Sociology Commons^™

Some Trends In Forecast Skill At The National Severe Storms Forecast Center, Allen Pearson, Steven J. Weiss

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Tornado watch and severe local storm outlook verification statistics reveal the trends in forecast skill at the National Severe Storms Forecast Center. The skill level of the outlook has been steadily increasing since 1973. The percentage of watches verifying has been gradually increasing since 1970. While the probability of detection for tornadoes has decreased slightly since 1974, this appears to be highly correlated with the number of outbreak tornadoes reported in a given year. During significant tornado days, a much higher degree of skill is exhibited for both outlooks and watches. Factors influencing the results are discussed, including the impact …

Clothing Unlimited; Advanced 4-H Clothing Project : Extension Circular 4-50-79, Gail Skinner

Nebraska 4-H Clubs: Historical Materials and Publications

4-H project discussing more in-depth questions about creating a wardrobe. Several activities for thinking about and creating a wardrobe that works for you.

“Sociology At Nebraska: 1884-1929,” Together With “A History Of Sociology At The University Of Nebraska,” By J.O. Hertzler, Joyce O. Hertzler, Mary Jo Deegan

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

At the turn of the century the University of Nebraska was one of the four leading centers of sociology in the United States. Despite this auspicious start, Nebraska has remained relatively obscure in the accounts of the history of Sociology. This is partially a result of its size: until 1959 the faculty consisted of only five members and was oriented to a small but quality graduate program. The document which follows is an original manuscript recording the early history of the department. It was written by Joyce O. Hertzler in the Winter of 1929. This rough draft, now yellowing and …

The Autobiography Of W.E.B. Dubois: An Analysis, Michael R. Hill

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

The Autobiography of W.E.B. DuBois: A Soliloquy on Viewing My Life from the Last Decade of Its First Century tells the impressive and inspiring story of an individual’s struggles, defeats and accomplishments, as well as his major ideas developed during ninety years of a life dedicated to promoting racial equality and the sociological study of African- American realities in the United States. The Autobiography presents a view of American life distilled through the perceptive, analytical eyes of this country’s foremost African- American intellectual, William Edward Burghardt Dubois. Progressing from the reconstruction era at the end of the U.S. Civil …

George Herbert Mead And Social Reform: His Work And Writings, Mary Jo Deegan, John S. Burger

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

There are two popular myths concerning the eminent philosopher and social psychologist George Herbert Mead: that he published little during his lifetime and that Mind, Self, and Society is his most important sociological work. This misrepresentation of Mead's contributions is partially grounded in the neglect of his work and writings on social reform. The misrepresentation of the significance of the almost seventy articles Mead wrote during his lifetime distorts the meaning of his concepts and has profound implications for symbolic interactionists who claim Mead as one of their founding fathers.

Social Experience And Moral Judgment In East African Young Adults, Carolyn P. Edwards

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

Relationships between stage of moral judgment and antecedent social experiences are presented for a non-Western sample of young adults. Crosssectional data are presented for two groups of Kenyan students: 52 University of Nairobi students; and 40 fourth form secondary school Ss. Critical variables are (a) family modernization, (b) attending ethnically pluralistic secondary schools, and (c) living independently away from home. The correlations between moral judgment stage and these three variables are controlled for, and compared to, correlations between stage of moral judgment and age, sex, race, and academic ability (as measured by standardized achievement tests or by grades). The …

American Drama And Ritual: Nebraska Football, Mary Jo Deegan, Michael Stein

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Football is a major sport in the United States because of its dramatic enactment of social values of violence, bureaucracy, sexism, and commercialism. The spectators of this game are particularly enthralled in the state of Nebraska. Here, a state with a large geographical area and a small, predominanty rural population, the ~' fans have elevated Nebraska football to a significant ritual and source for identification. As avid supporters they dress in the team colors, red and white; participate in pre- and postgame celebrations; travel great distances; and emotionally express their loyalty and dedication to "Big Red."

