Social theory re wired new connections to classical and contemporary perspectives 2nd edition wesley
Social Theory Re Wired New Connections to Classical and Contemporary Perspectives 2nd Edition
Wesley Longhofer Daniel Winchester
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Classical and Contemporary Sociological Theory 4th Edition Scott Applerouth
“This revolutionary text makes social theory more teachable. It has helped achieve one of my key goals: allowing students to see the relevance of theory to their own lives and the world around them. Particularly useful is the website. Student activities such as ‘Writing Out Loud’ and ‘Interactive Readings’ are extremely helpful. Teachers can comment on students’ work individually within the website. The site allows instructors to devote more course time to the additional goals of the course.”
Margo Ramlal-Nankoe, Fairfield University
“I found many things outstandingly unique to this text….I love the introductory summaries, and so do my students.”
Selina Gallo-Cruz,
College of the Holy Cross
“This companion website is especially useful to make connections between abstract theoretical texts and real world events, research, and contexts that make the in-class material concrete and real for the students.”
Julie Stewart
, University of Utah
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Social Theory Re-Wired
This social theory text combines the structure of a print reader with the ability to tailor the course via an extensive interactive website. Readings from important classical and contemporary theorists are placed in conversation with one another through core themes—the puzzle of social order, the dark side of modernity, identity, etc. The website includes videos, interactive commentaries, summaries of key concepts, exams and quizzes, annotated selections from key readings, classroom activities, and more. See the website at www.routledgesoc.com/theory New to the second edition:
• Expanded web content.
• Teacher/student feedback employed to clarify difficult concepts.
• Reframed contemporary section now offers readings by Robert Merton, Bruno Latour, David Harvey, Zygmut Bauman, and Anthony Giddens.
Wesley Longhofer is Assistant Professor of Organization and Management at Emory University.
Daniel Winchester is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Purdue University.
Contemporary Sociological Perspectives
Edited by Douglas Hartmann, University of Minnesota and Jodi O’Brien, Seattle University
This innovative series is for all readers interested in books that provide frameworks for making sense of the complexities of contemporary social life. Each of the books in this series uses a sociological lens to provide current critical and analytical perspectives on significant social issues, patterns, and trends. The series consists of books that integrate the best ideas in sociological thought with an aim toward public education and engagement. These books are designed for use in the classroom as well as for scholars and socially curious general readers.
Published:
Political Justice and Religious Values by Charles F. Andrain
GIS and Spatial Analysis for the Social Sciences by Robert Nash Parker and Emily K. Asencio
Hoop Dreams on Wheels: Disability and the Competitive Wheelchair Athlete by Ronald J. Berger
The Internet and Social Inequalities by James C. Witte and Susan E. Mannon
Media and Middle Class Mom: Images and Realities of Work and Family by Lara Descartes and Conrad Kottak
Watching T.V. Is Not Required: Thinking about Media and Thinking about Thinking by Bernard McGrane and John Gunderson
Violence Against Women: Vulnerable Populations by Douglas Brownridge
State of Sex: Tourism, Sex and Sin in the New American Heartland by Barbara G. Brents, Crystal A. Jackson & Kate Hausbeck
Sociologists Backstage: Answers to 10 Questions About What They Do by Sarah Fenstermaker and Nikki Jones
Surviving the Holocaust: A Life Course Perspective by Ronald Berger
Stargazing: Celebrity, Fame, and Social Interaction by Kerry Ferris and Scott Harris
The Senses in Self, Society, and Culture by Phillip Vannini, Dennis Waskul and Simon Gottschalk
Surviving Dictatorship by Jacqueline Adams
The Womanist Idea by Layli Maparyan
Religion in Today’s World: Global Issues, Sociological Perspectives, by Melissa Wilcox
Understanding Deviance: Connecting Classical and Contemporary Perspectives edited by Tammy L. Anderson
Social Statistics: Managing Data, Conducting Analyses, Presenting Results, Second Edition by Thomas J. Linneman
Transforming Scholarship: Why Women’s and Gender Studies Students are Changing Themselves and the World, Second Edition by Michele Tracy Berger and Cheryl Radeloff
Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Decides? Abortion, Neonatal Care, Assisted Dying, and Capital Punishment, Second Edition by Sheldon Ekland-Olson
Life and Death Decisions: The Quest for Morality and Justice in Human Societies, Second Edition by Sheldon EklandOlson
Gender Circuits: Bodies and Identities in a Technological Age, Second Edition by Eve Shapiro
Migration, Incorporation, and Change in an Interconnected World by Syed Ali and Douglas Hartmann
Sociological Perspectives on Sport: The Games Outside the Games by David Karen and Robert E. Washington
Social Theory Re-Wired: New Connections to Classical and Contemporary Perspectives, Second Edition edited by Wesley Longhofer and Daniel Winchester
Forthcoming:
Social Worlds of Imagination by Chandra Mukerji
All Media are Social by Andrew Lindner
Social Theory Re-Wired
New Connections to Classical and Contemporary Perspectives
Second Edition
Edited by Wesley Longhofer Emory University
Daniel Winchester Purdue University
Please visit the companion website for this title at: www.routledgesoc.com/theory
Second edition published 2016 by Routledge
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and by Routledge
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The right of the editors to be identified as the author of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
First edition published by Routledge 2012
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015035852
ISBN: 978-1-138-01579-1 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-138-01580-7 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-77535-7 (ebk)
Typeset in StoneSerif by Swales & Willis Ltd, Exeter, Devon, UK
Introductory Essay: thIs dEsErtEd Island Is out of ordEr
The classic novel The Lord of the Flies helps us see that social order is both a product of our own making and something much more powerful than the sum of its parts. We move from the social facts of Durkheim to more contemporary takes on the enigma of social order.
Introductory Essay: salvagIng What Wall strEEt lEft BEhInd Today’s global financial crisis reminds us that economic troubles have profound consequences for social relationships. Marx sets the stage for a lively discussion of the role the economy plays in our global age, and Wallerstein, Bourdieu, and Harvey provide contemporary visions of the many links between the economic and the social.
Introductory Essay: your smart PhonE mIght BE an EvIl gEnIus Smart phones are but one example of how our social world is becoming more and more shaped by technology. From the pious Puritans of Weber to the one-dimensional men of the Frankfurt School, we explore the pitfalls and promises of a rationalized, modern society.
Introductory Essay: WEBs of KnoWlEdgE In thE dIgItal dIvIdE
The production of knowledge on the Internet is not as democratic as we might think. Du Bois, Beauvoir, and more contemporary voices within critical race, postcolonial, and feminist thought remind us the same is true in social theory.
Section
Introductory Essay: through thE looKIng glass of facEBooK
Our Facebook profiles provide a glimpse of the collective foundations of our individual selves. Mead and Simmel lay the foundations for thinking about the social origins of the self, and Goffman, Foucault, and others provide provocative takes on what identity means in today’s complicated world.
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Alternate Table of Contents by Tradition or Theorist
Series Foreword
THISINNOVATIVE SERIES IS for all readers interested in books that provide frameworks for making sense of the complexities of contemporary social life. Each of the books in this series uses a sociological lens to provide current critical and analytical perspectives on the best ideas in sociological thought with an aim toward publication education and engagement. These books are designed for use in the classroom as well as for scholars and socially curious general readers.
In Social Theory Re-Wired Wesley Longhofer and Daniel Winchester apply these principles to the ideas, concepts, and writings at the core of all sociological research and thought. The volume covers all of the classic authors and works in the cannon, highlights the work of several under-appreciated or even forgotten contributors, and introduces (judiciously) the most provocative and important of contemporary theories and theorists. These pieces are organized into sections that are fresh yet familiar, and framed with brief introductory essays that are down-to-earth without being dumbed-down, chock full of insightful points and examples from the latest in social media, popular culture, and politics in the U.S. and all over the globe. This impressive volume also offers a unique set of original interactive exercises and teaching tools that are guaranteed to enrich both the teaching and the learning of sociological theory.
