadership style of interaction, such as a greater amount of participation in discussion, and higher rates of asking for information, and making suggestions for action. 2) A Machiavellian orientation is correlated with successful implementation of a team plan within the community at large. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports a more systematic study of the relationship between fraternity membership and mobility aspirations. Controls for relevant social background variables (income, education, and religious identification) are added so that a better indication of the true relationship between aspirations and fraternity membership can be made. Based on the findings of Levine and Sussmann and those of Jackson and Winkler, it is hypothesized that the higher one's mobility aspirations, the more likely one is to join a fraternity. A caveat must be interjected here. It is not assumed that only social mobility aspirations determine whether or not one joins a fraternity. Related research by the author indicates that other variables, especially peer and familial pressures, are very important in determining membership in fraternities. What is attempted here is an analysis which focuses on one small part of the membership process so as to shed some light on a hitherto neglected research area, viz., the relationship between mobility aspirations and fraternity membership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the ubiquitous trends in social behavior is the formation of comprehensive systems of interaction known as communities. Everywhere in the world and throughout man's existence on earth, the formation of communities has been evident, from the primitive tribe to the contemporary nation-state. Among the exciting developments within the more complex communities of mankind, such as cities and nations, is the emergence of subcommunity forms which both complement and contest the arrangements of the larger society. Status communities and ethnic communities of many sorts belong among the contemporary sub-communities. It is instructive to apply this concept of sub-community formation to areas of behavior such as the worlds of art and jazz, when that behavior can be shown to approach closure and completeness with respect to a distinctive way of life. This paper deals with two major tasks: (1) the development of a special theory of the jazz community as an unique form of status community, and (2) a judgment as to the validity of referring to the social world of the jazz musician as a community. It should be mentioned that while this formulation is conceived in terms of the jazz subculture, it also has widespread application elsewhere in the area of social deviance. Since the concept of status group has its roots in the general theory of community, we shall briefly outline that concept. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The instrumental-expressive differentiation, employed extensively by Talcott Parsons, has been applied to the field of voluntary associations by several writers. Thus, Lundberg, Komarovsky, and McInery wrote of instrumental, mixed, and leisure associations in an early study, and Rose concerned himself with two types of associations, the social influence group and the expressive group. This means of classifying voluntary associations has appeared recently in at least one introductory sociology textbook. A recent impetus to the use of the instrumental-expressive categorization in this field was the publication by Gordon and Babchuk of a typology of associations utilizing this concept. They define the ideal type of instrumental association as differing from the ideal type of expressive association in the following three ways. (1) The member of the expressive association achieves immediate and continuing gratification from taking part in the organization's activities. The instrumental association member may even find the group's activities distasteful, but he will get satisfaction from the knowledge that they help to accomplish certain long-range goals. In other words, personal gratification is more remote (in terms of time) from participation in the group's activities for the member of the instrumental group than the member of the expressive group. (2) The activities of the instrumental association tend to be externally oriented, whereas those of the expressive association are focused inward. Expressive organizations "perform a function primarily for the individual participants through activities confined and self-contained within the organization itself…. In contrast, the major function and orientation of the instrumental organization are related to activities which take place outside the organization." (3) The activities of members of expressive associations represent ends in themselves, while, for instrumental association members, participation in the group's activities is seen as a means of accomplishing external, long-range goals. The major questions raised in this paper are whether members of instrumental associations differ predictably from members of expressive associations regarding (1) the manner in which persons become members of associations and (2) their involvement in primary group situations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purposes of the present paper are as follows: Replication. It will be recalled that Chapman and Volkmann utilized a sample of 88 university students, randomly assigned to four groups. Each group was assigned the task of responding to a fifty-item test of acquaintance with literature. All groups received the same general instructions and two illustrative questions. Individuals in one group (A) received no further information. Group B was informed that authors and literary critics had taken the test and had made an average score of 37.2. Group C was told that students "like themselves" had scored an average of 37.2 on the test. Group D was informed that WPA workers had achieved the same score. Members of all groups were then asked to indicate how they expected to perform on the test (i.e., how many questions they expected to answer correctly). The task assigned to the respondents in the present study was also a fifty-item test of acquaintance with literature. The instructions, methods of randomization, and reported achievements of other