Literary politics and the Champ of French sociology

Conclusion Certainly it cannot be claimed that French sociology has definitive answers to the problems besetting sociologies everywhere. What can be claimed is that among those sociologies outside the strict and direct domination of American sociology, France's is one of the most interesting. Having avoided the Scylla of mimicking American empiricism and the Charybdis of philosophical devolution, French sociology stands as a small but coherent body of research, the quality of which is frequently very high. Stylistically, its example of theoretical inventiveness and scope is well worth our while. Substantively, its consideration of such topics as inequality, critique, practice, structural analysis, social change, control, and the State, among others, deserves international attention. Those sociologies, such as the American, which have just lately discovered the full significance of certain of these topics would do well to heed the example of the French who, by virtue of intellectual heritage and political-economic curcumstance, have long seen them as central. If the French do not give answers, they do give questions and, more than this, they offer the witness of their situation-bound solutions. The only positive thing I can, for the moment, think to say of the spread of international capitalism is that it has at least made national circumstances less determinant. As the present fiscal crisis deepens and as the control of national ruling classes gives way to the hegemony of international money interests, whatever differences separate others from the French will become even less important: hence, a reason to transcend sociological provincialism.     

The decision to add a second system producer

Typically in the United States only one contractor (the developer or first producer) makes a weapon system because it is too expensive or for some other reason infeasible to develop a second source. Congress and higher headquarters are constantly challenging the Armed Services to add other sources who can competitively make their systems. This paper describes a method of analyzing this complex problem which often has very large monetary and other significant impacts. Procedures and a case study are presented which consider cost and other criteria which might be used to make the second source decision.     

HERBERT BLUMER: A PILGRIMAGE WITH PRAGMATISM

This article is an examination of Herbert Blumer's lifelong effort to perpetuate pragmatism raises serious questions about the future of the social sciences. He tried, through critical analyses, to tell social scientists how to make their fields scientific. Opposition to this effort was overwhelming and eventually weakened his own perspective and thus his influence in the discipline. The story of Blumer provides several lessons for future social scientists. It is intended that these lessons to be useful to those who still believe in a scientific social science.     

Writing wrongs in sociology

Sociological Forum -     

Life Cycle Changes and Criminal Propensity*

The relationship between age and self-reported propensity toward criminal behavior is investigated among a large survey sample, and an attempt is made to explain the observed variations. Results indicate a clear negative relationship between age and criminal propensity which is in part attributed to generational differences and partly to life cycle changes. Efforts to account for the association show this relationship to be exceptionally stable and resistant to explanation. Nevertheless analysis suggests complex interactions among several variables as the appropriate explanation.