It has been said that every generation of sociology researchers and students must win its theoretical inheritance anew. We believe this to be true, and expect that Social Theory Re-Wired will not only be an important resource for teaching and learning social theory, but should help shape how theory is understood and used in the field for years to come.
Douglas Hartmann
Valerie Jenness
Jodi O’Brien Series Editors
Preface
SOCIAL
THEORY IS ABOUT making connections—connections between abstraction and observation, concepts and evidence, the knowable and the unknown. It is about connecting our curiosities about the social world with concepts and frameworks to help make sense of them. Social theory is a lot like the thousands of copper cables and optical fibers that together bring a computer network to life. When its connections are hidden, we too often take the network for granted, and we are completely befuddled when the network changes, jams, or has a system error. But, when we untangle the network and understand its connections, we can begin to see how things work, what is running smoothly or going wrong, and how to plug old components into new ones with greater ease and with better results.
Social theory is also about conversations. Contrary to popular belief, theory is not about dusty tomes of esoteric garbling about capitalism and the division of labor. Social theory is a response to the big and important questions of our time. And, the theorists in this book are not just responding to their own social condition; they are also talking to each other, answering each other’s questions and posing new ones. At the risk of sounding trite, social theory is more than a network of ideas—it is a social network connecting the creators of those ideas to each other and to us.
So this book is about connections and conversations. It is a re-wiring of social theory that makes it fresh again for the world of Instagram and Twitter. We have tried to re-wire it in a way that revisits classical conversations and connects them to contemporary ones in interesting and sometimes surprising ways. As you peruse the main table of contents, you will see a lot of familiar folks, both classical and contemporary, but they might be arranged in ways that are less recognizable, lumped together under categories like convergence, capital, shift, and meltdown. We did this because we wanted the ideas and conversations to travel across and beyond any individual theorist, even though some theorists were foundational in creating them. We have not hit the reset button on social theory, but we may have tapped the refresh button once or twice.
The book is designed for teaching social theory in creative ways, integrating original, printed texts with modern, digital applications. In addition to our unique collection of original excerpts, we have developed new interactive
online content for the second edition. This web-based material is chock full of additional information, activities, and teaching tips. The combination of print and digital makes this book a great addition to almost any social theory course. It’s a blended format that comes out of our conviction that social theory courses often flounder not because the ideas are stale, but because the ideas haven’t been presented in the best possible relationship to one another. In organizing the book in the way we do—making connections between classical and contemporary, print and digital—we think we can help social theory instructors take a step toward a better way. We hope that you will find it as fun to read and use as we did to make.
Organization of the Second Edition
Like the first edition, we have organized the book around five themes or conversations. Each theme includes an introductory essay by us as well as original readings from classical and contemporary theorists. The essays include vignettes on topics ranging from smart phones and social networking sites to the global financial crisis and the digital divide, as well as overviews of key concepts and ideas found in the readings. In the margins of each essay you will find “connections” to ideas introduced in other parts of the book or supplementary materials found on the website. We encourage students to read these essays before diving into the readings, as they help bring to life the complicated ideas found in the original texts. While, for the sake of clarity, we have kept the readings themselves free of marginal commentary, we also include “Connections” at the end of each reading with more tailored activities for students, including writing exercises, discussion questions, and additional online content.
The readings themselves are taken from the original sources. We have made an attempt, when possible, to select longer readings than are often found in a theory reader, keeping in mind that finding the right length is a difficult balance to achieve. Those of you familiar with the first edition may notice we subtracted a few readings and added others, including new selections from Robert Merton, Bruno Latour, David Harvey, Zygmunt Bauman, and Anthony Giddens. In adding these new selections, we think the second edition is both more balanced and more readable. We have summarized the readings and essays for each section below.
Section I—Emergence Through Convergence: The Puzzles of Social Order
We begin with the issue and enigma of social order and, in particular, Durkheim’s ideas about solidarity and social facts. The introductory essay,
“This Deserted Island Is Out of Order,” reflects on William Golding’s brilliant Lord of the Flies and, in particular, how social order was created and later destroyed by the boys on the island. Excerpts from Durkheim include selections from his most famous works: The Division of Labor in Society, Suicide, The Rules of Sociological Method, and The Elementary Forms of Religious Life. Also included in this section are pieces from Robert Merton on manifest and latent functions, Harold Garfinkel on the ordering of moment-to-moment interactions, Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann on the “social construction of reality” and the institutionalization of everyday life, and Bruno Latour on the role of nonhuman actors in the construction of social order. These contemporary pieces extend Durkheim’s ideas on how social institutions that get constructed by individuals eventually take on lives of their own, whether it is at the largest of scales like law and religion or at a scale much smaller, such as our day-to-day routines and conversations.
Section II—Networks of Capital: Dimensions of Global Capitalism
The second section begins with Karl Marx coming to grips with capitalism and the emerging class-based social order. The introductory essay, titled “Salvaging What Wall Street Left Behind,” invites students to ponder what Marx might have said about the recent global financial crisis and one of its key culprits—credit default swaps. Excerpts from The German Ideology and Manifesto of the Communist Party (both written with Friedrich Engels), along with pieces from Capital and the Manuscripts of 1844, introduce Marx’s ideas on historical materialism, commodity fetishism, and alienation. Contemporary extensions include Immanuel Wallerstein’s work on the capitalist world system, Pierre Bourdieu’s takes on forms of capital beyond the economic, David Harvey’s materialist critique of postmodernity, and a piece from Manuel Castells on the rise of the network society. The Wallerstein, Harvey, and Castells readings update Marx for the age of globalization, while Bourdieu brings us back down to the role cultural capital plays in shaping the habitus of the individual.
Section III—Pathway to Meltdown: Theorizing the Dark Side of Modernity
Max Weber sets the stage for the third section, which moves attention away from class and order to the entrenchment of new forms of power, control, and rationality in modern society. “Your Smart Phone Might Be an Evil Genius” is the apropos title for the introductory essay, which discusses how the advancement of technology constrains us as much as it liberates us, not unlike Weber’s notion of the “iron cage.” The pathway toward increased rationality, Weber warned long ago, might also lead to meltdown. We include excerpts from his The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism as well as essays on social
action, authority and domination, and bureaucracy. We then introduce two pieces from the Frankfurt School of Critical Theory—Herbert Marcuse’s OneDimensional Man and Jurgen Habermas’ Toward a Rational Society—and an excerpt from Michel Foucault’s Discipline and Punish, all of which look at the subtle ways new kinds of power and surveillance become ingrained in modern society. Finally, we include a piece from Zygmunt Bauman on rationalization’s sordid role in the organization and carrying out of modern genocide.
Section IV—Shifting the Paradigm: Excluded Voices, Alternative Knowledges
This section presents challenges to the supposedly stable categories of classical theory by introducing the work of critical race, feminist, and postcolonial scholars, beginning with an essay looking at how the digital divide shapes the knowledge we find on the Internet (“Webs of Knowledge in the Digital Divide”). The essay asks readers to consider questions about the social contexts of knowledge creation, and how unequal access to what we know and, more fundamentally, how we know about reality helps perpetuate social inequality and injustice. We set the stage with selections from two foundational scholars of race and feminist theory: W.E.B. Du Bois’ The Souls of Black Folks and Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex. Additional excerpts include Frantz Fanon’s powerful work on the racial discourses of colonialism, a selection from Edward Said’s groundbreaking Orientalism, Michael Omi and Howard Winant on racial formation in the contemporary United States, Dorothy Smith’s work on feminist standpoint theory, and Patricia Hill Collins’ brilliant work on black feminist epistemology. Each of these contemporary theorists continues to unpack the place of lived experience and oppression in shaping social life and social theory, just as Du Bois and Beauvoir had decades earlier.
