andreeva_tia_nauchnyi_angliiskii_iazyk_vypusk_13_retsenziia
.pdfcators of this crisis. Law enforcement officials in the United States do not appear to be making headway in the "war on drugs." The number of homeless individuals and families who eke out their existence on the streets of our cities has grown, while programs of governmental support for the needy have been cut back. The deterioration of the environment because of toxic waste dumping, add rain, and the destruction of natural ecosystems may mean that we will leave planet earth to our children in an uninhabitable state. The educational system in the United States is subject to heated criticism because it graduates students who are ignorant of geography, world af fairs, and even basic reading and writing skills - or worse, who are functionally illiterate. The political systems of eastern Europe are experiencing critical social and economic transfor mation. In short, contemporary societies are confronted on all sides with a perplexing array of social troubles that seem all but intractable.
How severe are these crises? What are their causes? What is already being done to alleviate these problems? These are some of the issues that we wish to address in this reader. This book is a collection of readings for introductory sociology and social problems courses, but it may also find a place in courses on American society. The readings examine problems and is sues in contemporary societies that are of interest to sociolo gists and students of sociology. The book was designed so that it may be used in conjunction with a text, or with several pa perbacks, or it can stand alone. Great care has been taken in selecting the readings for this anthology so that they address a range of issues and problems that are considered in sociology courses from a number of levels of analysis used by sociolo gists. No attempt has been made to address all the relevant
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problems that bedevil societies and their members, but we have tried to sample the more important ones. Similarly, we make no claim to have included all the important theoretical perspec tives on an issue, or even to have covered issues in a com pletely balanced way. While sociology is unified in a number of ways, the discipline is characterized by too much diversity, dissension, and controversy to strive for comprehensiveness in a single book with such a broad scope.
Plan of the book. Our objective in constructing Contempo rary Issues in Society was to choose lucid and highly readable selections from the writings of sociologists as well as other well-known authors whose work has clear sociological import. The 51 articles are divided into seventeen chapters organized around the individual, major dimensions of social inequality, institutional settings, social environments, and emerging social issues. They have been drawn from professional sociological journals, research monographs, popular mass-market books, and articulate magazines. In the selection process, emphasis was given to the sociological relevance of the topics and to the quality and style of writing. Students and instructors will find excerpts from well-known authors who have wide popular ap peal but are not often read in sociology courses, as well as less familiar pieces that bring a fresh and insightful perspective to societal analysis. The vast majority of the readings were origi nally published in recent years, although a few sociological "classics" that are still relevant to contemporary societal issues have been included. A special effort was made to include se lections that are often cited in introductory and social prob lems texts but never find their way into readers. We also sought to create a blend of ethnographic and quantitative arti cles that are within the grasp of most undergraduate students.
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Our hope is that this will facilitate access to topics that are cited in textbooks, that intrigue students, and that will assist instructors in integrating course materials.
Each of the seventeen chapters presents three readings that address prominent areas of concern under that topic, and each of the three readings approaches the topic from a different level of analysis. The readings are arranged so that the three levels of analysis - cultural (C), individual (I), and crcss-cultural (C-C) - are presented in the same order in each chapter. This permits the instructor to assign all or some of the articles on a given topic, or to assign only those readings on the same level of analysis across different topics. Naturally, some of the readings themselves address issues from multiple levels of analysis or defy easy categorization. The use of different levels of analysis is one distinctive aspect of this anthology, and the levels should not be considered definitive categories. Rather, they should be considered guides to reading the articles.
Special features. The features of this anthology are:
-High-quality, lucid readings that explore sociological perspectives on issues in societies.
-Six-part organization which includes an introductory chapter on sociological perspectives on issues and a concluding epilogue on emerging issues as well as coverage of die individ ual, social inequalities, institutional settings, and social envi ronments.
-Readings that address problems from three levels of analysis - cultural, individual, and cross-cultural.
-An explicit cross-cultural and international focus in each chapter which explores either the impact of the United States on one or more other nations or the effects of other nations on issues in America.
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-Inclusion of research and literature that is frequently cited in textbooks but not often included in anthologies.
-Chapter introductions that profile major dimensions of inequality and societal institutions and offer a context for un derstanding social issues.
-Discussion questions following each selection which en courage students to review the major points in the reading and to think further about the sociological import of the con-, elu sions reached in the reading.
