CHANGING SOCIAL ROLES IN THE NEW SOUTH

In: Social Science Quarterly, Band 37, Heft 3, S. 234-242

Abstract

The 'civilization process' in the US South is examined from the perspective of instit'al change & its effect on soc role. Ur'ization of soc life, resulting from the transition to an industr economy, is seen as accounting for a high degree of instit'al centralization & weakening traditionally close fam ties; additional changes in instit'al structure are brought about by growing integration throughout the South. Signif modification of role types reflecting these changes are sketched: (1) the exploitative paternalism of once-powerful fam's & figures has given way to absentee ownership, creating a constellation of new SE types(a) farmers who deal for the first time on an impersonal, contractual basis with merchants & may work part time in factories, (b) a new secular, self-conscious industr worker, (c) a new managerial Me which is rationalistic, efficiency-minded & highly specialized, (d) an expanding professional Me which finds a growing market among the new Southern workers. (2) A 'mass' oriented individual has appeared in the new Southstripped of his former identifications he has become part of an emerging pattern of mass soc action. He tends to develop many novel & segmented soc roles with corresponding status categories & may be defined as a new regional type: isolated, independent, directly active, & 'Amer' rather than 'Southern' in outlook. With the addition of the caste factor, southern Negro civil rights movements are seen as a manifestation of the same phenomenon. L. Tumin.