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This article focuses on the contributions of professor A. R. Radcliffe-Brown to the study of social organization. What Radcliffe-Brown did was to distinguish between the search for historical and evolutionary origins, the preoccupation of ethnology, and the study of the laws of custom and social organization, the province of social anthropology. Those social scientists other than anthropologists who know Radcliffe-Brown's work, tend to pay attention only to his methodological articles. But the vital theoretical contribution lies in his ethnographically centered papers. It is in them that Radcliffe-Brown's adherence to the view that there are laws of social life which can be established by systematic and empirical investigation, is brilliantly justified. These papers are mainly concerned with problems of social organization, or as Radcliffe-Brown now prefers to call it, social structure. Radcliffe-Brown shows that the merging or identification of alternate generations fits in with the widespread concept of the completion of the cycle of the generations in three successive steps, and with the contrasting roles of grandparent and parent in family systems. It is ethnography based on a theoretical discipline, the discipline of structural analysis as first given shape by Radcliffe-Brown.

Much of the research on the Indian family is an attempt to establish the presence or absence of the joint family. The present paper deviates from the usual joint family controversy and focuses on the nature of the kinship and family ties among the 287 migrant lower-class and lower-caste gold miners in Kolar Gold Fields in Mysore State, India. The data suggest that the geographic mobility has caused the breakdown of the localistic patrilineal kinship system. However, the kinship ties are maintained despite the spatial distance. The nature of the kinship ties among the respondents is predominantly expressive and instrumental in character. In the city the modal family is the nuclear family. The respondents have adapted to the industrial setting despite the breakdown of their face-to-face extended kinship system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The object of this paper is to deal with only two important uses. First, the material throws considerable light on the processes of acculturation and the first part of this paper discusses such processes with two basic objectives in view. One is a critical assessment of the main body of hypotheses and generalizations which have so far been made in this field and the presentation of a more useful theoretical framework within which the subject may be discussed; the other will be an application of this new framework to the available historical data relating to one of the islands, Jamaica, on which the author has recently done extensive research. For what is most striking about the West Indies is that they present one of the few cases in world history where groups of peoples were deliberately thrown together, forcefully deculturated or detribalized as the case may be and new societies consciously created for the achievement of specifically defined goals. Thus, there emerged in the post-emancipation period a dual culture, or two Jamaica's: one was the Afro-Jamaican cultural system, which was largely a consolidation and revitalization of patterns developed during slavery; the other was the European-oriented cultural system which was the revival of British civilization in the island after its disintegration during slavery.

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.

This paper reports on the matricentric family system as it appears in three different societies: the Caribbean, the Nayar of India and Afro-American families in the United States. The author's purpose is to show the variations in female-centered families by studying their nature and functions among different groups in diverse parts of the world. A suggestion for more conceptual clarity of the matricentric family concept is posed in order to provide more theoretical consistency in its further analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

