Robert J Brym
Biographic Data
| ID | 193393 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Robert J Brym |
| GIVEN NAMES | Robert J |
| FAMILY NAME | Brym |
| SIGNATURE | BRYM R J |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Toronto |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 83 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 285 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 83 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1978 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2019 |
| H-INDEX | 11 |
Soc
Intellectuals, Sociology of
Are Suicide Bombers Suicidal
Recent work by Ariel Merari argues that, while certain contextual factors increase the probability of suicide attacks, they do not explain why particular individuals become suicide bombers. Merari seeks to demonstrate that suicide bombers are motivated by an unusually high prevalence of depression and suicidal tendencies. This article questions the representativeness of Merari's sample. It raises the possibility that interviewer and contextual ef…
Suicidality and Suicide Bombing Revisited: A Rejoinder to Merari
Ariel Merari purports to demonstrate a tendency on the part of suicide bombers to be motivated by depression and suicidal tendencies. However, he misconstrues the present authors' critique of his work and misinterprets their research. By clarifying both issues, this article seeks to substantiate three claims: (1) Merari's sampling procedure precludes generalization; (2) interviewer and contextual effects probably bias his findings; (3) evidence c…
Le déclin de l’Association canadienne de sociologie et d’anthropologie
Cet article tente d’expliquer pourquoi l’adhésion à l’Association canadienne de sociologie et d’anthropologie (ACSA) a lentement décliné depuis les années 1970 en dépit du fait que le nombre de professeurs en sociologie et en anthropologie au pays a pour sa part augmenté. L’auteur pose l’hypothèse que quatre facteurs sont responsables de cette tendance, à savoir
Rational choice and the political bases of changing Israeli counterinsurgency strategy1
Israeli counterinsurgency doctrine holds that the persistent use of credible threat and disproportionate military force results in repeated victories that eventually teach the enemy the futility of aggression. The doctrine thus endorses classical rational choice theory's claim that narrow cost-benefit calculations shape fixed action rationales. This paper assesses whether Israel's strategic practice reflects its counterinsurgency doctrine by expl…
State-directed political assassination in Israel: A political hypothesis
Extant theories explain reasonably well why the Israeli state exercises a given level of violence against substate actors. Based on economic or sociological models of human action, these theories attribute the level of state violence, respectively, to the narrow cost-benefit calculations of state officials or the institutionally embedded norms that govern their deliberations. The strength of such theories notwithstanding, this article argues that…
New Society
Opportunity, Culture and Agency: Influences on Fatah and Hamas Strategic Action during the Second Intifada
Students of social movements dispute the causal weight they should accord political opportunities, political enculturation and human agency in influencing strategic action. They have made little progress advancing the debate on empirical grounds. The authors of this article reviewed English and Arabic newspaper accounts, read organizational histories and documents and interviewed key informants to explain variation in strategic action by the two …
Israeli State Violence during the Second Intifada: Combining New Institutionalist and Rational Choice Approaches
In attempting to explain Israel's retaliatory policies toward Palestinian violence, new institutionalist and rational choice theories vie for dominance. This article argues that both approaches can contribute to understanding the severity of Israel's response if they are viewed as nested explanations appropriate to different threat levels. The article makes its case using data from 74 interviews with senior Israeli counterterrorist experts (2006–…
Charles Tilly (May 20, 1929 - April 29, 2008)
I first met Charles Tilly 29 years ago, when I was 27.I had applied for a position at the University of Toronto, and Lorna Marsden, then Chair, told me that for my job talk I would be giving a presentation at a conference sponsored by the Department.I asked who else was presenting in my session."Just one other person," Lorna said: "Charles Tilly."I don't recall whether I managed to say good-bye before I lost my grip on the phone.Barry Wellman was…
Palestinian Suicide Bombing Revisited: A Critique of the Outbidding Thesis
ROBERT J. BRYM is professor of sociology at the University of Toronto. He has published widely on the social bases of Russian and Canadian politics and is now researching collective and state violence in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza during the second intifada. His recent articles on the latter subject have appeared in Social Forces, Contexts, and The Canadian Journal of Sociology. BADER ARAJ is a doctoral student in the Department of Sociology…
How High School Drama Helped Me to Become a Sociologist: An Essay in the Sociology of Autobiography
How High School Drama Helped Me to Become a Sociologist:An Essay in the Sociology of Autobiography 1 Robert J. Brym (bio) After dinner, my parents assembled all the relatives in the living room. I then entered through a narrow hallway. Although I was barely four years old, I was unafraid. I wore a white shirt and dark brown corduroy pants. "Sha, sha," my father urged ("hush, hush"). When the room fell still, I sang a Yiddish song about young boys…
