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A Study of the Problem of Negro Crime in the United States
The purpose of this thesis, "A Study of the Problem of Negro Crime in the United States," is to determine whether or not Negro crime increased during the period from slavery to 1945; and if so, what factors were responsible for this increase.
A study of Adoption Procedures in Tarrant County, Texas, September 1947-September 1951
This study of adoption procedures in Tarrant County, Texas provides evidence with which the program in Tarrant County may be evaluated. In addition, the study outlines a general idea of the adequacy or inadequacy of the adoption statutes of Texas.
The Relationship Between Proximity to a Metropolitan Area and Selected Changes in Agriculture
This study is an attempt to determine the effects of proximity to a large urban center on selected changes in agriculture.
Expectations and Attitudes of a Group of Older Persons towards Institutional Living
The study reported in this thesis attempted to determine some of the effects of institutional living on a group of elderly people. The study endeavored to discover whether any changes took place between the expectations of the persons planning to enter a home for the aged and the opinions of the same persons after they had lived in the home.
Contributions of Early Amerian Sociologists to Social Gerontology
The purpose of this thesis is to explore the writings of early American sociologists for attitudes and theoretical ideas concerning aging which individually and collectively have formed the basis for current social theory in gerontology.
The Association between Reported Denominational Affiliation and Psychiatric Diagnosis: a Study of First Admissions to a Private Psychiatric Hospital, 1960-1963
The present study examines the relationship of diagnosis and denominational affiliation in light of the work of Charles Glock and Rodney Stark. The major hypothesis of the study was that diagnoses of first admissions to Timberlawn sanitarium would vary by denominational affiliation.
Variation in Subgroup Value Orientations and Goodness of Fit with Dominant Culture
The purpose of this research was to investigate certain value orientations of adult women of low socio-economic status in Dallas, Texas. Central to the approach to values relied upon in this research project was a concern for cultural integration and change. Of interest was a partial description of the degree of cultural integration and an partial description of strains that exist within the social systems under analysis: a group of 50 Negro women and a group of 50 white women.
Conceptualization and Empirical Definition of Time Perspective
The primary purpose of this thesis is to determine whether or not time perspective can be represented by a relatively simple unitary measure in the form of a questionnaire. More specifically, the aim is to determine whether or not time perspective can be represented as a scalable attitude in accordance with the Guttman scalogram model.
A Study of Religiosity and Criminal Behavior
The problem of this study is the attempt to measure the religiosity of prison inmates and to determine if religiosity among prisoners may be more generally associated with certain types of crimes than with others such as homicide, assault, theft by violence, sex offenses, crimes against person and property, theft, embezzlement, and "other" offenses.
Social Area Analysis and Transportation Patterns: Dallas, Texas, 1960
When the heterogeneity of the city is considered, the sociological implications which stem from this heterogeneity become important to understanding the social structure of the city. One of these sociological implications is intrinsic in the patterns of transportation. This is an ecological study of the structure and changing structure of parts of the city. We will study the relationship between two variables; social area characteristics and patterns of transportation.
Powerlessness and the Deferred Gratification Pattern Among Lower and Middle Class Children
The study attempts to determine the degree of powerlessness and the deferment of gratification among children as measured by instruments designed for this purpose. An effort will be made to test whether the deferred gratification pattern exists in inverse relationship to the feeling of powerlessness among the lower classes; and to determine whether children who feel they are estranged from society have a psychological need for an impulsive release of feelings.
Programs of Work Release in Two Federal Correctional Institutions
The present study has the following purposes: to provide a general description of work release in this country, to provide specific descriptions of the work release programs at two federal institutions, and to relate the descriptions of these programs to societal reactions to crime and theories of criminal etiology and epidemiology.
Delinquent Behavior in White and Negro Student Populations
The purpose of this study is to add to the knowledge of juvenile delinquency in our society as it may be discerned through reports by those who have committed delinquent, but in most cases unadjudicated, acts. This study further seeks to add a dimension to the body of knowledge already gained through self-report techniques by discovering whether there are any important differences to be observed in comparing surveys of limited Negro and white populations.
