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The primary purpose of this paper is to facilitate a more systematic approach to development of a single theory of administration from the present formal and informal theories, it limits its focus to determining when the use of formal communication channels, informal channels or some combination thereof contributes to the effectiveness of the administrator and when verbal, written or some combination of these methods facilitate an administrator's effectiveness when using the formal and informal networks. Clarification of the alternatives available to the administrator is attained by the specification of channels and methods of using them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the idea of federal intervention in an increasing number of domestic areas still evokes spirited debate in some circles, the case for an active federal role on behalf of some of our most cherished institutions, such as marriage and the family, can be persuasively made. Today with federal expansion into nearly every sector of the domestic scene, more moneys are appropriated for H.E.W. and H.U.D. than any other national agencies. However, governmental inattention to directly assisting marriage and family life has been regretably inadequate. Rapid advancement into a post-industrial society has jettisoned marital and familial units into ill-adapting systems characterized by stress-overload, bewilderment, hostility, and isolation. While there have been promptings for direct environmental regulation for children and families, these efforts have been thwarted by sporadic pressure, and insufficient and uninfluential advocacy. The institution of marriage has been nearly excluded from concern. This paper suggests a reexamination of governmental involvement, and after a careful analysis of pertinent research on marriage and family support systems, proposes the creation of a cabinet-status U. S. Department of Marriage and the Family. The historical background, rationale, constitutionality, and political opportuneness of the proposed department are discussed, and its seven major functions are identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to understand the interrelations among relations within concrete social groups. Social structure is sought, not ideal types, although the latter are relevant to interrelations among relations. From a detailed social network, patterns of global relations can be extracted, within which classes of equivalently positioned individuals are delineated. The global patterns are derived algebraically through a 'functorial' mapping of the original pattern. Such a mapping (essentially a generalized homomorphism) allows systematically for concatenation of effects through the network. The notion of functorial mapping is of central importance in the 'theory of categories,' a branch of modem algebra with numerous applications to algebra, topology, logic. The paper contains analyses of two social networks, exemplifying this approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information about the topics discussed in the February 1972 issue of the "Journal of Marriage and the Family," including several papers related to kin networks, with special emphasis on later stages in the family life cycle.

Extreme emphasis on style as a deference entitlement appears historically as a central feature of distinctive aesthetic cultural patterns The dimensions of social aestheticism are developed and illustrated in the present paper as part of a case study of the Regency milieu of Beau Brummell the main figure of the dandy movement. To account for this pattern, and to suggest the conditions under which style enter into deference processes the relationship between style and social structure is treated in terms of a theory of structural crystallization and decrystallization. Arguing that emphases on style are symptoms of the malintegration of culture and social structure, styles are examined as products of a market which generates demand for new models of social behavior. Decrystallization or structural loss in networks it seen to produce disjunction or lack of fit between prevailing cultural models and the actual structure of networks, producing this market for new model Special attention it directed to the phenomena of celebrity and social decay. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores the idea of social networks, which have been becoming increasingly popular among both social anthropologists and sociologists as one way of understanding behavior, particularly in larger scale complex or less structured societies. It reviews several literature related to the topic including those that were regarded as the most effective treatment for the subject. Furthermore, it concentrates on the developments that have taken place after the discoveries made by these related literature. It discusses a range of topics that include the question of the network theory, structural and transactional perspectives, network concepts, data collection, and finally, it presents an analysis of the social networks.

This is a second and comparison paper on the continuance and functioning of a kin family network in contemporary industrial society. The concept of the kin network is proposed as a replacement for the one which posits that a nuclear family unit is most suited functionally for the exigencies of modern life. The kin family network is composed of nuclear families bound together by affectional ties and choice. The lifelines of the network are help and service exchanged among members of nuclear families related by blood and affinal ties. Help, service and social interaction characterize the activities of this interdependent kin family system identified as the kin family network. Help and service among kin members take many forms. The principal form of help among parents and their married offspring is financial aid. One purpose of this paper is to examine how much aid binds together nuclear related families along generational lines. In this paper the term parental aid for married children is limited to financial assistance which may be in the form of cash, gifts, or services.

