Chapter 17 – Key Research Findings

• Ogburn:  idea of “cultural lag” (476).
• Weber:  study of Protestantism and the rise of capitalism (483-485).
• Wallerstein:  theory of “world system” (486-488).
• Delacroix:  tested claims of dependency theory with cross-national data.  Observed that export of raw materials does not influence change in per capita gross domestic product or change in educational attainment.  A link is discovered between change in educational attainment and change in per capita gross domestic product (488-490).
• Hage, Garnier and Fuller:  using data on France 1825-1975, examined the positive effect of education upon industrialization, arguing that this requires that education must be standardized in character and quality, be provided to a substantial number of people, and focus on teaching skills that industry needs (491).
• Firebaugh and Beck: also tested claims of dependency theory with cross-national data. Discovered little support for dependency theory.  Observed that national quality of life is influenced more by internal economic development and that secondary education stimulates economic development (491).
• Bradshaw and Wallace:  poverty and problems in Third World countries more the result of local corruption and ineptitude than dependency processes (493).
• Firebaugh:  the degree of inequality between nations has been decreasing (493).
• McLuhan: developed concept of the “global village.”  Globalization involves them building of unified communication and economic networks and the creation of a unified culture (493).
• Huntington:  modernization is compatible with maintaining strong local cultures that differ widely (494).
• Simpson:  the development of the “self” is not consistent with the idea of a “global village” (494).

Ch 12 Research Notes

Standard Cross-Cultural Sample:  source for data on gender inequality in non-industrial  societies (327).

Female Empowerment Index:  developed by United Nations staff to measure gender inequality.  Measure is based on women’s political and economic involvement relative to men’s. (328)

Guttentag and Secord:  developed theory linking sex ratios and sex roles.  The status of  women and the sex role vary inversely. (327, 330-333, 338-342)

Cott:  completed an excellent history of American feminism. (343-345, 351)

Taeuber and Valdisera:  studied gender difference in income.  Noted that women tend to be concentrated in lower-paying occupations, are more likely to experience career interruptions and to acquire educational training in fields that do not lead to higher-paying jobs. (348-349)

Fossett and Kiecolt:  observed strong correlation between variations in African American sex ratios and single parent African American households.  More women marry as the supply of men increases. (353)

Chapter 18 – Key Research Findings

• Domesday Book:  extensive population count and property register commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1066 (499-500).
• Malthus:  populations rise when given the opportunity, but famine, disease and war limit them (508-511).
• Davis:  developed the theory of the demographic transition.  Theory traces a society’s transition from a high fertility-high mortality environment to a low fertility-low mortality environment. Population growth occurs when the mortality rate falls before the fertility rate.  Persons choose to limit fertility once large families are perceived as costly (512-513).
• Berelson:  identified modernization thresholds associated with fertility decline.  Fertility decline occurs when several of the thresholds are attained (514).
• Cutright and Hargens:  studied fertility decline in Latin America.  Fertility declines occurred when literacy and life expectancy thresholds were attained (514).
• van de Walle:  insights into “numeracy” and fertility control (522-523).
• Bongaarts:  discovered that actual fertility is significantly higher than wanted fertility in high fertility nations (523).
• Caldwell and colleagues:  research suggests that unwanted births are high in developing countries because contraceptives cannot be obtained easily (523).
• England:  examined trends and future prospects related to the increase in the relative size of the elderly population, as well as the growing excess of males, in China (525, 526-527).
• Hudson and den Boer:  discuss the growing excess of males in China and social changes associated with it, including changing sexual mores in China and possible encouragement for China to launch military adventures (527).

