Search

Throughout this paper a certain view of theology is assumed, and it seems desirable therefore to begin by an endeavor to state it clearly in a way, which it is hoped, will meet with very general agreement. It does not claim to be a complete view, but it endeavors to bring forward that aspect of theology, which makes a closer union between theologians and sociologists possible and indeed urgent. And in the first place it should be mentioned that by theology is meant Christian doctrine, any other religious philosophy being differently named. Theology, then, is taken to be! in the first place an interpretation of life by its highest and fullest perfection, unified as God. Theology postulates Christ as the perpetual image of God manifested in the world, but realized in fullness in "The Son of Man." In this way people have a working conception of the nature of God. This divine humanity summed up in Christ, is further exemplified by certain persons called the saints, more or less approximating to the ideal type. All Christians are "called to be saints."

In a recent issue of the journal Review of Religious Research, sociologist Donald N. Anderson presented an attempted replication of a study one of the present authors published in 1962 on the relationship between laymen's participation in ascetic Protestant churches and their political preferences. The present article offers a testable resolution of the discrepancies between Anderson's findings and authors' findings. In addition, it attempts to clarify the distinction between the way Anderson prefers to study religion and the way most sociologists study it. In so doing, a social interaction model of religious influence is presented. This model is shown to afford a better interpretation of the political outlook of Protestants than do certain other models used by students of religious behavior. According to authors, the conclusion of Anderson's paper is devoted to a critique of the way most sociologists conceptualize and measure religion. He rejects what he thinks is their penchant for defining the religious factor as "the residue apparent when such factors as occupation, education, place of birth, etc., have been controlled." Anderson's approach to religion is quite different from the approach of most sociologists.

The article provides an explanation of sociologist Leo Goodman's paper hierarchical models for significance tests in multivariate contingency tables. In several papers Goodman presents and elaborates a system for the analysis of contingency tables that promises to be extremely useful to sociologists. The papers are however, extremely compressed, heavily complex with the cumbersome notation of contingency analysis and are not easily accessible to the student and average research worker. The aim of this article is to explain the logic and procedures of the system in terms the reader may find more comfortable. The Goodman system consists of two parts: a scheme for making significance tests by means of hierarchical models and an extensive discussion of a set of techniques known as log linear models. The two parts are logically and practically distinct. Among the important uses of hierarchical models are the following: tests for the significance of partial correlations, tests for interactions, where the control variable has as many categories as one pleases, tests for higher-order interactions, succinct statements of what is and what is not going on in a contingency table. Since none of these tools have been easily available to the average sociologist, the Goodman system is well worth learning especially because it provides considerable insight into the properties of cross-classifications and the logic of significance tests.

The article presents the author's views on a criticism of his research on Ideational and Sensate cultures by sociologist Hornell Hart. Since by its very nature ideational culture is all inner and charismatically collective and anonymous, it naturally does not yield as great a number of individual philosophers, thinkers, artists, or as great a number of scientific discoveries and inventions, or as high a standard of sensate living, as sensate culture, mainly external, does. And yet, so far as an absorption in God and in inner values is of great value, so far is Ideational culture one of the most magnificent forms of culture, and possibly uncomfortable as a settled dwelling for most of the sociologists. In addition, besides a great art and literature, the Mediaeval Ideational culture created Christianity, the backbone, the heart and soul, of Western culture, the very condition of the possibility of later Sensate culture itself. The weight of this single creation of Ideational culture is likely to be greater than that of almost all the philosophers, artists, scientific discoveries, and Sensate planes of living given by the critic.

This article serves as a reply to comments made by E.G. Dunning and E.I. Hopper on the author's paper on social stratification in industrial society. Dunning and Hopper state that his paper 'explicitly sets out to explore' the problem of convergence. This, the author is afraid, is to claim too much for it. The author also wants to correct the statement made on the notion of one-way convergence. He wants also to explain that he does not think that American work on the subject of convergence as monolithic. He also explains that claim made that he regards national culture, political ideology and political organization as 'fixed and unalterable constraints on the effects of economic organization and technology'. Dunning and Hopper apparently fail to realise that the argument of Leach's to which they refer can equally be directed against the making of comparisons of a superficial kind. Certainly the existence of `generalised structural patterns' may be masked by differences in their specific manifestations in particular cases; but at the same time it is also implied by Leach's analogy that apparent similarities in social structures may be deceptive and may conceal underlying differences which it is the task of sociological analysis to expose.

