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This paper (1) evaluates the preparatory communications to parents about the 1954 polio vaccine tests in a local suburban and rural area, (2) assesses parental reactions to the communications and to the vaccine program itself, and (3) examines the hypothesis that socioeconomic status is a significant factor in determining how persons receive, evaluate, and respond to communications on a public health measure. Higher-status parents compared to lower-status parents received much more information both favorable and unfavorable to the polio vaccine program and reacted more critically to the unfavorable information. A substantially greater proportion of high- than of low-status mothers permitted their children to participate in the program. This paper suggests that the media for communicating on science and medicine tend to be middle-class oriented and middle-class received. The significant question is: how can communications on health measures be designed, directed, and channeled so that large numbers of persons in all social groups will be reached and influenced? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The tendency for neighborhood patterns of association to localize the exchange of farm information on a person-to-person basis is demonstrated in this paper by the analysis of two types of interpersonal relationships. Conditions which help to explain this relationship are examined and evaluated, and the relationship of neighborhood residence to the evaluation of sources of farm information is considered. Although consideration of the relative influence of neighborhood and clique patterns of association is beyond the scope of this study, the data show that clique members are more likely to live outside neighborhoods than inside. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the educational sociology of sociologist Émile Durkheim. It is the purpose of this paper to outline some ideas of Durkheim on education and to show how they are closely linked with his sociological thought. It can be no more than an introduction to a subject upon which the writer is preparing a more substantial work. None of the educational writings of Durkheim has yet been published in England. In fact most of them were only published posthumously in France. Some notes on the most important of them are given at the end of this paper. The majority of them were prepared in the form of lectures and are listed in order of the dates on which the course was first given and not according to the date of publication which is separately recorded. There are many lectures still existing in manuscript form. It was thought best to give quotations in the following pages in English and the translations are those of the writer except where otherwise noted as coming from existing translations. Moreover, this paper will conclude with a brief outline of four major functions of educational sociology which are based on practical principles in line with Durkheim's methodology. These functions are the determination of the present social facts of education and their sociological function, determination of the relation of education to social and cultural change, comparative sociology of education and the study of the school itself as a social group and in relation to other social groups.

Information about several papers discussed at the American Psychological Association (APA) conference on the levels and patterns of professional training in psychology is presented. It was attended by 100 delegates who were carefully chosen to represent the diversity of perspectives and constituencies together with several participant observers. Position statements and papers prepared by APA explore the community psychology which failed to gain a consistent identity.

This paper shows that the reference group concept is useful for understanding premarital sexual behavior among college adolescents. Data obtained at a midwestern university suggest that the sexual behavior of students tends to be consistent with the standards and behavior of peer referent. Veer influence increases as students move from the freshman to senior year in college and is greater among social categories traditionally thought to be more susceptible to peer influence (Greek members and females). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to what might be regarded as a basic postulate in sociology, when a number of persons are in interaction over a period of time, mutual expectations and norms develop concerning the behavior of the persons involved, and the individual's actions are not independent of these norms and expectations. the postulate is the basis of the hypothesis that relationships among neighbors affect many of the individual operator's decisions concerning the farm business. The author of this paper seeks to test the hypothesis that the extent to which farm operators adopt recommended farm practices is, in part, a function of the operator's neighborhood of residence.

