Social Origins and Transformations: The Changing Role of English Housing Associations

Following the suggestion of Ragin (1998, Voluntas, 9(3), 261–270), this article uses social origins theory (Salamon and Anheier, 1998, Voluntas, 9(3), 213–248) as an heuristic device to explore change in a specific field of nonprofit activity; the English housing association sector. Conventional histories of the sector in the twentieth century suggest a succession of eras with different policy drivers. These eras can be seen as consistent with shifts in welfare regime from liberal to social democratic (after 1919) and to neo-liberal/neo-corporatist (after 1980). Examples drawn from a panel study support the analysis of Esping-Anderson (1990, The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism, Princeton University Press, Princeton) that underlying the apparent stability of welfare regimes there are constant processes of negotiation and conflict which may lead to transformations at organization, sector, or regime level. Rather than simply responding to policy drivers, some housing associations have been able to influence the environment in which policy is made and thereby to shape their own and the sector's transformations.     

Unwelcoming communities: youth observations of racism in St. John's,Newfoundland and Labrador,Canada

While studies of racism have focused primarily on large urban centres, its effect on young visible minorities living in smaller centres has only recently been given increased attention. Using data collected from over 850 surveys, this article will analyse junior and senior high school students’ observations of racism. The results suggest that youth living in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada believe that racism is more as a problem at the provincial- and national-level despite overwhelming evidence that they have witnessed it at their school and in their city. While for these youth racism is both fluid and contextual, they also employ a number of strategies in order to appear non-racist.     

The Field of American Media Sociology: Origins,Resurrection, and Consolidation

This contribution is written against the backdrop of the historic dispersal of early American media sociology out from the core concerns of the discipline and into various importer academic disciplines (including communication, journalism, and media studies) and an ever‐growing pervasiveness of media in everyday life which is reflected by a resurgence of sociological scholarship in the United States since the early 2000s. The article divides the field in works that study media inwards – along the threefold dimensions of production and technologies, communication and discourse, reception and effects – and works that study media outwards. We argue that this latter perspective, examining broader theoretical, methodological, and substantive social implications of mass‐mediated communication, is the most promising one for a mature field of American media sociology. On this basis, we conclude with some suggestions regarding possible new, and as of yet understudied, lines of inquiry for future media sociologists.     

Environmentalization: Origins,Processes, and Implications for Rural Social Change1

Abstract This paper seeks to go beyond the sui eneris conception of the increased role of “green” forces and the concomitant environmentalization of institutional practices in the United States and elsewhere across the world. It is argued that these forces must be located in the transition from social-democratic to neo-conservative regimes of social regulation of economy and society that has occurred during the past 15 or so years of global economic stagnation. This transition and its reflection in greening and environmentalization may be seen to have contradictory implications for rural societies. These implications are explored briefly with respect to sustainable development programs in the developing countries, sustainable agricultural research and outreach in the United States, and the possible growth of environmental symbolization of rural spaces.     

Single and double sexual standards in Finland,Estonia, and St. Petersburg

The sexual revolution and fight for gender equality began in the West during the 1960s but did not reach the Soviet Union until the late 1980s. Using survey data from nationally representative samples from Finland in 1971, 1992, and 1999 and from two former Soviet areas, Estonia in 2000 and St. Petersburg in 1996, we investigated the following: (a) differences across decades and countries in acceptance of the sexual double standard (SDS) in attitudes toward marital infidelity and women's initiating sex; and (b) the relationship between the SDS and sexual satisfaction. Results show that Finland in the 1990s was more egalitarian than Finland in 1971, St. Petersburg in 1996, or Estonia in 2000. Egalitarian sexual attitudes were positively related to sexual satisfaction.     

Revisiting the model of creative destruction: St. Jacobs,Ontario, a decade later

Ten years ago, the model of creative destruction was developed to predict the fate of communities that base their development on the commodification of rural heritage (Mitchell, C.J.A., 1998. Entrepreneurialism, commodification and creative destruction: a model of post-modern community development. Journal of Rural Studies 14, 273–286). Its application to the village of St. Jacobs, Canada, demonstrated that entrepreneurial investment had fostered the creation of a setting for aestheticized consumption. In this paper we demonstrate that creative destruction has continued to unfold in the village over the course of the past decade. The evolutionary path taken is assessed in light of current literature on rural space. It is concluded that to fully understand the transformative process, one must integrate the demands of myriad sub-cultures, whose social relations, ideologies and actions will contribute to the development of a contested landscape of consumption. This finding necessitates that modifications be made to the model and its various stages. The most significant is recognition that the “heritage-scape” is an interim state of landscape change; one that displaces the productivist landscape of the industrial period, and precedes the creation of the “neo-productivist” leisure-scape of post-industrialism. Whether or not such a “final” state is achieved is dictated by the power struggle that inevitably arises amongst sub-cultures engaged in the transformation of rural space.     

Sociology at Washington University in St. Louis: History and reflections, 1906–1989

Decisions, such as the one to abolish the sociology department at Washington University, do not happen over night. In this article, we trace the fine, if at times fraught, history of sociology at WU, from 1906 to 1989. The department has been home to two presidents of the ASA and location for exciting work in both theory and research. We note that the demise of the department has been a long time in the making, although the death blow was struck as if it constituted the necessary slaughter of the weak. A conservative university has eliminated a once-stellar department and, in so doing, dismissed the relevance of social thought in this modern era.     

Introduction to “Sexual Scripts: Origins,Influences and Changes”

Qualitative Sociology -     

Status Origins,Track Position,and Delinquent Involvement: a Self-report Analysis*

In reviewing recent trends in delinquency theorizing and research, it is noted that track position, independent of status origins, is highly associated with such behavioral outcomes as youth rebellion and official delinquency. This observation, given its provocative theoretical and policy implications, is subjected to fresh empirical scrutiny through use of self-report delinquency data obtained from 173 seniors (both males and females) attending two high schools in western New York State. Analyses, through use of Yule's Q and first-order partials, indicate that these data are strongly supportive of the recent trends noted. Track position, relative to both sex and status origins, emerges as the strongest predictor of self-report delinquent involvement. Implications of these findings are discussed.