Section V—Rise of the Avatar: Connecting Self and Society
Finally, we turn to ideas on the construction and expression of identity in modern society, beginning with our introductory essay for this section titled “Through the Looking Glass of Facebook.” Our essay asks an important question not just for social theory, but also for many college students today, whether they are enrolled in a theory course or not: Who would we be individually without the many communities—both online and offline—that support our identities and senses of self? And what are the social and individual consequences of the different versions (or avatars) of ourselves that we present to others on a daily basis? To dig deeper into these questions, we begin with George Herbert Mead’s classic work on the self as a social object and two pieces by the great Georg Simmel on individuality and society: “The Metropolis and Mental Life” and “The Stranger.” We then move on to Erving Goffman’s more
contemporary but no less pioneering “The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life.” The final three selections address more poststructuralist and postmodern takes on the issue of identity with excerpts from Foucault’s The History of Sexuality, Judith Butler’s Gender Trouble, and Anthony Giddens’ Modernity and Self-Identity. From the modern to the postmodern, these readings uncover the social origins of identity and that which we often take for granted most—our own sense of self.
Additional Table of Contents
The readings are organized by the themes above and should be viewed as collections of conversations between theorists and ideas. However, we also include a more traditional table of contents to assist instructors in designing a course to their liking. This additional table of contents is arranged according to theorist and theoretical tradition. Much of the companion website can also be organized along these dimensions to allow for greater fluidity between the printed pages and the digital ones.
Organization of the Website
We have recruited a stellar group of scholars to help bolster the web content for the second edition. It is now overflowing with student content as well as password-protected teaching materials and supplementary sources that instructors can use to design their courses. The web content provides opportunities for the student and instructor to engage one-on-one through written activities and assignments, and grades for assignments can be exported to most course management systems. Features of the website include:
Profile Pages
In the spirit of contemporary social networking sites, we have designed individual “profiles” for each theorist (e.g. Weber) or school of thought (e.g. Frankfurt School). These pages include a wealth of information ranging from biographical details and key concepts to external web content and learning activities, including short quizzes to help evaluate comprehension of key ideas and tips for reading the printed excerpts.
Interactive Readings
Reading social theory is no easy task. To make things easier, we have selected abbreviated excerpts of select passages for each section, put them online, and inserted interactive annotations linking key phrases or words to additional
content, such as definitions, examples, short assignments, and web content. These interactive readings extend the vision of Social Theory Re-Wired by helping make challenging theoretical ideas more relevant and understandable to contemporary students. We have created interactive versions of one classical and one contemporary reading from each section—check the “Connections” following each reading to see if it has an interactive version available.
Writing Out Loud
We have found in our own courses that freeform writing about difficult passages in the text increases comprehension and student engagement with the material. The website thus includes a space for students to engage freely with the excerpts by writing their own responses to questions and prompts about the readings. These responses can be saved and, if the instructor wishes, responded to and graded within the Social Theory Re-Wired website itself. Grades can then be exported to a course management system.
Assignments
Assignments are scattered throughout the profile pages, annotated readings, and writing spaces. Assignments can also be organized to match the two tables of contents presented in this reader so that students and instructors can easily view which ones have been assigned and completed.
Supplementary Sources (instructors only)
We also include an annotated collection of supplementary materials that instructors may draw upon to design their syllabus or lectures. These include summaries of written work from academic and popular presses; suggestions for additional readings, films, television shows, and websites that help illustrate key concepts; and classroom activities such as discussion topics and games. We also include nearly a dozen full-text excerpts from additional theoretical works that instructors may wish to assign or paste into their own course management systems, including work from Theodor Adorno, Anthony Giddens, Donna Haraway, Patricia Hill Collins, Michel Foucault, Georg Simmel, and others.
Test Materials (instructors only)
We have designed written exams and answer keys based on the content of the reader and the website, including multiple-choice questions and essay prompts. These materials are presented in a downloadable form so that instructors can reference them when designing their own exams.
Why This Book?
This book is intended for instructors constantly in search of new ways to make theory relevant for their students. The combination of a website and an anthology of original texts provides flexibility for instructors to design the course they have always wanted to teach. We have organized the content around what we think are the key conversations motivating social theory, but we invite instructors to come up with additional conversations of their own. This intellectual flexibility and rigor make Social Theory Re-Wired perfect for any social theory class, whether it is online, offline, or a hybrid course. Whether students have come to the study of social theory with enthusiasm or trepidation, this interactive text will guide them through the webs and networks of social theory from its classic halcyon days to the vibrant and complex world of now. They should feel free to dig into the nitty-gritty of the original texts, grapple with the interactive readings online, and take notes in the margins (whether on the printed pages or the digital ones). To instructors and students both: Welcome to Social Theory Re-Wired. Plug in and start making connections.
Acknowledgments
WEWOULD LIKE TO EXTEND A heartfelt thanks to the teachers, mentors, and colleagues that continue to inspire our quest for a deeper theoretical understanding of the social world. In particular, we would like to thank the following individuals who were instrumental in bringing this project to realization: Doug Hartmann, Chris Uggen, Letta Page, and the best collection of reviewers two young authors could ask for when compiling a book like this one. We would also like to thank Steve Rutter, Dean Birkenkamp, Samantha Barbaro, Margaret Moore, and the rest of the staff at Routledge and Taylor & Francis, without whom this project would have remained on our shelves as a stack of loose papers and tangled ideas. Finally, and most importantly, we would like to thank our families and our partners, Sonya and Christie, who believed in not only this gig, but also our decision to drop everything and join the band for good.
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SECTION I
Emergence Through Convergence
The Puzzles of Social Order
Introductory Essay:
This Deserted Island Is Out of Order
In William Golding’s famous novel, Lord of the Flies, a group of young boys are marooned on a deserted island, the only survivors of a terrible plane crash. Stranded, scared, and with no adult supervision, the boys quickly assemble themselves and make plans for living on—and hopefully being rescued from— the island.
The beginning of the novel depicts how they organize themselves into a miniature society. They establish a division of labor with specific tasks and roles, some boys hunting for food, while others build shelters, and still others maintain a fire signal to alert potential rescuers of their whereabouts. They also organize themselves according to age, with the older boys—called “biguns”— taking charge and looking after the younger, smaller “littluns.” They also choose leaders. A level-headed and democratic-minded boy named Ralph is elected leader of the group, a chubby, unpopular intellectual nicknamed “Piggy” becomes his trusted advisor, and the charismatic (and dangerous, as it turns out) Jack is appointed leader of the hunters.
The remainder of the novel details how this once nicely ordered society of tweeners falls apart. Ralph begins to lose political authority and control, Jack makes a dictatorial grab for power, and Piggy—well, in the interest of not being a total plot spoiler, let’s just say Piggy and some other boys meet less than fortunate ends.
If you were one of the many students assigned Golding’s gripping tale of “boys gone wild” as required reading in middle or high school, you know that it is a novel that hits on many themes: civilization and savagery, democracy and dictatorship, conformity and individuality, morality and the will to power. But, from a sociological point of view, Lord of the Flies is also a profound literary example of one of social theory’s most fundamental themes—the problem, and puzzle, of social order.
For a “true life” Lord of the Flies story, check out the famous “Robbers Cave Experiment” by social psychologist Muzafer Sherif, listed in the Supplementary Sources section of the Social Theory Re-Wired website.
