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Volume 26, Number 1 (Spring 1996)
The Intimate Politics of Sense: Symptoms versus Problems in Senile Dementia
Barbara Gail Hanson (York University, Ontario, Canada)
Examines two concepts in the patienting process of mental illness: (1) problems - the social construction/maintenance of the idea that someone is sick by family members, & (2) symptoms - objective or medically defined behaviors caused by underlying etiology. The ways in which construction of the idea of a problem is related to objective evidence are examined via secondary analysis of 45 videotaped interactions of elderly senile dementia patients & a primary caregiver collected in TX in 1984. Implications for treatment seeking, hospitalization, drug therapy, &/or cure are discussed. General systems theory & thought constructivism perspectives are applied. [Int. Rev. Mod. Sociol. 26(1), 1996: 1-13]A Pecking Disorder: Cockfighting in Louisiana
Craig J. Forsyth (Department of Sociology, Southwestern Louisiana University, USA)
Describes the atmosphere of & participants in cockfighting via interview & observation collected from 22 participants at 18 events in parishes of southwest LA. Little support exists for the negative stereotypes of cockfighting portrayed in the media. The impact of large amounts of gambling money in the game is considered. [Int. Rev. Mod. Sociol. 26(1), 1996: 15-25]Female Revolt Revisited
Roger Clark & Jeffrey Carvalho (Department of Sociology, Rhode Island College, USA)
Janet Saltzman Chafetz & Anthony G. Dworkin's (C & D's) 1986 work, Female Revolt: Women's Movements in World and Historical Perspective, is examined & critiqued. C & D offer a theoretical explanation of cross-national variation in the occurrence & intensity of women's movements as well as empirical tests of that explanation. It is argued that their theoretical model overlooks exogenous conditions, notably world-system position, likely to be associated with the intensity of such movements. Moreover, in limiting their empirical tests to models involving movement intensity, C & D omit consideration of political conditions, eg, the openness of the state to political opposition, that sensibly find a central role in their theoretical considerations of why movements occur. Through a content analysis of contributions to Robin Morgan's Sisterhood Is Global (1984), data are abstracted on 66 nations to test models of both movement occurrence & intensity. Findings indicate that a salient predictor of whether a women's movement occurred by 1980 is if the political regime was open to opposition movements generally, & that a very important predictor of whether a movement intensified was if a nation occupied a core position in the world system. [Int. Rev. Mod. Sociol. 26(1), 1996: 27-42]The State, Capitalist Agriculture, Values, and Farm Practices: The Case of Cameroon
Jilly M. Ngwainmbi (Department of Social & Behavioral Sciences, Fayetteville State University, North Carolina, USA)
Examines forces that influence farmers' behavior & farm practices in Cameroon in the context of global capitalism via 1991 interview data collected from 101 mostly male farmers. The active role of the state in introducing, promoting, & facilitating the development of capitalism through export-driven agricultural policies is documented. The decisive role of values, traditional beliefs, & customs in determining farmers' behavior, farm practices, & the extent of capitalist development is underscored. Some unanticipated outcomes of state-driven commercialization are examined, focusing primarily on implications for food security. [Int. Rev. Mod. Sociol. 26(1), 1996: 43-59]Politics, Bureaucracy and Industrial Democracy: A Framework for the Analysis of Worker Control in Nigeria
Philip O. Sijuwade (Institute of Urban & Public Affairs, University of Texas, USA)
To establish the probability of achieving worker control through various schemes of industrial democracy, the case of Nigeria is presented to analyze the institutional context peculiar to late & marginal capitalist development with respect to the political & economic role of the state, the nature of interest articulation, & typical organizational forms of trade unions. Nigeria's history, 1960-1970, is examined to argue that the debate over worker control in dependent capitalist societies must be understood as a reflection of deeper social conflicts. Specifically, industrial democracy in such contexts is more closely related to changing the balance of power between major organized groups that compete for control of the state, than with changing the structure of decisions in industrial enterprises. [Int. Rev. Mod. Sociol. 26(1), 1996: 61-66]Work Satisfaction and Gender
Mahmoud Mi'ari (Department of Sociology, Birzzeit University, Jordan, Israel)
It is argued that, despite the earning gap between genders, female (F) workers, especially in developing countries, tend to be more satisfied with work than male (M) workers. It is hypothesized that Fs would be less satisfied than Ms with work in Palestinian industrial establishments because of the gendered earning gap, & that work satisfaction would be affected by external rewards, eg, pay & social benefits provided by the employer. Questionnaire data collected in 1990 from 268 Palestinian workers employed in the local industry of the West Bank & Gaza Strip suggest that Fs are significantly more satisfied with work than Ms, & pay affects work satisfaction of Ms but not of Fs. Relation with the employer, on the other hand, affects work satisfaction of both Ms & Fs. Findings may imply that Palestinian working Fs believe that only Ms are responsible for financing the family, & it is suggested that Fs are more satisfied with work because it liberates them from their home environment. [Int. Rev. Mod. Sociol. 26(1), 1996: 67-79]The Aged and Aged Disabled: The Indian Scene
G. Stanley Jaya Kumar (Department of Sociology Sri Venkateswara University, Pradesh, India)
The economic, familial, health, & housing problems associated with aging in India are examined. About 80% of the elderly require assistance, with the most important problems being economic, as they have a difficult time making ends meet & are often faced with unsatisfactory housing. Familial problems are primarily a result of neglect & poor upkeep, & contribute to emotional & psychological distress. Common psychiatric problems include neurosis, depression, paranoia, & dementia. Common medical problems include impaired vision, poor dental health, insomnia, impaired hearing/deafness, giddiness/hypertension, forgetfulness/nervous disorders, & restricted bodily mobility. The aged can be classified according to their mobility status or on the basis of community care available to them. It is argued that there is a great need for residential care for handicapped aged who have no relatives to care for them. [Int. Rev. Mod. Sociol. 26(1), 1996: 81-90]A Sociological Framing of the NIMBY (Not-in-My-Backyard) Syndrome
Mark N. Wexler (Faculty of Business Administration, Simon Fraser University, British Columbia, Canada)
A sociological framing is presented for the "not-in-my-backyard" (NIMBY) syndrome as a means of broadening the conventional land use or siting perspective. In the land use perspective, the NIMBY syndrome is portrayed as an emotional, parochial, & self-serving community reaction that increases the cost of higher, more rational decision-making authorities of locating locally unwanted land uses. The analytic energy in the siting perspective goes toward articulating strategies that would reduce the cost of local communities' opposition. The sociological perspective frames the NIMBY syndrome as an effort to decipher the social meaning & implications of organized oppositional behavior to pariah land uses. Three levels are seen as vital to sociological framing: rhetorical, shifting of rules, & downstream consequences of the opposition itself. Suggestions are offered for how the sociological framing opens up insights as to the manner in which the balkanization of societies by forces like the NIMBY syndrome is indicative of a call to greater regional autonomy. [Int. Rev. Mod. Sociol. 26(1), 1996: 91-110]