This paper is an analysis of one hundred and one rural locality groups delineated for Wake County, North Carolina, during the summer of 1948. There is a high correlation between the quantitative indexes of four aspects of group life. There is a low correlation between the quantitative indexes and group identification as measured in this study. All four of the indexes have low predictive value of the strength of group identification. However, the index of the number of kinds of institutions and organizations appears to be more highly associated with group identification than the other indexes used in the study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two contrasting points of view are presented in the sociology of adolescence literature regarding a youth subculture. One view is that the youth subculture is a reflection of the larger society. A second view is that the youth subculture is distinct from the adult society and has separate norms which emphasize fun, popularity, and conformity. The position taken in this paper is that a youth subculture does exist, but it has several different dimensions and is not characterized by conformity in values and behavior. Socio-economic variations, values, social participation, and sexual differences were studied among high school students which support this position. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Elizabeth Bott's hypothesis that "the degree of segregation in the role-relationship of husband and wife varies directly with the connectedness of the family's social network" has been tested with inconclusive results. C. C Harris has reinterpreted the English data by suggesting that the degree to which monosex groups exist for each spouse explains the data better than does Bott's thesis. In this paper, Japanese and English data are compared and the relative merits of Harris' thesis over that of Bott discussed. Implications of the findings for further research are discussed as they relate to the contrasting rates of divorce found in the two countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper attempts a subsequent test of Reiss' hypothesis that among conservatives those of higher social status are less permissive than those of lower status while among liberals the relationship is in the opposite direction. A student sample was utilized and measures of fundamentalism, idealism, academic orientation, and authoritarianism were used independently to identify liberals and conservatives. Both a chi-square test and a sign test were applied to the data; neither test confirmed Reiss' hypothesis. an extraordinarily strong relationship between permissiveness and the sex of the person, however, was found. Consequently the data was reanalyzed while controlling for sex in order to investigate the possibility that the validity of the hypothesis is contingent upon a condition, the sex of a person, but again the hypothesis was not confirmed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a midwest study of 216 middle-class pairs, a reference-group hypothesis was tested and supported attempting to verify the relationship between peer-group association premaritally and relatively poorer adjustment postmaritally. A structured questionnaire was used to collect basic data as well as information about premarital experiences. An adaptation of the Locke Marital Adjustment Scale was used to differentiate low adjustment pairs from high adjustment pairs. The peer-oriented couples scored lower in total adjustment scores, agreement, communication, and marital happiness, lending support to the hypothesis. A rationale for the hypothesis is provided and suggestions for further research noted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on the factor analytic structure of small group interaction, parent-child interaction, and personality traits is reviewed and interpreted within the framework of a circumflex model. This model uses power and support as reference axes around which other patterns of interaction or of personaltiy can be meaningfully arrayed. The circumflex model provides a theoretical map which can be used to order existing data and to generate hypotheses. Examples of such ordering and of hypotheses are given. Location of socializing agents or groups in the two-dimensional property space formed by the variables of power and support is a minimal essential specification of the social interactional context within which socialization takes place. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to define the concept of social visibility, making it amenable to experimental investigation, and to report an investigation of the concept. The term social visibility was first used by Anderson (I, pp. 368, 570). Although he gives no explicit definition, Anderson implies that social visibility is acquired as a resultant of the competencies of the individual. Implicit in this formulation is the recognition of the individual's competencies by others in the group. Omitted from his consideration is the question of whether one must possess skills which are relevant to group functioning. The concept, as stated by Anderson, is not defined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the results of a field investigation concerning the social behavior of rural-neighborhood members. From a study of 713 rural families in Dane County, Wisconsin, the conclusion was reached that families who live in rural neighborhoods engage more often in certain proximal, primary, rural-located interactions than do other families. This finding generally supports current theoretical formulations. A research instrument was devised to determine neighborhood membership, on the basis of behavior, and to aid in trend analyses of interactions characteristic of neighborhood members. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the results of an intensive field investigation to determine the influence of informal social groups of a non-locality-group nature on the interpersonal exchange of farm information among farm operators in a northeast Missouri farming community. Analysis of the data clearly demonstrated the facilitating influence of informal groups on the interpersonal exchange of farm information among members of the same group. There was also considerable evidence that mechanisms of group exclusion were a factor in limiting the more selective types of information-seeking contacts. Informal social groups of a non-clique nature had much the same influence, in these respects, as social cliques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is an attempt to compare four different techniques of assessing farm family values: (1) direct questioning, (2) choosing between alternative expenditures of time or money, (3) verbal ranking of family goals, and (4) behavioral data in the form of material possessions, family expenditures, and social participation. A high degree of association is found between the three verbal indices of family values. The validity of verbal measures is dependent upon the type of value measured. Choices between alternatives in the expenditure of time or money appear to be a reliable as well as valid means of measuring family values which involve such expenditures. Behavioral indices of value are valid only when the behavior is not highly influenced by immediate situational factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on some announcements by different universities and colleges in the United States as of June 1953. The American Sociological Society will meet in Berkeley during the period August 29-September 1, 1953. This session on August 30, will be the only joint session with the Rural Sociological Society. Howard W. Beers, University of Kentucky, is chairman and the following papers are scheduled, "Study of the Strategy of Change on Large Estates and Small Farms in Latin America," by Charles P. Loomis, Julio O. Morales, and Ralph Allee, Michigan State College; " An Analysis of Family Values in Relation to Social Status in a Rural Pennsylvania Community," by Renee Abramson, Pennsylvania State College; "Change in Farming Technology as Related to Familism, Family Decision-Making, and Family Integration," by Eugene A. Wilkening, University of Wisconsin and "Economic Status Differentials within Southern Agriculture," by C. Arnold Anderson, University of Kentucky.

