bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Global Culture in Practice
Authors: Lemish Dafna , Drotner Kirsten , Liebes Tamar , Maigret Eric , Stald Gitte
Published: March 2007

This article discusses a preliminary exploration of how globalization becomes embedded into the lives of children and adolescents in three very different countries: Denmark, France and Israel. Analysis of qualitative data collected from the three countries as part of a major cross-cultural study suggests five interrelated practices of globalization: (1) the role of television as both a default medium and as a source of favourite contents; (2) the preferences for transnational fiction; (3) the media's catering to the utopias of a shared world; (4) the hybrid characters of children's cultures; and (5) intergenerational struggles related to globalization. The findings suggest that for children and adolescents globalization involves the linking of their own locales to the wider world while, at the same time, localization incorporates trends of globalization. The article points to two parallel processes: one of young childrens's adoption of a global perspective on social life, and the second of the hybrid coexistence of multi-cultures in their lives.
Managing Sleaze
Authors: Sanders Karen , Bale Tim , Canel María José
Published: March 2007

This article investigates the different ways in which two European heads of government, John Major in Britain and Felipe Gonzalez in Spain, achieved ostensibly the same result, namely to distance themselves personally from the media feeding-frenzy over `sleaze' that engulfed their parties and eventually overwhelmed their administrations. It concludes that, although governmental and prime ministerial media relations are less professionalized in Spain than in the UK, the `chief executive' of the former enjoys considerably more institutional (and in particular parliamentary) insulation than his counterpart in the latter. He also benefits from a more compliant public service broadcaster and a less universally hostile press in Spain. These two factors, alongside more contingent political and personality-driven differences, account for the fact that Gonzalez, unlike Major, was able not only to distance himself but also to retain some semblance of respect for his leadership capacity as traditionally defined.
COMMON SENSE AND THE HUMAN SCIENCES
Authors: Boudon Raymond
Published: March 2007

This paper in the sociology of knowledge explores the influence of common sense on the theories produced by the human sciences. These theories very often include principles drawn from what can be called commonsensical linguistics, epistemology and logics. Because of their familiarity, these principles go often unnoticed, or are perceived as `going without saying', however. So, a theory can easily be perceived as true while it is false, or as more valid than it deserves to be, if it includes beside its explicit statements implicit unnoticed commonsensical statements, which, although valid in everyday life, are not of universal validity. The theory developed in the paper identifies a typical process by which theories or ideas can easily gain much more credibility than they deserve. It is illustrated by several famous examples drawn from economics, sociology and the philosophy of science.
HOLISM, INDIVIDUALISM, REDUCTIONISM
Authors: Szmatka Jacek
Published: March 2007

Two versions of methodological individualism and three versions of methodological holism are critically analysed and, as a result, methodological reductionism is postulated. In ontological respects it assumes that social reality is not a homogeneous arrangement, that it is characterised by discontinuity of its properties, and that there exist areas in social reality called levels, which means that this conception is decidedly holistic. In methodological respects, methodological reductionism distinguishes explanations of the first degree, i.e., `one-level' explanations from explanations of the second degree, ultimate explanations, i.e., the ones in which the explanans refer to laws and statements related to phenomena from a different level from those to which the explanandum refers. These are reductionistic explanations but not in the traditional sense of the term.
WELFARE, HIERARCHY AND THE `NEW RIGHT': THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL POLICY CHANGES IN BRITAIN, 1979-1989
Authors: Taylor-Gooby Peter
Published: March 2007

The policy statements of the British Conservative government are heavily influenced by `new right' ideology. However, progress towards the declared goals of spending constraint, the expansion of the private sector, a high degree of selectivity in state provision and tax reduction has been slow. Changes in policy are better understood in terms of a redirection rather than a rolling back of the state; a greater emphasis in welfare intervention on the sustenance of the existing pattern of class inequalities and family dependency, and the nourishing of forces which will press for further shifts in this direction. The impact of policy change fits an old right programme of dependency, obligation and hierarchy better than a `new right' ideology of market individualism.
Religious Diversity in Brazil
Authors: Pierucci Antônio Flávio , Prandi Reginaldo
Published: March 2007

