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The present paper began with an attempt to formalize the Davis-Moore functional theory of social stratification. It was found that the theory could be represented by a static model consisting of two algebraic equations with appropriate constraints on the functions. Then the tools of path analysis were used to evaluate the empirical adequacy of the Davis-Moore and Parsonian functional theories of social stratification as representations of cultural beliefs about stratification. Because of the likely presence of measurement and sampling errors, it was impossible to reject definitely either of the models. However, the estimated path coefficients were more consistent with the Parsonian theory than the Davis-Moore theory. This led to an inquiry into the conditions under which one model would be a better representation than the other. It was argued that the Davis-Moore scheme would provide a more accurate representation of cultural beliefs under conditions of high organizational interdependence whereas the Parsonian framework would give a better representation under conditions of low interdependence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies of community power, influence, and leadership have rapidly increased in popularity and in number during the decade since Hunter's epochal study of Regional City in 1954. Foci of the various studies since then have ranged from the delineation of traits of leaders or power figures to conceptualizations of types of community power structures. Some few studies have been concerned with the relationship between attributes and actions of community leaders and community social structure. Outside the field of sociometric research the distribution of influence and the effect of community social structure upon this distribution has received little more than passing attention. The usual leadership research is concerned with the study of ways in which leadership affects the social structure of the community. This study will attempt to take the reverse orientation, that of how social structure affects leadership. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between the distribution of influence and community social structure. More specifically, this study is concerned with the relationship between consensus on leadership and community homogeneity. Homogeneity of community socioeconomic characteristics is assumed to be a basis for the shared values, attitudes, beliefs, opinions, and interests which serve as the basis for community consensus which may be manifested in agreement on nominations (choices) of community influentials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tins paper represents a first step in exploring a theory of intraorganizational stratification. In pursuing this objective we will take the rather pronounced status hierarchy in a psychiatric hospital as our point of departure. The main focus is upon the social distance patterns that exist between the occupants of formal positions in the hospital, and the manner in which the manipulation of social distance as reward and punishment and as a status protection mechanism is a significant aspect of interstatus relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores the possibility that a relationship exists between authoritarianism as measured by the F-scale and alienation as measured by sociologist Leo Srole's anomie scale. It is the contention of this paper that there is a sound theoretical basis for expecting that authoritarianism would vary directly with alienation. If one accepts the statement that authoritarianism predicts potential recruitment to a totalitarian social movement, then one may look for other conditions, which surround such recruitment. A number of theorists note that mass movements of this nature tend to develop during periods of societal disorganization. The position of this article is that alienation may be a sufficient but not a necessary condition for the occurrence of authoritarianism. Side-stepping the issue of causal sequence, one must show at least that the two vary directly with each other and that this variation is greater than chance. Some F-scale items, particularly those falling in the conventionalism and the sex-projectivity clusters, state that the social order is breaking down. Three components of the Srole scale involve similar attitudes, namely, that the social order is fickle and unpredictable, that there is loss of faith in progress and that life itself is futile.