How High School Drama Helped Me to Become a Sociologist: An Essay in the Sociology of Autobiography
Robert J. Brym, How High School Drama Helped Me to Become a Sociologist: An Essay in the Sociology of Autobiography, The Canadian Journal of Sociology / Cahiers canadiens de sociologie, Vol. 31, No. 2 (Spring, 2006), pp. 245-257
Sociology: Your Compass for a New World
The Return of the Native: A Cultural and Social-Psychological Critique of Durkheim's Suicide Based on the Guarani-Kaiowá of Southwestern Brazil
This article argues that Durkheim's theory of suicide is deficient because of its monocausal reasoning, its conception of suicide as an action without subjects, and its characterization of preliterate societies as harmonious, self-contained, and morphologically static. It shows that these deficiencies can be overcome by including cultural and social-psychological considerations in the analysis of suicide-specifically by including culture as a cau…
In Faint Praise of the World Bank's Gender Development Policy
1. The Standard Critique of Structural Adjustment Programmes Outside the field of economics, it is customary among social scientists to deride the World Bank for its neoliberalism. The standard argument is that the structural adjustment programmes (SAPs) favoured by the bank in the 1980s and 1990s sought to impose free market conditions on the less developed countries. However, offering aid in exchange for more international trade, foreign invest…
In Faint Praise of the World Bank's Gender Development Policy
The Size, Composition, and Dynamics of the Russian State Bureaucracy in the 1990s
In this paper Robert J. Brym and Vladimir Gimpelson analyze changes in the size and social composition of the Russian state bureaucracy in the 1990s based on official data. Although the Russian state bureaucracy grew somewhat at the regional level in the 1990s, it actually shrank at the federal level. Comparing the Russian state bureaucracy to the Weberian ideal type of bureaucratic efficiency, the authors also demonstrate the existence of strong…
The Decline of the Canadian Sociology and Anthropology Association
This article seeks to explain why membership in the Canadian Sociology and Anthropology Association (CSAA) has declined despite a growing number of sociology and anthropology professors in the country. The author argues that four factors are likely responsible for the trend: (1) external competition from sociology organizations in the United States; (2) internal competition from the Canadian Journal of Sociology; (3) a changed environment in whic…
Canadian sociology: An introduction to the upper thirteen
Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union in Canada
Apres les Etats-Unis et l'Allemagne, le Canada est la destination la plus frequemment choisie par les Juifs de l'ancienne Union Sovietique emigrant a l'Ouest. Le recensement canadien, cependant, met les immigrants canadiens dans une position unique, permettant, au contraire des deux pays precedents, aux residents de s'identifier eux-memes comme juifs. Il est ainsi possible de 'separer' les Juifs nes dans l'ancienne Union Sovietique du reste de la…
The Political Attitudes of Canadian Professors
In this paper we analyze the social determinants of political attitudes among Canadian university professors as expressed in a nationwide 1987 survey. We examine four questionnaire items. They measure attitudes towards faculty unionization, faculty militancy, and faculty salary egalitarianism; and position on a left-right political scale. The results support a class-based theory of intellectual attitudes, more with respect to unionism and leftism…
Russian attitudes towards Jews: An update∗
L'A. examine les attitudes des russes a l'encontre des juifs ainsi que l'influence de l'antisemitisme dans ce pays. Il presente un certain nombre de donnees collectees en 1989, en 1994 et en 1995. Il s'efforce de mettre en lumiere les representations, les stereotypes concernant les juifs. Il elabore un indice de tolerance vis-a-vis de cette population. Il montre que la resurgence de l'antisemitisme, en Russie, est directement liee a l'evolution d…
Re‐evaluating mass support for political and economic change in Russia
SINCE 1991 WESTERN SOCIAL SCIENTISTS have been struggling to understand the causes of the collapse of the Soviet Union and the likely course of future developments in the post-communist era. They were ill-prepared for the task, both analytically and empirically. Most theories about the dynamics of Soviet society had to be abandoned in the light of sudden and unforeseen events, notably the advent of a multiparty system and the privatisation of muc…
The functions of elections in the USSR
(1978). The functions of elections in the USSR. Soviet Studies: Vol. 30, No. 3, pp. 362-371
The Structure of the Canadian Capitalist Class
The Size, Composition, and Dynamics of the Russian State Bureaucracy in the 1990s
In this paper Robert J. Brym and Vladimir Gimpelson analyze changes in the size and social composition of the Russian state bureaucracy in the 1990s based on official data. Although the Russian state bureaucracy grew somewhat at the regional level in the 1990s, it actually shrank at the federal level. Comparing the Russian state bureaucracy to the Weberian ideal type of bureaucratic efficiency, the authors also demonstrate the existence of strong…
