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This note outlines the type of papers which the U.S. periodical "The Sociological Quarterly" wishes to publish. The periodical is a general sociological journal, and as such does not place any quotas on the number of papers it shall publish in any specific area. It nearly always considers scholarly sociological research and writing done by sociologists as being within the journal's acceptable limits. The note airs a special call for articles on the teaching of sociology as well.

An earlier paper presented findings which indicated that mentally ill persons described as exhibiting identical behavior were increasingly rejected when they were described as utilizing no help, utilizing a clergyman, a physician, a psychiatrist, or a mental hospital. Controls for age, religion, education, and social class position failed to diminish the relationship between help-source and rejection, but controls for experience with an emotionally disturbed help-seeker and for adherence to the norm of self-reliance tended to specify it. The previous paper was concerned with the stability of the relationship between help-source and rejection within each of the control groups, and not, for the most part, with differences among groups. In this paper, the main focus is on a comparison of the effects of educational attainment on the relation between help-source and rejection. A further focus is on the influence of (a) experience with mentally ill help-seekers, and (b) attitude toward the norm of self-reliance, two variables that serve to interpret the relationship between education and rejection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the literature on the long-range impact of schooling and the types of effects that schools have shown. It compares data on the impact of Jewish schooling on adult religiosity with similar data from a study of Catholic schooling. Like previous studies on other types of schools, the main effect of Jewish schooling seems to be an accentuation of parental influences. This effect is diminished substantially if not supported by marriage to a religious spouse. However, on some types of religiosity, extensive Jewish schooling produces "conversion" effects which persisted even when pre-school and postschool supports were lacking. The implications of these findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

U.S. young adults in the 2000s and 2010s entered a national labor market that was highly stratified by education. While the socioeconomic consequences of a four-year bachelor's degree are well documented during this period, less is known about the consequences of seeking a sub-baccalaureate credential. I analyze the employment, earnings, and student debt outcomes associated with several sub-baccalaureate experiences differentiated by enrollment, credential level, and for-profit attendance using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth-1997 Cohort. Using fixed-effects regression models, I find that certificates and associate degrees are associated with employment advantages relative to a high school diploma. However, young adults with some two-year college and no credential or a certificate have no higher earnings than those with a high school diploma. Sub-baccalaureate credentials can also be costly, as those who attend a for-profit college have more student debt than those who do not. Results shed light on labor market inequality among a large but understudied segment of higher education and underscore the importance of considering debt alongside labor market outcomes in analyses of the socioeconomic consequences of higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports some observations and findings resulting from a pilot study of the use of nude models posing for art classes. What happens, simply, is that for certain art classes it is thought desirable to employ persons who will model in the nude for the students in the course. When instruction of this type is offered, the college or university must employ such a model. In this paper we will discuss some of the problems of finding and maintaining him or her, and the conduct of the students and model toward one another. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper has examined effects on mobility of education level, social class background, and strength of achievement motive. The attainment of some college education is shown to enhance greatly the likelihood of upward mobility and reduce the likelihood of downward mobility. However, much mobility is not attributable to the factor of education. Strength of achievement motive is shown to exert noticeable influence, on upward mobility especially, among persons who lack any college training. An analysis of the interaction of factors associated with social class background, strength of achievement motive, and level of education in the determination of mobility is offered; the analysis rationalizes both the absence of expected relationships between strength of achievement motive and mobility among persons from upper middle-class backgrounds, and the presence of such relationships among persons from the other social class groups. The correctness of this latter analysis will, of course, turn upon the results of future research in which more refined measures of social class variables are used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nearly a third of students whose parents do not have bachelor's degrees become first-generation college graduates and over a third of students with at least one parent with a bachelor's degree do not become continuing-generation college graduates. We apply insights from social reproduction theory to study educational mobility, examining which factors are associated with becoming a first-generation college graduate and not becoming a continuing-generation college graduate. Drawing on data from The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, we find that students with low educational origins who become first-generation college graduates have parents who possess and pass down high levels of some resources for their educational level and are well equipped to use the resources they receive. Likewise, students with high educational origins who do not become continuing-generation graduates tend to have parents who possess few resources for their education level, pass down few of some resources, and are less well equipped to use the resources they receive. We discuss the implications of our findings for the openness of the American educational