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In his book "Collected Papers," sociologist Alfred Schutz offers a thorough going critique of the discipline of sociology as it is usually conceived, and attempts to re-found sociology on the basis of a theory of consciousness. Schutz begins his reasoning with a brief examination of what sociology is and does. Sociology, in contrast to philosophy, is ordinarily conceived to have as its subject how men act. Sociology, then, must examine the empirical rather than the logical, possibilities open to men. Instead of asking how well a certain sociological theory relates to other theories in the field and instead of trying to gauge how well statements of theory relate to the data, Schutz focuses on the relation of both theory and data to the phenomenon itself, the phenomenon of man in a social world. In this way, Schutz challenges both the theory of sociology and its supportive data. But, there is an ironic turn in Schutz's argument. The problem of sociology is not that its empirical methods are incorrect, but rather that its theorizing is faulty. In other words, sociological data are inadequate not because sociologists are unable to "get at" the data of everyday life with scientific methods, but because they do not think properly.

Tins paper is intended as an effort at taking-stock of the reference group concept after nearly three decades of use, the latter two of which have been marked by its more than ample employment. Its popularity indeed has so frequently led to its serving as an all-purpose post hoc explanation of behavior that it has led to the wry definition, "Your reference group is a group that you behave like and you behave like them because they're your reference group" (Cohen, 1962: 104). The inconsistencies, lack of clarity, but also areas of agreement which have marked the varied formulations of the concept, will be apparent from the following review and commentary. The Final discussion indicates some of the matters still to be considered in the use of thin important but perhaps overworked concept. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This section presents several abstracts of papers presented at the 25th conference of the Public Opinion Quarterly in 1970. The paper Sociology and the Survey Method by Robin M. Williams, Jr., highlights potential contributions of survey research to the development of sociological theories which include providing essential descriptive data and facilitating discovery. The paper Impact of Survey Research on Economic Theory by Albert G. Hart, states that the resulting stress on distinctions between permanent and transitory elements has strongly stimulated the growth of rigorously formulated dynamic models in macro-economics and econometrics. The paper Classic Models of Communications Effects and Innovations in These Models by Clark Leavitt, proposes a holistic model to replace the hierarchical model with its assumption of a discrete chain of cognitive processes. The holistic model proposes that behavioral effects can be explained sufficiently by three processes, arousal, information acquisition and planning. The theme of the paper The Wrong Enemy by Daniel Yankelovich is that the generation gap theory, is a misleading and dangerous half-truth. While a real generation gap exists on a few important values, such as premarital sexual relations and organized religion, research shows that most other core values are shared by young people and their parents.

The article comments on sociologist Nichloas S. Timasheff's work on "Don Luigi Sturzo's Contribution to Sociological Theory." Timasheff makes his points with fine perception and his comments are not only illuminatory of Sturzo's positions but also unflinchingly expose the problems that at points may trouble the reader of Sturzo. Don Sturzo would have received more adequate recognition hut for his tendency to lay down some maxims which antagonized various groups of readers, but which, nevertheless, do not affect the actual course of his sociological arguments or the conclusion to which they lead. The logic of his initial dictum beguiled Sturzo into an occasional concession that is at odds with the tenor of his sociological teachings. Sturzo's sociological contribution is many-sided, but has scarcely entered into the stream of sociological thought. Aside from an appreciative study by Monsignor Paul Hanley Furfey, which, nevertheless, recognizes the primary difficulty the author has been discussing, and the favorable comments of a few other sociologists, he has been ignored as unimportant. Sturzo himself has made it more difficult for sociologists in general to appreciate the scale of his contribution; his polemical attitude towards other sociologists whose views were akin to his own was no doubt also responsible. He was an effective critic but, as Timasheff points out, over inclined to consider other theories only in their more extreme interpretations.

