NEW HOUSE OFFICERS ON BOARD — This year's medical center house staff totals 473 residents
and 147 fellows, of which 225 are new to Duke. Accounting clerks Sharon Powers (left) and
Patricia Whitfield assist three of the house officers with some of the numerous forms they need to
complete. Mary Fendt, administrative assistant in the House Staff Office, said that this year s
Duke house officers come from througfiout the United States and Australia, Belgium, Canada,
Columbia, England, Finland, France, Ghana, Hong Kong, India, Iran, Jamaica, Japan, Korea,
Lebanon, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Pakistan, the Phillipines, Poland, Rhodesia, South
Africa, Taiwan and Switzerland. (Photo by ]ohn Beclon)
Duke sociologist says
Protestant work ethic shifting
Professional News
By Bob Wilson
Duke News Service
The once-hallowed Protestant work
ethic that extolled hard labor and self-
discipline for generations of Americans is
migrating from the assembly line to the
executive suite, a Duke sociologist says.
"Vestiges of the Protestant ethic are
found in even the most modern of
executives," says Dr. John Wilson, an
associate professor of sociology.
Wilson notes in a new book that the
Protestant ethic isn't faring well among
blue-collar workers in America's post
industrial society, and for a variety of
reasons.
Wilson's book, "Religion in American
Society," has been published by Prentice-
Hall. A college-level text, it is a
sociological study of Americans and their
religious life.
Little incentive
The researcher says workers are so
strongly influenced by technological and
economic changes that they often have
little incentive any more to practice the
Protestant ethic virtues of thrift,
craftsmanship and self-reliance.
Thus, Wilson argues, a motivating
force that did much to boost capitalism
has given way to trade unions that bring
economic benefits through collective
bargaining rather than individual effort,
and "the need for self-reliance has been
diminished by the introduction of the
welfare state."
Wilson says executives are now the
ones who have flexibility to make
individual decisions and take actions that
might be reflected in the old-time
Protestant ethic.
"They are," he says, "imbued with a
rational drive for economic gain."
Belief more significant
In many ways, Wilson notes, the
importance of the Protestant ethic today
lies not in its actual relation to
socioeconomic achievement, "but in the
belief that this relation exists."
Although hard work doesn't guarantee
success and chances of becoming a real-
life Horatio Alger are few, the belief that
these things can happen is widespread
among the middle and upper classes,
Wilson says.
The sociologist believes the Protestant
ethic survives in easily recognizable form
today in such injunctions as "Anything
that is worth doing is worth doing well,"
and in a disdain for the "idle rich" who
seem to produce little or nothing
worthwhile.
Hard work may be obstacle
It's ironic, Wilson says, but the growing
technological and organizational
complexity of life means that virtues such
as hard work and thrift may actually be
obstacles rather than aids to economic
well-being.
"The injunction to be thrifty is unwise
when inflation is permanent and
relatively cheap credit is available," he
Dr. Everett H. Ellinwood Jr., professor of
psychiatry, participated in three professional
meetings in Europe this month.
He presented a paper on "Differential
Clovapine Effects on Chronic Stimulant j
Induced Behaviors" during a Symposium on'
Receptors of Dopamine Agonists; New
Biochemical Approaches, July 6-8 in Beerse,
Belgium.
At the 11th Congress of the Collegium
Internationale Neuro-Psychopharmacologicum
July 9-14 in Vienna, Austria, Ellinwood
presented two research papers and chaired a
workshop on "Stimulants: Mechanisms of
Actions."
This week, Ellinwood has been attending the
7th International Congress of Pharmacology
in Paris.
Dr. James F. Gifford Jr., associate professor
of community and family medicine, will
present a papfer July 24 on "The Influence on
American Cultural and Intellectual History on
Public Policy" to a U.S. Civil Service
Commission Executive Training Seminar.
Gifford is the editor of "Medical Education
and the Elective Principle," scheduled for
publication this summer by Duke University
Press.
to executives
writes. "Thriftiness also makes less sense
when savings are imposed on the typical
wage-earner by the reinvestment policies
of major corporations and the tax
programs of the state."
Wilson says farmers who conform
most closely to the Protestant ethic tend
to make "less rational decisions"
concerning the use of machinery and
Dr. Montague Brown, professor of health
administration, presented a paper at the
Invitational Conference on Multi-Hospital
Systems and Shared Services in Washington,
June 15-16. The paper was "Multi-Hospital
Systems and Shared Services: Some Questions
and Issues."
Dr. Stuart Handwerger, associate professor
of pediatrics and assistant professor of
physiology, has been appointed to a four-year
term on the Human Embryology and
Development Study Section of the National
Institute of Child Health and Development,
National Institutes of Health.
Dr. Blaine S.
Nashold Jr., pro
fessor of neuro
surgery, delivered a
special lecture on
the future prospects
of neuroprosthesis
in neurosurgery
during the 30th
annual meeting of
the Scandinavian
Neurosurgical Soci
ety June 14-17 in DR. NASHOLD
Bergen, Norway. He also was made a
corresponding member of the society.
Following the meeting, Nashold was visiting
professor at the University of Umea, Sweden,
and the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm.
ultimately make less profit.
He also notes that there is no difference
between Protestants and Catholics in
regard to work and consumption.
"Attitudes toward work and leisure are
becoming increasingly secularized.
Members of different faiths can share
these attitudes without violating their
religious principles."
i
.
"Sorry I'm late, I cut myself
shaving this morning,"
Student in tourney
Fourth-year medical student Douglas
Reintgen was the runner-up in the
Championship Flight of the recent
Herald-Sun Papers Golf Tournament.
The championship match at the
Hillandale Golf Course was close all the
way, with Reintgen eventually losing by
two strokes to defending champion Thad
Daber of Raleigh.
NCME program
The summer schedule for the Network
for Continuing Medical Education
continues with a program on "The Five
Phases of Acute Myocardial Infarction."
It can be viewed today and Wednesday
(July 26) at 1 p.m. in Room M406 at Duke
and Rooms D3008, C6002 and C7002 and
Building 16 at the VA Hospital.
Correction
A special seminar sponsored by the
Departments of Biochemistry and
Anatomy will be held today. Last
week's Intercom incorrectly stated that
the seminar was to have been July 14.
Dr. Geof Wahl of Stanford
University's Department of
Biochemistry will speak on "Gene
amplification as a mechanism of
resistance to an anti-tumor agent," in
Room 147, Nanaline H. Duke Building
at 12:30 p.m. Coffee will be served at
12:15 in the lobby.