Elizabeth Bott's hypothesis that "the degree of segregation in the role-relationship of husband and wife varies directly with the connectedness of the family's social network" has been tested with inconclusive results. C. C Harris has reinterpreted the English data by suggesting that the degree to which monosex groups exist for each spouse explains the data better than does Bott's thesis. In this paper, Japanese and English data are compared and the relative merits of Harris' thesis over that of Bott discussed. Implications of the findings for further research are discussed as they relate to the contrasting rates of divorce found in the two countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how social power as a property of macroscopic social systems differs from power in other types of social entities. Specifically we hypothesize that macro-power -- as compared to micro-power -- is more likely: (1) to be a generalized rather than a particular capacity; (2) to have a multiple-resource base, whereas micro-power more often relies heavily on normative resources alone; (3) to be based on a stable, predictable attribution of power by alter, thus permitting more leeway for "power-plays;" and (4) to have units specializing in systemic power vertically differentiated from the inter-member power network. The implications 0/these four points are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information on generalised behavior theory, with reference to behavior under conditions of outcome certainty. In the attempts which have been made to develop a behavioural science, a number of basic assumptions were taken over from classical physics. Every person and group constitutes a behavioural universe with its own laws and operating on the basis of its own measurement scales. The methodological problem in this case is that of developing techniques for the quantitative study of individual persons and groups. The theoretical problem is that of formulating a generalised behaviour theory from which the network of behavioural principles within each of the possible behavioural universes is derivable as a special case. The present paper discusses the construction of generalised networks of behaviour principles for conditions of outcome certainty. The possible types of task structure each of which provides the basis for a different range of behavioural organisations are found to be derivable. Some of the essential conditions are discussed under which networks of behavioural laws emerge and the conditions under which they cease to operate.

This paper shows that the social organization of a therapeutic community is shaped by a particular ideology. The ideology rests on the belief that psychopathology is generated by the social network in which the patient is embedded and may be treated by adding constructive elements to it. The emergent social organization is then compared with the organization of a traditional mental hospital, with particular emphasis on the new behaviour required of people occupying roles in the therapeutic community. On the basis of this analysis, data was collected on patient role behaviour. Results show that improvement of patients is associated with the extent to which they participate in their role. In addition, evidence suggests that movement into the patient role is an orderly process through successive regions. In conclusion, the paper presents the Participation Scale which both measures participation and points to precise targets for therapeutic action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Data from a probability sample of a state university faculty are analyzed to determine whether academic discipline is predictive of faculty religiosity. Wide variations observed on four of Glock's proposed dimensions of religiosity are compared to the scientist-nonscientist dichotomy of fields and to "scholarly distance from religion," a construct delineated in the paper. The scientist-nonscientist scheme is not predictive of religiosity scores. Scholarly distance from religion successfully orders the scores. A relationship between scholarly distance from religion and religiosity seems to be interpreted partly by the effect of scholarly distance from religion on cognitive differentiation of religion and on social support for religiosity, especially the former. Selectivity of discipline and present religiosity appear to be based on childhood religious background, but controlling for childhood religiosity does not alter the original relationships greatly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the paper presented by Pahl zu regarding rural-urban continuum. Pahl has performed a long-overdue service for European rural sociologists in ailing attention to some of the basic underlying problems of the rural-urban continuum. Most of his cogent criticisms, with reference to the methodological problems entailed in transforming a potential into an actual continuum, are well taken. He has also provided a lucid and fruitful analysis of the metropolitan village by showing the existence of marked discontinuities. Throughout the paper Pahl argues persistently against the concept of the rural-urban continuum as a valid analytical tool for explaining the key patterns of rural and urban life. In fact, it appears that he considers the construct absolutely useless in almost every respect. The analytical concepts which Paid has proposed instead- role, social network, patron-client relationship, and, especially, local and national systems- deserve to be taken seriously in their own right.

This paper highlights results of a study that examined certain aspects of the class differentiation in the social life patterns among the population of Warsaw, Poland. The unskilled workers are living much less intensive social life than the rest of the Warsaw inhabitants, and they possess considerably rarely the feeling of support from other people both from their friends, their acquaintances and even on the part of their nearest family. As many as 62 percent do meet at least three persons a month, and again as many as 70 percent entertain their acquaintances calling at their home at least once a month more frequently. The intensity of the social life seems to be closely linked to the economic situation and to the living conditions. It is only 18 percent of the unskilled workers that think that in the difficult situations they may rely upon their work-mates, and the same rate of percentage believe that they may rely upon their friends and acquaintances from outside their work-place and their neighbourhood. It goes beyond any doubt that the sense of stronghold on the other people has been tightly interwoven with the intensity of social life. The fact that the professionals--in a most restricted way--choose the circle of their friends and acquaintances is connected undoubtedly with their higher standards of life and in general with much more interesting life than that of the remaining social layers.

