Sociological Portrait Research Articles

Le réseau des Sociétés Politiques dans le département de l'Hérault pendant la Révolution Française (1789-1795)

Ninety-one clubs were founded in this southern department. Geography — lowlands versus highlands — explains their unequal distribution and the specific character of rural clubs. The town-country contrast is obvious and is inscribed in the very chronology of the founding of the clubs within two sucessive waves : in 1791-1792 and then in Year II when the network really spread through the country villages. The author describes the earlier forms of sociability (masonic lodges, literary societies) and draws a sociological portrait of the club members, stressing the part played by certain groups (such as women and young people). The study of affiliations and correspondance shows just how the network of clubs functioned. The political role of the societies is analyzed, demonstrating the way they acted as relays for revolutionary propaganda ; but the clubs were also the arena of struggles tied up with the Counter-Revolution and with Federalism. Between town and country, the societies definitely worked as an instrument of political acculturation which did not survive after Year II.

Leaders of the Solidarity Movement: A Sociological Portrait

Data on the social backgrounds of 33 leading activists of the Polish Solidarity movement are examined in the context of the character of the movement, its social basis, and historical background of mass dissent in Poland. In the light of a typology suggested by the author, the recruitment and composition of the leadership could be seen as reflecting the anti-partocratic and crisis-triggered character of the movement. The top Solidarity activists were leaders and organizers of the 1980 strikes. They were predominantly young and skilled industrial workers, manual and non-manual, employed in the large factories in traditional centres of workers' unrest. They represented this section of the `generation of People's Poland' whose upward mobility in a climate of political optimism generated high expectations and aspirations. These aspirations, frustrated by political exclusion and the economic crisis, led to the rebellion against the partocratic institutions. Although most of the Solidarity leaders were not involved in dissident activities before summer 1980, their backgrounds show a clear link with the political history of Poland and testify to the dramatic failure of the mechanisms of political participation and cooptation.

Les chefs de cabinets ministériels au Québec: la transition du gouvernement libéral au gouvernement péquiste (1976–1977)

This article first presents a brief survey of the role and functions filled by the personal aide (chef de cabinet) of a minister in Quebec. The analysis continues, in a comparative perspective, by tracing a sociological and professional portrait of the Liberal“chefs de cabinet” in April 1976 and their successors in the pequiste government in July 1977.We then test the hypothesis that the cleavage between the government and the dominant economic forces has increased since November 15, 1976 as a result of the ideology articulated by the“chefs de cabinet” regarding the social and economic aims of the state. This hypothesis was confirmed.The hypothesis that the pequiste“chefs de cabinet” exercise a more pronounced influence on the decision-making process is also confirmed. Nevertheless, one cannot argue that the pequiste“chefs de cabinet” usurped the power of the legislators; their influence is more political than technocratic. The growing influence of the pequiste“chefs de cabinet” neverthelsss helps to accentuate the tensions and conflicts between the higher civil service and the ministerial aides.

The Newspeople: A Sociological Portrait of American Journalists and their Work.

The Newspeople: A Sociological Portrait of American Journalists and their Work.

The News People: A Sociological Portrait of American Journalists and Their Work.John W. C. Johnstone, Edward J. Slawski , William W. Bowman

<i>The News People: A Sociological Portrait of American Journalists and Their Work.</i>John W. C. Johnstone, Edward J. Slawski , William W. Bowman

A Sociological Portrait of German Jewish Immigrants in Boston: 1845–1861

In the growing literature on the socioeconomic characteristics of the constituent immigrant groups of America's cities during the mid-nineteenth century, German Jews have been sadly neglected. The reasons are primarily practical ones. Because “Jewish” or “Hebrew” was neither a census nor immigration category during this period, German Jews are difficult to identify in public records. Furthermore, they generally comprised only a small minority of the total immigrant population in American urban centers prior to the 1880s. Even those specifically interested in American Jewish history have seldom gone beyond cursory analyses of the socioeconomic characteristics of the German Jews, reflecting both the traditional emphasis in Jewish communal histories on institutions and their leaders, and the focusing of attention in such social histories as do exist on the larger and seemingly more significant Eastern European Jewish immigration beginning in the 1880s.

A Sociological Portrait; A Series from New Society.

A Sociological Portrait; A Series from New Society.