The Decline of the Canadian Sociology and Anthropology Association
This article seeks to explain why membership in the Canadian Sociology and Anthropology Association (CSAA) has declined despite a growing number of sociology and anthropology professors in the country. The author argues that four factors are likely responsible for the trend: (1) external competition from sociology organizations in the United States; (2) internal competition from the Canadian Journal of Sociology; (3) a changed environment in whic…
Anti-Semitism in Moscow: Results of an October 1992 Survey
Public opinion polls show that between 1988 and 1991 some three percent of adult Russians donated money to various political movements, four percent took part in strikes and just over six percent participated in mass rallies and demonstrations. Fewer than one percent of Russians j o i n ed new political parties, still nascent organizations that attract elites, not masses. At the same time, membership in the Communist Party dropped from ten percen…
Palestinian Suicide Bombing Revisited: A Critique of the Outbidding Thesis
ROBERT J. BRYM is professor of sociology at the University of Toronto. He has published widely on the social bases of Russian and Canadian politics and is now researching collective and state violence in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza during the second intifada. His recent articles on the latter subject have appeared in Social Forces, Contexts, and The Canadian Journal of Sociology. BADER ARAJ is a doctoral student in the Department of Sociology…
From Culture to Power: The Sociology of English Canada
There have been many dramatic changes in English Canadian sociology since the 1960s. 25 years ago the cultural values of Canadians were believed to be largely responsible for patterns of economic development, politics, and inequality. In the late 1980s these same features of social life are typically explained in terms of the way power is distributed in Canada. Brym and Fox attribute this change to the growing influence of various currents of Mar…
Public Welfare Expenditure in OECD Countries: Towards a Reconciliation of Inconsistent Findings
In this paper some of the reasons for inconsistent findings on the determinants of welfare expenditure and outcome in the advanced capitalist countries are examined. Particular attention is paid to the work of Harold Wilensky and John Stephens on the grounds that their research illustrates some key methodological and theoretical differences in this field. Several problems of conceptualization and measurement in their work are identified. Hypothes…
The Return of the Native: A Cultural and Social-Psychological Critique of Durkheim's Suicide Based on the Guarani-Kaiowá of Southwestern Brazil
This article argues that Durkheim's theory of suicide is deficient because of its monocausal reasoning, its conception of suicide as an action without subjects, and its characterization of preliterate societies as harmonious, self-contained, and morphologically static. It shows that these deficiencies can be overcome by including cultural and social-psychological considerations in the analysis of suicide-specifically by including culture as a cau…
Re‐evaluating mass support for political and economic change in Russia
SINCE 1991 WESTERN SOCIAL SCIENTISTS have been struggling to understand the causes of the collapse of the Soviet Union and the likely course of future developments in the post-communist era. They were ill-prepared for the task, both analytically and empirically. Most theories about the dynamics of Soviet society had to be abandoned in the light of sudden and unforeseen events, notably the advent of a multiparty system and the privatisation of muc…
Underdevelopment and Social Movements in Atlantic Canada
From Culture to Power: The Sociology of English Canada
There have been many dramatic changes in English Canadian sociology since the 1960s. 25 years ago the cultural values of Canadians were believed to be largely responsible for patterns of economic development, politics, and inequality. In the late 1980s these same features of social life are typically explained in terms of the way power is distributed in Canada. Brym and Fox attribute this change to the growing influence of various currents of Mar…
Israeli State Violence during the Second Intifada: Combining New Institutionalist and Rational Choice Approaches
In attempting to explain Israel's retaliatory policies toward Palestinian violence, new institutionalist and rational choice theories vie for dominance. This article argues that both approaches can contribute to understanding the severity of Israel's response if they are viewed as nested explanations appropriate to different threat levels. The article makes its case using data from 74 interviews with senior Israeli counterterrorist experts (2006–…
Canadian sociology: An introduction to the upper thirteen
The Jews of Moscow, Kiev and Minsk: Identity, Antisemitism, Emigration
List of Tables and Figures - Preface - The Scope of the Study - The Jews in Soviet and Post-Soviet Society - Identity - Antisemitism - Emigration - Between East and West - Appendix A Methodological Notes - Appendix B The Questionnaire - Sources Cited - Index of Names
The Political Attitudes of Canadian Professors
In this paper we analyze the social determinants of political attitudes among Canadian university professors as expressed in a nationwide 1987 survey. We examine four questionnaire items. They measure attitudes towards faculty unionization, faculty militancy, and faculty salary egalitarianism; and position on a left-right political scale. The results support a class-based theory of intellectual attitudes, more with respect to unionism and leftism…
