Search

Introduces articles and research papers of the September 1962 issue of the "International Journal of Comparative Sociology."

The article discusses various research papers on comparative sociology. The Canadian system is probably destined in the long run to prove as disastrous as that of the U.S. Soon after the establishment of the Canadian Government, the superintendent general of Indian affairs challenged the soundness of the principle of the "Aborigines in a condition of tutelage and treated as wards or children of the state." The government of Canada assumed full responsibility for Indians and their lands throughout the country. Of the registered or status Indians, some are living as Indians for whom no reserves have been provided. A considerable economic difference exists among groups, depending upon proximity to and integration with regional industrial populations. In another paper "Procreative Family Attitudes of American and Foreign Students," authors discusses that in achieving the present levels of education and economic aspiration, the people of the U.S. have generally accepted the family planning idea, which has tended to bring the birth rate to closer balance with the death rate.

This article traces briefly the use of the comparative method in sociology. It documents that what is currently called "cross-national research" is an interest that has antecedents running back for at least a century in a great variety of fields. Secondly, the article argues for a closer interplay between sociological theory construction and cross-national data. Because current sociological theory is exceedingly culture-bound, basing its propositions largely on data derived from modern American and Western European societies, the need for testing hypotheses within truly cross-cultural settings is most timely and urgent. Thirdly, the paper article delineates three major methodological problems in cross-national research. These problems include the requirement of equivalence of meaning, the requirement of concept equivalence and the requirement of equivalence of cultural variability. It concludes with a recommendation for furthering interest in cross-national research in rural sociology.

The article reports about the congress of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). The one hundred and thirty first congress was convened in Montreal, Quebec, from December 26 to 31, 1964. Papers were given at the Queen Elizabeth, Sheraton-Mt. Royal, Windsor, Laurentien, and Ritz Carlton hotels. Convention headquarters were at the Queen Elizabeth, which also held the AAAS Annual Exposition, which boasted a fine array of instruments and books, and the AAAS Science Theatre, in which a selection of the latest foreign and domestic scientific films were shown. On December 26, section K of the AAAS presented a symposium. On December 29 and 30, the symposium "Arctic and Subarctic Archeological and Ethnological Problems," was held. A highly stimulating program was offered by the symposium "Problems of Interdisciplinary Methodology in the Behavioral Sciences." The "Symposium on Ethnobotany of Some New World Cultures," offered papers dealing with various crops cultivated in different areas of North and South America.

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

The article focuses on comparative sociology. The purpose of this paper is in part to explain this apparently paradoxical situation by looking at the historical development of comparative sociology, but more important, it tries to assess the role of comparison and the inter-relationship of theory and method in the generation of social theory, through a discussion of the methodological problems inherent in comparative analysis. The association of evolutionism with comparison was a major reason for the comparative method being devalued, if not discredited. Unfortunately comparison has also been linked with functionalism, a link which is not inevitable, and is certainly undesirable. Sampling is another attempt at solving the central problem of how one compares a potentially vast quantity of social facts. Choice of unit or level, specification, quantification, and randomization are all attempts to handle this basic dilemma, while controlling against the chance of generalizing from the atypical.

Introduces various articles and research papers of the 1969 issue of the "International Journal of Comparative Sociology."

Introduces articles and research papers of the September 1968 issue of the "International Journal of Comparative Sociology."

Introduces various articles and research papers of the 1961 issue of the "International Journal of Comparative Sociology."

The field of social anthropology or comparative sociology, as rests upon sociological conceptualizations and anthropological data. The problem is more than interdisciplinary: the sociologist's penchant for broad general theory is contrasted to the ethnologist's concern with detailed cultural data. The immediate need is for more modest theory on one hand, and more conceptualized comparative ethnography on the other. The purpose of the present article is to discuss this intermediate area with respect to one very crucial element, namely the analysis of values. This article attempts to show the two ways in which social anthropology should contribute to the development of general sociological theory. These are the establishment of (1) general social imperatives, and (2) requisite functional relationships between certain cultural forms in different departments of social life. To fulfill this broad purpose, empirically based examples are offered. This article introduces substantive theoretical analysis through the comparative examination of cultural systems.

The article talks about the concept of sociology of civilizations by professor Benjamin Nelson. Nelson is trying to indicate to sociologists both the theoretical relevance and practical urgency in establishing the cartography of civilizations. The author analyzes a part of Nelson's essay, wherein he presents the distinct forms of consciousness. The author thinks that Nelson wishes to sensitize readers to pioneering contributions of earlier pioneers in the comparative sociology of civilizations.

