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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]

The article presents information on various activities taking place in the field of sociology during 1960's. According to a report, the first International Family Life conference to be held in New York City, August 23-26, 1960. As the combined Annual Meeting of the National Council on Family Relations and the International Union of Family Organizations, it drew more than 700 delegates from some thirty different countries. Those who attended the conference were without exception persons with professional interests in family life. There were representatives of governmental agencies at national, regional, provincial, state, and local levels, as well as of international agencies such as the United Nations and UNICEF Embassies and consulates sent official representatives schools, colleges and universities were well represented by several hundred participants. According to another report, the sixth session of the Indian Sociological Conference was held at Madhya Pradesh, India, on October 15, 16 and 17 under the auspices of the Department of Social Anthropology of the University of Saugor where doctor Lecla Dube played hosts. The Conference met in four sessions Sociology, Social Anthropology, Social Psychology and Demography and Social Statistics. The papers read at the Conference covered the following topics social change, caste and kinship, leadership and communication.

This paper explores convergences between symbolic interactionism and exchange theory in four major areas: (1) both theoretical orientations assume the operation of constructive mental processes when actors act toward their environment; this assumption is explicitly staled by symbolic interactionists and implied in exchange-theoretical propositions dealing with valuation, decision-making or justice; (2) exchange theory implies processes akin to G. H. Mead's "self" and "generalized other" in the sense that interaction in exchange requires persons to imaginatively assume the roles of others and view themselves in terms of the conceptions of others; (3) in both perspectives social organization is viewed as emerging from constructed individual acts "fitted" to one another; such "elementary" interactions give rise to institutional modes of behavior which, once established, exist as a reality sui generis over and against the individual actors; (4) in both perspectives social dynamics is conceived in dialectic terms, arising out of contradictions between micro- and macro processes and inherent tendencies in social organization toward inconsistency, conflict and change. It is proposed that a possible synthesis between exchange theory and symbolic interactionism can begin by postulating a dialectical process in which objective realities become subjectified by actors and subjective meanings become objectified in social institutions. A synthesized theory based on such general postulates can be empirically tested when (a) the concrete "subjective" and "objective" contingencies which make acts meaningful for the actors are posited and empirically indicated and (b) longitudinal observations show changes in some of these contingencies so that predictions about behavioral changes can be made. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on "demographic metabolism," a reflection of the fact that social organizations often exhibit continuity although their human components come and go. Ryder focused on the cohort as an analytic tool for analyzing demographic metabolism; we offer an index of regeneration which reflects the fact that social organizations often contain many overlapping cohorts. The index measures the rate of change in ratio of newcomers to veteran members. The paper considers (1) how and why reganizations processes vary, (2) the potential consequences of such variations, and (3) how social organizations deal with regeneration phenomena. Illustrative data are offered for two American universities, and the discussion is extended to other complex organizations, families, nation-states, and cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The books, papers, studies, and investigations currently nearing completion in the field of sociological theory exhibit an impressive range. The heterogeneity of these studies introduces special difficulties into their classification. In spite of certain deficiencies in taxonomic rigor, it is presented in the following categories general sociological theory, the history of sociology, historical sociology, methodology, the sociology of knowledge, political sociology, value studies and social control. Author Howard Becker is currently drawing out the theoretical implications of several substantive studies and building on the foundations laid in his book "Through Values to Social Interpretation." The first of these studies, a long-term project, will be called Mind on the Looms of Greece. This work will have solid relevance not only to general sociological theory but also to the sociology of knowledge, the sociology of religion, and the sociological analysis of historical change. Sociologist Read Bain has developed a theory of communication as the basic factor in society and is considering the manner in which it affects the definition of both sociological and social problems. The five topics which will appear most prominently in his book are reading and writing, art and science, mind and body, race and class, and war and peace.

