Durkheim's Response to Spencer: An Essay Toward Historicism in the Historiography of Sociology*

Merton has made an important distinction between the “history” any “systematics” of sociological theory, and outlined the valuable functions of the former. Most histories of sociology, however, have been “presetist” or “Whiggish” in perspective; we propose an “historicist” alternative. Within this perspective, Durkheim's response to Spencer is analyzed in three areas: (1) the relation between “individual” and “society;” (2) evolution and social change; and (3) the scope and method of sociology. In these areas, Durkheim's critical style reveals a repetitive theme which is termed “inversion.” The essay concludes by re-affirming Merton's distinction and urging that the “historicist” perspective is the most valid and useful approach to the history of sociology.     

Durkheim's Concept of Anomie: Some Observations*

Most interpretations of anornie emphasize the normative aspect. However, Durkheim viewed anomie as involving more than a lack of norms or a conflict of norms. Discussions in The Division of Labor in Society and Suicide show that according to Durkheim the primary threats to social solidarity in modern societies are weak or ineffective structural constraints on individualistic needs and desires. In modern industrialized societies the primary mode of social control is not a set of rules or norms, although they do have a cohesive function, but the development of solidary, interdependent social relationships among diverse individuals. Crucial in the development of solidary social relationships is the rate and nature of social change. For modern or modernizing societies the most important form of social change is industrialization. If industrialization is too rapid then the likelihood of social inequality, economic crises, and family disruption is greater. New and solidary forms of social relationships are not allowed to develop properly. This results in weak constraints on individualistic needs and desires that have been “excited” by the industrialization.     

Justice and the division of labour: a reconsideration of Durkheim's Division of Labour in Society*

Durkheim's Division of Labour in Society is re-evaluated in terms of its profound theoretical tensions. On the one hand, his analysis of an emergent organic solidarity assigns a central place to the values of individuality and justice, and articulates a critical methodology for determining their progressive realization. Justice becomes the overriding requirement of social evolution, and the condition for structural integration and normative legitimation. On the other hand, various empirical claims, as well as naturalistic and functionalist assumptions, allow for an overly easy, and quite un-Durkheimian, resolution of the problems posed by justice and individuality in a highly stratified division of labour. An attempt is made to understand how these profound tensions are sustained theoretically, and how Durkheim's own conception of the division of labour as socially interactive and morally constitutive can be rescued for a critical analysis committed to democratic and egalitarian reform.     

Durkheim's contribution to the sociological analysis of history

Emile Durkheim has long been viewed as one of the founders of the so-called variables-oriented approach to sociological investigation. This view ignores his considerable achievements using the methodology of “case-based” historical analysis, most prominent among them, his lectures on the history of French education (The Evolution of Educational Thought).In this paper I first outline the intimate relationship that Durkheim envisioned between historical and sociological investigation. I then turn to his work on French education for substantive illustrations of his approach. Finally, I explore certain points of intersection between Durkheim's approach to history and present-day concerns, especially in regard to the role of culture in history and the opposition between prospective and retrospective (“teleological”) strategies of historical analysis.     

Searching for the Starting Points of Scientific Inquiry: Durkheim's Rules of Sociological Method and Schopenhauer's Philosophy*

Durkheim's methodological classic is frequently read from Kantian, positivistic, or other Enlightenment contexts despite the fact that Durkheim criticizes these doctrines. Durkheim also tends to be read as a deductive analyst. Using Schopenhauer's philosophy as an alternative starting point in reading the Rules, it is demonstrated that Schopenhauer and Durkheim agree that perceptual, inductive knowledge of “things” is superior to conceptual, deductive knowledge; that causal explanations are merely phenomenal; and that the one, well-designed experiment is sufficient for the establishment of scientific laws. Durkheim's distinction between the normal and the pathological is also addressed in this context. The implications of Durkheim's focus on induction are discussed with regard to its similarity to the works of Claude Bernard, Florian Znaniecki, and Max Weber, as well as current epistemological crises in sociology.     