Although sociologists have long concerned themselves in one way or an- other with conformity, neither they nor psychologists have made systematic paper and pencil studies of conforming behavior. The chief weakness of the paper in any study of behavior is that the symbolized responses of a subject in a test situation may not truly indicate his response in a situation calling for non-symbolized action. This weakness does not render paper and pencil studies worthless, however. In order to determine the cross-sectional consistency of individual conformity, each subject's number of conformity answers out of the twenty-five situations was totaled. Each male individual's score was then placed in his appropriate category for age, community, and occupation, and the arithmetic mean and median computed for each grouping. In the absence of any technique in the present study to parcel out these possible factors, it is assumed for the present that part of the variation in the amount of cross- sectional consistency of conformity responses displayed by individuals of various groupings is due to the effect of prevailing ideologies and conduct norms on individual behavior.

This article presents the Report of the Editor of the journal "American Sociological Review." The growth of the Review has taken place during a period when several other journals to which many sociologists contribute have become established, apparently the Review is holding its own. The relatively large number of books reviewed during 1960, the only "deviant" figure in the table, may suggest the desirability of greater selectivity than that of the present editors, who have viewed numerous marginal works as appropriate grist for the sociologist's mill. During this period, approximately 1,050 papers will have been evaluated, and except in a very few cases each manuscript has been read by at least two referees. There have been no important editorial innovations since last year's report, but certain developments may be noted. More papers by foreign authors have been received, articles by sociologists in England, Poland, and Israel already have been published, and scholars from many nations have been encouraged to submit such papers.

An unusual type of paper is under the title "The Need for Asylum Reform." That title expresses the purpose that moved sociologist H.S. Liveing to write the paper and seek publicity for it. But the proper channels for such publicity were found to be closed. In printing here the larger part of Mrs. Liveing's paper, authors may possibly hope for some slight effect on the movement towards Asylum Reform. But for the sociologist, experiences, such as are here offered, have a theoretical value, as "pointer facts." These mental observations bear significantly on those problems of inner disharmonies, or "endo-psychic conflicts," which have been brought to the front, and are being pressed home by the psychoanalytic school. The suggestion is that the sociologist should read Liveing's paper as evidence of certain environmental factors apt to be minimized, or even overlooked, in a purely psychological analysis of mental disintegration. Accepting the psychoanalysis' account of inner conflict as failure of the mind to integrate its own experience of life, the sociologist pleads for a fuller social analysis of the milieu, which makes up and constitutes the external half of the inner process. In particular he demands a fuller investigation, and heavier weighting, of the part played by the distracting urban milieu in maintaining, aggravating, and even originating, the mental conflicts which psychological abstraction is perhaps too much disposed to trace backwards into infantile impressions within the family circle.

This article focuses on the writings of John S. Stuart-Glennie, a famous historian and sociologist. Stuart-Glennie was educated at the Grammar School and the University of Aberdeen and at the University of Bonn. After graduating, he traveled widely in Europe and America, was called to the Bar at the Inner Temple, and practised in the court of his kinsman, the Vice-Chancellor Sir John Stuart. A nearer way of understanding his work and aims is by taking some of his early books and papers. Of these one of the earliest, his "Arthurian Scotland: Topographical and Traditional Evidences of the Historical Origin of Arthurian Romance"-though often little considered by the specialists in Arthurian romance, owes this neglect not a little to their deficiency on the side on which he was so strong-the side, namely, of concrete geographical research, of utilization and interpretation of the local traditions. Another interesting presentment of his work, is afforded by such a paper as his "Roman Origins and History," in the Proceedings of the British and American Archaeological Society of Rome, 1907.

The concept of role differentiation has been used by sociologists to explain a wide variety of social phenomena. Most who have used the concept have assumed that task and social roles are incompatible. The present paper clarifies the conceit of role differentiation and re-evaluates some of the basic evidence. Neither the data originally published by Bales nor data from a number of more recent studies strongly support the proposition that task and social roles are incompatible. The paper also comments on some recently proposed methods for measuring role differentiation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sociologists in general, and medical sociologists in particular, are committed to the pro position that the stratification system within an organization is a consequential feature affecting task performance. Studies which actually demonstrate such consequences, however, are rare. This is the first c/two papers which demonstrate that differentially stratified hospital units vary in their performance of medical tasks. The two papers involve the measurement of performance from three standard perspectives: the objective (based on medical records); the reputational (based on superiors' ratings of the interne); and the subjective (reports by internes on their own behavior). The present paper deals with the latter two kinds of evidence. The data indicate that, from the standpoint of both the interne's report and the ratings assigned to him by his medical superiors, stratification is related to medical performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sense of the need for refinement and respecification of a concept found to be unwieldy as an analytical tool is not an uncommon experience of the sociologist. The concept "rural" is one of those whose usefulness would be enhanced by some refinement. Re-examination of the work of human ecologists and rural sociologists may permit description of population dispersion in such a way as to contribute to more precise specification of the concept rural and to make some progress toward the development of a more useful rural conceptual scheme. This paper proposes to approach a more specific definition of rurality by considering "rural" and the ecological concept "hinterland" together. The basic hypothesis of this paper is that the moral order in the raw-materials-producing areas of high land-to-man ratios is dynamic and not static but it continues to be a distinctive order. Logical argument and empirical evidence in support of this hypothesis will seek to establish a three-way classification of population such as Metropolitan areas, Urban Hinterland and Rural Hinterland. These concepts, if adequately defined, would serve as replacement for the commonly used rural-urban dichotomy which has limited usefulness in the analysis of population differences.