Rex Hopper's Life-Cycle Theory Applied to the Ku Klux Klan
It is hypothesized that Rex Hopper's model for the development of a South American political revolution will apply equally to the development of a social movement which is not a South American political revolution, namely, the Ku Klux Klan. The general purpose of this study was to test the generalizability of Hopper's model.
The Family Characteristics of the Aged White, Negro, and Spanish American
The purpose of this study is a descriptive one concerning some facets of the family setting with emphasis directed to several general questions. What is the basic family structure, i.e., what family characteristics (type of family or subfamily and the relationship to the head of the family or subfamily) characterize the aged? What is the level of family income of the aged? Finally, how do answers to these questions vary with respect to the three basic social traits of race, age, and sex?
Differential Perception of Poverty and Upper Income Areas Within the City Limits of Dallas, Texas, by Students in Areas Identified as Poverty and Upper Income
"The purpose of this study is to describe the differential perception of poverty and upper income areas in Dallas. Groups of students with contrasting socioeconomic backgrounds were included in the study. Their perceptions were analyzed as a function of their socieconomic backgrounds...A map of the city using postal zone divisions and some census tract divisions was constructed. Definitions of poverty and upper income areas were established on the basis of U.S. Census data and statistics from the State Welfare Department in Dallas. Students from a North Dallas prepatory school and a poverty area high school were asked to mark maps to show locations of areas of poverty and wealth...The study concludes that prep school students show both local and cosmopolitan orientations to the city of Dallas, while poverty area students are most aware of their own neighborhood."-- leaf [1].
An Investigation of the Effect of Normative Systems on an Empirical Variable
This investigation is concerned, with the problem of the normative constraints upon scientific research within the broad theoretical framework of the sociology of knowledge, i.e., the contention that knowledge is functionally related to the social system. The concepts "knowledge" and "Social system" are open to wide interpretation; however, in this study knowledge refers to an empirically verifiable variable and the social system is synonomous with the normative system.
Drug Knowledge Levels and Drug Abuse Attitudes Among Fifth and Sixth Grade Students of Denton and Keene, Texas
The problem with which this investigation is concerned is that of determining the drug knowledge levels and attitudes toward drug abuse of fifth and sixth grade schoolchildren.
Some Differences Between Black Students at Predominantly Black and Integrated Institutions of Higher Learning
Black students now have a choice of predominantly Black or integrated colleges. This investigation is concerned with the possible differences between Black students at these two types of institutions. It was hypothesized that these two student groups differ significantly in socioeconomic status, social mobility expectations, and type of orientation in regard to choice of school.
A Study of Selected Characteristics of Tenants Living in Government-subsidized Housing
The problem with which this pilot study is concerned is to examine selected characteristics of tenants living in government-subsidized housing in an attempt to determine whether or not they differ significantly from tenants who qualify, but do not live in government subsidized housing and to determine if a relationship exists between these differences and the move to subsidized housing.
Social Class and Selected Characteristics of Intellectual Pursuit
The problem with which this investigation is concerned is the relationship of social class to intellectual attitudes and behavior. It ascertains attitudes toward and use of the public library.
An Analysis of Marital, Sex and Occupational Status of Dramatic Characters on Commercial Television
The purpose of this pilot study was to examine the characters portrayed on "prime-time" television drama in an attempt to determine how they compared, with the distribution represented in U. S. Census Bureau data for sex, marital status and occupational status. In pursuing this objective, it was also concerned with the development of a method of content analysis that would not require use of a videotape recorder.
Cross-cultural Perceptions of Physiognomy : Single-factor Variation
The problem of this study is to compare character judgments of a sample Korean population with character judgments of a sample American population, based upon viewing a sample of Caucasian photographs. Both Korean and American sample populations and photographs comprising the instrument are determined by random sampling techniques.
A Factorial Ecology of Dallas County
The "Factorial Ecology of Dallas County" deals with the differentiation of census tracts based on combinations of census tract variables for Dallas County. The study examines this differentiation, using five factors which are analyzed in relation to concentric zone and sector theory. All of the analyses are based upon data which are available by census tract from the 1970 national census.
