Suchergebnisse

Drawing on interview & questionnaire data from 28 directors of health & social service agencies that serve seriously mentally ill adults in a large north-central US city, the involvement of these organizations in a network of service delivery is explored. With the use of an institutional theory perspective, four hypotheses were developed, each focusing on an aspect of an organization's service orientation thought to reflect its commitment to & support of institutional-level professional norms with regard to network involvement. Results were generally supportive of the hypotheses, although the strength of the findings varied depending on whether network involvement was measured as either service-link density or multiplexity. 5 Exhibits, 46 References. Adapted from the source document.

The empirical study of the institutional subculture of the German Federal Parliament, conducted together with Friedhelm Neidhardt, aimed to identify and describe the content and formal characteristics of informal social norms relating to the behavior of deputies. Most prominent are norms relating to solidary behavior in the parliamentary party group. Legislative performance, in contrast, appears to be guided more by cognitive orientations. Prevalent normative expectations have the formal character of complex evaluative algorithms, and are basically restrictive (rather than positively motivating). Informal norms specific to the parliamentary arena clearly reflect the institutional context, but cannot necessarily be interpreted in functionalist terms. ; Die gemeinsam mit Friedhelm Neidhardt durchgeführte empirische Untersuchung der Parlamentskultur im Deutschen Bundestag zielte darauf ab, auf das Verhalten von Bundestagsabgeordneten bezogene informelle Normen zu identifizieren und sowohl inhaltlich wie bezogen auf ihre formalen Merkmale zu beschreiben. Am stärksten ausgeprägt sind informelle Normen, die sich auf das solidarische Verhalten innerhalb der Fraktionsgemeinschaft beziehen. Die legislative Tätigkeit der Abgeordneten scheint dagegen stärker von kognitiven Orientierungen gelenkt zu werden. Die sozialen Normen schreiben selten Verhalten konkret vor, sondern haben oft den Charakter komplexer Kalküle; sie sind außerdem eher restringierend als motivierend. Offensichtlich prägt der institutionelle Kontext die empirisch gefundene Parlamentskultur, die sich deshalb jedoch nicht funktionalistisch erklaren läßt.

This article examines the impact of editor-author networks of institutional ties on publication patterns in three leading sociology journals between 1960 and 1985. The "invisible college," a social network of elite scholars, is discussed as the major contributor to the editor-author connection. Results suggest a pattern of institutional connections between editors and authors over time beyond random chance alone. It appears, however, that fluctuations in academic labor markets have weakened this network, resulting in a reduction in the strength of the institutional connections in journal publication.

Control of illegal drug use and abuse requires an elaborate network of organizations and professions: medical, legal, political, educational, and welfare. This book, first published in 1984, explores the way in which these diverse sectors coordinate the control of deviance in a complex society and how they respond to a sudden widespread increase in deviance spanning many institutional and professional domains. The latter of these concerns, James Beniger argues, affords us a unique insight into the more general question of societal control. He takes as an example of this phenomenon the dramatic appearance of the 'drug problem' in America in the Vietnam war era of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Exploiting this as an approximation of an experimentally induced disruption of society, Professor Beniger examines its impact on the interorganizational and professional networks that together constitute a system for the control of a social deviance

Traditional labor market theory that emphasizes external, market-driven exchanges among employers & employees has been inadequate for understanding the high unemployment & lack of penetration of local industrial employment opportunities in the Chicago, Ill, Hispanic community of Pilsen. Although discrimination, skill mismatch, & dual labor market variables explain some of the poor labor market experience, the role of weak-tied social networks has been particularly important in understanding how people are steered to jobs & jobs to people. Multiple methods & an interdisciplinary theoretical framework are used to extend the application of internal labor market & institutional theories in a case study of this local Hispanic labor market, based on analysis of 407 individual case files from Chicago's Mayor's Office of Employment & Training. 1 Table, 1 Figure, 49 References. Modified HA

This book represents the major accomplishments of social scientists who have pioneered in data sharing, highlighting the advantages for social science. It includes an examination of the reasons for data sharing, the specific sharing practices in various disciplines, the factors affecting the usefulness of shared data and individual and institutional concerns about data sharing. It will be useful to academics across the social sciences

An analysis of models of structural changes in Eastern Europe since 1955 in relation to current democratization programs in Poland. An attempt is made to redefine the meanings of the programmatic goals of postcommunism: humanization, rationalization, economic liberalization, & political democratization. Following the 1989 parliamentary election in Poland, some dilemmas of the transition to a democratic social & political order became apparent, & its attainment may be threatened if loyalty to particular political leaders becomes more important than trust in institutional networks, legal procedures, & impersonal market competition. 1 Table. A. Devic

The development of sociology as an intellectual discipline proceeded according to the input of precursors & founders in the field. Its early history is depicted & the 4 "general intellectual prerequisites" common to development of all the social sciences, are identified: (1) desacralization of the social order, (2) naturalism, (3) faith in reason, & (4) lawfulness of social phenomena. Historical aspects which affected sociology are described: the French Enlightenment, attitudes toward religion, European intellectual input, & post-1776 American ideas. American sociology is scrutinized with respect to 4 areas: (A) received ideas, (B) social values & concerns, (C) structural opportunities & constraints, & (D) organizational & institutional factors. American sociological scholars' contributions to the discipline are explored. Explicated are the roles American sociology has taken in research toward the comprehension of American social constructs, & in affecting American life in general. In the latter area 11 possible "outcomes of sociological activities" are outlined. Sociology is predicted to maintain its tendency toward diversity due to varying interests in the field. Future research will be addressed to the 2 main issues of "the problem of externalities" & "the problem of collective action." The interrelationships between sociology & other disciplines are analyzed, & social science theory is expected to continue to grow as a "loosely-connected but increasingly coherent network." C. Grindle.

