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The article focuses on the annual meeting of the Rural Sociological society. This is not a new experience, but some of the changes that are taking place in rural sociology programs and in society indicate that the need for discussion is not yet satisfied. This is also one way of reaching the many members, subscribers, and readers who axe unable to attend the Society meetings, and of including them in the circle of discourse. Accordingly, few persons from various sections of the country and one to represent a view of rural sociology as it exists outside the U. S. to offer some of their views on important issues in the future of rural sociology were invited. They were asked to respond briefly and quickly enough for the papers to be presented in the June issue before the 1969 meeting.

An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Department of Sociology, The university of Rochester, October, 1966. The paper was written while the author was on leave of absence from the Department of Sociology, Syracuse University, as a visiting scholar at the Laboratory for Social Research, Stanford University. This investigation was supported in part by a Public Health Service fellowship MH 23,804-01 from the National Institute of Mental health. Much of the background for this paper was obtained while the author was a visiting scholar at the Institute for Mathematical Studies in the Social Sciences, Stanford University (1964-1966) and the Laboratory for Social Research, Stanford University (1966-1967). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents the research papers published in this issue of the journal "Rural Sociology." The first paper by James H. Copp represents a stage in the maturation of research on farm practice acceptance. It is one of the first attempts to compare the results of studies conducted in different agricultural regions. Using data from Wilkening's study in Wisconsin and from his own study in Kansas, he developed comparable measures of certain personal, social, and economic variables. Another paper by Copp and colleagues deals with the informational aspect of the acceptance of new farm practices. They attempt essentially to specify the function of information sources in the adoption process. By asking a series of questions about the sources of information at various times, from the awareness of a new practice until its adoption, they find that institutionalized sources tend to perform a function separate from that of noninstitutionalized sources. The study by Charles R. Hoffer and Dale Stangland is a worthy attempt to take into account the farmer's value orientations as they affect his adoption of practices.

The term "relevant" within the context of a small-groups course in sociology seemed to mean participating in ongoing groups and observing and gathering data on small groups. Teaching by having students engage in research has also been advocated by articles in "The American Sociologist." The research approach is especially applicable for courses in small groups. But there are too many difficulties in having students carry out research to make research the central feature of a course. In most cases students would not be sufficiently knowledgeable to design and conduct meaningful small-group experiments. This causes problems too difficult for an untrained instructor to handle. The second reason was that while attracted to the learn-by-doing element in such a course, it was equally important to devote class time to covering theoretical concepts, research techniques, and general substantive material. According to the author, the ideal course would expose students to diverse theoretical approaches to small groups while meeting their demand for relevance in the form of group participation and involvement in research.

Stratification in science has received extensive attention from researchers in the sociology of science. The general research strategy involves identifying certain socio-personal characteristics of scientists such as professional age, highest degree, prestige of training and affiliated institutions, and relating these characteristics to the reward systems in science. Two identifiable reward systems in science involve (1) the bestowal of honorary awards, and (2) the access to, and recognition in, the formal communication system in science. These two systems both contribute to the overall stratification of the reward system but differ on at least two counts. This paper attempts to examine the stratification of the formal communication system in American sociology as it is related to the stratification of scientists. It is found that the visible journals in sociology are consistently stratified according to criteria such as rejection rates, articles rejected but eventually published in other sociological journals, order of submission preferences of ASA meeting authors, and cross-citation patterns in articles of the journals.

This paper first reviews the descriptions and structural explanations for variations, in urban population densities in the United States over several decades. The research reviewed focuses on shifts in the technology and economics of travel as being the major influences on urban density distributions. These variables appear to be somewhat less adequate as explanations of the process in recent decades. After reviewing these findings and suggesting several research questions, we attempt to assess the evidence relating variations in population density to several other aspects of human behavior. A review of the research relating high population densities to various "social pathologies" indicates that little of the variance in rates of these pathologies can be attributed to density independently of other social structural variables. Some important consequences of population density have been reported, however, and possible research directions are outlined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents information about various developments related to sociology. Plans for the 1968 meeting of the Rural Sociological Society at the Somerset Hotel in Boston during August 23-26, 1968 are well under way. This year the Program Committee has divided the contributed papers section into six major areas. These are: Social Structure, which includes Small Groups, Community Structure and Development, Power Structure, Rural Organizations, and Stratification. The Social Processes area includes: Innovation and Social Change, Cooperation and Conflict, and Communication. The Population and Ecology are includes: Fertility, Mortality, Demographic Characteristics, and Locality. Authors of papers for possible inclusion in the Medical Care Section Program of the next annual meeting of the American Public Health Association to be held during November 10-15, 1968 at Detroit, Michigan, may obtain standard abstract forms from Donald C. Riedel, Associate Professor of Public Health, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut.

