Contenu du sommaire

Everett K. Wilson : The influence of Durkheim on empirical research about suicide in the United States. How does a sociological theory survive ? The author deals with twenty-seven empirical studies on suicide mentioning the work of Durkheim. Nine of these articles deal with suicide. The interest of sociologists is constantly aroused by this subject for several reasons : the possibility of testing existing theories through new experimental data, its emotional value, the existence of easily consulted statistics, and above all, the authority of Durkheim's theories. The author gives a concise survey of some contemporary views on suicide and describes Durkheim's influence on them.

Joffre Dumazedier : The cultural content of working-class leisure in six towns of Eastern and Western Europe. The first comparative survey of European countries (1957-1959) deals with the differences in cultural content as associated with leisure activities among workers. It was carried out in France, the Federal Republic of Germany, Finland, Denmark, Poland and Yugoslavia : all countries with different national traditions, levels of economic development and systems of government. The various evaluations of work were analysed in all six countries, as well as the respective parts played by manual, physical, artistic, intellectual and social leisure interests. In general there were more differences than resemblances. The facts are not entirely explained by the theories of the transformation of manual into intellectual work, of popular culture reduced to the content of mass media, and of democracy in its merely socio-political aspect. The author concludes that there is a need for new theories taking into account the whole phenomenon of leisure in industrial societies.

David Victoroff : Collective persuasion and the individual's image of himself. An analysis of the part played by the individual's image of himself in the various psychological processes brought into play by information media, propaganda and publicity. The author suggests that the idea of collective persuasion should be reconsidered in the light of the concept of self-perception. The nature and effects of persuasion thus appear in an unusual perspective opening up new fields of experimental research.