Suchergebnisse

The culture of the Indian child equips him well or poorly for educ in US Sch's, depending on how well his culture matches that of the US society which surrounds him. Motivation for Sch achievement, for instance, is poor by white standards among children of Indian tribes whose culture is based on cooperation rather than on competition. Innately, Indian children have about the same mental equipment as have white children, but their cultural status & experiences cause them to rank lower on educ'al achievement tests, esp in HSch subjects. AAAPSS.

There is a growing belief that the traditional separation of the private & public sectors of our society is becoming blurred. Corporate theorists have offered a variety of philosophies to replace the discarded notions of market constraints. The Sch of business statesmanship, for which A. Berle is the most articulate spokesman, looks to business executives to fulfill corporate responsibilities other than those traditionally owed to shareholders. Corporate managers, too, have voiced their acceptance of this new role, but the realities of business & politics belie their stated motivations for many allegedly altruistic acts. Although the evidence is not clear, the discernible pattern of individual incentives & restraints suggest the same conclusion. The alleged acts of corporate statesmanship do not actually represent basic changes in the nature of Amer enterprise. It is more likely that they indicate the pot vulnerability of industry today & the extent to which gov's use both the carrot & stick to gain desired results from business. The acquiescence of corporate leaders in the philosophy of business responsibility could ultimately result in the enforcement of such notions as legal obligations. AA.

The problems of internat. political communications are analyzed in terms of the variables contained in 'who says what to, whom through what medium for what purpose under what circumstances and with what effects.' The author stresses the relation between national policy and the politically relevant effects of communication. Special difficulties are: (1) study of political communication requires inter-disciplinary efforts; (2) evaluating effects is complicated because communicator has only vague notion of his purpose; (3) pursual of many goals with many audiences simultaneously; (4) inaccessibility of foreign audience to observation and measurement; (5) lack of clear cut criteria for effectiveness. Communicators are frequently forced to combine criteria of effectiveness with domestic public relations. Communication policy is derived from national policy and its constraints. A major problem is to find ways of controlling audience interpretations of events and actions. Effectiveness is a function of conditions under which communications are sent and received, and the medium through which it is conveyed. An important characteristic of the international audience is their position in the political structure of the nation to which they belong, thus necessitating analysis of the political structure and processes in the nations to which communication is addressed. Each element in the communication process has its own history of development within a given area, which must also be taken into account. R. S. Halpern.

Protest is defined as making use of negative inducements (threats) that rely for their effect on sanctions which require mass action or response. Its 2 requisites are: there must be an agreed-upon goal on behalf of which mass action can be mobilized; & there must be an identifiable group which is capable of granting the end sought. It is noted that though there is a quickened sense of mission among US Negroes today in both North & South, relatively little Negro protest activity seems to occur for the following reasons: (1) an improvement in the leadership skills & org'al resources of the Negro has occurred at a time when the goals of Negro public life have become less clear, (2) the targets of protest have become ambiguous (too many legal & individual factors are involved), (3) some of the goals now being sought by Negroes are least applicable to those groups of Negroes most suited to protest action, (4) many specific goals toward which action can be directed occur in situations that place a negative value on protest, & (5) Negroes are not organized on a continuing basis for protest activity (eg, leaders who command mass org's are often under clear constraints to avoid protest tactics since they are part of city-wide unions & pol'al groups). It is suggested that favorable opportunities for protest strategy can mainly be found in situations 'in which the goal sought is defensive, specific, of a welfare character, relevant to the wants of Negro rank-and-file, & with a specific target.' 17 unsuccessful issues involving Negroes in all areas of public life in Chicago during the period 1958-60 are examined. E. Weiman.

A comparison of intergroup relations in the US & the UK which have culminated in soc racial violence. (Violence is soc when it is directed against an individual or his property solely or primarily because of his membership in a soc category). Marked diff's exist between historical patterns of colored-white conflict in the 2 countries, particularly those diff's generated by a briefer history of a much smaller (both in absolute & in relative size) colored community in the UK. Similarities confirming a general theory of racial conflict, are, however, remarkable. Limited experience in the UK confirms the US finding that Ur racial soc violence results not from conscious policy decision of either the white or the Negro group, but rather from reactions of the dominant group to real or perceived assaults upon the accommodative structure. A 2nd finding which reaffirmed the importance of external forces of constraint in the determination of the occurrence or non-occurrence of soc violence could not be tested in the UK because of insufficient information. Employment, housing & inter-ethnic sexual relations have contributed most to increased racial tension in the UK. Colored participation in pol, the activities of the press, & Negro involvement in crime & in relations with the police have been less important there than in the US. The UK has no tradition of major interracial conflict. The highest estimate of the size of the colored group places its number at around 200,000 - substantially less than 1% of the total/sum pop. It seems unlikely that the colored community in the UK will be able, in the yrs immediately ahead, to wield sufficient power to threaten the soc structure to a point where heightened soc tensions make possible the occurrence of major violence. On the other hand, this same impotence makes unlikely major shifts in patterns of intergroup relations without the intervention of gov authority. Implications for policy are not examined. AA.

Both structural-functional theory & conflict theory provide useful models of society. However, the elements of the structural-functional model are diametrically opposed to those of conflict theory, so that in the former the following propositions hold: (1) every society is a relatively persisting configuration of elements, (2) every society is a well-integrated configuration of elements, (3) every element in a society contributes to its functioning, & (4) every society rests on the consensus of its members. In conflict theory, on the other hand, the following propositions hold: (a) every society is subjected at every moment to change: soc change is ubiquitous, (b) every society experiences at every moment soc conflict: soc conflict is ubiquitous, (c) every element in a society contributes to its change, & (d) every society rests on constraint of some of its members by others. Until a more general theory of society is developed, society must be thought of as presenting a double aspect to the sociol'al understanding. A model of conflict is constructed which locates the structural origin of soc conflict in the dominance relations which prevail within certain units of soc org. Max Weber's concept of 'imperatively co-ordinated group' is employed for these units. Thus soc conflicts are structurally explained on the basis of the division into positive & negative dominance roles, so that: (i) interest in the status quo is associated with the positive dominance roles & interest in the change of the status quo is associated with the negative dominance roles, (ii) the bearers of positive & negative dominance roles organize themselves into groups with manifest interests, (iii) interest groups which originate in this manner are in constant conflict concerned with the preservation or change in the status quo, & (iv) the conflict among interest groups leads to changes in the structure of the soc relations in question through changes in the dominance relations. Interest groups are a function of conditions of org; specific forms of conflict are a function of the conditions of conflict; & specific forms of change are a function of the conditions of change. 'Thus the task of the theory of conflict turns out to be to identify the 3 sets of conditions & to determine as sharply as possible their respective weight - ideally, by quantitative measure.' Illustrations of the theory & the sorts of variables involved are given from the realms of industrial conflict & the totalitarian state. I. Taviss.