Paul F. Secord

Imbalanced Sex Ratios The Social Consequences

Imbalanced population sex ratios dramatically influence gender roles, shape relationships between them, and produce changes in family structures. This report briefly sketches these findings and, by means of social exchange theory, spells out the linkage between this demographic condition and its social consequences.

Implications of the Black Marriage Market for Marital Conflict

Demographic characteristics of the black population that force departures from the dominant mate selection pattern are identified. These are as follows: (1) There are more educated black women than educated black men; (2) black women have a higher occupational status than black men; and (3) black women are much closer in income to black men than white women are to white men. The implications of these marriage market conditions for marital strain are discussed in terms of the “good provider” role and the changes in it brought about by working wives.

The Need for a Radically New Human Science

Historically, psychologists have mistakenly assumed that a science of human behavior would take a form similar to that for the natural sciences, and have developed their theoretical conceptions and methodology based on that assumption. This mistake has been compounded by the fact that psychologists implicitly accepted an older interpretation of the natural sciences that in many respects is untenable and that has been superseded by more sophisticated conceptions. As Margolis makes clear, just what constitutes a science is a matter of dispute: Philosophers of science are far from agreement with each other concerning the nature of even the physical sciences. At the same time, evidence and argument for the idea that a human science must in some respects differ radically from the physical sciences has become increasingly persuasive. But so far this thinking has had little impact on the practice of psychology as a science. Margolis finds no systematic treatment of psychology that is not based on an inadequate extensionalism; yet, that is precisely what psychology needs. (One possible exception, not noted by Margolis, is a system of descriptive psychology developed by Peter Ossorio, although unfortunately that system has been almost totally ignored by psychologists who have not been his students [Davis, 1981; Davis & Mitchell, 1982; Ginsburg, 1980; Ossorio, 1966, 1975]).