John P. Hewitt

The Social Construction of Self-Esteem

and

The Quasi-Theory of Communication and the Management of Dissent

A series of Presidential actions and other events connected with the recent use of U.S. troops in Cambodia suggest a preoccupation with communication (its presence or absence, its process, and its style) that deflected and obscured the basic issue of the war by defining events in terms of a quasi-theory of communication failure. The cultural and situational bases of such a theory of communication failure as a means of explaining and coping with social problems are explored in this paper; evidence for its use in the Cambodian situation is examined; and its possible consequences are suggested. The role of symbolic reassurance in coping with public uneasiness about the war and the anti-war movement is also examined.

Mass Society, Principles of Organization, and Paradox

&dquo;MASS SOCIETY&dquo; is among those guiding conceptions of modern life that promise an informative sociological description of the main experiences and significant problems of contemporary life, but which typically fall short of that promise. Along with &dquo;community&dquo; and &dquo;alienation,&dquo; &dquo;mass society&dquo; is analytically imprecise. It resonates better as an evaluative critique of the quality of modern life than as a sociological analysis of its conditions. A major reason for its failure is that its construction of social reality is heavily colored by the social and theoretical perspectives of intellectuals, and not sufficiently attuned to the experience of the bulk of the members of mass society. Thus, for example, much of the literature of mass society is dominated by images of change and decline. Even where mass society theorists do not make the historically untenable assumption of a fall from previously well-integrated, highly stable societies, there is a pronounced tendency to describe the mass society in terms of its differences from previous social forms and not in terms of its own characteristics. And, while transition and difference are matters of

Structure, Agency, and the Internal Conversation

While strong in many respects, Klein’s narrative strategy is particularly effective in tracing these critical debates and conflicts through descriptions of the participants. Conflicts over policy were never a contention among generalized interests alone, but depended on strategies, capacities, and personalities of leaders and organizations. By presenting the contenders, her narrative leads beyond the immediate contention among interests to broader social history of the evolution of corporations, labor, professions, and government administration. Thus, Klein’s history not only explores an important thesis with great narrative power, but also intersects other accounts of welfare state evolution at many levels. Complementing labor, business, welfare, and political history, the book makes a valuable contribution to our understanding of the origins of the American welfare state.