This paper presents a sociopsychological approach to the study of the acceptance of improved farm practices among 80 farm owners in a Piedmont community of North Carolina. Intensive interviews are analyzed with the technique of content analysis for the purpose of isolating and categorizing the sociopsychological variables. Three variables used to demonstrate the method and approach are attitude toward education for boys going into farming, conservatism toward nonagricultural areas of experience (education, religion and the movies), and dependence upon neighborhood and kinship ties. Each of these variables are associated with an index of improved farm practices adopted to a highly significant degree. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An exchange of gunfire between Detroit police and persons in the proximity of a meeting of black separatists provided an opportunity to evaluate the impact o( the mass media in creating, supporting, or reducing racial polarization. Based on responses from 1130 interviews in black and white neighborhoods, perceptions of what occurred outside of the New Bethel Church were linked to reported mass media and primary-group sources of information- In terms both of immediate and of long-term effects, different media combinations were associated differently with how whites and blacks relying on these sources perceived the incident. Where newspapers were relied on more than other media, the original perspective projected in the mass media underwent extinction. Where television was the more important information source, persistence of the original view by whites and increased polarization were the patterns of impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the author undertakes a social-psychological analysis of the organization, ideology and activities of the John Birch Society, a U.S. organization described in current journalistic literature as radical right or as right-winged extremist. The group is described as a fundamentalist reaction to its social setting, with a leader and organizational structure which is an unstable mixture of both charismatic and rational-bureaucratic elements. Its organizational position is that of a sect, its appeal is its ideology and activity of social protest. Moreover, it appears that the influence of the society within the American social system may become potentially functional and constructive.

Unidimensional conceptions of socioeconomic status require that alternative indicators of one's position in the stratification system have similar elects upon the consequences of socioeconomic level. We show herein that different indicators of social participation and psychological well-being are in fact associated with different indicators of socioeconomic status. Thus, any attempt to combine these indicators—educational attainment, occupational pursuit, family income, or occupational origins—into a single index of socio- economic status will prove unsatisfactory because its component parts have different consequences for the same variable. We also show in this paper precisely how certain formulations of the effects of inconsistency and mobility are wholly redundant and only represent a logically possible way of interpreting the linearly additive effects of the variables used to define inconsistency and mobility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents comments to the article "Elementary Science for a Changing World." In contrast to the previous article's concept about science talent, the author has argued that a science-talented child is a child who has received sufficient satisfaction from a certain kind of activity to participate in it more frequently and with more intensity than do most of the children in the same age group. Otherwise stated, he claimed that the provision of resources and direction of action are facilitated by the teacher, but the climax however is reached by the formation of a concept image as a result of the group dynamics. His emphasis on the role of parents in the child's acquisition of scientific knowledge concludes the article.

While sociologists have pointed to the socio-economic determinants of alienation, focusing on the plight of the individual living in a capitalistic society in terms of his estrangement both from his work and from himself, theorists of a more psychological persuasion suggest that alienation may be a life style which has its origins in the individual's early developmental history. More recently, social scientists have empirically investigated the psychological components of alienation, variously defined as encompassing a syndrome of attitudes and feelings reflecting a view of society marked by cynicism, pessimism, and distrust, and a view of people as manipulative, uncaring, and emotionally distant. A number of pencil-and-paper measures of socio-emotional difficulties associated with this syndrome have been obtained, inducing response acquiescence, social isolation, social introversion, and admission of pathology, as well as such behavioral and clinical correlates as lack of commitment and marked identity concerns. Prominent among the explanatory notions advanced by these psychologically oriented investigators has been the role of parental identification as a major etiological dimension of the alienation syndrome.