This article presents correspondence between two sociologists. One of the sociologists says to the other that the "Sociologie von Heute" came to hand the other day and he was delighted to see it and to note its neat and attractive appearance. Print and paper leave nothing to be desired and the translation seems smooth. It is certainly a great thing to have such generous praise of the article "Social Control" appearing in German. The sociologist says he was much interested in the other sociologist's standing. He was much interested in what the other sociologist said in his last letter regarding the possibility of a German translation of pure sociology. He says with the book in French and in German, the other sociologist's ideas would make their way to all the eminent intellects among the civilized peoples and his high position in sociology would be universally acknowledged. He says that he will not get anything published in the March issue of the "American Sociological Review." He says in February, he worked out a 2500 word article on population for the "Encyclopedia Americana."

The author says that the typical country weekly of New England, in addition to its personal journalism, its boiler plate fillers, its articles on extraordinary or exciting local events, is a series of chatty confidences about the town's everyday living. Its few pages are packed with columns headed "Local Items" or "Personals" or "People We Know." The presence of these items has been the sine qua non of such journals since their inception in the mid-nineteenth century. They seem to possess some element which resists innovation. Yet, the country newspaper, consistent and detailed register though it may be, has been given very little consideration as a possible source for sociological research. Rural sociologists have, to be sure, made some use of the point of view of social control. A departure from this tradition, then, the investigator who would claim that logical source of the first importance. It is interesting to note that this estimate of the country weekly is not confined to those who have observed it from the theoretical standpoint with the idea of forming a general opinion.

This article presents information on the activities of various sociological organizations and departments of sociology in universities in the U.S. "Rural Sociology," a new journal to be published quarterly, is being established this year by the Section on Rural Sociology of the American Sociological Society. The managing editor of this journal, which is to be published by The Louisiana State University Press, is T. Lynn Smith of Louisiana State University. The annual meeting of the Eastern Sociological Conference will be held on April 18 and 19 in New Haven, Connecticut. The central topic of the Conference will be Social Theory and the Social Order. The annual Spring meeting of the Ohio Sociological Society will be held in Columbus, Ohio, April 24 and 25, 1936. The Pacific Sociological Society held its Seventh Conference, together with Coast Economists, at Mills College in Oakland, California, December 27-28. In September 1935, E. D. Tetreau, formerly analyst with the Federal Emergency Relief Administration and Associate Professor of Rural Sociology at Ohio State University, accepted a position at the University of Arizona as rural sociologist on The Experiment Station staff.

The article author comments on a paper presented by sociologist Pitirim A. Sorokin, on the possibility of accurate social planning. One serious difficulty with the paper is that he Sorokin confuses "social planning" with "social prediction." These two concepts are fundamentally different, close to being practically opposite. Social prediction assumes the operation of constant social forces which produce consistent and continuous results, representing unbroken sequences in such a way that the future can be known from the past. Social planning, on the contrary, assumes the special interposition in social relations of human will and purpose, in order to deflect or divert social movement in such a way that the future may not only be different from the past, but different in ways specifically visualized in advance. Another distinction which Sorokin fails to make clear is that between "social planning" and "societal planning." It seems to the author that there can be no reasonable disagreement as to the possibility of social planning.

The central theme of this paper is that the role of the sociologist in theological education and in religious research is inextricably related to the type of cognitive structure that informs conception of the nature of sociology and of its relationship to other sciences. The manner in which this issue is resolved will commit the sociologist to some philosophic or theological tradition, either explicitly or by implication. Dominant cognitive structures extant in current American sociological discussions are informed primarily by the atomistic heritage of the famous Greek philosopher Democritus in classical Greek philosophy, or by the skeptical tradition in the heritage of the Greek Sophist or by some combination of the two. The Problem of the relationship between theology and sociology considered formally, four approaches to the relationship between theology and sociology are possible. Two of the approaches will make distinctions between various disciplines and two will argue for a basic unity of the sciences, although one of the latter will usually distinguish between science and an area of nonscience, in which theology would find its place.