Treading Upon Separate Paths: Native American Ideology and Marxist Analysis*

Sociologists have paid much attention to the phenomenon of ideology. In particular, there have been numerous efforts to develop theories of ideology formation from a Marxist perspective. However, one finds that such efforts almost without exception deal with shared beliefs which are characteristic of western, industrial societies. Ideologies of so-called primitive societies, such as Native American tribes, remain largely neglected by Marxist analysis. This can be explained in large measure by the fact that Marxist analysis, with its emphasis on relations of production, is ill-equipped to deal with Native American beliefs. Relations of production are an appropriate focal point for explaining the ideology of the European, industrial tradition. They are not useful in accounting for Native American ideology, which must be viewed as landbased rather than production-based. Awareness of this difference leads to an appreciation of the influence of land and nature upon Native American thought.     

Ambivalence Toward Integration: the Sequence of Response to Six Interracial Situations*

White liberals (N=204) believing in integration and living in Los Angeles County expressed their attitudes toward six interracial situations: (1) busing in the schools for the purpose of ending de facto segregation; (2) the entrance of blacks into the respondents' occupational fields; (3) blacks moving into the respondents' neighborhoods; (4) the quota system as the basis for college admission for minorities; (5) rentals to blacks in white-occupied apartment buildings; and (6) hiring of blacks. A scalogram analysis indicates that the attitudes common to white liberals as a group form a systematic ordering of adherence to or retreat from anti-discriminatory principles, with the underlying dimension being the degree of attitudinal favorableness toward the situations and integration in general. We found a predictable pattern of complexity of attitudes toward the situations, with progression from the most difficult to the least difficult situation as follows: quota, busing, residence, apartment, hiring, and occupation. We reject a situational, direct threat hypothesis in favor of a general attitude hypothesis since retreats from anti-discriminatory beliefs follow a cumulative sequence, irrespective of the respondents' particular life circumstances or the nature of the specific situation. We conclude that the cultural definitions of the situations and the degree of clarity of emergent norms are primary factors determining attitudinal expressions which are consistent or inconsistent with a general belief in integration.     

The Therapist's Response to The Family's Aggression*

Within our own bodies our cells are constantly in a process of repair and disassemblage. It is this process of disassemblage which is the physical analog of psychological destructive ness. In some families, the primary interchanges are not aimed at encouraging constructive ness, and if the family is uncomfortable with this state of affairs they may seek professional help. If the counselor does nothing to relieve the anxiety engendered by their hostile interchanges, the family may view him as just one more discordant element in their unhappy system and leave him very quickly. They may take up the gauntlet with another counselor or they may go on to continue to engage in the process of feeding their energy into the perpetuation of a system which takes up so much of the family's energy that it permits the family to accomplish little else besides maintaining the status quo.     

Interim Response to a Mail Questionnaire: Impacts on Variable Relationships*

Nagging doubts continue on the utility of the mail questionnaire, although advances in this technique provide response rates of 70 percent or higher. Return bias, a factor in attacks on the mail questionnaire, has been depicted as a necessary evil of such magnitude that the technique should be abandoned. But few studies using mail questionnaires have examined the impact of interim response on variable relationships. To test for return bias, data are reported from 931 residents of five small Iowa communities. Four mail requests elicited a 78.2 percent completion rate; interviews were attempted with terminal mail nonrespondents, yielding a final response rate of 92.8 percent. In a statistical sense, only minor differences are evident on correlation coefficients and unstandardized regression coefficients for the first and second response waves compared with data accumulated for all respondents. But when substantive conclusions are examined, the impact of interim response does not subside until the first three response waves are accumulated. Thus, attention must be given to the potential influence of return bias in mail-questionnaire studies, but calls for discontinuing use of the technique are unwarranted.     

A Multi-Faceted Response to an Adolescent's School Failure*

A family-based, multi-system intervention is described as a response to three years of an adolescent's school failure. In a case study describing an unmotivated family, unmotivated school, and systems-oriented helpers, an intervention plan is developed that is directed toward improving the adolescent's school behavior and performance. Family therapy occurred concurrently with those interventions. A family-trained psycho educational consultant is employed to mediate between family and school to avoid disturbing the integrity of the therapists relationship with the family. Short-term effects of these procedures are described.     

Woman A buse in Dating Relationships: The Contribution of Male Peer Support*

The relationship between male peer support and premarital woman abuse is evaluated by integrating three bodies of knowledge, namely, woman abuse, social support, and reference others. Using data from a convenience sample of male undergraduate students, this study tests four hypotheses derived from a male peer support model. The findings support the model relating male peer group dynamics and woman abuse in university dating relationships.     