Neighborhood Cohesion and Disengagement Among Black and White Aged
This study is concerned with social factors related to neighborhood interaction and disengagement among elderly persons controlling for race. Utilizing a scale of neighborhood cohesion as an index of disengagement, it was hypothesized that racial groups would not differ significantly as to their respective levels of neighborhood cohesiveness and local interest. It was also hypothesized that age groups would not differ significantly as to their respective levels of neighborhood cohesiveness and local interest.
The Cosmopolitan-Local Orientation of Aged Blacks and Whites in Denton, Texas
This paper defines the difference between "cosmopolitans" and "locals" in Denton, Texas, as they relate to the aged black and white communities.
Children's Attitudes Toward Death
Most of the research relating to children and death has been psychological or psychoanalytic in nature and has employed case studies or projective methodology. This study utilized a sociological perspective and was aimed at discovering the socialization processes that shape children's attitudes in this area of inquiry. The children's attitudes were examined in terms of four variables, their definitions of death, the relationship of age and death, their reaction to self-destruction and the destruction of others, and the affects of the media on them. Findings from this study of twenty-five children provided further support for the contention that attitudes are the result of learning experiences, i.e., socialization, involving significant others. For the most part, the children's responses were reflections of dominant social values and might therefore be considered the result of socializing factors.
The Correlation Between Societal Attitudes and Those of American Fictional Authors in the Depiction of American Indians
This research examines the relationship between the attitudes of fictional writers and those of society toward American Indians from colonial America to the present. A content analysis was used to validate the hypothesis. In order to show changing attitudes and different schools of thought, this research was arranged into four time periods: "The Ethnocentric Conquerors," "The Ethnocentric Romantics," "The Ethnocentric Acculturationists," and "The Revisionists." The findings demonstrate that there is a close correlation between the attitudes of fictional authors and those of society during a given time period,
The Perceived Seriousness of Corporate Crime and Property Crime by Social Class and Exposure to Prison
The problem of this study concerns the perception of the seriousness of corporate and property crime by groups from various social classes and groups with diverse exposure to prison. Hypotheses relating sex, race, age, exposure to prison, and social class to the perceived seriousness of the two types of crime are presented. In order that these hypotheses be tested, the 211 respondents from prison- and the 182 respondents from the general population ranked five corporate and five property crimes according to seriousness. The findings reveal no significant differences by sex, race, and age. Within all social classes and all categories of exposure to prison, no significant differences between the perceived seriousness of corporate and property crimes.exist.
Structural Correlates of Community Innovation
Structural differences between communities which exhibit a tendency toward innovation and communities which fail to exhibit this tendency are studied. The Model Cities program is used as a test case for the tendency toward innovation, and two samples (applicants and non-applicants) are matched on the basis of population size. Four structural elements are examined as related to applicant status: community differentiation, community poverty, community social-human resource commitment, and the centralization of local governmental structure. Each of the structural elements is further refined by operationally defining specific measures. Community differentiation is measured by occupational and racial/ethnic differentiation. Community poverty is reflected by economic and educational poverty. The variable of community social-human resource commitment is developed using the following measures: per capita community fund goals, per capita amounts raised, per cent of goal raised, and the number of private social agencies in a community that are devoted to social-human resource needs. The centralization of local governmental structure is measured by the presence or absence of the city manager form of government, the presence or absence of non-partisan election, the size of city councils, and the per cent of the city council elected at-large.
Community Participation Patterns of the Residents of Krum, Texas and Denton, Texas
Patterns of participation in formal organizations by residents of a rural non-farm community are compared with those of residents in an urban community. Multi-stage random sampling is utilized in Denton to select those interviewed. In Krum, each residence was numbered and a table of random numbers was used to select households. Chapter One includes the study's purpose, review of the literature, and statement of the hypothesis. Methodology is discussed in the second chapter. Chapter Three focuses on findings and discussions. Data indicate that in the urban community social class, age, homeownership, and length of residency are related to amount of participation. In the rural non-0farm community social class is related to participation. Residents in the urban community participate more than those in the rural non-farm community.
Male and Female Roles in the Lyrics of Three Genres of Contemporary Music
A sample of the top fifty songs of 1973 in Soul, Country-Western, and Easy Listening music is content-analyzed to determine dominant theme and type of love relationship presented. Most of the songs are about women and are sung by men. Hence, male artists continue to dominate the record industry. Criteria for evaluating direction of presentation are applied to lyrics to determine how men present women and women present men. Songs with the heterosexual theme are analyzed to determine conformity to six male and six female stereotypical traits. Males conform to the male stereotype in larger percentages than females conform to the female stereotype. Differences in female role expectations vary among the three genres.
