NATIONALITY AND PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITY CORRELATES AMONG SOCIAL SCIENTISTS: DATA BEARING ON CONVENTIONAL WISDOMS*

L'analyse de données provenant d'une enquête récente de la SCSA sur les sociologues et anthropologics canadiens sert d'arrière plan pour examiner les affirmations qui surgissent à l'occasion de discussions sur la nature de l'américanisation du corps professoral dans les universités canadiennes. On étudie les similaritcs et les differences entre les sociologues américains et les sociologues canadiens d'expression anglaise dans le but d'établir l'éventail des formations professionnelles et les caractéristiques de l'activité professionnelle. Le concept de «nationalité» est opérationalisé en utilisant les dimensions de lieu de naissance, citoyenneté, et milieux scolaires où le baccalauréat et le grade le plus élevé ont été obtenus. On dresse plusieurs comparaisons entre ceux qui peuvent être définis comme étant « purs » américains à partir de trois ou quatre critères reliès à la nationalité. Analysis of data from a recent CSAA survey of sociologists and anthropologists is offered to provide perspective on propositions raised in current debates on the nature of Americanization of academe in this country. Similarities and differences between American and English-Canadian sociologists are explored for a range of professional background and professional activity characteristics. Nationality is operationalized in terms of birthplace, citizenship, and places of BA and highest degrees. Comparisons are also made for “pure” Canadians and “pure” Americans defined in terms of three and four criteria of nationality and for Canadian- and American-born sociologists controlling for highest degree.     

Constitutional Philosophy,Pragmatism, and Economic Regulation*

This article explores the various senses in which the framers of the Constitution were motivated by a pragmatist philosophical framework, and how this pragmatism influenced their vision of the best interests of the American economic system. We argue that, on various grounds, the framers would have disapproved of the excessive regulation that characterizes the current business environment.     

A TEST FOR THE DETECTION OF A POISSON PROCESS

A statistical test is presented to detect the presence of a Poisson input source into a queueing system. The fact that the arrival times of a Poisson input source are distributed independently and uniformly over time is used in conjunction with the central limit theorem to develop a test, based on the sum of the arrival times over a given interval of time, for the hypothesis that an input source into a queueing system is Poisson. Failure to reject this hypothesis gives one an extra degree of assurance that traditional queueing models assuming a Poisson input are applicable.     

AN ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF RIOT PARTICIPATION

This paper examines the behavior of riot participants in the context of an expected utility maximization model. The basic hypothesis is that a riot presents the participants with a constantly changing set of opportunities, and that their behavior can only be understood in light of these changing returns and costs. The model is tested using data collected by the National Advisory Committee on Civil Disorders. The results are consistent with the hypothesis of maximizing behavior.     

MINIMUM WAGE EFFECTS WITH OUTPUT STABILIZATION

What are the effects of legal minimum wage rates on the U.S. economy? Does minimum wage legislation promote the economic self-interest of high wage union labor and impede the economic self-interest of capitalists as our earlier research [Cox and Oaxaca 1982] suggested? This paper uses a nine sector econometric/simulation model of U.S. industry from 1975–1978 to answer these questions in the context of stabilization policies which hold aggregate real output constant. While most simulated percentage effects are small, those for the unskilled workers themselves are not. A 15.7 percent increase in the average nominal wage rate of unskilled labor, as a result of minimum wage legislation, produced an 11 percent decrease in unskilled employment, 2.2 million jobs lost, while increasing the real wage of unskilled workers by 15 percent. Simulated changes in several key variables support our earlier observations that the self-interests of labor unions, with skilled workers, conflict with those of capitalists over the issue of minimum wage legislation.     

RACE PREJUDICE AND RACISM: A DISTINCTION

Jusqu'à tout récemment, les auteurs n'essayaient pas de clarifier la difference entre les notions de racisme et de préjudice racial. Les deux expressions sont souvent interchangées. Comme l'ont indiqué certains critiques, les idées de racisme et de préjudice racial ne sont pas les mêmes. Afin de distinguer entre ces deux topiques, l'hypothèse qu'il n'existe pas de relation entre les mesures empiriques des deux idées a été mise a l'épreuve. On s'est servi de mesures autonomes pour définir enfin la dimension affective concernant l'attitude du préjudice racial. Les conclusions suggèrent que les deux idées ne sont pas étroitement reliées quand elles sont mesurées par des questions-type Likert. Toutefois, ces mêmes idées sont étroitement reliées quand elles sont mesurées par des indicateurs autonomes d'éveillement affectif.
Until recently authors have made little attempt at clarifying the differences between the concepts of racism and race prejudice. The two terms have often been used interchangeably. As a few contemporary critics have pointed out, the concepts of racism and race prejudice may not be the same. In order to distinguish between racism and race prejudice, the hypothesis that there is no relationship between empirical measures of the two concepts was tested. Autonomic measures were used to operationally define the affective dimension of the attitude: race prejudice. Findings suggest that the two concepts are not closely associated when measured by Likert-type questions, but closely associated when measured by autonomic indicators of affective arousal.