It is the office of theoretical investigation," said scholar Willard Gibbs, "to give the form in which the results of experiment may be expressed." If he had put "observation" for "experiment," Gibbs would have stated the purpose of the present paper. It is to provide one form in which may be ex- pressed what one knows about social organization. Please note, at the beginning, that more than one form is possible and that, in a limited space, the one suggested here can only be sketched out. The elements of social behavior. The present paper presupposes the direct observation of social behavior. It asks the devastating questions: Looking at the actions of men with eyes innocent of the usual preconceptions what does one see? What a simple classification can one start from in this field of fact? Attempting to answer, it sets up, as components of the conceptual scheme, individuals and three elements or determinants of the behavior of individuals in groups, which will be called operation, sentiment, and interaction.

Theory and research dealing with the consequences of rank inconsistency have concerned themselves almost exclusively with the portrayal of the disagreeable aspects of this situation and with the identification of relatively extreme reactions to it. The data reported above serve to counterbalance this emphasis by suggesting circumstances under which rank inconsistency may be accommodated to without a radical reaction and under which this inconsistency may even be downright palatable. First, the data showed one instance where the inconsistent individual's preoccupation with the area of endeavor in which he held his higher rank led him to be tolerant of his lower one. Secondly, we saw that three different kinds of rank inconsistency produced discontent with the lower rank only for respondents whose array of ranks was likely to be highly visible. It is hoped that the modifications of rank inconsistency theory suggested above will in the near future be subjected to a more ideal empirical test than was possible with the data employed in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Symbolic interaction theory as derived mainly from the work of George Herbert Mead views the self-concept as a structure of attitudes which arises in social experience and organizes the individual's perception of his social milieu. Recently, tests based upon this symbolic interaction orientation have been developed for the elicitation of self attitudes. One such test frequently used is the Twenty Statements Test (TST) constructed by Manford Kuhn and Thomas McPartland. The TST attempts to ascertain the specific statements respondents use to identify themselves to themselves. The applicability of the TST to problems of self theory is indicated by the rather wide use which has been made of the instrument. Investigations using the TST have focused upon the following: self-concept and social position; a self-concept and behavior; and the self-concept and attitudes toward other social objects. While TST results have been of substantive interest, little attention has been given to the methodological issues involved in the instrument and its use. For example, little is known concerning the validity and reliability of the test and its scoring procedures. If substantive assertions based upon TST results are to be considered as sound, judicious concern should be directed toward basic methodological issues. It is the purpose of this paper to consider empirically one methodological aspect of the TST. The focus is upon the test format itself. The question is posed: Do variations in the TST format produce variations in individuals' response patterns? Specifically, does the length of the test influence the number and the nature of statements made by respondents? This paper is directed toward answering this question. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Framing this paper is the question: what research problem and hypotheses suggested by symbolic interaction theory give promise, if pursued, of significantly advancing the sociology of the family? The problem delineated revolves around the concepts of identity and commitment. After explication of a set of premises and needed refinements in concepts basic to symbolic interaction theory, a number of hypotheses are offered. These purport to account for the position of identities in a salience hierarchy and tie identity salience to role performance. Finally, it is noted that these hypotheses could profitably be studied in the research setting of responses to first pregnancy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents Peter M. Hall's response to Rosabeth Moss Kanter's comments toward his article "A Symbolic Interactionist Analysis of Politics," published in the 1972 issue of "Sociological Inquiry." The author concludes that Kanter misunderstands his perspective by subsuming it under American liberalism. If there is anything that he is not, it is an American liberal, and if there is anything he is criticizing in American sociology, political sociology, and symbolic interaction, it is consensual, pluralistic, and liberal bias. Hall also does not deny the need to see the totality of the society, its interdependencies, feedbacks, and impacts, in short, society as a system. To settle misconceptions, Hall emphasized that his paper had a special focus and set limits as to its goals and coverage. It was not intended to be a complete analysis of politics nor a complete analysis of American politics.

The purpose of this paper is to present a sketch of procedures which hold promise for yielding behavioral indicators of connections among actions in the local society. The community is viewed as a behavioral and interactional phenomenon. From this perspective, which assumes but does not emphasize spatial, institutional and psychological dimensions, relevant data have to do with the behavior of actors in specific task-accomplishment processes. The tasks might be building a hospital, conducting a political campaign, evacuating a residential area which is threatened by flood, or any infinite number of other public, locality, relevant concerns. The raw data of behavioral study of community are acts by individuals. Reports of acts are amassed, sorted, classified and examined. Acts are seen as fitting together into projects and episodes, and these into fields of action concerning specific interests or goals.