T e x t 4
Leadership in Organizations
Yuki G. A., D. Ph. Leadership in Organizations. State University of New York at Albany. Prentice Hall International, Inc. S. 1., s. a.
This book is about leadership in organizations. The primary focus is managerial leadership, as opposed to parliamentaryleadership, leadership of social movements, or informal leader ship in peer groups. The book presents a broad survey of theory and research on leadership in formal organizations. The topic of leadership effectiveness is of special interest. Again and again the discussion returns to the central question of what makes a person an effective leader? Since the definitions of leadership and management are so ambiguous and closely in tertwined, much of the book could be said to deal with manage rial effectiveness.
The content of the Look reflects a dual concern for theory and practice. It is neither a purely theoretical discourse, nor a manual of techniques for practitioners. Theories are ex plained and evaluated, but the book also has recommendations and guidelines for improving leadership. There is no clear di vision of chapters into theory versus practice, but some
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chapters tend to emphasize one more than the other. Most of the guidelines for practitioners-appear in Chapters 3, 8, 9, and 10. Chapters 1, 2, and 6 are primarily concerned with intro ducing and evaluating concepts and theories. Chapters 4, 5, and 7 present a mix of research, theory, and applications.
The field of leadership is in a state of ferment, with many continuing controversies about conceptual and methodological issues. The book addresses these issues rather than merely summarizing findings and recommending practices without concern for the quality of research that lies behind them. The only intentional bias in the review of research is that field studies are accorded greater attention than laboratory studies, and field experiments are given special recognition due to their scarcity and special contributions.
The literature review was intended to be incisive rather than comprehensive. This is not another "handbook" detailing an endless series of individual studies. Integration and ex trapolation of findings was a primary objective, although less was accomplished in this regard than was hoped. The book seeks to review what we know about leadership effectiveness. The review shows that we know more than is commonly be lieved, although much less than we need to know.
Even though the purpose of the book was to review prior theory and research rather than to present new concepts or theories, some original material can be found in several parts of the book. Chapter 5 includes a new taxonomy of nineteen cate gories of managerial behavior based on my own extensive re search on this subject, and Chapter 7 presents propositions about the situational relevance of each type of behavior. Other attempts to develop better taxonomies can be found in Chapters 2 and 9. Chapter 6 presents for the first time my revised and
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extended Multiple Linkage Model of Leader Effectiveness. Chapter 3 presents some novel ideas about the successful exer cise of power by leaders. Finally, Chapter 10 integrates and interprets the leadership literature in a more complete and in novative fashion than has been done previously.
This book is appropriate for use as the primary text in an un dergraduate or graduate course on leadership. Courses of this type are found in psychology departments, sociology departments, business schools, departments of educational administration, and schools of public administration. The book could also be used in combination with other texts for courses in management, supervi sion, group dynamics, administration, and organizational behav ior. The extensive coverage of important topics not dealt with ex cept at a superficial level in most other texts makes the book ideal for inclusion on required reading lists for comprehensive graduate student examinations in management, industrial psychology, so cial psychology, sociology, public administration, and educational administration.
T e x t 5
Tight Spaces
Sommer R. Tight Spaces. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, 1974.
Preface. There is a massive effort today to gain security through steel, concrete, and electronic equipment. The prison has become the model for housing developments, commercial buildings, and even airports. It has been overlooked that the prison is not a very successful institution either in protecting society or in providing security for inmates or guards. Apart from an occasional lifer who is so adjusted to living in institu tions that he cannot live outside, no one feels secure in prison.
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In the following chapters I will discuss the assumptions behind hard buildings, their effects upon occupants, and what can be done to humanize them. The last category is the most difficult to deal with. The obvious conclusion is that San Quentin, Pru- itt-Igoe, and the Irvine Campus of the University of California should never have been constructed in the first place. The scale, scope, and impermeability of the architecture is oppres sive to the human spirit. Build a university twenty miles from a city, arrange the offices and classrooms so that people can never meet, put the money into parking lots instead of lounges, develop an incentive system around individual achievement rather than common effort, and the result will be an alienating campus. The walled and fortified housing development, the in stant campus, the security high school without exterior win dows - all are inorganic and monumental. To identify similari ties between institutions, for example between prison and zoo, does not mean that they are identical in purpose or conception, any more than it means that prisoners are animals. Confine ment under oppressive conditions results in adaptations that are rarely in the best interests of the confined individuals or soci ety.
