Max Weber Today: Notes on the Problem of Objectivity in the Social Sciences

Abstract

Weber demonstrated that the conception of objective scientific knowledge in any sense of any empirical subject matter, is indissoluably bound up with the reality both of the normative aspect of action and of obstacles to the realization of norms. Science itself cannot be methodologically grounded without reference to the value element in the relation of wertbeziehung (Parsons, 1949:683).     

The Perception of Societal Models of Power Distribution by Recent Male College Graduates

Abstract

This study examines the perception of power among young adult males. A sampleof 1971 male graduates of a state university were asked in 1974 to choose from among pluralistic and elitist models of power in the U.S. The correlates of the various perceptions of power were elaborated using political attitudes, degree of political activism, change in political beliefs, locus of control, and status inconsistency. The findings were that: (1) the respondents tended to perceive an elitist model, although they preferred a pluralist model; and (2) those most likely to perceive power in elitist terms were activists, those with changed political beliefs, those most status inconsistent, and those with external locus of control.     

A life satisfaction scale for use with national adult samples from the USA,Canada and Mexico

This paper describes the steps we took to develop a measure of life satisfaction which appears useful for analyses of adult sample survey data from the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Our procedure is factor analysis, and our data are drawn from the 1981–82 and 1991–92 World Values Surveys conducted in the three countries. The result is a six-variable composite measure which meets the following conditions: the constituent items have face validity, the factor structure is similar across countries and also across sub-groups within countries, the factor structure is also similar in 1981–82 and 1991–92, and the factor score based on these structures is highly correlated with variables that are customarily good predictors of life satisfaction and happiness. On the basis of these results, we will be confident in using the life satisfaction measure for future multivariate analyses of the data base aimed at explaining variation in satisfaction. For the same reasons, we would recommend the life satisfaction measure for others' research with the rich World Values Surveys data base.     

Race,gender, and marriage: destination selection during the great migration

Using historical census microdata, we present a unique analysis of racial and gender disparities in destination selection and an exploration of hypotheses regarding tied migration in the historical context of the Great Migration. Black migrants were more likely to move to metropolitan areas and central cities throughout the period, while white migrants were more likely to locate in nonmetropolitan and farm destinations. Gender differences were largely dependent on marital status. Consistent with the "tied-migration" thesis, married women had destination outcomes that were similar to those of men, whereas single women had a greater propensity to reside in metropolitan locations where economic opportunities for women were more plentiful.     

Health of Carers of Young People with Early Psychosis: A Biopsychosocial Approach

Despite widespread recognition of the usefulness of a biopsychosocial approach in social work, there are limited studies exploring how social workers can use this approach to support the health and wellbeing of carers of young people with first episode psychosis (FEP). Validated questionnaires and anthropometric measures were used to assess the physical health and wellbeing of 42 carers of young people with FEP. Carers had moderate levels of negative caregiving consequences, quality of life, and health status. More than half (52.4%) of carers were experiencing social isolation. Many carers were overweight (78.6%), had a high risk for type 2 diabetes (39.0%), and had hypertension (33.3%). Practical implications of a biopsychosocial approach to social work that supports both clients and their carers are discussed.     

HARD DRUGS IN A SOFT CONTEXT:

This paper presents ethnographic data on the social world of a group of four college-student crack-cocaine users. A comparative theory of modes of crack using is developed, grounded in strategic comparisons among these data and previously published accounts of the lives of impoverished "street" users. Two social-organizational conditions shielded the campus users from the kinds of crack-related trouble observed in other settings: the security of their social, economic, and physical environment and the boundedness of the spheres of their social lives. Additionally, two related ways of understanding crack served to limit trouble: orienting to crack as a social object to be used only in leisure rituals and the understanding that crack should not impinge on spheres of life outside the using group.     

The dialectics of open versus closed adoption of infants

The controversy concerning open versus closed adoption is mired in theoretical dialectics and cannot be resolved without longitudinal research. Adoptive parents and biological parents should be given the choice of participating in open or closed adoptions.     

Endorsement of Agrarian Ideology and Adherence to Agricultural Paradigms1

Abstract Despite the fact that groups of alternative and conventional agriculturalists do not differ in their overall scores on an agrarianism scale, their responses do differ significandy on several of the agrarianism items and on the items related to agrarianism from a scale designed to assess competing agricultural paradigms. This suggests that there are differences in these groups' agrarian ideologies even though their overall scores on the agrarianism scale are nearly identical. Although divergent agricultural groups support agrarian ideals such as family farms and the farm way of life, the way in which these groups conceptualize and would achieve these ideals appear to be different. Consequendy, the relatively generic items typically used to analyze agrarianism fail to capture the differences in the agrarian ideologies of competing agricultural groups. The need to reconceptualize agrarianism so as to make it more meaningful to contemporary agriculture is discussed.     

The multiethnic placement act: Implications for social work practice

The issue of transracial adoption has been a controversial issue in foster care and adoption placement decisions. In 1994, the 104th Congress passed the Multiethnic Placement Act (MEPA), forbidding agencies receiving federal funds from solely considering race, culture, and ethnicity in making foster care and adoption placement decisions. Congress mandated that the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) develop policy guidelines for child placement agencies to follow. In April 1995, DHHS issued the guidelines that agencies were to follow. The authors of the paper discuss the MEPA, DHHS's policy guidelines for agencies and the guidelines' legal support, and the implications for social work practice in foster care and adoption placements.