This paper examines the community situation of shipyard workers on Tyneside, certain aspects of their orientations to work and general social perspectives, and the relationship of these to each other and to the structure of social relations at work. In terms of their community situation shipyard workers would seem to come close to Lockwood's traditional proletarian type of worker. There is evidence to suggest, however, that these workers' social perspectives are not at all clearly traditional proletarian. The explanation for this is found, at least m part, m the much greater complexity of social relations at work than are accounted for in the model of traditional proletarianism. The paper suggests that existing typologies of the orientations and social perspectives of workers need to be refined by more detailed studies of the structural and relational aspects of both work and community situations. The paper concludes with a brief examination of changes in both industry and community and the likely effect of these on the social perspectives of shipbuilding workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

IN A RECENT paper Mr. Runciman concludes by inviting replies to his argument that it is logically and conceptually useful to employ the tripartite distinction between `class' `status' and `power' in the analysis of social stratification. Mr. Runciman does not, of course, deny the existence of links between these three dimensions, but suggests that such links must be seen contingent empirical relationships and not necessary logical ones. I hope that the following paper will provide such a reply. It must be clear that the following criticism is directed, in the main, to those parts of the paper in which Mr. Runciman is concerned with the logical and conceptual problem. The essay in question also contains a clear and valuable assessment of the problems encountered in any attempt to measure the three types of inequality. In the first part of the paper I propose to give a critical assessment of certain central aspects of Mr. Runciman's argument and, in the second part, I will put forward a very brief formulation of what I consider to be a more meaningful alternative view of the relationships between class, status, and power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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

Some years ago the author rejected out of hand a sociologist colleague's argument that the use of analogies or models is characteristic of insecure individuals operating in immature disciplines. This paper essays an explanation that justifies a reversal of judgment concerning the utility of analogies in sociology and social psychology. It is well to recognize, before continuing with the case against analogical analysis of sociological data, that only an extremist would argue that the very persistence of a conceptual scheme is an argument for its functional nature. The reality of these rewards makes it difficult for those employing an analogy to discern whether it has actual heuristic pedagogical value or its continued use is merely a function of rationalization designed to preserve these subjective rewards. Although not unknown in earlier periods of time, mechanistic models or analogies became much more prevalent in the seventeenth century in response to the remarkable gains of the period in mechanics, physics, and mathematics.

This paper discusses the small groups literature on status organizing processes in decision- snaking groups whose members differ in external status. This literature demonstrates that status characteristics, such as age, sex, and race determine the distribution of participation, influence, and prestige among members of such groups. This effect is independent of any prior cultural belief in the relevance of the status characteristic to the task. To explain this result, we assume that status determines evaluations of, and performance-expectations for group members and hence the distribution of participation, influence, and prestige. We stipulate conditions sufficient to produce this effect. Further, to explain the fact that the effect is independent of prior cultural belief, we assume that a status characteristic becomes relevant is all situations except when it is culturally known to be irrelevant. Direct experiment supports each assumption in this explanation independently of the others. Subsequent work devoted to refining and extending the theory finds among other things that, given two equally relevant status characteristics, individuals combine all inconsistent status information rather than reduce its inconsistency. If this result survives further experiment it extends the theory on a straightforward basis to multi-characteristic status situations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sociology is often criticized as being ambiguously general or too broadly eclectic. It is held that a scientific organization of knowledge is hindered by the variety of content and method grouped together as sociology. On the other hand, a case can also be made against excessive division of the subject matter of sociology into "fields" or "areas" and "sub-areas." There is a danger that basic forms and primary forces of social life will be forgotten in the shuffle of special sociologies. Both under-generalization and over-generalization, it would seem, may be pitfalls for sociologists. This paper is an attempt to clarify the nature of general sociology by suggesting a division of its subject matter. It is intended that the categories developed should be sufficiently comprehensive to represent the broad scope of sociology without the listing of numerous sub-areas. Furthermore, the categories should correspond more closely to the habitual operations of sociologists than to an ideal scheme of what sociologists should be doing.

