Sociological interest in psychoanalytic thought, which began early in this century, has thus far emphasized the implications of Sigmund Freud's clinical discoveries. However, beginning in 1912, Freud produced a series of works which addressed social themes. These works included Totem and Taboo, Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego, The Future of an Illusion, Civilization and its Discontents, and Moses and Monotheism, as well as a number of papers dealing with social themes. This study began with a review of the social and intellectual influences on Freud's life and thought. Then a content analysis of Freud's social writings, identified above, was undertaken, to assess the significance for contemporary social theory of Freud's social thought. Categories for analysis were constructed: Society: Social Origins, Social Control and Social Change; Social Groups; the Family; Religion. Freud's ideas concerning these social categories and social institutions were explicated and an assessment of Freud as a social theorist was undertaken.

This descriptive study of 45 multi-generational families contributes empirical knowledge about grandparent-grandchild relationships. A questionnaire was developed and completed by 74 subjects who were part of a randomly selected sample taken from a tax roll of homeowners over age 65 in Denton County, Texas. The responses provide information which expands the existing data base in the area of grandparenting. The study pinpoints areas in the grandparenting literature which need refinement and contributes data to those areas, rather than producing a set of conclusions. Areas as yet undocumented or inadequately documented in the literature are identified as the following: (a) family structural composition; (b) grandparents' personal characteristics; (c) selected aspects of grandparent-grandchild contact; and (d) satisfaction with the grandparent role. Data for these areas should help reveal factors having an impact on grandparent-grandchild relationships. A base for further investigation in these areas is established, and data are also analyzed to determine satisfaction or lack of satisfaction with grandparenting. The seventy-four subjects, from 45 households, included 44 grandmothers and 30 grandfathers. The number of generations per family was used as the base to report the findings. The study substantiates other research on grandparenting, particularly in the area of timing of grand-parenthood. Data …

This dissertation fills a conspicuous gap in the literature on the U.S. woman suffrage movement by developing and testing a model of state woman suffrage success. This model is based on a version of the resource mobilization perspective on social movements which emphasizes the importance of social movement organizations (such as the National American Woman Suffrage Association) as resource-gathering agencies which can exploit the structure of organized politics by mobilizing their own resources and neutralizing those of opponents. Accordingly, this model taps four alternative types of variables used by woman suffrage scholars to explain state success: state political structure, NAWSA mobilization, and liquor and allied interests (opponents of woman suffrage) as well as demographic characteristics.

Since World War II there has been a "revolutionary" increase in nonparental preschool-age child care. However, the effects of nonparental preschool care remains illusive. In an effort to address some of the limitations of previous research, seven different types of preschool-age care were statistically analyzed. Survey research and available data were gathered on 456 students in a large mid-south metropolitan area. Academic performance was measured by intelligence test scores and report card spelling grades from the sample children's third grade permanent record file. School behavior was measured by the child's conduct score over several years. Fourteen background conditions served as controls.

The general purpose of this study is to examine the effects of socialization background and cognitive style on individuals' patterns of behavior. The more specific purpose is to integrate the individual differences factor using the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator with Meadian Theory of Socialization in order to explore the ways in which a group of incarcerated individuals with prior felony and misdemeanor convictions and a group of college students are different regarding their different socialization background and cognitive styles. Data for this study were collected from a university and a county jail in Texas. During the process of data collection, two questionnaires consisting of 117 items were used to measure individual characteristics and elements of socialization background. This study is organized into four different chapters. Chapter I involves a detailed review of related literature, the purpose of the study, stated hypotheses, significance of the study, and limitations. Chapter II discusses methodological procedures and Chapter III presents the findings of the study. The last chapter includes a detailed conclusion and practical implications of the study. The findings in this study indicated that the group of incarcerated individuals and the group of college students are significantly different in terms of their different individual …

From 1970 to 1980 nonadjacent counties in Texas experienced an increase in net migration of 9.4 percent, significantly different from the 11.8 percent decrease experienced the previous decade. This study utilized the ecological perspective to study this redistribution pattern in Texas' nonadjacent counties between 1970 and 1980. Sustenance organization, defined as sustenance differentiation (the functional organization of sustenance activities and the dispersion of workers across these functional categories) and the mode of sustenance organization (the combinations of various sustenance activities) was identified as the primary independent variable. In addition, three secondary independent variables were included in the analysis (population per square mile, metropolitan dominance, and the percent who work outside the county of residence).