This article presents a report of the Representative to the Council of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). The American Sociological Association cooperated in the 129th annual meeting of A.A.A.S. through the participation of its members in the general sessions, the programs of the various sections, the invited sessions, and the contributed papers sessions. An Interdisciplinary Symposium in the Social Sciences, sponsored by Sections. Of the many committee activities of A.A.A.S. on which council members receive reports, the one which touched on problems most directly of interest to sociologists was a one-day conference sponsored by the Board of Directors in which ten past presidents participated. The topic under consideration was the directions in which the activities of A.A.A.S. might most usefully be extended. It was agreed that considerably more attention should be given to the way science is taught in high schools and colleges, the problems of training students from less well-developed countries, the flow of talent through the educational system, the public understanding of science, international exchange of scientists and scientific information, the proper use of grants from Federal agencies, relationships between universities and Federal agencies, and the role of scientific academies.

The article pays tribute to Scottish sociologist, professor and urban planner Sir Patrick Geddes. Modern events in Jewish life brought him confirmation of his general sociological principles. That the Jewish people in Palestine had turned to the soil as the foundation of the National Home made a tremendous appeal to him and that, at the moment when this effort was being successfully begun, the Jewish people should found their University on Mount Scopus, stirred his imagination, his realisation of that essential unity for which the Jewish people had striven throughout history. This idea dominated Geddes during these weeks of fecundation, and it was this idea that found expression in his design of the Great Hall that he planned for the University. In the first rough sketches that Geddes put on paper after the two weeks of seemingly sunless perambulation this concept at once took shape. Though Geddes modified it in detail in accordance with his detailed study of the building!land available and the nature of the site, the central idea--the University as an expression of the unity for which Israel had striven--remains the characteristic feature of his magnificent design for the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

This paper is concerned with the ways in which sociologists select the occupational titles which they desire to scale, according to the meanings people give them. Studies of the perception, cognition and evaluation of occupational titles have often taken considerable pains over `the sampling of persons who are requested to judge the set of stimuli under investigation. Sociologists who have tried to investigate the social meanings of occupational titles, have worked with lists of pre-specified titles. Again, there has been a tendency to shorten occupational titles and to make them less specific, in the course of inheriting them from other workers. Most have tried to retain some degree of comparability with the work of their colleagues by deliberately "inheriting" certain of their occupational titles. The choice of occupational titles for a scaling study is severely limited by the number that can be handled by the respondents chosen for the investigation. This in turn is determined by the scaling method used and whether each respondent is to be asked to make all the judgements, which are required by the scaling method, or only a subset of them.

The article focuses on sociologist Emile Durkheim. The death of Durkheim has a peculiarly melancholy interest for the Sociological Society. The second of two papers he promised at the inception of the society remains unwritten. The first appeared in the printed volume of the society's transactions in 1905. It was a paper dealing with "Method in the Social Sciences," and from that standpoint made a survey of the whole sociological field. As the years rolled on Durkheim's busy life became more and more filled with the activities, not only of the thinker and the teacher, but also with those of the active citizen.

This paper was originally planned as an abstract of the introduction to a book on the coordination of the social sciences. It was written out in its present form as a contribution to the discussions at the conference on the same topic, held at Oxford, England, in October 1922. Unfortunately it arrived just too late for use at the conference; but it was kept in hand. The task of preparing the paper for the printer has not been altogether easy; for the author is now in India, and it has been impossible to consult him on a number of points, some of them important. The author has not hesitated to make slight changes in choice and order of words, and arrangement of matter, where he seemed to see clearly that improvement was possible. In some other respects slight changes have been necessary to meet printing difficulties. The author trusts, however, that the ideas, which the author is earnest to place before his readers, have in no way been obscured by these changes. It is impossible to foretell how far a contribution on such original lines will have authority with the sociologists of to-day.

Anthropologists have begun to realize the importance of demographic data for their inquiries, especially in the study of primitive economics. But the knowledge of primitive population structures is most inadequate. In the case of Africa, official statistics are of little help. Thus anthropologists have had to be their own demographers, in however rough-and-ready a fashion. From the demographer's point of view such amateur investigations have serious defects. As sociologists Enid Charles and C. Daryll Forde point out in a paper analyzing some population data from the village of Umor in Southeastern Nigeria, an anthropologist's demographic data. are usually derived from an unofficial census limited to a single occasion. Their reliability is further, limited by the smallness of the samples and the difficulty of ascertaining exact ages, or birth and mortality rates. The data leave little doubt that the Tallensi have been maintaining their numbers during the past fifty years or so, and have probably been increasing moderately. The data show, also, that other things remaining equal, the provision of medical add hygienic services that would rapidly reduce the mortality rates would lead to a rapid increase of population on a considerable scale. Unless the present very low level of food production is simultaneously raised or other economic outlets than the native subsistence farming are provided, a rapid reduction in mortality rates in this area would soon produce a crisis of over-population.