George P. Murdock's conception of the universal aspects of the family is examined by reference to the ethnographic literature. The results indicate that the nuclear family is not universal and that only the nurturant socialization function is universal. A revised conception of the family is offered which views the family institution as a small kinship structured group with the key function of nurturant socialization of the newborn. Nuturant socialization of the new-born is conceptualized as a functional prerequisite of human society, and some type of small kinship structured group is viewed as a structural prerequisite of human society for the fulfillment of this function. Three types of evidence are brought to bear on the universality of this definition: (1) cross-cultural evidence, (2) studies of nonhuman primates, and (3) studies of mother separation in human societies. The evidence tends to support the universality of the family definition proposed in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the question whether the adjustment of ethnic groups is necessarily through acculturation and increasing conformity, and whether the process will always result in the destruction of the ethnic group as a functioning social subsystem within the larger society. Changes in the behavior of the Mennonite group in Manitoba over a period of seventy years are analyzed as a test case. Ideal types for the parent and host societies are formulated. The early history and recent trends in the Mennonite colonies are described, and Dawson's 1932 conclusions about the acculturation of the Canadian Mennonites are reconsidered. The hypothesis that an ethnic group, particularly a rural group, will necessarily be absorbed by the larger society when forced to adjust itself to the capitalistic economy of the larger society is rejected. It is concluded that adjustment is highly selective, and that, by developing new behavior patterns and institutions unlike those of either the parent or host culture, an ethnic group may be able to prevent assimilation and continue to function as a distinctive social subsystem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The life in Breton villages (in France) is generally regarded as based on a traditionally primitive economy, and representing the age-old social forms. In this paper an attempt has been made to show, by a statistical study of two villages, that not only the size and the composition of the family, as a social unit, are influenced by the economic structure of the society (which, as shown in a preceeding study of the economic structure of the two villages, does not indicate a homogeneous peasant economy), but also the nature and the extent of the dependance of the family upon the economic structure are profoundly affected by the degree of social division of labour and the type of exploitation of the land, the primary means of production, in the different areas concerned. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the Emile Durkheim, a theorist, views on kinship and relationship systems. It is the contention of this paper that some of what he wrote has been undeservedly neglected. Anthropologists have comparatively recently been given credit for ideas which he had already set out in columns of various sociological journals in France. The concept of consanguinity is a good example. Durkheim laid considerable stress on a point which is fundamental to the study of relationship systems, viz. that relationship systems are not the same thing as kinship systems, or even as systems of consanguinity and affinity. Admittedly he was by no means the first person to have perceived the distinction between the biological facts of consanguinity and the sociological facts of relationship. He noted that in certain societies a man's kinsmen were not necessarily consanguineally related to him and that clanship might similarly have little to do with actual consanguinity. Though, once Durkheim had clarified the concept of matriliny, he resorted to it as a sort of universal solution to all puzzles in the study of relationship systems. His explanations

The concept of ‘generalized symbolic media of social interaction’ was introduced by Parsons five years ago in his two articles on the concepts of power and influence. I believe that it represents a theoretical development of the first importance, which has received much less attention—particularly in my own field of social anthropology—than it deserves. The purpose of the present paper is to review and criticize the concept itself and to point out its relevance to certain problems in social anthropology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a reply by the author regarding criticism of his article "The Afrikaners as an emergent minority." The author points out that the critics of his article fail to convince him that Afrikaners are geographically and culturally isolated. The author is annoyed when critics underestimate the offences of English-speakers over Afrikaners and the fact of their economic minority status. The author had nowhere offered an interpretation of apartheid theory in any terms. The critics have stated that many Afrikaners take an alternative view of Blood River as punishment of the Zulus. Such a view, if taken, is however not inconsistent with a belief in the existence of a military threat. The assertion that there has been a virulent English press throughout South Africa's history does not enhance their credibility. South Africa's history is far longer than the history of South Africa's press. The author had not said that the Voortrekkers are taken as a role-model or that Afrikaners overlook internal dissent.

This research considers a sample of 39 Latin American community studies in order to develop cross-national structural measures of the concepts community social solidarity and ethnic rigidity. The inter- relationships among these two social phenomena and a third structural variable, community differentiation, are examined. A previously available Gunman scale of differentiation of Latin American communities is utilized along with two new Gunman scales of Latin American solidarity and ethnic rigidity. The scale of ethnic rigidity involves a solution to defining ethnic groups as well as of measuring rigidity. Investigated are opposing theoretical positions as to whether a social systems' solidarity and social rigidities are tautologically related or not. Hypotheses having implications for the relationship between these two variables and measures of development are examined. Results include implications for community theory, the study of ethnic groups, and community development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The avenge socioeconomic status of the resident white and nonwhite populations of city, suburb, and fringe zones of the older and larger SMSAs in 1960 was investigated. The pattern most often observed was that suburbs had higher avenge levels than cities or fringe areas, and fringe areas had higher levels than cities. Only the magnitude of the differences between suburbs and cities was considered large. For the white population alone, the avenge status levels of cities and fringe areas were about equal and slightly below those of suburbs. For non-white residents, in contrast, the most consistently observed pattern was for cities to have higher SES levels than suburbs which in turn had higher SES levels than fringe areas. Thus, systematic differences in socioeconomic status existed among the city, suburbs, and fringe zones of older and larger SMSAs. However, the differences were small when race was controlled. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are two chairs of sociological studies at the Jagellonian University in Cracow, Poland. One is the Chair of General Ethnography and Sociology held since 1935 by professor Kasimierz Dobrowski and the Chair of Sociology and Demography held by professor Pawel Rybicki, established in 1957. The research work in general ethnography and sociology is mainly concerned with two fundamental processes. First, the socio-cultural transformation of the rural milieu and second, the influence on the working class and its culture on the influx of rural population to towns and industrial centers. The research activity of the Chair of Sociology and Demography is concentrated on three problems. The first problem is the history of social thought. Second problem is urban sociology and the third is the demographic and sociological problems connected with the migratory movements of the population. In addition to research work paper, the two chair are also responsible for the teaching of sociology at the Faculty of Philosophy and History of the Angelina University.