This paper points out that at various times in the history of society new social forms have emerged, constituting what might be termed "social inventions." Three of these social inventions of the past are examined: role-based social organization, the nation-state, and the corporation. Current trends in social structure are discussed and the emergence of possible social inventions is discussed. These include a social structure composed of mixed rational organization and communal enclaves, between which some persons move periodically; a replacement of the nation-state by a form of organization which separates territorial control from citizenship; the emergence of more transitory work relations; and the development of new styles of social interaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this paper is to examine the characteristics of suburban communities as they relate to the structuring of social relationships of the resident populations. This presumes that the form taken by these phenomena in suburban communities somehow differs from the form to be observed in other types of communities, and, furthermore, that this difference is engendered by the suburban situation. By definition suburban areas, however sub-categorized, are primarily residential areas having a peculiar location; that is, they are farther away from the center of the major city than urban neighborhoods but closer than rural neighborhoods. The ecological position differs from both urban and rural positions. It is hypothesized that this positional relationship with the larger city has a definite influence on the social organization of the suburbs. As unique characteristics of suburbs the positional relationship to a larger city and the daily commuting pattern of suburbanites would appear to have an important influence on the patterns of social interaction and participation regardless of the nature of the derivative characteristics.

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]

The general theory of symbolic interaction, specifically self theory, is focused upon the importance of language as an instrument of definition and communication. People are seen as responding not directly to a resistant outer reality but to meanings of objects which are defined within a cultural system and social organization. G. H. Mead, in his discussion of the way persons develop self concepts and the accompanying ability to take roles effectively, speaks of the degree to which persons develop a "general other." This general other is an organized structure of attitudes believed to be common to all and is defined in terms of a universe of discourse growing out of the symbolic interaction of a community of individuals. Replies to the Twenty Statements Test, described by Kuhn and McPartland, display this quality. Self-identifying statements which people make fall along a rough spectrum of reference which can be broken up in various ways. The distinction which Kuhn and McPartland have reported is between what they call consensual and nonconsensual statements. Consensual statements are defined as those statements which would be generally understood by persons in the larger society without explanation. Nonconsensual statements are defined as those requiring interpretation before their social relevance can be assessed. The consensual statement is language behavior directed to the general other, while the nonconsensual statement is language directed to a more limited audience. H. S. Sullivan's contribution in developing the notion of the "significant other" consists in accounting for the fact that persons often do not seem to internalize standards and norms from the whole society but from segments of it on some selective basis. In this paper, the number of consensual statements made in response to the Twenty Statements Test will be called the locus score. Respondents are assigned to "high" and "low" locus categories as they make more or less than the median number of consensual statements. Expanding upon this frame of reference, it seems reasonable to propose that the locus quality found in self-conceptions of a given person is also characteristic of his conceptions of other objects. This hypothesis is based on the assumption that the self is the core of a set of interrelated attitudes, and that the level of reference employed by the respondent in his attitudes toward the self would therefore be applicable to other attitudes as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the nature of value-commitments, conceived as a generalized symbolic medium of interchange in the processes of social interaction, in this respect paralleling money, power, and influence. Commitments constitute moral obligations of units of a system of social interaction to maintain the integrity of a value-pattern and to strive toward its implementation in action through combination with non-value factors. Stability of commitments is a basic condition of the compatibility of wide moral freedom with the exigencies of social functioning. Like the other three media, commitments are not bound by a zero-sum condition, but can be expanded, especially through charismatic movements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this paper is threefold. First, to take account of the published material to establish what significance should be attached to the status hierarchies of territory and kinship in various regions of northern India. Second, to discuss the nature of the relationship between the hierarchies of caste, kinship and territory in terms of what will be defined as diverse positional viewpoints, and the relevance of such an approach for our understanding of social structure and social change. Finally, to analyze some features of the social organization of a particular north Indian city in terms of multiple status hierarchies and diverse positional viewpoints. This paper suggests that the social organization of much of northern India can be best understood in terms of a complex network of status hierarchies rather than in terms of a single, caste hierarchy. Further, it suggests that there is no single morphology, or structure, which describes the relationship between these hierarchies, but rather that the categories of caste, kinship and territory are the basic building blocks which are molded into structural configurations in relation to diverse positional viewpoints; or to which significance is attached on the basis of a certain limited body of knowledge about one's social universe.