One of scholar Karl Mannheim's most important conceptions, that of the free floating intelligentsia, can be seen as playing more a normative than a factual role in his thought. This is not to say that Mannheim regarded this construction as having no factual basis. Indeed, throughout his career he held that such a relatively classless stratum of intellectuals existed in the European society of his time. But Mannheim's evaluation of the role this stratum was equipped to play changed radically over the course of his sociological career. His most famous and most thoroughly discussed treatment of the intelligentsia was in a chapter on the possibilities of a scientific politics in the book "Ideology and Utopia." Here his tone was exceedingly optimistic, for he thought that the European intelligentsia might be the bearers of a tremendous political synthesis, a dynamic mediation between the left and right wings of the European political spectrum. In any event, this theme-the role of the socially unattached intelligentsia-will constitute the thread which ties together the various treatments Mannheim offered of intellectual strata generally. The approach of this paper will be broadly developmental, dividing Mannheim's writings into four basic stages. To begin with, there is the material Mannheim published before 1929. In this period, the intelligentsia is seen as relatively unimportant.

The article discusses social status and electoral choice in two constituencies in Great Britain in 1952. The statement that social class membership is of outstanding importance as a determining factor in political behavior would probably be regarded by most contemporary social scientists as little more than a truism. And it is perhaps for the very reason that the gross outlines of the relationship are so clearly perceptible that so few systematic attempts have yet been made to analyze its structure in any detail. The material presented in this paper forms part of the results of an inquiry into certain subjective aspects of English social stratification, carried out in September-October 1950. To study social class differences in voting behavior was only one of its aims: the inquiry was designed also to study, inter alia, varying conceptions of the nature of social classes and of the criteria of class membership, the social class placement of various occupations and attitudes to social mobility. An account of the design of the survey and of some of its findings will appear elsewhere; it may be useful, however, to include here some brief notes on the sample, and on the method employed of classifying respondents.

The article discusses the paper presented by Pahl zu regarding rural-urban continuum. Pahl has performed a long-overdue service for European rural sociologists in ailing attention to some of the basic underlying problems of the rural-urban continuum. Most of his cogent criticisms, with reference to the methodological problems entailed in transforming a potential into an actual continuum, are well taken. He has also provided a lucid and fruitful analysis of the metropolitan village by showing the existence of marked discontinuities. Throughout the paper Pahl argues persistently against the concept of the rural-urban continuum as a valid analytical tool for explaining the key patterns of rural and urban life. In fact, it appears that he considers the construct absolutely useless in almost every respect. The analytical concepts which Paid has proposed instead- role, social network, patron-client relationship, and, especially, local and national systems- deserve to be taken seriously in their own right.

The article discusses significant issues relate to the developments in family theory. The family theory, as defined by Reuben Hill, is a family phenomenon in all of its manifestations in behavior, overt or covert, associational or institutional, interactional or ideological. It was as well known as a family behavior as a dependent variable to be explained. It was also defined as a sociological theory with featured modifications to meet the special conditions of the universal social grouping. It further stated that training graduate students related to family life should be developed from time to time in order to be ready in case of a big lead forward in this matter.

Presents updates on various U.S. chapters of the Alpha Kappa Delta fraternity as of February 1, 1936. Details of meetings conducted by Alpha of Nebraska, Municipal University of Omaha; Papers presented by several members of the faculty of Alpha of Missouri, University of Missouri; Reorganization of the Gamma Chapter of Texas.