The study was designed, using the `matched-guise' technique, to determine how different groups of Welshmen perceive members of their own national group who use various linguistic codes. Three matched groups of adult Welsh Sc were used: Bilinguals, those who were learning Welsh and those who could nor speak Welsh and were not learning it either. These Ss were asked vu evaluate on 22 scales the personalities of various Welsh speakers they heard reading the same passage of prose on tape. Essentially, the stimulus tape consisted of two male bilinguals reading the passage once each in Welsh, in English with a Welsh accent and in English with an RP accent. It was found, despite the fact that the groups differed in their language skills and self-perceived Welshness, that Ss as a whole upgraded the bilingual speakers on most traits. Indeed, the RP speakers were evaluated most favourably on only one trait-self-confidence. It was suggested that language to a large extent serves as a symbol of Welsh identity, and the results were discussed in relation to how other ethnic groups appear to view their own linguistic codes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article the author likes to show that a new epistomological situation has arisen within the field of social anthropology and that one of its consequences is to afford the possibility of a new and closer form of co-operation between the social sciences and biology. This epistemological situation is characterized by two complementary aspects: on the one hand, a theoretical problem is increasingly commanding attention in the front line of research and, on the other, this problem is being tackled in a new methodological context. The problem is that of the analysis of the conditions of reproduction and of non-reproduction of social systems, taking into account the constraints imposed by their internal structures and their ecological environments. These two lines of development have taken on this importance not only by virtue of their methodological innovations, but also because they both accorded particular attention to the roles of the economy in the logic governing the adaptation of societies to their environment and in the logic of their evolution.

Ethnographic data from a study of rural hippie communes suggest a clear attenuation of the normative differences usually ascribed to children on the grounds of their age. The participation of children in drug use and sex, as well as their autonomy in the settlement of their disputes, are cited as examples of this decline in age grading. Interpretations are offered of the ways in which this equalitarian conception of children is systematically sustained by other facts of communal life and by the ideological postures of parents. Finally, inferences are made from the decline of age grading in the communes of the counterculture for possible changes in the relations between the generations in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the most recently developed methods in anthropological science has been labeled "The New Ethnography." This approach looks on culture as a cognitive organization of material phenomena, as a way of knowing and ordering reality. The task of the researcher is to unearth and understand the logical organizing principles underlying human behavior. This he does by elicting from his informants the questions they formulate about the world around them as well as the answers they give to them. This method has not been employed in the study of religions on a large scale. The few applications have been encouraging because they have brought into focus the religious experience of a particular people. They also show that greater objectivity and accuracy in the analyses of values, beliefs and ideals can be achieved and thus increase the understanding of other peoples' religious life. The new ethnography can supply us with useful guidelines for the improvement and development of the academic study of religion. It also suggests that "empathy" training for scholars in the field might be pursued with advantage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present study a sample of white English speaking South African students was asked to detail their voting preferences prior to the 1970 general election and complete personality and attitude questionnaires in order that some indication be gained of the voting patterns obtaining in this minority group as well as the pattern of psycho-social attitudes pertaining to each voting group. The data indicates that there is little to choose between persons voting for either the United or Nationalist parties, in terms of general authoritarianism; the difference in voter choice being in prejudice held, with Progressives showing significantly less prejudice than the others. The young White voter seems to vote Nationalist out of some need for ideological commitment--he is relatively speaking consistent in his ethnocentrism and social distance whilst the United Party voter appears to support that party for non-ideological reasons, since there seems no consistent relationship between prejudice variables indicating a lack of ideological motivation, or at least consideration given to the relationship between attitudes held.