Brazil, a country with a Catholic majority, has undergone an intense process of religious conversion. Today, three-quarters of the adult population are Catholic, while the remaining quarter is made up of followers of Evangelical churches, Afro-Brazilian religions, oriental religions and other denominations. Evangelical churches are comprised of, among others, Pentecostal churches brought in from other countries, and those recently created in Brazil, called Neo-Pentecostal churches. This article seeks to establish the dimension of different religious groups in terms of number of followers, and to provide a sociological profile of these different religious alternatives, suggesting interpretations that allow for an understanding of the dynamic of the Brazilian religious scene.
African Gods in Contemporary Brazil
Authors: Prandi Reginaldo
Published: March 2007

Religious systems brought over by African slaves in Brazil gave rise, especially throughout the 19th century, to Candomblé and other modalities of worship of African deities, especially of Yoruba deities known as orishas. This article seeks to provide a general description of Candomblé, of its main orishas, initiation rites and view of the world. It also proposes an interpretation of the fact that this Afro-Brazilian religion is no longer an ethnic religion exclusive to the black population, but a universal religion, without racial, ethnic or geographical barriers, a religion that congregates followers of all racial and social groups.
TOWARDS AN AFRICAN SOCIOLOGICAL TRADITION: A REJOINDER TO AKIWOWO AND MAKINDE
Authors: Lawuyi O. B. , Taiwo Olufemi
Published: March 2007

Akiwowo (1986b) and Makinde (1988) raise several issues on the possibility of an African sociological tradition. They argue that sociology can be done in African idioms and they supply us with some concepts, principally those of `asuwada', `ajobi', `ajogbe' and ` ifogbontayese', with which we can begin to work out indigenous sociological theories. In this paper, we accept that it is possible to do sociology in African idioms. But we must specify the concepts to be used, clarify their meaning, suggest their interrelationships in thought and practice and show their applicability to social phenomena. Neither Akiwowo nor Makinde have sufficiently clarified their concepts for doing sociology in Yoruba (their African idiom of choice). We direct attention to some neglected possibilities inhering in the conceptual discoveries made by Akiwowo, especially those regarding the importance of language, philosophy and sociological theory to the development of indigenous explanatory paradigms. We conclude with some general comments on Akiwowo's affirmation of an African sociology of knowledge.
THE DUAL STRUCTURE OF CHINESE CULTURE AND ITS INFLUENCE ON MODERN CHINESE SOCIETY
Authors: Jianxiong Pan
Published: March 2007

It is hypothesised that traditional Chinese culture had a characteristic prematurity with a dual structure of humanism and monarchy where, unlike the West, secularisation gained an early hold but was associated with autocracy. Ethics and politics were linked, so that obedience and maintaining a reputation discouraged innovation. The dual structure involved compensatory adjustment and absorption of varied cultural elements providing long-standing stability. But it was deeply resistant to modernisation and the periods of military Westernisation, social reform and introspection all ended in failure. Unlike Japanese culture, the Chinese could not adopt goal achievement values.
THE TRANSFORMATION OF FAMILISM IN MODERN KOREAN SOCIETY: FROM COOPERATION TO COMPETITION
Authors: Kim Dongno
Published: March 2007

Theoretically, this paper deals with two problems: firstly, how we can understand the relationship between the macro social structure and micro individual social action, and secondly, if the modernisation theorists failed to explain the process of modernisation, how we can grasp the radical social change which has occurred in Third World countries in recent decades. With this general theoretical orientation, this paper investigates the transformation of a social norm, familism, in Korea during her transition from peasant society to industrial society. This paper argues that, although there are some ideological elements, such as Confucianism and nationalism, social actions of Korean people in both traditional and contemporary society have been strongly motivated by their economic and political interests. This tendency is especially prominent among urban middle- and upper-class people in modern Korean society, who were beneficiaries of economic growth since the 1960s. Under the distorted structural conditions of industrialisation, these people actively transformed traditional familism into modern, amoral familism. In the end, the pursuit of individual interests and rationality in the process of industrialisation has brought about collective irrationality, destroying the traditional cooperative mechanisms of human interaction in peasant society.
Revolution
Authors: Burns Tom R. , Dietz Thomas
Published: March 2007

