(1979). Social Networks and Psychology. Connections, 2 - INSNA

NEWBY, Howard (Sociology, Essex) "Urbanization and the Rural Class Structure : A Case Study" (Paper presentedat a conference on "Urban Change and Conflict", Nottingham, Jan . 1979 .The major effect of urbanisation in the countryside has been to transform rural England into a predominantlymiddle-class territory . The policies which systematically disadvantage the rural poor can now,therefore, be assured of local democratic support . This suggests that striking improvement in the relativeliving standard of the rural poor will in the future - as in the past - be brought about by changes initiatednationally rather than locally, through the trickling down into rural areas of reforms and innovations introducedon a universalistic basis . While there is a paradox in the growing polarisation of rural societybeing accompanied by the increasing identification between farmers and farm workers, in many respects thenewcomers have provided the wherewithal for both of these processes . Estranged from the alien newcomersfarm wore-ers have increasingly recognised a common identity with farmers as fellow 'locals' . However, thefarm workers, together with others among the deprived rural population, are often entirely unaware that,miles away in the council chamber, representatives of both the farmers' and the newcomers' interests arebusy agreeing upon political policies which are to their detriment .OSTOW, Robin (Brandeis and Toronto) . "Kinship, Connectedness and Labour Migration : The Case of RuralSardinia ." Unpublished paper .This study, part of a larger monograph on post-war emigration from a small agro-pastoral communityof 1,500 inhabitants in central Sardinia, discusses (1) the role of kinship in generating an emigrant pool ;(2) kin relations in the new environment over time ; (3) kin ties of the few migrants who are upwardlymobile ; and (4) ties of migrants to kin who remain in the village .First, all migrants were identified with patrilineal kin groups . Over 200 migrants were interviewedin depth . Second, non-migrants were interviewed informally about their relationships with emigrated kin .Finally, ties among emigrants abroad were analysed ; particularly in four areas : Charleroi (Belgium), Milanand its suburbs, Munich and environs, and the Turin area .Although emigration includes members of almost every kin group, migrants tend to come from largenuclear families in smaller kin groups which have few ties to other groups, and very distant ties, if any,to the more successful groups . Within kin groups, emigration is concentrated in certain nuclear families,often the larger ones . Most emigrants were "sponsored" by kin already living abroad, siblings, parents,children, first cousins, uncles, and brothers-in-law . The earliest wave of migration (to Belgium) had thehighest rate of kin sponsorship and the largest proportion from very small, landless kin groups . Latermigrations tended to involve marginal members of more central groups .Upward mobility seemed to occur where (1) individuals formed exploitative ties to semi-distant kin,while keeping close relatives at a distance ; (2) members of a nuclear family separated themselves geographicallyfrom the community of emigrated paesani and cooperated with each other on an egalitarian basis ;and (3) an individual minimised ties to all kin in the area and 'went it alone' .Thus, kin ties appear most active where they serve to organise resources, e .g . in settling migrantsfinding them marriage partners, and articulating their relationship to the property system or opportunitystructure . Emigration relieves the pressure on the resources of poorer nuclear families and kin groupsby opening up alternative careers and sources of income . However, it also alienates migrants from theircommunity, and reduces the connectedness of kin who remain at home .PARRET, HERMAN (Belgian National Science Foundation and NIAS) . "Structuralism : A Methodology or an Ideology?"AZgemeen NederlandsTijdschriftvoor Wijsbegeerte 68(1976) : 99-110 ."The topic of the present paper (asks) : is structuralism a methodology or an ideology? The questionwill be treated in three parts : 1 . what is meant by structure, apparently the key concept of this doctrine?2 . what are the philosophical connotations which involve the central position of this concept? 3 . how canmethodological and ideological aspects of structuralism be reconciled, and is it the case that ideologynecessarily results from methodology?" (excerpt from paper) .ROBERTS, Bryan (Sociology, Manchester) "Mobility of Labour, the Industrial Economy and State Provision ."Paper presented at a conference on "Urban Change and Conflict", Nottingham, Jan . 1979 .The focus of this paper is the extent to which industrialisation entails a convergent process which,through the concentration of industry in large, urban agglomerations, leads to similar patterns of classconflict . A major factor in this convergence is often seen to be the contradictions arising from the needfor a massive state intervention to provide the social and economic infrastructure appropriate to theexpansion of industrial capital . In contrast, I suggest that a considerable variation is possible in theorganisation of the industrial economy and in the extent and nature of state intervention . Likewise, thisvariation is associated with differences in the pattern of class conflict and of economic expansion . .