Social interaction distance and stratification

There have been calls from several sources recently for a renewal of class analysis that would encompass social and cultural, as well as economic elements. This paper explores a tradition in stratification that is founded on this idea: relational or social distance approaches to mapping hierarchy and inequality which theorize stratification as a social space. The idea of 'social space' is not treated as a metaphor of hierarchy nor is the nature of the structure determined a priori. Rather, the space is identified by mapping social interactions. Exploring the nature of social space involves mapping the network of social interaction--patterns of friendship, partnership and cultural similarity--which gives rise to relations of social closeness and distance. Differential association has long been seen as the basis of hierarchy, but the usual approach is first to define a structure composed of a set of groups and then to investigate social interaction between them. Social distance approaches reverse this, using patterns of interaction to determine the nature of the structure. Differential association can be seen as a way of defining proximity within a social space, from the distances between social groups, or between social groups and social objects (such as lifestyle items). The paper demonstrates how the very different starting point of social distance approaches also leads to strikingly different theoretical conclusions about the nature of stratification and inequality.     

Educational experiences and aspirations of older youth in foster care

This study documents the school experiences of 262 youth referred for independent-living preparation from the foster care system of one midwestern U.S. county. Of the youth, 73% had been suspended at least once since the seventh grade, and 16% had been expelled. In the past year, 58% had failed a class, and 29% had physical fights with students. Yet the group reported high educational aspirations: 70% wanted to attend college. Those in congregate care and family settings often had school behavior problems. The results support the need for a system of education advocates who work to maintain proper education placements for youth in foster care and help them receive the academic resources they need to graduate from high school and proceed to college.     

What do effective teachers of inner-city children have in common?

This paper investigates the extent to which variables describing the classroom behavior of teachers and variables describing teachers' backgrounds and training explain differences in the effectiveness of teachers in improving the vocabulary skills of inner-city black children in four elementary grade levels. The results indicate that both types of variables explain significant portions of the variation in student achievement. In other words, teachers' choices of techniques matter; and the characteristics of teachers provide some information about their effectiveness. However, the pattern of results indicates that great care must be taken in interpreting individual coefficients. The paper concludes with an interpretation of the results and with suggestions for new directions for research on teaching that follow from this interpretation.     

The teaching-family model: Research and dissemination in a service program

The Teaching-Family Model serves as an example of how research can be used as feedback to change a residential treatment program for youths. Further, research can serve to modify training and evaluation of the program as well. The feedback loop established by continual research and evaluation serves to improve program quality, thus facilitating dissemination as the model is adopted by more agencies.From 1967 to 1980, the Teaching-Family Model expanded from one group home in Kansas to more than 150 homes across the United States. Through both successes and failures, proponents of the Teaching-Family Model learned that research and evaluation can and must be a part of the treatment delivery system rather than an occasional adjunct.     

THE CLIENT'S INTERVIEW OF THE THERAPIST

This paper presents a framework for thinking about interactions between client and therapist systems in terms of the participants' personal explanatory systems and models of reality. The therapist's contribution to forming structures throughout the therapy is examined. The elements of a covert interview of the therapist performed by the client system are described. A model is presented for training therapists to think systemically about client/therapist fit in the context of the client's interview. A case presentation illustrates the value of the interview.