The article presents discussions by economists on some papers that are published in the May 1, 1953 issue of the journal "American Economic Review." The author states that all papers in their concluding analysis focus upon long-term changes in economic life. This is reflected in their growing preoccupation with economic development. But beyond this new interest is the recent impact of sociology upon economics. Sociological theory, whether that stated in terms of values or the less subjectively oriented concepts of social organization and process, derives from broader cross-cultural comparisons. Economists have been forced to acknowledge that much of their analytical framework is of specific rather than generalized applicability and as a result they are virtually compelled to view problems of economic development and change as intertwined with other aspects of a social system. Economist Joseph J. Spengler relates sociological value theory to economics with his usual sound and broad perspective. The author disagrees with Spengler's main conclusions.

This paper is concerned with the problem of obtaining judgments from individual group members and combining these individual judgments to arrive at a group decision according to a process which minimizes error. Two preconditions for such a process are established first, based on prior research: (1) that individual judgments should be obtained by means of a nominal group format, and (2) that expression of the individual judgments should be recorded on some type of rating scale. Based on these premises, the research reported here examined the following variables to determine the effect of each on the error contained in the group judgments: (a) the number of intervals on the rating scale used by individual group members; (b) the aggregation rule used to transform individual judgments into a single group representative judgment; (c) the number of group members; and (d) the accuracy of the judgments of the individual group members. Some guidelines for the practicing administrator wishing to structure decision-making processes in accordance with the Implications of this study are then suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the use of unmeasured variables in path models. Problems of estimation of the path coefficients of a path model are explored when unmeasured variables are utilized as both causes and effects (intervening variables). The paper concludes with a discussion of conditions for the identification of a path model containing unmeasured variables and some remarks on the substantive interpretation of unmeasured variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The supporters of general systems theory see it as a major revolution in scientific methodology. Its critics tend to view it as a harmless albeit pointless exercise in philosophy of science. The purpose of this paper will be to argue that, when taken seriously, general systems theory is far from harmless. There is little chance that this view of science will have any noticeable effect on physics or biology. But just as strict operationism found its only fertile ground in psychology, a literal interpretation of general systems theory might well have similarly pernicious effects in one of the social sciences. In fact, one sociologist, Hugo Engelmann, has already developed a highly articulated social theory which he says "incorporates the basic approach of general systems theory" (1966:231). Of course, since no one has yet set out the principles which hold for all systems as such, Engelmann's Systemic Dynamic Social Theory cannot be an application of these principles to social phenomena. Rather the source of his orientation is quantum theory. Systemic dynamic social theory is "essentially a statistical theory of psychology and social organization akin to field and particle theoretical approaches in physical theory" (1965a:156). In the succeeding sections of this paper, systemic dynamic social theory will be investigated, both for its own sake and as an example of the general systems approach to science. Since Professor Engelmann counters some fairly obvious criticisms of his theory by recourse to his views on proper scientific methodology, this paper will also be concerned in large measure with the problems surrounding the verification and falsification of hypotheses embedded in a highly articulated theory. Similar though less ambitious attempts at axiomatizing social theory can be found in the works of Homans (1950) and Simon (1957). For a sympathetic discussion of these formalisms, which nevertheless sets out many of the same criticisms presented in this paper, see Kyburg (1968). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ordinarily an anniversary occasions the reification of an artificial period. In this case however, there is a certain juncture in the history of the point of view which makes of the past quarter-century something worthy of consideration for symbolic interactionism as well as for our celebration of the founding of the Midwest Sociological Society. The year 1937 lies virtually in the middle of a four-year period which saw the publication of Mind, Self, and Society, Movements of Thought in the Nineteenth Century, and The Philosophy of the Act. It would represent the greatest naiveté to suggest that thus the year 1937 represented the introduction of symbolic interactionism. We are all aware of the long development: from James, Baldwin, and Cooley to Thomas, Faris, Dewey, Blumer, and Young. Even the Tardean imitation and suggestion which underlay Ross's Social Psychology contributed a good deal ordinarily not credited to him in the development of interaction theory. Nor is it the fact that Mead represents the fullest development of the orientation that makes so significant the posthumous publication of his works (for which we may conveniently take 1937 as an anchoring point). Mead's ideas had been known for a very long time. He had taught University of Chicago students from 1893 to 1931. His notions were bruited about in classes and seminars wherever there were professors conducting them who had studied at the University of Chicago—not least in the great heartland included in the Mid-west of our Society. Some of Mead's students had published their versions of his ideas or quotations from some of his philosophical papers—Kimbali Young's Source Book in Social Psychology of a decade earlier contained a paper by Mead, and his Social Psychology bore the strong imprint of Meadian interactionism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cybernation is defined as the combination of the computer and the automated self-regulating machine. Enthusiasm for cybernation is likewise giving rise to myths, which may harden unless they are given critical attention. The new myths are somewhat reinforced by technocratic thinking which is often ill informed along economic and sociological lines. As myths, some of the newer convictions, which are developing, are also an outcropping of what has come to be called the Triple Revolution. In evaluating the assumptions of cybernation here the author is not declaring either that they are in error or that they are beyond the bounds of possibility. What the author wishes to maintain in this paper is that if these assumptions remain untempered by institutional realities and by some new and necessary conceptual considerations of an economic nature, they will not prove very serviceable for the task of managed social change. Furthermore, if these assumptions remain unguided by an appropriate social philosophy, a cybercultural credo will remain at best programmatic. Unless detailed blueprints for various forms of needed devotees of cybernation can work out social change, the cybercultural revolution will never enter the realm of Realpolitik. The excuse for this paper, then, will be the effort to examine critically the excesses of enthusiasm, which characterize those who are now marching under the banner of cybernation, and to suggest some critical remedies, which are in order.