Architecture as a profession began with the design of tem ples, altars, and great public buildings. Today the concern is still with public buildings, but these now include libraries, hos pitals, post offices, and office buildings. Only a small percent age of private housing is architect-designed and even this amount is dwindling rapidly. The concern of the design profes sions has been and remains with the public environment. This is not to imply that designers have no role in residential build ing. Far from it, I believe that any designer could earn a per diem fee helping the occupants of a tract home or apartment to
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improve the quality of their living space. This kind of activity would be a healthy corrective to the present trend for architects to have little direct contact with the people who occupy build ings. Generally the architect is recruited by one group of peo ple (clients), typically a corporate board or public agency, to design something for another group of people (consumers). The danger in such an arrangement is that the consumer be comes a faceless non-person.
Although this book is concerned with buildings and what can be done to humanize them, it is not intended solely for de signers. Buildings should be everybody's business. It is a mis take to think of the built environment as the responsibility of a remote professional class. By themselves, architects, interior designers, and landscape designers lack the political power to realize their own ends. What gets built reflects more the values of banks and government agencies than designers. Architects in particular lack a political constituency for good design. The immediate task of the design professions is to awaken con sciousness to the physical environment. Not every person need be a designer, but at least people can be put in touch with the spaces in which they live, work, and play. When the role that designers play in monumental buildings is discussed I do not imply that they are solely responsible. In a complex bureaucra tized society nobody, except people who are so remote that they cannot be expected to know anything in particular, seems responsible for anything. The solution is tangible action on a local level by the people immediately concerned with a prob lem. The goal of this book is to raise public awareness about buildings and their effects. It may be a debatable instructional device to use the predicament of the caged zoo animal or
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prison inmate to accomplish this; however we will also discuss the airport terminal, the schoolhouse, and the office building.
The ideas expressed here owe much to Humphry Osmond, whose provocative letters sparked several chapters and to whom this book is dedicated. If geography had been more kind, this book would have undoubtedly been co-authored. I owe much to the ideas of Frank Becker, Philip Theil, Sim van der Ryn, and Murray Silverstein, and most of all to Barbara Som mer, for critically reading the chapters and Margaret Hill, who typed the manuscript.
T e x t 6
Corporative Governance
Maher М., Andersson Th. Corporate Governance: Effects on Firm Per formance and Economic Growth // Organisation for economic cooperation and Development (OECD). 1999.
Summary. This document addresses corporate governance and its effect on corporate performance and economic perform ance. It first recapitulates and builds on previous work under taken by DSTI, for example, it gives a more explicit exposition of the shareholder and stakeholder models of corporate govern ance. It then goes on to address some of the underlying factors that promote efficient corporate governance, and examines some of the strengths, weaknesses, and economic implications associated with various corporate governance systems. In addi tion to providing data not presented in the previous work, it also provides newly available information on ownership con centration and voting rights in a number of OECD countries. The document also provides a survey of empirical evidence on the link between corporate governance, firm performance and
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economic growth. Finally, several policy implications are identified.
One of the most striking differences between countries' corporate governance systems is the difference in the owner ship and control of firms that exist across countries. Systems of corporate governance can be distinguished according to the de gree of ownership and control and the identity of controlling shareholders. While some systems are characterised by wide dispersed ownership {outsider systems), others tend to be char acterised by concentrated ownership or control {insider sys tems). In outsider systems of corporate governance (notably the US and UK) the basic conflict of interest is between strong managers and widely-dispersed weak shareholders. In insider systems (notably Germany and Japan), on the other hand, the basic conflict is between controlling shareholders (or blockholders) and weak minority shareholders.
This document shows how the corporate governance framework can impinge upon the development of equity mar kets, R&D and innovative activity, entreprenuership, and the development of an active SME sector, and thus impinge upon economic growth. However, there is no single model of corpo rate governance and each country has through time developed a wide variety of mechanisms to overcome the agency problems arising from the separation of ownership and control. The document looks at the various mechanisms employed in differ ent systems (e. g. concentrated ownership, executive remu neration schemes, the market for takeovers, cross shareholdings amongst firms, etc.) and examines the evidence on whether or not they are achieving what they were intended to do. For example, one of the benefits of concentrated owner ship is that it brings more effective monitoring of management
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