Toward a Theory of Community Conflict: Factors Influencing the Initiation and Scope of Conflict*

A theory of the structure and process of community conflict is developed around concepts used in earlier works in the field. Then propositions relating to the central elements of community conflict are presented by concentrating on the primary variable: scope. Propositions constructed with other relevant structural variables are introduced. To begin with, procedures used in developing the propositions are discussed; and, then, suggestions for measuring them are given. Finally, implications of the theory in analyses of change are discussed.     

Continuous Violent Conflict as a System of Authority*

This paper analyzes how authority can be maintained by structuring reality through continuous violent conflict. Using Lewis Coser's reformulation of Simmel's propositions on fostering continuous conflict as a raison d'être in sect-like struggle groups as a general frame of analysis, the Stalinist case is then examined in order to evaluate systematically these propositions in a societal context and to specify the morphology of violence as a method of conflict. By examining a societal context, it is noted that instability in the social structure not only can be a condition for the legitimacy of a problematic political leadership and system, but also simultaneously be a consequence of a form of preventive punitive sanctioning, whereby potential threats, both persons and alternative courses of action, are eliminated before they become present dangers. In turn, an official definition of reality, justifying leadership and system, is constructed through the public documentation of a conspiracy, which employs invented categories to demonstrate ideological continuity and fabricates pseudo events to demonstrate indispensability in fulfilling necessary functions. This public documentation of a conspiracy is then used as a facade for a larger plan of social prophylaxis that implicates the public as well as the police in ferreting out tangible and visible enemies to till the invented categories in the pseudo events. As public complicity conjoins with the official definition of reality, commitment to the leadership and system is acquired.     

The Lost Letter Technique as a Measure of Community Attitudes Toward a Major Social Issue*

A test of the validity of Milgram's lost letter technique (LLT) to measure community attitudes toward a sensitive social issue about which there are strong emotional feelings was conducted. This was accomplished by comparing the lost letter return rates with the results of a questionnaire study which measured the same attitudes in the same community. The sensitive social issue used in this study was busing to achieve a racial balance. The data from the questionnaire study indicated strong support for busing by blacks and strong opposition to busing by whites. The results of the lost letter technique were significantly different from those of the questionnaire. The LLT found approximately the same attitudes toward busing among both blacks and whites with almost half opposed to busing while just over half supported busing. The ability of the lost letter technique to provide a reliable unobtrusive attitudlnal measure on a sensitive social issue thus appears doubtful.     

Contested Environmental Hazards and Community Conflict Over Relocation*

Abstract The majority of the literature on contaminated communities indicates that environmental hazards lead to conflict and dissension. In this paper we examine the salient dimensions of conflict and factionalism in a rural Oklahoma community. The community is heavily contaminated from 80 years of commercial mining operations and was one of the first sites designated on the Environmental Protection Agency's Superfund List in 1983. Despite two decades of remediation efforts, the community remains polluted with lead and other heavy metals. Based on in‐depth interviews with community residents, observation, and document analysis, we find that the community has splintered into two competing groups over the environmental controversy. One faction of the community supports a federally sponsored relocation campaign, while the other has organized to oppose relocation. The results of our study indicate that the contentious split is centered around the ambiguity of harm associated with the contamination, conflicting economic concerns, and variations in community attachment.     

A Social Exchange Typology of Conjugal Relationships and Conflict Development*

In this article the authors attempt to demonstrate how the principles of social exchange, reciprocity and distributive justice can be used to explain the development and continuation of marital dissatisfaction and conflict. A typology of marital relationships is presented based upon the premise that marriages can be located on a continuum ranging from satisfying and voluntary to conflicted and nonvoluntary. Satisfying relationships are conceptualized as equitable reciprocal exchanges. Socially approved behaviors as well as deviant interpersonal responses which occur are seen as impersnal maneuvers which a spouse might utilize to restore an equitable balance of exchanges once the norm of equity has been violated. The type of strategy employed by a spouse will depend upon the relative power he/she possesses, the type of marriage in which the spouse is involved, and the availability of reinforcements which can be gained from sources external to the relationship. Practical suggestions for assessing the appropriateness of various forms of clinical intervention available to the therapist are discussed in the light of this typology and clinical implications are offered.     