In the past sociologists have argued that high membership turnover is conducive to the breakup of small primary type groups. Others have taken exception to this view. In the resent paper, we point out that the real sociological issue is whether the groups are structured to deal with mobility or not. If they are, mobility is not disruptive. In this regard we suggest several aspects of group structures which minimize the disruptive effects of mobility. These views are illustrated with empirical data on neighborhood cohesion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article author comments on the views of sociologist Raymond F. Sletto on the criterion of internal consistency in personality scale construction. Sletto's paper represents a contribution to an over-neglected task in sociology. It concerns the fundamental question of the applicability of specific methodological presuppositions to social phenomena. Only too frequently have social research techniques been used without the necessary concomitant investigation into their underlying logical foundations, and the applicability of these to the sense world. The field of measurement has suffered its share of this critical inertia in the past; consequently any attempt to examine the assumptions underlying a particular type of measurement should be encouraged by all serious research workers. An adequate critical evaluation of such an analysis as Sletto has given seems to the author to necessitate two points of reference. The analysis should be evaluated with reference to the scientific tradition involved-in this case personality scale construction, and secondly with reference to the broader problem of the adequacy of this tradition in the light of scientific method.

The article focuses on the paper of sociologist P.W. Musgrave entitled "Towards a Sociological Theory of Occupational Choice." He states that there is at present no sociological theory of occupational choice. Despite the fact that the explicit propositions of such a theory have not yet been stated formally, there is at present considerable consensus among sociologists on an implicit theory of occupational choice. The authors of this article will show how the various discussions of the process of occupational choice have been converging around one major theme, and then they shall make explicit the propositions involved in a sociological theory arising from this theme. It is just this focus on the process of reconciliation of values and expectations, which provides the common theme around which the discussions making up the second main approach have been tending to converge. Apart from those studies which are idiographic in implication on the one hand, and those, on the other hand, which are concerned with the correlates of differential socialization into occupational orientations, most sociological discussions of occupational choice have converged.

The article presents information on the annual meeting of the American Sociological Society to be held in Chicago, Illinois from September 5 to 7, 1951.

These papers illustrate the complications of historical research. Even though they cover events over only the last four decades and chiefly the last two, it has been difficult to obtain accurate accounts of such matters as "the Salisbury affair" and numerous other incidents. The memories of living respondents are defective; official records are incomplete and tend to report conclusions without the details that contributed to decisions. Personal, emotional, and "political" involvements of participants bias their reports, and subsequent events modify interpretations. As computers increasingly become the record keepers of the society, the problems of historians are becoming even more complex. For records on computer cards, tapes, and printouts tend to be destroyed sooner than those which are on ledgers of other kinds. Many of the problems within both associations have reflected the complications of operating with a volunteer staff. One of the major developments in both organizations has been the shift from a minimal role played by sociologists to dominance by them.

The article presents the annual report of the Sociological Society for the year 1923-24. During this period a meeting of the society was held in the autumn term in 1923, that included a course of lectures on "The Bearing of Psycho-Analysis upon Sociological Problems." Also one ordinary meeting was held during the autumn term on October 31, 1923, at which sociologist Flinders Petrie delivered an address on "The Growth and Decay of Communities." A meeting was held on November 28, 1923 for which the secretary of the Sociological Society and the manager of Sociological Publications Ltd. were jointly responsible. Writer Huntly Carter read a paper to a large audience on "The New Theatre in Soviet Russia: Its Conception, Organisation and Work," illustrated by lantern slides. The Social Psychology Group of the Sociological Society has continued its work during the period under consideration. A short questionnaire, suitable for wide distribution, has now been drawn up, in addition to the longer one previously used for the more intensive study of family conditions.

The article presents information about sociological institutions and societies as of June 1, 1958. The Second International Congress of Cybernetics by Association Internationale de Cybernetique, will be held in Namur, Belgium, September 3-10, 1958. Announcement has been made for conditions of competition for the annual American Association for the Advancement Science Socio-Psychological Prize of 1,000 dollars for a meritorious essay, to be awarded at the annual meeting in December, 1958. The Inter-University Committee on Travel Grants will continue during 1958-1959 its program of awards for scholarly travel to the Soviet Union and East Central Europe. To be eligible for consideration, students must be fairly well advanced in a graduate program leading to full professional competence on the Soviet Union. Florida Southern College's John E. Owen, Chairman of the Department of Sociology, has been granted a leave of absence for 1958-1959 in order to accept a Fulbright lecturing award to the University of Dacca. The Society for the Scientific Study of Religion will hold its fall meeting at Harvard University on November 1, 1958. Social scientists who would like to present papers on empirical studies in any phase of the social or social-psychological functions of religion are invited to send them, or three hundred-word abstracts of proposed papers.

