Sociological Theory and Methods
Online ISSN : 1881-6495
Print ISSN : 0913-1442
ISSN-L : 0913-1442
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Volume 21, Issue 2
Displaying 1-14 of 14 articles from this issue
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Special Articles
  • Special Articles
    Kiyoshi SHIDA
    2006 Volume 21 Issue 2 Pages 165-166
    Published: September 30, 2006
    Released on J-STAGE: March 27, 2009
    DOIhttps://doi.org/10.11218/ojjams.21.165
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
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  • How “mathematics” be able to contribute to social sciences?
    -For the foundation work of mathematical sociology-
    Norio KÔNO
    Article type: Special Article
    2006 Volume 21 Issue 2 Pages 167-182
    Published: 2006
    Released on J-STAGE: August 02, 2007
    DOIhttps://doi.org/10.11218/ojjams.21.167
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
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    Firstly, it is discussed what "mathematics" means for various people including mathematicians and social scientists. Secondly, through some examples, possibility of verification of models by virtue of its clear logic of mathematics is discussed. Finally, by rather critically investigating “An algebraic reinterpretation of "IKI" by Kosaka (1984,1989), effectiveness and its boundary of mathematical models are discussed but we will point out that our discussion might be able to contribute the development of mathematical sociology.
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  • An Ethos of Mathematical Sociologist
    Weak Empirical Validity and Problem of Meaning
    Hiroshi HAMADA
    2006 Volume 21 Issue 2 Pages 183-198
    Published: September 30, 2006
    Released on J-STAGE: August 02, 2007
    DOIhttps://doi.org/10.11218/ojjams.21.183
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    In order to share the problems, mathematical sociologists have to share the criterion of solvability of the problems before they have common interests in a problem. In this paper we characterize this criterion of solvability as a weak empirical validity. Traditionally, sociology tries to explain the processes and results of actions by interpreting meanings of actions. It is often hard to verify an empirical truthness of a theory for sociologists when they are careful about actor's subjective meaning too much, since they cannot observe directly meanings of actions. Therefore we should confirm an empirical truthness of a model not by checking assumptions itself, but by checking whether the model can predict approximately a social phenomenon which we want to explain. Thus a weak empirical validity is a criterion by which we can confirm a coincidence between the implication derived from a model and a social phenomenon by checking the data. Mathematical sociology as a science will progress by developing the models that satisfy a weak empirical validity.
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  • From Empiricism to Normative Science
    What is Mathematical Sociology for?
    Kazuo Seiyama
    2006 Volume 21 Issue 2 Pages 199-214
    Published: September 30, 2006
    Released on J-STAGE: August 02, 2007
    DOIhttps://doi.org/10.11218/ojjams.21.199
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    Still, mathematical modelings do not play in sociology so large parts as in economics. We may find a reason for this in the nature of social world which is the object of sociology. As Parsons once argued, a social order is not merely a factual order, but also a normative order. However, the reason he suggested is wrong. The exact reason is that a social world is a meaning-world which is normatively and transcendentally ordered by ideal meanings. Inquiries on meaning-worlds should be “interpretation” rather than empirical investigations, and there is the well-known problem of objectivity for interpretation. Because of this problem, interpretation cannot have the property “true” as in empirical sciences. It can only provide, if successful, a new meaning-world which would overwrite and replace the one that is the object of inquiry. This amounts to providing a new conception of order. In this sense, sociology is a normative science, and the major role of mathematical modellings should be normative rather than empirical.
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Symposium : Frontiers of Social Stratification Research
  • Statistical Models of Social Fluidity
    Richard Breen
    Article type: Symposium
    2006 Volume 21 Issue 2 Pages 215-236
    Published: 2006
    Released on J-STAGE: August 02, 2007
    DOIhttps://doi.org/10.11218/ojjams.21.215
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    Hypotheses about social fluidity in log-linear models of social mobility are hypotheses about patterns of odds ratios; yet odds ratios are only indirectly related to the interaction parameters of log-linear models. I propose rewriting such models so that the interaction parameters are equal to log odds ratios. This allows straightforward tests of difference and similarity between the odds ratios of different mobility tables. The approach is illustrated using three cross-nationally comparative data sets.
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  • Maximally Maintained Inequality and Essentially Maintained Inequality
    Crossnational Comparisons
    Michael Hout
    2006 Volume 21 Issue 2 Pages 237-252
    Published: September 30, 2006
    Released on J-STAGE: August 02, 2007
    DOIhttps://doi.org/10.11218/ojjams.21.237
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    The implications of maximally maintained inequality (MMI) and its alternative essentially maintained inequality (EMI) for inequality of educational opportunity within societies and over time in those societies are well-understood and frequently addressed in the literature. MMI and EMI may also have implications for cross-national differences. The ISSP “Social Inequality” module fielded 1999-2001 provides highly comparable data useful for assessing hypotheses about cross-national variation in inequality of educational opportunity. Patterns of inequality of educational opportunity in the ISSP data are consistent with MMI and EMI: the association between socioeconomic background and education falls as the proportion of the labor force with postsecondary education rises.