This study deals with the analysis of public opinion about crime and attitudes regarding criminal justice issues along two major dimensions. The first part concerns how respondents rank crime among a list of nine social problems (unemployment, high interest rates, inflation, crime, the high cost of living, moral decline, taxes, dissatisfaction with the government, and Reagan). The second dimension examines some research questions. These are whether there was any association between the respondents' perception of crime trends and each of the following: demographic background, neighborhood safety, the death penalty, gun ownership, frequency of locking doors, avoidance of teenagers, and the evaluation of police job performance; and also whether there was any association between the respondents' victimization experience and seriousness of crime and police job performance. The data were obtained from the archives of the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research in Michigan.

This study investigated the effects of high age-concentration of residential environment on: (1) the morale of the elderly; and (2) mutual-aid patterns with neighbors of the elderly. Empirical tests of hypotheses derived from the socio-environmental approach to aging were performed. The socio-environmental approach suggested that persons were most satisfied with themselves when there was congruency between what was expected of them by others in the environment and what they expected of themselves. As the local environment became concentrated with old people, the variety of situations with which persons were confronted was quite narrow in terms of demands on the elderly individual's behavior. In age-heterogeneous settings, however, the variety of situations that persons encountered were maximal, and the demands on behavior in this setting was great.

The problem of the investigation was to ascertain the contributions of various sociological theorists to a sociology of emotions. Emphasis was to be placed on the symbolic interactionist school. The method employed was that of a literature review, with an evaluative analysis of each of a number of writers as each contributed to a sociology of emotions. The study had the purpose of remedying the long-standing neglect of emotions by sociologists. This purpose was accomplished by indicating the distinctive contributions of each theorist and areas of convergence among theorists. The investigation was organized according to groups of theorists. Each theorist was examined for conceptions of human nature and of the relationship between the individual and society. Chapter I discussed the problem in general; the remaining chapters analyzed the theorists. Chapter II discussed the classical theorists Emile Durkheim, Max Weber, Georg Simmel, and Talcott Parsons. Chapter III presented the views of the symbolic interactionists George Herbert Mead, Charles Cooley, Herbert Blumer, Hans Gerth and C. Wright Mills, and Erving Goffman. Chapter IV treated contemporary theorists: Arlie Hochschild, Theodore Kemper, Susan Shott, and Norman Denzin.

A model of social stressor variables, social integration variables and demographic control variables was tested to assess their impact on alcohol use among the elderly. A secondary analysis of a survey on alcohol use among the elderly in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, was conducted to test the major hypotheses of the study. Contingency table analysis, using gamma and partial gamma as correlation coefficients, was utilized in the data analysis. The first hypothesis, in regard to the positive relationship of social stressors with alcohol use, was confirmed. The best predictors of alcohol use among the social stressor variables were usual occupation, length of retirement, annual income, and subjective health status. The second hypothesis, that the social integration variables would be negatively related to alcohol use, received only moderate support. The results of the analysis indicated that six of the ten social integration variables were negatively related to alcohol use. Only three of these variables, retirement status, religious participation, and marital status, were statistically significant. Hypothesis three also was not confirmed. The introduction of the social integration variables did not substantially decrease the strength of the relationship between social stressors and alcohol use. Gender and age were also introduced as control variables for …

Identity is an important determinant of behavior. This paper proposed an identity model as one way of understanding those factors related to the perceived probability or willingness of a worker to participate in health promotion programming at the worksite. Part of a larger study on employee wellness, this study took place in the municipal complex of a small city in the southeastern United States. A stratified cross sectional sample of 150 employees was selected utilizing a systematic random sampling methodology. Structured interviews were conducted with 129 participants resulting in a response rate of 92% after adjusting for those people no longer employed by the city. In order to test the identity model developed by this author, descriptive analysis, simple multiple regression analysis and path analysis were utilized. The dependent variable, perceived willingness to participate in health promotion programming, was examined in relationship to commitment to one's health identity, commitment to one's organizational identity, tendency to comply with health initiatives, and the forms of supervisory power utilized to enact employee compliance. The descriptive analysis revealed that subjective health status is moderately and positively associated with commitment to one's health identity, that individuals can be strongly committed to a negative/destructive health identity, …

This study is an investigation of the relationship between selected structural characteristics of the community and innovation among cities. Four major Structural characteristics were chosen to serve as independent variables. These independent variables were community differentiation, community poverty, community maturity and type of local government. Innovation, as measured by applicant status to the federal Urban Development Action Grant Program, served as the dependent variable. Analysis of the data indicated support for several of the postulated hypotheses. The structural characteristic community differentiation was found to be significantly related to applicant status. For the structural characteristic community poverty no significant relationship to applicant status was observed. Community maturity revealed a significant relationship to applicant status. Finally, for the structural characteristic local form of government a significant relationship with applicant status was observed. Based on the interpretation of the findings, an original typology of innovation was developed. This typology included planned revitalizing innovation, social enhancing innovation, entrepreneurial stimulating innovation, and needs inducing innovation.