Jack P. Gibbs

User's Guide to Ratio Variables

Some sociologists intuit a necessary relation between ratio variables with common components, and they warn that observed relations between such variables are likely to be artifactual. In rebuttal, other sociologists argue that the use of ratio variables is justified when the ratios themselves, rather than their components, are of theoretical interest. Both arguments are based on mistaken ideas about estimating causal effects in nonexperimental research. To realize unbiased estimates, social scientists often must controlfor a dominant confounding variable Z (e.g., population size). One control procedure is to divide the other variables by Z, i.e., to use ratio variables. Contrary to the artifactuality argument, this control procedure does not introduce bias; but contrary to the theoretical interest argument, the control procedure need not be restricted to instances where the ratios themselves are of theoretical interest. Conventional wisdom notwithstanding, theoretical interest is not a reliable guide for determining whether or not to use ratio variables.

Control as sociology's central notion

Abstract Because now fragmented to an unprecedented extent, sociology has a special need for a central notion. Control could be that notion, meaning that sociologists can describe and think about all or virtually all of their subject matter in terms of control. Moreover, the notion of control can be used to realize not only greater conceptual clarification and integration but also to anticipate possible empirical relations that might have otherwise gone unanticipated. Such goals are actually steps toward theories, and control or any other central notion candidate fails if it does not facilitate that pursuit.

Contending Theories of Criminal Law: Statutory Penalties Versus Public Preferences

Consistent with the consensus theory of criminal law, the findings indicate substantial congruence between statutory penalties and the kinds of penalties preferred by respondents in an Arizona sample survey. Howeuer, that con gruence is largely peculiar to penalties as they apply to adult offenders. More over, when it comes to the magnitude of penalties, there is much less con gruence; and that finding lends support to the contending theory, the conflict theory of criminal law. Both theories are judged defective because neither accounts for enormous variation among types of crimes as to the congruence between statutory penalties and penalties preferred by the public.

Assessing the Deterrence Doctrine: A Challenge for the Social and Behavioral Sciences

The argument that legal punishments deter crime is strategic for those who admonish social and behavioral scientists to pursue work that has policy implications. It is a strategic argument if only because attempts to assess the deterrence doctrine confront all of the issues and problems that haunt &dquo;policy-relevant&dquo; work in general. Indeed, there are so many issues and problems that several must be ignored here to leave space for a summary of research findings.

Using ratio variables to control for population size.

This article uses Monte Carlo computer simulation to assess two alternative ways to control for population size in regression analysis. Contrary to the claim of some social scientists, regression analyses that use ratio variables to control for size (the “ratio method” of control) are not inherently inferior to those that use a separate control variable (the “component method” of control). The ratio method appears to be inferior only because comparisons of the two methods typically omit one of the terms in the ratio regression equation. When that term is added, the ratio method outperforms the component method under conditions that are often realized in social science research. Critics of ratio variables are correct, however, in claiming that measurement error in population size, the common denominator of the ratio variables, can seriously distort the results of analyses using the ratio method. But even in that circumstance it is not necessarily the case that components should be used rather than ratios because, as the simulations demonstrate, measurement error bias can be as serious for the component method as it is for the ratio method.

Community Tolerance and Measures of Delinquency

van Vechtens toleration quotient will have no impact on deviance theory without research on the empirical relation between the quotient s numerator (volume of deviance) and denominator (tolerance of deviance). This relation was examined by comparing attitudes toward, self-reported extent of, and arrest and court-referral rates for various juvenile offenses within and across four Arizona communities. Three variables were used as indicators of volume of delinquency: (1) self-reported offenses by juveniles, (2) number of juveniles arrested, and (3) number of juveniles referred to court. Three variables were used as measures of community intolerance of delinquency: (1) intensity of public disapproval, expressed as a magnitude, (2) severity of public opinion, expressed as a choice of an appropriate reaction to delinquency (e.g., commit ment to a reformatory), and (3) the objective certainty of legal reactions to delinquency, as measured by the relation between self-reported offenses and self-reported arrests and/or court referrals. Generally, there is a fairly, close inverse relation between intolerance as measured by severity of public opinion and extent of delinquency as measured by rate of self-reported offenses.

A formal restatement of Durkheim's division of labor theory

Despite frequent references in the sociological literature to Durkheims theory about the division of labor, sociologists have made few attempts to test it. The paucity of attempts and the very debatable outcomes thereof are due largely to Durkheims use of the traditional discursive mode of theory construction. A discursively stated theorys logical structure is likely to be obscure, and for that reason alone tests of it are difficult and controversial. Rather than perpetuate the exegetical tradition in sociological treatments of the subject, this paper restates Durkheims theory in accordance with a particular formal mode. That restatement identifies the theorys shortcomings and problems. But the eight premises imply only one testable theorem, and the theorems predictive accuracy appears minimal unless “population concentration” is substituted for “density” in the first axiom. Nonetheless, the restatement clearly shows how extension of the theory (additional postulates) could further its testability.

Deviant Cases in Tests of the Status Integration Theory

Within each of seven age groups of black females, black males, white females, and white males, the correlations among marital statuses between 1990 integration measures and 1989 to 1991 suicide rates are predominantly negative and substantial. That finding is consistent with previous reports, but those reports did not examine deviant cases, meaning populations that appear to be extreme exceptions to the status integration theory. Such populations—particular age groups or particular marital statuses—are identified here, and they are especially likely when a marital status has few occupants. The interpretation: a small population size tends to result in unstable suicide rates, and that instability tends to reduce the correlation of the rates with status integration. There is no conventional methodology for analyzing deviant cases, and this paper does not offer one. Nonetheless, the findings are relevant for any theory pertaining to variation in rates.

The concept norm: Enduring but indefensible

As rightly argued by Meier in this issue, the concept norm anchors the study of deviance in sociologys mainstream. Indeed, the sociology of deviance is now a strategic arena for a critical examination of normative notions, if only because the “reactive” conception of deviance, one of three distinct components of the labeling perspective (Gibbs, 1981), seemingly rejects the concept norm. A survey of the shortcomings and merits of the conception (Gibbs, 1981) suggests some problems with the concept norm. Meiers commentary takes that direction, but he does not propose defensible solutions to the problems.

Conceptions of criminal and delinquent acts

Abstract Responses to questions about the nature of particular types of crimes or delinquencies (e.g., does the time of the day have anything to do with the difference between first‐degree burglary and second‐degree burglary?) indicate that numerous Arizona residents have quite incorrect conceptions of some delicts. However, there is a pattern in that incorrect conceptions are largely peculiar to delicts that are either mildly disapproved or severely disapproved. A substantial and fairly consistent difference in the accuracy of conceptions is found between police officers and civilians; but that is not the case in comparisons by age, sex, race‐ethnicity, place of residence (rural‐urban), or social class. The absence of a substantial and consistent difference in those comparisons has implications for deterrence research, and any theory about the efficacy of law rests on some assumption about the publics conception of acts that are denoted by legal terms.