Findings are reported concerning differential perception of help patterns and use of kin, non kin, and institutional resources by men during a time of recuperation from illness crisis. The study population consisted of previously well males who experienced a first myocardial infarction. Members of the kin group as well as friends and neighbors ranked similarly in degree of assistance reported. Minimal use was made of institutional and professional services, aside from contact with the physician. Type of aid given varied according to source, with nonkin such as neighbors providing services in higher proportion than kin, while parents and siblings were more prominent as sources of financial aid. Among the possible correlates of aid examined, only age of the patient was associated with types of help from various sources. Data on configurations of aid and on visiting patterns, it is suggested, may be interpreted through reference to level of social integration of individuals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This inquiry explores the rural migrant's involvement in a branch-family network in the industrial area of destination and the effect of such involvement upon various aspects of the migrant's social psychological adjustment. Five specified conditions are taken into account: age, sex, level of schooling, social class origin, and length of residence in urban localities. Data are derived from a project designed to follow up all persons who, 20 years earlier, were residents of an isolated mountain neighborhood in eastern Kentucky. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper utilizes opinion poll data to examine the social characteristics of Negroes oriented to violence and nonviolence in New York's Bedford-Stuyvesant ghetto after the 1964 riot there. Although violence-oriented Negroes were found in all segments of the community, the young, recent newcomers to the area, and males were more likely than the old, long-term residents, and females to be violence oriented. Negroes in the lowest income groups were more likely to be violence oriented than those in the highest income group. With the exception of the college- educated group the proportion oriented to violence was found to increase as educational level decreased. Indices of communal participation were examined; regular churchgoers were less likely than irregular attenders to be violence oriented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents author's narrative of social reality and social process. R.M. MacIver in his 'Society' states that "Society is a web of social relationships." Others give similar definitions which are merely verbal circumscriptions of the term society. but do not carry the concept beyond what is already implied in the word society itself. It might be objected that any definition of society other than a purely verbal enlargement on the term is impossible. Furthermore, it might be said that such a definition is not necessary because sociology assumes society as its prime data which as such does not need further analysis. This view, however, is superficial and leaves sociology without firm foundation. We think we can show that "society" is subject to a substantive definition in other than merely synonymous terms. Once we have established such a definition of society, we have a clear view of the background configuration of all social data. This would establish the existential framework for the understanding of social facts.

This article examines Bott's hypothesis on the correlation between the degree of segregation in the role relationship of husbands and wives. This paper is an attempt to re-examine Bott's hypothesis in the light of information from a somewhat different social setting. The study was not specifically oriented towards a test of the Bott hypothesis. Nevertheless an ex post facto analysis seems justifiable in this instance, since it sheds some light on the original hypothesis and suggests certain potentially fruitful ideas for future research. In a multivariate research design the set of dependent variables would concern the marital relationship. The independent variables would include connectedness of social networks, size and composition of social networks, selected aspects of occupation, degree of geographic mobility, stage of the developmental cycle, educational level and cosmopolitan and local orientation, besides any additional variables which the researcher might consider relevant. The systematic measurement and analysis of the relationship between the variables outlined in the research design might also be accompanied by an investigation into the mechanisms and processes by which the variables are linked one to another.

The article presents a discussion about attitude behavior consistency. Essentially, the researcher's comments consist of three criticisms which deal with the final third of the author's paper. One, he asserts that he confuse mathematical dependence and statistical interaction of independent variables; two; he argues that this confusion results in his obscuring the identity of the consistency and interaction conceptualizations; three, he objects to the forms the author used to express various conceptualizations. The interaction conceptuaIization assumes that neither attitude nor social support has an independent effect on behavior. According to the author if social support is congruent with attitudes, the effect of social support on behavior, will reinforce the effect of attitudes, thus, increasing attitude-behavior consistency; on the other hand, if social support is incongruent with attitudes, the effect of social support will counterbalance the effect of attitudes, thus, decreasing attitude behavior consistency.