Principles derived from small group theory and research pertaining to group problem solving were modified to apply to family problem solving behavior. It was hypothesized that the optimal structure for family problem solving requires both open channels of communication and centralization of authority. The relationship between these structures and "cultural" variables such as behalf systems, styles of communication, and intrafamily patterns of affection and sup port were analysis in terms of their contributions to optimal problem solving structures as well as to problem solving activities per se. Finally an ideal typology for family problem solving is presented to represent the relationship between structure', cognitive styles, and interptrsonal family relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New data concerning relations between change in religious affiliation and family stability are examined, disclosing results highly similar to those obtained in a previous study. Religious homogeneity between spouses is shown to be similarly related to family stability among both Catholic and Protestant couples. Results for couples who achieve a common religious affiliation in adulthood are virtually the same as those for couples who have always been religiously homogeneous. The continuity of results over two studies suggests that more intensive research, particularly longitudinal in design, is in order. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A multiple regression analysis using "dummy" variables is utilized in a study of family organization in 412 societies selected randomly from Murdock's "Ethnographic Atlas." Results indicate that type of family is significantly related to variables of societal organization, that these latter variables can be categorized by rank as to productivity and/or societal complexity, and that the limited family type is more likely to be found in complex societies than is the general family type. The family typology proposed here, which emphasizes the comparative amount of economic responsibility that must be assumed by the family bead, appears more useful in dealing with family-societal relationships than the previously used independent-extended family dichotomy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Data comparing working-class families living in a suburb with similar families living in a central city are presented which challenge some commonly held assumptions about suburban life. It is suggested that for working-class women, moving to the suburbs takes on the social-psychological characteristics of a crisis. Evidence is presented to support two propositions: (1) upward mobility deprives these women of a system of structural supports and therefore increases their sense of social isolation and disaffection; and (2) the sense of social disaffection is associated with a breakdown in primary group relations. The move to the suburbs is considered as a special care relevant to these generalizations. A sequence of events leading to social disaffection is inferred sterling with migration away from neighborhoods end families of orientation. This leads to isolation and the need to change conjugal and external roles which, in turn, makes marital conflict a more salient issue, thereby increasing the disaffection of the women involved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This inquiry explores the rural migrant's involvement in a branch-family network in the industrial area of destination and the effect of such involvement upon various aspects of the migrant's social psychological adjustment. Five specified conditions are taken into account: age, sex, level of schooling, social class origin, and length of residence in urban localities. Data are derived from a project designed to follow up all persons who, 20 years earlier, were residents of an isolated mountain neighborhood in eastern Kentucky. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article studies the factors associated with the acceptance of health care practices among rural families. In this exploratory study, the general procedure consisted of constructing an index of adoption of recommended health care measures, which was considered to be the dependent variable. This index was then related to a series of social and economic independent variables. A random sample of households was drawn by the Department of Statistics at North Carolina State College. Data were obtained for 611 sample households by means of personal interviews conducted by graduate students in rural sociology. This study points up the applicability of the developing body of theory and method in one area of technological change to changes in human behavior associated with health care practices. The agreement of the findings in these two seemingly unrelated areas of human behavior point toward the application of this approach to other areas of social change. Explanation is needed as to why certain health care measures have been more highly accepted than others and why the acceptance of certain practices varies from one social group to the other and yet with others differs little from group to group.

A comparative analysis was made of the social participation of individuals in four rural communities of the Northeast. A participation scale involving both formal and informal organizations was used. This scale previously developed to measure participation of households, with the minor changes of dropping family visiting and trips to village items, showed high validity as an instrument for ascertaining the extent of social participation of individuals. The communities were generally similar in distribution of individuals by participation scores; in the direction and degree of differences in participation by family status and by age groups; and in the consistency and degree of relationship of participation with socioeconomic status and occupation-residence. Variations in participation among the four communities appeared to be due largely to manifest situational differences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Changing environmental attitudes from an economic to a moral orientation are discussed in terms of the activation of moral norms to guide and evaluate behavior. In controlled experimental situations, increasing levels of two variables (awareness of the negative interpersonal consequences and ascription of responsibility) increased the likelihood that moral norms influenced behavior. Changes in the social system are discussed which have increased both our awareness of, and the actual adverse consequences stemming from, a strict economic approach to the environment. Other modifications have made decision-makers responsible for these consequences. These changes have fostered the current moral fervor concerning the natural environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines the problem of lower class culture. Although the concept of a lower class subculture has been one of the recent mainstays of professional attempts to comprehend the life, the motivations, the problems of the least well off portion of the population, in the sociological and anthropological literature of the past 30 years two rather different views have been advanced about the distinctiveness of lower class norms and values vis-a-vis the larger "conventional" society. The author suggests that the following kinds of information concerning the actual ongoing life of Caribbean groups would be sufficient to confirm the essential correctness of William Goode's views and the absence of them would disconfirm his views. First, married members of the lower class look down on non-married members and use their non-marital status to demean them in arguments or conflicts of any kind. Second, partners in non-marital relationships accuse each other of being less moral because of participation in the relationship. Should the double standard operate, women would be much more vulnerable to such accusations than men. Lastly, children of non-marital relationships are treated as less valuable persons because of their illegitimate status.

