bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Simultaneous Bilingualism and the Perception of a Language-Specific Vowel Contrast in the First Year of Life
Authors: Bosch Laura , Sebastián-Gallés Núria
Published: February 2009

Behavioral studies have shown that while young infants can discriminate many different phonetic contrasts, a shift from a language-general to a language-specific pattern of discrimination is found during the second semester of life, beginning earlier for vowels than for consonants. This age-related decline in sensitivity to perceive non-native contrasts has been generally attested in monolinguals. In order to analyze the impact of bilingual exposure on the perception of native-sound contrasts and the early building of language-specific contrastive categories, four-monthold and eight-month-old infants from Spanish monolingual, Catalan monolingual and Spanish-Catalan bilingual environments have been tested with a familiarization-preference procedure on a vowel contrast present onlyin Catalan: /e/—/E/. As expected, younger infants were all able to perceive this contrast, independently of the language of exposure. However, by eight months, only infants from Catalan monolingual environments succeeded. Although the decline in sensitivity with the monolingual Spanish group was expected, the results with the bilingual group challenge the view that mere exposure is enough to maintain the capacity to perceive a contrast. An additional experiment at 12 months of age indicated that bilinguals finally regained discrimination. Together these results suggest a specific developmental pattern of perceptual reorganization in bilingual exposure.
Phonetic Detail in the Developing Lexicon
Authors: Swingley Daniel
Published: February 2009

Although infants show remarkable sensitivity to linguistically relevant phonetic variation in speech, young children sometimes appear not to make use of this sensitivity. Here, children's knowledge of the soundforms of familiar words was assessed using a visual fixation task. Dutch 19-month-olds were shown pairs of pictures and heard correct pronunciations and mispronunciations of familiar words naming one of the pictures. Mispronunciations were word-initial in Experiment 1 and wordmedial in Experiment 2, and in both experiments involved substituting one segment with[d](a common sound in Dutch)or [g](a rare sound). In both experiments, word recognition performance was better for correct pronunciations than for mispronunciations involving either substituted consonant. These effects did not depend upon children's knowledge of lexical or nonlexical phonological neighbors of the tested words. The results indicate the encoding of phonetic detail in words at 19 months.
Child—Adult Differences in Second-Language Phonological Learning: The Role of Cross-Language Similarity
Authors: Baker Wendy , Trofimovich Pavel , Flege James E. , Mack Molly , Halter Randall
Published: February 2009

This study evaluated whether age effects on second language (L2) speech learning derive from changes in how the native language (L1) and L2 sound systems interact. According to the “interaction hypothesis” (IH), the older the L2 learner, the less likely the learner is able to establish new vowel categories needed for accurate L2 vowel production and perception because, with age, L1 vowel categories become more likely to perceptually encompass neighboring L2 vowels. These IH predictions were evaluated in two experiments involving 64 native Korean- and English-speaking children and adults. Experiment 1 determined, as predicted, that the Korean children were less likely than the Korean adults to perceive L2 vowels as instances of a single L1 vowel category. Experiment 2 showed that the Korean children surpassed the Korean adults in production of certain vowels but equaled them in vowel perception. These findings, which partially support the IH, are discussed in relation to L2 speech learning.
Rhythmic Temporal Patterns in the Signing of Deaf Early and Late Learners of Swiss German Sign Language
Authors: Braem Penny Boyes
Published: February 2009

In a study comparing the signing of deaf early and late learners of Swiss German Sign Language, the project's deaf researchers were struck by the difference in the production of the signs by the two groups of signers. Specifically, they felt that the early learners' signing was easier to watch and to understand because it was somehow more “rhythmic.” In order to discover reasons for this impression, analyses were made of temporal aspects of the production of signs which might function as prosodic elements in this visual-corporal language. Two kinds of rhythmic patterning were found in the spontaneous signed narratives which formed the data of the original study. The first is temporal balancing of syntactic phrases in which the final phrase is produced with approximately the same duration as that of the preceding phrase in certain kinds of discourse. This kind of temporal balancing was found in the data of both the early and late learners of the language. The second rhythmic patterning found in this study is a regular side to side movement of the torso which phonetically marks larger chunks of some types of discourse. This marking is used consistently by the early learners but not by the late learners, who tend rather to transfer prosodic markers from their first language, German, to their sign language production.
Lessons of the Special Period
Authors: Kapcia Antoni
Published: February 2009