This article presents an economic and social study of nutrition. The data for this study were collected from the Moapa Valley Southern Paiute Reservation near the City of Las Vegas, Nevada, in 1971, the residents of which represent about 250 of Nevada's approximately 4,000 Indian population. The sample subjects were from approximately the same social stratum with an average per capita income of $350. The sample includes 35 youths between the ages of 14 and 21. This represents essentially all youth in that age bracket living on the reservation. All were interviewed by means of questionnaire. The interviewer had worked with similar Indian youth for a ten-year period and was instructed to conduct interviews away from the parents so that responses might be given more freely. In addition, much information was obtained through intensive observation by the writer who spent much time in and around the reservation. Because calories are more descriptive of dietary quantity than quality, it was considered necessary to construct an index to reflect protein adequacy in the diet.

The article offers information on maternal deprivation. Several studies of the effects of parent-child separation, most notably mother-child separation, are of great importance in psychoanalysis, developmental psychology, cultural anthropology, comparative psychology, and other disciplines that are concerned with the study of human behavior. Three major avenues in which the issues involved in maternal deprivation can be undertaken. These are the institutional approach, the cultural approach, and the animal approach.

Copyright of International Journal of Dermatology is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article presents information regarding the full-range picture vocabulary test. The Full-Range Picture Vocabulary Test was developed to meet the need for a simple test of verbal comprehension ability which could be quickly administered and could be used with physically handicapped individuals as well as normals. Any analysis of the PV test must consider the fact that it is more than a test of vocabulary, it tests verbal comprehension and the ability to communicate. Afro-Americans, particularly Southern Afro-Americans, live in a different cultural environment from that of whites.

The article presents autobiographical profile of the anthropolist M.N. Srinivas. He is concerned in this brief essay with narrating how he became a sociologist and how he grew in the discipline. He has brought in his personal and domestic life only to the extent that it is relevant to understanding his career. He has also not discussed his contribution on the purely technical side but confined himself to describing his activities as an organizer of sociological studies in two Indian universities and elsewhere, and the work he did for strengthening the profession in India. He finds even this difficult as he has to steer clear of the Scylla of egotism and the Charybdis of undue modesty. If the former is vulgar the latter is dishonest. The author owes his career in sociology to his delicate health during boyhood and adolescence. As a scholar progresses in his academic life, he finds to his dismay an increasing amount of his time being spent on matters other than his studies and research. Ever since the author's return home in 1951 he has been torn between two conflicting desires, one, to make such contribution as he could to the building up of a national sociological tradition, and the other, to his own study and research.

It would not be proper for an ethnologist to say what race is or is not, since specialists in physical anthropology, who have been discussing this question for nearly two centuries, have never been able to agree about it, and there is nothing to suggest that they are nearer to reaching agreement today than in the past. They have recently told that earliest hominids of widely disparate characteristics, incidentally from at least three or four million years ago, an epoch so remote that people never know whether the various types of fossils have been found, merely preyed on each other, or whether cross breeding, took place among them. Some anthropologists believe that human species subdivided at a very early stage into a number of subspecies, between which all kinds of interchange and interbreeding took place during prehistory, the diversity of human types to be observed today, therefore, is the result of the persistence of earlier characteristics and the addition of recently acquired ones.

The article discusses the subject matter and the terminology used in the context of legal ethnology. The place allotted to legal ethnology depends on what one regards as recorded in ethnological science on the one hand and by the concept of law on the other. The term ethnology, ethnography and anthropology are often used synonymously. Legal ethnology was concerned with traditional laws primarily based on custom. Legal ethnology is a new subject and views differ from country to country as to the methods appropriate for it to apply. The problem raised in the article in this context is threefold. In the first place, there is lack of clarity regarding the composition of legal ethnology and its relation to other subjects. Secondly, on the practical plane, legal ethnology's need for parallel training. Legal training is essential in order to interpret customary law correctly.

