Comparative Sociology Research Articles

The Structure and Dynamics of Dry-Farming States in Upper Mesopotamia [and Comments and Reply

The Structure and Dynamics of Dry-Farming States in Upper Mesopotamia [and Comments and Reply

Unionization and Labor Market Institutions in Advanced Capitalism, 1950-1985

This article examines the depedence of unionization on labor market institutions and long-run trends in inflation, unemployment, and the sectoral composition of the labor force in 18 OECD countries. The large number of contending explanations highlights the difficulty in comparative sociology of drawing confident conclusions when there are few cases to compare. This problem is addressed through diverse evidence-a review of the comparative historical record and a time-series analysis-to form a Bayesian prior distribution, which is combined with a cross-sectional data set to sharpen conventional estimates of economic and institutional effects. This analysis indicates working-class organization in trade unions expanded in the postwar period where labor acquired an institutional influence over capitalist labor markets.

A Visible Hand in the Marketplace of Ideas: Precision Measurement as Arbitage

The ArgumentWhile there has been muchattention given to experiment in modern science studies, there has been astoundingly little concern spared over the practice ofquanitataivemeasurment.Thus myths about the unreasonable effectiveness of mathematice in science still abound. This paper presents: (a) An explicit mathematical model of the stabilization of quantitative constants in a mathematical science to rival older Bayesian and classical accounts;(b)a framework for writing a history of pracitces with regard to treatment of quantitative measurement erroe;(c) resourece for the comparative sociology of differing discipliness in this regard;and (d) a prolegonmena to a critique of orthodox economics and accounting theories. The key to all these diverse themes is the realization that no one individual alone is capable of fixing the magnitude of a quantitative error estimate, and therefore the social construction of error must be given a more precise meaning, an therefore the social construction of error must be given a more precise menaing, and that this occurs through the istrumentality of meta-analysis

The State of the Art in Welfare State Research on Social Spending Efforts in Capitalist Democracies Since 1960

Previous articleNext article No AccessSymposium: Two Perspectives on the Welfare StateThe State of the Art in Welfare State Research on Social Spending Efforts in Capitalist Democracies Since 1960Edwin AmentaEdwin Amenta Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by American Journal of Sociology Volume 99, Number 3Nov., 1993 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/230322 Views: 17Total views on this site Citations: 21Citations are reported from Crossref Copyright 1993 The University of ChicagoPDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:Jolanta Aidukaite, Sven Hort, Mare Ainsaar Current trends in social welfare policies toward the older people in the Baltic and Nordic countries: an explorative study, Journal of Baltic Studies 53, no.22 (Nov 2021): 147–167.https://doi.org/10.1080/01629778.2021.1998166Nicole Detraz, Dursun Peksen “Women Friendly” Spending? Welfare Spending and Women's Participation in the Economy and Politics, Politics & Gender 14, no.22 (Oct 2017): 137–161.https://doi.org/10.1017/S1743923X17000253Jael Goldsmith Weil Facing the State: Everyday Interactions throughout Regime Change: Chile’s State Milk 1954–2010, Social Science History 42, no.33 (Aug 2018): 469–494.https://doi.org/10.1017/ssh.2018.20Emanuele Ferragina The welfare state and social capital in Europe: Reassessing a complex relationship, International Journal of Comparative Sociology 58, no.11 (Jan 2017): 55–90.https://doi.org/10.1177/0020715216688934Shiri Noy New contexts, different patterns? A comparative analysis of social spending and government health expenditure in Latin America and the OECD, International Journal of Comparative Sociology 52, no.33 (May 2011): 215–244.https://doi.org/10.1177/0020715211408760Catherine Bolzendahl Beyond the Big Picture: Gender Influences on Disaggregated and Domain-Specific Measures of Social Spending, 1980–1999, Politics & Gender 7, no.0101 (Mar 2011): 35–70.https://doi.org/10.1017/S1743923X10000553Philip Young P. Hong A Cross-National Comparison of Welfare Effort during an Age of Welfare State Retrenchment, Journal of Comparative Social Welfare 22, no.22 (Oct 2006): 125–142.https://doi.org/10.1080/17486830600836115J. Scott Brown Examining the Adoption of Old-Age Security Programs in the Developing World, Sociological Perspectives 48, no.44 (Aug 2016): 505–529.https://doi.org/10.1525/sop.2005.48.4.505Nicole P. Marwell Privatizing the Welfare State: Nonprofit Community-Based Organizations as Political Actors, American Sociological Review 69, no.22 (Jun 2016): 265–291.https://doi.org/10.1177/000312240406900206Brian Gran Charitable choice policy and abused children: the benefits and harms of going beyond the public‐private dichotomy, International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy 23, no.1111 (Nov 2003): 80–125.https://doi.org/10.1108/01443330310790363Junko Kato Regressive Taxation and the Welfare State, 43 (Jul 2009).https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511510212Brian Gran A Second Opinion: Rethinking the Public-Private Dichotomy for Health Insurance, International Journal of Health Services 33, no.22 (Jun 2016): 283–313.https://doi.org/10.2190/BV3W-0JAR-R61K-6KAUEdwin Amenta WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT THE DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIAL POLICY, (Feb 2003): 91–130.https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511803963.004THOMAS BERNAUER, CHRISTOPH ACHINI From `Real' to `Virtual' States?, European Journal of International Relations 6, no.22 (Jul 2016): 223–276.https://doi.org/10.1177/1354066100006002003J. Gal Formulating the Matthew Principle: on the role of the middle classes in the welfare state, Scandinavian Journal of Social Welfare 7, no.11 (Apr 2007): 42–55.https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2397.1998.tb00274.xMel Cousins Ireland's Place in the Worlds of Welfare Capitalism, Journal of European Social Policy 7, no.33 (Aug 1997): 223–235.https://doi.org/10.1177/095892879700700304Paul Boreham, Richard Hall, Martin Leet Labour movements and welfare states: a reconsideration of how trade unions influence social change, The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Sociology 32, no.33 (Sep 2016): 1–20.https://doi.org/10.1177/144078339603200301Paul Boreham, Richard Hall, Martin Leet Labour and Citizenship: The Development of Welfare State Regimes, Journal of Public Policy 16, no.22 (Nov 2008): 203–227.https://doi.org/10.1017/S0143814X00007364Julian Go Inventing Industrial Accidents and Their Insurance: Discourse and Workers’ Compensation in the United States, 1880s–1910s, Social Science History 20, no.33 (Jan 2016): 401–438.https://doi.org/10.1017/S0145553200018721Jim Kemeny Theories of Power in the Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism, Journal of European Social Policy 5, no.22 (May 1995): 87–96.https://doi.org/10.1177/095892879500500201Michael Shalev Limits and Alternatives to Multiple Regression in Comparative Research, (): 261–308.https://doi.org/10.1016/S0195-6310(06)24006-7