With our attention drawn to Cuba's economic reforms and with assumptions about “transition” and about the monolithic but also “personalist” system, the Special Period's political dimension has largely been neglected, despite those years' genuine debate (about the meaning of “the revolution”) and the leadership's recognition of the need for adaptation and reappraisal. That dimension should be set against the revolution's preceding pattern—not the conventional one of “periods” but rather one of cycles—of crisis, soul-searching debate, and resulting confidence, the latter expressed through either mobilization (necessary for the “soul”) or structure (necessary for the “body”). In the 1990s this debate operated at all levels, formally and informally, until increased confidence and the Elián González campaign generated the “rediscovery” of the power of (and need for) the hitherto dangerously neglected mechanisms of mobilization and also the potential of youth as “solution” and not “problem.”
Cuba and the Revolutionary Struggle to Transform a Sexist Consciousness
Authors: Guillard Limonta Norma R.
Published: February 2009

Although many Cuban women have played distinguished roles in national history, they have also been forced to face the harsh realities of patriarchal hegemony. As the Cuban Revolution turns 50, its humanist focus and tenets of respect for men and women as human beings may not be sufficient, but there is no doubt that these are the values that we defend. There remain many objective and subjective factors that perpetuate discrimination against women. Consciousness must be transformed to prepare for new realities. Lesbian women face double discrimination, and the transformation of consciousness with regard to lesbianism will require all the more understanding and willingness to change. A survey of images of lesbians on the Cuban screen points to the difficulties of this effort but at the same time shows that progress is possible.
The Cuban Revolution
Authors: MuÃ±oz Rosa
Published: February 2009

Patriotism, collectivism, a combative and sacrificial spirit, a deep regard for culture and education, and the exaltation of youth are some of the values underlying the Cuban revolutionary project. While remaining committed to these values, many Cubans see the sociopolitical process as still â€œin the making.â€ For a politicianâ€”of Cuba's youngest generationâ€”the future of the revolution depends on the leadership's moral authority, an ideologically based social consensus independent of access to material consumption, and the role of the socialist state in guaranteeing income distribution and public property. But most young citizens would like Cuba to become a more developed nation with a higher life standard and a more equitable distribution of wealth, a society free of the material deprivation and ethical erosion brought about by the economic crisis, one that offers more opportunity for constant rethinking of the system. Furthermore, these young citizens would like an independent country that is respected and valued on the world stage. Fulfillment of these goals will have to strike a balance between reasons of national pride and popular demand.
Homeland of Humanity
Authors: Saney Isaac
Published: February 2009

Cuba's internationalism has been treated as epiphenomenal to the overall trajectory of the Cuban Revolution rather than as a central component. The emphasis has been on the external rather than the internal dimensions: internationalist missions, whether military or medical, are often treated as divorced from the domestic sphere. Internationalist programs have always been dialectically linked to socialist development in Cuba, however, performing a critical function in consolidating socialist consciousness, especially during the Rectification Campaign of the 1980s, and the capacity to preserve the revolution during the economic crisis of the 1990s. The role of internationalism cannot be ignored or underestimated. It is a reservoir of socialist values and revolutionary fervor that was drawn on during the Special Period and an important factor in explaining the resilience of the revolution.
Looking Black at Revolutionary Cuba
Authors: Allen Jafari Sinclaire
Published: February 2009

What does the promise of 1959â€”¡Venceremos! (We Will Win!)â€”mean to blacks in the United States, and what are the possible futures for the continuation and expansion of revolution? As commentary by black individuals who visited or took refuge in Revolutionary Cuba and my own ethnographic work on the island, roughly from 1998 to 2003, show, the vision of Cuba has become more salient and more complex as the position of blacks in the United States becomes more fraught with contradictions. As must any contemporary 50-year-old, the Cuban Revolution must now reconcile intention and effect and chart its future course in a world very different from the one it was born into.
Students' Attitudes on the Boundaries of Teachers' Authority
Authors: Yariv Eliezer
Published: February 2009

Educators in many countries are concerned about the decline in respect for authority by young people. The current study explores how children perceive their teachers' authority, what the `boundaries' (limits) to that authority are, and under what conditions they may decide to rebel. Over 200 Israeli elementary and middle school students were asked in semi-structured interviews how they conceive the norm of obedience to teachers; what kinds of illegitimate commands teachers issue; what pupils do in case of disagreement, and what is the jurisdiction of teachers and parents inside and outside school. The majority (81 percent) accepted the principle of teacher authority but qualified it with several conditions: authority was seen as limited to the school area, parents were accepted to intervene in cases of severe punishment and teachers should avoid committing aggressive and unethical acts. The discussion identifies circles of legitimate (agreed upon by both sides) and illegitimate (accepted by teachers but not by pupils) authority practices. It is argued that school psychologists can assist teachers and students identify this circle of disagreement and solve discipline problems.
Precarious Manhood and Displays of Physical Aggression
Authors: Bosson Jennifer K. , Vandello Joseph A. , Burnaford Rochelle M. , Weaver Jonathan R. , Arzu Wasti S.
Published: February 2009

