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The paper starts with an analysis of the three main principles of the social order of 'real socialism': etatistic homogenization, basic dichotomy between the ruling group and all the direct producers as a whole, and politically-defined-from-above income differences among different sectors of employees. The structural crisis of this order is described as gradual undermining of these principles brought about especially by the growth of the second economy. In the last section the dilemmas of the recently started system transformation are described in terms of symbolic support but lack of short-term interests of the most numerous social groups in the market reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper develops the concepts "great traditions'' and "`little traditions" and describes their role in the evolution of the social structures we know as professions. This analysis is to facilitate collective understanding of social work as a profession and the evolutionary nature of its development. More specifically, the article will analyze aspects of the recently approved Curriculum Policy Statement in relation to social work traditions and the shared roles of the Council on Social Work Education, as an accrediting body, and specific schools of social work, in the development and transmission of social work traditions. Its purpose is to enrich the dialogue which accompanies the development and operationalization of a new social work educational policy statement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores in particular the source of the feelings expressed in sport contexts and the processes of their amplification. Sport activities acquire their significance as collective representations through which people represent to themselves in symbolic form the power of the social groups in which they live, their structures and their moral codes. In so doing, they help to create and sustain and, at the same time, become subject to the influence of the social arrangements to which such symbolic structures relate. The emotions engendered may be amplified through processes of ritual and taboo and the excitement generated by sport encounters, thus leading to an experience of sport as sacred and radically separate from the flow of profane or 'normal' life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Avoiding macrostructural or individualistic explanations as to why homeless individuals cannot get off the streets, this paper examines the social structure of Street life as it impinges on a sample of homeless persons' chances of obtaining nonshelter housing. Specifically, by interviewing 42 homeless individuals about a housing grant offered by New York State and the possibility of obtaining shared housing arrangements with such a grant, this study documents possible ways in which the social relations homeless people have with institutions and each other may dash potential efforts to obtain nonshelter housing. The research finds that distrust of the homeless among landlords and a high level of contingency with respect to welfare cases interact with distrustful personal relations among the sample of homeless themselves to reduce the likelihood of successful utilization of the housing grant. Due to sample limitations, findings from this study cannot be generalized to all homeless; nonetheless they offer insight into a dynamic which may be similar to those at work among other homeless sub-populations as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Researchers have typically understood access to elite positions in the social structure either in terms of a structural-functional focus on ability or a class-reproduction focus on inheritance. This paper argues, and empirically demonstrates with a study of access to Harvard College, that a political- organizational perspective incorporates and goes beyond the insights of each of these perspectives. Using concepts such as cultural capital (Bourdieu, 1977a) and organizational field (DiMaggio and Powell, 1983), hypotheses regarding who gets into Harvard College are generated and tested. Political mobilization as well as historic ties among elites are both key factors in determining admissions outcomes. Though academic merit is a prime determinant of admission to Harvard College, there was evidence that affirmative action for legacy applicants, minorities (but not Asians), athletes, and working-class males was also in effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interactionist analyses of social organization stimulate examination of how social situations and collective activity are shaped. Meta-power, the creation and control of distal situations, and organization as a structuration of meta-power are used as tools for exploring the shaping of situations Five meta-power processes are presented: strategic agency, rules and conventions, structuring situations. Culture construction, and empowering delegates. These processes illustrate how situations are created or altered. This paper offers a view of social organization that emphasizes relations among situations, linkages between consequences and conditions, and networks of collective activity across space and time. The conclusion calls for additional research to make more explicit the nature of social organization and its social conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces a gestural theory for the origin of syntax, certainly one of the most difficult questions in the study of language origins. This proposal recognizes both visible and vocal gestures as having an evolutionary role but suggests that visible gestures played a special role in the emergence of syntax. The fundamental kernel of syntax is seen as inherent in visible gestural communication and available for extension by means of ordinary evolutionary processes. In manual gesturing, a hand (as agent) moves (what verbs imply) and may act on another part of the body (as patient). It is proposed, then, that the formation of a manual gesture entails a preadaptive elementary syntax. As gesture becomes linguistic sign, it carries with it the seed of the basic syntactic relationship—it refers and also relates. The social behavior of the hominids could have supplied conditions that enhanced the fitness of individuals and groups with increasingly sophisticated communication systems. The embryo sentences already present in gestural communication might then have constituted preadaptive behaviors available for extension into increasingly complex syntactic structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Archaeological investigations on the margins of ‘high civilizations’ have traditionally been guided by the assumption that polities in such zones were peripheral to core states. This paper argues that this assumption obscures the multiple dimensions along which core/periphery distinctions can be measured and ignores the possibility of mutual influence and interdependence among interacting societies at all size and complexity levels. This confusion is particularly evident in the study of southeastern Mesoamerica (adjoining portions of Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador), usually viewed as peripheral to lowland Maya core states during the Late Classic period (A.D. 600-950). In an attempt to advance the study of polities bordering complex and extensive sociopolitical systems, a general model is outlined which sets out to identify the different dimensions of peripherality and specify the conditions under which various sorts of core/periphery relations are likely to develop. Late Classic political, economic, demographic, and cultural patterns from the Naco Valley, northwestern Honduras, are then examined to determine how this area was linked to lowland Maya core states (represented here by Copan and Quirigua) and what effects these ties had on indigenous developments. The essay concludes with an overview of Late Classic lowland Maya/non-Maya interactions in the Southeast and some general suggestions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simplistic either/or notions of "culture versus social structure" have impeded the development of a broader theoretical context from which to examine questions raised by the continuing debate on the "ghetto underclass." In this paper I present a framework that integrates social structural and cultural arguments. I hope elaboration of this framework can move social scientists beyond the narrow confines of the underclass debate in two ways: (1) by outlining empirical and theoretical issues that guide further research, and (2) by suggesting variables that have to be taken into account to arrive at a satisfactory explanation of one of the most important domestic problems in the last quarter of the twentieth century--the rise of social dislocations in inner-city ghettos.