The article discusses factors which affect productivity in the social sciences, considering the case of Latin America. It is not known exactly the criteria valid for genuine research success. Further, if the Latin American countries are considered which, among other things, lie in the lower range of the gross national product per capita scale, such questions are even more difficult to answer. Countries of this kind must examine very carefully the balance of basic components in building increasingly valid social research. The relative weights of applied and basic research, appropriate training and recruitment of researchers, diffusion of results, quality, quantity and orientation of output are all interdependent factors in the process. If emphasis is placed only on some, over-all results could be negative, despite short-term gains. Although on the whole, considering the situation all over the continent, one can say that social research is pushing forward, despite significant institutional breakdowns, the positive balance is very precarious. Social research is not yet so solidly established in the area that one can expect regular and steady growth. While lack of resources has been serious in the area, political conflicts and ideological rigidities have probably been the main obstacles to the development of research. Ideological and political motivations are the source of a high proportion of research interests amongst social scientists, and it would be very unwise to minimize in any way the crucial importance of ideological issues in the Latin American cultural environment. Funds for research of the kind meeting the standards of modern social science are currently extremely scarce. Increasingly intellectual circles tend to see Latin America as an area of common culture, ideological affinity and similar problems. It is believed that if this trend matures and becomes more empirical than theoretical, it will be of great help in developing social research in the area.

The article focuses on the conceptual problems faced by researchers in the study of social stratification in rural India. A central issue in a discussion of this kind is the relevance of native categories such as caste as compared with general analytical concepts like class. In a country like India, the native categories are themselves complex and heterogeneous and it is doubtful if they can all be comprehended within a single, unitary framework. European sociologists often distinguish between classes and strata and some of them tend to define social class and social stratification in mutually exclusive terms. The agrarian societies of South Asia are generally marked by great inequalities of wealth, power and status. Social inequality in these countries is not merely a matter of existential differences in wealth, power and privilege but also a question of values. From sociological point of view caste has a far better understanding than any other aspect of social inequality in India. The study of social class in rural India has not received the same direct attention as given to the analysis of caste in Indian society.

The article examines the biological consequences of race mixture. The author, described two hypothesis of the evolution of human populations, which are the classical hypothesis and balance hypothesis. Classical hypothesis contends that evolutionary changes consist in gradual substitution and eventual fixation of the more favorable gene alleles and chromosomal structures in place of the less favorable. On the other hand, balance hypothesis supports that the adaptive norm is an array of genotypes heterozygous for more or less numerous gene alleles, gene complexes, and chromosomal structures. The author cites previous studies about human population, specifically focusing on race mixture.

The special consultant to Unesco for the survey of research in the natural sciences draws on his experience in this work to suggest aspects of relevance to the proposed survey of research trends in the social sciences and humanities, pointing out at the same time certain essential differences between the two fields of intellectual endeavour. He outlines a number of practical measures designed to ensure that such a survey will be as complete, homogeneous and useful as possible, covering the assembly and synthesis of the material, revision, consultations, final drafting and recommendations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses various issues related to race relations in Latin American countries. To deal with the interracial situation in Latin America is not an easy matter. One have to bear in mind that this region is of enormous size, that it is divided up into a number of independent states, and even colonies, and has a population of over 180 million, forming, on account of the variety and heterogeneity of its components, a vast racial mosaic. The barriers to social mobility in an upward direction are formidable throughout Latin America. Race relations and the study of the subject vary widely in nature and importance according to the geographical area and the groups considered. Because of the numerical preponderance of three particular groups and especially because of the greater physical and cultural contrast which they offer, the bulk of the information available naturally concerns white-black and white-Indian relations. The author thinks he has not succeeded in obtaining a great deal of information on race relations in this part of the world.

The article focuses on the first Italian congress on the social sciences held at Milan at the beginning of June 1958. The two subjects selected were the relations between the various social sciences and their mutual interdependence, and problems of town and country were not best calculated to provide a basis for effective work. Indeed, both themes were obviously too broad to be discussed usefully in the course of a three-day congress, but the choice was upheld in spite of the drawbacks. The first subject-relations between the various social sciences was suggested by the experience of the Italian Social Science Association. Italian culture has always prided itself on its grounding in history and on the concrete nature of its methods research into precise historical situations, as against the abstractness of the naturalistic sciences. It has also raised history to the level of philosophy, this has led, firstly, to a great confusion of ideas and secondly, to banishing the social sciences completely, with the result that, in regard to many subjects and many fields of practical research, not only in sociology but in anthropology, ethnology. One subject frequently mentioned in the congress was the underlying unity, despite certain disparities, of the social sciences and the importance of closer co-ordination between them.

