New Frontiers in Comparative Sociology (International Studies in Sociology and Social Anthropology)

473 Pages·2008·2.88 MB·English

by  Masamichi Sasaki

New Frontiers in Comparative Sociology
International Studies in
Sociology and Social
Anthropology
Series Editor
David Sciulli, Texas A&M University
Editorial Board
Vincenzo Cicchelli, Cerlis, Paris Descartes-CNRS
Benjamin Gregg, University of Texas at Austin
Carsten Q. Schneider, Central European University Budapest
Helmut Staubmann, University of Innsbruck
VOLUME 109
New Frontiers in
Comparative Sociology
Edited by
Masamichi Sasaki
LEIDEN • BOSTON
2009
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ISSN 0074-8684
ISBN 978 90 04 17034 6
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CONTENTS
Introduction ................................................................................ 1
Masamichi Sasaki
PART ONE
METHODS IN COMPARATIVE SOCIOLOGY
Strategies in Comparative Sociology ......................................... 13
Mattei Dogan
Methods for Assessing and Calibrating Response Scales
across Countries and Languages ............................................ 45
Tom W. Smith, Peter Ph. Mohler, Janet Harkness, and
Noriko Onodera
PART TWO
RADICAL SOCIAL CHANGE
The Transition to Capitalism in China and Russia .................. 97
Erich Weede
Social Structure and Personality during the Process of
Radical Social Change: A Study of Ukraine in Transition .... 119
Melvin L. Kohn, Valeriy Khmelko, Vladimir I. Paniotto, and
Ho-fung Hung
PART THREE
VALUES, CULTURE AND DEMOCRACY
A Theory of Cultural Value Orientations: Explication and
Applications ............................................................................ 173
Shalom H. Schwartz
vi contents
Islamic Culture and Democracy: Testing the ‘Clash of
Civilizations’ Thesis ................................................................ 221
Pippa Norris and Ronald Inglehart
The Cultural-Economic Syndrome: Impediments to
Democracy in the Middle East .............................................. 251
Brigitte Weiffen
PART FOUR
INSTITUTIONS IN COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE
Running Uphill: Political Opportunity in Non-Democracies ... 277
Maryjane Osa and Cristina Corduneanu-Huci
Does a Strong Institution of Religion Require a Strong
Family Institution? .................................................................. 313
Kristen R. Heimdal and Sharon K. Houseknecht
PART FIVE
SOCIAL PROCESSES
Globalization and Income Inequality in the
Developing World ................................................................... 353
Margit Bussmann, Indra de Soysa, and John R. Oneal
English as an International Language in Non-Native
Settings in an Era of Globalization ....................................... 379
Masamichi Sasaki, Tatsuzo Suzuki and Masato Yoneda
A New Test of Convergence Theory ......................................... 405
Robert M. Marsh
Notes on Contributors ................................................................ 449
Index ........................................................................................... 457
INTRODUCTION
Masamichi Sasaki
New Frontiers in Comparative Sociology is a collection of notable papers
from the journal Comparative Sociology, gathered from its fi rst six volumes
spanning the period 2002–2007. Choosing from among all the journal’s
outstanding papers published during that period was, of course, not
an easy task. Several members of the journal’s editorial board were
polled for their suggestions. This work is the result of that sometimes
agonizingly diffi cult selection process.
Equally diffi cult was selecting a title for this work. Among numer-
ous potential titles, the idea of new frontiers stood out, as it suggested
leading-edge work in the burgeoning science of comparative sociology.
Indeed, the discipline is literally bursting with astute analyses of a
globalizing world in transition.
Given that not all scholars and interested laypersons are well
acquainted with the topic of comparative sociology, this book was
viewed as an opportunity to enlighten otherwise unfamiliar readers
about the cogency of comparative sociology to the new world order.
New Frontiers in Comparative Sociology has been organized into fi ve parts:
Methods in Comparative Sociology; Radical Social Change; Values,
Culture and Democracy; Institutions in Comparative Perspective; and
Social Processes. Taken together, all the articles in this book serve to
highlight one or more aspects of comparative sociology—some theo-
retical, some methodological, and some substantive. Some compare
social entities in subjective, case-study fashion, while others report on
rigorous social research and analyses. Thus, all contribute in one form
or another to describing the many and varied facets of the exciting
“new” science of comparative sociology.
Methods in Comparative Sociology
There were several reasons for choosing Mattei Dogan’s “Strategies
in Comparative Sociology” as the lead chapter of this work. Principal
among these is Dogan’s broad stroke portrait of comparative sociol-