This article focuses on the convergence between adult education and group work. Examination of the definitional papers on the two fields indicates that the distance between adult education and group work is gradually diminishing. A review of recent trends supports this evidence of professional convergence. A national survey of public school adult education conducted by the National Adult Education in the U.S. also illustrates this convergence. The survey report lauds the precedent of those schools which have added recreation to their curricula in an effort to become centers for community life.

Actions agencies have been established in order to combat intergroup tensions present in the American society. Three states have set fair employment practice commissions and a variety of new agencies, privately supported, have been activated nationally. Some of these are the American Council on Race Relations, the Commission on Community Inter-relations of the American Jewish Congress and the Bureau of Intercultural Education. Thus far the newness of this action for unity initiative has hindered the development of a working relationship among various agencies. This article discusses techniques and methods for influencing intergroup relations in the U.S.

This study explores inequality of life insurance ownership between black and white families and examines the possible causes of the differences found. Within income groups, black families own much smaller amounts of insurance on the average than whites. The lesser levels of personal life insurance coverage owned by blacks are not attributable to the substitution by blacks of other forms of accumulating money for emergencies in preference to life insurance. Neither does the difference in coverage seem to be attributable to a lesser opportunity among black families to purchase life insurance at present. Part of the difference in levels of life insurance coverage is probably due to the tendency for blacks to own more expensive types of coverage which give them less life insurance protection per dollar of premium expenditure. The differences are also partially due to the disproportionate concentration of blacks in manual occupations, since working class households own less life insurance than white collar households at the same income level, within both racial groups. A third factor is differences in values and family structure related to the need for life insurance to protect the wife and children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

M. Plon commits the same offense that he finds so odious in American social psychology: A confounding of political axioms and scientific reasoning. His desire to demonstrate ideological blindness in Americans leads him to misinterpret some published works on the Prisoner's Dilemma paradigm in bargaining research and to ignore the issue of the most useful balance in emphasis between conflict maintenance and conflict resolution when these topics are studied experimentally. Thus, M. Plon's angry attack is not a clarification of the deep issues that he essays but, rather, another data point that will itself need to be understood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents biographical sketches of various social scientists. Few of the listed social scientists were Nathan Caplan, Robert M. Fogelson, Howard Aldrich and Lynne B. Iglitzin. Caplan is Program Associate at the Institute for Social Research and Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Michigan. He was previously with the Institute's Research Center for Group Dynamics, which he joined after receiving his Ph.D. in 1961 from Western Reserve University. He also assisted in the preparation of the Commission's report. Caplan's major interest is in social intervention and the development of change producing models. Aldrich is Assistant Professor of Organizational Behavior in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University. He received his Ph.D. in 1969 from the Department of Sociology at the University of Michigan and his interests include organization-environment theory and research on interorganizational relations. Fogelson received the Ph.D. from Harvard University and is currently Associate Professor of History and Urban Studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is the author of the book "The Fragmented Metropolis," published by Harvard University Press

This article informs about some books related to psychology. "Society and Personality Disorders," is written by S. Kirson Weinberg who is a member of the staff of Roosevelt College in Chicago. Behavior disorders are regarded as reflecting failures of social learning and breakdowns of communication and social participation. Anxiety is regarded as a core neurosis arising when a person is overwhelmed or frustrated by situations with which he cannot cope. Other neurotic reactions are regarded primarily as defenses created to ward off anxiety. "Prescription for Rebellion," is written by Robert Lindner.