A survey of small-town Jews indicates that they generally conceive their relationship to their communities in terms of personal relations rather than economic factors; that they regard the general populace rather than the Jewish community as their primary reference group; that they incorporate to a considerable degree the small-town Weltanschauung; that they tend to be ’localites’ rather than ’cosmopolites’; that they view non-Jews in universalistic rather than particularistic terms; that they join organizations, both Jewish and non-Jewish, which stress status and exclusiveness; and that there is no significant difference in number between their Jewish and non-Jewish friends. The data lead us to the conclusion that small-town Jews are in general ’residents’ rather than ’strangers.’ [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rural-urban differences in attitudes toward race relations were explored by using data collected in the fall of 1967 in a nationwide study of 7,500 Presbyterian ministers and elders. A 72-item questionnaire concerning civil rights was completed by ministers and elders attending fall presbytery meetings. An 8-item Guttman scale for civil fights was utilized in the analysis. Ministers were found to be more liberal than laity. Substantial rural-urban differences in attitudes toward race relations were found, with rural dwellers—and especially the rural laity—more conservative, [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An overall classification scheme of community studies is presented, and several varieties of research are located within the scheme and discussed. Main approaches to community research which deal with the community per se are the holistic approach, including community ethnography and stratification studies; the typological approach; and studies of dimensions and processes specific to the community as a sociological category. Community ethnography suffers from noncumulativeness and the decline of local autonomy. Traditional stratification research has limited applicability in urban settings. The typological tradition is vitiated by independent variation of elements in- corporated within its polar types. Conceptual progress has been made in defining the community as an interactional realm, but the new definitions [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses result of an investigation designed to determine the relationship between personal and social adjustment of rural and urban Afro-American children. The author of the article informs that the study was based on null hypothesis that the personality characteristics of children living in rural areas are the same as children living in urban areas. The test was conducted in the schools in rural as well as urban areas. Data from the test were put to analysis. Researchers claimed that scores equivalent to low percentiles were evidence of difficult adjustment, and scores equal to high percentiles were an indication of acceptable behavior or attitudes. Therefore, the data were examined in terms of scores above the 75th percentile, those falling between 75th and 25th percentiles, and those falling below the 25th percentile. Analysis was also made on the basis of trait mean scores and corresponding percentile ranks. The t-ratio was used to test the significance of difference between group means. Both groups were below the percentile norm in sense of personal freedom. No conclusive evidence was present to indicate that the nature of the community in which Afro-American children lived was a deciding factor with regard to establishing some distinctive pattern of personal or social adjustment.