This article is the author's reply to the paper "Toward a Definition of the Sociologist," by sociologist Gwynne Nettler. The author says that if a sociologist says in regard to a given situation that a qualified Negro teacher should not be employed to teach a mixed or a white college class because the mores wouldn't stand for it, although the mores were conspicuously absent in several comparable situations, it would appear that this sociologist uses the concept in some sort of connivance with his own, not necessarily anti-Negro but probably somehow pro-status-quo, bias which calls for an investigation. And so long as such investigation is missing, this case may serve, at least, as an illustration. It may further be suspected that such and similar uses present a logical-psychological counterpart to the tendency on the part of some African Americans to see the world sub specie of anti-Black prejudice, or to the inclination on the part of some Jews to suspect the universe of an anti-Semitic character, etc.

The article author comments on sociologist James W. Woodard's classification of culture. The author wonders if "inductive" is a good term for what Woodard has in mind, and whether or not it contributes to the already great confusion brought about by the fallacious antithesis, inductive versus deductive. There is also a certain epistemological question-begging latent in the assumption that through the inductive culture, and that alone, one is brought into closer contact with "natural-world reality," whatever that may be. One also finds the most recent work in modern natural science supporting the contention that we now know no more about the nature of "reality" than in the remotest ages of the past, that technics and science have merely instrumental validity. Woodard's paper, in spite of the instrumental validity of his distinctions, is predicated upon an ingenious variant of the old rationalistic philosophy of history. He needs to demonstrate the validity of that philosophy of history if his program of action is to mean anything beyond a private pious wish. In order to do this he must show that opposing philosophies are invalid, and he must conduct this demonstration within a logical rather than a psychological frame of reference.

This paper is concerned with the description of a specialized form of linear regression analysis commonly known as "dummy variable" regression analysis. Efforts are made to show the relationship between "dummy variable" regression analysis and other multivariate analysis techniques with a specific emphasis on the kinds of problems and data that sociologists deal with where "dummy variable" regression analysis is particularly appropriate and useful. Efforts are also made (1) to give illustrations and examples of problems to which this type of multiple-regression analysis might be applied productively; (2) to show how "dummy variable" regression analysis is both similar to and different from other multivariate techniques in terms of the analytical procedures and the kinds of interpretations that are made possible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the book entitled "The Sociological Imagination," by C. Wright Mills. It is a great advantage to have this stimulating and provocative book in paperback at last. Wright Mills hits out with splendid impartiality at both grand theorists and abstract empiricists. And those who see the main aim of sociology to lie in finding solutions to practical problems might ponder his comment that this means accepting the framework of his society that the sociologist cannot help but be committed in one way or another.

It is usually presumed that the function of education is that of selection and that this is the most important conception of education of which sociologists should be aware. This paper presents historical and comparative material from two contrasting societies-Graeco-Roman Antiquity and West Africa in the late Middle Ages-which shows that the selective function was relatively unimportant. The paper concludes by suggesting that educational conceptions take a variety of forms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper indicates the meaning of professionalization of science both in its ideal and in its actual empirical form. The paper also explores when it means to say that role of the sociologist is to be institutionalized in our society as though he were a scientist. For this, the author outlines the ideal image of the scientist's role, possible "pathological" deviations from that ideal, the gap between the goals of sociology as they have been formulated by sociologists and the aims which sociology is likely to pursue if it is institutionalized as science, the effect on sociology of the adoption of various pathological elements of scientific professionalization. Furthermore, the point of this paper is that the goal of professional recognition in the scientific community might push the sociologist in another and "pathological" direction. Such a view will not be popular amongst professional sociologists. It may, however, be sustained by a "liberal" journal editor.

Professor William I. Thomas, formerly of the University of Chicago, Illinois, is regarded by many as the most original and erudite of American psychological sociologists. Certainly no one excels him for mastery of the subject or for a firm command of the auxiliary sciences essential to the successful exploitation of the field of psychological sociology. It is generally conceded that no other American sociologist approaches him with respect to knowledge of the facts and literature of ethnography and primitive culture. Unfortunately, Thomas has confined his systematic exposition of psychological sociology to his university lectures, which have not yet been published. His written contributions to this subject are, then, few and relatively fragmentary. In a notable paper read before the Congress of Arts and Sciences at St. Louis, Missouri, in 1904, he presented his views on the province of social psychology, indicating its importance to the social scientist. He held that social psychology is "an extension of individual psychology to the phenomena of collective life," and suggested some of the chief problems with which it should concern itself.

The article presents information about the conference of the Regional Association which took place in the Easter Vacation, being organized in conjunction with the Outlook Tower in Edinburgh, Scotland. The association has for aim the promotion of the study of regions and their communities and the civic and educational application of the results of such study. Its conferences invites attention from the sociologist, as an endeavor to correlate the particular interests and researches of many students and workers by applying them to the study of one region after another, each region in which the conference is held being taken as the social unit for observation and study. That increasing numbers are seeking in these regional methods a way out of the growing complexity, multitude and confusion of educational and social problems, is clear from the nature and diversity-in-unity of the papers and lectures which in this Edinburgh meeting were successfully arranged, to quote the aims of the association, to yield a concrete and unified view of the interplay between man and his environment, as exemplified in a capital city, at once historic and modern.