The organizational literature has long acknowledged the effects of various formal organizational variables on informal structure. Nevertheless, very few systematic and empirically testable propositions have been formulated specifying relationships in this area. In this article a number of testable propositions are developed which relate the variables of compliance, mobility and size to motivation for clique formation and to constraints within which cliques form. A typology of five clique types (1) coercive cliques, (2) normative cliques, (3) high-mobility utilitarian cliques, (4) seniority utilitarian cliques, and (5) no-mobility utilitarian cliques, is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interorganizational analysis suggests the structural requisites for maintaining socially approved conflict while traditional organizational analysis suggests requisites for socially approved states of harmony. A theory of interorganizational co-ordination is presented, based on (1) organizational interdependence, (2) level of organization awareness, (3) standardization of organizational activities, and (4) number of organizations. The power of this theory is illustrated by showing that nine presumably discrete problems of social welfare co-ordination are all variations of these same four factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A study of a public welfare agency indicated that bureaucratic constraints became internalized and thus limited service to clients. But adaptation to bureaucratic procedures lessened rigidity and thus promoted case-work service. Many newcomers experienced a "reality shock," to which they often reacted by losing interest in the welfare of clients. For integrated workers, however, social support from colleagues absorbed the impact of this reality shock. While unintegrated workers tended to lose concern in their cases after having been with the agency for some time, integrated workers were much less likely to do so. Peer group support apparently made workers less dependent on clients and less ego-defensive in their reactions to conflicts, which enabled them to maintain a concern with the welfare of clients and give more case-work service. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on the failure of researchers to follow up on the classical voting studies done during the 1940's at Columbia University. A major consequence was the lack of research on the social structure of the information flow generated during political campaigns. From. an historical perspective, this has left a vacuum in our knowledge of voting. We also attempt to define a distinctly sociological dimension of voting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article the author analyses the reasons behind the growth of support for the Labour Party in Great Britain. The author remarks that in many research works the political systems of Great Britain and the U.S. are seen as the two most propitious sets of institutional arrangements for stable democracy. In particular, it is suggested that in two-party systems with first past the post electoral arrangements there are virtually insurmountable barriers that must be overcome by new or small parties to attain parity of size with the established parties. The concern of this article is to examine some of the reasons why such an apparently stable two-party system was radically transformed in a very short period. In the decade that followed the First World War there was a very rapid growth of support for the Labour Party. The traditional explanation for this sudden and prodigious growth of support for the Labour Party has been that the Liberal Party was virtually moribund by the end of the First World War and that the inchoate Labour Party must have been the beneficiary of this decline.

In this article the author shows how the seemingly simple question of why some pressure groups are more successful than others turns out to be more subtle than it looks and how the quest for straightforward determinants gives way to something more akin to dialectical analysis. The author remarks that legitimacy may be treated as simply one type of power resource, or, because it lacks any real base, as a separate factor. Either way the greater the degree of legitimacy accorded a claimant the better his chances of success. However, any contestant in a power situation is surrounded by an environment whose actions may be helpful, destructive or simply a nuisance. Some parts thereof are more powerful than others and the weaker any part is in terms of legitimacy and power the less success is a function of anything that part can do. However, the seemingly comprehensible problem of why some groups are more successful than others is of the sort which starts to disintegrate under inspection. An initial problem is the definition of the term group. Pressure groups are commonly reified in discussion. They are held to have goals, to mount campaigns and generally to act as discrete agents in the social network.