system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aspirations may be measured in absolute terms, by asking individuals how much of a given goal they desire, or in relative terms, by asking individuals how much they desire a given goal relative to other goals. Prior studies on the relationship between social class and success goals have always employed either relative or absolute measures alone, with the absolute measures focusing on desire for education, occupational prestige, or income and the relative measures usually focusing on such goals as job security, advancement, and importance. This paper argues that a focus on absolute or relative aspirations alone can produce a misleading image of the relationship between social class and success goals, and it remedies the above neglect by examining the absolute and relative aspirations of different social classes for the same set of goals. Using a sample of males from Detroit and Baltimore, it was found that the lower class places more emphasis on economic security, while the upper class places more emphasis on self-actualization goals like job advancement and importance. However, when absolute aspirations were examined, it was found that lower-class people have a strong desire for self-actualization and that middle-class people do not have a strong desire for security. These findings provide a more complete picture of the relationship between social class and success goals, and they are relevant to such topics as Rodman's "lower-class value stretch," social mobility, anomie theories of deviance, and explanations of social movements based on relative deprivation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on a study which examined the input parental status has on the timing of career decision. Data for this study were collected by means of questionnaire from graduating seniors from 24 colleges and universities. It was hypothesized that students from upper-status parents would choose their future career later in their life than would students with lower-status parents. Although the data tend to support the hypothesis, it seems to hold more true for females than for males. This difference was attributed to the varying emphasis placed upon the responsibility for the achievement of success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to determine whether, using 1960 census data, differences do exist in occupational and educational attainment for second-generation males of United Kingdom, German, and Italian background, in Northeastern United States. The data are presented with controls for age so that analysis may be made separately for those who were becoming educated and becoming employed in two quite different periods in our nation's social and economic development. Additional data from the 1960 census are presented to view the educational and occupational pattern for the three groups throughout the entire United States, by geographical regions, and for a smaller age category (25 to 34) than that presented in the other tables, in order to determine how typical the Northeast region is of the entire country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents the address given by the author during the general session of the Midwest Sociological Society's 25th anniversary meeting on April 13, 1962, in Des Moines, Iowa. It discusses the author's experience with the society and his participation in its previous annual conferences. During his term as secretary of the society he has observed the changes in the structure and the functions of the society since its reorganization in 1937. The most important phenomenon having implications for a regional society is the decline in regionalism of American sociology. Regionalism, in the sense that it existed in 1937 has disappeared. The birth of the society have a significant impact on the origins of modern American sociology. The educational institutions established by notable members of the society have contributed to the production of doctor of philosophy degree in sociology.

Clinging to dead ideas about teaching and learning limits our practice as professors. The resulting tyranny means we fail to educate our students as effectively as we might. This address challenges faculty to reconsider their understanding and habits in three areas: the preparedness of students, the impact of grading policies on learning motivation, and the role of technology in teaching. The good news is that learned behaviors, sociologically informed reflection, and the application of the research in the scholarship of teaching and learning can liberate us and improve the experiences of teachers and learners alike. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The differential effects of social contexts and race on educational behavior are examined in terms of a causal process model. Based on data from San Diego, the role of social contexts are found to be important through a causal process in which SES contexts affect personal characteristics which, in turn, influence educational aspirations and attainment. Utilizing both correlational and tabular techniques, tile basic model holds for all racial (ethnic) groups; however, race does affect the level of the individual variables. The findings from this study suggest that the importance of SES contexts are mediated by race and contingent upon the common relations of these contexts and educational behavior to individual characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Theories of adolescent expectation formation hypothesize that socially and academically disadvantaged students are less responsive to signals about their academic performance when forming educational expectations. To test this hypothesis, I examine variation in student responses to new information about their academic performance by a rich set of background characteristics. I find little support for the hypothesis. In contrast, low-SES students who are high performing or come from supportive home environments appear to be the most responsive to new information about their academic performance. I discuss the implications of this finding for research on expectation formation among adolescents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article I examine the factors that influence fifth grade student decisions regarding whether or not to report negative interactions to adults. Data from observations and interviews with students and adults show that there are many factors influencing the reluctance to tell on others. Among them is a school context in which verbal attacks are downplayed and telling is seen as ineffective and stigmatized. This context prevents bystanders from reporting what they have observed and places those with a lack of social support at a significant disadvantage when dealing with negative behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much of the educational gradient in trust in politicians remains unexplained by prevailing theories on material resources and institutional knowledge. Our novel explanation theorizes that: in its relationship with trust in politicians, education is a status indicator; and the lower trust in politicians among the less educated reflects the latter's opposition to the former's status signaling. Analyses of representative Dutch survey data (n = 1,296) demonstrate that indicators of affinity with elite culture do indeed largely underlie the association between the level of education and trust in politicians. We discuss the relevance of our findings for debates on "culture wars." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Those who suffer from impostorism experience feelings of fraudulence, worrying that they are fooling others about their abilities and that they will eventually be exposed. While prior research emphasizes the trait-like durability of impostor personalities, we argue that impostorism is sensitive to experiences in proximate social environments, such as graduate school programs. The authors examine the relationship between perceived characteristics of graduate school program environments and students' impostor feelings using survey data from a large university (N = 1,476). Results demonstrate that students' perceptions of lower-quality mentorship, increased competition, and increased isolation are associated with more frequent impostor fears. The authors discuss the consequences of impostorism in academia and review implications for program policies and future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The disproportionate placement of racial minorities and males into special education for learning disabilities (LDs) raises concerns that classifications occur inaccurately or inequitably. This study uses data from the Education Longitudinal Survey of 2002 to investigate the social etiology of LD classifications that persist into adolescence. Findings suggest the overclassification of racial minorities is largely consistent with (clinically relevant) differences in educational performance. Classifications may occur inconsistently or subjectively, with clinically irrelevant qualities like school characteristics and linguistic-immigration history independently predictive of disability classification. Finally, classifications may be partially biased, with male overclassification largely unexplained by this study’s measures and racial minorities’ risk of classification increased in schools with fewer minorities (the latter not statistically significant). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the United States, students’ ability to perform well in school mathematics is important for gaining access to a selective college and affects entry into sought-after majors. We find that the gatekeeper function of mathematics is not a function of general academic prowess and operates separately from advantages attributable to family background. Moreover mathematics is especially important for educational attainment among youth from higher socioeconomic status families. Human capital theory implies that schooling’s emphasis on math reflects its functional importance in the workplace. However, our analyses of skills used in workplaces indicate that very small proportions of educated workers ever use “school math.” We draw out the implications of this disjuncture both for theories of class reproduction and for human capital theory. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Identifying a causal relationship between education and marital status poses methodological challenges. Using regression discontinuity analyses of U.S. Census data from 1910 and 1930, I estimate effects of early U.S. compulsory schooling laws on marital patterns by gender and race. Results from 1910 suggest that compulsory laws had heterogeneous effects by race and gender, reducing the likelihood of being married only among nonwhite men. Results from 1930 suggest that compulsory schooling decreased the racial gap in likelihood of being married and in age at first marriage by at least 24 percent. Contemporary implications include potential benefits of extended compulsory schooling for racial equality. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Although there is ample empirical evidence of the associations between higher education and various aspects of religiosity, the causal mechanisms producing these associations remain unclear. I use four waves of longitudinal data, with respondents ranging in age from 13 to 29, to model the within- and between-person effects of higher education on several measures of religiosity. The results show that earning a bachelor's degree is associated with within-person declines in some but not all measured aspects of religiosity, which partially supports the argument that higher education causes religious decline. The results also suggest that those predisposed to attending religious services self-select into higher education, that relatively religious youth in general self-select into nonelite colleges, and that those with low levels of religious belief self-select into elite universities. These findings further understanding of the associations between social class and religion, particularly the causal effects of higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite extensive research on multiracial youth in recent years, to date, no empirical studies have analyzed how racial context may affect biracial adolescents' sense of belonging in a social institution beyond families. In this study, we examine how the racial makeup of the student body affects self-identified biracial adolescents' school attachment. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, we find that the proportions of white or black students in school significantly affect the school attachment of Hispanic/black, Asian/black, and American Indian/black biracial adolescents, but school racial composition in general has little influence on biracial adolescents with a partial-white identification (i.e., black/white, Hispanic/white, Asian/white, and American Indian/white). Our analyses also show that on average, students of most biracial groups display lower school attachment than their corresponding monoracial groups, but the differences from the monoracial groups with the lower school attachment are generally small. We discuss the implications of our findings for biracial adolescents' perceived racial boundaries and contemporary American race relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