By combining the dramaturgical …

Vacancy Chains And Intra-Urban Migration, Donald C. Rundquist

Department of Geography: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

American society is a very mobile one, with approximately twenty percent of the populace changing its place of residence every year. It has been estimated that over two-thirds of all moves take place within the city. Geographic studies of intra-urban migration generally treat the relocations as either 1) movement from one areal unit to another, such as inter-census tract flows, or as 2) individual-level, unrelated moves between respective origins and destinations. In reality, however, each change of residence is one part of a much longer sequence of changes.

This thesis examines intra-city moves within the framework of their real-world linkage …

Ethnicity And Socioeconomic Status As Determinants Of Social Participation: A Test Of The Interaction Hypothesis, J. Allen Williams Jr., Louis St. Peter

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

The burgeoning research in recent years on participation in voluntary associations has led to a generally consistent, cumulative literature. From these studies we now know a great deal about who affiliates with what kind of organizations and why. As with most areas of inquiry, however, certain issues remain unresolved. With respect to minority participation, an important and unanswered question has been: Do black Americans have a higher or lower rate of social participation than their white counterparts? Although seemingly a simple question to answer, contradictory findings have led to considerable, and sometimes heated, debate which has lasted for many years. …

Comments On Jackman's "Political Elites, Mass Publics, And Support For Democratic Principles", Louis St. Peter, J. Allen Williams Jr., David R. Johnson

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Whereas classical political theory indicates that widespread public support for democratic principles is necessary for the maintenance of a democratic society, research evidence has almost universally shown a difference between the general public and the elite with the latter being more supportive. Many contemporary observers, in contradiction to classical theory, have explained this difference in terms of an independent politically active stratum, differing from the mass public not only in terms of generally higher social status, but also by a unique socialization process. An article published in the Journal of Politics by Robert Jackman has challenged this interpretation by purporting …

On Political Tolerance: Comments On "Origins Of Tolerance", Harry J. Crockett

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

The continued scalability of a set of attitude items used in national sample surveys separated by 19 years is a remarkable and useful result. In a discipline lacking valid measures of socially important attitudes, such an outcome merits close study and wide dissemination. But exhibiting the stability of Stouffer's tolerance scale is not the prime end of the Williams et al. paper; they pursue an accounting of the "origins of tolerance." Nor is it the prime interest of the larger research from which their paper arises. Our concern in the larger study is with the political tolerance of the American …

"Origins Of Tolerance": Reply To Crockett, J. Allen Williams Jr., Clyde Z. Nunn, Louis St. Peter

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Professor Crockett has described portions of our article as "conceptually barren" and the findings are said to represent "serious distortions" which, if accepted, will lead to "serious misunderstandings." Coming from a respected colleague, these strong words cannot be taken lightly. Nevertheless, after carefully examining his criticisms, we feel they are misplaced.

Origins Of Tolerance: Findings From A Replication Of Stouffer's Communism, Conformity, And Civil Liberties, J. Allen Williams Jr., Clyde Z. Nunn, Louis St. Peter

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

This report presents findings from a nationwide replication of Stouffer's classic study of attitudes toward civil liberties. Central to Stouffer's interpretation of the origins of tolerance is his idea that exposure to social and cultural diversity encourages an appreciation of the importance of civil liberties for democracy. Trends in the 1950s suggested that Americans would increasingly be exposed to diversity with the result that the population would become more tolerant in the future. These propositions were examined using education, city size, region, exposure to mass media news, gender, and occupation as indices of exposure to diversity. With the exceptions of …

Life Satisfaction And Attitudes Toward The Future: A Comparison By Age, Sex, And Area Of Residence, Jimmie Cooley

Open Access Master's Theses (through 2010)

This study was concerned with evaluations people make regarding their present satisfaction and happiness, and with their attitudes toward the future. Measurements were not limited to objective circumstances in which people live. The individual’s subjective sense of well-being, or the quality of life, was the desired information, and this quality is not found by measuring income, size of residence, or a unit of time—though well-being may be related to such variables. This study sought to determine aspects of present satisfaction as well as those aspects of satisfaction or of worry which people think will apply to them in their later …

Leader's Guide, Fun In 4-H With Jack And Judy : Extension Circular 4-03-76, Leon Rottmann

Nebraska 4-H Clubs: Historical Materials and Publications

Presents the leader's role in facilitating the beginning home economics projects for 4-H.

