Continuity and Change in Recent Research on Social Institutions

In: The annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Band 406, S. 171-182

Abstract

A review of new res techniques & approaches to the study of soc instit's is presented. Although for a while soc sci appeared to abandon the search for causality & conditional predictability, the main thrust of empirical studies continued to be on this, as evidenced by the upsurge of work on soc indicators which reflects a convergence in public policy & application of soc sci. The use of historical materials for developing conditional generalizations continues to be debated, but some scholars are demonstrating that substantial contributions are possible. New methods of analyzing SM have been applied to instit'ized org's. The relations between org's & environment is increasingly being examined. Many recent studies of instit'ized modes of supplying health & welfare services describe unacknowledged ways in which treatment, care or service may create or maintain the condition they are supposed to reduce or eradicate. Studies of the following major instit'al sectors proliferate: kinship & the fam; soc stratification; educ; econ instit's, pol'al instit's, religion, interrelations of instit's, instit's & change. Sociol'ly relevant res on econ processes have dealt with pol'al conditions, nat'l & internat'l; SC; ethnic discrimination; the status of women; advertising; etc. Studies of instit'ization & change in military affairs abound for the 1960's & have dispelled some of the oversimplified generalizations re the "military-industr complex." Intense controversy over the soc role of org'ed religion appeared in the closing yrs of the 1960's. The search for specified invariant patterns of societal change continues, aided by improved methodology but plagued by inadequate data. An emphasis upon process, it might seem, would be necessary in studies of conflict & conflict-resolution; but this is not true for existing studies, although the processual approach has gained ground recently. M. Maxfield.