Relatively few of the many theories developed by sociologists have been stated in other than verbal symbols. Although the supposed advantages of mote rigorous formalizations have been discussed at length, many sociologists maintain that the assertion by mathematical model-builders that their approach will actually advance thinking in substantive areas of sociology still remains to be demonstrated. The present paper is an attempt to show some of the ways in which this approach can yield new insights into old theories. First, Sutherland's widely used formulation in criminology is translated into set theory statements. Then, the value of this translation is shown by developing a set of underlying postulates from which the nine major prepositions of the theory can be formally derived. Finally, additional propositions are shown to follow as logical consequences of the re formulated theory in such a way that a strategy for its empirical verification is obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the concept of psychoanalysis and the study of political science. The study of political institutions and of political ethics is sometimes assumed to be the study of political science. Psycho-analytical research has as yet little influenced the study of history and while lip service is paid to it by sociologists and political thinkers, little effective work has been done by these persons to incorporate its discoveries in their work. The anthropologists have on the other hand obviously been more beholden to modern psychological work. Yet the psychoanalysts themselves have not been unaware of the importance of their work alike to historians, to sociologists, and to political thinkers. While the psychoanalysts have turned their attention to historical and sociological problems, it is difficult for workers in these fields to obtain an insight into psychoanalytical theory since so much of the material is scattered in collected papers, in journals, and in works written for practicing psychotherapists and doctors. Psychoanalysis is par excellence the science concerned with individuals and therefore the concern of sociologists and the historian, but above all of the political scientist.

There was a dramatic turning point in the sociological career of Leonard Hobhouse. It occurred about the close of the first decade of his tenure of the Martin White Chair. But before speaking of that, something must be said as to how Hobhouse came into the sociological movement. His passage from the Oxford tradition of political philosophy, and the somewhat arid field of Teutonic epistemology, marked by the publication in 1901 of the book "Mind in Evolution," was no doubt deflected in a more sociological direction during the following years, when preparations were being made for the public launching of the Sociological Society in 1903. A public meeting was held in June, 1903, for considering ways and means to launch the projected Society, Hobhouse warmly seconded a resolution, moved by sociologist Oscar Browning, for the appointment of a committee to formulate the scope and aims of the Society and to draft its constitution. Hobhouse became an active member of the formative committee whose Report, having been accepted without amendment at the first general meeting of members, may be taken as the substantive basis of the sociological movement in Great Britain.

As the science of the forum and functions of human groups, sociology is predicated on the assumption that different social groups occupy different positions within the social structure. Social structure may be conceived as a form of n-dimensional space in which each group occupies a given position. The dimensions delineating such a structure, and the positions occupied by the various social groups within it, are definable only for a set of specified group attributes. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate multiple discriminant analysis, a technique that permits the sociologist to study empirically the configuration of social groups across multiple criteria in n-dimensional social space. The discriminant function was originally proposed by sociologist R.A. Fisher and was designed to aid in the classification of an individual observation into one of two groups. The two-group discriminant function served as an excellent substitute for multiple regression techniques when no clear criterion existed other than group membership by which to evaluate or classify a single observation.

Although the federal government, primarily through its Civil Service System, is the largest single employer of sociologists in this country, American Sociological Association (ASA) members are generally unfamiliar with the range of positions occupied by their colleagues in government, and with the special conditions of recruitment, tenure, and advancement that civil service entails for professional sociologists. Since ignorance of this sort can hardly be considered functional for sociology as an on-going activity in the society, the paper will present: information relative to the extent and nature of federal employment of sociologists; comments on the occupational status of sociologists in government, in the light of present Civil Service regulations and practice; comments on the prospects for federal employment of sociologists in the light of efforts now underway to alter their occupational status under civil service regulations. The primary source of data is a 1960 survey made under the supervision of Ward S. Mason, by the ASA Committee on Sociology in the Federal Government. Results of the efforts were necessarily uneven and incomplete, The Committee felt, however, that the 228 individuals who were sent questionnaires, represented a very large proportion of the relevant population. The committee secured 193 returns from 228 questionnaires mailed in November 1960.