The results of three experiments demonstrate that physically aggressive displays are part of men's cultural script for restoring threatened gender status. In Studies 1 and 2, challenges to men's gender status elicited heightened physically aggressive displays, including punching a pad with greater force and selecting an aggressive boxing activity over a nonaggressive puzzle activity. Study 3 established that a public display of aggressive readiness reduced men's anxiety-related cognitions in the wake of a gender threat. This suggests that aggressive displays may function to downregulate negative affect when manhood has been threatened. The discussion considers past research on gender and physical aggression in light of the authors' thesis that manhood, relative to womanhood, is culturally defined as a precarious status that must be actively, even aggressively, defended.
Fairness at the Group Level: Justice Climate and Intraunit Justice Climate
Authors: Li Andrew , Cropanzano Russell
Published: February 2009

Like many constructs within the managerial sciences, organizational justice has traditionally been conceptualized as an individual-level phenomenon. In recent years, this has begun to change, as a number of research studies have explored justice as a collective or group-level construct. The authors provide a review of this literature, historically tracing the growth of this research tradition, reviewing measurement issues, and discussing available research findings. The authors argue that there are at least two viable treatments of unit-level justice. Justice climate pertains to the manner in which a team is treated by outside agents, such as an authority figure. Intraunit justice climate pertains to the manner in which teammates treat one another. Although much more research is needed, evidence suggests that both justice climate and intraunit fairness are useful predictors of work attitudes and behavior.
Text ‘‘Superpowers’’
Authors: Moser Mary Anne
Published: February 2009

This paper presents the results of a research project to understand how a major technology adoption project is taken up in the social setting of Calgary’s three major homeless shelters. An understanding of how technology is used ‘‘on the ground’’ and how it relates to the project’s goals is the key contribution of this research. The results of interviews with clients at the homeless shelters and shelter staff provide the empirical data for an analysis of the major issues concerning the actual and intended use of this Smart Communities project. The research project is influenced by institutional ethnography, which looks at the role of texts in coordinating social relations. This article suggests that information technology could be seen as a text ‘‘superpower’’ in coordinating social relations among socially ‘‘at risk’’ people in particular. It concludes that more transparent dialogue is required on how actions are concerted by information technology.
Parental Divorce and Union Disruption Among Young Adults in Sweden
Authors: Gähler Michael , Hong Ying , Bernhardt Eva
Published: February 2009

This article analyzes the impact of parental divorce on the disruption of marital and nonmarital unions among young adults in Sweden, using longitudinal data from repeated mail questionnaire surveys (1999 and 2003) with 1,321 respondents (aged 26, 30, and 34 in 2003). The study takes into account several possible mechanisms governing the parent—offspring union dissolution link, including indicators on life course and socioeconomic conditions, attitudes toward divorce, union commitment, and interpersonal behavior. Findings reveal that respondents with divorced parents exhibit an increased risk for their own union disruption of almost 40%. When controls for all mechanisms are added, the excess risk ceases to be statistically significant. The unique contribution of each mechanism, however, is limited. Rather, the mechanisms seem to operate jointly.
Caring in the third way: the relation between obligation, responsibility and care in Third Way discourse
Authors: Sevenhuijsen Selma
Published: February 2009

In his book The Third Way Anthony Giddens develops the outlines of a new normative framework for New Labour and sketches ensuing policy proposals. Based on his diagnosis of current socio-political problems, Giddens proposes a new relation between rights and obligations and elaborates on this for issues of welfare and family politics. This article critically investigates his normative framework, and argues that a considerable part of the ideas on a third way in politics could be better grounded and refined by taking care into account. It spells out what the consequences would be of taking the ethic of care as a normative guideline for the new programmatic ideas and compares the British discussion with recent policy proposals in the Netherlands. It is argued that care should be seen as a democratic practice, and that democratic citizenship supposes that everybody would be guaranteed equal access to the giving and receiving of care.
Constructing sexual citizenship: theorizing sexual rights
Authors: Richardson Diane
Published: February 2009