Key Research Chapter 8

Hechter and Kanazawa:  studied high level of social control in Japanese society. Conformity linked to influence of powerful group networks at home, school and at work. (211-212)

Cohen and Felson:  developed opportunity theory of deviance.  Deviance is linked to motivation, available targets and weak observation mechanisms. (213)

Cambridge-Somerville Experiment (Cabot, Powers and Witmer):  unsuccessful delinquency prevention program designed to reduce delinquency among boys from disadvantaged communities.  Boys in the experimental group were provided with economic and social experiences generally available only to the more affluent.  Delinquency rates for the experimental and control groups were the same. (214-216)   Gibbs:  developed a deterrence theory linking crime reduction to the perceived swiftness, certainty and severity of punishment (218-219).

Ehrlich:  analyzed homicide and execution data for the 1933-1969 period and noted a strong negative correlation between homicide and execution rates (220-221).

Corman and Mocan:  looked at 30 years of crime, arrest, and police staffing data in New York City and found that more police and arrests is associated with lower crime (222-223).

Lenihan, Rossi and Berk and the Transitional Aid Research Project (TARP):  prison reform and resocialization program designed to ease the transition of ex-convicts back to society.  Ex-convicts in the experimental group received monetary assistance for a six-month period.  At the study’s end, the experimental and control group recidivism rates were identical. (225-227)

Key Research Findings Ch 7

Gottfredson and Hirschi:  define crime as acts of force and fraud designed to enhance self-interest.  Develop theory of deviance based on low self-control, immediate gratification and thrill seeking. (176-177; 187)

Lombroso:  people are born criminals.  The criminal population can be distinguished by certain physical features.  Criminals should be removed from society. (182-183)

Goring and Pearson:  employed more sophisticated statistical techniques to refute some of Lombroso’s claims about the deviant population (183).

Gove:  investigated the interaction of age, gender, changing human physiology and deviance.  Observed that more physically demanding crimes decline with age due to declines in physical strength, energy and testosterone levels. (184-186)

Sutherland:  developed theory of differential association.  Deviance linked to the development of strong attachments with deviant individuals. (188)

Burgess and Akers:  supplemented Sutherland’s differential association theory with a social learning model focusing on the role of deviant friends in positively reinforcing deviation (188-189).

Merton:  developed structural strain theory of deviance.  Linked deviance to social position and experiences of inequality.  Deviance increases when persons do not have access to acceptable means of achieving desired goals. (191-192)

Hirschi:  key social control theory; four kinds of social bonds between the individual and the group (194-198).

Linden and Fillmore:  developed theory of deviance linking key ideas from social control theory and the theory of differential association.  Children with weak parental and school ties have a low stake in conformity and are more likely to both establish deviant attachments and commit deviant acts. (198-199)

Durkheim: developed classical theory linking anomie with deviation (199-200).

Guerry:  noted seasonal variations in early nineteenth century crime rates and climate patterns (200-201).

National Institute of Justice Study:  study based on arrest records from major U.S. cities.  Urine samples were taken to test for drug use among offenders.  Though most claimed they had not recently used illicit drugs, the tests showed most had, suggesting that drug use may be part of the offender life style. (203)

Key Research Findings – Chapter 6

Skeels and Dye: interaction with others stimulates human development within an institutionalized setting (149).

Rauscher, Shaw and Ky: hypothesized that listening to classical music would temporarily improve IQ¾ the “Mozart Effect.” Researchers have been unable to replicate even these initial, modest findings. (150-151)

Piaget: developed stage model of cognitive development based on comprehension of basic rules of reasoning such as object permanence and empirical judgment (151-153).

Brown and Bellugi: children experiment with various speech patterns as they attempt to discover a language’s basic grammatical rules (154).

Chomsky: children possess an inborn universal grammar that enables them to learn and use languages easily at young ages (154).

Kegl: the creation of Nicaraguan Sign Language by deaf children is a contemporary example of a pidgin and a creole (155-156).

Bain: children utilize other-related words before they acquire self-related words (157).

Flavell: demonstrated how older children [aged 14] differ from younger children [aged 8] in their ability to overcome egocentrism (157).