Earlier work formulated an evolutionary theory of the formation, alteration and transformation of social rule systems such as normative orders and institutional arrangements. The theory specifies processes of the generation of variety in social rules, retention and transmission of rules, and the selection of rules. It stresses the role of human agents in generating variety and change, in structuring and manipulating selective processes and in the diffusion and transmission of new systems. This article applies the theory to problems of conceptualizing and analysing revolution, that is, major transformations of social orders. The authors focus on cases of agential driven processes of transformation. Three general types of agent-generated change are identified and illustrated. (1) A dominant elite changes its paradigm of social order and uses its power to bring about transformation of the existing order. (2) Through a power shift, an established elite is replaced by an elite or coalition of elites with a different paradigm of social order which frames and guides the establishment of new institutional arrangements. These two types of transformation typically entail decisive events and actions, carried out by identifiable agents engaged in relatively well-defined `founding moments'. They are `legislative' in character. (3) `Organic' transformation entails the accumulative and aggregate effect of `small' actions and developments that add up to a major macro-transformation. The three types of transformation entail directed problem-solving and adaptation - such as the development of new theories or paradigms, new technologies and institutional reforms. Variety is generated in a way very different from undirected forms envisioned in biological evolutionary theory. Also different are key concepts such as institutionalized social power, competition for power and unintended consequences of directed problem-solving. In particular: (1) the distribution of systemic power enables certain agents to introduce (or to block) problem-solving and innovation processes; (2) social competition among revolutionary agents drives and radicalizes directed problem-solving and transformation processes; (3) directed problem-solving and adaptive processes in complex systems make for unintended, often problematic, developments.
Towards a Sociology of Art Collections
Authors: Herrero Marta
Published: March 2007

This article draws on Zygmunt Bauman's concept `legislator' - the intellectual practice of modernity - to explore the relationship between Irish intellectuals and modernity. The case study selected for this purpose is the intellectual debate that took place around the making of Dublin's first modern art collection, which led to the opening of the Municipal Gallery of Modern Art in 1908. Its premise is that art collections are the outcome of intellectual practices, which legitimate and define their role. Overall, this example is used to investigate the complex ways in which Irish intellectuals sought to renegotiate Ireland's relation to modernity, a discourse that positioned it as a `peripheral' country. The article concludes by saying that the making of a modern art collection was used as a means to renegotiate a more constructive view of Ireland, and suggests `modernit ies' as a term that captures the various intellectual practices of modernity.
The Multifarious and Changing Functions of the Polish Sociological Association
Authors: Sułek Antoni , Kraśko Nina
Published: March 2007

The article analyses the history of the Polish Sociological Association against a background of changes in Polish sociology and in Polish society. Since the date of its origin (1957) the Association has performed three basic functions: (1) supporting the development of the discipline of sociology, (2) integrating the community of sociologists and disseminating its opinions and (3) advancing the sociological profession. The significance of these functions, as well as the forms of activities subordinate to them, have varied throughout the years, and the article identifies these changes. The article focuses especially on the role of the Association in the rebuilding of sociology after the collapse of Stalinism, on the Association's participation in the intellectual critique of real socialism in the 1980s, and on the trend to professionalization observed since 1989 in democratic Poland.
ARE DUALISM AND CORPORATISM COMPATIBLE PATTERNS OF POLITICAL ECONOMY? SOME IMPLICATIONS OF THE ISRAELI CASE
Authors: Grinberg Lev Luis
Published: March 2007

