Establishing a human resource development (HRD) program for HRD practitioners frequently results in problems of organizational change. The author has applied the theories of three contemporary sociologists--Talcott Parsons, Lewis Coser, and Peter Blau--to a hypothetical case study of an HRD consulting firm faced with developing its own human…

Describes the Man and the Biosphere (MAB) project in a mountain region in Switzerland, which is trying to halt depopulation and preserve the environment. Fourteen research units analyze relationships within and among the ecosystem, the economy, and the socio-cultural system. (KC)

Utilizes Joel Spring's "Educating the Worker Citizen" to examine limitations of the deschooling concept. Argues that deschoolers operate from a weak research base and employ erroneous historical and logical claims to support their position. Suggests ways of conceptualizing schools which will promote ongoing political activity by…

Reviews definitions of the concept of cultural pluralism. Suggests criteria for defining and measuring the concept and develops a typology of cultural pluralism suitable for makinq comparative analyses. Relates types of pluralism thus identified to variations in ethnic political activity, with emphasis on Canada. (Author/MJL)

Defines urban societies as including not only town and cities, but also rural, mining, fishing, and other sectors. Discusses the medieval and capitalist European social orders, arguing that rural laborers are always "socially urbanized" such that locational behaviors appropriate to the interests of the society's dominant classes are induced.…

Presents a multivariate model for explaining cross-cultural variation in sexual stratification as implied in Collins's theory. Tested the model with subsample of societies (N=74) from the standard cross-cultural sample. Results were inconsistent with Collins's theory. Kinship and family variables were better predictors than economic and political…

Considers 10 features of Japanese educational system which have produced egalitarian educational outcomes and the relation between these egalitarian educational outcomes and egalitarian changes in the structure of adult society. Major shift in national directions and emergence of determined and idealistic teachers are key factors. Makes…

Provides a macrohistorical, conflict perspective on students' resistance to schooling in contemporary America. Proposes that adolescence is not a universal stage of life, but a social category produced only in industrial societies; resistance to schooling thus represents the most recent stage in the struggle between age strata over social goods.…

Anthropologists have often treated certain factors of community organization as given, rather than as potentially important variables to be investigated. Results of two community studies, however, suggest that community structure may be as important a variable to be investigated as either ethnicity or occupational status. (Author/GC)

Discusses the fundamental aspects of verbal communication and analyzes its functions in terms of social needs. Takes an historical perspective to distinguish different levels of social development characterized by different communication requirements and stages of language evolution. From these premises, it argues for a sociocultural approach to…

A causal model was developed which explains and predicts the variation among a sample of communities in their levels of per capita public spending. Using United States census data it was concluded that 50 percent of the variance was explained by the equations measuring need, preference, and ability to finance public spending. (Author/MC)

Demonstrates that a situation-centered perspective provides a useful contribution in understanding women's lack of job mobility. Discusses the implications of situation-centered and person-centered research approaches for action directed toward change. (Author/BE)

Two perspectives on the sociology of education were identified and related to general sociological perspectives. The theme of constraint and construction was considered in relation to the institution of education and its role in capitalist society. (JN)

The educational system serves to perpetuate the capitalist hegemony. Research on the role of education in maintaining a system of structured social inequality has tended to emphasize the structure of schooling rather than the content. (JN)

Discusses assumptions and criticisms of rule-governed approaches to interpersonal communication research and theory. Outlines a definition of rules that does not require sole reliance on interpersonal actors' statements about their behavior or assumptions of communicator self-awareness. Suggests consideration of rules-based concomitants of…