The plot of Lord of the Flies lays bare some of the most elementary features of social order, features that all of the social theorists in this section are trying in some way to understand and explain. One of the most important of these features is the paradoxical “dual nature” of social order. By this we mean, on one hand, social order is the creation of individuals. The stranded boys in Golding’s novel devised their own social order; they elected their leaders, organized who would do what tasks when, and so forth. Yet, on the other hand, once this social order was created, it quickly took on a life of its own, exerting influence over the identities and actions of the very individuals who created it. Schoolboys became “leaders” and “hunters,” a seashell became a sign of democracy, a pig’s head became a religious sacrifice and, later on, the dreaded “Lord of the Flies” itself. Out of the convergence of individuals, we see the emergence of a social order far more complex, meaningful, and powerful than the sum of its individual parts.
While, fortunately, most of us will never be stranded on an island with spear-wielding preteens, the basic dual nature of social order is something we confront in every aspect of our lives—in our families, schools, workplaces, governments, on the web, even in our leisure activities.
To use just one example, think of the classroom you may be sitting in right now while reading this book. This social order that we label and recognize as a “classroom” would cease to exist without the ongoing and coordinated activities of thousands of people, including you. For the classroom to be a classroom, you and your classmates have to act like students; the person who assigned you this book like a professor; the people in the registrar’s office need to make sure that you are “officially enrolled” as a student; the university administration has to monitor the performance of the many colleges and departments to maintain government accreditation; the state and federal governments need to allocate sizeable amounts of their budgets to higher education so schools can pay their employees and you can apply for student loans; the authors of this book need to make sure they continue to write about sociological matters like social order instead of a recipe for chocolate chip cookies—you see how much work all of this is?
Yet, simultaneously, the social order that makes up a classroom has an existence over and above the activities of all of the many individuals who comprise it. The “classroom” as a social form has been around well before any of us was born. And after well over a dozen years of acting like a student from kindergarten through college, you have internalized your role as a student and implicitly know how to act in a classroom. Unlike the kindergartener, no one has to tell you what’s going on here. The classroom just simply exists as a fact of your everyday life. It is there, and remains so even if you decide to sleep in, skip class, drop out, or join a cult. It is what Emile Durkheim would call a “social fact,” and what many other sociologists call a “social structure” or “institution.” How social orders get constantly created by individuals,
but at the same time exist and have influences over and above the power of individuals, is one of the most intriguing puzzles of social order, and one with which each of the theorists in this section tries to come to grips.
Along with the intriguing dual nature of social order, Lord of the Flies also vividly demonstrates what happens when social order fails or falls apart. While social theorists don’t think that social orders are always necessarily good (just see the next two sections of this book for some pretty scathing critiques of modern social orders), they almost always see them as necessary. Without social order, life becomes chaotic, meaningless, and directionless. Just think of what happens to communities after a natural disaster or war. For many of the theorists in this section, the necessity of social order for making sense of our lives is most evident when the social order starts to break down or weaken (see, for example, Durkheim’s famous study of suicide in the following pages, or, for more humorous but no less telling examples, Garfinkel’s famous “breaching” experiments). In fact, what may be most surprising about social order is that it is so ubiquitous and that its absence or breakdown is not more common.
Emergence only through convergence, individual meaning only through collective activity—such are the fascinating puzzles of social order that the theorists in the following pages help us better understand.
Classical Connections: Emile Durkheim
You can’t talk social order without talking Emile Durkheim. A nineteenthcentury French sociologist and one of the founders of the discipline, Durkheim’s fundamental preoccupation was investigating and theorizing how societies hold—or fail to hold—together. Teaching and writing during a time of great political and economic change in France and the rest of Europe, Durkheim studied the structure and development of numerous social institutions, including law, crime and deviance, work, religion, politics, public morality, and education. For Durkheim, each of these played an essential role in the creation and maintenance of social order, or what Durkheim often called “social solidarity.” Likening modern society to a vast and complex organism, a bit like a vast coral reef, Durkheim saw social structures as functioning to hold society together. This idea characterizes the whole of Durkheim’s sociology, and makes him the foundational classical theorist of social order.
In the first part of this section, we present key excerpts from some of Durkheim’s most famous and widely read works on social order, including The Division of Labor in Society, Suicide, and The Elementary Forms of Religious Life. But, before you plug in to these classic readings and learn about Durkheim’s thoughts on social solidarity, anomie, collective representations, and more, it might be best to begin with the short excerpt from his The Rules of Sociological
Log in to Durkheim’s Profile Page on the Social Theory Re-Wired website to learn more about his life and work.
Method. Here, Durkheim deals with what for him was the most fundamental question for sociology, namely “What is a Social Fact?”
For Durkheim, social facts are much more than simply facts about society. Rather, they expressed the emergent and constraining power of social order that we talked about earlier. In The Rules, Durkheim straightaway tells us that social facts are “manners of acting, thinking, and feeling external to the individual, which are invested with a coercive power by virtue of which they exercise control over him.” In other words, social facts are things external to us, collective entities that have power over us, enabling us to do some things but constraining our ability to do others.
Social facts can take many shapes and forms, ranging from the legal system and churches to social norms, languages, and family values. One of Durkheim’s most famous books concerns the social fact of work and, more specifically, the social development of the division of labor. In the reading from The Division of Labor in Society, Durkheim asks how an advanced and complex division of labor affects the solidarity of societies. How can a modern social order continue to “hang together” once we have moved from a more “traditional” and “simple” division of labor to a hugely complex, industrialized system in which we all have our own specialized and differentiated roles and responsibilities? In a new capitalist world that celebrated individualism (Durkheim himself called it “the cult of the individual”), many worried that the social order was withering away or, like Karl Marx, thought it was becoming divided into the two opposing and increasingly antagonistic camps of capitalists and laborers.
Durkheim saw things differently. Rather than understanding the transition from a traditional to modern economic system as signifying a movement away from social order and toward increasing disintegration and conflict, Durkheim theorized that what we were witnessing was a move from one form of social solidarity to another. According to Durkheim, as societies grow and become more complex, they move along a path from “mechanical solidarity” (a form of social order and cohesion characterized by the sameness of individuals connected through common forms of work, religion, values, and education), to “organic solidarity,” based on the differentiation of individuals who are connected through interdependence. Durkheim argued that in a modern, complex division of labor, solidarity was maintained not so much through shared labor, interests, and values, but through individuals’ mutual reliance on others to perform their own specialized tasks (for example, while workers rely on factory owners to provide them with jobs, factory owners simultaneously rely on workers to produce the goods that they sell).
While Durkheim was more optimistic than many social theorists about the capacity for modern, capitalist societies to maintain social order and cohesion, he was not entirely sanguine about the matter. In the reading we have chosen from Suicide, Durkheim argues that many modern societies lack the kind of social integration and solidarity necessary to stave off “anomie,”
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differently. My case may be no measure. I give it only to draw attention to the matter, and I have made up my mind to despise no more Catbirds’s nests in future.—O. W , St. Louis, Mo.
[Mr. Widman has overlooked a note which appeared in an early number of this Bulletin (Vol. II, p. 110), where three instances of the laying of our Cuckoos in other bird’s nests are given. Years ago when I used to take many Cuckoo’s nests each season in the apple orchards about Cambridge it was no uncommon thing to find an egg of the Black-billed species in a clutch of the Yellow-bills, and on more than one occasion, but less often, the situation would be reversed. An instance of the latter kind came under my notice in 1878, when at Belmont, Mass., I found a nest of the Black-billed Cuckoo which contained, besides two eggs of the rightful proprietor, a single one of the Yellow-bill. Speaking from memory, and without consulting my notes on the subject, I should say that at least ten per cent of the Cuckoo’s nests that I have found contained eggs of both species. But in no case have I ever seen the eggs of either kind in the nests of other birds.—W B .]