An analytical framework is proposed for the systematic study of occupations in their social environments. This paper explores the ways in which occupations influence and are influenced by specific social contexts, taking into account both subjective and factual elements of the environment. Drawing upon past research on social stratification and current social developments, the framework is systematically illustrated, with emphasis on the dynamic nature of the connective relationships between occupations and publics. Neglected areas of research and theory are derived using the framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years considerable attention has been focused on delineation of the concept of alienation and on measurement of its relationship to modern social structure and function. This paper reviews the alienation literature, largely empirically oriented, for the last decade. Included with works of primarily theoretical and methodological importance are substantive studies of the relationships between the alienated individual and his social order. Suggestions for further research are given. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between size and structure is a general problem in the study of social organization. Organization can be seen as a system of relationships among differentiated activities performed by units of a population. Viewed as arising out of the exchange relations among these units, the structural characteristics of organizations should be affected by population size. As specific expressions of this general concern, size has been included in every taxonomy of group properties and has been related to goals, effectiveness, succession, and job satisfaction in studies of formal organizations (Merton, 1957:310-326; Berelson and Steiner, 1964:364-367; Tannenbaum, 1961; Meltzer and Salter, 1962; Simpson and Gulley, 1962; and Grusky, 1961). But perhaps the greatest amount of theoretical and research attention has focused on the relationship between size and the administrative component as one structural aspect of formal organizations (Melman, 1951; Terrien and Mills, 1955; Tsouderos, 1955; Bendix, 1956:221-223; Haire, 1959:287-296; Anderson and Warkov, 1961; Lindenfeld, 1961; Haas et al., 1963; Hawley et al., 1965; Starbuck, 1965:495-502; Rushing, 1966; Raphael, 1967; Hall et al., 1967). The findings produced by this research along with other inquiries into the effects of size on structural characteristics have been inconclusive. This has led some to conclude that "… size may be irrelevant in determining organizational structure" (Hall et al., 1967:912). Such a conclusion, however, may be premature. It is clear from both our own work and that of others that the effects of size may vary by type of organization (Akers and Campbell, 1968). Further, a clearer understanding of the size factor, especially as related to the administrative segment, requires a systematic investigation into other structural features of organization. In particular, Blau and Scott (1962:227) have suggested that complexity, as a second structural characteristic, may be an intervening variable between size and the administrative component, as well as being itself directly affected by organizational size. While other studies have treated complexity in a variety of ways, none has attempted systematically to explore the interrelationships among size, complexity, and the administrative component in a relatively large number of voluntary organizations. It is the purpose of this paper to examine these interrelationships for one kind of organization. Specifically, we want to consider: 1. the relationship between organizational size and the administrative component, controlling for complexity. 2. the relationship between size and complexity controlling for the relative size of the administrative component. 3. the relationship between complexity and the size of the administrative component controlling for organizational size. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To discuss the merits of this last hypothesis is beyond the scope of this paper, which has the much more limited aim of examining the empirical support for Lipset and Bendix's original argument. How firmly can we rely on their empirical generalization that the overall pattern of social mobility appears to be much the same in industrial societies? To answer this requires a reanalysis of their data. Although a complete assessment of this generalization would require the examination of all the available material, I have made here no attempt to incorporate more recent findings than they consider. Needless to say, this review is not meant to be negative but, rather, reopens an issue which may have been prematurely closed. Indeed it may even be that readers of Lipset and Bendix have imbued their findings with greater finality than was indicated, since in their original monograph they stress the tentative nature of their interpretation. As an interpretation their study remains masterful, and this critique should be seen in this context. One final qualification is that since the chapter in which this analysis appears was in fact written by Lipset and Zetterberg, it may be more proper to refer to this thesis as the Lipset-Zetterberg thesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been a great amount of criticism of structural-functional theory, particularly with respect to its supposed inability to deal with social change. Should structural-functional theory be unable to account for the sources of social change, then it is indeed guilty of an implicit ideological commitment to the status quo. If it can be shown that this theory is capable of dealing with social change, then we can accept Merton's statement: … it is the evaluations which permit the pouring of ideological content into the bottles of functionalism. The bottles themselves are neutral to their contents, and may serve equally well as containers for ideological poison or for ideological nectar. The position taken here is that Merton's statement is correct, provided that an important accommodation is made. This accommodation consists in the explicit incorporation of the dialectical process into structural-functional theory. The dialectical process implies a conflict model of society; it is in the tradition of Marx, who argued that without conflict there can be no progress. It adopts the proposition that conflict is empirically