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This paper reports part of a study of social participation conducted in San Francisco in the spring of 1953. The investigation rested upon two main notions: First, that the major an individual occupies regulate the amount and nature of his participation in society. Second, that the social type of neighborhood in which an urbanite lives is an efficient indicator of his social participation and may be a significant factor in its own right in shaping his social participation. This paper is limited to an examination of the relationship between amount of formal association participation and certain of the individual status and neighborhood differences. Using the census tract scores, four census tracts were selected in San Francisco in which the study of social participation was conducted. Findings revealed that, men living in the high economic status neighborhoods belong to the greater number of associations, attend more frequently, and hold office more than men living in low economic status neighborhoods. Comparing the two high economic status neighborhoods, the low family status neighborhood contains relatively more men who belong to no formal associations, who never attend meetings if they do belong, and who do not. hold office than does the high family status neighborhood.

This paper supplements studies of metropolitan areas in which emphasis has been placed mainly upon the growth of suburbs, or the metropolitan "ring." The "central city" as defined by the U.S. Bureau of the Census is the object of attention in this study which investigated changes in growth and in patterns of distribution of total, white, and nonwhite populations by zonal distance from the city center during the decade 1940-1950. Twenty-three cities were selected for analysis. The main sources of data for this study were the census tract publications of the U.S. Bureau of the Census for 1940 and 1950, and the 1930-1940 study of central city growth by Thompson. The population growth observed for the twenty-three cities in the decades between 1900 and 1950 exhibited a general tendency toward a declining rate. This trend was most noticeable between 1900 and 1940. Between 1940 and 1950 rates of population growth were higher than those of the previous decade in all cities except Atlanta, Nashville, and Washington; but they were, in general, lower than the rates of growth of the decades prior to 1930.

The two outstanding studies of historical trends of internal migration in the United States were both made some years ago. C.J. Galpin and T.B. Manny made their study in 1934 and C.W. Thornthwaite's study was also made in that year. Both of these studies used state-of-birth data from the Census. The present study, for which this paper is merely a progress report, is using the survival method for estimating net migration. In this method survival rates are computed for each age-sex-color-nativity group for each decade. These survival rates are applied to the number present at the beginning of a decade, in order to get an expected number present at the end of the decade. This expected number is compared with the observed number present at the end of the decade and the difference is considered to be due to net migration. Obviously the accuracy of this method is determined by both the accuracy of enumeration of the population and the accuracy of the survival rates. Since enumeration is generally fairly accurate and since there is little one can do about errors here, efforts are turned to the computation of survival rates.

Social scientists are often confronted with the problem of dividing large areas into smaller sub-units for purposes of research. The process through which any desired sub-area system is derived varies with the theoretical position and substantive interests of the investigator involved. In recent decades, urban sociologists and ecologists have been particularly concerned with the division of cities (large areal units) into census tracts (small areal units). The distinction and utility of the census tract lies in the fact that it is the smallest urban area unit for which the Bureau of the Census regularly reports complete information. The method discussed in this paper has been developed in the course of formulating a census tract plan for the city of Lansing, Michigan. The general problem to be solved is that of dividing a total area into a set of subareas which meet a criterion of demographic homogeneity. Ideally, two conditions should obtain in the resulting scheme: (a) the resulting sub-areas must be continuous and contiguous, and exhaust the total space within the corporate limits of the city, and (b) the populations contained within the sub-areas should achieve a maximum degree of homogeneity within each sub-area and a maximum degree of heterogeneity among the subareas.

The article discusses the use of small area census data in marketing research. The author believes that as units of measurement, cities, metropolitan areas and counties are too small to base per capita figures on. According to the author, the same problem applies to the designation of trade areas using published census data at the time of publication. The author suggests instead, discovering the expenditure patterns for families, and family budget information through the use of consumer panels or consumer interviews.

This article discusses a study presenting differential sex ratios of young children in New Orleans, Louisiana. An inspection of New Orleans census tract data for 1940 revealed a number of tracts which, in children under 5 years and in children under 1 year, showed sex ratios which deviated greatly from what had been regarded as the normal. Some showed a marked preponderance of male children and some a preponderance of female children. This evidence suggested that variations in sex ratios might follow an ecological pattern such as has been found for delinquency, mental disease, and numerous social characteristics. Results of an analysis of these evidences revealed that deviations are not of a chance nature and that they represent an areal or ecological pattern. In this study the data for white population only were used, in order to analyze causes and factors of residential segregation. This grouping was made on a basis of median rents as calculated by the Bureau of the Census. Based on comparative analysis of census data of 1940 and 1950, it is revealed that variations in sex ratios of young children do not represent chance variance.