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  • Educational Assortative Mating and the Family Background of the Next Generation
    Robert D. Mare, Christine R. Schwartz
    2006 Volume 21 Issue 2 Pages 253-278
    Published: September 30, 2006
    Released on J-STAGE: August 02, 2007
    DOIhttps://doi.org/10.11218/ojjams.21.253
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    The demographic behaviors of one generation, including marriage, divorce, fertility, and survival, create the population of families in which the next generation of children is raised. Assortative mating between men and women with varying socioeconomic characteristics is a key mechanism in establishing the families of the next generation, but differential fertility, child and parent survival, marital disruption, and parents’ socioeconomic mobility modify these marriage patterns. This article examines the demographic mechanisms through which family backgrounds are created. It presents the mathematical links between marriage patterns and the joint distribution of parents’ characteristics when their children are born and later in their lives. It illustrates these relationships using data on educational assortative mating, fertility, and mortality in the United States. Although the educational attainments of husbands and wives are strongly associated, patterns of differential fertility reinforce this relationship, resulting in an even stronger association between the educational attainments of mothers and fathers.
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Articles
  • Effects of Externalities on Exchange in Networks
    An Exploration
    Jacob Dijkstra, Marcel A.L.M Van Assen
    2006 Volume 21 Issue 2 Pages 279-294
    Published: September 30, 2006
    Released on J-STAGE: August 02, 2007
    DOIhttps://doi.org/10.11218/ojjams.21.279
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    This paper is an exploration of the effects of externalities in exchange networks. Externalities of exchange arise when an exchange has direct consequences for the payoffs of actors who do not take part in the exchange. An experiment was conducted, employing the exclusively connected Line3 network, with two conditions; exchange with externalities, and exchange without. Externalities had a weak effect on partner selection, and a strong effect on the exchange rate. The results confirmed our predictions derived with an adaptation of core theory.
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  • “Address book” of cellular phones as index of the size of personal network
    Itaru ISHIGURO, Ryuhei TSUJI
    2006 Volume 21 Issue 2 Pages 295-312
    Published: September 30, 2006
    Released on J-STAGE: August 02, 2007
    DOIhttps://doi.org/10.11218/ojjams.21.295
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    The purpose of this study is to examine the validity and possible measurement bias of the number of acquaintances registered on the “address book” of cellular phones (address book size) as the index of the size of personal network using national survey data. The first objective is to reveal who uses address book and results showed that 1) only 60 percent of respondents uses address book, 2) the utilization rate is higher when the respondents are younger, highly educated, having high income, or living in urban areas. Respondents’ age and income has stronger impact on the utilization than the other factors. The second objective is to examine the external validity of address book size as the index of the size of personal network. Result shows that the estimate of telephone book method positively correlates with address book size. The correlations are stronger when the respondents are living in urban areas. Respondents’ age does not moderate the correlation.
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  • Constructing occupational status scale from mobility tables
    An application of ordination methods
    Hiroyuki KONDO
    2006 Volume 21 Issue 2 Pages 313-332
    Published: September 30, 2006
    Released on J-STAGE: August 02, 2007
    DOIhttps://doi.org/10.11218/ojjams.21.313
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    This paper examined characteristic features of several occupational status scales and their peculiar effects on our understanding of intergenerational mobility structure. On the one hand, there are traditional occupational scales such as an occupational prestige scale and a socio-economic index, and on the other hand, there is a type of scale which is derived from mobility table itself by applying ordination methods. This paper considered the sociological and statistical meanings of the latter type of scale and showed its usefulness in describing changeable structure of today’s social mobility. Correspondence analysis, the most popular method for ordination, was applied to the Japanese mobility table with 81×81 matrix. The analysis confirmed the results of the preceding studies, where ordination methods assigned positional scores plausibly to every occupational category and their use in path analysis brought about a very different view of status attainment process from one based on traditional occupational scales.
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Research Note
  • How Does Relative Size of High-inequality Subgroup Affect Gini Coefficient?
    Kazuo Seiyama
    2006 Volume 21 Issue 2 Pages 333-342
    Published: September 30, 2006
    Released on J-STAGE: August 02, 2007
    DOIhttps://doi.org/10.11218/ojjams.21.333
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    This paper presents, under a general condition, the formula which expresses the Gini coefficient as a function of relative sizes of subgroups, and shows that, in two subgroups case, the shape of the graph of Gini coefficient as a function of relative size is classified into three types according to the position of inter-subgroup Gini coefficient between two intra-subgroup Gini coefficients. The general condition which enables this analysis is that each intra-subgroup distribution is kept unchanged when relative sizes are changing.
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