both a normal and an essential element in the social structure. In the simplest terms, the dialectic tells us something about the sources of a particular kind of social change. We are not content, as is Dahrendorf, with advocating a conflict model of society as an alternative to functionalism. The goal is nothing less than to reconcile the two approaches. Dahrendorf has himself recognized that the conflict model cannot provide all the answers since society is "Janusheaded." It is extremely difficult to talk about the prediction of empirical outcomes when one is required to look first at an integration model and then turn to the conflict model. It is necessary to construct one model which will qualify the integration model of society so as to give weight (the exact amount is an empirical question) to the disruptive elements in society. A considerable portion of this paper will be devoted to disengaging the dialectic from its ideological moorings and making it trim for sociological analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contemporary sociological writings abound with references to anomie, and the topic is fast becoming a major theoretical vogue. Yet many users of the concept fail to define it adequately or to place it in any larger theoretical context. As originally coined by Durkheim, the term anomie is a French translation of the Greek anomia, which means "no laws." The commonly used English equivalent of "normlessness" catches the literal meaning of anomie, but it fails to convey any single clear idea to many sociologists. We glibly use the concept without bothering to clarify its meaning. Furthermore, the simple notion of "lack or norms" is relatively worthless, since such a condition rarely if ever exists in any society. Durkheim discussed the idea of anomie at some length both in The Division of Labor in Society and in Suicide. Because the same term is used in both works, and because the concepts presented are similar in many ways, most sociologists have assumed that they were identical. In fact, however, Durkheim gave us two quite distinct conceptions of anomie. This paper is an attempt to separate and clarify these two meanings of anomie, and to relate both of them to more inclusive theories of social organization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has been almost twenty years since Davis and Moore published their famed theory of stratification. During this period, the discussions which it has engendered have been numerous and highly instructive. It is now time to address ourselves to problems which concern the testability of the theory and its experimental validity. This paper reports the results of an empirical study of one of the basic issues raised by Davis and Moore. A major proposition of their theory argues that in the final analysis, social stratification arises in a society because of differential rewards for performance in the social positions therein. These rewards can be of several types. For our purposes, two are of major importance: symbolic and economic rewards, hereafter referred to as "prestige" and "reward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The general theory of symbolic interaction, specifically self theory, is focused upon the importance of language as an instrument of definition and communication. People are seen as responding not directly to a resistant outer reality but to meanings of objects which are defined within a cultural system and social organization. G. H. Mead, in his discussion of the way persons develop self concepts and the accompanying ability to take roles effectively, speaks of the degree to which persons develop a "general other." This general other is an organized structure of attitudes believed to be common to all and is defined in terms of a universe of discourse growing out of the symbolic interaction of a community of individuals. Replies to the Twenty Statements Test, described by Kuhn and McPartland, display this quality. Self-identifying statements which people make fall along a rough spectrum of reference which can be broken up in various ways. The distinction which Kuhn and McPartland have reported is between what they call consensual and nonconsensual statements. Consensual statements are defined as those statements which would be generally understood by persons in the larger society without explanation. Nonconsensual statements are defined as those requiring interpretation before their social relevance can be assessed. The consensual statement is language behavior directed to the general other, while the nonconsensual statement is language directed to a more limited audience. H. S. Sullivan's contribution in developing the notion of the "significant other" consists in accounting for the fact that persons often do not seem to internalize standards and norms from the whole society but from segments of it on some selective basis. In this paper, the number of consensual statements made in response to the Twenty Statements Test will be called the locus score. Respondents are assigned to "high" and "low" locus categories as they make more or less than the median number of consensual statements. Expanding upon this frame of reference, it seems reasonable to propose that the locus quality found in self-conceptions of a given person is also characteristic of his conceptions of other objects. This hypothesis is based on the assumption that the self is the core of a set of interrelated attitudes, and that the level of reference employed by the respondent in his attitudes toward the self would therefore be applicable to other attitudes as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While a variety of social structural factors do influence all youth, it is critical to note that American youth are not a monolithic entity. Obviously, differences in age, race, sex, and socioeconomic status will play a part in what youth think, feel, and believe. Still, as this review of youth-oriented research indicates, the empirical focus, for the most part, has been upon white, middle-class, college students. One result of this research bias has been a tendency to generalize for all youth from data collected from a relatively small, select, youth population. A second obvious outcome is that sociologists have largely ignored the study of poor youth; non-students; blacks, Chicanos, Puerto Ricans, American Indians; youth in the work world; youth in the military; and