Consumer Behavior In The Health Marketplace: A Symposium Proceedings: Contents, Schedule, And Preface, Ian Newman

Consumer Behavior in the Health Marketplace: Symposium Proceedings

This symposium grew out of informal departmental discussions seeking new ideas concerning the effectiveness of health education, particularly as it is applied to the purchase of health related products and services. Two specific objectives were established to guide the program: 1) to bring together a cross section of experts to discuss, each from his/her own perspective, issues of consumers and their behavior in purchasing health related goods and services. By providing a platform of notable speakers we hoped to achieve the second objective, to attract interested people from the university community, Lincoln, and surrounding communities. We hoped that new contacts …

The Adult As A Consumer Of Learning, Malcolm Knowles

Consumer Behavior in the Health Marketplace: Symposium Proceedings

What I would like to do is explore with you what I think we know (and I will try to separate what we know from what we speculate about, as far as I can) about the behavior in the marketplace of adults as learners. Those of you who are in health education will find relevance in terms of patient teaching, of public health education, and even in pre-service and in-service education of health educators. Those of you who are not in health education can make applications to your respective fields of work.

Let me start by developing a little historical …

The Stanford Heart Disease Prevention Program, Nathan Maccoby

Consumer Behavior in the Health Marketplace: Symposium Proceedings

This afternoon I want to tell you about the results of a major study we have been doing as a part of the Stanford Heart Disease Prevention Program. The Stanford Heart Disease Prevention Program is an interdisciplinary project directed by Dr. John W. Farquhar, Professor of Medicine at Stanford University and I am co-director. This paper was really co-authored by fifteen people as part of an interdisciplinary team. With a group of different people like this, we had to spend a significant amount of time trying to teach each other our respective professional languages. Initially, communication within our group was …

Whose Behavior In What Health Marketplace?, Leon S. Robertson

Consumer Behavior in the Health Marketplace: Symposium Proceedings

A number of behavioral scientists and health educators have been engaged for some time in attempts to explain and/or influence human behavior regarding health and illness. Behavior directed toward preserving health is called health behavior.1 Behavior subsequent to the perception of symptoms and directed toward diagnosis and treatment is called illness behavior.

It has been suggested that techniques used to market products and services can be used to help individuals fulfill their needs in both prevention and amelioration of illness as well as in the alleviation of other social problems. In this paper I shall review some principles that have …

Some Lessons From The Feeling Good Television Series, James W. Swinehart

Consumer Behavior in the Health Marketplace: Symposium Proceedings

There has been a lot of discussion recently, in the press and elsewhere, about the need for more preventive health action on the part of the public. This concern was the basis for the Feeling Good project. The original proposal was for 26 one-hour programs to be broadcast weekly on Public Broadcasting Systems (PBS). When we were about 6 programs into the series, however, the decision was made to stop after the first 11 one-hour shows, take a two-month break to retool and return with 13 half-hour shows.

Leon Robertson talked about some of the problems with using education as …

Consumer Behavior In The Health Marketplace: Emphasis On Access To Care, Lu Ann Aday

Consumer Behavior in the Health Marketplace: Symposium Proceedings

The particular aspect of "consumer behavior in the health marketplace" I should like to emphasize is the problem of access to medical care.

Health care policy makers, planners, administrators, and medical care consumers themselves are increasingly voicing their concern that access to the medical care system should be improved. A plethora of programs has been launched during the past decade with the expressed objective of achieving equity of access to medical care in the United States.

Some of these programs are directed at increasing the buying power or medical knowledge of the health care consumer-e.g., Medicaid, Medicare, national health insurance, …

Selling Health To The Public, Godfrey M. Hochbaum

Consumer Behavior in the Health Marketplace: Symposium Proceedings

Let me confess at the outset that I feel uncomfortable with the title given to my presentation, "Selling Health to the Public," and that I feel equally uncomfortable with such terms as, "marketing health," "the health marketplace," or any others that equate the health area with the marketplace.

These terms have become quite popular in recent years because the presumed success of Madison Avenue and the methods and gimmicks of commercial sales promotion easily tempt health professionals to adopt these same methods and gimmicks in the cause of health education.