Recently, a new body of work on sexuality and citizenship has emerged. In this article I analyse sexual citizenship through an examination of the concept of sexual rights. How has rights language been used to articulate demands in relation to sexuality? What do we mean by sexual rights or duties? Although the concept is not new, there are competing claims for what are defined as sexual rights and lack of rights, reflecting not only differences in how sexuality is conceptualized but also the fact that there is no singular agreed definition of sexual citizenship. The combination of sexual rights as a contested concept and the increasing usage of the language of citizenship in ‘sexual politics’, underlines the need for a critical analysis of its meaning and value as a concept. To this end, I have outlined a framework which tries to make sense of the different ways of interpreting sexual rights in terms of three main sub-streams apparent within sexual rights discourse: conduct-based, identity-based and relationship-based rights claims. This is not to imply an uncritical acceptance of the concept of sexual rights, however this may be defined. On the contrary, it is to attempt to clarify similarities and differences between both individual writers and social groups campaigning for social change in relation to sexuality, in order that we may have a more detailed understanding of the limitations and potential of the notion of sexual citizenship.
Blair's scars
Authors: Taylor-Gooby Peter
Published: February 2009

Recent policy reforms have brought the Prime Minister into conflict with groups among welfare state policy-makers and professionals whom he dubs ‘conservative’ and, by implication, reactionary. An alternative explanation of resistance is that some members of these groups understand contemporary welfare need in a fundamentally different way from that implicit in the reforms. They adhere to an understanding of the role and operation of state welfare that identifies problems as the outcome of structural inequalities and not simply as the failure to grasp opportunities, and reject the emphasis on enhancing equality of opportunity promoted so enthusiastically by the government. This article examines the pattern of attitudes among state and private sector salariat and the working class and shows that, in contrast to the individualist models which underlie the New Labour approach, many welfare state professionals and managers see structural divisions such as social class as highly important. Contrariness, conservative sloth and self-interest certainly play a part in resistance to change in traditional approaches to welfare. However, disagreement on the balance between individual equal opportunity and the mitigation of structural inequality in reform is also significant, and an important defence of some of the achievements of state welfare. Over-emphasis on opportunity may distract attention from policies (such as redistribution) designed to reduce the advantages of privileged groups in an increasingly unequal society.
Disabled people, New Labour, benefits and work
Authors: Drake Robert F.
Published: February 2009

In its dealings with disabled people, New Labour has shifted the policy emphasis from benefits to work. A tightening of access to social security has been matched by the introduction of new employment-orientated programmes. However, closer scrutiny of these initiatives suggests that while the government has acknowledged the impacts of environmental and social barriers to work, it continues substantially to rely on traditional, medically informed, views of impairment and incapacity. As a result the policy focus remains, for the most part, at the level of the disabled claimant. This concentration on individuals as opposed to institutional performance forms a stark contrast with the government's approach in other sectors, especially the public sector, where attention has been centred less on the service user than on the regular and detailed measurement of institutional structures and outputs. The article therefore concludes that to redress the balance a more rigorous audit of private sector employment practices is needed if the government is to further its aim of social inclusion for disabled people and other excluded groups.
Disability Discrimination Act: from statute to practice
Authors: Gooding Caroline
Published: February 2009

This article outlines the interpretation of the Disability Discrimination Act in the courts. It reports some early indications of employers' and service providers' responses to the new law, and considers some alternative explanations for its relatively limited impact. I argue that more proactive measures need to be taken, with an explicit emphasis on achieving substantive, rather than merely formal, equality.
Contextualizing voluntary childlessness within a postmodern model of reproduction: implications for health and social needs
Authors: Gillespie Rosemary
Published: February 2009

This article assesses the impact of transformations in reproduction upon health, welfare and wider social issues. The article first considers how a growing trend for women to remain childless might more fully be understood within broader constructions of social change and technological transformations of reproduction. Second, the article considers the impact of what is termed a postmodern model of reproduction upon changing health, welfare and broader social needs. The article concludes that although these changes give rise to potentially empowering options, especially for women, significant risks and challenges need to be addressed in order to meet the changing social landscape of the contemporary era.
Social exclusion and young disabled people with high levels of support needs
Authors: Morris Jenny
Published: February 2009

There are significant differences between the concept of social exclusion adopted by the mainstream policy agenda and what social exclusion means to young disabled people, particularly those with high levels of support needs. Currently, the experiences and concerns of this group are not being heard in the arenas where policies are developed. The silence about their experiences masks an assumption that, to have high levels of support needs, means dependency and exclusion are inevitable. It is unlikely, therefore, that current initiatives to tackle social exclusion will address the experiences of these young disabled people as they grow into adulthood. In contrast, a human rights agenda offers greater opportunities to challenge the way young disabled people with high levels of support needs are ‘shut out’ from society.
Financial exclusion and debt redemption
Authors: Drakeford Mark , Sachdev Darshan
Published: February 2009