Throughout the nineteenth century, the cities on the southern and eastern shores of the Mediterranean, Tunis, Alexandria, Beirut, Smyrna, and Istanbul among them, experienced an influx of foreign communities which, combined with an increase in the indigenous populations and new urban policies on the part of certain rulers, tended to disrupt customary patterns of urban relationships. Although the scholarship of recent years has provided a new awareness of the network of interrelationships which held together the segments of medieval Islamic urban society, studies on the nineteenth-century changes in those relationships as represented by the policies of Muhammad ῾Alī, Aḥmad Bey, and the Ottoman Tanzimat reformers, have tended to focus more on aspects of state and government than on cities as such. Yet cities, especially capital cities, reflect most intensely periods of social and institutional transition.

Multiorganizational Arrangements in the Governance of Unitary and Federal Political Systems -- Beyond Organizational Design: Contextuality and the Political Theory of Public Policy -- Comment on Wittrock: Creative Imagination and Appropriate Assemblies -- Forward and Backward Mapping: Reversible Logic in the Analysis of Public Policy -- Policy Subsystems as a Unit of Analysis in Implementation Studies: A Struggle for Theoretical Synthesis -- Comment on Warns ley: The Unit of Analysis as a Methodological Problem -- Policy Subsystems, Networks and the Tools of Public Management -- Small Firm Employment Creation: An Assistance Structure Explanation -- Comment on Hjern and Hull: Implementation Structures and the Importance of Local Actors -- Metropolitan Structure and Systemic Performance: The Case of Police Service Delivery -- Comment on Parks: Fragmented Policy Organizations: A Comment -- Diffusion of Responsibility: An Interorganizational Analysis -- Comment on O'Toole: The Structural Context of Responsibility -- Racial Inequalities in Low-Income Central City and Suburban Communities: The Case of Police Services -- Social Structure and Social Praxis in Interorganizational Policy Analysis -- Comments on Benson and Weitzel: Interorganizational Analysis: A Field for Social Praxis Based On Social Structure, or Strategic Choice and Reticulist Judgement? -- Reflections on Bridge-Building in Complex Terrains: A Postscript -- Strategic Interaction, Learning and Policy Evolution: A Synthetic Hodel -- Implementation Research and Institutional Design: The Quest for Structure.

The era of the 'Social Contract' between 1974 and 1979 has been seen as the epitome of 'corporatism' in British government. This article explores the utility of the concept of 'corporatism' for the study of intergovernmental relations, examining pay negotiations in the fire service between 1976 and 1980. It identifies the central characteristics associated with a corporatist system; describes the institutional and procedural context of pay negotiations in the fie service; catalogues the events surrounding the firemen's strike of 1977; and assesses the strengths and weaknesses of corporatism in explaining these events. It concludes that the concept of corporatism has now acquired so many multiple and contiguous meanings that it adds little to the analysis of relationships between government, local government (employers) and the trade unions. Such terms as network, compliance and executive authority are of greater use than the corporatist terminology of hierarchy, regulation and order.

One of the most perplexing problems in risk analysis is why some relatively minor risks or risk events, as assessed by technical experts, often elicit strong public concerns and result in substantial impacts upon society and economy. This article sets forth a conceptual framework that seeks to link systematically the technical assessment of risk with psychological, sociological, and cultural perspectives of risk perception and risk‐related behavior. The main thesis is that hazards interact with psychological, social, institutional, and cultural processes in ways that may amplify or attenuate public responses to the risk or risk event. A structural description of the social amplification of risk is now possible. Amplification occurs at two stages: in the transfer of information about the risk, and in the response mechanisms of society. Signals about risk are processed by individual and social amplification stations, including the scientist who communicates the risk assessment, the news media, cultural groups, interpersonal networks, and others. Key steps of amplifications can be identified at each stage. The amplified risk leads to behavioral responses, which, in turn, result in secondary impacts. Models are presented that portray the elements and linkages in the proposed conceptual framework.

The roles of functionaries of "truth" (Edmund Husserl) or shepherds of "being" (Martin Heidegger) have often been assigned to intellectuals in modern organizations. The acceptance of a constant institutional change in most modern organizations has influenced these roles, giving them a different construction of social space (decrease of "total control" institutions), a less closed model of flexible organization, & inclusion of contingencies & emergencies in time planning. The shift in modern organization theory is marked by a new tendency to replace rigid bureaucratic controls with more flexible, feedback-based, two-way interaction patterns. Functionaries of truth become experts with narrowly defined limits of authority in the production of truth, while shepherds become coaches & consultants, guiding teams & crews toward jointly defined realities. A clash of experts & consultants does not produce institutions or parties, but rather, gives rise to a multiplicity of networks, clusters, & configurations, which build & sustain a new cultural space in which a subculture is viewed as a challenge & a window of opportunity, not as a threat. The rapid decline of state socialism demonstrates a general tendency to look for feasible futures outside the iron cage of rigidly controlled organizations. Should we succeed in detecting the signals of change, either within organizations or at the interface between them, we may contribute to the rising theory of social change both as a scientific truth & as a negotiated social order. AA