Delayed Stress Response Syndrome: Family Therapy Indications*

The paper draws upon the work of Mardi Horowitz and his colleagues in the explication of the delayed stress response syndrome. The syndrome is a form of chronic catastrophic stress disorder to be discussed in the new “Diagnostic and Statistical Manual.” The theoretical nature of the syndrome and its most characteristic symptoms are delineated within the context of treating Vietnam combat veterans. The paper outlines treatment implications within a family therapy program. Specific issues and procedures discussed include (a) diagnosis of the syndrome and the family pathology within which it is embedded, (b) identification of the particular family characteristics which tend to affect and be affected by the syndrome, and (c) the use of both the spouse and another survivor of the catastrophic event in the treatment program.     

On The Question of Developing a Sociology of the Canadian Family: A Methodological Statement*

Recently I had the opportunity of attending a special session of the “Sociology of Family” at the national meetings of our association. The chairman had arranged this session in part to discuss the means through which a “Sociology of the Canadian Family” could be developed fruitfully. To this end a select group of teachers and researchers in this field had been invited. Those present included some of the best known sociologists in the area of the family in Canada. After the chairman suggested arranging a seminar of national scope a really enthusiastic discussion followed which, in the manner of many discussions in this part of the world, was focused more on the periphery of the problem than on its centre. As a result the session ended inconclusively and in confusion.     

Symbolic Power and the Institutional Response to Rape: Uncovering the Cultural Dynamics of a Forensic Technology*

Dans plusieurs juridictions, la réponse médicolégal au viol est axée sur l'utilisation d'une des versions de ce qu'on appelle communément une « trousse de prélèvement dans les cas de viol >>. De telles trousses sont utilisées par des professionnels de la santé dans le but de recueillir des preuves corroborantes sur le corps des femmes victimes d'agression sexuelle. L'usage de cette trousse se fonde sur l'hypothèse qu'elle peut conduire à la production de preuves techniques sur la véracité de l'allégation d'une femme. Dans cette étude, nous nous sommes servies des données d'enquêtes, d'interviews et de recherches effectuées auprès des groupes cibles de professionnels spécialisés dans l'agression sexuelle en Ontario, pour étudier comment les interprétations et les valeurs sociétales dominantes et spécifiquement professionnelles peuvent se conjuguer à l'utilisation régulariséd de la trousse provinciale d'examen consécutif à une agression sexuelle pour preuves judiciaires.
Across many jurisdictions, the medico-legal response to rape is centred on the use of what is commonly known as a "rape kit." These are administered by health professionals to sexually assaulted women for the purpose of collecting corroborating evidence from their bodies. The assumption is that the use of this kit can lead to the production of technical facts about the truth of a woman's allegation. We drew on data from survey, interview and focus group research with sexual assault professionals in Ontario to explore how dominant societal and narrow profession-specific values and interpretations may be intertwined with the regularized use of the provincial Sexual Assault Evidence Kit.     

Retaining State Hegemony in Canada in the 1990s: Government Response to an Agricultural Disaster*

De nos jours, les analyses des mouvements sociaux au Canada portent surtout sur les moyens employés à l'intérieur des mouvements pour remettre en cause les pratiques hégémoniques de l'État dans le but de modifier les rapports de force. Par conséquent, on n'a pas accordé beaucoup d'attention aux moyens mis en ?euvre par l'État pour contenir ces mouvements et les canaliser dans des directions qui déterminent en grande partie les orientations qu'ils adoptent et, en dernière instance, leur réussite ou leur disparition. Dans cette communication, l'auteure examine un type d'intervention préventive de l'État à l'égard de groupes qui pourraient devenir de veritables mouvements sociaux, intervention qui consiste à les intégrer en en faisant à toutes fins utiles de simples groupes d'inte-rêts. Elle illustre son propos en présentant un cas dans l'Île-du-Prince-Édouard, où l'État a réussi à empêcher un mouvement social potentiel de prendre forme. Current analyses of social movements in Canada focus primarily on the internal methods by which state hegemonic practices are challenged in an attempt to transform the relations of power. As a result, little attention is given to the methods by which the state increasingly constrains and channels social movements into particular directions that are crucial to the direction and ultimate success, or demise, of social movements. This paper looks at one way in which the state now intervenes to pre-empt antagonistic groups that have the potential to become full social movements, by co-opting them into little more than interest groups. Specifically, this paper attempts to show how the state successfully prevented a potential social movement on Prince Edward Island from reaching fruition.