Sino-American Affiliation and Identification with the American Society: A Study of Chinese Students at North Texas State University
This study examines interrelationships between Chinese students' associations with each other, with American friends, and their identification with American society. Fifty-three randomly-selected Chinese students at North Texas State University were interviewed in May, 1974. The resulting data was tested by Chi-square and Gamma tests. The finding are an follows In the United States, Chinese students are in a dynamic adjustment process. In their early stay, Chinese students with high scores of a affiliation with Americans have low scores of identification with American society. However, affiliation with other Chinese brings satisfaction and further identification. Therefore, Chinese students with high scores of affiliation with each other have high scores of identification with Americans.
Social Class Position, Familism, and Family Leisure-Time Involvement: An Exploration
The literature revealed a neglect in the area of family leisure-time behavior. The problem under consideration in this investigation was leisure-time behavior among fathers with members of the immediate family. Forty five fathers were selected for this study. Fifteen fathers represented each of three social class positions as defined by the Hollingshead two-factor index of education and occupation. All fathers had to be presently married and living at the same residence with spouse and children. There had to be two or three children in the family, and they had to be within the age range of six to thirteen. Finally, all fathers were of the caucasian race. The findings supported the hypotheses relative to social class position and time and types variations. With one exception, there was a positive association between social class position and every aspect of father family leisure time when both time and types variations were considered. There was no association between social class position and the amount of leisure time a husband and wife spent together. The findings did not support the hypotheses relative to the association between familism and time and types variation of family leisure time. In most instances there was an inverse association between familism and time variation and between familism and types variation. Finally, there was an inverse association between social class position and familism. Although the results of this investigation cannot be applied to a general population due to the methodological limitations, the findings do show that social class position does predict the behavior of fathers relative to leisure-time use with family members. The results also show that familism as defined and measured for this investigation is limited in its applicability. It is suggested that future research include a probability sampling procedure so that inference can be drawn applicable to a …
Civic Life-Styles in Dallas, Texas
Abstract: The civic life-styles typology of Charles Adrian and Oliver Williams was tested as to its theoretical utility in explaining empirical patterns of civic life-style items, and its comparability to other forms of urban behavior. The data are from a 1970 survey of 3,025 families by the City of Dallas, Texas. An exploratory factor analysis was done on civic life-style items. The factor index scores were used as dependent variables, and demographic and associational items were independent variables in a step-wise regression analysis. Only two of ten factors were found to be civic lifestyles; both were interpretable using the Adrian and Williams typology. Civic life-style behavior was found to be similar to other patterns of differential participation in urban structures.
Drug Knowledge Levels and Drug Abuse Attitudes Among Fifth and Sixth Grade Students: a Replication
This study is concerned with drug knowledge and drug abuse attitudes of a sample of pre-adolescent schoolchildren, 90 from an urban community and 204 from two rural communities. The seven hypotheses tested compared drug knowledge levels and drug abuse attitudes with the variables of community of residence, sources of information, racial identity, acquaintance with drug users, and church affiliation. High levels of drug knowledge were found to be related to rural residence, perceived parental disapproval of drug use, frequency of church attendance, and, to a minor degree, to acquaintance with peer group drug users. The sample held negative views of drug abuse and intolerant drug attitudes correlated significantly with rural residence, parental interest in talking about drugs, church affiliation, and frequency of church attendance. High drug knowledge levels and intolerant drug abuse attitudes were related to only the .20 level of significance.
Ecological Factors Related to Juvenile Delinquency
The purpose of this study is to discover the spatial distribution of adjudicated delinquents and to analyze the relationship of these delinquents to a distribution of other attributes of population aggregates. Specifically, this study focuses on the relationship in Fort Worth between the social and economic data of a specific zone. Chapter I and III of this study discuss previous ecological studies and their findings. Furthermore, possible restriction to previous studies are brought out and the design for this study is developed. Chapter III presents the methodology design used in the project. Chapter IV and V present findings of this study and discuss implication drawn from these findings. Moreover, statistically significant results are explained with regard to present sociological knowledge and future research.