This article deals with issues of financial exclusion. It reports upon the growing scale of such exclusion in contemporary Britain, explores its causes and considers the policies currently pursued by government. The authors suggest that present policies concentrate upon supply-side solutions, looking to improve the provision of mainstream financial services to impoverished individuals and communities. These supplyside solutions rely upon exhortation and the mobilization of good-will among providing institutions, rather than the enforcement of legal obligation. The article then outlines a particular initiative designed to tackle financial exclusion from a demand-side perspective, that is to say through the improvement of the financial circumstances of indebted individuals themselves. It concludes by emphasizing the contribution which such ‘bottom-up’, rather than ‘top-down’, solutions can make to combating financial exclusion.
Working parenthood and parental obligation
Authors: Dean Hartley
Published: February 2009

This article reports upon aspects of a small-scale qualitative study of lowincome working families. The study was conducted in the context of recent policy changes in Britain that are intended to promote labour force participation by low-income parents, especially mothers. It is argued that while popular opinion is generally supportive of mothers taking paid employment, some deep-rooted ambivalence remains. Mothers in lowincome families can experience the life-course transition involved as difficult in terms of the practical obstacles, the moral dilemmas and the ideological pressures. Without additional measures to support them in relation to their parental obligations, low-paid women are being pressed, at best, to exchange familial dependency for economic exploitation.
The impact of the gender pay gap on post-retirement earnings
Authors: Gough Orla
Published: February 2009

This article examines the factors affecting women's earnings during their working years that go on to affect their earnings in retirement. In particular, it argues that factors relating to part-time working, career patterns and types of occupation and employment contribute not only to keeping women's income lower than men's during their working life, but also to a reduced entitlement to benefits from occupational pension schemes after retirement. When the effects of women's greater longevity are also taken into account, a picture emerges of an increasing number of women facing poverty either in old age or in extreme old age. Using data from the Labour Force Survey, the variations in pay between men and women are analysed, providing results which in turn help to explain the differences in post-retirement income. It is argued that occupational pension schemes, most of which were constructed with the needs of the long-serving male breadwinner in mind, could be made more appropriate to the very different needs of female employees in a much more mobile and flexible pattern of employment.
Problems withBridging the Gap:the reversal of structure and agency in addressing social exclusion
Authors: Colley Helen , Hodkinson Phil
Published: February 2009

The Social Exclusion Unit's Report Bridging the Gaphas had a major influence on the British government's policy towards socially excluded young people. This article argues, however, that the Report contains fundamental contradictions in its analysis of non-participation in learning and the solutions proposed. Despite appearing to re-instate a concern for the social, it locates the causes of non-participation primarily within individuals and their personal deficits. Yet it denies individuality and diversity by representing the socially excluded as stereotyped categories. In a flawed move, the Report presents non-participation not just in correlation to a raft of other social problems, but as cause to their effect. Deep-seated structural inequalities are rendered invisible, as social exclusion is addressed through a strongly individualistic strategy based on personal agency. At the same time, measures to enhance individual agency, notably the new ‘ConneXions’ service, are formulated within a prescriptive structural framework. Structure and agency are thus reversed in current English policy approaches. While such approaches will doubtless assist some young people, there is a significant risk that they may make things worse for others.
New Labour: a study in ambiguity from a position of ambivalence
Authors: Lister Ruth
Published: February 2009

This article represents an attempt to make sense of the contradictions and tensions in the New Labour welfare project. It argues that these can be understood as the product of two characteristics of New Labour, which at best inhibit or even undermine its more progressive policies and at worst result in a more reactionary stance. These are: a populist tendency to woo rather than to lead the electorate and a pragmatic ‘what works’ approach, which avoids a direct assault on structural inequalities. Together these help to explain, in particular, New Labour's ambiguous stance towards redistribution. The final section looks forward, offering a compass to guide New Labour towards a more progressive second term.
Service users, social policy and the future of welfare
Authors: Beresford Peter
Published: February 2009

This article considers the issue of public and service user involvement in social policy in particular relation to the increasing importance of populist approaches to welfare policy and ideology. It reports on the new emphasis on participation in social policy and the limits of involvement so far achieved in both the practice and discipline of social policy. It discusses the increasing commitment of welfare service users and their organisations to equal involvement in the social production of social care and social policy and the political and methodological problems of continuing to exclude them. It argues the importance of an inclusive approach to social policy as a discipline and practice both to counter the populism which has increasingly characterised and dominated social policy over the last 20 years and to provide the basis for progressive and defensible social policy for the future.
Asylum and welfare: contemporary debates
Authors: Bloch Alice , Schuster Liza
Published: February 2009