Study of the various papers on social work interviews shows that their writers have had in mind two fairly distinct purposes. Some have aimed quite directly at the improvement of case work technique, while others have undertaken primarily an analysis of the interview as a bit of social interaction. The majority have clearly been concerned with the technology rather than with the sociology of interviews. Yet it is a curious fact that the Minneapolis-St. Paul group, whose immediate objective is frankly improved teaching of how to interview clients, has made one of the most significant contributions to the analysis of interviews. A comparison with the work of the Kansas City group may be of interest. It has been concerned primarily in studying the interview as a type of social interaction, but so far has failed to discover any means of generalizing its data. It took the interview apart and identified certain constituent elements, but it did not succeed in producing a set of concepts by means of which to describe and lable recurring processes. Some people do not think that the Twin-City group has been altogether successful either, but it has pointed the way. Its attempt to classify phases of the interview as techniques, processes and purposes is quite significant and the effort to find suitable names for these also deserves credit.

A number of different experimental methods have been evoked for following the pattern of verbal interaction towards consensus in small groups. Naturally enough all of these have their shortcomings, but U.S.-based sociologist R. F. Bales' Interaction Process Analysis remains the most popular. Briefly this analysis consists of a series of logically exhaustive classifications, twelve in number, into one of which each contribution may be placed. Bales has claimed that none of these categories are of residual nature and in support of this he quotes correlations between recording observers ranging from .75 to .95. While work on this particular paper suggested a clouding of boundaries between Categories 5 and 4 and between 4 and 3, there is little doubt that the reliability is quite high. The verbal interpretation of these results is daunting. While there are some obvious conclusions to be drawn, these are so self-evident that the reader might wonder why such complex analysis has been necessary. At the same time there are some equally obvious relationships which have not been proven and the explanation of these failures is not easy.

Various commentators have stated that the ideas covered by the label symbolic interaction are part of the intellectual baggage of almost all who concern themselves with human behavior. On the other hand, persons identifying themselves as symbolic interactionists commonly hold that this theory suffers from general, albeit certainly undeserved, neglect. There is a good deal of validity in both views. This paper is above all an attempt at a straightforward review of symbolic interaction theory. Its aim is to stimulate renewed interest 10 a simple, but relatively powerful, set of ideas which remain largely unexploited. It is perhaps particularly in the family field that these are open to exploitation. Theory can be taken to mean a set of assumptions or postulates with which one approaches some part of the empirical world, a set of concepts in terms of which this part of the world is described, and a set of propositions, emerging from the assumptions and relating the concepts, about the way this part of the world "works" which are checked against observations of that world.

Recent developments in the profession indicate that there is a growing interest in the sociological meaning of certain aspects of language, particularly speech, behavior. Moreover, those sociologists who have not been working with language, and who may in some instances have been "put off" by what the ethnomethodologists are doing, tend to be somewhat skeptical about the potential contributions of sociolinguistics. Social interaction is a reciprocal process involving communication, and most human communication requires the use of language. No two men use language in precisely the same way, and some men use language in ways obviously very different from others. Thus, to state that language structure and social structure are intimately interrelated is to reiterate a fundamental fact known to all men who participate in social interaction. Correlations between speech and the characteristics of its users are easy to determine. Correlations between language structure and social structure are more subtle but can also be identified.

This article reports secondary findings that emerged from a more general concern with social change. In attempting to make explicit the substantive arguments and implications of various theoretical approaches to the study of social change, sociologists discovered a substantial area of disagreement among symbolic interactionists with regard to this topic. In as much as symbolic interactionism is usually regarded as a unitary theoretical position, this considerable disjunction seemed to call for explanation in its own right. Both the historical development of interactionism and the nature of its principal intellectual sources suggest the possibility of important differences within this tradition. The purposes of this article are, first, to report the extent and nature of the differences that divide symbolic interactionists with respect to a topic of general concern, social change; second, to note certain sociological factors associated with these divergences; and, finally, to explore theoretically the relationship between a particular theoretical stance and a constellation of sociological variables. A central contention of this article is that differences among interactionists are associated with the kinds of relationships in which these sociologists are involved. A sociological perspective focusing upon the nature and types of relationships should be as useful in understanding sociological reasoning as it is in understanding any other type of reasoning.