groups were similarly managed. A slight modification was introduced regarding the information given group D. They were informed that a group of tenant farmers had achieved an average score of 37.2. This modification was prompted by a desire to maintain currently relevant groups as points of reference. In this study, the number utilized in the total sample was 239 (all social science students at a Midwestern state university), almost triple the original N of 88. With randomization into four groups (as in the original design) the increased N in the present study not only permitted more confidence to be attached to the results of the statistical tests at issue in the replication but permitted as well control of relevant variables without exhausting subsample N's to points where statistical tests in other aspects of the research would not be meaningful. Elaboration and extension. The increased N of the present study made possible the introduction and statistical control of variables which we felt might serve to enhance the predictive power of the principle at issue. The fact that the means of the various experimental groups order themselves as they do is both interesting and significant. This ordering of means says nothing, however, about the equally interesting and perhaps equally significant question of why some respondents expect to perform above the means and other respondents below. We anticipated that measurement of certain attitudinal variables which seemed to be theoretically relevant might serve as one possible means toward predictive refinement. These variables include the following: (a) self-evaluation, (b) occupational self-designation, and (c) negative others. The matter of relevance and operationalization of each of these variables will be briefly summarized below. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comparisons of factor analytic results based on a matrix of total (individual) correlations and three matrices of between-groups (ecological) correlations revealed fundamental differences in factor patterns when the unit of analysis shifted from individuals to aggregates. The major difference involved the marked tendency for a highly individualistic General Ability Factor derived from the matrix of total correlations to become more and more sociological in content as individuals were aggregated. Results are discussed in terms of their bearing on the problem of determining the "appropriateness" of a given unit of analysis, individuals vs. aggregates, for certain levels of inquiry, i.e., psychological vs. sociological. It is concluded that whether the researcher should heed the traditional warning about the use of aggregate data relationships as a basis for making inferences concerning individuals ought to depend in part on whether his interest is in psychological or sociological propositions about individuals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The general purposes of this study were to investigate the group and organizational affiliates of reputed community leaders in a rural community. The specific hypotheses were that the higher one is ranked as a reputational leader, (1) the more exchange influence he will likely have accumulated through occupying economic, kinship, occupational, ownership, and political-governmental positions which are reputedly influential in the community, (2) the more likely he is to be au active participant in formal and/or informal coordinative interstitial groups in the community, and (3) the more likely he is to be au active participant in those formal coordinative groups which are reputed to be influential over community affairs. The hypotheses were tested by comparing the sets of rankings of twenty-eight reputational leaders with (1) their rankings in terms of exchange positions scores, (2) their rankings in terms of social participation scores, and (3) their rankings in terms of weighted social participation scores. The results of the study tended to support the hypotheses, as stated, for the community involved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Greer's theory of opportunity structure attempts to explain variations in neighborhood intimacy within the urban community. The present study describes how fifty-five residents of a luxury apartment house complex in a highly urban area defined the neighbor role and interacted with each other. The results tend to support Greer's theory. Few respondents had a high degree of intimacy associated with their neighboring interaction. This was also reflected in the definition given the neighbor role. In addition, some evidence is presented that individual characteristics such as long residence, being unmarried, living alone, and frequent participation in other formal and informal groups, were associated with high neighborliness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the relationship of interviewer characteristics to the responses of their interviewees in a survey in a relatively sensitive area—drinking practices. Generally, respondents seem to have reacted to easily ascertainable characteristics of the interviewers, such as sex, status (as measured by education, occupation, and clothing), and religion. The attitudes of the interviewer toward his interviewing were also related to respondents' reported drinking. It is concluded that interviewing is a social relationship of brief duration in which the respondent's performance reflects norms that tend to emerge based on the information each of the participants is able to learn about the other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sociologists have become aware of the correlation between socio-cultural variables and the development of types of scientific knowledge. Until recently, the systematic study of the importance of these relations for knowledge in the social sciences has been more or less overlooked. To be sure, there was speculation about the impact of social and cultural factors upon the works of previous researchers. Some changes are taking place. Recently, the number of studies has increased and further evidence of increasing interest in the area has been reflected in the publications of several symposia which focus on sociological self-analysis. Furthermore, some lines of inquiry in the study of the discipline are examined.