A systematic theory of the nature of suburban social structure within an organizational frame of reference is subjected to an empirical test. Major hypotheses derived from the general theory were supported by the analysis. A methodological contribution was achieved by combining analysis of census data with analysis of sample survey data. A chain of relationships between social structure and politics has been demonstrated through interposition of organizational theory between the regularities of mass data at the census tract level and of individual data at the sample survey level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the characteristics of the recent Soviet literature on public administration and organizational behavior. During the Stalin era research in these areas was effectively stifled, and some promising early studies were repudiated. The past decade has witnessed a tremendous renewal of interest in administrative science among Soviet scholars. Much of the conceptual apparatus and methodology is admittedly borrowed from the West, but applications are interesting and the potential for originality is high. These developments have evoked a conservative reaction from ideologists who seek to preserve the purity of orthodox Marxist social theory, but the innovators appear to have won official acceptance for administrative science as a valid and useful discipline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper began with an attempt to formalize the Davis-Moore functional theory of social stratification. It was found that the theory could be represented by a static model consisting of two algebraic equations with appropriate constraints on the functions. Then the tools of path analysis were used to evaluate the empirical adequacy of the Davis-Moore and Parsonian functional theories of social stratification as representations of cultural beliefs about stratification. Because of the likely presence of measurement and sampling errors, it was impossible to reject definitely either of the models. However, the estimated path coefficients were more consistent with the Parsonian theory than the Davis-Moore theory. This led to an inquiry into the conditions under which one model would be a better representation than the other. It was argued that the Davis-Moore scheme would provide a more accurate representation of cultural beliefs under conditions of high organizational interdependence whereas the Parsonian framework would give a better representation under conditions of low interdependence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the book "Sociology Today, Problems and Prospects," edited by Robert K. Merton, Leonard Broom, Leonard S. Cottrell. Twenty-six different authors wrote the book. Each contributor's chapter is assessed independently. These twenty-six papers discussed in the book will serve many generations of graduate students as sources of topics for theses and dissertations. No matter from what vantage point a problem has been sighted first and no matter what philosophy has suggested the hypotheses first that tentatively answer them, if they are going to be investigated along the lines of an empirical methodology, they will necessarily contribute to the store of scientific knowledge. One can, however, hardly help wondering whether the structural-functional theory, which many of the authors try to embrace, does really lead them to a deeper penetration of the various fields. The reading of the book leaves one with a feeling of the woeful inadequacy of our factual information. That the papers were intended to clarify problems rather than to summarize factual knowledge can only in part account for this impression. The book is a must in the sociologist's library.