Comparative Study of American and Israeli Teenagers' Attitudes Toward Death
One hundred American teenagers and 84 Israeli teenagers were interviewed by open-ended questionnaires in order to study their attitudes toward death, holding variables like religion, socio-economic status, and education constant. All the respondents are Jewish, members of a youth movement, high school students, and are fifteen to sixteen years old. The results show a strong tendency to avoid discussions and thoughts about death, more so by the Israelis. Death is strongly feared and associated with war and car accidents, more so by the Israelis. Americans associate army service with death. Death is generally viewed as physical and spiritual cessation of life. The avoidance approach and fear of death that were found suggest the need to offer special courses on man and death in high schools.
Differences in Knowledge and Sources of Knowledge About Illegal Drugs Between Rural and Metropolitan High School Seniors
The problem with which this investigation is concerned is discovering if there are any differences in knowledge and sources of knowledge about illegal drugs between rural and metropolitan high school seniors. The term "drugs" in this project includes those defined by law as illegal and also those drugs subject to abuse through misuse. The report concludes that both correct drug knowledge and attitudes toward drugs seem to depend upon the degree to which drugs have entered into the community and their availability. Since no actual differences in knowledge were discovered, the indication is that possibly rural and metropolitan areas can no longer be separated as to the reasons for, or the extent of, certain social problems.
The Marginality, Social Class, and Goal Orientations of American Indian Migrants in Fort Worth, Texas
The concepts of marginality, social class, and goal-orientation were operationally defined. The relationships between these concepts were explored in order to discern their utility in describing the marginal conditions of Indian migrants to an urban area. Marginality was found to be reflected by the extent of identification of Indian migrants with the urban community. Marginal conditions were also more closely linked to social class than goal orientations of parents. Differences in the types of marginality experienced are related to the length of residence in the urban area.
Religion and Society: a Comparison of Selected Works of Emile Durkheim and Max Weber
The problem of this research was to compare the ideas of Emile Durkheim and Max Weber concerning the relationship between society and religion. The primary sources for the study were The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life by Durkheim and The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism and The Sociology of Religion by Weber. An effort was made to establish similarities and differences in the views of the two theorists concerning (1) religious influences on social life and, conversely, (2) social influences on religion.
Voluntary Associations: Membership Attrition and Structural Characteristics
The problem of this research was to investigate David Sills' explanation of membership attrition in voluntary associations. Using the membership population of the Dallas Association for Retarded Citizens from 1969 through 1974, a survey was conducted to determine whether the organizational characteristics of bureaucracy, minority rule, and goal displacement are associated with membership attrition in a selected voluntary association. The findings of this study support Sills' ideas about the association of goal displacement and minority rule with membership attrition in voluntary associations. Bureaucratization, however, was not found to be related to membership attrition.
Career and Occupational Implementation Among Women College Graduates
This follow-up study involved college women seven years after graduation. The purpose was to investigate the predictability of women's career behavior from career aspirations at senior year of college. Some data were derived from The Role Outlook Study senior year questionnaire. In addition, a second questionnaire, The Role Outlook Follow-Up, was utilized which focused upon various events occurring in women's lives following college graduation, namely marriage, graduate school attendance, receipt of advanced degrees, and work experience. No significant association was found between women's career aspirations senior year and actual career behavior. Instead, marriage and the absence or presence of children differentiated working and non-working women. However, a significant association was found between women' s occupational preferences at senior year and their current occupations.
An Empirical Examination of Conflict Theory: Race and Sentence Length
The conflict perspective of criminology and societal reaction to crime suggests that the administration of criminal justice is determined and controlled by those segments of society which are relatively powerful. Based on this perspective, it is reasonable to expect that relatively powerful groups or categories will be far less subject to severe criminal sanctions than will those who are relatively powerless. This proposition may be tested at points in the criminal justice system where decisions are made relative to the application of criminal sanction. The findings are that the relationship between race of offender and sentence length considered both with and without selected control variables is a uniformly weak relationship. In certain categories of control variables the relationship between race of offender and sentence length does strengthen slightly, but in no case are the relationships sufficiently strong to be significant at the .05 level. Partial correlation coefficients show the relationship between race of offender and sentence length to be little affected by the control variables. Therefore, the relationship between race of offender and sentence length is in all cases considered, and by every form of analysis, quite weak. Proportional reduction in error in virtually every case considered in this study is less than 1 percent.