I feel uncomfortable with these terms and with what they …

Some Determinants Of Post-Purchase Satisfaction Among Medical Care Consumers, Lawrence Wortzel

Consumer Behavior in the Health Marketplace: Symposium Proceedings

Consumer behavior in the health marketplace is an interesting subject. One of the interesting things about studying medical care is that different people experience different results after having the same health care. For example, in the Massachusetts presidential primary that took place some time ago, one of the voting machines somehow got hooked up to an X-ray device, and, as a result, three voters were exposed to doses of radiation. One of the exposed was a conservative, one was a liberal, and one was an independent. They were immediately rushed to one of the major Boston medical centers where a …

New Themes In Innovation Research: Implications For Consumer Health Behavior, Gerald Zaltman

Consumer Behavior in the Health Marketplace: Symposium Proceedings

Whenever I am called upon to make prescriptive statements to a group which can't easily hold me accountable for the consequences, I am always reminded of the story of the chicken and the pig. For those of you who aren't familiar with the story, a chicken and a pig were walking down the street one day and came upon a restaurant that had a big sign in the window, "Special Today: Bacon and Eggs." The chicken got all excited and said, "Isn't that great, they are featuring us together." The pig looked kind of dour and said, "That's okay for …

Consumer Behavior: An Epidemiological Perspective, Thomas J. Prendergast

Consumer Behavior in the Health Marketplace: Symposium Proceedings

My interest is epidemiology and preventive medicine. Epidemiology is the study of disease distributions in man. Preventive medicine is the attempt to avoid acquiring the risk factors of diseases by individuals, which can be called "primary prevention." Also it is the attempt to avoid development of diseases among those who have risk factors, and that is known as secondary prevention. Quite clearly there is much concern about epidemiology as the basis for preventive medicine and about preventive medicine as a potentially cheaper and easier way to provide quality medicine. Health education is a clear dimension of preventive medicine.

We have …

Sociological Factors In High Blood Pressure, Sidney M. Stahl

Consumer Behavior in the Health Marketplace: Symposium Proceedings

High blood pressure is a silent killer and is therefore one of the most significant of the medically related problems that afflicts modern man. Approximately 25 million people living in the United States have the disease. In reality, it is not a "disease" in the classic meaning of that term; instead its sequelae, or subsequent effects, are diseases that are all too familiar and deadly: stroke, kidney disease and myocardial infarction (heart attack), to name just a few. In fact, there are more deaths in the United States each year attributable to the sequelae of high blood pressure than to …

Homosexuals And The Death Penalty In Colonial America, Louis Crompton

Department of English: Faculty Publications

This article traces the legislative history of statutes prescribing the death penalty for sodomy in 17th-century New England and in the other American colonies. New England and some middle colonies broke with English legal tradition by adopting explicitly biblical language. After the Revolution, Pennsylvania took the lead, in 1786, in dropping the death penalty.

As the nation prepares to celebrate the bicentennial of the Declaration of Independence, the question of the status of the homosexual in pre-Revolutionary America comes to mind. The Body of Liberties approved by the Colony of Massachusetts Bay in 1641 welcomed refugees seeking to escape "the …

Invited Response To James J. Kilpatrick’S “And Some Are More Equal Than Others”, Mary Jo Deegan

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

It is difficult to take Mr. Kilpatrick's column seriously. Not only is it written in a light-hearted vein, like many remarks written on minority groups and women, but also it takes an illogical and indefensible position. Somehow, I gather, the reader is supposed to feel that women should not be in half of the illustrations relating to society. In "reality" they are 51% of the population, so perhaps Mr. Kilpatrick is referring to a different reality than the one where women live. It would be interesting to know where this" reality" exists. In an additionally inexpicable manner there is supposed …

Leaders Guide. Creative Clothing...Opening The Door : Extension Circular 4-14-75

Nebraska 4-H Clubs: Historical Materials and Publications

4-H discussion of items leaders need to know like what the students are like and a description of the projects used in a 4-H meeting.

Creative Clothing...Opening The Door : Extension Circular 4-10-75, Gail Skinner

Nebraska 4-H Clubs: Historical Materials and Publications

Discusses different aspects of sewing such as: color coordination, sewing machine vocabulary, tools used, correct posture, customization of clothing and hygiene for 4-H.