Between 1900 and 1950, the population of the United States doubled, but during this same period the proportion of persons over 64 years of age quadrupled. In all states, aging has created problems which are becoming increasingly pressing. The Social Security program is designed to cope with certain income, health, and welfare issues; but the problem of personal adjustment in retirement is largely an individual matter. Agricultural census data indicate that many older people have retired on the land. Currently, more than 400,000 persons reach retirement age annually. Presumably many of these people plan for rural retirement. This paper examines the question of whether adjustment of retired persons is achieved in agriculture, especially under conditions as found in Florida. It is concluded that agriculture provides economic and cultural advantages for retirees, but that factors associated with constant aging tend to weaken these values, at least as related to open-country retirement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the paper on the research on sociological aspects of health. The report will describe these experiments and, in addition, will present in some detail the major steps of the study that are important to an understanding of the methodological aspects. The methodology of the current statewide health survey is actually a part of an extensive and varied research effort which is now being made in the sociology of health and health care throughout the U.S. The major purpose of the survey was to ascertain the extent of unmet need for medical attention by use of the symptoms approach among a representative sample of the population in Michigan. Other purposes were to obtain information about the availability and use of medical services, methods of paying for health care, attitudes regarding physicians and medical care, and the attributes and characteristics of people which might be related to all three of these areas.

The February issue of "The American Sociologist," carried the announcement that the 1969 Annual Meeting would be held in San Francisco, California. "Careers in Sociology," has been distributed recently to ASA members. Additional copies are available on request from the Executive Office. "Guide to Graduate Departments of Sociology, 1969," is now ready for distribution. "Sociological Methodology," 1969 may be ordered from Jossey-Bass, Inc., San Francisco. "Issues and Trends in Sociology," a new series of readers, will he devoted to topics of salient theoretical or substantive interest and, to the extent feasible, papers will be drawn from ASA publications. The American Sociological Association recognizes the important contributions that the National Institute of Mental Health has made to sociological training and research through its Training Grant and Social Science research programs. The Association expresses its full support of these efforts, and urges that the programs he expanded with full financial support to continue to meet the growing needs of sociological knowledge in the United States.

The maintenance of original value orientations and of pristine character is a crucial problem area encountered by institutions, particularly in the face of changing external or internal social circumstances. The tensions engendered in such conditions are clearly evident in sects, which provide a valuable institutional type for analysis, in that they have an explicit value commitment, are clearly circumscribed organizations, and are peculiarly self-conscious of their relations with the wider society. Some sects are markedly successful in the preservation of undiluted values of protest; others, notably those which gradually become denominationalized, are much less so. This paper seeks to distinguish and characterize distinctive types of sect, and to use such characterizations to determine the specific elements, and combinations of elements, which promote or retard such development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The behaviorist, neo-positivist school of sociology in the United States, with its emphasis upon mathematical symbolization, has gained many cohorts during the last quarter of a century, but it is only latterly that it has found a champion to present its tenets systematically and in full panoply. If this paper directs itself almost exclusively to one representative of this school which has so many followers, it is because the presentation of its case is both most recent and most thorough. Indeed, it should be a source of deep gratification that the position of this school of thought has finally been placed upon a full canvas, and been offered for popular showing. Only thus could both its merits and demerits be made obvious. For two decades, in a series of publications long and short, professor George Lundberg, erstwhile president of the American Sociological Society, has carried on a campaign for scientific method in the social sciences, and particularly sociology. The kind of world Lundberg wants is one in which the social scientist will be accepted as the final authority in informing men of how they can achieve the goals they set for themselves without himself approving or disapproving of these goals.

The purpose of this paper is the analysis of the interactional patterns of Wisconsin farm couples with their parents. Step-wise multiple regression analysis provides a technique to solve a sequence of one or more multiple linear models by step-wise application of the least sum-of-squares method. The predictor variables used in this analysis include: distance, husband's age, stage in the family life-cycle, husband's education, wife's education, gross farm income, agricultural training of the husband, productive-man-work-units, and level of living. The results showed that distance is an important factor in the interaction between generations in rural areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents information about various meetings and announcements as of August 1938. The American Catholic Sociological Society was organized at Loyola University, Chicago, on March 26, 1938, by seventy-five teachers of sociology representing thirty Catholic universities and colleges of ten states. Its purpose is to promote unity and cooperation among Catholic educators and institutions of higher learning in the field of social thought and action. The Chicago Recreation Commission and Northwestern University have recently issued Commercial Recreation, Volume II of the five-volume Survey, which deals with performing arts, sports, health, travel, newspaper promotional activities, amusement parks and endurance contests, ballrooms and dancing schools, and, briefly and quantitatively, with liquor establishments, commercialized vice, and borderline recreational activities. The Mid-West Sociological Society, held its annual meeting at Des Moines, Iowa, April 21-23, with over 100 persons from 43 institutions in attendance.