Childhood Accident as a Measure of Social Integration*

A partir d'une recherche antérieure ayant démontré moins d'accidents chez les enfants orientaux que chez ceux de race caucasienne, l'auteur vérifia et confirma l'hypothèse que les enfants orientaux acculturés sont plus enclins aux accidents que les enfants orientaux non acculturés. Des questionnaires furent expédiés par la poste et des interviews furent obtenues des méres de 151 enfants inscrits à un plan médical d'assurance en Californie. Les données indiquent que les enfants acculturés de parents acculturés sont enclins à un grand nombre d'accidents parce qu'on encourage chez eux l'indépendance et l'esprit d'aventure et que done ils ont une vie hasardeuse. Les données ne confirment que partiellement l'hypothèse selon laquelle les enfants acculturès de parents non acculturés auraient plusieurs accidents parce qu'ils souffriraient des conflits de l'acculturation et que cet etat de chose les empêcherait de se prémunir contre les dangers auxquels ils sont exposés. Dans sa conclusion, l'auteur applique les concepts durkheimiens de l'egoïsme et de l'anomie aux types d'accidents. Elle discute aussi des aspects méthodologiques qui affeeteraient la validité et la généralité de ses conclusions.     

Kenneth Burke as Social Theorist*

A sociological reconstruction is made of the neglected ?uvre of Kenneth Burke. His early period is presented through four propositions on verbal explanations as the motives for action in social orders. The later period is shown to treat the metaphorical relationships among major terms in frameworks of motives, especially explanations of “order.”     

The Persistence of Neighboring as a Determinant of Community Attachment: A Community Field Perspective*

We examined the community field perspective as a complement to the linear‐development and systemic models of community attachment, wherein community attachment is defined as a social bond to the community of place. We empirically evaluated indicators of the actor's interaction within the social field, such as the perceived quality of neighboring and density of friendships, using social survey and census data from 99 communities in 1994 and 2004 and evaluated as well the percentage change in these indicators from 1994 to 2004. Results show that the community field perspective can complement previous approaches by highlighting the importance of perceived neighboring and friendship density and the persistence of perceived neighboring over time. We suggest implications for community development efforts aimed at enhancing community attachment.     

Social Class and Attitudes toward Mental Illness: a Study of a Canadian Prairie Community*

A partir d'entrevues obtenues auprés d'une population adulte échantillonnée au hasard, vivant dans une petite ville typiques des prairies canadiennes, l'auteur entreprend l'examen des relations qui existent entre les classes sociales et les attitudes vis-à-vis la santé mentale. Il n'existe aucune relation significative entre ces deux facteurs lorsqu'on utilise une échelle de « negation » de la santé mentale et deux indicateurs traduisant le refus de l'informateur à reconnaître que l'isolement est un problème. Par ailleurs, il existe des relations significatives entre les classes sociales et les échelles d'isolement physique et sociale. On tente, par après, d'éclairer ces résultats par diverses explications possibles. The relationship between social class and attitudes toward mental illness is examined using interviews with a random sample of the adult population of a typical, small, Canadian prairie town. There were no statistically significant relationships between social class and scores on a scale measuring “denial” of mental illness and two indicators of “insulation” of mental illness. There were, however, significant relationships between social class and scores on scales of physical and social “isolation” and responses to one other interview question. Various explanations for the results are explored.     

Correlates of Social Participation: a Comparison of the Ethnic Community and Compensatory Theories*

The ethnic community and compensatory theories of Black social participation are compared by analyzing affective correlates (political efficacy and self-esteem) of participation for 712 residents of Nashville, Tennessee in 1969. The instrumental-expressive typology of participation is utilized in addition to total participation. Participation and the affective variables are significantly correlated for Blacks, but only weakly correlated for Anglos, lending support to both theories. The relationship between participation, the affective variables, and the controlled background factors is briefly discussed, and problems and directions for future research are outlined.     

