The race relations problematic in American sociology: A case study and critique

This article reports the results of an analysis of all racial and ethnic relations articles published in the American Journal of Sociology, the American Sociological Review, Social Forces, and Social Problems, from January 1969 through December 1995. The analysis identifies by journal: 1) major methodological orientation(s); 2) how the concepts of “race,” “ethnicity,” and racial and ethnic relations are operationalized, which is useful for examining tendencies toward, or against, reification; 3) substantive content—that is, what a sociology of racial and ethnic relations is; and 4) primary context—that is, are racial and ethnic relations treated as a substantive subdiscipline in their own right, or are they merely a topic of interest for other subdisciplines such as social psychology? In brief, although some differences exist between the journals, all four journals publish disproportionately racial and ethnic relations research that: 1) is highly quantitative as opposed to theoretical, conceptual, or sociohistorical; 2) reifies U.S. Census definitions of race and ethnicity as opposed to critically evaluating such definitions; 3) social psychologizes racial and ethnic relations, or subsumes such relations under stratification processes; and 4) subsumes the racial and ethnic relations problematic under subdiscipline rubrics other than a sociology of racial and ethnic relations. The conclusion discusses the implications of these findings; for example, by virtue of what they publish, these journals construct a paradigmatic frame that gives precedence to, or legitimizes, some views and excludes, or de-legitimizes others.     

A Formal Restatement of Durkheim's "Division of Labor" Theory

Despite frequent references in the sociological literature to Durkheim's theory about the division of labor, sociologists have made few attempts to test it. The paucity of attempts and the very debatable outcomes thereof are due largely to Durkheim's use of the traditional discursive mode of theory construction. A discursively stated theory's logical structure is likely to be obscure, and for that reason alone tests of it are difficult and controversial. Rather than perpetuate the exegetical tradition in sociological treatments of the subject, this paper restates Durkheim's theory in accordance with a particular formal mode. That restatement identifies the theory's shortcomings and problems. But the eight premises imply only one testable theorem, and the theorem's predictive accuracy appears minimal unless "population concentration" is substituted for "density" in the first axiom. Nonetheless, the restatement clearly shows how extension of the theory (additional postulates) could further its testability.     

Antiracist Education in Theory and Practice: A Critical Assessment

“Antiracist Education in Theory and Practice: A Critical Assessment” As a set of pedagogical, curricular, and organizational strategies, antiracist education claims to be the most progressive way today to understand race relations. Constructed from whiteness studies and the critique of colorblindness, its foundational core is located in approximately 160 papers published in peer-reviewed journals in the past 15 years-identified through a comprehensive search of Academic Premier Search, EBSCOMegaFile, Education Abstracts, JSTOR, and SOCIndex. A critical assessment of these papers concludes that antiracist education is not a sociologically grounded, empirically based account of the significance of race in American society. Rather, it is a morally based educational reform movement that embodies the confessional and redemptive modes common in evangelical Protestantism. Inherently problematic, whether or not antiracist education achieves broader acceptance is open to debate. Presented at the joint meeting of the Midwest Sociological Society/North Central Sociological Association, Chicago, IL, April 7, 2007     

DETECT

DETECT is an inexpensive, easy to use, general-purpose, Monte Carlo simulation program for IBM and compatible personal computers. It can be used to quickly analyze fault trees or functions of random variables. DETECT provides a wide variety of input distributions to choose from and a dependency (correlation) option. The result of the analysis is a probability distribution over the variable of interest. We look forward to further improvements (e.g., graphics, full-screen editing, ability to inspect intermediate results) that will make DETECT even more useful and attractive.     

The effect of the united mine workers of America on the probability of severe injury in underground coal mines

This paper examines the efficacy of the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) in achieving safe working conditions by reducing the probability of severe injury. A detailed data base has been constructed for underground mines during the period 1986–1988. The results obtained fail to provide convincing evidence that the UMWA reduces the severity of injury, even though the UMWA has safety committees and inspectors in the mines where it is the bargaining agent. Further testing reveals that there is no significant difference in the probability of injury due to roof falls, haulage, and handling material, between union and nonunion mines.     

Maltreatment and Trauma: Toward a Comprehensive Model of Abused Children from Developmental Psychology

Knowledge of how maltreatment and trauma aects personality functioning in abused children has been greatly enhanced by clinical theory and research in developmental psychology. Developmental research and theory has allowed the child abuse field to move beyond symptom-lists toward broader models of how trauma impacts major domains of personality functioning. However, these models continue to be based largely on discrete theories of development that parallel, if not confound, one another. This paper attempts to expand our understanding of the traumatized child by using the synthetic model of personality development expounded by Fred Pine that promotes a more holistic and comprehensive view of the abused child and, thus, enhances clinical theory and intervention.     

Editorial

The Analysis of Verbal Behavior -