The article discusses International Sociology. International gatherings have repeatedly played an important role in the social sciences. In London, England, in 1864, sociologist Karl Marx created the International Workingman's Association. The St. Louis, Missouri World's Fair in 1904 brought the world's leading sociologists together and one can easily trace the profound influence this American experience had on Sociologist Max Weber's subsequent writings. Today's vastly improved communications all year round make periodic face-to-face gatherings less momentous events. Still, they are important occasions and their impact can probably be increased further if one reflects on what functions they do or could perform. Recent observations suggest that a systematic study of such international events could be of real service to the profession of a sociologist. The origins of formal international organizations of sociologists can probably be traced back to the International Institute of Sociology which was created in 1893 with headquarters in Paris, France. It held yearly congresses until 1910, then changed to a triennial schedule. The congresses were interrupted by the first World War (1914-1918) and not resumed until 1927. The 1939 Congress was cancelled because of the second World War (1939-1945).

Sociologists in the Chicago tradition looked at the city as a "mosaic of social worlds" culturally differentiated and socially insulated from one another. These they termed local communities. This paper reports on a search, in a central area of a modern metropolis, for comparable units. The results suggest that residents of a metropolis see their city as composed of named and bounded areas, and that these areas have status-ascriptive functions in urban social relations. The data indicate that residents of the named areas use local facilities only in a limited way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

All sociologists are aware that questionnaire responses are a function of more than the particular value, attitudinal, or behavioral systems being investigated. It is a truism that the wording of an item may have a marked effect on the responses obtained. It is also very likely that alterations in the wording of questionnaire items produce considerably different responses among persons having differential educational or socio-economic backgrounds, or among respondents from various sized communities. These observations are discussed in practically every social research methods textbook. However, it is not always easy to predict bias in wording of questionnaire items. Data are presented in this paper which show considerably different response patterns for slight variations in two questionnaire items. Differential responses associated with rural-urban residence areas were also studied. The rural-urban differences are consistent with differences which are generally predicted from social theory. Rural areas are generally considered to be more conservative than urban areas.

The physician's interest in the sociological aspect of medicine developed long before the professional sociologist became active in medical research. In recent years, however, there has been an upsurge of interest among sociologists, and medical sociology ranked sixth in 1955 as an area of sociological research. An imposing bibliography has accrued, and the increasing number of teaching and research positions in medical colleges, schools of public health, and foundations indicates continuing growth of the field. It is taking much longer, however, for the physician to accept the sociologist as a co-worker than it did for him to recognize the need for sociological research. Until recently, sociologists have operated secretly in the medical setting. On occasion, sociologists still have to disguise themselves as biostatisticians, psychologists, social workers,and public health specialists. Few physicians are acquainted with sociological concepts or research techniques, and communication is frequently difficult.

For a number of years there has been speculation concerning the relative merits of employing objective factors or responses reflecting attitudes as a basis for predicting parole outcome and selecting men for parole. In 1936, Ferris F. Laune, sociologist-actuary at the Stateville Branch of the Illinois State Penitentiary, published a study in which attitudes as revealed by responses to a questionnaire were used in combination with a number of objective factors to predict parole success or failure.' At the time the study was published the inmates tested had not been released on parole and, consequently, the predictive accuracy of this approach could not be evaluated in the light of actual parole outcome. Since that time, however, a large number of the men who answered the Laune questionnaire have been released on parole, and the parole outcomes are known. Scores on a parole experience table based solely on objective factors also are available for these men. The purpose of the present paper is to com- pare the relative accuracy of these two methods as a basis for predicting behavior on parole.

The psychiatrists, have had a great deal to say in recent years about the importance of "facing reality" and "accepting reality-situations," as of February 1, 1942. Just what this "reality" may be they never quite explain. Sometimes it appears that nothing is real unless it is unpleasant, and that anyone who is happy must be employing some escape mechanism. At other times, "reality" seems to mean environment, anything outside oneself, or any situation as defined by an observer. The term acceptance is similarly vague and ambiguous. Sometimes it seems to resemble stoical resignation to pain and deprivation; at other times, it appears merely as abstention from "kidding oneself." Perhaps the psychiatrists are wise in not going beyond their depth into the metaphysics of reality. Perhaps sociologists, too, will do well if they simply observe that some people dodge things they do not like while others seek to modify or remove disagreeable conditions; that some people alternately evade and fight, some fight on almost any occasion.

This paper suggests a qualification of the theory of the marginal man as conceived by sociologist R.E. Park and elaborated by sociologist Everett V. Stonequist. The concept around which this qualification is oriented is that of the marginal culture. Anthropologists have sometimes used this term to refer to a distant or border culture, but it is used in this discussion as a nongeographical equivalent of the anthropological concept of marginal area. The marginal area is conceived as a region where two cultures overlap and where the occupying group partakes of the traits of both cultures. Here sociologists may review briefly the Park and Stonequist exposition of the theory of the marginal man. When an individual shaped and molded by one culture is brought by migration, education, marriage, or other influence into permanent contact with a culture of a different content, or when an individual from birth is initiated into two or more historic traditions, languages, political loyalties, moral codes, or religions, then he is likely to find himself on the margin of each culture, but a member of neither.