Role encumbents possess varying degrees of freedom with which to negotiate among differing role demands, it was hypothesized that, to the extent that the structural facilities of clear priorities and social support were features of the role set, vocation-related tension would be reduced. Data were gathered in a community of nuns faced with the problem of integrating the expectations of role senders in religious and professional social systems. in that the services in which nuns have traditionally engaged have become highly secularized, there is considerable divergence between the religious and the apostolic aspects of vocation in the contemporary world, giving rise to competing demands and loyalties. Moderately significant differences were found among those who had clearly allocated priorities and those who had failed to allocate priorities. Social support was also found to be a moderately significant variable. Further research into priorities of role set may be fruitful for organizational research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of analyzing social structures through the use of graph theory, some binary matrix operations for valued graphs are presented. These operations are demonstrated in the analysis of social network data presented by Kapferer. Further examples of where the procedures should prove useful are suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A critique of the argument against the "isolated nuclear family" is presented. Attention is drawn to vital conceptual and methodological flaws in the argument by Sussman et a!. against Parsons' position. It is concluded that the case against the isolated nuclear family has yet to be made. Guidelines are put forward for a proper determination of this matter. Empirical data are presented using these guidelines. A study population of 486 disability applicants was questioned about a closed set of 24 kin made up of parents, parents-in-law, sons, daughters, brothers, and sisters. When the data was standardized for kin availability, it was found that 38 percent of available kin lived in the same city or community, 51 percent of kin were seen at least monthly, and 17 percent provided significant help. The single, divorced, and widowed were found to be more integrated into their external kin network than the married, for whom kin are of relatively low importance. It was concluded that while for nuclear families the household is the basic family system, for the nonmarried it may well be the extended kin network. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In response to a massive flood which struck the metropolitan area of Denver, Colorado, June 16, 1965, approximately 3,700 families were evacuated from their homes. Interviews with a random sample of 278 of these families indicated that the initial response to warnings was marked disbelief regardless of warning source. Families evacuated as units, and data indicated a strong tendency for them to take refuge in homes of relatives rather than in official centers. This tendency was significantly affected by social class. Data further suggested that interaction between relatives during the warning period increased the likelihood that relative homes would be selected as evacuation points. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The results obtained by the comparative researches into family authority and satisfaction with marriage, carried out in the U.S.A., France, Greece, and Yugoslavia, have been analysed in this study. Only variations of tendencies in family authority and marital satisfaction regarding these four countries—not their absolute extents—have been compared. The data have shown that similar tendencies exist with regard to authority in Greece and Yugoslavia. The higher the social position of the husband, the lower his traditional authority in the family. The inverse is the case in France and the U.S.A.; i.e., the higher social position of husband, the higher his authority in the family. As regards the satisfaction with marriage, the tendencies in Yugoslavia differ considerably from the ones in other countries. The higher the husband's education, the lower the wife's satisfaction with marriage. The further analysis has shown that this phenomenon is considerably negatively affected by the wife's employment, education, and her family ideology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The issue of marital disorganization is discussed in a context of relationships to external networks. Historically, there appears to be some connection between integration of the nuclear, unit into the blood kin, and lower rates of dissolution. Currently, it is suggested that integration with certain kinds of external network; other than the blood kin, may be inversely related to disorganization of the nuclear unit. To account for differing rates of dissolution, four independent variables are discussed both in their historical and current settings. These variables are then linked to the dependent variable, conflict resolution, in terms of change, institutionalization, or dissolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Survey data based on self-administered questionnaires from parents and their adult children are employed to study intergenerational relations in 291 families. Parents and their adult children show high agreement concerning assistance patterns. The giving of aid tends to be quite symmetrical except for financial aid, which tends to flow from parent to child. The emphasis given to ties of affection varies between the generations, the parents tending to place greater emphasis on these ties than do the children. From the standpoint of the adult child, retirement does not have a deleterious effect on family relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses African urbanism, mobility and the social network. African urban studies have achieved a place in comparative African sociology in part because an ever-larger number of Africans have decided to seek alternative ways of making a living. This almost always means leaving the rural areas for a short or prolonged residence in town, While Africa remains the least urbanized of the continents, an urban environment has become the social and economic habitat for possibly 9%-11 % of the continent's population. A significant and new development is the larger number of Africans, particularly those with some years of urban residence, even if broken by frequent visits to kin and friends in the rural areas, who are staying for a longer period and will, probably, make the urban areas their permanent home. Extended kinship is not necessarily incompatible with African urban society, nor does the mobility of Africans invariably weaken all traditional kin and group ties. The area from which data of the study presented is taken contains an extremely heterogeneous African community representative of some twenty-five tribes.