Copyright of Rural Sociology is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Rural Sociology is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article is concerned with the effects of social change on the role relationships and adjustment of Chinese Americans. The influences of cultural and social assimilation have undermined the commitment of Chinese youths to traditional cultural norms, and social disequilibrium can be seen within the family as well as outside the home. The changing sex role of females has affected their relationships with their parents and the opposite sex. Chinese vary in the extent to which they have become progressively removed from their parental culture, and the social distances between Chinese with different life styles have segregated them into a variety of disparate groups. Some of the changes in the psychological and social characteristics of the Chinese are examined from empirical studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Japanese Americans have been cited as a model minority who have attained middle class status through hard work and conformity to social order. Recently, however, the validity of the quiet, conforming Japanese American image is challenged by politically active third-generation Japanese American youth (Sansei). A total of 508 Sansei college students in California were interviewed to identify sociological correlates of Sansei activism. Political activists are not homogeneous; hence the Sansei were divided into four types based on the dimensions of acceptance versus rejection of traditionalism and involvement versus detachment from social issues. In line with the symbolic interactionism hypothesis, subjective status of father as perceived by Sansei is more closely related to the Sansei politicalization than is his objective status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Americans have perpetuated inaccurate images and attitudes concerning the Chinese that suggest the operation of social-psychological anomalies and prevent the growth of healthy human relations. Narrow stereotypic perceptions of and prejudice toward the Chinese have been so pervasive and tenable that Americans of Chinese ancestry do not perceive themselves with a meaningful identity. Examination of American social studies textbooks for elementary and secondary schools shows that Asian studies and the involvement of Asians in American history are barely mentioned or neglected completely; furthermore what information is given reinforces stereotypic illusions. There is rising protest and counterresponse to the restrictive perceptions among younger Asian Americans who seek the identity and acceptance they have been denied by others and themselves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Older Asian Americans share a great deal with their fellow Asian Americans and with their fellow elderly, but the juxtaposition of all elements produces a personal history and present milieu that is shared neither with younger persons of similar national origins nor with age cohorts of various national origins. Understanding these individuals requires knowledge of their cultural origins and effects of early socialization, their life history in the United States, those age-related changes that occur regardless of early learning or ethnicity, and their expectations as to what it means to be old. Many values to which first-generation Asian Americans were effectively socialized are highly counterproductive for maintaining adequate life satisfaction during the later years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines trends in mental hospital commitments among the Chinese in California over the past one hundred years. There has been a two-fold increase for the general population compared to a seven-fold increase among the Chinese; while initially the Chinese had substantially lower rates of commitment, since the 1930s they have been roughly equal to the general population. Rates of increase within the Chinese population were not uniform; males, the aged, and the foreign born experienced substantially greater increases. Changes have also occurred in patterns of diagnosis and length of hospitalization over the century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A typology formed from scores on the School and College Ability Test, Strong Vocational Interest Blank, and the Omnibus Personality Inventory was applied to 104 Chinese and 50 Japanese American males to identify certain homogeneous subgroups and their resultant psychological characteristics. Chinese and Japanese American males tended to concentrate in certain groups and exhibit unique characteristics that seem explicable in terms of their cultural background and historical experience in America. In addition, our results seem to indicate that Asian Americans are experiencing more stress than their Caucasian counterparts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chinese and Japanese stereotypes have undergone dramatic changes. Early stereotypes were uniformly negative, reflecting the social, economic, and political climate in America. Labor union members and gold miners were particularly vehement in their denunciation of Asian Americans because of the perceived threat of job competition. With the passage of numerous discriminatory laws and the entrance of other ethnic minorities, the Chinese and Japanese were considered less dangerous and the favorability of stereotypes increased. World War II revived negative stereotypes against the Japanese. Currently, these Asian American groups are viewed as highly successful, model minorities. To what extent are these positive stereotypes and views accurate? Methodological and conceptual problems in the study of stereotypes have hindered a clear analysis of this question. It is suggested that some stereotypes have kernels of truth. The potential negative consequences of favorable stereotypes are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intermarriage is an especially sensitive indicator of the permeability of ethnic boundaries: The rate can tell us something about how rigid the boundaries are, while the pattern can suggest the forces that maintain or reduce them. A survey of the marriage records of Japanese Americans in Fresno, California indicates that both the pattern of intermarriage (that is, whether the minority group partners are male or female) and the rate of intermarriage have changed noticeably in the last decade. Explanations are suggested for these changes and implications for the boundary surrounding the Japanese Americans are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contemporary researchers hold one of two orientations: a materialistic orientation, represented by behaviorism, which approaches the study of black people with an increasing emphasis on genetic determinants; and a nonmaterialistic orientation, represented by phenomenology, which approaches the study of black people with an increasing emphasis on psychic determinants. The former is concerned with the brain and behavior, the latter with mind and consciousness. Both orientations are similar in their concern with internal as opposed to external determinants, a relatively recent ideological shift in psychological research. The materialistic internal orientation is viewed as a serious danger to black people insofar as it reflects a "bad seed" (or gene) philosophy and is in opposition to the ontological premise of most black thinking, which is nonmaterialistic or spiritual in essence. At best, the future portends a misguided approach to race related social issues; at worst, it portends a search for a "final" (genetic) solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]