This paper discusses Goldthorpe's (1984) interpretation of corporatism and dualism as divergent tendencies of capitalism. In contrast, it is proposed that both are patterns of political economy representing partial solutions to the common problems of advanced capitalist democracies, primarily the damage caused by the business cycle to both capital and labour. The two patterns are not incompatible and may coexist, as in the case of Israel, with the consequence that the working class is weakened. Corporatism and dualism are two patterns of the transformation of class conflict into forms of politically controlled conflict that must be analysed in an historical perspective. The theoretical concepts central to both approaches are briefly summarised, and various concepts shared by them are explored. The Israeli case is discussed, and it is argued that in the Israeli pattern the original economic class conflict is transferred to the political arena and transformed into national conflict between Israeli and Arab workers.
THE LEBANESE STATE: LEBANESE UNITY AND THE SUNNI MUSLIM POSITION
Authors: Khashan Hilal
Published: March 2007

The objective of this paper was to test the veracity of the conventional wisdom of Lebanese Sunni perceptions which states that they perceive members of the other confessional groups negatively, avoid contact with them, and look with disfavour at the Lebanese state. The data, which were collected between November 1989 and April 1990, come from a nationwide survey that comprised 500 male Lebanese Sunnis. The findings disclose that, with the exception of Sunni negative views on the Shi'is, they are not markedly hostile to Lebanon's other major ethno-religious groups. The Sunni propensity for inter-group cooperation, while symmetrical with their inter-group perceptions, is conspicuously more positive in its intensity. Finally, and in sharp contrast with the conventional proposition, the Sunnis exhibit very strong support for an independent and centralised Lebanese state.
THE DYING OF CLASS OR OR MARXIST CLASS THEORY?
Authors: Pakulski Jan
Published: March 2007

Following some terminological clarifications, this article assesses the utility of the concept of class, and the Marxist class theory, for the analysis of stratification and conflict in advanced societies. The conclusions support the arguments of Clark and Lipset (1991). What is `dying' (in Clark and Lipset's parlance) are mainly the old industrial classes: the old socio-economic divisions, the old institutional actors representing these divisions, and the old forms of identification cum consciousness that reflected them. This reflects fragmentation of stratification due to proliferation of property ownership, credentialisation and professionalisation, state regulation, consumption orientation, proliferation of `imagined communities', and formation of new political actors. With these processes, and the revolutionary transformations in the ex-Soviet bloc, the theoretical and analytical edifice of Marxism loses much of its ground.
A EUROPEAN DILEMMA: MYRDAL, THE AMERICAN CREED AND EU EUROPE
Authors: Schierup Carl-Ulrik
Published: March 2007

`America has a negro problem', the Swedish economist Gunnar Myrdal stated in the introduction to his modern classic, An American Dilemma, first published in 1944. Half a century later, the so-called `immigrant problem' is moving to the top of the political agenda of EU Europe. To speak about a European dilemma in this context means to relate established European values of social solidarity and social responsibility to an increasingly ethnicised and racialised social inequality in European cities. How can the dilemma be made transparent? How can we transcend the disjunctures between `creed' and reality? Along these lines, the paper debates potentialities for transethnic alignment in the US and EU Europe exposed to a common condition of globalisation.

These ideals differ in no respect from the ideals of that European civilization of which we all today form a part. And therefore our watch word today must be Social Solidarity, Social Responsibility. W.E.B. Du Bois (1900)

... in modernity only those institutions can be stabilized that allow for accumulating political experience as well as for continuous appeals to greater social and political justice... But apart from the technological version there is no longer a future-oriented social fantasy in the lands of Europe. Grand narratives of another, better future in politics, social questions, or anything else, are no longer forged there. Redemption is deemed undesirable, and sociopolitical progress ridiculed... The old Europe resembles a corpse whose hair and nails, wealth, and cumulative knowledge are still growing, but the rest is dead. Agnes Heller (1992)
Chinese Occupational Prestige
Authors: Bian Yanjie
Published: March 2007