It is general practice in sociology to regard deviant behavior as an alien element in society. Deviance is considered a vagrant form of human activity, moving outside the more orderly currents of social life. Deviation, can often be understood as a normal product of stable institutions, a vital resource which is guarded and preserved by forces found in all human organizations. From a sociological standpoint, deviance can be defined as conduct which is generally thought to require the attention of social control agencies that is, conduct about which "something should be done." Deviance is not a property inherent in certain forms of behavior; it is a property conferred upon these forms by the audiences which directly or indirectly witness them. Sociologically, then, the critical variable in the study of deviance is the social audience rather than the individual person, since it is the audience which eventually decides whether or not any given action or actions will become a visible case of deviation. This research paper attempts to focus the attention on the sociological question: how does a social structure communicate its "needs" or impose its "patterns" on human actors?

Sociologists have given several explanations for the relationship between status inconsistency and various dependent variables, but they have not reported empirical tests of their speculations. The present paper reports research which was designed to find out if unsatisfactory social interaction-a variable frequently used to explain the relationships-is related to status inconsistency, and to also explore the relationship between inconsistency and community dissatisfaction, a dependent variable which has not been included in inconsistency research. Contrary to what is hypothesized, middle-class persons in the study sample who have inconsistent statuses are more likely to experience satisfactory social interaction and community satisfaction than individuals with consistent statuses. This finding is interpreted by inferring that the unique nature of the study population determines the influence of inconsistency upon behavior. Persons with high occupation and low education or income are most satisfied with their interaction and community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Predictability is also partly a testable hypothesis and findings of many studies clearly attest to the predictability of human interaction. Sociology clearly has a subject matter which is amenable to scientific study. The purpose of the paper is to analyze a subtle but fundamental noninstrument source of indeterminacy in attitude measurement and to consider some of its implications. The data for all sciences consists of human responses to environmental events. The general procedure for minimizing indeterminacy in measurement due to the limited discriminal capacities of the human as a researcher is to have independent observers check on each other's findings. The precision of measurement is being operationally defined in an unfamiliar sense. It ordinarily denotes something like sampling error, the items in the scale are regarded as a sample of all possible items in a given attitude domain. The accuracy of best estimate is increased by increasing the number of items in the scale, thus increasing the number of endorsements.

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.

It is to be expected that groups of persons tend to interact more if they are large and near together than if they are small and far apart. The relative amounts of interaction between population concentrations would seem to depend on their size, their distance apart, the length of time they interact and the cultural level of their interacting. The above observation has been developed into the interactance hypothesis. In verbal terms the hypothesis states that the expected amount of any interactance for a given interval of time between two populations, that is, the number of interacts of one kind, such as telephoning or sending postal money orders between the members of two groups varies directly with the product of the two populations and inversely with some power of the intervening distance between the two populations with a constant to adjust units and interaction differences as needed. A number of studies have indicated a rough but definite relationship between the product of two populations divided by their intervening distance.

The article presents author's narrative of social reality and social process. R.M. MacIver in his 'Society' states that "Society is a web of social relationships." Others give similar definitions which are merely verbal circumscriptions of the term society. but do not carry the concept beyond what is already implied in the word society itself. It might be objected that any definition of society other than a purely verbal enlargement on the term is impossible. Furthermore, it might be said that such a definition is not necessary because sociology assumes society as its prime data which as such does not need further analysis. This view, however, is superficial and leaves sociology without firm foundation. We think we can show that "society" is subject to a substantive definition in other than merely synonymous terms. Once we have established such a definition of society, we have a clear view of the background configuration of all social data. This would establish the existential framework for the understanding of social facts.