Agreements, Coercion, and Obligation

Agreements and kindred phenomena are ubiquitous in human life.' They are a central source of obligation. Obligation is a forceful species of reason for action. It is therefore important to be clear about the nature of agreements and the obligations of agreement. These matters have not as yet been well understood. Or so a number of common pronouncements suggest. Among these are some prevalent claims about the impact of coercion on agreements. Philosophers standardly claim that coerced agreements do not impose obligations to fulfill the agreement: they are not binding.2 Many assert that

Political Power versus Ecological Evolutionary Forces: What Are the Proximal Sources of Income Distribution?

Political Power versus Ecological Evolutionary Forces: What Are the Proximal Sources of Income Distribution?

物語行為はいかにして「私」を構成するか

This paper focuses on the self-narrative theory proposed by K. J. Gergen and M. M. Gergen. This theory can be considered to be very insightful in explaining self, in that (1) it understands self as a product of self-narrative-acts, in other words, the reflexivity and historicity of self and (2) it understands self as a communicative and relational phenomenon, not an isolated entity, which means social constructedness of self. But it is considered to be still insufficient, because it fails to grasp fully the reflexivity of self, that is to say the relation to oneself. So extending their theory to cover this reflexivity fully makes possible a comparative sociology of self.

Jamaican Sayings, with Notes on Folklore, Aesthetics, and Social Control

In 1992, Jamaicans celebrate the 30 anniversary of Jamaica's formal independance from Britain. This collection of Creole sayings contributes to the interest cultural preservation which exists anticipation of the event. The sayings aim to trigger reflection and thought. They are never fully explained, and, says the author, in the most extreme situation one might well need an entire week to ponder and think seriously about their meaning. They exert pressure to conform to community standards, and they influence conduct much the same way as religion does. The maxims draw upon a variety of flora, fauna, and real or imaginary creatures. The anansi, for example, famous for playin' fool fe ketch wise (playing foolish order to catch the wise), is regarded as a favourite hero folklore. Creole, initially constructed as a coded language, employs a number of West African linguistic traditions. These Creole sayings, an addition to the literature and ethnography of the Caribbean region, link Jamaican culture to its African past. They should be of interest to Latin American scholars, to students of comparative sociology and anthropology, and to the general public.