The Influence of Family and Community Social Capital on Educational Achievement*

Abstract It is increasingly recognized that families and communities are important in helping youths develop the knowledge and skills they need to obtain technologically sophisticated jobs, which are an emerging part of the global economy. In this paper we adopt social capital as a framework for examining the influence of family and community on promoting educational achievement among public school students. We explore more fully the role of community social capital in influencing educational performance beyond that attributed to family social capital. Using data from the National Education Longitudinal Survey (NELS), we find that both process and structural attributes of family social capital are key factors affecting high school students' educational achievement. Process and structural attributes of community social capital also help youths to excel, though they contribute less strongly to achievement. These findings suggest that policies designed to promote educational achievement must extend beyond the school and must seek to strengthen social capital in the family and the community.     

Social Structure, Crime and Criminalization: An Empirical Examination of the Conflict Perspective*

Using available data from a variety of secondary sources, this research examines the empirical validity of arguments maintained by conflict theorists about the interrelations among economic inequality, the incidence of crime, and the official crinrinalization of people through arrest. The reported findings, although not definitive, suggest that official criminalization may be a function of the structure of dominant/subordinate relations within populations, rather than the incidence of crime. These findings are dependent, however, on whether the incidence of crime is measured by official or unofficial statistics on criminal activity. The implications of the findings are discussed, and we conclude that they lend some support to conflict criminology and suggest that further aggregate tests using structural variables are desirable.     

Clinical Social Worker as Patient Advocate in a Community Mental Health Center

As a profession, social work has always advocated for clients. Yet clinical social work settings often ignore this important aspect of practice. For mental health services in public agencies, patient advocacy is a particularly vital element because these systems are not always responsive to the individual client. The clinical social worker, trained in advocacy, systemic intervention, and psychotherapy, is the professional most qualified to fill this role. The author summarizes the history of advocacy, provides a conceptual framework for the clinical social work advocate, and provides examples from 20 years of experience as a patient advocate in community mental health.

The Routinization of Social Movement Organizations: China as a Deviant Case*

This paper has two purposes: (1) to show how previous work in complex organizations, social movements and political development converges to predict routinization of successful social movement organizations, and (2) to explore the Chinese experiment in organization as a deviant case for the “law” of routinization. First, theories from three substantive areas are shown to predict routinization of social movement organizations. Next, an alternative model of organization, the Maoist model, is presented. Then, recent social history of China is examined to see if the model has been implemented. Lastly, several generalizations about the routinization process are drawn from the Chinese case.     

A Study of French-English Relations in an Ontario Community: Towards a Conflict Model for the Analysis of Ethnic Relations*

En s'appuyant sur les écrits de Ralf Dahrendorf et de Lewis Coser, l'auteur voudrait créer un modèle analytique du conflit qui serait applicable à l'étude des relations ethniques. Le modèle en question s'établit à partir de données dont la cueillette se poursuit dans une commune ontarienne qui compte des Canadiens d'expression française et d'expression anglaise. L'auteur considère le conflit comme une composante structurelle, un résultat inévitable, de la division du pouvoir et du statut II propose des hypothéses au sujet des variations des manifestations conflictuell. es. II suggère son modéle comme une alternative à l'approche de l'étude des relations ethniques d'après la théorie dite cyclique des relations raciales.     

Community Economic Development Strategies in Rural Washington: Toward a Synthesis of Natural and Social Capital*

Abstract Routes to economic development attract considerable attention in community and rural sociology. Social scientists draw increasingly on studies of social capital and environmental surroundings as they examine the factors that facilitate and inhibit economic development. However, few empirical analyses exist that analyze the impact of the combination of social infrastructure and natural capital on different forms of economic development such as on industrial recruitment and self‐development. Using data collected from six communities in Washington State, the interaction of a community's social infrastructure and natural capital on industrial recruitment and self‐development efforts is examined. Results suggest that while natural capital positively impacts a community's successful recruitment of outside industries, it is not significant for a community's level of self‐development. However, a community's social infrastructure, measured by the existence of active civic organizations, local businesses that support local community projects, community‐wide fund‐raising capacity, and extra‐local linkages to nearby communities, state, and national agencies, positively affects both industrial recruitment and self‐development. These findings illustrate the need for communities and local activists to carefully weigh their advantages and potential shortcomings when deciding on an economic development strategy.