White Sociologists and Black Students in Predominantly White Universities*

This article examines the attitudes of white soclologists and black students in predominantly white colleges and universities in all geographic regions of the country. Respective attitudes are at sharp variance and produce several kinds of conflict behavior. The personal and professional crises experienced by white sociologists when challenged by black students are described, along with the principal grievances of black students against social scientists in the race relations field. Also examined are structural and organizational changes in sociology and in the academic institutions resulting from a particular form of black-white conflict. Attention is given to black-Jewish conflict in sociology as well as to the distinctiveness of black-white relations in Southern colleges and universities.     

Effects of alcohol on the nonverbal communication of anxiety: The impact of beliefs on nonverbal behavior

Three male and three female raters were shown videotapes of 29 male subjects who were speaking to a silent female confederate. Raters were asked to make 10 judgments about the subjects' behavior. The subjects had been assigned to one of two expectancy conditions in which they were led to believe the drink they consumed prior to meeting the confederate contained alcohol and tonic or tonic only. Actually, half of the subjects in each expectancy condition received alcohol and half received tonic only. Judgments of the female raters viewing the videotapes were congruent with physiological measures of the subjects' anxiety. Those subjects who believed they received alcohol were perceived by female raters as more relaxed, less anxious, less inhibited, and more dominant than subjects who believed they received tonic. The actual content of the drink had no significant effects on the raters' judgements of the subjects' behavior. Male raters were unable to discriminate among the experimental conditions. Implications for possible gender of rater effects in behavioral assessment procedures as well as for the impact of beliefs on nonverbal communication are discussed.     

Whose attitudes to which aspects of work? or Cool media for high participation

Current approaches to the assessment of job attitudes—for use in job redesign—seem to centre upon the importance of job characteristics, such as those within the Job Characteristics Model. Data collection is largely through well-founded, repeatable, formal questionnaires. It is argued that a broader, ergonomics perspective is required, stressing the importance of job holders' attitudes to the technology being used, the physical environment and workplace, and procedures in support of work, such as training. Furthermore, if we wish to promote the participation of those whose work is being redesigned, the traditional and scientifically respectable questionnaire may not be the correct instrument. Data gathered by means of informal semi-structured discussion may better reflect the concerns and priorities of the people doing the work. Perhaps, to paraphrase Marshall McLuhan, formal job attitude instruments used alone are 'hot media', in the sense of being well-filled with data but low in participation. Informal discussion methods could be seen then as a 'cool medium', high in participation or completion by the audience (McLuhan 1964, pp. 22-23).     

Small Parts Aspiration, Ingestion, and Choking in Small Children: Findings of the Small Parts Research Project

Obtaining information on current child injury trends and their associated issues is an important factor in developing products that meet or surpass acceptable toy safety boundaries. Understanding these boundaries helps determine safe product design characteristics that reduce the risk of product-related injury. Inchcape Testing Services developed a Small Parts Aspiration, Ingestion, and Choking Hazards Research Project, independent of an ongoing consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) project. The project's purpose was to determine, independent of CPSC, whether a more stringent small parts regulatory standard was necessary and, if so, to ensure that the standard was determined objectively. This article reports on the project's findings relating to critical characteristics (size, shape, and consistency) relative to the victim's age, of objects responsible for child choking injuries and fatalities.     

The strategic challenges of cooperation and competition in British Voluntary Organizations: Toward the next century

The interrelationships between public, private, and voluntary sectors in Britain have witnessed increasing levels of change in recent years. This article argues that there have recently been identifiable trends within the voluntary sector, namely, increased levels of competition between sectors, increased competition between voluntary organizations, and increased pressures toward professionalization in voluntary sector management and organization. Predominantly competitive strategies and modes of professionalization have often been borrowed uncritically from commercial “best practice” by voluntary organizations. Thompson's (1967) typology of strategies is used as a basis for proposing cooperation as an alternative to competition in the British voluntary sector.     

Scaling the prestige,authority, and income potential of college curricula

This paper develops the concept of “targeted education,” a theoretical ranking of college curricula, into a multidimensional framework. The new scales, based on the traditional stratification dimensions, prestige, authority, and income, are then used in a study of sex differences in the process of occupational achievement among men and women with college degrees. The targeted education scales predict occupational prestige and wages 7 years after the college degree, and they point out interesting differences between male and female attainment processes. In general, targeted education has a greater quantitative impact for men's occupational outcomes than for women's prestige and income, but results also suggest significant qualitative differences between men and women. A large proportion of women target their education toward, and end up in, an under-employed labor pool for the primary and secondary school system.     

Female harassment after ending a relationship: A preliminary study

While dramatic instances of male aggression directed toward women, such as rape and wife battering, have been frequently studied, a more subtle form of male aggression—female harassment—has been investigated less often. In the present study, 50 women who had terminated relationships with males and then were harassed were interviewed. In general, the harassment lasted for about a year, and episodes which occurred on a daily basis consisted of calls, letters, visits to home or work, being followed, verbal threats, and physical aggression. For the most part, these aggressive actions were perceived as both threatening and disturbing. Findings indicated that assertive female strategies were not more effective in reducing harassment than more sex-role stereotyped passive and nonassertive responses to male aggression. In the second phase of this study a sample of college undergraduates was interviewed on the topic of harassment. Fifty-six percent of the women indicated that they had been harassed by men.My thanks to Lyn De Amicis and LaVome Robinson for their instructive and helpful comments.