During the past year, the American Sociological Society has continued its steady growth. There are, for example, 5,462 members now, as compared with 2,673 in the reorganization year, 1949. Among these, there are now 2,480 active members, as against 1,352 in 1949. Income from dues, estimated to be more than three times greater in 1958 than in 1949, is now actually running ahead of these estimates, partly because of intensive efforts this year to bring in new members, and partly because many present members have been more punctilious than usual in paying their dues. Thus the Society will enter its new phase of revised program and organization with a broad base of support within the profession. Not only are members more numerous they seem also to become steadily more active in their roles as members. Abstracts of papers for the annual meeting have reached a volume where printing is more efficient than mimeographing. Correspondence between members and the Executive Office mounts more rapidly than the staff has been able to expand to take care of it promptly.

There are several reasons to believe that white southerners have not been active in research on topics about black Americans. Blacks themselves have certainly not been accepted with open arms when calling attention to problems of blacks. For example, in 1927, E. Franklin Frazier, a writer wrote an article in which he used an analogy comparing the mental processes of racially prejudiced persons with insane persons. Subsequently, he was chased out of Atlanta, Georgia. A study was conducted on origins of researchers on Black Americans. One of the most interesting findings is that obtaining the highest college degree in a southern state of the U.S. does not produce as much of a tendency to study blacks as do childhood socialization or institutional affiliation in the South. One hypothesis is that graduate programs neutralize a tendency to deal with blacks that other socially connected experiences seem to enhance. What seems more likely is that the restrictive social climate of the South may be responsible for the relatively meager opportunities for academic specialization at the research level in southern graduate schools. It is likely, however, that the long trend is reversing. Southern sociologists, who have been criticized for not doing enough research on blacks, have actually been doing proportionately more research in this field than in other fields as compared with their northern, including western counterparts.

This article presents updates on the American Sociological Association (ASA) in the U.S. as of December 1972. Sociology of Education will sponsor a special session of contributed student papers at the 68th Annual Meeting of the ASA in New York City on August 27 to 30, 1973. Peter Blau, Ralph Turner, Roscoe Hinkle, Erving Goffman and Gerhard Lenski were elected as officers of the Theoretical Sociology Section of the ASA for the 1973 year.

Presents news notes involving the Rural Sociological Society in the U.S. Announcements by sociological institutions; Programs and projects involving universities and colleges; Meetings and workshops.

This article presents data drawn from a study of university sociologists in order to answer three basic questions which concern the correlation between the quantity and the quality of publications of a sociologist, the effect of the status of the graduate department where the sociologist earned his doctorate on the recognition attributed to his research output, and the relationship between early achievement of quality publications and continued achievement of research in the career of a sociologist. Sociologists of science have been concerned with the relationship between a researcher's number of publications and the merit or excellence of a sociologist's writings. In a number of disciplines, a high to moderate correlation is found between quantity and quality of publications. The population for this study consisted of all persons listed in the American Sociological Association Directory who had received their Ph.D. degrees in sociology between 1954 and 1963 and who were members of United States departments of sociology that offered graduate training. To have included sociologists whose degree dates preceded 1954 might have meant the exclusion of the articles from the quantity index. The upper limit of 1963 was applied since it can be assumed that there is a time lag between the period when a social scientist receives his degree and publishes and between such a publishing period and the time when the work is recognized and/or appropriately cited, as in the measure for quality.

Howard Odum at his death in 1954 was working on the technicways, a concept comparable to Sumner's folkways-addressed to the relation of technology to social change and social consensus. To Odum the essence of technicways is to be sought in terms of the transition required to give scientific techniques the sanctions of a system of norms. Technicways are the folkways of an age of science. The current neglect of this concept may be due to its embodiment in Odum's theory of folk sociology and in its closeness to Ogburn's social change which Odum apparently accepted. It is a paradox that today in a literate age of social change we have no records of the contemporary origin and development of folkways. This is explained when changing standards are related to scientific and engineering techniques. Another paradox demanding explanation is the incorporation of these techniques within the system of norms. Failure to understand the nature of the technicways leads to two popular fallacies: namely, (1) there exists a total breakdown of standards; (2) technology is in control of the social order. It is the contention of this paper that Howard Odum in the development of the concept technicways, has offered here a lead that takes up where Sumner's folkways left the subject. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information on a survey within the eleven Southeastern States of the introductory sociology course in U.S. The purpose of the study was twofold: (1) to provide a general factual description of the situation of the introductory sociology course within the Southeastern states and (2) to provide a technique for stimulating interest in one's common problems as teachers. This paper briefly presents the results of the survey. A general social science course is available to freshmen or sophomores in 41 percent of Southeastern institutions. Of these, only two-fifths require that the course be taken by all students in the college. This indicates that the burden of responsibility of the introductory course by no means has shifted to the general social science course. The survey presented 18 objectives of the course for the respondents to rate along a three-point continuum, as very important, of some significance, or as unimportant. One respondent demonstrated the logical interrelation of all 18 objectives, showing that all comprise the fundamental aim of "understanding the society in which the student lives" and that by implication all are involved in the learning process.

