This article suggests three orientations within sociology toward issues of morality and character development. The first stems from Durkheim, one where sociological tools diagnose the operation of any society and its constituent parts, including typifications of the individual. This tradition holds that sociologists can help diagnose…

The theory that organizations are ideological inventions of the human mind is discussed. Organizational science is described as an ideology which is based upon social concepts and experiences. The main justification for organizational theory is that it attempts to answer why we behave as we do in social organizations. Ways in which ideas and…

This book of readings focuses on two questions: how do demographic variables influence social systems; and how do social variables influence demographic systems? It is the intersection between these two systems that defines the field of social demography and the point of view of this book. Part 1 presents a new approach to relating social and…

This paper is concerned with conceptualizing from the human potential perspective the quality of life, poverty, the "good social system", service delivery, and social indicators. Theories of Maslow and other humanistic educators which stress the need for self actualization provide a framework to sociologists for improving human conditions by…

This paper explores radical critical theory, which questions the most fundamental assumptions of traditional family sociology by posing alternative ways of uncovering the realities of marriage. The first section provides a background in radical-critical theory, while the second section attempts to locate the radical-critical perspective within the…

The development and adoption of new technologies make for changes in social organization and values by creating new possibilities for human action and thus altering the mix of options available to men. Because it alters the conditions of choice, new technology has a high probability of changing individual and social values: adopting new means to…

This seminar paper explores the relationship between technology and society, based on the position that man has not developed a social system that gives adequate guidance to technology. The hypothesis is that if technology has no priority, then it has no purpose. Talcott Parsons' concepts of functional imperatives and pattern variables are…

Maintains that most students learn how sociologists study social stratification in introductory sociology courses. Presents a content analysis of 15 introductory college textbooks to determine whether they use distributional or relational approaches as the basis for their treatment of social class. Finds that depictions of class are…

In an attempt to gain a better perspective on the relationship between education and the modern state, this paper reopens the theoretical debate on the key role of formal rationality in Max Weber's interpretation of the capitalist economy and the modern bureaucratic state. Against the background of an extensive review of the development and the…

The issue addressed by this paper concerns one particular aspect of sociological theory and method in the analysis of social inequality. While not often made explicit, a temporal aspect is built into the sociological notion of social stratification as a general and comprehensive phenomenon, under which many observable forms of inequality may be…

The paper analyzes how the attempt to assimilate ethnic groups into American society has contributed to social, economic, and political inequality. The hypothesis is that the official model of classical sociology has blinded us to a vast range of social phenomena which must be understood if we are to cope with the problems of contemporary America.…