Melanerpes erythrocephalus B .—Massachusetts, at least the extreme eastern part, has shared in the flight of Red-headed Woodpeckers that has been reported as visiting Southern Connecticut last fall.[38] During the latter part of September, through October and into November, the oak groves in the suburbs of Boston were tenanted by numbers of these truly handsome birds. I should judge that about one third were in full plumage, and their conspicuous dress attracting attention many were shot. Twelve years ago the individual occurrence of this species among us was thought worthy of record. Of late years, during the months above named, it has become a more frequent though irregular visitor, but never in such numbers as have recently shown themselves. In spring or summer it is rarely seen, yet an instance of its nesting in Brookline is given me by Mr. H. K. Job, who early in June, 1878, found five eggs in the hole of an apple tree. According to Dr. C. Hart Merriam, this Woodpecker is a common resident of Lewis County, N. Y.[39] May not our visitors have come from that direction?—H. A. P , Newton, Mass.
T B O M : A R .—In the Bulletin for January, 1877, p. 28, I added the Barn Owl (Aluco flammeus americanus) to the catalogue of Maine birds, basing the record upon a specimen, which I had examined, in the possession of a taxidermist then of Portland. I very much regret to say that I now believe the account given me of this bird’s capture within our state limits to have been false. Several other statements in relation to ornithology have since been made me by the same man, of a character so improbable and with such contradictory details that they can only be regarded as wilfully and utterly untrue. Their author has recently left the city under circumstances which dispel any doubts which may previously have existed as to the reliability of his word. I cannot longer be responsible for a statement emanating from such a source, and wish to formally withdraw the name of the Barn Owl from the list of birds known to occur in Maine.—N C B , Portland, Maine.
T S O F W W , W. T.—On November 10, 1881, one of my men shot here a female of this species (Nyctea scandiaca), which I have made into a fine skin. I reported the capture of one on December 1, 1880 (see this Bulletin, Vol. VI, p. 128), and these two are the only records known to me for the Pacific coast. The occurrence of this species here seems to be much rarer than in the Eastern States.—C B , Fort Walla Walla, W. T.
C G E C C , P .—A Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaëtus canadensis) was shot in Rookdale Township this (Crawford) County on December 10, under the following circumstances. A farmer, by the name of Hull, early one morning saw the bird fly from a carcass in his field to the woods some distance off. He conceived the idea that it would return to the carrion and at once made a blind of the rails of a fence near by. The following morning he repaired to the blind long before daylight with gun in hand, and, although he was well concealed and waited patiently until nearly noon, no bird put in an appearance. Nothing daunted, however, he repeated the watching on the second morning,
and about eight o’clock was rewarded by the return of the bird, which he shot. The eagle was purchased by Mr. Roe Reisinger of our city and is now mounted. It is the first recorded specimen, I believe, of this species taken in this county. The sex I could not ascertain, as the entire contents of the bird’s body were drawn by Mr. Hull before bringing it to town, but from the following dimensions I should judge it to be a young female: Extent, 83 inches; wing, 24.50 inches; tail, 15 inches. Tail about two-thirds white. The black terminal zone was about four inches deep on outer quills and about one and one-half inches deep on the centre ones. The general color of the bird is brown, with wings almost deep black. The hood extends well down on the nape and is of a light tawny brown, approaching the golden hue probably as much as any of them do. The tarsus is well covered with feathers to the toes. On the whole it is a very clean and perfect specimen.—G B. S , Meadville, Pa.
T S - K D .—On November 14, 1881, when a short distance west of Jamestown, Dakota Territory, I saw several Swallow-tailed Kites (Elanoïdes forficatus) flying around apparently in search of food. The day was clear and the Kites were much separated; one even was seen alone skimming along an alkali lake, showing every indication of searching for food. On November 17, farther to the west, about midway between Jamestown and Bismark, near the line of the Northern Pacific Railroad, I saw some fifty more of these beautiful birds, but this time in a flock, and each movement being common with them all it was a glorious sight. The weather had changed from that of the 14th, and was now cloudy with a brisk wind from the northwest, accompanied at times by a slight shower of rain, but this change they seemed to enjoy. So easily did they ride the storm, so beautiful were their evolutions, so much at home did they appear in mid-air, that when they had passed out of sight I was pained, for in this northern latitude such a sight is of very rare occurrence.—D. H. T , Sioux City, Ia.
A R S P G (Cupidonia cupido).—While overhauling some Grouse in the Boston markets a
few years since I came across a specimen which exhibits the following peculiarities of plumage:
Adult ♂ (No. 2691, author’s collection, Boston Markets, February 27, 1873—said to have come from Iowa). Ground-color above warm, brownish-cinnamon. Shorter neck-tufts or pinnate coverts, bright reddish-brown. Breast, reddish-chestnut, becoming almost clear chestnut anteriorly. A band or collar of broad, stiff feathers extends continuously around the neck in front and across the lower portion of the jugulum about in a line with the neck-tufts. These feathers although less stiff than the longest ones in the neck-tufts, are nevertheless quite as much so as the shorter ones. They make a conspicuous ruff which is mainly black mixed with a good deal of reddish-chestnut. The latter color on the shorter and overlapping feathers occurs in the form of narrow central stripes, which in some cases are nearly orange in tint; on the longer ones as a more or less broad, lateral margining.
I offer the above description solely for the purpose of calling attention to this remarkable specimen for I am entirely at a loss to account for its peculiarities. Several who have seen it have suggested that it may be a hybrid between the Prairie Hen and the Ruffed Grouse, but this hypothesis seems hardly a probable one, inasmuch as none of the combined characters which would be expected in such an offspring are here presented. The ruff does indeed remotely suggest that of Bonasa, but otherwise the bird shows all the wellmarked structural characters of Cupidonia. To simply say that it is abnormal will hardly satisfy the numerous investigators of this pushing age of inquiry.—W B , Cambridge, Mass.
W ’ P (Ægialites wilsonius) N E .—Mr. W. A. Stearns sends me a letter from Mr. Arthur S. Fiske, dated Gurnet, Conn., Aug. 22, 1877. “This morning I shot a bird of this species on the beach at the south of the hotel. It was alone, though there were several flocks of other Plovers near at hand. In note and actions it closely resembled the Piping Plover, but was larger and lighter colored. Capt. Hall called it the ‘Pale Ring-neck,’ and said he had seen it at the Gurnet before.” The description given by Mr. Fiske
(length 7.75 inches; bill fully 1 inch, black, etc.) leaves no doubt that the bird was Wilson’s Plover.—E C , Washington, D. C.
C B ’ S L I .—On September 22, 1880, I shot a specimen of Tringa bairdi on Montauk, Long Island. The bird was in a flock of “Peeps” (Ereunetes pusillus), feeding on the beach of Great Pond, a brackish lake often in communication with the Sound. It so closely resembled the “Peeps” that I only noticed it on account of its larger size. The skin I preserved, though badly cut by the shot.—D E. M , Brooklyn, N. Y.
[This is apparently the first known occurrence of this species on the Atlantic Coast south of New England.—E .]
A A M F .—On October 8, 1881, I received from Mr. Alpheus G. Rogers, of Portland, an immature specimen of Rallus elegans, the King Rail, which he shot on Scarborough Marsh, on the morning of that day. This species is new to the State of Maine, and has occurred in New England only about half a dozen times.
Its previous New England record is as follows: (1) Stratford, Conn., breeding, Linsley, Am. Jour. Sci. and Arts, Vol. XLIV, No. 2, p. 267. (2) Portland. Conn., one specimen: (3) Saybrook, Conn., one specimen, Merriam, Rev. Birds Conn., p. 115. (4) Nahant, Mass., one specimen, Purdie, this Bulletin, Vol. II. p. 22. (5) Sudbury Meadows, Mass., one specimen, Purdie, this Bulletin, Vol. III, p. 146.—N C B , Portland, Maine.
