E. General Sociology; Social Psychology

2000. Goodman, Walter. All honorable men; corruption and compromise in American life. Boston, Little, Brown [1963] 342 p. 63–13978 HN58.G6. Bibliography: p. [330]–334.

In an exploration of recent public scandals in business, government, and the mass media, the author discusses incidents such as price-fixing, the Sherman Adams and Bernard Goldfine case, and TV quiz-show rigging. Strikingly evident is the public’s condonement, which the author feels originates deep within our society. According to Goodman, superficial allegiance to ethical convention thinly veils the common acceptance of perverted values stemming from the "amoral cash nexus of our age." Although honesty prevails on an individual basis, the author maintains that its absence is often tolerated in group activity, where responsibility is diffused. Another portrayal of the alleged ethical collapse is The Pseudo-Ethic: A Speculation on American Politics and Morals (New York, Simon & Schuster, 1963. 127 p.), by Margaret Halsey. In The Power Elite (New York, Oxford University Press, 1956. 423 p.), C. Wright Mills concludes: "The higher immorality is a systematic feature of the American elite." Vance O. Packard alerts the reader to the widespread invasion of privacy by business, government, and other interests in The Naked Society (New York, D. McKay Co. [1964] 369 p.).

2001. Hodges, Harold M. Social stratification; class in America. Cambridge, Mass., Schenkman Pub. Co. [1964] 307 p. 64–13290 HN57.H538. Bibliography: p. 281–300.

A broad, humanistic treatment, intended for the layman, in which the author claims to have shunned "a fact-grubbing, questionnaire-type sociology." Hodges’ basic contentions are the universality of social stratification in complex societies and the far-reaching effects of stratification on every facet of life. The discussion covers the theorists, novelists, and empiricists of social class. Hodges concludes that, in spite of the creed of classlessness, American society is stratified, but the country nonetheless comes closer to the ideal of an open society than many other nations. Another account of social class is found in The Status Seekers; an Exploration of Class Behavior in America and the Hidden Barriers That Affect You, Your Community, Your Future (New York, D. McKay Co. [1959] 376 p.), by Vance O. Packard.

2002. Keniston, Kenneth. The uncommitted; alienated youth in American society. New York, Harcourt, Brace & World [1965] 500 p. illus. 65–19062 HM136.K45. Bibliography: p. [499]–500.

This analysis of the complex roots of alienation is based on a study of 12 "extremely alienated" Harvard undergraduates. Alienation is broadly defined as "a response by selectively predisposed individuals to problems and dilemmas confronting our entire society." After analyzing the psychological origins of the problem, the author examines basic characteristics of American society which foster traits that appear in their extreme in the alienated. Chronic social change, empiricism, fragmentation, and the "deification" of technological values are considered to engender rootlessness, a lack of individual identity, and the subordination of emotion. The significant implication of alienation, according to Keniston, is seen in the heavy human toll exacted by our technological society.

2003. Miller, Delbert C., and William H. Form. Industrial sociology: the sociology of work organizations. 2d ed. New York, Harper & Row [1964] xxii, 873 p. 64–10221 HD6961.M55 1964

Bibliographies at the ends of chapters.

An updated edition of no. 4552 in the 1960 Guide.The same authors explore business, labor, and community relations in Industry, Labor, and Community (New York, Harper [1960] 739 p. Harper’s social science series). Social Mobility in Industrial Society (Berkeley, University of California Press, 1959. 309 p.), by Seymour M. Lipset and Reinhard Bendix, is a scholarly treatment of mobility, based on the Labor Mobility Survey conducted in 1949 in Oakland, Calif., and on other American and foreign surveys. The results of the studies tend to disprove the commonly held beliefs that social mobility is less extensive in Europe than in the United States, that social mobility declines as industrial societies mature, and that penetration into the business elite becomes more difficult with increasing industrialization.

2004. Olson, Philip, ed. America as a mass society; changing community and identity. [New York] Free Press of Glencoe [1963] 576 p. 63–13541 HN58.04

Bibliographical notes.

The impact upon the individual of the changing American social structure is the central theme of this substantial anthology of representative and illustrative essays. The emerging concept of "mass society" indicates concern over a basic, historically rooted issue in our culture: freedom of the individual versus institutional control. Some view mass society as a stultifying influence that contributes to loss of individuality and absorption of community by the all-engulfing, centrally controlled mass structure. Others regard it as a liberating influence which destroys the stifling effects of a traditional and hierarchial social order. The predominant outlook favors the former interpretation.

2005. Whyte, William H. The organization man. New York, Simon & Schuster, 1956. 429 p. illus. 56–9926 BF697.W47

The author postulates the birth of a "Social Ethic" in response to the modern American’s attempt to legitimize morally his seemingly inevitable subjection to the pressures of industrial society characterized by a growing collectivism. An "organization man"—a doctor in a corporate clinic, a scientist in a government laboratory, or a corporation executive holds the belief that the group is superior to the individual and that "belongingness" is his basic need. Pledging unquestioning loyalty to the organization, which he regards as benevolent, he accepts its dictates in all spheres of his life. The author views the increasing collectivism as a result of an overemphasis on egalitarianism and community spirit. To restore the balance, he advocates a return to the primacy of the individual. "The fault is not in organization, in short; it is in our worship of it." In The Pyramid Climbers (New York, McGraw-Hill [1962] 339 p.), Vance O. Packard elaborates on the corporation executive.

2006. Williams, Robin M. American society: a sociological interpretation. 2d ed., rev. New York, Knopf, 1960. 575 p. 60–6472 HN57.W55 1960

Bibliographies at the ends of chapters.

An updated edition of no. 4558 in the 1960 Guide. A statistical perspective of American society is presented in This U.S.A.: An Unexpected Family Portrait of 194,067,296 Americans Drawn From the Census (Garden City, N.Y., Doubleday, 1965. 520 p.), by Ben J. Wattenberg in collaboration with Richard M. Scammon.