Drug Courts: A Social Capital Perspective*

Social capital is a variable resource embedded in all social networks. Although the majority of work on social capital describes it as contributing to socially beneficial outcomes, it also contributes to deviant activities. In addition to laying a theoretical basis for understanding the deviant potentials of social capital, this paper argues that a change in social networks results in a change in social capital. Using data collected from adult drug courts in Wyoming, multivariate ordinary least squares (OLS) regression analyses and analyses of personal interviews were used to explore changes in the social capital of drug court participants. However, as a result of deficiencies in available data, questions remain as to the long‐term social circumstances of participants after graduating from the programs and differences in social outcomes among minority groups. The results from this project have implications for future research conducted on drug courts and the theory of social capital.     

Organizational Symbolism as a Social Construction: A Perspective from the Sociology of Knowledge

This article describes organizational symbolismfrom a sociology of knowledge perspective and considersboth the theoretical and extra-theoretical bases of thesymbolic approach. It illustrates the distinctive principles of the symbolic approach withrespect to other methods used in the study oforganizations, the concepts on which it is based, andthe organizational issues on which it has shedsignificant light. Symbolist studies of organizations haverefocused scholarly attention on the multidisciplinaryunderstanding of the logos, ethos, and pathos oforganizational life. They have done so by stressing the production of knowledge tout court, rather thanconcerning themselves with the applicability of theorganizational knowledge acquired by this approach formanagerial purposes. Organizational symbolism is described in the article as a fluctuatingand emerging social construction whose growth and spreadhas been fostered by support within academia.     

Religion and Substance Use among Youths of Mexican Heritage: A Social Capital Perspective

Despite elevated levels of substance use among many Latino youths, there has been little research on protective factors against such use. In keeping with federal commitments to address health disparities, this prospective study examined the protective influence of religion on substance use among a school-based sample (N = 804) of youths of Mexican heritage in the American Southwest. Drawing from the social capital literature, the authors posited that both integration into religious networks and trust in religious values at time 1 (Tl) would predict less likelihood of using substances at time 2 (T2) but that exposure to religious norms at Tl would not predict subsequent substance use at T2. The hypotheses regarding religious networks and religious norms were largely confirmed, whereas little support emerged for the hypothesis regarding religious values. The results are discussed in light of the various pathways through which religion may exhibit a protective influence.     

A High School Course in Sociology

Because of the importance that geography plays in our understanding of economics, history, and politics, it has been argued that the subject should be taught to students beginning at the early elementary level, usually focusing on the family unit and local communities. However, when the proper technology tools and strategies are used, students at the kindergarten level can learn more complex concepts of geography and other social studies ideas and Common Core Standards. This article is a narrative about how a kindergarten teacher's discovery of “website widgets” brought the world to her classroom while helping her students learn important social studies knowledge and skills.     

Social Stigma, Social Capital Reconstruction and Rural Migrants in Urban China: A Population Health Perspective

In this study, we examine migrant stigma and its effect on social capital reconstruction among rural migrants who possess legal rural residence but live and work in urban China. After a review of the concepts of stigma and social capital, we report data collected through in-depth interviews with 40 rural migrant workers and 38 urban residents recruited from Beijing, China. Findings from this study indicate that social stigma against rural migrants is common in urban China and is reinforced through media, social institutions and their representatives, and day-to-day interactions. As an important part of discrimination, stigma against migrant workers creates inequality, undermines trust, and reduces opportunities for interpersonal interactions between migrants and urban residents. Through these social processes, social stigma interferes with the reconstruction of social capital (including bonding, bridging and linking social capital) for individual rural migrants as well as for their communities. The interaction between stigma and social capital reconstruction may present as a mechanism by which migration leads to negative health consequences. Results from this study underscore the need for taking measures against migrant stigma and alternatively work toward social capital reconstruction for health promotion and disease prevention among this population.     

A Technological Science Perspective for Sociology1

Abstract The traditional positivist model is an inadequate foundation for sociology as a science. The phenomena of society differ from the phenomena assumed by positivism and existing in the world of nature in ways that prevent the successful use of that traditional approach. Agency, the ability to choose among alternatives where the choice makes an important difference, exists in social phenomena but has no counterpart in nature and cannot be dealt with adequately by positivism. A technological science perspective is suggested as an alternative for a science of sociology that can deal with the reality and importance of agency. Eight differences between the traditional perspective and the alternative are sketched. The alternative requires changes in the kind of generalized knowledge produced and the way it is produced, accumulated, and refined. The changes, though seemingly small, would produce a major reconstruction of much of sociology; such changes could result in important progress by the field of sociology.     