Shifts in the structure of sentiments, taking place in two stages, underlie the emergence of existential sociology to its present significance, A challenge to Parsonian structuralfunctionalism initiated the first shift which was in turn followed by a period containing the development of the basis for a possible synthesis of existential sociology. This position is developed as are some of the characteristic features of an existential perspective on social life. Research based upon existential view and employing the concepts sentiments, body, self, situation, structure, massification and levelling, is presented. Some of the implications of these ideas are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Copyright of Zeitschrift für Soziologie is the property of De Gruyter and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Zeitschrift für Soziologie is the property of De Gruyter and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article reports a portion of an ongoing study of the social implications attributed by British architects to their work, and attempts to sketch some relevant aspects of the education of recruits to the profession. An analysis of this type presents two major problems: how is the vast body of professional literature to be sampled, and what method of analysis is suited to the material selected and the aims of the study? Although the analysis did not reveal explicitly bow architectural education could convey values to students, it did indicate a consensus about one feature of socialization for this purpose. Tuition in the social sciences-primarily sociology, social anthropology and social psychology-was thought the most likely means of clarifying the methods of reaching the profession's social responsibilities, and of delineating the extent to which this could be done. In addition to regarding social science instruction as a vehicle for formalizing student expectations about the profession's socially orientated goals, architectural educationists appear to consider it necessary to reinforce this process by informal measures.

The article comments on exchange theory and power in structural analysis. It provides a point of convergence between the competing models and suggests that each is concerned with different aspects of the same phenomenon rather than with differently conceived phenomena. Through consideration of all three models, discussed in the article, therefore, it should be possible to construct a genuine synthesis which places the distinctive contribution of each in its appropriate context. Exchange theory shares some of the concerns of both consensus and conflict models. With the former it is interested in value consensus and exchange between equals, with the latter it is interested in power structures and exchange between unequals. Unfortunately, it is least articulated and elaborated at the macro level and its distinctive contributions to a synthesis are thus hidden. Furthermore, exchange theory has neglected the sources of power and the nature of social structure in its concern with exchange and social process. Power is a generic term for the ability of a given social actor to attain its goals even in the face of opposition from other actors.

The effects of mental health status and social participation are examined to determine the extent to which each of these two factors contributes to the level of happiness which people experience. The findings indicate that happiness is contingent both on people's state of mental health and the extent to which they participate in social interaction with others. Each of these two factors exerts an independent influence on happiness, and the two relations are maintained under controls for age, social class position, and sex. The implications of these findings for psychiatric help-seeking are then briefly discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents information related to sociological affairs in the U.S. The Institut fuer Sozialforschung was formally reopened at the University of Frankfurt on November 14, 1951, after an absence of nearly nineteen years enforced by the Nazi regime. Its director is Max Horkheimer, Professor of Philosophy and Sociology at the University, who has held the post of director of the Institut continuously since 1939, from 1934 to 1949 in the U.S. The American Catholic Sociological Society held its thirteenth annual convention at The Catholic University of America, Washington D. C., December 28-30, 1951. Papers were presented in the sociology of the family, industry, inter-group relations, the parish, and the world community, and special sessions were devoted to the teaching of sociology in colleges, high schools, and seminaries. The Cornell Social Science Research Center is sponsoring a Field Methods Training Program under a Ford Foundation grant intended to increase research capacity in the behavioral sciences. This program, which began in

The article focuses on experimental teaching of basic social concepts. A series of four experimental courses, each with 42 hours of classroom contact, was taught over the past three years. The primary focus of the course is to develop a full appreciation of the elemental aspects of the process of direct social interaction. The primary method of teaching was to lead the students through a sequence of exercises originally developed as an alternative approach to training actors. The basic concepts in any discipline are the ones that most need to be understood and not simply remembered. The point that rules enable social action seems simple and easy to grasp. Yet this is a point that is often not well understood, even resisted. There is a common experiential reason for this. Most people become consciously aware of rules either when they violate them and receive negative sanctions or when other people violate rules to the individual's detriment. Playing a game with a certain amount of humor and enjoyment in it allows students, on reflection, to see rules as enabling as well as limiting and certainly within the capacity of human control.