This article provides the context for the Special Issue. It outlines the differential eligibility for welfare rights experienced by people with varying citizenship statuses and notes the increasing exclusion and marginalization of asylum seekers in European countries of asylum. In this article, we also examine the robustness of the arguments that have been used to justify the curtailment of welfare in some European countries; namely, that welfare acts as a magnet for asylum seekers. Linked to this is the use of asylum seekers as a political tool. We also explore the consequences of this which include racism and xenophobia. Finally, the article outlines the themes arising from the contributions in the Special Issue.
Producing the moral citizen: the ‘Looking After Children’ system and the regulation of children and young people in public care
Authors: Garrett Paul Michael
Published: February 2009

Local authorities are increasingly beginning to use the Looking After Children (LAC) system to, ostensibly, improve ‘outcomes’ for children and young people in public care. This article explores aspects of the system which, it is argued, merit further analytical scrutiny. The discussion focuses, therefore, on the scheme's relationship to fears about ‘troublesome’ children and examines the centrepiece of the LAC enterprise, Action and Assessment Records (AARs). It is suggested that the AAR booklets are potentially oppressive and contain powerful sub-texts about, for example, ‘appropriate’ youth lifestyles and the nature of ‘work’. Concerns are also expressed about how the AARs, when viewed alongside developments relating to youth justice, could be used as aids to facilitate the surveillance, screening and profiling of this group of young people.
The ‘Regime-Model’ of Fascism: A Typology
Authors: Kallis Aristotle A.
Published: February 2009

The history of interwar European fascism has been marked by the efforts of all indigenous fascist movements to achieve ideological novelty, social appeal and eventually political supremacy. In this process, only few ‘fascist’ groups succeeded in seizing power, either autonomously or in coalition with other forces of the right. This article examines a number of interwar regimes and analyses the dynamics of fascism’s transformation from movement to political ‘regime’. Given that the complicity of the traditional right in bringing ‘fascist’ groups to power was decisive everywhere, the article asserts that the evolution of the ‘regime-model’ of fascism can be best understood as a struggle of the fascist component for emancipation and autonomy from its traditional sponsors. Consequently, the physiognomy of the ‘regime-model’ of fascism in every country was shaped in time through a confrontation between the traditional authoritarian pattern (as espoused by the traditional right) and the more radical prescriptions of the fascist groups. The article examines the variables of this confrontation and accounts for the differing levels of dynamism in every regime with ‘fascist’ participation.
Austria 1950: Strikes, ‘Putsch’ and their Political Context
Authors: Lewis Jill
Published: February 2009

In 1950 occupied Austria experienced the most dangerous wave of labour protest in its post-war history. The government reacted by accusing the Communist Party of attempting to destabilize democracy, seize power and draw the country into the Eastern Bloc. For decades the events were known as the ‘1950 “Putsch”’ and came to symbolize both Austria’s geopolitical vulnerability to Soviet expansionism, and the strength of her post-war national cohesion. This article examines the background to the strikes, their development and the reaction to them, and argues that they were a grassroots protest against the system of centrally negotiated wages and prices agreements which was the precursor of the Austrian Social Partnership. Despite protests against earlier agreements, the government was forced to adopt further controls in the summer of 1950 to reconcile the conflict between removing subsidies and controlling prices. When the strikes broke out, it exaggerated Communist and Soviet intervention in order to deflate internal dissent and encourage increased Western economic and military support. Discussions in Cabinet during the strike show that the government did not consider the situation to be a putsch attempt. Nevertheless, the ‘failed putsch’ became part of the popular image of Austria as the David which had withstood the Soviet Goliath.
‘Rival Desirabilities’: Britain, East–West Trade and the Cold War, 1948–51
Authors: Jackson Ian
Published: February 2009

This article provides a new perspective on British trade policy towards the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe in the late 1940s and early 1950s. It argues that the Attlee government pursued an ambivalent economic strategy during the formative years of the Cold War. On the one hand, British policy makers sought to prevent Soviet military build up by implementing an international embargo on East–West trade. On the other, the economic and financial weakness of the United Kingdom drove Whitehall to sign trade agreements with the Soviet bloc governments in order to preserve access to the profitable non-dollar markets of Eastern Europe. This approach led to conflict with the Truman administration over Cold War economic policy, as the United States wanted to restrict Soviet access to Western technology and industrial goods. By 1951 Britain had succeeded, in partnership with France, in moderating US demands for a comprehensive trade embargo which, if instituted, would have severely limited the access of the Organization for European Economic Cooperation (OEEC) nations to the non-strategic markets of the Soviet bloc countries. As such, this episode offers further evidence to suggest that British governments exercised considerable influence over the USA during the early years of the Cold War.
Who Has the Right to Rule the Planet?
Authors: Darby Tom
Published: February 2009