females. Generally, this review of the social science research suggests that there is consensus among students of youth behavior as to the factors which influence the attitudes and behavior of contemporary youth. At the same time, it must be noted that much of what is pronounced is based on little in the way of empirical research and derived primarily from observations of a limited segment of American youth. Finally, this review of the literature would certainly support the observation that social scientists have provided little in the way of knowledge that would be of value to policy planners, program developers, or those involved in the day to day business of youth socialization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is a participant observation study of a small work group on the night shift in a food processing plant. Although in the Human Relations tradition, this study focuses explicitly upon the interrelations between the group and salient aspects of the organizational and technical environment. The analysis is guided by the small group theory of George G. Homans. Attention is focused first upon the development of an informal social organization which was functional both in meeting formal organizational goals and group members' socioemotional needs. This informal organization was disrupted by supervisory style changes, however, after which both job commitment and group morale declined dramatically. This was followed by two technical changes; as the group informally and collectively adapted to these changes, a new informal social organization emerged. This new organization clearly reflected the group members' desire for autonomy. Clear support is claimed for the general proposition that commitment to formal organizational goals, group morale, and individual satisfaction is positively related to a lenient supervisory style and high autonomy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An interpretation of selected portions of Bernstein's sociolinguistics is presented. The interpretation suggests that linguistic performance intervenes between social structure and self-concept. The theory is specified through a research application. The specification holds that two views of social structure are implicit within the theory: one microcosmic and the other macrocosmic. For Bernstein these views are linked to Mead and Durkheim, respectively. However, the present analysis attempts to show that both are properly understood as Meadian. Linguistic performance is related to self-derogation within a strict Meadian interpretation. The contribution of the theory seems to lie in a specification of a Meadian view of self relative to selected aspects of language. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several explanations of social movements rest on the assumption that participants are bonded together by a commonly-held set of beliefs differentiating them from non-participants. This is especially true of Smelser's theory of collective behavior and its central concept, the generalized belief. Components of the generalized belief are examined in light of recent studies of groups within the environmental movement; results disclose significant heterogeneity, especially regarding responsibility for environmental problems and visions of solutions. Data from a total census of a focal group within one urban environmental coalition are presented and the distribution of beliefs across its structure described. The degree of homogeneity of beliefs decreases with movement from the center to the periphery of the group. These analyses suggest that collective action by social movement organizations results from emergent internal processes and structures rather than initial consensus among movement participants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the popular consciousness conflict is generally understood to mean a struggle between two opposing groups. Ossowski (1963) in his study of "Class Structure in the Social Consciousness" calls our attention to the deep historical roots of the dichotomous image of social conflict. From Biblical times on he traces the recurring tendency to perceive social structure in terms of two potentially conflicting groups—the oppressors and the oppressed, the exploiters and the exploited, the rich and the poor, the rulers and the ruled. This tendency toward the dichotomous perception of conflict is not limited to class struggles but dominates a wide variety of conflict situations. Conflict between races, religions, political factions, and regions is conceptualized in terms of two antagonistic groups. Thus we speak of conflict between Black and White, Christian and Jew, Catholic and Protestant, Congress and Executive, Hawk and Dove, Church and State, Business and Labor, etc. Several correctives to this oversimplified view have appeared, including the pioneer work of Simmel (1950; 1955a; 1955b), and more recently the studies of coalition theorists such as Caplow (1968) and Biker (1962). Caplow in particular has stressed the triadic model as the most pervasive form of conflict. We agree but take exception to the conception of the third party in the triad as developed by both Simmel and Caplow. We propose that the most common form of conflict is that which transpires between two antagonists and a third party or parties—the "neutrals." In our view the neutrals are not equivalent to the third member of the triad, and the dynamics of conflict involving neutrals and conflict groups cannot be comprehended within the scheme of "coalitions in triads. [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]

The article represents an attempt to replicate a study written by Douglas Rennie and Robert Hilgendorf concerning their examination of the stratification system of a small town in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The authors examined the correlation of factors relevant to social class self-identification and measures of socioeconomic status. There was a problem in describing the social class system of the community so the authors focused their study on the pictures of the stratification system secured by three different approaches to the measurement of social class. The authors used weighted scores and comparisons based on house type, education and occupation. In conclusion, the authors suggested that communities differ in the degree to which a community social class ranking is consensually perceived.