The present investigation was designed to test seven propositions concerning the relationship between rate of physical maturation and important aspects of personality structure, specifically, self-conceptions, underlying motivations, and basic interpersonal attitudes. The TAT protocols of 33 seventeen-year-old boys -- 16 who had been consistently physically accelerated throughout adolescence and 17 who bad been consistently retarded -- were analyzed according to a scoring schema involving 20 needs, press, and descriptive categories. The scores of early- and late-maturers in each of the categories were compared. An earlier study (8) demonstrated that late-maturing boys are more likely than their early-maturing peers to encounter a generally unfavorable sociopsychological environment. Analysis of the data of the present study indicates that this situation may have adverse effects on the personalities of the physically retarded. These boys are more likely to have negative self-conceptions, feelings of inadequacy, strong feelings of being rejected and dominated, prolonged dependency needs, and rebellious attitudes toward parents. In contrast, the early-maturing boys present a much more favorable psychological picture during adolescence. Relatively few of them felt inadequate, rejected, dominated, or rebellious toward their families. More of them appeared to be self-confident, independent, and capable of playing an adult role in interpersonal relationships. Early- and late- maturing groups did not differ significantly from each other in needs for achievement or personal recognition. These findings make it clear that rate of physical maturing may affect personality development in crucially important ways. However, it is important to note that in any particular case the effects of early- or late-maturing may be significantly modified by the individual's psychological history and present circumstances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study has examined just a few of the background characteristics, behaviors, and attitudes that might be hypothesized to be associated with the different membership reference groups held among rural high school youth. The statistically significant differences among youth with different reference groups were in regard to number of siblings, estimation of popularity among schoolmates, and plans for the period after graduation. The most frequently mentioned reference group was the immediate family, and analysis was made of various characteristics associated with different degrees of reported intimacy of family life. Intimacy of family life was very highly correlated with fondness for father and mother, and was more characteristic of children who had either very few or very many siblings. Those very close to their families were also more likely than others to be popular with their schoolmates, uncertain about their future vocation, planning to leave the community when adult, get married at an average age and have a moderate number of children. Planning to go to college showed different relationships by sex: Among boys, it was those who are closest to their families who are planning for college, while among girls the opposite was true. Popularity was associated with the desire to leave the community when adult and with optimism regarding future life chances. Those who did not want to get married or have children were concentrated among the unpopular. Aspirations regarding personal qualities or achievements were found to be related to what were perceived to be the values of one's reference groups. Evidence was found supporting Riesman's hypothesis that qualities of the "other-directed personality" are more highly valued than are qualities of the "inner-directed personality." But there was no discrepancy in this regard between the youths own values and what they perceived their parents' values to be. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article throws light on guidelines laid down by the Rural Sociological Society on the role of women in rural sociology. The data was collected through a questionnaire, current membership directory of Rural Sociological Society and the past volumes of Rural Sociology, the official journal of the society.. It was concluded that there is a dearth of women in the field of rural sociology. Underrepresentation of women is due not so much to overt discrimination against them on the part of rural sociologists as to a covert kind of sexism which "cools out" the prospective female in the field by systematically not including her in the semiformal network that are the source of professional socialization, employment, and rewards. Lack of inclusion is not a characteristic unique to rural sociologists, but is instead a manifestation of societal norms concerning sex-specific behavior. If women are to contribute to rural sociology, the importance of informal networks must be acknowledged and an effort made to include women in them.

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This article deals with a study investigating sources of variation in agricultural workers' images of society. This study, based on empirical research, explores factors rarely relevant to authors' purpose here, as the locality studies on which they base their discussion were predominantly of "Highland Zone" villages where there are comparatively few agricultural workers who are not kinsmen of farmers. This notwithstanding, in pointing to the interactional, as opposed to the attributional nature of local stratification they opened the way to an understanding of one the bases of social imagery. There are a variety of types of local interactional social systems and below which authors specify some that are particularly relevant to agricultural workers. A term "local social situation," used in this article refers to particular agricultural workers' personal social networks. There have been recent substantial developments in the study of social stratification both within and between the middle and working classes. There has been variety of studies in this regard, specially for British communities, which have appeared to contribute towards broadening the basis of understanding of rural social relationships.

Examines the organizational form of peasant economic life in Brazil to understand the socio-economic transactions which take place within the traditional agrarian society. Analysis of exchange networks in which all peasants participate; Role of the anthropologist; Processes involved in the production and exchange of goods and services in an economy in transition.

The article presents information on the relationship between the family breakdown and social networks in the United States. Scholar C. J. Bott terms the relationship between community and family as complex and indirect. Internal structure of conjugal families is different in rural and urban settings. Families with loose-knit social networks lead to instability and ultimate breakdown within urban communities in the United States. Middle-class families have more close-knit social networks. In rural communities the family breakdown factor is limited.

