Pitirim A. Sorokin's Integralism and Public Sociology

Major features of the thought of Pitirim A. Sorokin are related to Michael Burawoy's four forms of sociology. The article develops the theme that Sorokin's system of sociology makes major contributions to identifying standards of excellence for professional, critical, policy, and public sociology and for their interrelationships. Sorokin's integral ontology and epistemology are described and identified as sources of the distinctive characteristics of his system of thought.     

Public Attributions for Poverty in Canada*

Les auteurs de cet article décrivent les caractéristiques sociales de la pauvreté en utilisant des données d'interviews téléphoniques effectuées en 2002 au moyen d'un échantillon aléatoire d'adultes sélectionnéà partir de huit voisinages à Toronto et Edmonton, enrichi par des données d'interviews. Une régression logistique multivariée a été utilisée afin de prédire l'attribution des caractéristiques structurelles, individualistes, intergénérationnelles et fatalistes à la pauvreté, en se servant de variables démographiques et de la variable exposition à la pauvreté. Les participants étaient plus susceptibles d'expliquer la pauvreté par des causes structurelles et moins susceptibles de favoriser une explication individualiste. Le revenu a été associé négativement à des déterminants individualistes, fatalistes et à une des causes structurelles, et lié positivement au facteur intergénérationnel.
This paper describes public attributions for poverty using data from telephone interviews conducted in 2002 with a random sample of adults from eight neighbourhoods in Toronto and Edmonton, supplemented with interview data. Multivariate logistic regression was used to predict support for structural, individualistic, intergenerational and fatalistic attributions for poverty by demographic and exposure-to-poverty variables. Participants were most likely to attribute poverty to structural causes and least likely to favour individualistic attributions. Income was negatively associated with individualistic, fatalistic and one of the structural attributions, and positively related to the intergenerational attribution.     

USING PAID ADVERTISING TO MODIFY RACIAL STEREOTYPE BELIEFS

This is a pilot study to determine the feasibility of usingmass media to modify beliefs underlying discrimination againstAborigines in a small country town in Australia. A mass mediacampaign was developed utilizing primarily paid advertising.The 2-week campaign centered around the concept of an Aboriginalemployment week, ostensibly designed to encourage Aboriginesto seek employment and, at the same time, to encourage the communityin general (including employers) to give Aborigines seekingemployment "a fair go." However, a major aim of the campaignwas an attempt to neutralize some of the negative beliefs aboutAborigines and employment. The specific stereotypical beliefstargeted with respect to Aboriginal employment were: (1) veryfew Aborigines hold jobs; (2) most Aborigines who hold jobshold them for a very brief period of time; and (3) most Aborigineswho do hold jobs hold unskilled rather than semi-skilled orskilled positions. These beliefs were targeted because qualitativeresearch revealed that they formed the basis for the more evaluativebeliefs that Aborigines are lazy, irresponsible, and unreliableand that it is these evaluative beliefs that inhibit Aboriginalemployment. A pre-post independent samples design was used.The results showed significant changes in beliefs about theproportion of Aborigines in paid employment and in the proportionof employed Aborigines remaining in a job for an extended periodof time.     

Public definitions of crime problems and functionalist processes: a reassessment

La théorie fonctionnaliste permet deux interprétations de ?impact de la criminalité sur ?ordre social. Cet article tentera de les réconcilier. La première interprétation, basée sur les travaux de Durkheim et de Mead, prête un caractère fonctionnel à cet impact. Des travaux plus récents, par contre, mettent ?accent sur la désunion qui résulte de la criminalité. J'utilise ici les données du Vancouver Urban Survey pour analyser pour quels publics sont valables des définitons de crime en tant que problème personnel ou problème public. J'analyse done diverses réponses à la criminalité, qui la définissent alternativement en termes privés ou publics, et je suggère que chaque définition peut être valable pour des segments de la population différentiés. De tels résultats appellent la remise en quesiton des postulats fondamentaux sur lesquels les approches fonctionnalistes reposent. Functionalist theory has provided two distinct interpretations of the implications which crime has for patterns of social order. The first which is derived from the writings of Durkheim and Mead emphasizes the functional character of these implications while more recent viewpoints have stressed their divisive nature. An attempt is made to reconcile these positions through an examination of coping strategies that suggest definitions of crime as a private trouble and as a public issue. Employing data from the Vancouver Urban Survey, the interrelationship between these dimensions is examined and an attempt is made to describe the publics for whom particular definitions of the crime problem are salient. The analysis suggests that both definitions may be correct but for different segments of the population. This resolution, it is argued, may require a reconsideration of the basic assumptions upon which functionalist approaches are predicated.