Mass data on numbers, places, and kinds of people, and particularly of their movements in space and time, accumulate in the U.S. at an accelerating rate, and demographers have achieved high competence in their analysis of large-scale observations. There is available much objective and statistical material about the populations of states, regions, and nations. The accessibility of this material makes possible the single argument of this paper, which is, to use analogy, that the U.S. population information is like an unfinished painting. This article presents a running sketch of proposals for socio-demographic research with one further comment on the implied conditions of investigation. The search to which each study relates insofar as population analysis is concerned, is two-fold. On the one hand, it is for clusters of factors that operate as patterns within a migration or fertility trend. On the other, it is a search for the of elements which are capable of independent variation.

Sociology and social work, though rooted in independent origins, have had within the past century a development indicative of a complementary and interdependent relationship. Such a position ignores the history of the movements during the latter half of the nineteenth century and interprets the absence of so full an expression of interdependence in the first twenty years of the present century as indicative of no prior relationship. A significant attestation of the relation of sociology and social work in their precursory stages is the fact that the National Conference of Social Work had its inception in the American Social Science Association. Thus far the relation of social science to charities, correction, and philanthropy has been shown to be positive. In the introductory paragraph of this paper it was suggested that the relation of sociology to social work during the first twenty years of the present century was slight. Sociology and social work are referred to as if aspects of the same movement, and the social worker is termed a type of sociologist, in the official records of the first meeting of the American Sociological Society.

The article presents information on Herbert B. Adams, well known figure in the research of social science. The biographical details which have been selected aim to present the qualities which gave him influence and esteem among students and investigators, rather than to furnish a complete life history. Adams, began his public career with an appointment as fellow in History in the Johns Hopkins University in 1876. He remained in that institution in the progressive positions of Associate, Associate Professor, and Professor until the time of his death in 1901. His base of operations, therefore, remained fixed, but his influence extended over the continent and it is proper that some inquiry should be made respecting the earlier experiences which developed his character and prepared him for leadership in historical studies. His private reading in college was chiefly in connection with the subjects upon which he had to write or debate. History was not a large part of his collegiate training and we might be a little surprised that he afterwards devoted his life to it.

The interchange of letters between Lester F. Ward and E. A. Ross, which began in 1891 and continued until 1912, affords a rich source of enlightenment on the backgrounds, ideas and attitudes of two founders of American sociology. This first group contains the correspondence of the years 1891 through 1896. During these years, Lester F. Ward, who had published Dynamic Sociology in 1883, was engaged in geological and paleobotanical work for the U. S. Geological Survey. In the initial letter here published, we find him occupying his first college teaching position at Indiana University, and through the successive letters, the author follows his aspirations and his activities as he goes to Cornell and thereafter to Leland Stanford University. These letters, moreover, show the patterns of American sociology in the making. They reflect the struggle of early sociology for recognition from economists and give interesting evidence on the theoretical differences and personal rivalries among the founders. They are the living documents of a period from which sociology has emerged, but the history of which can give insights to contemporary sociologists.

This article focuses on the approach towards sociology in Europe. It lists works of several sociologists and brings out their area of study. Karl Mannheim is concerned with educational administration. He says the Germans have long speculated as to whether there is a science of sociology, while the French have placed courses and the Americans whole departments of sociology in their universities. Now Germany is convinced that there is sociology and will teach it and he offers a detailed outline of what he thinks the subject should cover. Mark Abramowitsch offers a socialist interpretation of sociology, but criticizes strongly those who do not go beyond Marx in their interpretation of society. He has much to say about the contrast between the proletarian and the bourgeois approaches to social science. Irma Goitein seeks to show Richard Hess' position between Hegelian idealism and Marxian historical materialism, and she finds that he did not seek a synthesis of these viewpoints but rather gyrated between them. Some new letters of Hess are given in the appendix.

