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This paper examines the Chicago sociologist William F. Ogburn's (1886–1959) views about technological unemployment, which were intimately connected to his analysis of the social impacts of technological developments and resulting social problems due to cultural lag. We trace the development of his views as seen through his well‐known 1922 book, Social Change with Respect to Culture and Original Nature, his important contributions to the President's Research Committee on Social Trends (1933), and his lesser‐known pamphlets designed for a broader audience—Living with Machines (1933), You and Machines (1934), and Machines and Tomorrow's World (1938). He used these pamphlets to educate the public about the dangers of new machines and technological unemployment. In doing so, he drew upon sociological analysis in his professional scholarly writings and his long‐standing personal interests in social betterment and social reform. Our analysis also calls into question the adequacy of existing scholarship on Ogburn that has emphasized his commitment to a statistical, dispassionate, and "objectivist" approach to social science research. We call for a revised, richer, and more complex view of Ogburn's work and legacy as one of the nation's leading social scientists during the first half of the 20th century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Editor's Introduction It gives me particular pleasure to publish this review of a major but neglected figure in the recent history of symbolic interactionism. I only heard Jack Douglas speak once, when he gave a plenary address to the British Sociological Association annual conference in Lancaster in the mid-1980s. The audience treated him quite disgracefully on that occasion. Douglas made two subtle points about the need for sociologists to take contemporary research in primate ethology more seriously and to reconsider spontaneous order theories in social science. His listeners assumed that he was talking about the crasser forms of sociobiology and praising the laissez-faire ideologies of Thatcherism, and booed him off the stage. I declined to renew my membership to the BSA for about ten years after this episode. I only rejoined when I became a department chair and it was important to be engaged with the professional association, whatever my personal views. John Johnson's paper reminds us of Douglas's important and challenging legacy of ideas, and of the support and inspiration that he gave to a whole generation of outstanding scholars. Robert Dingwall Jack Douglas published 26 books and many articles between 1967 and 1989, and by his intellectual charisma influenced a productive cohort of young scholars who have produced over 70 books and 700 articles and chapters since the 1970s. He combined phenomenology, existentialism, and naturalistic field work to create an approach he termed Existential Sociology, also the title of a 1977 anthology. His thinking has undergone significant changes during the course of a long intellectual career. Following his 1992 retirement, the development of the internet and new technologies of communication afforded Jack a 'second life' with a transdisciplinary intellectual community outside of the university environment. This paper briefly summarizes a small part of his life and intellectual project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper records the Polish aspects of P. F. Lazarsfeld's sociointellectual biography and examines his impact on Polish sociology. The analysis is divided into three chronological parts. In the 1930s, Lazarsfeld's empirical work inspired Polish sociologists in their studies on unemployment. In the late 1950s and 1960s, his model of empirical social research shaped the style of sociological practice in Poland. In the 1990s, some of Lazarsfeld's substantive contributions, mainly in the area of election studies, were taken up in Polish sociology. Lazarsfeld's influence on Polish sociology was conditioned by changes in Polish society and sociology, which is emphasized in this analysis. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on achievements of sociologist Roy Francis. During a career that has spanned more than 40 years, Roy Francis has made substantial contributions to sociological teaching and research. Building on his experiences as a student, he holds dear the ideals of a liberal education and continues to search for new ways of transmitting those ideals in the face of changing social patterns. As prolific writer, Francis' books and papers often examine the proper relations between theory and research and explore the potential of symbolic interactionism as an epistemological framework. He has been active in sociology's professional affairs, especially in promoting visual sociology as a teaching and learning medium. Roy began to proselytize nationally for the establishment of several courses, and in so doing, became one of the pioneers of the field of visual sociology. His roles as a student, professor, administrator, and president of the Midwest Sociological Society round out a career that has encompassed all facets of modern scholarship.

This article focuses on the need for sociologists to understand governmental process relevant to the conduct of researches in social science. The author of this paper opposes the premise that sociologists have a history of ethical violations. However, the author still encourages sociologists to comprehend the functions of the government for the reason that researchers can wreak harm in their handling of data. It is also a must for sociologists to have an ethical foundation in their conduct of fieldwork for social research.