This article maintains that the process of globalization may be best understood as the spatial offspring of modern technology, just as “the end of history” is its temporal offspring. This conclusion is prefigured in the thought of four 20th-century thinkers who, despite their diverse personal and ideological background, came to almost identical conclusions about the role of technology in modernity. These thinkers, Kojève, Strauss, Schmitt, and Heidegger, may be considered as collaborators in deciphering the meaning of modern technology and its planet-transforming capacities.
Faculty as Machine Monitors in Higher Education?
Authors: Croy Marvin J.
Published: February 2009

Predictions concerning postindustrial society include that of workers serving as machine monitors. That concept is explored in this article in respect to faculty in higher education serving as monitors of computers that are executing instructional programs. Questions concerning changes in faculty roles and the control of educational quality are addressed. Alfred Bork’s vision of asynchronous learning systems is elaborated, and that alternative is compared to the concept of machine monitoring. It is concluded that monitoring in higher education is not likely unless student demand for distance learning is great, but in that case, monitoring would be superior to proposals for automated asynchronous learning systems.
Technology and Ethics for Engineering Students
Authors: Varma Roli
Published: February 2009

Many engineering schools still do not allocate enough resources to the process of understanding the social and ethical dimensions of scientific and technological activities. This article argues that engineering curriculum in the United States should include courses that use theories and concepts from humanities and social sciences to study issues confronting the engineering profession. On the theoretical front, engineering students need to understand favorable and unfavorable consequences of technology-based progress, social and political qualities of technological designs, and the moral challenge posed by the new technologies of the 21st century. On the practical front, they need to be prepared for industrial and governmental jobs, which increasingly favor a broader social perspective, an understanding of proper management of complex technologies, and an ability to act ethically and responsibly. The Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology 2000 has responded by introducing new requirements that the goals of course work in the humanities and social sciences also meet the objectives of the engineering profession.
Driving Under the Influence: The Nature of Selling Sport Utility Vehicles
Authors: Glover Leigh
Published: February 2009

Sport utility vehicles (SUVs) are becoming increasingly popular by assuming the role of passenger care in urban transport. Many characteristics of the SUV are unsuited to the urban transport task and have higher environmental costs than passenger cars. Marketing of SUVs has focused on their off road used and relationship with the great outdoors. This article examines some the factors behind this anomalous relationship with the environmental by describing and interpreting the manner in which nature is represented in SUV marketing.
The Real Costs of the Automobile: A Report on Recent Research
Authors: Crouse David W.
Published: February 2009

This article provides a comprehensive survey of the views of a number of experts on the real costs of the automobile. The costs of the automobile are extensively categorized, and the most significant of these categories are analyzed and quantified. The article also includes a case study on the costs of the auto industry in Ontario, as well as an extensive bibliography.
Fishing for a New Way to Teach Environmentally Sensitive Engineering Practice
Authors: Hyde Rosamund A. , Karney Bryan W. , Kennedy Christopher A.
Published: February 2009

Professional engineers are under increasing pressure to practice in an environmentally sensitive way. To prepare engineers for this new reality, changes in engineering education are needed. For example, engineering hydrology has traditionally been taught with an emphasis on the interpretation of numerical data bout rainfall and runoff in watersheds. However, to do environmentally sensitive hydrology work, it is necessary to also understand the life forms that share the watershed. In 1997, a project was undertaken in the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Toronto to enhance an introductory hydrology course by adding information about how hydrological phenomena affect fish. Through carefully structured assignments and exam questions, an assessment was made of the effectiveness of the enhancements in increasing students’ awareness of the life context of hydrology. The project has resulted in a commitment to increased environmental information in the hydrology curriculum, and the implementation of an assessment process for all students, to monitor changes in their environmental knowledge and attitudes. It has also raised questions about ultimate objectives in engineering education.
Coopting Ethics Education: Ethically Challenged Ethics Lessons
Authors: Guenther, Charles J.
Published: February 2009

In a society that is increasingly reliant on complex technologies, there are vital interests at stake in the ethics education of technical professionals. To promote professional behavior that will enhance the long-term well-being of all citizens and their environment, ethics education should be free of industry bias and use resources developed by independent academic and professional organizations. Recently, however, corporations have attempted to involve themselves in engineering ethics education (through the American Society of Engineering Education) as a spinoff of their n-house employee ethics training. This article examines the “industry perspective” on ethics education offered by Boeing and Lockheed-Martin Corporations and reviews Lockheed-Martin’s “Ethics Challenge” game. The aerospace industry’s narrow focus on employee workplace behavior overlooks larger public-interest concerns. Engineering ethics education must include developing ethical awareness and a sense of social responsibility.
Globalization and the Community College
Authors: Guenther Charles J.
Published: February 2009

