From the preface: “The present work and a simultaneously published companion volume, Theory and Practice of Social Planning, share an overall goal. They would conceptualize and illustrate both specialized planning for social programs or fields and the social aspects of more general planning endeavors. Of particular concern here is the demonstration through use of a number of critical planning concepts often discussed only in the abstract. Author and reader, of course, are concerned with specific policies and with programs in specific fields. The studies presented – they are short monographs rather than true chapters – introduce issues and problems in a variety of high-priority areas. The specific rationale for selection and the manner in which each study is employed are discussed in the first chapter.” Topics include: the anti-poverty war, child delinquency, income security, city renewal, community psychiatry, and the delivery of social services at the local level.

ALFRED J. KAHN was professor of Social Policy and Planning at the Columbia University School of Social Work.

A collaboration with the Russell Sage Foundation and the American Sociological Society, this report assesses sociologists’ contributions to the field of corrections and the study of crime and examines how sociological training and theory can be carried over into practical professional application in the field. Topics include the organizational aspects of the prison system, social-psychological aspects of prison life, probation and parole, and correctional career opportunities for sociologists.

Lloyd E. Ohlin was director of the Center for Education and Research in Corrections, University of Chicago.

This 1942 volume is the fourth edition of Social Work as a Profession, originally published in 1935, detailing the vast growth of social work as a profession from its emergence as a humanitarian effort in the nineteenth century to the rapid changes in professionalization at the end of the 1930s. It includes census data on the number of social workers, as well as additional figures on salaries and educational and training.

Esther Lucile Brown was research associate in the Department of Statistics at the Russell Sage Foundation.

This study deals with philanthropic foundations: their types, organization, boards of trustees, finances, professional staff, methods of operation, grant programs, areas of interest, reporting and publicity, and legal problems. It is based on extensive interviews, correspondence, questionnaires, examination of the literature in the field, and its author’s long experience with the Russell Sage Foundation and as consultant and adviser to other foundations and philanthropic organizations. It is designed to assistant foundations and to serve as an aid to prospective donors and their advisers in setting up such institutions.

F. Emerson Andrews was director of publications at the Russell Sage Foundation.

Perceptions of Illness and Medical Practice points to behavioral science knowledge that can be used by physicians, public health specialists, nurses, medical social workers, and others who are directly or indirectly concerned with health problems. Examples are given of the use of this scientific knowledge in the actual care of the patient.

            The first part of the book outlines the major concepts from psychology, sociology, and anthropology that are pertinent for the health professions. The emphasis is on the manner in which people perceive situations and the effect of physiologic, psychologic, and sociocultural factors in determining variations in perceptions. The second part deals with the subject of disease and its interpretation, especially in connection with beliefs and attitudes toward disease. The main feature of the third part is an analysis of the rights and duties, the demands and role expectations of the physician, the nurse, and the medical social worker. The final section describes the social structure, subculture and value system of the hospital, with special attention given to the general hospital. It deals with the hospital patient, his expectations and perceptions, his ways of behaving in illness, his values, the staff’s perception of him and his behavior, and the effect of these perceptions on his care.

Stanley H. King was associate director of research at the University Health Services and lecturer on clinical psychology in the Department of Social Relations at Harvard University.

Written in response to the question of who should organize, administer, and finance professional schools of nursing, this 1948 book, sponsored by the National Nursing Council, examines what the future of nursing entailed and presents a plan for standardized curricula and training in nursing education.

Esther Lucile Brown was director of the Department of Studies in the Professions of the Russell Sage Foundation.

Written as a guide to nurses who work with mental health patients in the development of skills to meet everyday problems and to improve their understanding of the emotional as well as the physical needs of the persons under their care, this 1956 book addresses problems such as: nurse and patient fears; patient aggressiveness; the demanding, withdrawn, or delusional patient; patients with suicidal tendencies; and those who have eating difficulties. Case material and actual conference recordings are used to illustrate the subject matter under discussion, drawn from a research project of one author and from the extensive practical experience in psychiatric nursing of the other author. The book develops an approach to understanding these problem situations and methods of resolving them for the patient’s benefit and improvement.

Morris S. Schwartz and Emmy Lanning Shockley, with the assistance of Charlotte Green Schwartz

Most of the papers presented in this 1964 volume are an outgrowth of the Inter-University Seminar on Armed Forces and Society sponsored by the Russell Sage Foundation. The purpose of the seminar was to supply a focal point for discussion and research on the changing nature of military organization in the United States. The papers seek to probe the extent to which the military establishment and the military profession were adapting to the new requirements of international relations. Contributors: Albert D. Biderman, Maury D. Feld, Oscar Grusky, Kurt Lang, Moshe Lissak, Roger W. Little, John P. Lovell, Richard W. Seaton, William Simon, and Mayer N. Zald.

This is a study of industrial organization, viewed in the light of moral and legal evolution. This  book explores a number of themes in the sociology of law, including: the relevance of legal theory to private non-state institutions, the nature of legality and its social foundations, incipient and inchoate law, legal cognition, and the relation between law and politics. These general topics are explored in regard to the extension of the rule of law to modern industrial employment.

Philip Selznick was professor of sociology and law at the University of California, Berkeley.

This book takes origin from Cornell’s program for research and training in culture and applied science, addressing the question of facilitating the introduction of modern agriculture, industry, and medicine to areas that are deficient in these technologies. Of central concern is the fact that technological innovations are apt to have consequences ranging from hostility toward the innovator to extensive disruption and crisis in the society. More generally, people resist changes that appear to threaten basic securities, that they do not understand, or that are forced on them. This casebook offers actual examples of efforts, both successful and unsuccessful, to bring about a change in some culture, with the desirability of using social science as an aid to technology.

Contributors: John Adair, Anacleto Apodaca, Wesley L. Bliss, Henry F. Dobyns, Allan R. Holmberg, Margaret Lantis, Alexander H. Leighton, Allister MacMillan, Morris Edward Opler, Tom Taketo Sasaki, Lauriston Sharp, Rudra Datt Singh, Edward H. Spicer, and John Useem.

Edward H. Spicer was professor of anthropology and sociology, University of Arizona.