ogy. Dogan details 15 strategies (methods, methodologies, techniques)
2 masamichi sasaki
for conducting comparative sociology, but fi rst he gets at the root of
the concept of comparison and what it means in various scientifi c
contexts. In the social sciences, he points out, “There is not a single
sociological theory that has not been invalidated in some cases: in the
social sciences there are very few paradigms.” This, then, begs varied
and abundant methodologies, both in terms of actual scientifi c research
and statistical methods, or techniques, and also in terms of general
strategies. To put this in context, he describes some excellent analogies
from comparative architecture.
Dogan then proceeds to delve into brief but concise descriptions of
his 15 strategies. They are: (1) “comparing by replication of single case
studies”; (2) “comparison by ideal types and by empirical typologies”;
(3) “binary comparison”; (4) “comparing similar countries”; (5) “com-
paring contrasting countries by functional equivalence”; (6) “conceptual
homogenization of a heterogeneous domain”; (7) “worldwide statisti-
cal comparisons”; (8) “cross-national comparisons of intra-national
diversities”; (9) “longitudinal, diachronic and asynchronic compari-
sons”; (10) “comparison of causal relationships staggered over time”;
(11) “comparison by composite indices”; (12) “comparison by scoring
and scaling as a substitute for formal statistics”; (13) “comparing ecologi-
cal environments”; (14) “comparing mini-states and mega-cities”; and
(15) “anomaly, deviance, exceptionalism and uniqueness in comparative
perspective.” Dogan concludes by pointing out that one must carefully
select the appropriate and relevant strategies for a given comparative
endeavor.
In “Methods for Assessing and Calibrating Response Scales across
Countries and Languages,” Tom Smith, Peter Mohler, Janet Harkness
and Noriko Onodera address the very real challenges inherent in com-
parative attitude surveys. How does one design an attitudinal question-
naire that is useful in multiple languages, countries and cultures? How
does one achieve the levels of comparability required to justify drawing
comparative conclusions across nations, cultures, and peoples? This
chapter focuses in particular on the construction and use of response
categories for questions. The authors go to great lengths to explore the
uses and linguistic nuances of unipolar and bipolar response categories
such as “agree/disagree,” “important/not important,” and “in favor
of/against” (along with appropriate positive and negative modifi ers for
increasing or decreasing the intensity of the response).
introduction 3
The authors explore several issues, including “how response catego-
ries infl uence the reported distributions of results,” measuring response
category intensities, and using alternative response scales. These inquiries
are carried out using American and German pilot studies and a Japanese
replication. Extensive results are presented with a view toward seeking
optimal techniques for constructing attitudinal survey questionnaires
and their respective response categories. Finally, the authors propose
numerous areas for further investigation with the aim of “achieving
equivalence in cross-cultural, multiple-language surveys.”
Radical Social Change from Socialism to Capitalism
In “The Transition to Capitalism in China and Russia,” Erich Weede
takes us on a comparative socio-economic tour of post-communist Rus-
sia and China. Relying heavily on pre-communist and post-communist
economic statistics, Weede explores the relative failures of Russia vis-à-
vis the two countries’ socio-economic well-being. Indeed, in nearly every
instance, Russia lags behind China—on per capita GDP, on numerous
growth indices, on privatization (of agriculture in particular), on gov-
ernance, on foreign investment, on capital fl ight, and so on.
Along the way, Weede continually asks why. Inequalities are worse in
Russia. Russia is far more ethnically heterogeneous, whereas China is
much more homogeneous. The author notes, for instance, that “Only
China has overcome collective agriculture, not yet Russia.” China has
managed to establish market-preserving federalism, whereas Russia’s
federalism is still “market-hampering.” China has proactively promoted
foreign trade for many years, whereas Russia rests on the laurels of
its depleting natural resource exports. All in all, Weede makes con-
vincing arguments for the superior socio-economic performance of
China over Russia in their post-communist years. At the same time,
the author gives us a solid example of a two-country comparative
case study.
In “Social Structure and Personality during the Process of Radical
Social Change: A Study of Ukraine in Transition,” Melvin Kohn,
Valeriy Khmelko, Vladimir Paniotto, and Ho-Fung Hung report on
a subset of a massive cross-national comparative effort. This chapter
focuses on analyses of surveys conducted in the Ukraine just shortly
after the dissolution of the Soviet Union and then again three to three-
and-a-half years later—much of which is then comparatively juxtaposed