Sociological Perspectives

Sociologists differ in their views of the primacy of technology in social processes but have followed Ogburn's tradition in analyses of social and cultural effects. Investigations of technology are more prevalent in some sociological specialities than others, but additional research is needed to include technology as a central variable. To survive, the discipline must assess the viability of interdisciplinary instructional and professional activities with technological areas.

Resource estimates are generally assumed to be the direct product of geological and engineering information. Historical analysis, using a perspective suggested by the sociology of science, demonstrates that social factors influence the magnitude and variation among resource estimates made during the same historical period. In terms of magnitude and variation, three chronological patterns in the estimates of United States crude oil resources can be discerned, and it is argued (1) that each pattern reflects the ideological orientation present at that time, and (2) that changes from one ideological orientation to another can be traced to changes in the political-economic environment of the oil industry.

In the criminal justice system, as in everyday life, strategies of self-presentation play a critical role. This article examines the accounts convicted white-collar offenders provide while explaining their illegal behavior to federal probation officers. Accounts are described and classified; then, after a scale reflecting the degree to which they conform to judicial preferences regarding post-conviction explanations is defined, the role accounts play in the sentencing process is identified. Although the content and quality of defendants' stories do not affect sentencing decisions directly, they do materially influence the probation officers' evaluations of defendants. These evaluations are, in turn, a significant factor in the decision to sanction.

The argument that mass media exert a direct causal influence upon perceptions of crime is critically examined. Employing data collected in the province of Alberta in 1979, an attempt is made to detect relationships involving respondents' patterns of newspaper and television consumption and their views on crime. Consistent with earlier research findings, the analysis of the Alberta data reveals no evidence of a significant media effect. Some of the issues that must be considered if such findings are to be reconciled with the commonsense expectation of a direct effect of media consumption upon perceptions of crime are discussed.

This article examines and critically evaluates a recent review in this journal of theoretical trends and themes in sociological writings about Chicanos. In the process it attempts to draw a critical distinction between the sociology of Chicanos and Chicano sociology. A basic thesis advanced is that if the sociology of Chicanos is to grow and develop as a distinct area of study it must eschew majority perspectives and work toward the development of a Chicano paradigm that will not only enhance understanding of Chicano experience but, hopefully, work to end the subordinate condition of Chicanos.