Domestic Law and Population Characteristics
This study examines current domestic provisions and their extent of departure from English common law principles. The purpose of this study is to discover whether differences among state domestic codes are associated with differences among demographic characteristics. If such associations do exist, then some conclusion might be made regarding the feasibility of a national, uniform domestic code. This study examines current domestic provisions and their extent of departure from English common law principles. The purpose of this study is to discover whether differences among state domestic codes are associated with differences among demographic characteristics. If such associations do exist, then some conclusion might be made regarding the feasibility of a national, uniform domestic code.
Urbanization and Tribalism in Nigeria, 1911-1963
The problem with which this study is concerned is the description of the past and present trends in the process of urbanization in Nigeria. In addition, the study explores tribal practices and perspectives in Nigeria's urban areas, giving special attention to the bases for the continuous existence of these phenomena. The data used in the study are obtained from books, government documents of both the United States and Nigeria and the. United Nations demographic analysis documents. The study is divided into five chapters. Based on findings and research of this study, the conclusion is drawn that adaptation to Nigeria's urban life proceeds through modification of the traditional institutions and their combination with Western cultural values, technology and economic practices into a new social structure.
A Study of Viewer Response to the Television Presentation, “Roots”
The problem of this research is to discover viewer response to the television series, "Roots," as revealed through newspapers and magazines published from December, 1976, to June 20, 1977. Thirty-seven articles and 134 interviewee responses were analyzed. The responses with the highest frequency of occurrence in the sample provided eight major categories (listed in the order of highest to lowest frequency of response): inaccuracy/oversimplification, increased awareness, future race relations, white guilt, black anger, future prime time television programming, black pride, and sadness. The predominant appeal of "Roots" was to the emotions of the viewers. Despite the criticism of inaccuracy and/or oversimplification, "Roots" was a timely presentation relating to a current social concern with justice and heritage.
An Exploratory Study of Children's Ideas About Death, with a View Toward Developing an Explanatory Model
Much research relating to children and death has focused on the age-graded developmental model originally proposed by Nagy in the late 1940s. Children are alleged to pass from an infantile to a mature view, seeing death first as separation, then as the result of intervention by a supernatural being, and finally as an irreversible biological process. Accepted theory for thirty years, scholars have since noted difficulty in duplicating Nagy's findings and have come to question the universal application of the developmental model. Bluebond-Langner proposes an alternative model in which all views of death are present in all stages of development. She maintains that the particular orientation a child displays is a result of personal and social experiences.
Social Change and Nigerian Agriculture
The problem with which this study is concerned is the description of changes in Nigeria that result from agricultural developments during the precolonial period to the present time. Emphasis is placed on the relationship between agriculture and other institutions, and the effect of agricultural change upon social phenomena such as population growth, family, industrialization, urbanization, and education. The Nigerian agricultural institution may be divided into three periods: the precolonial, the colonial, and the Republican agricultural eras. The data were obtained from published research reports, United Nations reports, government documents, newsletters, and economic journals. Primarily descriptive in nature, the thesis consists of six chapters. Emphasis was placed upon the historical development of Nigerian agriculture and the reciprocal impact between it and other Nigerian institutions.
The Effect of High Age-Concentration on the Morale and Neighborhood Mutual-Aid Patterns of the Elderly
This study investigated the effects of high age-concentration of residential environment on: (1) the morale of the elderly; and (2) mutual-aid patterns with neighbors of the elderly. Empirical tests of hypotheses derived from the socio-environmental approach to aging were performed. The socio-environmental approach suggested that persons were most satisfied with themselves when there was congruency between what was expected of them by others in the environment and what they expected of themselves. As the local environment became concentrated with old people, the variety of situations with which persons were confronted was quite narrow in terms of demands on the elderly individual's behavior. In age-heterogeneous settings, however, the variety of situations that persons encountered were maximal, and the demands on behavior in this setting was great.
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