This section presents news of sociology organizations in the U.S., as of May 1971. AAAS Socio-Psychological Prize announced the Arthur F. Bentley annual prize of $1,000 for a theoretical and experimental essay that furthers understanding of the psychological socio-cultural behavior of human beings. The prize is intended to encourage studies and analyses of social behavior based on explicitly stated assumptions or postulates leading to conclusions or deductions that were tested by systematic empirical research or to encourage in social inquiry the development and application of the kind of dependable methodology that has proved fruitful in natural sciences. On the other hand, the Alabama-Mississippi Sociological Association extended an invitation for membership to all sociologists, undergraduate and graduate students, and persons in allied fields in the two states. Meanwhile, Asian Forum is a quarterly journal providing a multi-disciplinary forum on development and interaction within and among Asian countries. Contributions dealing with Asian society and culture include articles, reviews, summaries of relevant dissertations, bibliographic essays, annotated bibliographies, and reports on projects and conferences.

During February of 1958 arrangements were completed with the Edgewater Beach Hotel, Chicago, Illinois for the 1959 Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Society. The meetings are scheduled for Thursday, September 3 through Saturday, September 5, 1959. Flat rates for single room is $9.75, for double room flat rates is $16.00, and for dormitory rooms, twin bedded with connecting bath for 4 persons has the tag of $16.00. The Edgewater Beach Hotel, one of Chicago's finest, is located on the lakefront, has a cabana club and swimming pool, and a summer theater in addition to usual hotel accommodations. It is relatively far removed from the downtown district and should afford the Society excellent accommodations in every respect. Information received from the Chicago Convention Bureau indicates that typing and other services will be made available only on a fee basis as follows: badge typists at $10.00 per eight-hour day; stencil typists at $12.00 to $14.00. The Bureau will make available gratis bulletins on "Chicago, Host City to the Nation" listing all of the interesting places to see and pertinent facts about the city; and also "Headline Events in Chicago" which will cover the month of September.

The article presents information on the content of the papers published in the 1943 issue of the "American Journal of Economics & Sociology." The authors represented in the volume turned out studies many of which added bricks or courses to the temple of learning, and some of which realized, however imperfectly. The journal's goal of co-operation among the various social sciences and related disciplines in the interest of a rational social and economic organization. The journal is more than a 576 pages of progress reports on scientific studies. These reports are made by men and women whose labors, out of personal interest and social responsibility, produced them in spite of the war's added teaching and administrative burdens or despite their contributions toward democratic victory in other roles. The news reports which give indications that some few of these studies already have had influence on informed opinion and public policy in the U.S. are an augury of the possibilities open to the scholar who grapples intelligently with the problems.

The Committee on Monographs of the American Sociological Society submits this preliminary report with recommendation for the following action. First, it is recommended that the general sense of this report be accepted and that a similar committee be continued with instructions to make a complete and final report with definite specifications for the 1948 meeting of the Society. Second, it is suggested that the new committees working on the series be instructed to make a preliminary report for the special consideration of the Executive Committee of the Society at some interim meeting at the beginning of the spring semester in 1948 and that a mail ballot be authorized before making the final report. It is recommended that the American Sociological Society, as one of its major undertakings, inaugurate a monograph series provided the following conditions are met. By the same token, it is urged that the Society should not undertake such a venture unless these conditions can be met. There should be relative unanimity on the part of the Society as to the importance and distribution of such a series. There should be commitments on the part of members of the Society to support the series on the basis of at least a five-year guarantee. This support should include prospective offerings by members of the Society of enough voluntary manuscripts duly qualified to insure a distinguished series at the end of the period.

Popular imagery and various social science theories argue that urban life generates a sense of despair or malaise. While Americans tend to express preferences for small communities, secondary analysis of several American and foreign surveys fails to indicate that community size fosters personal unhappiness. If any result is substantial, it is that the effect, worldwide, is of rural malaise. American and French data do reveal, however, that, after controls for covariates, there is a small trend for the largest metropolises to be disproportionately places of malaise. Breaking down the samples by migration history suggests that this is owing to the ability of some to move to idealized communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article features the Urban Institute, a research institution responsible for policy analysis of issues involving sociology and social science in the U.S. One of the favorite topics of the U.S. administration is the extent to which economists have begun to supplant the lawyers at the right-hand of power. While many sociologists may yet aspire to the left-hand, it may be useful to consider some of the signs in the economists' favor. These include not only the extent to which economists are involved in government itself, but also the degree to which the economists have encircled the government with independent research institutes providing policy analysis. The Urban Institute represents a distinctive new genre on the social science scene and it is now beginning to seek out supplementary sociologists for its staff and projects. Founded in 1968 as one of the last domestic initiatives of the administration of President Lyndon Johnson. The institute is involved in research on income maintenance, income distribution, and housing. Other current research concerns of the institute include, forecasting demand for urban transportation systems, evaluating alternatives in generating and allocating public school revenue.