The article discusses the activities and purposes of the Centre for Comparative Sociology (CSC) of Torcuato Di Tella Institute which began in January 1964 in Argentina. The main purposes of the CSC include research activities on comparative studies in the social structure, cooperation with Argentina and Latin America's institutions, promotion of advanced training through research, and cooperation with individual scholars and institutions. CSC also initiated projects from extension of political vote in Argentina to the change of Argentine society's demographic structure, the Buenos Aires Conference in September 1964, and the publication of the "Latin American Journal of Sociology."

The article presents a study conducted in Canada, about geographical mobility and kinship. The nuclear family was the important unit in kin relations, there was no evidence of any but equalitarian relations and geographical propinquity was in no case a condition for the existence of ties with kin. The modified extended family is said to provide social, psychological and economic support to its members, despite geographical mobility. The respondents in this study, whether geographically mobile or non-mobile, reported essentially the same kinds of relationships with kin. Two other types of "substantial changes" mentioned, bring out two factors which may be much more significant in disrupting kin relations than geographical mobility. The death of connecting relatives is highly disruptive of relations was also indicated during the course of the study. Mother's siblings were found to be more important than father's siblings for contact and mutual aid. The other factor was specific quarrels. The presented cases suggest that attitudes to kinsmen are by no means directly reflected in behavior.

The article discusses sociological aspects of the prestige attached with different occupations with reference to comparative sociology. Several studies conducted in the U.S. before 1940 were apparently directed to the problem of determining whether in fact there was a general ranking of occupations which the American public would recognize. Even if Philippines society is not highly industrialized it is clear that after many years of Spanish, American, and some Japanese occupation, it is a society which is ordered in terms of a modem productive system and the same appropriate general set of values and motivations permeate the system. In a study amongst 214 graduates and students of Business Administration at the Bombay University, Bombay, India, it was found that there was a high degree of agreement in the social grading of occupations in England and India. The subject people in certain "colonial" societies, within certain limits, evaluate occupations in the same general way as respondents in more fully industrialized countries do. They do this in spite of the fact that there is usually a considerable cultural gap between the subject people themselves and their colonial rulers.

The article presents news from the field of sociology that appeared in the 1961 issue of the "International Journal of Comparative Sociology." In recent years anthropologists, sociologists, and other social scientists have shown greater interest in educational problems on a cross-cultural plane. Comparative Education as a branch of general study in pedagogy has gained more and more attention. However, cross-cultural comparison was mostly restricted to Euro-American education, and that also, covering mainly the formal and organizational aspects of education. Attempts at comprehending education as a basic process in human social existence in all its aspects involving consideration of all cultures and societies, primitive or civilized, prehistoric or historic, have been almost neglected by non-anthropologists as a rule. Even in the field of cultural and social anthropology, observation and study of educational processes have been few and far between, inadequate or incidental. This has been mostly due to the lack of an outline of study of education cross-culturally. It was a historic occasion indeed when, for the first time, representatives of almost all major American Indian tribes of the United States gathered together at the University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, to air "The Voice of the American Indian."

In the September 1941, issue of "Rural Sociology," Professor Heberle applied Tönnies' well-known contrasting concepts gemeinsehaft and geseilsehaft, to North American rural communities and suggested that consideration of such communities in the light of these concepts will clarify problems and advance knowledge. The reference made by Professor Brunner to anthropological materials provides one who has some familiarity with such materials with an excuse for entering into the discussion. The comparative study of societies tends to become a reality on the level of intensive empirical study of particular communities. The societies of the world are ranged, under the eye of the student, in a single continuum. The rural sociologists occupy the strategic center of this continuum. The anthropologist may make a contribution toward the development of understanding of society by formulating the ideal society which, according to the guidance of these antithetical concepts, lies at one hand of the bipolar continuum. Within the ideal folk society its members are bound by religious and kinship ties and there is no place for the motive of commercial gain.

The article presents a comparative study of management in three European countries. Comparative researches in sociology can furnish data which make theoretical development possible, in the sense of a synthesis of old and new concepts. Further, industrial sociology has often studied the problem peculiar to one undertaking or to several undertakings in a single country, in order "to make a diagnosis with a view to deciding an appropriate therapeutic course." A comparative study then can advance theoretical knowledge, but equally it is of interest to those responsible for the control of firms and for social policy, since it highlights the diversity of situations. However a comparative research has been attempted in three counties, in order to ascertain the precise definition of managers and supervisory grades in industry, their characteristics and their influence on individual and group attitudes and behavior. In particular, it is desired to contribute to the analysis of the progressive establishment, during the last thirty years in France and more recently in Belgium, of a socio-economic professional group of managers, a new category which has become aware of its existence to a greater extent than in other industrialized counties.