Students of the recent outbreaks in America's cities have with few exceptions attempted no social structural analysis of riot behavior. By structure, we mean relating the individual's place within a set of community status locations. Such a failure has significance in light of two aspects of the ghetto uprisings: (1) participation in rioting was limited to a relatively small portion of the eligible "riot" population; and (2) economic deprivation per se has not characterized rioters as individuals. Caplan and Paige (1968) report that 39 percent of rioters and 30 percent of nonrioters had incomes under $5,000 in Detroit compared to 33 percent and 29 percent in Newark. In Detroit, 30 percent of the rioters reported they were unemployed, while this figure was 32 percent for nonrioters. In Newark, the figures were 30 percent and 19 percent respectively. Both of these facts raise questions about the lack of participation among groups which are available for such action and the mobilization of persons who might otherwise be considered less likely to feel "outside the system," "alienated," etc. The present analysis of post-riot survey data in Detroit applies a model of status modality for income and educational levels using the local neighborhood as a reference point. By differentiating persons whose level of income or education falls significantly above or below the neighborhood mode, differences in riot participation were examined. Within age, income, education, and employment categories, neighborhood status modality proved to be an important predictive variable in regard to riot participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The literature concerned with social mobility is quite extensive. This body of material has to a great extent taken a societal or institutional perspective, with a large proportion of mobility studies focusing on such questions, among others, as: what are the social origins of a particular occupational stratum; what rates and trends can be found over time and place; and, are class boundaries becoming more rigid? Emphasis on such questions is certainly pertinent for the understanding of stratification. Yet, there has been a relative neglect of what should prove to be an intriguing aspect of social mobility—the social and psychological consequences of such mobility for the individuals involved. A basic question to ask is: do individuals who have experienced mobility exhibit variations in their behavioral patterns when compared to individuals who are socially stable? To find and study possible variations in the behavior of individuals who have had different mobility experiences seems an important area of investigation. Several decades ago it was postulated that social mobility resulted in social isolation through its disruption of participation in primary and secondary group structures (cf. Durkheim, 1951:252-254; Sorokin, 1927); mobility was seen as detrimental for interpersonal relations because of its effect on ties within these groups. However, the theoretical and empirical work since these early statements has not shown that such a simple relationship between mobility and participation exists; mobility does not seem always to lead to social isolation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

be dealt with on a sociological level of analysis. An adequate classification of norms should generate terms that are useful to social system analysis in particular and delineate relevant factors in the social stimulus setting in which individuals function. With this position before us, we shall posit a classification of norms which consists of the following terms: group norm, organizational norm, collective norm, intergroup norm, interorganizational norm, intercollective norm, inter group-organizational norm, inter group-collective norm, and inter organizational-collective norm. Each of these terms is tied to a sociological referent, that is, to a set of individuals that can be differentiated in sociocultural terms. Nisbet (1966:6) has recently defined and discussed the history of five unit-ideas which he considers to be central to the sociological tradition: community, authority, status, the sacred, and alienation. Another unitidea central to the sociological tradition which might appropriately be added to this list is that of social norm. Most sociologists considering the concept of social norm in this light would agree that it is fundamental to the analysis of social structure, to the social-psychological study of human behavior, and that it would fit Nisbet's criteria for a unit-idea. Definitions of norm abound in the literature. Numerous and various criteria have been employed as bases for proposing classifications of norms. Yet, while most authors in the area recognize, explicitly or implicitly, the theoretical relevance of the concept to the analysis of social structure, no classificatory scheme has sought systematically to differentiate kinds of norms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the political attitudes of one social category— college professors. The intent was to ascertain the influence of particular variables (singly and in interaction) upon the political attitudes of this category. Since the focus was on the variables which affect political attitudes and not upon the distribution of such attitudes in the total population of college professors, a factorial sampling design was used (Rossi, 1959:45). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The view of Mead (1934) that the self has its origin in the process of social interaction is fundamental to all sociologically-oriented social psychologists. It is somewhat surprising, therefore, that so little attention has been given to analysis of the nature of this "social process." Mead himself assumes, as Glaser and Strauss (1964) have pointed out, that the encounter of the person with others occurs in what these authors have called an "open awareness context" in which "each interactant is aware of the other's true identity and his own identity in the eyes of the other." Mead goes further to argue that, not only are persons thus aware of their identities in others' eyes, but that they see their own identities as they perceive these others to see them: The individual experiences himself as such, not directly, but only indirectly, from the particular standpoints of other individual members of the same social group, or from the generalized standpoint of the social group as a whole to which he belongs. For he enters his own experience as a self or individual, not directly or immediately, not by becoming a subject to himself, but only insofar as he first becomes an object to himself just as other individuals are objects to him or in his experience; and he becomes an object to himself only by taking the attitudes of other individuals toward himself within a social environment or context of experience and behavior in which both he and they are involved (Mead, 1934:138). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spoken interpersonal naming practices, or the substantives of direct address and third person reference in speech, may provide important natural ethnographic clues to the structure and functioning of social units. This analysis explores how such practices may indicate socially structured strain and ambivalence. The bounded residential institution studied receives "deviant" adolescents from home communities, holds them, and putatively changes them. The setting investigated probably creates severe strains owing to the wide differences in power between adolescent "inmate-clients" and adult "staff," the high rate of interaction between them, and the low rate of interaction with outside groups. The pure case of Scheler's ressentiment may be approached with its "Diffuse feelings of hate, envy and hostility; … a sense of being powerless to express these feelings actively against the person or social stratum evoking them; and … a continual re-experiencing of this impotent hostility." However, high rates of interaction with the evocators may modify these feelings, and differentiated relations with them are likely to be associated with differential focusing of negative affect on them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three procedures are generally used for the identification of community leaders. Leaders may be assessed by criteria of position, by criteria of participation, and by criteria of reputation. Most researchers have relied on the latter two procedures and have made assessments exclusively on the basis of participation or on the basis of reputation. In the few studies in which both procedures have been used together, they have appeared to yield listings of community leaders of varying degrees of similarity. D'Antonio and Form, for example, report in their El Paso study that 71 to 93 per cent of the key decision-makers in one or more of the six issues they studied were also reputed leaders. In contrast, Freeman and his associates in their Syracuse study report only a 39 per cent overlap in two independently derived lists of the leading participants and the most frequently nominated leaders. To be sure, the methodologies of the El Paso and Syracuse reports are not directly comparable. However, this is equally true of all of the leadership study comparisons. The problem of establishing empirically meaningful criteria for such comparisons is unresolved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although Cooley did not initiate the use of the term, the primary group, undoubtedly he was the first sociologist to put meaning and content into it and to set it forth as a valuable concept in sociological literature. Ever since the publication of his monumental work, Social Organization, in 1909, the concept has gained rapid acceptance and has appeared in all General Sociology textbooks serving as a basis for the classification of human groups. Owing to its popularity and prominence, however, discussions on its nature and validity have also become fashionable and widespread. In these discussions, some sociologists attempted to read their own ideas into Cooley's characterization; others interpreted it in such a manner as to suit their own conceptual framework; still others went so far as to challenge the validity of the phrase itself and suggested that "primary" be replaced with a different epithet. Recently the view has been expressed that the primary group concept, so confusing and ambiguous for a developing sociology, has not carried its weight although some merits of the concept are still recognized, such as its "rich connotation" and its "formulation of some fundamental aspects of human experience." Nevertheless, the dissatisfaction with it seems great and the doubt of its validity and usefulness is growing. A verdict is just around the comer: The baby must go out with the bath. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the controversy surrounding the term "reference group" in sociological research. The author attempts an exploration of the "idea of the other" in the symbolic interaction orientation as a context for the consideration of the "idea of the reference group." A summary on the role of the other in the symbolic interactionist orientation is presented. The historical background on the reference group concept as well the factors contributing to its persisting popularity is also given. The reference group concept states that an actor's view of himself is gained only through the image he imagines the other to have of him. Many sociologists share the same idea that meaning, thought, and the self arise alike in the relationships between the actor and his alters. The author concludes that there are serious discontinuities between the symbolic interaction orientation and the reference group concept.