This article highlights the minutes of the annual meeting of the Rural Sociological Society from August 23 to 26, 1968 in Boston Massachusetts.

This article attempts to measure the effects of the Farmers Home Administration (FHA), a nation-wide federal government agency which has a program designed to extend and preserve the family-farm type of agriculture in the U.S. The FHA is the 1946 successor to the Farm Security Administration established by Congress in 1937. Its function is to help selected tenants purchase family-size farms or livestock and supplies by lending them the necessary money which is difficult to get elsewhere. Low interest rates and a long repayment period are provided, along with some guidance in farm and home management. In the study, FHA families and non-FHA families are compared based on these variables: participation in community organizations; level of living; informal participation; and income. It is then observed that the supervised loan program did help the FHA families to increase their social and economic standing in their communities. A survey of the attitudes of FHA and non-FHA families also showed that both groups were, in general, highly favorable toward the program. In conclusion, it can be said that all of the analyses seemed to demonstrate that the FHA is accomplishing its general goal.

Presents news notes and announcements related to rural sociology in the U.S. Career developments of professionals in universities and colleges; Appointment of William B. Jones, Jr., at the Save the Children Federation; Tribute the late Louis Wirth by the Rural Sociological Society.

The article presents information on the annual meeting of the Rural Sociological Society, held in Detroit, Michigan, December 28-30, 1938. The first serious consideration of Rural Sociology by the American Sociological Society was in 1916 at the annual meeting in Columbus under the presidency of Dr. Geo. E. Vincent, who chose the theme "The Sociology of Rural Life." The first meeting of the new section was held before the regular sessions at Chicago in 1922. Since then the section on Rural Sociology has had a regular place on the program. In 1928 under the presidency of Dr. John M. Gillette, the theme of the annual meeting of the American Sociological Society was "The Rural Community." The last few years have been ones of notable progress. There has been a steady increase in the number of state agricultural experiment stations conducting research in rural sociology, an increase in their staffs, and a larger recognition of the importance of the subject by experiment station directors and agricultural college executives. Most of the membership is in the states in which agriculture is the major industry. The northeastern section of the U.S., east of the Mississippi and north of the Ohio rivers, contains about half of the population and 70 per cent of the nation's income, but it contains a minority of the rural sociologists.

Extension work in rural sociology, carried on under the Smith-Lever Law enacted in 1914. is relatively new; the earliest efforts predated the enactment of the Law, however. Efforts under the law began earliest, probably, in New York Missouri, Iowa, and Wisconsin. Administrators are now lacing problems in human and group relationships as they never have before; the more specific and concrete the help offered by the rural sociologists, the more their assistance will be sought and used. Problems faced by extension rural sociologists (1) relate to the development of a program which will ñt into the terms of the Smith-Lever Law, (2) include efforts to reinterpret and make of practical use subject matter from the held of sociology which calls for judgment as to what subject matter to use, and (3) pertain to relating the work in rural sociology to other fields of extension work. The interests of the extension rural sociologist differ in degree only from those of the research worker or teacher; there is need for placing values upon findings so that they may be applied to practical situations in the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on certain events related to sociology which are to be held. The American Documentation Institute has been incorporated on behalf of leading national scholarly, scientific and informational societies to develop and operate facilities that are expected to promote research and knowledge in various intellectual fields. First objective of the new organization will be to develop and apply the new technique of microphotography to library, scholarly, scientific and other material. It will be able to direct scholarly publication by various methods as required by co-operating organizations. The Japanese Sociological Society is now compiling a book in English on the development of sociology in Japan, which is to be presented to the members of the International Congress of Educationists who meet in Tokyo, Japan this Summer. It will contain a section on rural sociology prepared by professor Eitaro Suzuki. Professor Read Bain of Miami University, Oxford, Ohio will be the lecturer during 1937-38 in the department of sociology.

The article presents evaluation of sixty-three journals of sociology by Sociologists in the United States. In February 1970 a questionnaire was mailed to a randomly drawn sample of 250 professors and associate professors in departments with sociology Ph.D. programs listed in the "Guide to Graduate Departments of Sociology, 1969." The letter that accompanied the questionnaire explained that the instrument was designed to gather data to be used to construct an index of the productivity of sociologists. If the purpose of the study had been merely to arrive at a prestige ranking of the journals, a simple rating scale could have been used, and it would not have been necessary to use the average importance of any kind of publication as a unit of measurement. Although there was less dissensus on the general journals than on the specialized and interdisciplinary ones or on journals in other disciplines, there was nevertheless a great deal of disagreement even about the best-known general journals.