South Africa, a country that is highly stratified by race, is an important location for studying the relationship between race and educational expectations. Using a longitudinal data set, we examine the educational expectations of black (African), colored (mixed race), and white (European ancestry) parents and children in Cape Town, South Africa. We find that parents and children have high educational expectations regardless of race, but black parents and children have higher educational expectations than coloreds and whites once socioeconomic and other factors are controlled. We also find that parents' and children's expectations tend to agree more and are more closely correlated among coloreds and whites than blacks. We test two explanations for the educational expectations of parents and children, finding more support for the status attainment perspective among coloreds and whites than blacks and support for the family social capital perspective among blacks and coloreds only. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Separating elementary school students into skill-based reading groups within classrooms affects a vast majority of young children in the United States. The impact of this institutional process on students' learning has important implications for sociological perspectives on education and stratification, yet a lack of studies comparing similar grouped and nongrouped students has prevented scholars from drawing conclusions as to the salience of this type of curriculum differentiation. Drawing on data from the first- and third-grade waves of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Cohort, I use propensity score matching techniques to estimate the impact of low, middle, and high group placement on reading gains relative to nongrouped instruction. Findings suggest that high-grouped students learn more, and low-grouped students learn less, than comparable nongrouped students. These analyses, which significantly lessen the extent to which selection into groups may bias results, add strong evidence to the view that within-classroom skill grouping in the early elementary years promotes unequal reading gains compared to nongrouped instruction. I conclude by discussing the theoretical and policy implications of these findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research note presents preliminary research into the relationship between the racial composition of public schools in school districts and the percentages of white students in nonpublic schools in those districts. Specifically, we ask two questions: Is the enrollment of whites in non-public schools associated with minority predominance in public schools? Is there an association between the enrollment of whites outside of the public school system and the academic performance of students in the public school system? Using two- and three-level hierarchical linear models, we find that school districts that have more whites in nonpublic schools tend to contain public schools with larger percentages of minority students. Further, at both the school and individual levels, achievement test scores tend to be lower in districts in which white students tend to be enrolled outside of the public school system. In addition, the achievement gap between white and minority students tends to be greater in districts with relatively more students in nonpublic schools. These findings are consistent with the argument that the withdrawal of white students from the public school system is negatively related to academic achievement because it tends to concentrate minority students in public schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the impacts of maternal and paternal influences on the educational attainment of women and whether these parental effects operate similarly for white and black women. Specifically, the study measures the differential effects of mother's and father's education, occupation, and encouragement. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Labor Market Experience (NLS), 428 white and 145 black women were examined. Findings indicate different patterns in the way mothers and fathers affect their daughters' educational attainments. For both groups of women, father's education was found to be a generally better predictor than mother's education, while mother's occupation was more important than father's occupation. Mother's occupation and parental expectation variables were relatively more important for black women, and parental education variables were more important for white women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through long suggested, subjective indicators of status inconsistency have seen little empirical use. Data from a sample survey with controls for additive status variables are used to compare objective and subjective status inconsistency with these conclusions: (1) Individuals in an "objective" state of educational-occupational inconsistency are no more likely to feel inconsistent than those whose objective statuses are aligned. (2) When considered in conjunction with vertical status dimensions, neither objective nor subjective status inconsistency is independently associated with measures of social participation; only the subjective measure is independently associated with powerlessness. (3) The joint use of subjective and objective status inconsistency concepts in future work must be carefully justified and must take into account well-substantiated but frequently ignored methodological problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article comments on Kenneth L. Wilson and Louis A. Zurcher's essay on status inconsistency and participation in social movements. They discussed the relationship within a set of four variables which are income, occupation, education and pornactivity. The analysis showed that income levels are insignificant in the explanation of Conpron activity in the case of the Wilson and Zurcher data. On the basis of a national sample, education alone was found to be a predictor of attitudes toward pornography among the three variables considered. The implication of these findings is that active concern about pornography is a matter of culture rather than social stratification and a matter of beliefs rather than status.