The article discusses the article "Governmental Administration and Informal Local Groups" by Charles P. Loomis and colleague. According to the author they express a pious hope that the selection of "natural neighborhoods and communities" as bases for administrative units might help to strengthen the solidarity within these natural groupings. Sociologist Bryce Ryan, while not objecting to the proposed use of "natural areas" as administrative units as such, attacks violently the proposition that the strengthening of neighborhood ties might be a valid goal for administrative policies. He accuses Loomis and colleague of "romanticism," of a "sentimentally determined preference" for neighborhoods, charging that such preference for one type of social system over another is usually not considered as a matter for scientific judgment. Administrative organizations which serve primarily the needs of the wealthier farmers can therefore function without being based on natural local groupings. One should not forget, however, that even special purpose associations and similar organizations tend to function in a more satisfactory way if, in addition to the like or common interest, the members are bound by ties of kinship, friendship or other more intimate relations. Such relations may be less obvious than neighborhood, but they may be none the less present in well functioning special purpose associations.

The article presents a reply to Rudolf Heberle for his comment on a author's article related to rural sociology. According to the author, there are few basic points in professor Heberle's remarks with which any sociologist would disagree, and his point of view does not seem necessarily inconsistent with the author's work. The real point of difference probably lies in a misunderstanding, i.e., the inference that the author's article visualizes a type of society in which non-contractual relationships have no importance. Obviously even the most characteristically secular relationships necessitate non-contractual elements in or surrounding them. It should also be clear that primary groups have essential functions which cannot be performed by secondary associations. The recognition of these axioms would seem to go without saying, and their recognition does not preclude the possibility of a more secular rural social organization than that known in the past. The point is simply that in the society there are probably many functions, once performed by primary locality groups which can now be more effectively performed on a special interest group basis.

This study is an attempt, based on historical materialism (the science of the history of social formations), to critically analyse the notion of conflict as social psychology has defined it and as social psychology has developed it with models of non-zero sum games imported from game theory. Whether it concerns the postulate of conflict resolution (which governs this domain of social psychology), or the ideological foundations of the notion of conflict, the structure of a game of the 'PDG' type and the imaginary trap it forms, or even the staging which the psycho-sociologist produces in utilizing this model, it is shown that this whole proceeding is an ideological construction which functions principally as an obstacle to true scientific knowledge of the field it covers-which can be defined as constituted by the relationships between the subjective and the political-and secondly as the raw material for a theory of ideology, which is understood as having the double function of recognition and misappreciation. Both tasks demand intensive theoretical study as part of the development of historical materialism and, from that point of view, this work should be considered only as a preliminary study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article shows that group polarization occurs in regard not only to person perception but in the domain of social judgments as well. It attempts to clarify the nature of the transition from the individual to the group judgment by focusing on two aspects of the shift, the cognitive and the interactional aspects. This experiment shows that group discussion leads to polarization in the realms of social judgment. Group polarization is related to cognitive simplification and has a fundamentally normative character.

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 the experiments reviewed in this article the subjects are asked to produce ideas that are relevant to a given task request (e.g., possible consequences of a hypothetical event). After describing the specific task material and the performance measures used in the relevant research studies, some analytic background is given by outlining the cognitive resources required in this kind of experimental task and by listing the various factors that may come into play when subjects perform in groups (with discussion) instead of individually. We then review the studies comparing individual and group performance. In all of these experiments the subjects were asked to work according to the rules of brainstorming, which prescribe that participants refrain from evaluating their ideas. This procedure purportedly results in superior group. relative to individual, performance. However, the empirical evidence clearly indicates that subjects brainstorming in small groups produce fewer ideas than the same number of subjects brainstorming individually. Less clear evidence is available on measures of quality, uniqueness and variety. The discussion considers factors that may be responsible for this inferiority of groups. The role of social inhibition receives particular attention also in terms of suggestions for research. Apart from the group-individual comparison we review the existing research concerning factors that may influence group performance on idea-generation tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Variations in interethnic marriage rates in Singapore demonstrate that the influence of ethnicity and religion on family organization is far stronger than the influence of class or education. In particular the striking variations in the proportions of men and women marrying out of each of the major ethnic groups in the Republic appear to result from the continuing operation of traditional ideals of family and local-group organization in a contemporary situation that is otherwise rapidly changing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]