C Larus leucopterus B .—In November last Mr. Charles I. Goodale showed me an immature specimen of Larus leucopterus in the flesh, which he stated was shot near Boston. The bird is now in my collection.—C B. C , Boston, Mass.
T G B - G (Larus marinus) L .—Mr. Howard Saunders, in his excellent synopsis of the
Larinæ (P. Z. S., 1878, pp. 155–212), p. 180, in defining the known range of this species, says that there is “no record from the American side of the Pacific,” but that he had “examined undoubted specimens from Japan,” this being considered “a very great extension of its previously known range.” During the present year the National Museum has received specimens of this species, in alcohol, from Herald Island, in the Arctic Ocean, northwest of Behring’s Straits, and from Port Clarence on the American side of the Straits, the former collected by Captain C. M. Hooper, of the U. S. Revenue Cutter “Corwin,” the latter by Dr. T. H. Bean, of the National Museum.—R R , Washington, D. C.
T S - K .—Prof. F. H. Snow, of the University of Kansas, writes as follows: “I have the pleasure of informing you of the capture of a specimen of the Snake-bird, Plotus anhinga, in the Solomon Valley in Western Kansas. It was taken in August of this year by C. W. Smith, Esq., of Stockton, and the skin is now in my possession.”—E C , Washington, D. C.
C S D 150 M S :—On November 8th, 1881, a Sea Dove (Alle nigricans), was shot in the Hudson River, at Lansingburg, by Alfred Benjamin of that village. The bird was mounted by William Gibson of the same place, and is in his collection.—A F. P , Troy, N. Y.
A T C N A B .—The following list includes all the species that have been added to the North American fauna since the publication of the “Nomenclature of North American Birds.” The numbers given these additional species indicate their position in the list; and I would suggest that any author publishing a species new to our fauna do the same, so that collectors and others may know its number.
440.* Buteo fuliginosus Scl. L B H .
440.** Buteo brachyurus Vieill. S - H ; W H .
708.* Puffinus borealis Cory. N S .
717.* Œstrelata gularis (Peale) Brewster. P ’ P . R R , Washington, D. C.
N S B B M , M T .—The following observations were made in the southern range of the Belt Mountains, latitude about 46° 30′, some miles to the west and south of the head-waters of the Musselshell, from which the land, intersected by frequent smaller streams, gradually rises to the foot of the low mountains, which are mostly forest-clad and of some 6,000 feet elevation. The streams have little or no timber save in the mountains or among the foot-hills where scattering firs appear; but willows grow in dense thickets along the bank, striving apparently by numbers to make up for any lack in size.
The notes extend from June 22 to July 3, 1880, three days excepted, when the writer was absent. All the birds were found within an area of a square mile, perhaps less, but the locality was unusually favorable, including several patches of burnt timber, a large open tract stretching up the mountain side to almost the summit, and two streams flowing in rather open cañons with clumps of willows on either bank.
Several interesting birds which were sought for unsuccessfully at this time I have since found in the Belt Range, viz. Cinclus mexicanus, Cyanocitta stelleri (macrolopha?) and Tetrao canadensis franklini. Skins of most of the species mentioned were preserved.
1. Turdus migratorius propinquus.—Common. A bird nesting June 25.
2. Turdus fuscescens.—Found only in the cañons. Common.
3. Sialia arctica.—Nesting in deserted Woodpecker’s holes.
4. Regulus calendula.—Everywhere among the firs.
5. Parus montanus.—Common. It never whistles more than two successive notes, at least I have never heard it.
6. Sitta carolinensis aculeata.—One pair found breeding in the knot-hole of a large fir. Young hatched on or shortly before the 25 June.
7. Neocorys spraguei.—A pair breeding on a high, grass-covered knoll just outside the timber. The male was often observed flying high overhead, constantly shifting his position, but keeping at about the same elevation while uttering his song—a rather monotonous carol, unless one is sufficiently near to hear the wonderful resonance of the blended notes.
8. Dendrœca auduboni.—Common.
9. Pyranga ludoviciana.—Rather common. A female observed nest-building June 26, the male meantime singing in a neighboring treetop. July 3 the nest was apparently completed but without eggs. It was built in a fir some thirty feet from the ground and about midway on a small horizontal limb where several twigs projected out on either side.
10. Cotyle riparia.—Swallows apparently of this species were seen flying high overhead. Their homes were found lower down on the streams.
11. Vireo gilvus swainsoni.—A common bird in the cañons.
29. Colaptes mexicanus.—Common. The young of this species doubtless hatching on June 28, as an old bird was seen carrying out and dropping, a hundred or two yards from the nest, the fragment of an egg shell at that time.
30. Buteo borealis.—Hawks apparently of this species occasionally observed.
31. Bonasa umbellus umbelloides.—Not common. Is mostly found in the cottonwood timber of the valleys.
32. Tetrao obscurus richardsoni.—Not as common here as in some other localities of the Belt Mountains. They prefer rough and rocky ledges with only a moderate growth of fir to denser forests. Occasionally one finds them outside of the mountains, but only among the scattered clumps of fir growing on the high bluffs of some of the streams. Their “tooting” is a low, muffled sort of cooing, uttered without vigor, or any visible effort on the bird’s part, which may be squatting on some rock at the time.
33. Tringoides macularius.—Found on the streams.—R. S. W , Benton, W. T.
R S W V B .—The Red-headed Woodpecker (Melanerpes erythrocephalus, Sw.), is a strangely erratic species. Mr. C. S. Paine has taken but a single specimen in the eastern part of the State, and five years ago it was a very rare species about here (Brandon). Now they are nearly as abundant as the common Golden-wings. At Orwell, only ten miles to the west, they outnumber the Golden-wings, and appear to be on the increase. Dr.
C. H. Merriam mentions (Bull. Nutt. Ornith. Club, Vol. III, No. 3, p. 124) their remaining in Northern New York during some of the severest winters known. I have never observed them in this vicinity later than the 2d of October, except in one instance (January 7, 1879), when I took a single specimen. At Rutland, sixteen miles south of Brandon, Mr. Jenness Richardson informs me that they are a resident species, being as abundant in winter as in summer. They were particularly abundant about here during August and September, 1879, being attracted, no doubt, by the great abundance of black cherries (Prunus serotina), which they appear to relish greatly. I have frequently observed this species to employ the same nest for several successive seasons.
The Pileated Woodpecker (Hylotomus pileatus, Bd.), is by no means as rare as might be expected in so thickly populated a section. Not a year passes but that from one to five specimens are taken. I have notes of at least fifteen specimens, taken during the last four or five years, all of which occurred from the month of September to May, inclusive; the last record being the capture of two young females, September 28, 1881. Of the remaining Picidæ, Sphyrapicus varius is a rather rare summer visitant; Picoides arcticus, a very rare winter visitant: while Picus pubescens and P. villosus are resident species, the former being by far the most abundant.
During the winter of 1880–81, no less than seven specimens of the little Acadian Owl (Nyctale acadica) were taken, all within a few days’ time. Two specimens of the Snowy Owl (Nyctea scandiaca) were also taken at the same time. During the fall of 1879, a fine specimen of the American Raven (Corvus corax carnivorus) remained in this immediate vicinity for nearly a month, but successfully eluded capture. A single specimen of the Canada Jay (Perisoreus canadensis) was taken in December, 1874.
Although the recorded instances of the breeding of the Loggerhead Shrike (Lanius ludovicianus) in New England are rather numerous, the following notes may not be entirely devoid of interest. One rainy day last season (June 5, 1880) as I was seated on the porch of a neighbor’s house, my attention was attracted by a Shrike flying past several times. I watched the bird and saw it fly to the top of an old apple tree. The tree was not more than two rods from the house, and was densely overrun with a large grape vine. I climbed the tree, and,
about twenty feet from the ground, found the nest, and, much to my disappointment, found no eggs, but four nearly fledged young. The old birds were very tame, and flew about within a few feet of my head.
