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This article reports on the convention of the American Sociological Association. The article further refers to a sociologist who is so much a part of normal society that today one of the stores is tendering a fashion show for his wife to indicate her status equal to the wife of doctor, politician or any other example of social adjustment to be found at a convention in New York. According to the author, the paper presented at the convention can only represent a tiny sample of all the chaff that is annually struck up by this vast communal threshing crew. People owe many of these papers to the broad tolerance of the American academic community which apparently approved and even financed them without one man in a supervisory position having the discourtesy to suggest that the matter under study was self-evident. There seems also to be developing a sociology within sociology which promises much. Its best sample is a paper which indicates that persons who fail to answer sociological questionnaires by mail come from homes where their parents habitually beat them.

This article is a note from the new editor of the journal "Sociological Forum," for the first issue processed in the Albany office in New York. The issue is similar to the issues from offices in Ithaca and Stony Brook. Two reasons for this continuity are that the papers in editorial process at Stony Brook were sent to Albany in the editorial office transition and that editors are at the mercy of the authors who submit manuscripts. The plea made to authors by editor Stephen Cole was that if one had a manuscript ready for submission, one should first think of the "Sociological Forum."

In order to document urban youth experiences of adults in positions of public authority, including police, educators, social workers and guards, a broad based street survey of 911 New York City–based urban youth was conducted in which youth, stratified by race, ethnicity, gender and borough, were asked about their experiences with, attitudes toward, and trust of adult surveillance in communities and in schools. In–depth telephone interviews were conducted with 36 youth who have experienced serious, adverse interactions with police, guards, or educators. Findings suggest that urban youth, overall, express a strong sense of betrayal by adults and report feeling mistrusted by adults, with young men of color most likely to report these perceptions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alvin W. Gouldner (1920–1980) was a prolific sociologist of the post-World War II era who spent the early part of his career (the 1950s) in the field of industrial sociology. A case study of Gouldner's early life and career is useful insofar as it intertwines with the development of industrial sociology as a distinct subfield within sociology. Through this analysis we are also better able to understand how and in what ways a burgeoning organizational studies program developed at Columbia University during the 1940s. This analysis of the historical and cultural contexts within which Gouldner came to prominence as an industrial sociologist at Columbia, and the intellectual program that resulted, can also help shed light on more recent trends in organizational studies. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is necessary to reevaluate the role of the Department of Sociology at Columbia University in the years 1929–1950. The impact of Robert M. MacIver, who played a significant role in the exchange between European and American thinkers, is examined, as well as his marginalization. It is argued that in the 1930s it was characteristic that the sociologists in the centers in Chicago and Columbia exchanged their disciplinary functions. It was MacIver's Columbia that took on the role of advocate of humanistic sociology and Mead's and Cooley's heritage. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article highlights the Student National Sociological Conference held at the Commodore Hotel in New York City on December 27 and 28, 1935. The students appearing on the program represented the several colleges and universities, including the University of Cincinnati, College of the City of New York, University of Michigan, Miami University, Duke University, Vassar College and University of Missouri. The papers and research projects presented were scholarly pieces of work and proved both interesting and valuable. The conference offered a splendid opportunity for students to meet and exchange ideas on sociological problems.