A theory is formulated with which to analyze transactions in social relationships. Economic types of exchange characterized by calculation and self-interest on the part of the actors are contrasted with more "social" forms of transaction such as occur in the cases of role relationships with interlocking rights and obligations and persons strongly attached to one another. The social factors and conditions determining the types of transaction likely to occur between actors are examined in the paper. The key idea in this respect is that the structural and temporal context of interaction, including the past and anticipated character of their relationship, affects actors' orientations toward one another, their preferences, decisions and interaction patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The epistemology of symbolic interaction derives from the pragmatic model of Dewey and Mead, close associates. This paper argues that the methodology of pragmatism and symbolic interaction permits the perspectives of the researcher and the people in interactive situations to bias the research. influenced by Hegel, Dewey and Mead adopted an evolutionary, holistic view of reality; progress was inevitable and people were naturally rational. In addition, their notion of the logico-theoretic component in science deviated sharply from the more common hypothetico-deductive model, in both she pragmatic and symbolic interaction approaches, the theoretic component is ambiguous; to formulate theory prior to research is thought to be risky for it may bias the research. instead, theory emerges fro,n the research process; the participants in an interactive situation contribute to it. Thus the social givens of the researcher and the participants serve as a theoretical framework, giving the research a bias which reflects the social perspective of the researcher and the distribution of power in the interactive setting. That many researchers in this tradition are liberal humanitarians obscures the problem of bias inherent in this approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper re-examines the social mechanisms that lead lower-class youth to make use of college as a mobility channel. It focuses on a select group of lower-class youth who, by their enrollment in a high-status university, already give unmistakable evidence of being engaged in the process of upward mobility. The findings reveal that upward mobility is linked to a distinctive pattern of maternal authority within the nuclear family and to dependence upon the outside social structure for support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to examine sources for high social status, using the physician as an example. Functional theories and the "argument from usefulness" are examined. They are rejected primarily for the unwarranted assumption of a well integrated social system. Findings of greater or lesser Junctional importance of the various occupations seem to lack objective justification. The hypothesis is advanced that high social status is attached to those functions that appear to combine the contradictory standards of social stratification and the charismatic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper the conventional treatment of family harmony and conflict, in a consensus-equilibrium framework, is discussed and judged inadequate. Instead a view of the family as a system in conflict is suggested as an alternative and more fruitful theoretical approach. The major premises underlying such a frame of reference are briefly outlined. Its theoretical implications for the study of the family are explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diffusion studies of the "adoption of innovation" can potentially provide a basis for a quantitative, empirically-based theory of social change. However, before significant advances can be made in this direction, rigorous attention must be directed toward clarifying the meaning of the principal concepts of diffusion studies and toward increasing consistency in the use of standardized terms from one writer to another. Also, theoretical concepts from diffusion research need to be linked to more general sociological theory, insofar as this is available. The present paper suggests possible ways in which these tasks can be undertaken. It makes use of mass communication data on the diffusion of the major media through the American society to illustrate the advantages of the conceptual framework which it proposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contrary to the belief of many who have read George Homans' recent works, he is not the first sociologist to make explicit use of the concept of exchange. From 1883 to 1885 Albert Chavannes published in The Sociologist a series of papers titled "Studies in Sociology" which treated "The Law of Exchange" and three other social laws. Chavannes' use of the exchange concept was very similar to Homans'. Also, Chavannes emphasized the importance of a systematic empirical sociology but did not contribute to it as Homans has done. This comparison of the two men fills a gap in the history of American sociology and puts Homans' recent contributions in historical perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sections planned for the Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Society in December 1945 are Social Research, Social Theory, Social Psychology, Population Sociometry, Community and Ecology, Family Criminology, Political Sociology, Educational Sociology, and General Sessions. In addition to these formal sections, members may submit papers for possible inclusion under a special category, "Contributed Papers." The membership the Committee to be in charge and the final date for submitting proposed papers will be announced in a subsequent issue of the journal "American Sociological Review."

