An Analysis of Suicide Rates among Occupational Categories

The correlation between the NORC prestige scale of 1947 with 1950 suicide rates is extremely low for thirty-six specific occupations. The low correlation calls into question the findings of previous studies which employed gross occupational categories and impressionistic prestige rankings. The results indicate that client dependency and two multivariate models, status inconsistency and distributive justice, deserve further exploration in predicting suicide rates for occupations.     

Interorganizational Power in a Canadian Community: a Replication

The Perrucci and Pilisuk community power study of a medium-sized midwestern U. S. city is replicated on a small Prairie Canadian resort town. The interorganizational basis for power, derived from overlapping executive memberships, is the perspective followed in both studies. Essentially the same results are found in both places. A well-defined elite structure exists capable of mobilizing interorganizational power resources.     

Concession bargaining and unions: Impacts and implications

The characteristics of concession bargaining relating to management behavior, information disclosure, intraunion activity, and union member attitudes are formulated and briefly described, followed by an exploration of the impact of the experience on and the implications for unions. The analysis suggests that union solidarity, union leader credibility, and union effectiveness have been negatively affected. Concession bargaining appears to lead to more difficulty in administering unions, a further decline in union image, an emphasis on adversarial relations with management, and the potential use of new tactics in collective bargaining. The authors express appreciation to Dr. Donald McPherson, Dr. Antone Aboud, and Commissioner Joseph Biondo, FMCS, for helpful comments.     

Individual Reactions to Organizational Conflict and Change*

When familiar organizational relationships are drastically changed, it is important to know what factors influence individuals in their attempts to re-establish stable work associations for themselves. In the situation described here, an organizational division (which was not administratively planned) made it necessary for individuals to decide whether to remain in their original jobs, move to a similar new organization created by a splinter group, or leave altogether. Eight hypotheses are tested which examine the effects of three sets of influences on individual decisions: psychological influences (job satisfaction, job tension); relational influences (social rewards, social costs, status consistency); and extra-organizational influences (marital status, professional committment, community involvement). Of the variables examined, the strongest influence is attributed to attempts by individuals to preserve their rewarding social exchanges with other members. The implications of these findings for social exchange theory are emphasized.     

Race,SES Contexts and Fulfillment of College Aspirations*

The differential effects of social contexts and race on educational behavior are examined in terms of a causal process model. Based on data from San Diego, the role of social contexts are found to be important through a causal process in which SES contexts affect personal characteristics which, in turn, influence educational aspirations and attainment. Utilizing both correlational and tabular techniques, the basic model holds for all racial (ethnic) groups; however, race does affect the level of the individual variables. The findings from this study suggest that the importance of SES contexts are mediated by race and contingent upon the common relations of these contexts and educational behavior to individual characteristics.