This article presents information regarding methodological implications of symbolic interactionism for the study of deviance. Theoretically symbolic interactionism rests on three primitive assumptionst reality as it is sensed, known and understood is a social production. As such it consists of social objects, the meanings of which arise out of the behaviours persons direct towards them. Humans are granted the capacity to engage in minded, self-reflexive behaviour. In the course of taking their own standpoint and fitting that standpoint to the behaviours of others, humans interact with one another. Interaction is seen as an emergent, negotiated, often times unpredictable concern. Interaction is symbolic simply because minded, self-reflexive behaviour demands the manipulation of symbols, words, meanings and diverse languages. Language refers to all the utterances, gestures and movements one interactant communicates to self or other. It is viewed as a conversation of gestures arising out of the interaction process. Interactants can communicate in a silent-gestural language or in a set of personally specific vocal utterances. Their languages may transcend situations.

Action theory's substantive image of social organization, theory building strategy, and methodological tenets are compared with those of interactionism. Despite polemics to the contrary, action and interaction concepts denote a similar image of social organization and personality. As is argued, the principle difference between the two perspectives revolves around the issue of the most appropriate theory building and methodological strategy. The ontological implications of this fact are examined and found not to justify the continued partitioning of social theory into antagonistic metaphysical camps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents information on international conferences and seminars on sociology. The fifth annual Marriage and Family Life Study tour, will sail for Italy, Israel, Greece, Yugoslavia, Switzerland, France, and Austria on June 28, 1954, returning in late August. This tour is sponsored by the State University of New York and the National Council on Family Relations. A Traveling Seminar for professional persons will be sponsored by the San Francisco State College this summer, June 29-September 1. The itinerary will include Yugoslavia, Greece, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, and Egypt. The Fifth International Congress on Mental Health, sponsored by the World Federation for Mental Health, will be held in Toronto, Ontario from August 14-21, 1954. The theme of the Congress will be "Mental Health in Public Affairs." The program will include research papers by internationally known leaders in the field, technical sessions, and round-table and small discussion groups. The Second Conference on research in Intergroup Relations, made possible by a grant from the Field Foundation to the National Association of Intergroup Relations Officials, will be held at the University of Chicago, December 28-30, 1953. The Conference is open without charge to practitioners, researchers, and students in the field of intergroup relations.

The article presents information about the paper entitled "Questce que la sociologie?," which was published in the journal "Culture." Sociology is an empirical science autonomous in its own domain rather than a master key to all the social sciences. The author holds that it must accept from philosophy its fundamental premises concerning the nature and end of man, but that as one of its own peculiar functions it integrates the diverse data that are found in all forms of social life and thus renders an indispensable service to other social disciplines. The object of sociology is here given as a synthesis of two traditional views: the "formalistic," which seeks to abstract general types of human relations, and the "dynamic," which studies social relationships in particular interactions. The author holds that it must accept from philosophy its fundamental premises concerning the nature and end of man, but that as one of its own peculiar functions it integrates the diverse data that are found in all forms of social life and thus renders an indispensable service to other social disciplines.

A social-psychological perspective, used in the analysis of three cases of nonviolent direct action, combines the ‘exchange theory’ of Homans and the two and three dimensional approaches for the analysis of interpersonal behavior suggested by Leary and Bales. The three dimensions are: dominance-submission, positive-negative, and goal oriented-deviant. Once the behavior of a nonviolent actor has been identified in this three dimensional space. the expected behavior of his opponent can be predicted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this article is to discuss the Barnard-Simon model with reference to its usefulness in providing theoretical insights into participation in community action organizations. The article is divided into three parts. The first part discusses the Barnard-Simon model and its theoretical relevance for community action organizations. The second part explores several theoretical ideas about participation, organizational viability, and the relative importance of certain classes of variables in community action organizations. The actual development of an organization is the source of data for that discussion. The third part is devoted to the discussion of general implications. The community action organization is rooted in many of the human failings of formal social organizations. The Barnard-Simon model has more immediate and direct behavioral implications, therefore, for this type of organization. The Barnard-Simon model postulates an organization as a coalition of participants or group of participants.