This article replies to David L. Hull's article entitled "Systemic Dynamic Social Theory". It was observed that Hull deplores the assertion that underlying processes cannot be inferred from single overt performances. Overt performance is a small part of total behavior, thus, process-performance relations are not invariant. Contentiously, Hull transfers complexity-intensity relations, posited for psychological phenomena, to societal phenomena. Wave length is related to color - for light waves, but not for radio waves. Similarly, complexity applies to societal and psychological, intensity only to psychological phenomena. Constancy of societal complexity, given invariance of biological base, is a theoretical conclusion.

This paper analyzes the manner in which ethnicity has affected the course of American and Canadian party politics. Specifically, the paper tries to demonstrate that although the social processes involved in the migration of large numbers of ethnics have been relatively similar in both societies, the manner in which the social reality of ethnicity has affected the political structures therein has been quite different. Thus, although successive immigrant groups became the chief political resource of the great American urban party machines, they were able to use the existing political structures for their own purposes. Ethnic groups have derived psychological and more tangible benefits, such as public and party office positions, and have strongly affected the foreign and domestic policy positions of the two major parties. In contrast, Canadian party leaden historically have been able to exploit ethnic cleavages, but rarely have had to play the game of ethnic politics in the maimer of their American counterparts. In fact, ethnicity continues to strongly affect American political structures even as it moves into the realm of an index of more important social facts, while Canadian political structures have remained relatively impervious to ethnic groups despite the fact that ethnicity continues to be a factor of major importance in Canadian social organization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper develops systematically the theory of `structural' and `pure' measurement systems falling below the interval and ratio levels. Pure measurement, it is argued, concerns the properties of objects and structural measurement the relationships between objects. The exposition provides the ground-work for a forthcoming second paper on measurement and the structure of sociological theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper suggests possible implications of a study of clothing fashion leadership for current sociological theory in regard to the process of fashion diffusion. Theory of the diffusion of innovations was chosen as the framework for the investigation. Fashion innovativeness and fashion opinion leadership were studied in relation to selected social, psychological, and economic variables. Since the test of collective selection occurs in the local social system it would seem appropriate that theories regarding the operation of the fashion process account more fully for the rate and degree of acceptance and rejection of innovations in the local social system, and for the functions of local participants in the process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is intended as an effort at taking stock of the reference group concept after three decades of use in sociological research. The inconsistencies and some areas of agreement shared by social scientists are presented. Throughout its history, the phenomena of the reference group have been described by the idea of social groups, namely in-groups and out-groups, primary groups and significant others. The crucial problem in the reference group theory is stated as that of "ascertaining how a person defines such a situation, which perspective he uses in arriving in a definition, and who constitutes the audience whose responses provide the necessary confirmation and support for his position." The value of the reference group concept in specifying the types of others "represents a vast simplification and fairly sharp specification of the idea of the other" and the idea that groups other than one's own may serve to shape one's frame of reference is economically articulated by the concept.