This article explores the major concepts in sociometry. The major concepts in sociometry fall naturally into two distinct groups, one having to do with the processes underlying interpersonal relations and acting as etiologic factors in these relationships, and the other including those descriptive concepts which have appeared in the analyses of the interpersonal relations within groups studied sociometrically. In the former group are the theory of spontaneity together with the concepts of status nascendi, the sociodynamic effect, and the tele factor. Included in the latter group are the descriptive concepts: social atom, social networks, chains, and isolates. The theory of spontaneity and the concept of status nascendi seem to partially represent the philosophy underlying sociometry, sometimes called the philosophy of the Moment. The sociodynamic effect and tele factor differ from the concepts in that they are explanations of the processes producing particular patterns of human interrelations within the framework of the group. The second group of concepts which have been developed in sociometry are those which have to do with the structures revealed through sociometric testing within the framework of a group. Of these the social atom has been most thoroughly subjected to testing in the empirical situation and has been most completely discussed in literature.

In this article, the author focuses on central factors and limitations in social group work with considering views of various social scientists. Researcher M.W. Bechelman in 1939 referred these factors and limitations as "nucleus" and "boundaries" of the service. Seven propositions form the base for the following attempt to identify present-day nucleus and boundaries. These propositions represent the writer's fundamental assumptions about the social group work method, its relation to social work, and its use in practice. According to these propositions: group experiences are an essential element in productive living for all persons; elements of productive group experience can be identified, and hence the nature of such experience defined and the social group work method applied to the development of such experience; the group work method is consonant with social work when social work is defined as a way of work with needs ranging from serious dysfunctioning through rehabilitation to the maximizing of present active strengths and extension of latent ones; and the group work method in the social work profession cannot be identified solely in a distillation of practice in existing agencies or services and in a rank order of their assumed importance. Some other propositions read that: the focus in education of social group workers must be on a core of knowledge applicable to all practice with groups in a social work context; and that the current lack of manpower is an aspect of scarcity which should be dealt with in itself. It cannot be used as a rationale for the placement of social group workers or for the determination of the functions of employed and volunteer personnel.

Despite official attempts to inhibit word-of-mouth communication, an unofficial oral communications network co-exists with the official Soviet communications system and is an important source of information for all Soviet strata. Its major functions are to supplement the official system and⁄or to act as a substitute for it, supplementary for the better educated and substitutive for the lower classes. Although a large part of these contents carried by the unofficial word-of-mouth network is hostile or at least embarrassing to the regime, participation in this network, especially by the intelligentsia should not be interpreted as an index of disaffection. As a matter of fact, there is a strong tendency for the less anti-Soviet persons in the upper classes to be more active participants in word-of-mouth communications. For lower class Soviet citizens, especially peasants, however, there is a slight tendency for participation in this unofficial network to be related to anti-Soviet sentiment.

This article considers the question: What is the apparent role of the family, its kin and friendship networks in the use of health and welfare services? Eighty-seven working-class families (consisting of two subsamples of carefully defined "utilizing" and "underutilizing" respondents) were studied in Aberdeen, Scotland over a period of roughly one and a half years. After controlling for socioeconomic status, parity, education level, proximity to services, and length of residence in the city, noteworthy differences were found between the utilizers and underutilizers on various aspects of their social networks. The underutilizers relied on an undifferentiated group of readily available relatives and friends as lay consultants before using the service, while utilizers appeared to both differentiate between relatives and friends, and be independent of both of these sources of social control. An attempt is made to trace some of the implications of these differences for the understanding of help-seeking behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is the purpose of this research note (1) to present some specific data on the friendship ties of a sample of black urbanites and (2) to stress the need for much additional research, preferably of a systematic and comparative character, on the informal social networks of black Americans residing in urban areas. The findings of this exploratory study--extant, if relatively small-scale and encapsulated friendship networks for most of the respondents--suggest that the recent revision of sociological thinking about the general importance of informal social ties in urban areas might well need to be extended-given further corroborating evidence--to conceptualization of social life in urban black sub-communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The status-frustration hypothesis is the most widely used sociological explanation of lower class social disorganization. Some reasons for the prominence of this interpretation are discussed. The theory's plausibility hinges, in large part, on the validity of certain assumptions concerning the social-psychological characteristics of lower class persons. An analysis of empirical studies indicates that these assumptions have little basis in fact. The inadequacy of empirical support for the status-frustration hypothesis is traced to the tendency of the literature to obscure the actual characteristics of the lower class. An alternate theoretical framework is presented in which economic deprivation is treated as the independent variable. It is felt that this scheme more adequately accounts for the facts of lower class social disorganization, since material deprivation is the basic problem of the lower class, not status deprivation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]