This season I visited the locality May 16, and was fortunate enough to find a nest and four fresh eggs. The nest was in an apple tree, perhaps three rods from the nest of last year; was composed of coarse sticks and weeds, very deeply hollowed, and lined with wool and twine. I took both parent birds with the nest, thus rendering the identification positive.
A few days after this (May 23, 1881) some boys told me they had found a “Cat Bird’s” nest in an apple tree about a mile from the vicinity of the other nests. They had climbed the tree, and said “the old bird flew at them, and snapped her bill hard!” I knew this to be a Shrike, and, when I visited the place, had the pleasure of securing another nest, containing six eggs, with the female parent. The nest was much like the other, but was perhaps deeper, and lined entirely with feathers.
The Great Northern Shrike (Lanius borealis) is a rather rare species, being most frequently observed in spring.
The Scarlet Tanagers (Pyranga rubra) first made their appearance about here in the summer of 1875, when a single pair nested. Since then they have gradually increased until probably twenty pairs nested the past season. Strange as it may seem, I have never taken the common Titlark (Anthus ludovicianus) during the spring migrations, although they are usually abundant in the fall.—F. H. K , Brandon, Vt.
E .—In Vol. VI, p. 199, lines 9 and 10. for “centimeters” read millimeters.
BULLETIN
OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB.
VOL. VII. A , 1882. N . 2.
ON A COLLECTION OF BIRDS LATELY MADE BY MR. F. STEPHENS IN ARIZONA.
BY WILLIAM BREWSTER.
Early in 1881 I wrote to Mr. Stephens asking him to get me some Arizona birds during the following spring and summer. He replied that he was on the point of starting by wagon for California, but that being provided with a camping outfit, and feeling under no necessity of hurrying by the way, he was willing to give his whole attention, for several months at least, to collecting in my interest. It was accordingly arranged that the journey should take in as great a variety of country as possible, and, that the most productive points should be thoroughly worked. The energy, intelligence, and conscientiousness with which this plan was carried out are sufficiently attested by the material results upon which the present paper is based.
The route traversed was substantially as follows: Leaving Galeyville on March 3, Mr. Stephens drove southward to Cave Creek, where a few days’ collecting yielded a limited number of birds. At the end of this time he retraced his steps to Galeyville, and continuing northward, passed Camp Bowie, and crossed to the western side of the Chiricahua Mountains. Here a halt was made at Morse’s Mill, after a journey of seventy miles by wagon-road from Cave Creek, although the distance is less than twelve miles in an air line. This place is described in the notes as being at the head of a cañon, in a sort of basin, elevated about seven thousand feet above the sea, and encircled by mountains which rise from two to three thousand feet higher.
From some further remarks on the general character of the range, I quote the following: “The Chiricahua Mountains are situated in the southeast corner of Arizona, some of the foot-hills even reaching the
line of New Mexico and the Mexican state of Sonora. Several small streams run east and west from their summits, those of the former division emptying into the San Simon Valley; of the latter into the Sulphur Spring and San Bernardino Valleys. The first two watersheds are comprised in the Rio Gila system, while the San Bernardino Valley stretches southward, and water from it flows into the Pacific near Guaymas.”
“These valleys are usually grassy plains, but there are scattering bushes, mostly mesquite, in some of them. The scrub oaks begin with the foot-hills; they are evergreen, the leaves being insensibly replaced with new ones in May. A little higher the juniper (called ‘cedar’ by the people here) comes in. Still higher, on the north side of the hills, there is a little piñon and scrub pine, while the summits are heavily timbered with red and black pines. In the gulches some fir grows, and on the hillsides, mostly near the summits and facing the north, occasional patches of aspen.”
At Morse’s Mill three weeks were very profitably spent, and on April 1 a start was made for Tucson, the next objective point. The route led through Sulphur Spring Valley, Tombstone, and Cienega Station, and at all these places, as well as at some intermediate points, a longer or shorter stay was made for the purpose of collecting. These delays consumed so much time that Tucson was not reached until April 18.
The country lying about this town and the neighboring station, Camp Lowell, proved so rich in desirable birds that it engaged Mr. Stephens’ attention for nearly the whole of the two succeeding months, during which, however, a brief visit was paid to the Santa Rita Mountains, where some important observations were made.
The season practically ended with June, for the wagon-journey, begun on the 29th of that month, across the arid plains and scorching deserts of middle and western Arizona, was attended with such privations, and often positive suffering, that little attention could be paid to birds. Mr. Stephens arrived at Yuma on July 15, and by August 1 reached his final destination, Riverside, California.
The entire trip yielded about six hundred and fifty skins besides a fairly large number of nests and eggs. Under the terms of our agreement I had all the birds, a representative series of the nests and eggs, and the field notes relating to both. This collection, embracing
the results of four months’ uninterrupted work in a region as yet only imperfectly known, seems to me too complete in itself to be merely skimmed of its cream. Accordingly in preparing the following paper I have included every species which is represented among the specimens or mentioned in the collector’s notes. It should be understood, however, that the latter were not kept with reference to this plan, and it is not unlikely that certain common birds, which are known to occur in Arizona, were inadvertently omitted. For similar reasons, the number of specimens obtained can seldom be taken as an exponent of the relative abundance of the species to which they belong, as a decided preference was given to the rarer kinds. Three species new to the “North American” fauna have already been announced (this Bulletin, Vol. VI, p. 252.).
A few technical points require explanation. The catalogue numbers are usually those of the collector’s field-book, but in certain cases—as of specimens taken as types, or with birds obtained by Mr. Stephens before starting on the present trip—I have used my own numbers, either alone or in connection with the original ones. This double system need cause no confusion, however, for the field-numbers never reach 700, while those of my general catalogue are always above 5,000. Of the measurements, the length and stretch were taken in the field, the others from the dry skins. The biographical matter is of course based on Mr. Stephens’ notes, which are sometimes paraphrased, sometimes literally quoted, as convenience dictates. The frequent quotations of Mr. Henshaw’s experience or opinions are always, unless otherwise stated, from his Report in Volume V of “Explorations and Surveys West of the One Hundredth Meridian.”
1. Turdus unalascæ Gmel. D T .—The only Hermit Thrush in the present collection is unmistakably referable to var. unalascæ. In fact it gives nearly the same measurements as the smallest extreme in the large series examined by Mr. Henshaw.[40] Mr. Stephens marks it as the first which he has seen in Arizona where, however, it was found sparingly by Mr. Henshaw in October, 1873.
283, ♀ ad., Tucson, April 25. Length, 6.40; extent, 10.10; wing. 3.26; tail, 2.61; culmen, .52. “Bill dark brown, yellowish at base of lower mandible; legs pale brownish; iris brown.”
2. Turdus ustulatus Nutt. R - T .—Under this heading I include with some hesitation, a Thrush killed May 17, in the Santa Rita Mountains. The specimen unfortunately was one of three or four which were accidentally destroyed while in the collector’s possession, but Mr. Stephens is positive that it was referable to the above variety. As he is perfectly familiar with ustulatus, having previously met with it in California, there can, I think, be little doubt of the correctness of his determination. This record, if accepted, will make the first for Arizona.
397, ♀ ad., Santa Rita Mountains, May 17. Length, 6.90; extent, 10.70; “Iris dark brown; bill black, brownish at base of lower mandible; legs very pale brown.”
3. Turdus migratorius propinquus Ridgw. W R . Robins were met with only in or near the Chiricahua Mountains, where perhaps a dozen individuals were seen. The one mentioned below is typical of the slightly differentiated, but still apparently constant western race.