The present undertaking began by trying to specify what there is about a group that makes it a distinctive kind of collectivity and to delineate those major attributes which it is necessary to refer to in speaking of groups. Some of the principal assumptions underlying the effort are these: (1) A restrictive definition is desirable if progress toward a rigorous scientific concept is to be achieved. Many sets of persons now loosely referred to as groups would not qualify under such a definition. (2) It is useful to view a social group as an emergent which takes form or crystallizes over time as the result of certain interactional processes. At some point the interaction becomes systematic enough and certain attributes become stable enough to say a group exists. (3) The developmental patterns of different groups are similar enough so that general processes can be identified. (4) Groups are real, and the reality of groups is attested by the distinctive effects they have on the behavior of participants and the collective character of the products of such groups. It appears to be economical and illuminating to view the selected group characteristics and their posited relationships in terms of a descriptive developmental model. In the process of specifying the elements of the model, clarity seems to result from setting forth the model graphically in a diagram (Figure 1). As the diagram indicates, the model posits two preconditions, establishes nine major group attributes, classified as "rudimentary," "emergent," and "mature"; portrays the main linkages among the attributes; and refers to two closely related terms—member satisfactions and group products. The meaning intended for each of the elements will be discussed briefly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

White-collar workers are generally recognized as occupying an intermediate position in the American status hierarchy, below the managerial class but above the industrial worker. Indeed, the white-collar group is often regarded as the most representative in our society, the most typically middle class. It is another significant part of the white-collar stereotype that the white-collarite is upwardly oriented and that he tends to be identified more closely with the managerial than the laboring class. The managerial class, according to this stereotype, serves as his reference group; he tends to adopt the management point of view, presumably in hopes of some day rising to membership in that status group. However, working conditions have changed in recent times in a way that might suggest that a significant change may be under way in white-collar attitudes. The industrialization process, with its rationalization of business and industry, its emphasis upon specialization and mechanization, has some tendency to freeze workers at their occupational levels. It has made it increasingly difficult for the whitecollar worker to advance to a management position. At the same time, the routinization of many white-collar jobs, plus substantial improvements in blue-collar working conditions, have tended to blur some of the traditional distinctions between these two groups. Hence, it is not illogical to suspect that a change in orientation may be in process, one in which the white-collar worker is increasingly alienated from management and drawn more closely toward the laborer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the interacting group influence on interaction profiles. Research in the area of group size has the important advantage of being replicable and cumulative. Groups tend on the average to devote a certain proportion of their interaction to each of the interaction process categories. Groups vary in the proportion of interaction devoted to each of the categories--there is considerable variation from the average profile. The data for the investigation were twenty-seven interaction profiles, each of which was the average of the amount of interaction of the individuals in several groups of a given size. A matrix of correlation coefficients for the twelve interaction categories and group size was calculated and then factor analyzed using the principal axis method and an oblimax rotation. No factors were importantly related to group size. As group size increases, the tendency for the group to become divided into centralized factions increases. The tendency is for interaction to become more objective and less subjective as group size increases.

The article focuses on rural-urban differences and the family. A considerable body of theory has arisen dealing with rural-urban differences in the family. The assertion in many cases, and the inference in others, is that the extended family is most important in rural areas and that The nuclear or conjugal family stands as a relatively independent unit in urban localities. There are many researchers who have held that the disintegration of the extended family has proceeded farther in the city than in the country. These and other students of the family in their comparison of rural and urban life also suggest that people are so individualized in the city that they have little or no time to spend with members of their immediate families, and that in urban settings as contrasted with the rural settings there are few if any intrafamilial co-operative activities. This particular hypothesis of the disintegration of the family in urban areas is but one of a number of related hypotheses which collectively and in their simplest form hold that urban areas are strongholds of secondary groups and inimical to primary groups.

Survey data from Gävle, Sweden, are examined to determine whether the three Swedish occupational groups reflect actual social classes. Analyses reveal that (a) occupational status is heavily influenced by educational attainment; (b) education and amount and source of income all differ significantly among the three social groups; (c) upward generational occupational mobility is largely restricted to the top two groups; (d) Sweden is generally perceived as having three social classes; (e) most persons in all three groups identify with Group II; and (f) Swedes in all social groups desire to increase economic and social equality. The argument is made that Sweden may indeed contain a threeclass structure based primarily on occupation, but many Swedes view this class structure largely in economic terms. Recent marked rises in income across all social classes in Sweden have therefore left most people relatively satisfied with their society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]