This article presents a proposal to augment the democratic nature of the American Sociological Association (ASA). Fundamentally, there are two structural forms designed to effect democracy. The first is representative democracy. In a free and fair election, members select by majority vote those who will act in accordance with their general intent and desires. This is the classical format of all large-scale democratic political systems. The second device is direct democracy. Here, in free and open debate, members make their wishes known, following the principle of majority rule and the actions of the leaders follow the dictates of the will of the majority. The procedure for implementing representative democracy is the fair election of the chief officers. In ASA, the chief officers are members of the council. The ASA constitution vests essential power in the hands of the council, the power to formulate policy and to direct the affairs of the organization. The selection of council members is through democratic election and even the nominations procedure has been democraticized through the election of the Committee on Nominations. In addition, there is a major institutionalized mechanism for implementing the principle of direct democracy, namely the business meeting of the annual ASA meeting.

This article describes and examines the doctoral origins, that is, the school from which an individual received the degree, and the appointment patterns of editors of the periodical, American Sociological Review (ASR). A twenty-year period was chosen for investigation in order to facilitate the observation of pronounced trends in the data. The particular period 1948-1968 was selected because October 1948 marks the beginning of Maurice R. Davie's term as editor-in-chief and December 1968 marks the end of the most completed editorial period on the periodical. The American Sociological Review was selected for investigation since it is an official journal of the American Sociological Association. Empirical evidence for the importance and influence of the ASR can be found in a work in which the authors state that regarding the frequency with which references were made to various journals, in five of the six cases the rank order was ASR, AIS, and SF. Additional evidence is presented in a study in which the ASR was found to be among the most frequently cited journals in sociology. The name of every editor-in-chief, assistant editor, and associate editor was noted for the period October 1948 to December 1968.

The relationship between sociology and history has interested scholars from both disciplines for a long time. By now a considerable library of materials is available on the subject ranging from involved philosophical essays on the nature of the borderline separating the two fields to ceremonial addresses of various kinds urging a greater volume of traffic across that line. Literature from the sociological side of the border, at least, has been almost unanimous in its insistence that sociologists should devote more attention to history so much so that the argument would appear to have lost much of its urgency for simple lack of opposition. Yet, for all of that, sociology in the United States continues to lack historical focus. Sociology in the United States has generally leaned in the more positivistic of those directions, developing a form of scientism that no longer seems to resemble the natural science models from which it derived. There have been unmistakable signs in recent years, however, of a swing in the opposite direction toward a species of radical skepticism in which persons distrust their own intelligence and all the established apparatus of sociology for fear of the various class and racial and ideological biases that might be hidden within them.

Several efforts have been made in recent years to analyze the sociology curricula of colleges in the United States. In 1942, the ten courses ranking highest made up 64.2 per cent of the course offerings. The 1957 results showed that the same courses, with two exceptions, ranked highest, though with different ranks. The present study sought to learn what sociology courses are being offered by the small liberal arts colleges of the United States listed in the 1963 edition of the "U.S. Higher Education Directory" as being in the second category and having a student population of 1,000 to 2,500. Some colleges did not send catalogs, and some did not send them soon enough to be included, so 122 colleges were actually used in the study. It is unlikely that any significant bias could have been introduced by the omissions, as failures to obtain catalogs were in no way related to the content of the study. Classification of courses was made by title wherever possible, and by catalog description where necessary to obtain more accurate comparability of offerings. Courses were tabulated by geographical location, size of college, sex of student body, and college sponsorship.

The purpose of this article is to explore the role of women in one's culture, in academia, in a few professions, and in the field of sociology. There are suggestions in some of the sociological literature that women are in a difficult and sometimes unspecified role. Age and Sex in the Social Structure of the United States, analyzes the various avenues of expression available to women domesticity; glamour; and good companion, as expressed in such pursuits as humanitarianism and club activities. Much literature, academic and otherwise, has been devoted to a survey of the opportunities and joys of the domestic role. The foregoing material can serve both as an indictment of, and a cause for, restricting the role of academic women, as well as an accounting of the reasons why women withdraw from the professions. To label the interplay of variables as discrimination is not wholly accurate, but neither can the material be taken as cause for maintaining the status quo. Research continue to be faced with the facts that good intellectual ability among women is being wasted as a social and national resource and that lack of clarity about the female role may be productive of personal unhappiness.