Interest in the diffusion of innovations has, in the last twenty years, produced a plethora of research findings, which have been summarized by a number of writers (e.g., Lionberger, 1960; Rogers, 1962, 1967 and 1968; Katz et al., 1963; Jones, 1967; Bohlen, 1064). However, these summaries are basically taxonomic and programmatic rather than theoretic in nature. As the paucity of theoretical work in diffusion studies has been well recognized (cf. Bogers, 1962:300; Robinson and Bailey, 1965:332), there exists a real need for us to search for a general theory pertinent to this field. The aim of the present paper is to discuss a recurrent theme running through many diffusion studies, namely the old concept of adopter-innovation compatibility, and to show how this concept looms as highly suggestive of its utility as a theoretical approach to the studies in the diffusion of innovations and social change. The notion of adopter-innovation compatibility has been utilized in recent diffusion research in two general ways: explicitly and implicitly. We shall therefore discuss first these two different modes in which it has been used and then its implications as a general theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on an article by Hugh Dalziel Duncan, which discussed the uses and misuses of Max Weber's types of legitimationin American sociology. The author of this article said that he delivered a critical paper on the social theory of Talcott Parsons, the substance of which was a rather stern injunction for him to realize that social action was better conceived of as symbolic interaction, and that man's propensity for selection and creativeness made social process out of what he thought was social system. Since the true breadth of Duncan's theoretical perspective may unwittingly have been obscured by a rather heavily developed critique of Parsons, it might be pointed out that at a time when the social organizational and social psychological dimensions of our field are increasingly subject to disparate analysis, Duncan's function has been to mount a campaign for their reintegration through an expanded and improved synmbolic interaction approach.

It has been almost twenty years since Davis and Moore published their famed theory of stratification. During this period, the discussions which it has engendered have been numerous and highly instructive. It is now time to address ourselves to problems which concern the testability of the theory and its experimental validity. This paper reports the results of an empirical study of one of the basic issues raised by Davis and Moore. A major proposition of their theory argues that in the final analysis, social stratification arises in a society because of differential rewards for performance in the social positions therein. These rewards can be of several types. For our purposes, two are of major importance: symbolic and economic rewards, hereafter referred to as "prestige" and "reward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ethnocentrism as a concept, defined as a sociopsychological syndrome, has functioned as an integral part of sociological theory at least since the time of Gumplowicz. The plausibility of Gumplowicz's "natural theory of the State" was predicated on the assumption of the mutual hostility of heterogeneous groups. The concept passed into the substance of American sociological theory construction primarily through the influence of W. G. Sumner. Since the beginning of the century it has become a commonplace in the literature, and among his last papers Alfredo Niceforo made the "law" of the "attraction of similars and repulsion of dissimilars" one of the "invariable facts" of intergroup relations. In the work of Corrado Gini ethnocentrism occupies a central role in a general theory of race formation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author shall comment here on the theoretical framework sociologist J.H. Skolnick suggests for studies in the sociology of law and the adequacy of the bibliography in his Social Problems article "The Sociology of Law in America: Overview and Trends." While Skolnick's emphasis on theory and the "larger philosophical issues," is welcome, his theoretical orientation would unnecessarily constrict social studies of law. One is indebted to Skolnick for undertaking the difficult task of charting the sociological course. Understandably, any map drawn by a single individual will most clearly reveal the particular road taken by him. The purpose here is to share perspectives, and the comments of the author on Skolnick's paper will contribute to this objective. Skolnick tells that "the most important work for the sociologist of law is the development of theory growing out of empirical, especially institutional, studies" and that the "most general contribution that the sociology of law may make to social theory is that of understanding the relation between law and social organization."

This article is a research paper which was read at the Twenty-Second Annual Convention of the American Catholic Sociological Society, Fordham University, New York City on August 31 to September 2, 1960. A sampling of the sociological studies being completed at the present time indicates a trend toward making explicit one's stand with either social system theory in the Parsonian tradition or conflict theory in the Marxist tradition. Some, like Dahrendorf, see in this trend a revival of the perennial problem of social thought which comes down through the ages, represented by Plato and Aristotle, Rousseau and Hobbes, Kant and Hegel, and they imply that it would be temerity on our part to try to resolve these contradictions. Such an attitude, however, would leave us with the necessity of tolerating the status quo in sociology today which, I think most of us would agree, is not intellectually satisfying. Besides this fact, the evaluation equates sociology with social philosophy and ignores the possibility of examining the issue in its empirical forms in a society bursting with stimuli to social change which are being both resisted and accepted in a variety of forms of cooperation and conflict, thus constituting ready data for empirical investigation, the only legitimate source of sociological theory building. Both Karl Marx and Auguste Comte addressed themselves directly to this empirical phenomenon. It was Marx that stirred formal sociology into existence.