The defining and, where appropriate, modeling of supervisors, co-workers, parents, teachers, and counselors were correlated with a particular counseling activity. School counselors (N = 81) reported these perceived influences and the amount of time they devoted to talking with youths about the ways to avoid past mistakes. In low socioeconomic (SES) areas, counselors and teachers showed the strongest relationship with this behavior; while in high SES groups, parents provided the dominant association. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The predictors of educational choice were classified into three constructs: structural, interpersonal, and intrapersonal. It is argued that these constructs are necessary to the occurrence of educational expectations and that the effect of each is contingent upon the others. The predictive utility of three multivariate models is compared: an additive, an interactive, and a mixed model. The two models that incorporate interaction terms are most effective in predicting educational plans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The armed forces are structurally changing in the direction of the bureaucratic-managerial model. This change is reflected in the increasingly important role played by the top military college charged with training senior officers to integrate the military and industrial spheres. Data are provided on the origin of the college and its mission, the demographic characteristics of the students, the changing content of the military-industrial curriculum, and the organization and quality of the faculty. Student performance on a standardized admissions test is compared with national norms. The overall strengths and weaknesses of the college and its role in turning out military leaders with managerial skills is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In view of the growing competition for college admittance and the greater skills required in an increasingly complex and technically oriented society, this study was undertaken to determine the importance of academic achievement as a student value in the latter 1960's. The importance of academic achievement for students was supported in terms of the most long range measure, namely being remembered as a brilliant student. In terms of the measure directed at present popularity among students, valuation of academic achievement occupied a middle position. Leaders were found to value academic achievement significantly more highly than non-leaders. Students with white collar parents valued academic achievement more highly than students with blue collar parents but results were not statistically significant in each case. An explanation for the lack of confirmation of the relationship between social class and valuation of academic achievement was ascribed to the strong college aspirations of blue collar students at the school under study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

About half a century ago Durkheim asserted that Protestants show a greater degree of anomie than do Catholics. Although Durkheim's assertion was based on limited studies, his statement has sparked considerable empirical research into the phenomena surrounding anomie. The social scientist interested in this topic today has numerous earlier studies and a selection of research instruments on which to draw in designing his own research. Among the most useful of the studies on anomie up to the present time are those by Srole, Nettler, Meier and Bell, Bell, Mizruchi, Dean, and Dean and Reeves. The study by Dean and Reeves is particularly interesting in terms of both questions answered and questions raised. Since this present study was conducted in response to the questions raised by the Dean and Reeves research, it will be necessary to review briefly their research procedures and findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1958 Morris L. Cogan, faculty member of the Graduate School of Education, Harvard University, after an extended survey, summary, and analysis of definitions of "profession," submitted one of his own, stressing disciplined knowledge and ethical—i.e., altruistic —service. A few years later, apparently not too happy with his own product, he again reviewed the problem of defining a profession, this time elaborating a three-dimensional analysis based on the principle of "levels" of definitions. The first level, historical and lexicographical, is supposedly freighted with rich historical and traditional associations. His own product was subsumed under this category. The next level, "persuasive," includes idealistic, emotive, and affectively evocative elements considered to have value in directing or redirecting people's attitudes. The third level of definition, which he termed "operational," is designed to furnish the basis upon which individuals and associations may make specific decisions as to the behavioral concomitants of a profession. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses trends and issues affecting sociology during the 25-year existence of the Midwest Sociological Society. During the covered period the influence of the pioneers in the building of American sociology, though waning, was still directly transmitted through some of their students who held key positions in sociology departments in the Midwest. The generation that first established and manned sociology departments in the burgeoning universities and colleges of the Midwest was for the most part strongly imbued with the idea and ideal of social progress. In place of social philosophies built on dubious foundations, the discipline has a nascent but growing science. The new empiric mood and objective orientation expelled not only the sociology of progress but brought into considerable disrepute the sociology of reform. Ambilances about the trends affecting the discipline of sociology have been raised by problems precipitated by the onset of the space age and mass higher education.