75, ♂ ad., Morse’s Mill, March 20. Length, 10; extent, 16.40; wing, 5.38; tail, 4.36. “Iris dark brown.”
4. Oreoscoptes montanus (Towns.) Baird. M M . There is no mention of this species among the notes made during the late trip.
6313 (author’s coll.), ♀ ad., San Pedro River, Dec. 25, 1880. Length, 8.90; extent, 12.40.
5. Mimus polyglottus (Linn.) Boie. M .—“Generally distributed and common, but not as abundant as in Southern
California” (Camp Lowell). “Common in the valleys; they are found but a short distance up the foot-hills of the mountain ranges” (near Tombstone).
181, ♀ ad., near Tombstone, April 8. Length, 9.80; extent, 13.10; wing, 4.30; tail, 5.03.
550, ♂ ad., Camp Lowell, June 20. Length, 10.20; extent, 14.10; wing, 4.40; tail, 5.20. “Iris golden brown; bill and legs black.”
6. Harporhynchus bendirei Coues. B ’ T .—Mr. Stephens’ notes contain few references to this species, and judging from the limited number of specimens which he obtained, it must be less abundant in Arizona than either H. crissalis or H. curvirostris palmeri, a status which is in strict accordance with Mr. Henshaw’s experience. About half of the skins collected during the past season are labeled either Camp Lowell or Tucson, while the remainder were taken at various points directly north or south of the latter place, and not over twenty-five miles distant in either direction. Outside the limits of this desert region the bird was not anywhere met with, although it was common at Phœnix in February, 1880.
A nest taken June 16 near Tucson, and identified by the capture of one of the parent birds, was placed in a “cat-claw mesquite” at a height of about five feet from the ground. It is a deeply-hollowed, smoothly-lined structure, composed of fine grasses and soft, hemplike vegetable fibres, which are protected externally, in a manner common to the nests of nearly all Thrashers, by a bristling array of interlaced twigs and thorny sticks. The interior cup measures two inches in depth by three in width. The two eggs which it contained, like those described by Dr. Coues, are readily separable from eggs of H. palmeri by their grayish-white instead of dull green ground-color. They are faintly marked with reddish-brown and lavender, the spots being confined chiefly to the larger ends, where many of them assume the character of blotches or dashes of color. These eggs measure respectively 1.02 × .79 and .96 × .79. The greatest number of eggs found in any of the several nests examined by Mr. Stephens was three, but two seemed to be the usual complement.
Of the birds before me four are in first plumage, a stage which, if I am not mistaken, has never been previously examined. The first of these (No. 426, twenty-five miles south of Tucson, May 22) was unable to fly, and was taken from the nest. It differs from the adult in the following particulars: The upper parts, with nearly the same ground-color, have a tinge of reddish-brown which, on the rump, wing-coverts, and tips and outer webs of the primaries and secondaries, shades into brownish-chestnut. The sprouting rectrices are also tipped with the same color. The under parts generally are warm fulvous, which becomes nearly pure cinnamon on the sides and crissum, and along the median line pales to fulvous-white. The breast and abdomen are everywhere thickly but finely spotted with dull black, these markings becoming finer and fainter where they border on the anal region. The remaining three (Nos. 538, ♀; 539, —; and 540, ♂ : twenty-five miles north of Tucson, June 16) have the wings fully developed, and were all out of the nests when shot. They are apparently of about the same respective ages, but nevertheless exhibit a good deal of individual variation. No. 538 has the breast and sides finely spotted with dark brown, but a central space extending forward along the abdomen nearly to the breast is entirely unmarked. No. 535 has large, rounded, but indistinct blotches of light brown, thickly and evenly distributed over the entire under parts, excepting the throat, anal region and crissum. No. 539 has a cluster of faint, sagittate spots on the centre of the breast, but otherwise is entirely immaculate beneath. All three are essentially similar above, and differ from No. 426 in having the crown, nape, back, wing-coverts and outer webs of the secondaries pale reddishbrown, which, on the rump, is only tinged with chestnut. The primaries are dark brown edged with hoary; the rectrices, dull black with a terminal band of pale reddish-chestnut crossing both webs of all the feathers, but most broadly those of the outer pairs.
The adults making up the rest of this series vary a good deal with the season at which they were taken. A specimen killed in February is clear grayish-brown above, with the breast and abdomen thickly spotted; and one or two others shot early in May are nearly as deeply colored and distinctly marked. But most of the breeding birds are either entirely immaculate beneath, or with only a few faint specks scattered here and there upon the abdomen. Several of the latter are
nearly as pale as my specimens of H. lecontei, and equally devoid of any special markings. This condition apparently is due mainly to the wearing off of the tips of the feathers, although the continued action of the sun’s rays doubtless lends its aid, and still further bleaches the plumage.
529, ♀ ad., twenty-five miles north of Tucson, June 16. Length, 10.20; extent, 12.10; wing, 3.63; tail, 4.50; culmen, 1.01. “Iris yellow; legs dull bluish.”
426, ♀ juv. first plumage, twenty-five miles south of Tucson, May 22. Length, 6.10; extent, 9.40; “Iris light gray; bill dark brown, lighter below; legs pale bluish.” Taken from the nest; wings and tail only partly developed.
538, ♀ juv. first plumage, twenty-five miles north of Tucson, June 16. Length, 10.10; extent, 12.50; wing, 3.77; tail, 4.59; culmen, .96.
539, — juv. first plumage, same locality and date. Length, 9.80; extent, 12.70; wing, 3.92; tail, 4.67; culmen, .92.
540, ♂ juv. first plumage, same locality and date. Length, 10; extent, 12.80; wing, 3.90; tail, 4.55; culmen, .95.
7. Harporhynchus curvirostris palmeri Ridgw. P ’ T .—During the present trip this Thrasher was met with at various points in the desert region about Tucson and Camp Lowell, where it was one of the most abundant and characteristic summer birds. Its favorite haunts were barren wastes covered with cactuses and stunted mesquites; but, like many other desert species, it occasionally visited the more fertile valleys to drink at the springs and water-holes. At these latter places specimens were obtained without much difficulty, but on all other occasions they were exceedingly shy and wary. In February, 1880, Mr. Stephens found Palmer’s Thrasher at Phœnix, and he also took winter specimens along the San Pedro River.[41]
Numerous nests were taken. The one before me was placed in a cholla at a height of about seven feet. It is composed outwardly of large twigs, and is lined with bleached grasses. Although by no means a rude structure, it suffers by comparison with the nest of H. bendirei, its construction being simpler, and all the materials much coarser. The three eggs which it contained were only slightly incubated on June 14. They measure respectively 1.05×.82, 1.09×.82, and 1.08×.83. They are pale greenish-blue, finely and very evenly spotted with brown and lavender. The number of eggs making up this set was not exceeded in any of the others examined by Mr. Stephens.
The series of skins embraces no less than twenty-two examples, and very fully illustrates all the variations of age and season. Among the number are several in the hitherto undescribed first plumage. The
youngest of these (No. 480, ♂?, Camp Lowell, June 2), although well feathered, has the wings and tail undeveloped, and was taken from the nest. Its entire upper plumage is rusty brown with a chestnut tinge which deepens on the rump and outer webs of the secondaries to decided chestnut brown. The general coloring of the under parts is pale fulvous with a strong tinge of rusty chestnut across the breast, along the sides, and over the anal region and crissum. The breast is obsoletely spotted, but the plumage elsewhere, both above and below, is entirely immaculate. An older bird (No. 577, Camp Lowell, June 23) with the wings and tail fully grown out, differs in having the back (excepting a narrow anterior space bordering on the nape), with the exposed webs and coverts of the wings, and a broad tipping on the tail feathers, bright rusty; while in a third of about the same