Rational choice and the political bases of changing Israeli counterinsurgency strategy1
Israeli counterinsurgency doctrine holds that the persistent use of credible threat and disproportionate military force results in repeated victories that eventually teach the enemy the futility of aggression. The doctrine thus endorses classical rational choice theory's claim that narrow cost-benefit calculations shape fixed action rationales. This paper assesses whether Israel's strategic practice reflects its counterinsurgency doctrine by expl…
Are Suicide Bombers Suicidal
Recent work by Ariel Merari argues that, while certain contextual factors increase the probability of suicide attacks, they do not explain why particular individuals become suicide bombers. Merari seeks to demonstrate that suicide bombers are motivated by an unusually high prevalence of depression and suicidal tendencies. This article questions the representativeness of Merari's sample. It raises the possibility that interviewer and contextual ef…
Incorporation versus Power Models of Working Class Radicalism: With Special Reference to North America
Robert J. Brym, Incorporation versus Power Models of Working Class Radicalism: With Special Reference to North America, The Canadian Journal of Sociology / Cahiers canadiens de sociologie, Vol. 11, No. 3 (Autumn, 1986), pp. 227-251
Russian attitudes towards Jews: An update∗
L'A. examine les attitudes des russes a l'encontre des juifs ainsi que l'influence de l'antisemitisme dans ce pays. Il presente un certain nombre de donnees collectees en 1989, en 1994 et en 1995. Il s'efforce de mettre en lumiere les representations, les stereotypes concernant les juifs. Il elabore un indice de tolerance vis-a-vis de cette population. Il montre que la resurgence de l'antisemitisme, en Russie, est directement liee a l'evolution d…
The Ethic of Self-Reliance and the Spirit of Capitalism in Russia
Oleg Kharkhordin (1994) argues that most Russian industrialists adhere to a corporate ethic of mutual aid that facilitates the creation of financial and industrial conglomerates united in a national market. He also emphasizes that sustained capitalist development requires the rise of a new individualistic ethic of samostoyatel'nost', or self-reliance, which he finds growing among Russian businesspeople. Contrary to Kharkhordin's assertions, I dem…
Anti-Semitism in Moscow: A Re-examination
My dispute with Gibson and Hesli et al. rests on fundamental methodological differences. They do not fully appreciate the historical and political context from which Russian survey data derive. As a result, they engage in a series of statistical misapplications which undermine the soundness of their critique of my article with Degtyarev and of their views concerning the nature and consequences of anti-Semitism in Russia
Soviet‐jewish emigration and resettlement in the 1990s an overview
Class Power, Class Mobilization, and Class Voting: The Canadian Case
The Distribution of Anti-Semitism in Canada in 1984
The Jewish Intelligentsia and Russian Marxism: A Sociological Study of Intellectual Radicalism and Ideological Divergence
Regional Factors in the Formation of the Fishermen's Protective Union of Newfoundland
Robert J. Brym, Barbara Neis, Regional Factors in the Formation of the Fishermen's Protective Union of Newfoundland, The Canadian Journal of Sociology / Cahiers canadiens de sociologie, Vol. 3, No. 4 (Autumn, 1978), pp. 391-407
The functions of elections in the USSR
(1978). The functions of elections in the USSR. Soviet Studies: Vol. 30, No. 3, pp. 362-371
The Jewish Intelligentsia and Russian Marxism: A Sociological Study of Intellectual Radicalism and Ideological Divergence
Comment on Benkin's Review of the Jewish Intelligentsia and Russian Marxism
The Maritime Rights Movement, 1919-1927
Underdevelopment and Social Movements in Atlantic Canada
Intellectuals and Politics
1. Introduction 2. Radicals and Moderates 3. Oligarchs and Democrats 4. Leftists and Rightists 5. Conclusions
The Jewish Intelligentsia and Russian Marxism: A Sociological Study of Intellectual Radicalism and Ideological Divergence
Prophecy and Politics: Socialism, Nationalism, and the Russian Jews, 1862-1917
The Rites of Rulers: Ritual in Industrial Society: The Soviet Case
Intellectuals and Politics
Underdevelopoment and Social Movements in Atlantic Canada
Cultural versus structural explanations of ethnic intermarriage in the USSR: A statistical re‐analysis
The Creation of Regional Dependency
Reply to Richard Hamilton
Zionism and Territory: The Socio-Territorial Dimensions of Zionist Politics
Incorporation versus Power Models of Working Class Radicalism: With Special Reference to North America
Robert J. Brym, Incorporation versus Power Models of Working Class Radicalism: With Special Reference to North America, The Canadian Journal of Sociology / Cahiers canadiens de sociologie, Vol. 11, No. 3 (Autumn, 1986), pp. 227-251
Conclusion
Social Stratification: Class and Ethnic Dimensions
Politics
Economic Development and Underdevelopment
The Evolution of Sociology in English Canada
The Structure of the Canadian Capitalist Class
Soviet-Jewish Emigration and Soviet Nationality Policy
Sociology (59 works) · Political science (53 works) · Law (43 works) · Politics (30 works) · Law (27 works) · Economics (22 works) · History (22 works) · Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies (21 works) · Philosophy (21 works) · Social science (20 works)