This article overviews the historical and logical trends in the field of industrial sociology as of 1957. The field has been divided by J. B. Knox into three rather convenient areas. The locus of study may be human relations in the industrial plant, or relationships between industry and the community, or relationships between industry and society. The series of ideas relating to the concept of cooperative social process points to the growth of a general theoretical framework in industrial sociology. The development of the theory of industrial cooperation is partly due to the historical fact that social scientists chose progressively more complex social situations for examination. In addition to its sociological relationship, the concept of cooperative social process in industry has a relation to the goals of Catholic social philosophy.

The article focuses on the nature of economic science and its relation to social philosophy. The subject of the present paper is such a peripheral study of the views expressed by famous sociologist Buckle. It is concerned with the nature of economic science and its relationships with some of its kindred social sciences, particularly of social philosophy. This two-fold nature of the present topic brings the writer face to face with a twofold difficulty. The first is that he is concerned with elucidating the nature of a science which even in these days of alleged enlightenment and educational progress is as much maligned as it is little understood. The second is that his subject lies on the borderlands of economics. For the misunderstanding of which this infant among the sciences has been a long-suffering victim, economists themselves cannot be held entirely free from censure. Certain incautious statements and poorly worded phrases, certain unnecessary and deprecable acerbities in professional controversy, have furnished material which their enemies were not slow to seize upon, to generalize and to use against economists as a class.

The article focuses on the limitations of holding to a strict fact-value dichotomy, given some of structural difficulties students of social problems encounter. Authors also attempted to extend and clarify the above analysis via a critical discussion of two papers concerned with the value problem in the sociology of deviance-by the well-known American sociologists, Howard S. Becker and Alvin Gouldner. In this article, authors are involved not only with theoretical implications and omissions of this debate but also more generally with its implications for social theory at large. Authors have argued throughout that the social structure will determine that what is truth for one group will not be truth for another. Authors further suggest that there is a clear rationale for close examination of the extent to which deviant values are inextricably linked with social structure, and that, with this as a major concern, one can elucidate one's conception of the way in which men define the world and the way the world actually is.

This article discusses the book "Readings in the Philosophy of the Social Sciences," edited by May Brodbeck. The author gives attention to three topics discussed in this anthology. The first is the controversy over whether the account of explanation given by sociologist Hempel is applicable in the human as well as in the natural sciences. The second theme in the anthology obviously relevant to sociologist is that of methodological individualism versus holism. Many of the papers in this anthology characterize at one level the alternatives confronting a scientist whose theorizing confronts either empirical or conceptual difficulties. Just because actions are informed by intentions and purposes, and intentions and purposes presuppose beliefs, so a social role-which specifies and prescribes or permits certain courses of action for certain types of person presupposes certain beliefs. The matter of the philosophy of science may not only be regulative as regards the form of our theories and the lessons to be learnt here may well be one that the sociologist now feels have been conveyed to him almost too often-but suggestive as to their content.