Capital at Home and at School: Effects on Child Social Adjustment

We argue for analyzing school and family social capital, human capital, and financial capital as parallel concepts and investigate their effects on child social adjustment. We use the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) merged Child‐Mother Data, to which we add indicators of capital in the children's schools. Findings suggest that although school capital effects are present, family social capital and maternal and child human capital effects are more prevalent. Interactions between family and school capital refine these findings. We derive inferences regarding how investment at home and at school can work together to promote child social adjustment.     

Variations in Family Structure and School-Age Children's Academic Achievement: A Social and Resource Capital Perspective

Data from the nationally representative Early Childhood Longitudinal Survey, Kindergarten Class of 1998–1999 (ECLS–K) involving more than 300 children who continuously resided in different variations of families from kindergarten through fifth grade were used to test the usefulness of social capital theory for understanding the academic improvement of school-age children over two points in time. Social capital theory was found to be a useful framework for explaining academic achievement for single-parent, stepparent, and biological family forms. Analyses revealed that children's change scores in reading and math differed across the three variations in family type. Children in single-parent households scored significantly lower than children from both biological and married stepparent households.     

Organic Public Sociology in the Pragmatist Perspective: A Multifaceted Approach

This article argues that American pragmatism provides a model for organic public sociology, defined by Michael Burawoy as the sociologist's direct involvement with a group in a collaborative effort to bring about change, which permits and encourages a combined professional research and activist project. I use my project involving medical licensing and disciplinary boards to illustrate how those projects can be successfully combined. I served as a public member, conducted research, and was an advocate for change.     

The Intergenerational Transmission of Social Capital: A Developmental Approach to Adolescent Social Capital Formation*

Previous scholarship has demonstrated the importance of individual characteristics and structural context for understanding social capital formation. However, a developmental approach to social capital formation has, so far, been absent. In this study, I argue that social capital formation must be understood intergenerationally as well as structurally. Using hierarchical linear modeling, I investigate the hypothesized intergenerational transmission of social capital using Waves 1 and 2 of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. The results show that, in addition to individual characteristics, neighborhood‐level factors, and school‐level variables, parental social capital is an important predictor of adolescent social capital. This study also suggests that the intergenerational transmission of social capital functions, in part, through family structure and that structural differences account for only a relatively small share of the variation in adolescent social capital. Potential explanations for these findings are discussed.     

社会资本与青年群体的幸福感

生活质量高在很大程度上体现为人的幸福感,对1994名城市青年从社会资本视角进行的问卷调查发现,社会资本的普遍化互惠对青年幸福感具有积极影响;社会信任中的特殊信任因子、一般信任因子对青年幸福感具有显著影响,普通信任因子没有显著影响;社会参与中的协会型社团参与因子对青年幸福感具有正向统计显著性。     

社会资本视域下的乡规民约效能再造——以宁波市"民约村治"实践为例

乡规民约历来是乡村治理的重要机制,新中国成立以来,乡村治理格局发生了深刻变迁,在现实情境的推进过程中,这类非正式规范正遭遇有效性不足的挑战.本研究以社会资本理论作为分析框架,结合对宁波市的调研,提出农村社会传统型社会资本的流失和现代型社会资本的缺位,是乡规民约难以发挥效用的症结所在.同时,研究认为挖掘乡规民约的治理效能,近期需要依靠政府的力量,通过顶层设计和资源要素下沉,依靠传统型社会资本的治理资源,实现政府主动建构秩序与社会自身自发秩序的耦合.从长远看,构建现代型社会资本,培育基层治理内生力,是发挥乡规民约这类基层治理制度效用的关键所在.     

A Sociology of Human Rights: Rights through a Social Movements Lens

Cet article propose un cadre théorique pour développer une sociologie des droits humains en s'intéressant aux mouvements sociaux dans le but de comprendre les cultures de droits locales. Si le droit humain est une idée qui se développe historiquement principalement à travers l'État, on remarque qu'au Canada, les avancées des droits de l'homme sont le fait de militants travaillant sur le terrain. Dans cet article, on explore aussi les écrits en sociologie au Canada. Les auteurs argumentent qu'on observe un sérieux manque d'engagement de la part des sociologues anglophones et francophones au Canada et que trop peu d'entres eux proposent de réelles études nationales. Évidemment, l'accès restreint à l'information législative représente un obstacle sérieux à la recherche académique au Canada. This article offers a framework for developing a sociology of human rights using social movements to understand local rights cultures. The idea of human rights has historically been highly statist, but grass‐roots activism has been at the heart of the most profound human rights advances in Canada. The article also raises questions about the current state of sociological writing about Canada. The author contends that there is a serious lack of engagement among English and French sociologists, and too few scholars provide genuine “national” studies. Moreover, restrictive access to information legislation represents a serious obstacle to academic research in Canada.     

