Received: from sobek.Colorado.EDU (sobek.Colorado.EDU [128.138.151.62]) by csf.Colorado.EDU (8.7.6/8.7.3/CNS-4.0p) with ESMTP id OAA03532 for <socgrad@csf.colorado.edu>; Thu, 26 Jun 1997 14:25:05 -0600 (MDT)
Received: (from behan@localhost)
          by sobek.Colorado.EDU (8.8.5/8.8.5/Unixops/Hesiod/(SDM))
	  id OAA02647; Thu, 26 Jun 1997 14:25:01 -0600 (MDT)
Date: Thu, 26 Jun 1997 14:25:01 -0600 (MDT)
From: Pamela Behan <behan@sobek.Colorado.EDU>
To: socgrad@csf.colorado.edu
Subject: Re: tracking
In-Reply-To: <970625.102434.EDT.MMREDL0@ukcc.uky.edu>
Message-ID: <Pine.SOL.3.91.970626135826.1571A-100000@sobek.Colorado.EDU>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII

	Wow!  I just looked at my email today, and found almost 150 
messages, mostly from this list, since last Friday.  I guess my comments 
stirred some of it up, as I had hoped, but I obviously don't have the 
time others do to monitor/participate in such an exhaustive discussion.

	I'll add two comments for the rest of you to chew on, if you like. 
1) I don't think the dynamics of 'socially constructed' can accurately be
reduced to 'self-selected'.  That seems to me a good example of the sort
of oversimplification positivistically-inclined theorists and quantitative
studies often make, with unrealistic results (not reflective of real
social life).  

2) Not every social fact, it seems to me, can be tested quantitatively -
partly because quantitative methods are inadequate for dealing with truly
complex dynamics, and partly because some dynamics have proven irreducible 
(so far) to precise categorization. 
 
Enjoy!


Pamela Behan
Univ. of Colorado - Boulder