Before talcing up in more detail this customary indifference to social activism, we will try to sketch some key elements in this mystique of anthropology as it shapes the anthropologist's conceptions of himself and his discipline. These observations do not fit all anthropologists or all points of view within anthropology equally well. They are most apt if applied to American cultural anthropology and characterize less accurately the ethos of British and Continental anthropology. In addition, they bear most appropriately on the posture frequently assumed by anthropologists that Jules Henry calls the existential: "There have always been two trends in cultural anthropology; the formalistic and the existential; the preoccupation with parts versus the concern with wholeness; an interest in structure versus a search for meaning; the insistence on plotlessness versus the perception of plot. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A large high school, from a sociological point of view, is comparable to the other large-scale organizations such as hospitals, governmental, industrial, and business concerns. Such organizations represent webs or networks of interrelated parts with formal and informal structures that constitute the social system. Waller provided the pioneer work in viewing a school as a social system. More recently, the works of Brookover and Gottlieb, Gordon, and Havinghurst and Neugarten have continued to use this orientation. These studies have utilized the functional analysis of social systems which focuses on the functional interrelations of the parts, and the "relevant consequences" of one part, or parts, to the total system. In considering schools as social systems there has been little attention given to innovation and its concomitant effects within the system. Neal Gross recognized this neglected area in the sociology of education and suggested that Gouldner's analysis of the effects of change in the formal structure of a factory might be useful in school systems. Riley and Riley have considered some important theoretical aspects of innovation within school systems. However, their analysis failed to consider the differential effects of innovation in the social system as a result of differing degrees of interdependence of the system parts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parsons' conceptual analysis of social stratification is representative of the several well-known functional analyses of stratification. A heated controversy has occurred over the functional approach to stratification, yet almost no analysis of Parsons' contribution appears in the literature. Since Parsons' work on stratification is beset by problems similar to other functional analyses of stratification, a critical analysis of Parsons' approach may also help to clarify some of the problems faced by other functional analyses. Our concern here, however, is particularly with Parsons and specifically with his "Revised Analytical Approach to the Theory of Social Stratification." Our task will be to examine in detail Parsons' revised theory and to offer some comments upon it. Analysis of the theory and comments will be strictly separated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In current definitions of social structure, one particular difference in emphasis appears outstanding. Stogdill, for example, emphasizes differentiation and interdependence of parts when he says: "By structure is meant that the system is so differentiated or ordered that member A is not identical with member B, and the reaction of A to B is not identical with the reaction of B to A." In a somewhat broader frame of reference, Johnson, on the other hand, places primary emphasis on the element of continuity or relative permanence when he says, "The 'structure' of anything consists of the relatively stable interrelationships among its parts; moreover, the term 'part' itself implies a certain degree of stability." This latter characteristic-stability-Stogdill refers to as identity because it is this characteristic which "permits the system to be recognized as the same group during successive periods of observation."The central tendencies of these and similar definitions can be expressed in a definition of structure as a stable pattern of relationships among differentiated parts. Differences in emphasis suggest, however, that such a definition contains two key elements: differentiation of function on the one hand, and consistency in the allocation of these functions on the other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers the simplex model as a tool for making inferences about change processes given data collected at one point in time. The fruitfulness of the simplex used in this way will be illustrated by restating George Peter Burdock's theory of change in social organization into simplex terms and fitting data drawn from a recent study by Alvin NW. Guilder and the author to the model. The simplex is a mathematical criterion for testing the structure of variables ordered in terms of an a priori scheme. A perfect simplical ordering of variables can be illustrated with words and hypothetical coefficients of correlation. The simplex is a criterion for ordering variables. The meaning given to the ordering must be supplied by the researcher. In some, the ordering of data in simplifical form has been interpreted in terms of degree of complexity, psychological distance and similar avenues. Simplical ordering has not been interpreted as showing the interrelations of system elements over time.

We are primarily concerned with exploring the dynamics of symbol strategy as a device for conceptualization of social structure. We have tried to indicate their relevance for social relationships in three divergent contexts. Much systematic conceptual and empirical analysis remains before the value of this approach can be determined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study proceeds along the well pioneered lines of elite sociometry to identify and characterize influentials. It differs from most of the studies cited above in that it has been designed as a comparative study in four geographically distinct areas to explore two important unanswered empirical questions: 1. How much variation in influence structures will be encountered from one community or area to another? 2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]