Almost all work on anomy to date has employed "sociological" explanations to the virtual exclusion of all others. This paper claims that the standard sociological theory of anomy has serious conceptual weaknesses and cannot satisfactorily account for many of the relevant facts. Data are resented from two extensive surveys, employing a large battery of personality and attitude scales. The results show that anomic responses are powerfully governed by cognitive and personality factors (e.g., hostility, anxiety, inflexible defensiveness, etc.), and that these relations hold either independently of, or in combination with, social influences. Indirect support is furnished for the view that anomy--defined as a sense of normlessness-- results from impediments to interaction, communication, and learning, and is a sign of impaired socialization. These impediments can be intellectual, attitudinal, social, or psychological in nature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper tries to show that both functionalism and the Hegelian-Marxian dialectic present one-sided, but complementary and reconcilable, views of society. The basic postulates of functionalism and the dialectic reveal strengths and limitations which suggest a reformulation of both approaches in minimal form. Basically, the problem is to arrive at a theory of society that achieves an adequate balance between stability and the various sources of endogenous and exogenous change, between consensus and conflict, and between equilibrium and disequilibrium. After examining Dahrendorf's efforts in that direction, we conclude that convergence and overlap between the two theories show promise of a fruitful synthesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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

This paper is concerned with a little explored area of social theory—the structural strains and supports between a contained community and the larger society of which it is a part and on which it is dependent. Presumably, the body of theory used for analyzing a community must be translated, qualified, or changed when that community exists within a larger society. Examples of such communities are fraternal orders, secret or extreme political parties, ethic islands whether rural or urban, organized political or economic interest groups, or a specific profession such as medicine. From a broad inquiry into such structural relations between the contained community and the larger one, it may later be possible to derive important hypotheses about the forces that maintain both of them. The community studied is the professional community, which is different in important respects from the other examples. Only two sets of links have been chosen for exploration—socialization and social control, and client choice or evaluation of the professional.

This paper is an attempt to examine the efficacy of the means-end schema, the conceptual core of a voluntaristic theory of action which, it is claimed, emerged from the positivistic tradition in the work of various researchers and from the idealistic tradition in the work of researcher Max Weber. Postulates which underlie the means-end schema may be enumerated briefly. Most of its apologists insist, as rigidly as any positivist, that social science use all of the observational and mensurational techniques available. They claim that they respect the necessity for the objectification of social data and that their results are derived in such a way as to be consistent with the most stringent methodological criteria. They resist attempts to indict them as opponents of whatever objective instruments have been developed for the advancement of sociological research, whether these instruments be observation, measurement, statistics, symbolic logic, or anything else. The conclusion seems inevitable that the means-end schema violates most of the canons and repudiates most of the criteria of objective scientific methodology.

The article focuses on the comment upon the new social philosophy which has emerged from the ruins of a noisily disintegrating and over-ripe sensate culture. The sheer magnitude of Social and Cultural Dynamics, together with the prodigious research Professor Sorokin displays in analyzing all the compartments of culture over a period of twenty-five centuries without overlooking any part of the contemporary civilization, demands that a critic proceed warily. It is unfortunate in one respect that these pontifical tomes cannot be considered in their entirety, for such a possibility would relieve the impression that a few weak points have been singled out for attack. The purview of this paper is stringently confined to an examination of the author's contribution to the methodology of sociology. After a cursory discussion and definition of "culture" Professor Sorokin classifies the interrelations of the elements and traits of culture into four basic types, spatial or mechanical adjacency, association due to an external factor, functional or causal integration, and internal or logic meaningful unity.

This article discusses two methods for making a sociological theory untestable. The term theory stands for the symbolic dimension of experience, as opposed to the apprehension of brute fact. However, not only do theories go beyond fact but they do so by virtue of their use of universal categories. Scientific theories are a special type of theory defined in terms of a set of normative criteria to which scientists seek to conform and in terms of which their theories are evaluated. Central among these is the principle that scientific theories should be empirical. That is, they should have an empirical referent and be capable of being tested by experience. Because scientific statements are universal and empirical observations are of particular events, if a theory is to be refutable there must be some agreement whereby theoretical statements can be linked to ordinary propositions about empirical particulars. The first method for making sociological theory untestable, that is for making it unscientific, make certain that no empirically refutable statements can be deduced from the theory. A second method for making theory untestable is to ensure that the theory is internally inconsistent. That is, to take steps to ensure that one's theory does not take form a deductive system where all the propositions of the theory can be deduced from a set of axioms.