Altruism and social solidarity: Envisioning a field of specialization

Conclusion This article has presented a vision of what a field of altruism and social solidarity could potentially involve. An additional perspective on the nature of this field and how it could contribute to the discipline and to society is provided by the science of psychology. In the last decade a fundamental new orientation has developed in this discipline, growing from the pioneering work of Martin E.P. Seligman. Generally identified as “positive psychology” it represents a shift from a focus on trying to understand and find solutions to mental illness and various pathologies of thought and behavior in a “disease model” to a focus on human strengths, virtues, and other positive characteristics. This shift in focus is regarded as making a direct contribution to understanding what is best in human emotions and traits and how society can support the psychological flourishing of individuals. This new perspective in turn provides increased awareness of how the problems studied in the disease model can more effectively be prevented (Seligman, 2003, 2005). The importance of this focus on the positive for sociology and a call to action is stated by Seligman (2003): The third pillar of positive psychology is the study of positive institutions and positive communities.     

Demographic characteristics and shared values

This study investigated the extent to which person-organization values alignment is affected by demographic variables (e.g., gender, age, educational level, marital status, family status, hierarchical level, years of managerial experience, and organizational size) across a wide variety of organizations. Values alignment, using two separate measures, was directly related to positive work attitudes and this relationship was moderated by several respondent characteristics. The potential impact of organizational acculturation is proposed as minimizing the impact of demographic factors within organizations.     

How should sociologists treat Becker'sTreatise on the Family?

Sociological Forum -     

THE RECOVERY OF MASADA: A STUDY IN COLLECTIVE MEMORY*

The battle of Masada in 73 A. D. was one of the least significant and least successful events in ancient Jewish history. Our concern is to understand why, after almost two thousand years of obscurity, this event was suddenly remembered and commemorated by Palestinian Jews. Precipitating the 1927 recovery of Masada was the appearance of a very popular poem which used the ancient battle as an allegory of the Jewish settlers' struggle. By restoring this poem to its social context, and by analyzing both in terms of George Herbert Mead's theory of symbolically reconstructed pasts, this article explains the modern appeal of Masada, then brings it to bear on our general knowledge of collective memory.     

INTEGRATING INDIVIDUAL AND SYSTEMS APPROACHES: STRATEGIC-BEHAVIORAL THERAPY

The existing literature on the integration of family and individual approaches, largely analytic in orientation, consists of models which, for the most part, are not brief in application. An alternative, brief model is presented which integrates an individual, cognitive-behavioral approach with a strategic approach at both pragmatic and theoretical levels. The Strategic-Behavioral model justifies the selective use of behavioral frames in strategic therapy and offers guidelines for their selective application.