Sociological Perspectives

Sociological studies of the relationship between work and leisure have not yet focused on the arena where the two are juxtaposed most significantly: hospitality workers who manufacture resort leisure. In this article, based on four years of participant observation and in-depth interviewing, we examine four types of resort workers—new immigrants, locals, seekers, and managers—and consider the intertwined role of work and leisure in their lifestyles and careers. Their adaptations run the gamut of the leisure-work nexus, as they incorporate various combinations of materialism and experientialism. Rooted in the drive for subsistence, leisure, and career advancement, these workers' lives range from structure to transience and touch on the interface between motivations, goals, and values in mainstream versus alternative-track lifestyles. We offer extrapolations for how these workers' adaptations reflect broader issues of the American workplace.

This article reports the results of a qualitative evaluation, through ethnographic interviews, of San Diego County's Catholic Charities' Wilson/Fish Demonstration Project (WF). The narratives of refugees who had been resettled by the WF were compared to those resettled by San Diego County's Department of Social Services' Refugee Employment Services System (RESS). In general, WF refugees reported gaining employment sooner and receiving cash payments for a shorter period. WF refugees also reported fewer problems in gaining access to agency personnel. WF refugees indicated greater integration of existing community networks into the agency's procedures. RESS refugees reported higher attained educational levels and a greater “future” orientation.

This research revisits the structural determinants of changing job prospects at the bottom of urban labor markets during the 1980s, measured in terms of employment instability, earnings inequality, and low-income jobs. In addition to the deindustrialization thesis, hypotheses are drawn from recent perspectives on new industrial districts, global cities, and the “new” social division of labor. Statistical analyses reveal that the organization, rather than the size, of the local manufacturing base, the proliferation of small establishments, and industrial diversification are among the most crucial processes for understanding the shifting contours of urban inequality during the 1980s. The implication is that social scientists must continue to look beyond quantitative shifts in employment from manufacturing to services to the qualitative reorganization of production in order to make sense of the structural underpinnings of today's urban inequality.

This study examines whether (1) impoverished persons exhibit a “culture of poverty” mentality and (2) blacks differ from whites in their attitudes toward employment, family values, and welfare. Overall we find little evidence that poor individuals adhere to different value systems than do nonpoor individuals. In addition, we do not find strong evidence of a coherent “black culture,” as reflected in attitudes. However, regardless of poverty status, we do find that blacks are more likely than whites to believe that a single woman is just as capable as a married couple of raising a child and to oppose “work for welfare.” Also, nonpoor blacks are less likely than nonpoor whites to condemn premarital sex, and poor blacks do not support reductions in welfare benefits. We conclude that mainstream (and conservative) discussions of poverty often conflate black culture and poverty, thereby contributing to the improper association of poverty and black minority status.

Much social movement research examines the role played by the individual. Studies of this type have focused almost exclusively on the individual's involvement in collective action. This article highlights individual-level behavior outside of social movement organizations. Using results from a recent survey of booksellers, I show that advocacy for the gay and lesbian rights movement and the environmental movement is expressed in several ways within bookstores. Booksellers who are advocates of a social movement, especially the gay and lesbian rights movement, are more likely to carry large numbers of movement-related books, create separate sections of these books, and display these books prominently in their stores. Individuals, acting apart from social movement organizations, aid in the diffusion of movement ideology to the populace at large. I discuss the structural and economic conditions under which this process most readily occurs.

The amount of attention devoted to women and women's issues has increased dramatically in the last five decades throughout the world. In this article we examine the cultural construction of women that guided such action by analyzing texts that were produced and activities that were undertaken in relation to women by international organizations from 1945 through 1995. We show that the modernist principles of universalism, liberal individualism, and rationality provided the cultural framework for this global project. We compare the ways in which two issues important to women, education and genital mutilation, were constructed by global actors and the implications of this meaning making for action over time. Our analysis reveals an important link between the extent to which an issue is constructed to be consistent with the modernist principles and the extent to which it receives global attention.

This study investigates the relative importance of migration, population size, and economic base in explaining felony convictions in small rural towns. Freudenburg's concept “density of acquaintanceship” is used to analyze how differences in cohesion and integration within small rural towns are associated with crime. The central hypothesis is that lower social cohesion and integration increase crime. Two issues are examined. One is whether the type of community structure is associated with felony convictions. The other is whether migration, which ordinarily influences human capital, accounts for a high proportion of rural crime.

Unilateral initiatives are intended to overcome hostility and impasse in bargaining by eliciting trust and thereby allowing for positive bargaining behavior. Previous research demonstrates the effectiveness of unilateral initiatives in the form of small symbolic concessions on the focal issue under negotiation. This study demonstrates the effectiveness of gift giving as unilateral initiatives and assesses the importance of two dimensions of gift giving—the cost of the gift to the giver and the benefit to the receiver. Subjects negotiated with a simulated actor that made unilateral initiatives in the form of gifts. The cost and benefit of the gifts were manipulated, and results indicate that the cost of the gifts was important in determining bargaining behavior (concession making and fine use) while the benefit of the gifts was less so. The effectiveness of gifts as unilateral initiatives implies the generality of the effect of initiatives across exchange domains.