Growth, Efficiency, and Convergence in China's State and Collective Industry

In China, as in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, economic reform initiatives seek to increase productivity by introducing elements of market-oriented policies and institutions into an economy formerly dominated by state planning. Efforts to evaluate the impact of reform of Chinese industry have focused on the measurement of productivity change in state enterprises. This study expands the prior framework of analysis in several directions. Our investigation of productivity trends is not limited to state enterprises but includes quantitative comparisons with China's fast-growing collective industries, which contributed 36% of overall industrial output in 1988.1 Unlike previous studies, our analysis works with gross rather than net output. This permits us to investigate changes in the productivity of intermediate inputs, which occupy a large portion of total costs in Chinese industry, as well as labor and capital. To do this, we develop a "quasi-frontier" estimation procedure which seems appropriate for comparisons of total factor productivity based on Chinese industrial data. Finally, we offer a quantitative perspective on the extent to which reform efforts have moved industrial resource allocation toward patterns expected of a market system. The analysis confirms our previous finding, based on a restricted framework employing only labor, fixed capital, and net output, that multifactor productivity in state industry has risen substantially during

Divorce, the Law and Social Context

This paper seeks to establish the extent to which the incidence of divorce and the character of the law regulating the legal dissolution of marriage can be accounted for by historical continuities and cultural traditions in distinctive 'families of nations' The research brings together the diverse traditions of comparative law and comparative sociology, and uses both to come to grips with the questions of why divorce rates vary from country to country and why there has been such a massive increase in the divorce rate in the postwar era. A multivariate model of cross-national divorce outcomes suggests the strong influence of historical continuities within distinctive 'families of nations' on divorce outcomes in the 1960s and a much enhanced influence of social context variables on the character of the law in the following two decades

Metamorphosing the Sacred in Australia*

The Australian Journal of AnthropologyVolume 2, Issue 2 p. 213-232 Metamorphosing the Sacred in Australia* Kenneth Maddock, Kenneth Maddock Anthropology & Comparative Sociology, MacquarieSearch for more papers by this author Kenneth Maddock, Kenneth Maddock Anthropology & Comparative Sociology, MacquarieSearch for more papers by this author First published: August 1991 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1835-9310.1991.tb00138.xCitations: 8 * Much of the material presented in this paper was gathered as part of my research project on the law relating to sacred sites in social and religious context. I am indebted to the Law Foundation of New South Wales for generously supporting the project. AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Citing Literature Volume2, Issue2August 1991Pages 213-232 RelatedInformation

After world systems theory: Concerning Janet Abu-Lughod'sBefore European Hegemony

Since the first installment of Immanuel Wallerstein's work on the modern world system was published (Wallerstein, 1974), the perspective of "world systems theory" has become widely disseminated within the fields of history and sociology and has given rise to a substantial body of literature extending the theory's general propositions in new directions and applying it to a diversity of historical problems. This paper will make no attempt to access the value of the many interesting studies conducted from this general standpoint. Rather, it focuses upon one of the most innovative and sug? gestive works in this genre, Janet Abu-Lughod's recent book, Before European Hegemony: The World System A.D. 1250-1350. (See Abu-Lughod, 1989; all page references in the text are to this work.) Although the book's impact and reception within the sociological profession have been immediate and favorable, this paper will argue that closer inspection reveals all is not well with its theories, comparisons and implications. Moreover, such an examination suggests that little progress is likely in comparative, historical sociology unless the exclusivistic claims and limitations of world systems perspectives are overcome through the creation of a more inclusive comparative historical sociology of civiliza? tions, one which does not reject the importance of fundamental economic and political processes, or even less the need for more global, systematic perspectives, but which places them within wider civilizational contexts and more complex systems of institutional and cultural mediation. It is from this latter standpoint that we wish to engage Abu-Lughod's book. In doing

The social sources of homicide in different types of societies

A consistent finding to emerge from cross-national studies of crime is a positive relationship between the degree of social inequality and levels of homicide. This finding contrasts with the results of anthropological case studies that reveal high rates of homicide in some extremely egalitarian societies. Viewed together, these two sets of findings raise the question of whether the patterns observed in cross-national research on homicide are generalizable to the typically small, nonindustrial “simple societies” studied by anthropologists, but generally neglected by comparative sociologists. We address this issue in an analysis of homicide for a sample of small, nonindustrial societies. Our findings indicate that the degree of inequality in such societies is not significantly associated with the level of homicide. By contrast, levels of homicide do vary systematically with the complexity of the political and military organization of such societies. These results suggest that some of the most important findings of cross-national research in sociology are not readily generalizable across different types of societies.