The community college movement has been eager to embrace the accelerating changes brought about by global capital and facilitated by information technology. Leadership for the community college role in globalization has been cultivated by the American Association of Community Colleges and the League for Innovation in the Community College. As the administrators of publicly funded community colleges view themselves as managers and CEOs in a competitive market for education, the colleges look to private industry for funding. Meanwhile, the voice of the community college is nearly silent with regard to environmental destruction and human rights abuses e xacerbated by globalization. This article will focuse on the role of community colleges in facilitating and cheerleading the corporate global economy while attenuating dissenting world views that would promote a more just and sustainable future.
Below the Belt: Doctors, Debate, and the Ongoing American Discussion of Routine Neonatal Male Circumcision
Authors: Dritsas Lawrence S.
Published: February 2009

There has been considerable controversy surrounding the routine circumcision of male infants in the United States. This is of particular concern, since the medical establishments of all the other countries of the developed world have abandoned this procedure as having dubious benefits. This article examines the medical pros and cons of neonatal male circumcision in a historical perspective and suggests that the circumstances that led to its establishment as a routine practice are largely absent today. Reasons for its continued use and ethical and moral issues associated with its practice are then examined closely, especially in light of the current debate surrounding female circumcision. The article concludes that the medical and ethical issues surrounding this practice should be more broadly debated until there is some consensus as to its benefits. Prudence dictates that until such a consensus emerges, the practice should be suspended.
Returning to Work After Illness or Injury: The Role of Fairness
Authors: Shain Martin
Published: February 2009

Research has confirmed the existence of a robust relationship between certain conditions of work (high demand/low control, high effort/low reward) and a variety of adverse health outcomes including cardiovascular disease, mental disorders, and immune system dysfunctions. Recently, these same conditions have been implicated in the defeat of certain capacities, such as adaptability, coping, ability, memory, and creativity. Such conditions appear also to influence the likelihood of making successful recovery from illness or injury and of returning to productive employment. The dynamic processes linking these conditions and outcomes nonetheless remains somewhat unclear. In this article, the role of fairness as a mediator of these connections is explored. In particular, the psychoneuro- immunological significance of promises explicit or implicit in the employment relationship is identified as being crucial to our understanding of how stress affects health and capacities. Practical implications are explored.
Beliefs of Science Teachers Toward the Teaching of Science/Technological/Social Issues: Are We Addressing National Standards?
Authors: Pedersen Jon E. , Totten Samuel
Published: February 2009

As science educators, we must view the changing nature of society brought on by technology and the global nature of society as an impetus to reexamine the nature of science instruction. We have been bestowed with the responsibility to educate students on a variety of topics that less than two decades ago did not exist. Many of these social issues are controversial in nature and are directly linked to the local, regional, national, and global communities in which we exist. However, including these social issues in the extant curriculum of science has, at best, been limited. This is true even though the National Science Education Standards specifically indicate that science and technology, as well as science in personal and social perspectives, are integral to science education. The following study examines a group of science teachers’ beliefs about the implementation of controversial social/technological issues in the extant science curriculum. Indications are that teachers believe that social issues are important to study, yet lack the support from their communities to teach social issues.
Globalization and Scientific Research: The Emerging Triple Helix of State-Industry-University Relations in Japan and Singapore
Authors: Baber Zaheer
Published: February 2009

The specific nature and dynamic of the emerging triple helix of state-industry-university relations in Japan and Singapore is analyzed in this article. The impact of globalization and the emergence of trans-disciplinary scientific fields on this institutional reconstitution are examined. Overall, the implications of these transformations for the debates over the knowledge society are discussed.
The Toll From Coal: Power Plants, Emissions, Wildlife, and Human Health
Authors: Glick Patricia
Published: February 2009

The article describes how emissions from the nation’s coal-fired power plants create far-reaching problems for people and wildlife, including acid rain; ozone pollution; the deposition of mercury and nitrogen in lakes, streams, and coastal waters; and global climate change. These environmental problems cut across all regions and endanger the entire range of wildlife, from the tiniest invertebrates to top predator mammals, in addition to threatening our health and economy. Moreover, current efforts to address these problems are not sufficient. In this article, the National Wildlife Federation makes a series of recommendations for reducing the toll from coal, including: closing the loophole in the Clean Air Act that allows older power plants to emit significantly more pollution than newer, more efficient ones; toughening restrictions on sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides and creating meaningful mercury and carbon dioxide emissions caps; and promoting energy efficiency and renewable energy sources.