Some Issues of Particular Concern to Sociologists As Academic Administrators

As a sociologist who has served in deanships and other university administrative positions in the past 15 years, the author has been particularly concerned with race/class/gender issues in academia. This paper identified some of the issues and discussed the relevance of sociological training in addressing them.     

Forgetting the founders*

The inability, or unwillingness, of 20^th‐century sociologists to move beyond the agenda bequeathed by Marx, Weber, and Durkheim is remarkable in view not only of the now outdated presuppositions shared by all three but of the increasing likelihood that the more important influence on the human behavioural sciences in the 21^st century will turn out to be Darwin's. Not only has the coming together of evolutionary theory, population genetics, and molecular biology shown that significantly more of human behaviour can be explained by the theory of natural selection than was previously recognized, but non‐reductionist explanations of cultural and social evolution from within a neo‐Darwinian paradigm can be framed in terms no longer vulnerable to the criticisms previously levelled against the application to sociology of Darwin's original insight about ‘descent with modification’.     

Estimating Contaminant Dose for Intermittent Dermal Contact: Model Development, Testing, and Application

Assessments of aggregate exposure to pesticides and other surface contamination in residential environments are often driven by assumptions about dermal contacts. Accurately predicting cumulative doses from realistic skin contact scenarios requires characterization of exposure scenarios, skin surface loading and unloading rates, and contaminant movement through the epidermis. In this article we (1) develop and test a finite-difference model of contaminant transport through the epidermis; (2) develop archetypal exposure scenarios based on behavioral data to estimate characteristic loading and unloading rates; and (3) quantify 24-hour accumulation below the epidermis by applying a Monte Carlo simulation of these archetypal exposure scenarios. The numerical model, called Transient Transport through the epiDERMis (TTDERM), allows us to account for variable exposure times and time between exposures, temporal and spatial variations in skin and compound properties, and uncertainty in model parameters. Using TTDERM we investigate the use of a macro-activity parameter (cumulative contact time) for predicting daily (24-hour) integrated uptake of pesticides during complex exposure scenarios. For characteristic child behaviors and hand loading and unloading rates, we find that a power law represents the relationship between cumulative contact time and cumulative mass transport through the skin. With almost no loss of reliability, this simple relationship can be used in place of the more complex micro-activity simulations that require activity data on one- to five-minute intervals. The methods developed in this study can be used to guide dermal exposure model refinements and exposure measurement study design.     

Prayer in Public Schools: When Church and State Collide

Prayer and Bible reading in public schools have led to threemajor Supreme Court decisions and the introduction of numerousconstitutional amendments in the U.S. Congress which would permitvoluntary prayer in public schools or limit federal court jurisdiction.Public opinion polls beginning in 1964 have suggested widespreadsupport among the American public for prayer in public schools.Little is known, however, concerning the characteristics ofthose supporting and opposing prayer in public schools. Thisarticle addresses the school prayer issue through an analysisof three national surveys which were conducted in 1974. 1980.and 1982. Those favoring school prayer were found to be older,less educated, and socially, politically, and religiously conservative.Multivariate analysis revealed that the key predictor variableswere religious orthodoxy and religious salience, a finding whichmay stem from the observation that school prayer is both a politicaland a religious issue. Issue salience, congressional votingdecisions, and demographic characteristics of school prayeradvocates are considered as possible explanations for the failureof Congress to act in accord with public opinion.