The State of the Art in Comparative Studies of Leisure

Abstract The development of the sociology of leisure has been well documented and is becoming more widely accepted as an academic discipline in a number of countries. Many attempts have been made to carry out comparisons of macro-social data on leisure collected in national surveys, and smaller scale studies have been conducted either in parallel or by single researchers or research teams seeking to replicate their experimental method in more than one national context. This paper presents a brief review of the phenomena which have led to the recent growth of interest in the comparative sociology of leisure and provides a survey of its historical development. The authors draw on recent examples to examine the theoretical and practical issues which arise in conducting within- nation comparisons and cross-national studies of leisure. Particular attention is paid to research parameters, definitions of concepts and terms, their functional equivalence and the impact of cultural assumptions. The paper concludes with a critical appraisal of some of the solutions adopted in dealing with the problems identified and points to the need for greater international collaboration.

State Responsiveness and State Activism: An Examination of the Social Forces and State Strategies that Explain the Rise in Social Expenditures in Britain, France, Germany, and Italy 1870-1968.

Theories of state responsiveness and state activism the methodological problems of comparative macro sociology. Part 1 The growth of the welfare state: institutional patterns in the growth of social welfare state responsiveness to social needs and political pressures state involvement and patterns of growth in welfare expenditures. Part 2 The growth of mass education systems: institutional patterns in the expansion of education state responsiveness to educational demand and political pressures state involvement and patterns of growth in educational expenditures state responsiveness and state activism.

Krishna Consciousness in the West

Scholars of comparative religion, theology, philosophy, history, sociology, and psychology and members of the Hare Krishna movement discuss the history, theology, and organization of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness and public reaction to the movement in America.

The Formation of the Russian National Identity: The Role of Status Insecurity and Ressentiment

This paper is a part of a much larger study in comparative historical sociology addressing the question of the emergence and initial development of the related phenomena that may be subsumed under the umbrella term “nationalism”: national identity, national consciousness, and political collectivities based on such an identity and consciousness—nations. This larger project focuses on the five societies that were among the very first to define themselves as nations—England, the United States of America, France, Germany, and Russia—and examines the social bases of national identity, its embodiment in and perpetuation through institutional arrangements and patterns of culture, and its transformation in the process of diffusion from one culture to another.

Challenges for Comparative Social Research

The comparative study of nations and countries has been built on the notion that causal inferences in the field should approximate the design of natural science expenments. It seems fair to say, however, that there is not a single social science comparative study which has succeeded many strict manner in complyingwith the rulesof scientific experiments and the canons of John Stuart Mill. The attempts to base comparative sociology on a quantitative tradition with roots in the rules forscientific expenments have nevertheless been fruitful in the sense that they have helped to raise and formulate many core problems of comparative research. Yet, the time is ripe for realizing that most comparative studies would greatly profit from a combined quantitative and qualitative approach It is generally assumed that the qualitative study is best at the explorative stage of a project and that it ought to be followed by a more strict quantitative study In the light of expenence from many comparative studies it is reasonable to argue that it is the other way around and that quantitative analysis usually is at its best at the explorative stage whereas a qualitative- oriented analysis provides the final insight and understandmg The need for a reversal of the order of the two kinds of approach is not a purely methodological issue. The call for quantitative, comparative research proliferated at a time when internationalization and the integration of single countnes into bigger units appeared to be not only politically salient but also humane goals. Today the preservation of the nationally and ethnically unique in the midst of hom ogenizing and uniformizing international tendencies has at least in small coun tries become not only politically but also humanely important.

For the sake of the whole

Louis Dumont is a distinguished Indianist but his later work has undertaken to ground an allegedly general need for holism and hierarchy in comparative historical sociology. Dumont's anti‐individualist thrust, depicting as it does modern Western culture as an aberration, a kind of social disease inviting in the long run an even worse cure—the nemesis of totalitarianism— enjoyed in the 80s the status of a modern classic of sociological wisdom. Even those who, like the new humanist thinkers in France (Luc Ferry, Alain Renaut, Tzvetan Todorov) fight the influential antimodern stances of Heidegger or Leo Strauss, have come to share Dumont's strictures against individualism. This paper describes the main theses of Dumont's latest book, translated into English as Essays on Individualism, while at the same time sketching a liberal critique of his anti‐individualist bias.

Rural change in Southeast India, 1950s to 1980s

This study examines, through a historical perspective, the political economy of Tanjore, Tamiland. An important contribution to comparative sociology, Gough's work here provides a wealth of data and analysis of rural change in Southeast India.