The Use of Local Statistics in High School Courses in Sociology and Social Problems

Since the inception of mandated testing in reading and mathematics, social studies instruction has been marginalized in elementary and middle schools. After the genesis of several state-mandated testing programs and nearly a decade after the launch of the No Child Left Behind legislation, the effects of limited K–8 social studies instruction are being recognized at the high school level, specifically in high school test score data. This article reveals the obstacles generated by marginalizing social studies in the elementary and middle schools and offers a model for helping teachers understand their role in offsetting the problems associated with early social studies marginalization. The article also provides a way to help teachers collaboratively fill the social studies content gaps.     

Sociology and High School Teaching

Teaching opportunities for sociolgy majors have traditionally been oriented to the college or university. There is, however, a clear need for qualified sociolgy teachers at the high school level. Such teachers could generate interest in the sociological imagination among precollege students. By doing so these teachers could provide skills for those students entering the workforce and encourage enrollments among those students opting to attend college. The American Sociological Association is aware of this opportunity and has addressed it in a variety of ways over the past thirty years. There has been renewed commitment by the ASA in the 1900s to develop programs that can enhance high school sociolgy. This article suggest that the state sociological association may be in a strategic position to assess the needs of high school sociolgy teachers, to address their resource needs as well as the concerns of teacher certification and competency. Jan Rienerth, teaching interests are in women's issues, applied sociology, and experiential learning. Her research has focused on women and the elderly in prison. Paul Lindsay, most recent teaching and research interests are in the areas of the sociology of education, educational policy and conflict resolution. Michael Wise, recent teaching and research is in the area of deviant behavior.     

社会资本视角下的大学生职业发展教育

社会资本在大学生就业过程中起着举足轻重的作用,但大学生社会资本的开发与利用不足。职业发展教育有助于提升大学生的就业力和职业发展能力,而目前关于职业发展教育的理论研究与实践操作中并没有重视大学社会资本的开发与利用。因此,有必要在大学生职业发展教育中,引入社会资本理论,开展社会资本视角下的职业发展教育．创新大学生职业发展教育。     

The Radical Perspective in Sociology

The objective of this paper is to clarify some of the perspectives of the discipline of sociology, to identify radical viewpoints and how they have evolved and converged, and to indicate some of the consequences of a radical sociology and its prospects. A radical sociology calls for a radical perspective, namely, a structural perspective. Such a perspective requires uncovering economic and political realities in the attempt to understand social structure. Intellectual relevance should not merely be cloaked in terms of efficacy demands which derive from state welfarism and militarism, but should be the extension of a radical and structuralist perspective.     

Sociology in Russia: Studies in Social Stratification

Sociological Forum -     

Sociology of Terrorism and Counterterrorism: A Social Science Understanding of Terrorist Threat

The purpose of this article is to outline a social science understanding of terrorist threat, with special reference to political violence of new terrorist groups, fundamentalist movements and extremist organisations such as Al-Qaeda. Four main terrorism topics will be examined: (i) Definition of terrorism . We will make explicit the political and moral implications of the word 'terrorism' by tracing a brief history of terrorism; at the same time, a definition of terrorism will be proposed based on an overview of terrorism studies. (ii) Typology of terrorism . The topic to be addressed here concerns the classification of terrorist groups, paying special attention to contemporary fundamentalist movements and extremist organisations (particularly after World War II). (iii) Explanation of terrorism. Criticism will be made of psychological explanations of terrorism that try to trace political violence back to specific personal traits or psychopathological profiles of terrorists. We will offer an alternative explanation, focusing on specific social, cultural and religious factors to be considered the root causes of terrorism. Suicide terrorism will be used as a case study. (iv) C ounterterrorism policy . Here, we will discuss some of the limitations and counterproductive effects of the counterterrorism measures adopted by governments after 9/11, including new antiterrorism legislation, the case of special detention at Guantanamo Bay, and the Iraq invasion. Most of such limitations are due to a misunderstanding of the political culture and ideology of Islamic extremism and fundamentalism (Islamism). Some concluding remarks will summarise the findings of the article and underline the most important suggestions for a future research agenda in the sociology of terrorism and counterterrorism.