Many theories address the problem of how a social structure affects the experiences and behaviors of its members This paper offers a network-exchange theory to solve this problem. Previous research has shown that the nature and outcomes of negotiations among individual or corporate actors can be inferred from their network positions. The impact of this research has been limited because its theory does not enable the researcher to locate power positions in the networks. We offer a theory that is both consistent with all previously reported experimental research and is generalized to conditions not considered by other formulations. In addition to supporting derived hypotheses pertaining to network-based power, our experiments demonstrate, among other things, that certain unstable networks break down to form stable substructures and that some networks contain overlapping but autonomous domains of power and exchange. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper attacks parochialism, ethnocentrism, and universalism in Western sociology. Conceptual limitations of the discipline are discussed in light of the emergent transnational scene. The author argues that new or revised analytical and theoretical concepts in the discipline are essential for sociological studies in non-Western societies. The professional role of the sociologist undertaking research in a non-Western society is discussed from the standpoint of international competency, language facility, and constraints and challenges. The fledgling movement toward cross-national and world sociology in the United States is indicated in developments such as dependency studies, world system theory, and the activities of the American Sociological Association. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This short paper presents a few of the issues which divide contemporary Marxists and shows how their debates relate to Marx's original work In the first part, I discuss the family, law and the world system in the light of two notions of social structure. In the second part, I consider the dynamics of capitalism and the struggles between classes, races and genders as potential motors of change. This is followed by an outline of Marx's understanding of the persistence of capitalism, the notion of reproduction of social relations, and how the state becomes involved in the organization of struggles and in the preservation of the conditions of accumulation In the final part, the past is examined for the light it may shed on the future Has history a prior purpose, or telos? How did Marx and how do Marxists conceive of the transition from one period of history to another? What can we say about the transition to socialism based on the experience of the last hundred years? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article throws light on William H. Sewell, professor of sociology at the University of Wisconsin, the Recipient of the 1988 Cooley-Mead Award. The Cooley-Mead Award is given annually by the Section on Social Psychology of the American Sociological Association; it is made on the basis of lifetime contributions to social psychology, recognizing distinguished long-term contributions to the intellectual and scientific advancement of social psychology. Sewell has made his primary research and scholarly contributions in the study of socialization, social structure and personality, and the role of social psychological factors in social stratification and inequality, as well as in the application of empirical quantitative methods of research. One of Sewell's earliest and most significant contributions to the understanding of socialization processes occurred with the publication of his 1952 paper, "Infant Training and the Personality of the Child," published in the American Journal of Sociology and later reprinted in six or more books of readings or sourcebooks on the sociology of the family.

Abstract: Improving population health requires understanding and changing societal structures and functions, but countervailing forces sometimes undermine those changes, thus reflecting the adaptive complexity inherent in public health systems. The purpose of this paper is to propose systems thinking as a conceptual rubric for the practice of team science in public health, and transdisciplinary, translational research as a catalyst for promoting the functional efficiency of science. The paper lays a foundation for the conceptual understanding of systems thinking and transdisciplinary research, and will provide illustrative examples within and beyond public health. A set of recommendations for a systems-centric approach to translational science will be presented. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This articles presents the topics discussed in the June 1998 issue concerning sociology. All of the articles here are historical, but not merely so. All look beyond the bare chronicling of events to the larger and wider impact of those events on the sociological enterprise. Gary Jaworski examines receptions to Simmel's work at two universities in order to illumine the open-ended, constructed and contested nature of the sociological tradition. William Buxton presents one little known, and done previously unpublished, work by Parsons on Georg Simmel in an effort to expand dialogue on the significance of Simmel in Parson's thought. Bernard Barber takes up a similar theme by focusing on how Parsons' thinking about social systems gradually evolved. The editor's contribution, finally, points to the influence of developments in psychology on the famous experiment in Social Relations at Harvard. The emphasis in all articles is the unfolding of ideas and the consequence of interpretative decisions, including roads not taken. In view of Talcott Parson's worldwide reputation and influence, his lost manuscript on Simmel may attract considerable scholarly attention. Indeed, Professors Don Levine, Kiyomitsu Yui, Charles Camic and Hans Joas and others have been planning a series of papers on this manuscript that may appear at a special issue of Theory, Culture and Society or elsewhere.