Boas and Mead: believed that culture is the major determinant of personality. Childhood socialization practices were viewed as a very strong determinant of personality. (158-160)

Standard Cross-Cultural Sample: data source for studying behavioral trends in non-industrial societies (160, 167).

Kohn: parental work environment experiences influence child rearing strategies (163-164).

Goffman: illustrates how persons manipulate their environment (impression management and studied nonobservance) to enhance role performance (165-166).

DeLoach, Cassidy and Carpenter: identified a bias toward male sex-role identification of gender-neutral characters in children’s stories (168-169).

National Center for Educational Statistics: rapid increase in female percentages in science and engineering over the past thirty years (170).

Key Research Findings – Chapter 4

Darley and Latane: willingness to assume personal responsibility in crisis
situations varies by group size (97).
Hirschi and Stark: the importance of the effect of church attendance on delinquency varies by region suggesting that contextual effects are present (100-102).
Zablocki: intense love networks encourage jealousy and endanger communal social stability (104-107).
Stinchcombe: identifies three major components of functionalist theories (110).
Chagnon: documents a high degree of revenge killing among Yanomamo factional groups (117).
Paige: links violence in non-industrial societies to kinship ties and residence patterns among communal and factional groups (118-120).

Key Research – Ch 5 – Biology

McDougall: developed social psychological approach that emphasized the instinctive
basis of human behavior (125). Blalock: identified links among opportunity structures like sports, individual and group
performance and discrimination (130-131).

Gottesman: demonstrated heredity of schizophrenia (132).

Schuckit: studied association among alcoholism of biological and adoptive parents and
alcoholism of adopted children. The environmental impact represented by the adoptive parent is identified as the stronger factor impacting alcoholism among adopted children. (132)

Vietnam Veterans Study: testosterone levels linked to risk of being divorced, sexual
promiscuity, alcohol and drug abuse and other behavioral outcomes (136).

Lemba Origins: DNA analysis provides key link in establishing Jewish kinship ties of a
cultural group presently residing in southern Africa (137).

Goodall: extensive field observation of primates. Demonstrated that chimpanzees are
able to create and transmit culture. Chimpanzees create tools and teach their offspring to make and use them. (138-140)

The Harlows: monkeys reared in isolation are unable to interact effectively with other
primates. The primary mother-child tie is associated with cuddling rather than nursing. (141-142)

The Gardiners: primates communicate through the use of gestures and are able to learn
and use American Sign Language. Primates can teach sign language to their young. (142-144)

Key Research: Ch 3 – Micro

Blumer: actions are based on perceptions that arise from and are modified by social
interactions (73-74).

Homans: developed laws of exchange involving liking, weak emotional attachments and
unequal rank, agreement, group solidarity and conformity (76-77).

Asch: conformity and group pressure vary directly (81-83).

Lofland and Stark: strong within-group attachments enhance conversion to new
religious movements (84-87).

Stark and Bainbridge: new religious movements recruit members from among the
religious inactive and dissatisfied (87).

Key Research: Chapter 2

Granovetter: weak network ties promote the spreading of information while strong network ties enhance influence (35-36).

DiMaggio and Lough: buyers prefer to purchase items from within their social network, but sellers prefer selling to people outside their social network (37).

Gans: neighborhoods with strong redundant social ties (urban villagers) are less able to block unfavorable urban policies (37-38).

Zborowski and Herzog: traditional urban Jewish families stressed the virtues of education and scholarship (48-50). (Culture theory)

Covello: traditional Italian families from southern Italy stressed family loyalty and responsibility over academic learning (50-51). (Culture theory)

Steinberg: among first-generation immigrants, a group’s status in a new society is influenced by their status in their former society (52-55). (Social theory)

Perlmann: social position and cultural values impact ethnic mobility (55-57). (Combine social and culture theories)

Glazer: (same basic idea as Perlmann’s, above) (57) (Social and culture theories)

Greeley: Persistence of Italian family loyalty and solidarity in North America (61-62). (Culture theory)