Sociocultural change since 1950

This collection of original articles has been written by former graduate students and other close associates of Carle C. Zimmerman, who, with his remarkable intellect, his dedication towards building a genuine pragmatic science of society, and his contributions to the understanding of actual functioning societies, was a constant source of inspiration to them. Zimmerman's influence as indicated by these essays, lies in the area of rural sociology, both national and interna- tional. Probably the single most encompassing conclusion that can be drawn from these articles is that urbanization and modernization do not occur in a society without concurrent disorganizing effects. A book on social change would hardly be complete without studying intergroup relations and minority groups. Several articles here indicate that some groups have become acculturated and are hardly considered "minority" any longer, while others have not and still suffer discrimination. However, the range of this book is not limited to rural sociology and majority-minority group relations. There are also essays on the liberalizing effect of higher education, professions in terms of altruism, environmentalism and the study of change through the sociology of youth-essays which point to fairly new areas of study. This book will be of importance to comparative sociologists and others interested in social change.