This article presents information related to sociological affairs. The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania announce three awards, each of $5,000, for distinguished works in the Humanities and the Social Sciences, which may appear as the first volumes of the Haney Foundation Series. All decisions pertaining to the granting of these awards and the publication of the winning entries will be determined by the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania and will be final. The final date for submission of manuscripts is August 1, 1965. The Institute of International Education announces scholarship opportunities for graduate study in Asia, 1964-65. Scholarship awards in most cases cover tuition, books, travel and maintenance. For eligibility requirements and details regarding application, students should consult the Fulbright Program Adviser on campus, the Summaries of Study Opportunities and the brochure, "the U.S. Government Grants for Graduate Study Abroad, 1964-65". Through the kindness of Judge Thurman Arnold, the firm of Arnold, Fortas and Porter, 1229-19th Street, Washington D.C., has agreed, in the public interest, to act as legal counsel for the American Sociological Association.

In contemporary American sociology, there exists no unified and comprehensive theoretical system that could serve as an instrument for coordinating and integrating existing sociological knowledge. Present-day American sociology represents a multiverse of theories and approaches. For the purpose of bringing at least some external order into a rather chaotic situation, the author suggests a classificatory system that distinguishes three main categories of sociological theory on the basis of general methodological criteria: positive or natural-science theories; interpretative sociologies treating sociology as a science sui generis, and non-scientific or evaluative social theories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a conception of action drawn from the five major pre-world War II volumes of Znaniecki, Maclver, and Parsons, the contributions of Ward, Giddings, Ross, Small, Cooley, Mead, Thomas, Faris, and Park were investigated for antecedents of the action scheme.. References to consciousness, subjectivity, the subject-object relationship, ends, means, reflection and choice, rules, and a distinctive subjective investigative technique were found in their works. The bases of an action orientation in American sociology can be discerned in the two decades before and after World War I and in both the traditions of positivistic evolutionism and subjective idealism. Cooley's concept of valuation, Mead's notion of the individual act, and Thomas' definition o/the situation probably provide the most significant antecedents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information about various American institutes and associations. The Committee on UNESCO year plan for the Social Science Division of UNESCO. A session at the annual meeting of the Association in Los Angeles will be devoted to proposals by sociologists regarding this UNESCO plan. The great success of UNESCO in the physical sciences with the geophysical year program and the recent contribution of the social sciences to such practical and important problems as social and economic development in the non-industrialized areas and intergroup relations have prompted leaders of UNESCO to request the contribution of sociologists in the development of along range plan. Anthropological Forum, a new annual journal focusing primarily on social and cultural anthropology-comparative sociology in the areas: Aboriginal Australia; European Australia; the Pacific, particularly New Guinea; and South East Asia; is being published by the University of Western Australia Press for the Department of Anthropology. Ronald M. Berndt serves as General Editor assisted by an International and Australian Advisory Panel of Editors.

The article focuses on the status of women in professional sociology in the United States. It shows both a numerical and a proportionate decline in undergraduate degrees awarded to women from 1949 through 1958. During the same period the percentages of graduate degrees in sociology earned by women show an irregular series of fluctuations within certain fairly broad limits. The pervasive character of sex differentials in professional sociology is presented in the article, which presents information on earnings and age for equivalent categories of male and female sociologists. The data were gathered in 1952 by the American Council of Learned Societies in a national survey sponsored by the U.S. Department of Defense. It was estimated that the survey covered 40 per cent of all professionally employed sociologists, including those working in applied sociology. It is noteworthy that all six of the salary comparisons show a differential in favor of the men, although in every case but one the median age of the women is greater than that of the men.

Sociologist Emory S. Bogardus lately reminded the author that sociologist Lester F. Ward in his address as president of the American Sociological Society in its first annual meeting in Providence, Rhode Island, December 27, 1906 began with these words, "I do not propose on this occasion to enter into any defense of the claims of sociology to be called a science. I wish simply to show that its history, and the steps in its establishment, do not essentially differ from those of other sciences." It is appropriate to use the occasion of the centenary year of the two sociologists whose achievements we honor at these meetings to pause for reflection upon both the enduring and the changing features of sociological knowledge, procedures, and styles of thought. To what , extent has change in sociological study been a matter merely of shifts in foci of interest and of fashions in methods and concepts, or a matter of cumulative achievement according to scientific canons? The question of this kind need not expose sociologists to the dangers of excessive professional introspection. On the contrary, to cite a behavioral hypothesis of some plausibility, effective action requires a clarity of self-identity that is aided by confronting the past actions and the reactions of others to those acts. There is merit in regarding the effective history of a discipline of sociology having authentically scientific aspirations as, for the most part, extending back rather less than a century.