Prestige ratings of 46 occupations from a 1988 sample of adult residents in Tianjin, a large industrial city of China, are reported and analyzed in this paper. Tianjin's prestige ratings are similar in overall pattern to rating scales from Beijing, Taiwan and the US and to Treiman's Standard International Occupational Prestige. However, certain occupations received significantly different ratings from Tianjin's raters than from those in these other studies. Both intra- and interstudy consistencies and variations in occupational ratings are examined. In addition to such conventional variables as education and income, the author suggests two macro-social factors to explain interstudy variations in ratings of certain occupations in Tianjin, Beijing and Taiwan.
Strategic Learning
Authors: Kupferberg Feiwel
Published: March 2007

East Germany is an interesting area of study for transformation theory and sociological theory generally because of the predominant role of `national integration' in this particular process of transformation and the element of `strategic learning' among the major players guiding large-scale transformation processes. The major mistake made in the German case has been the assumption that nationalism and national identity are the integrating forces in both Eastern and Western European societies. The `model' case of East Germany seems to suggest, however, that national integration under conditions of modernity can have quite different sources. In particular, I argue that one should put a greater focus upon the structural distribution of life chances through the mechanism of nationally structured career patterns and individual, biographically acquired, access to nationally shaped career opportunities.
Social Security in Transition - Some Reflections From a Fiscal Sociology Perspective
Authors: Gretschmann Klaus
Published: March 2007

The article tries to break down the general view of a crisis of social security by using a model in which the pressure of transforming the matured social security systems is the dependent variable and in which the independent variables involve both a number of exogenous factors placing environmental strain on these systems and a series of endogenous factors which, in the process of the maturing of social security systems, have turned up as non-intended consequences. In Germany, such a constellation has recently prompted four basic models for reforming social security: Privatisation, Machine Tax, Guaranteed Income, Solidary Action. It is argued that all of these, even though their proponents claim that they provide general models of reform, cover only some of the problem-generating factors.
Max Weber and the Analysis of East Asian Industrialisation
Authors: Hamilton Gary G. , Kao Cheng-Shu
Published: March 2007

This essay assesses the usefulness of Max Weber's sociology, particularly his writings on China, for the analysis of East Asian industrialisation. Many scholars writing about modern Asia criticise Weber's views on the relation between Confucian values and the development of capitalism. This essay suggests that many of these critics misinterpret Weber's writing on China Acknowledging that Weber made errors in interpreting China, the authors, nonetheless, argue that Weber's perspective is most valuable in analysing Asian economic development because of the institutional approach he developed Weber's institutional approach is outlined and briefly applied in a comparison of Japanese and Chinese industrialisation.
Nation as a Model of Political Order and the Growth of National Identity in Europe
Authors: Münkler Herfried
Published: March 2007

Since the political upheaval of 1989, a political concept has regained its significance, an idea, it was thought, that belonged to the past: the idea of the nation as the basis of international order and the foundation of political self-determination. The re-emergence of the nation as a model of political order contradicts the vision that post-war European integration would culminate in complete transnational unification of Europe.
The Iconoclasm of Jacques Ellul: A Call to Freedom in Our Age
Authors: Vanderburg Willem H.
Published: March 2007

The iconoclasm of Jacques Ellul toward our modern technique-based civilization forces us out of the comfortable intellectual homes of our specialties that insulate us from ourselves and our world. It tends to provoke strong reactions that either confirm or negate our deepest intuitions. This is further explored by first examining the structure of Ellul's writings as reflecting an iconoclasm toward the way we know the world through science and, second, by examining the content of his work as reflecting an iconoclasm toward the way we act on and live in the world through technique. The analysis concludes by evaluating the influence of technique on education to show the essential role icono clasm must play to ensure a human future. Ellul's analysis is a call to freedom to all those possessed by the technical spirit of our age.
Urban Schools and the Clinton/Gore Technology Literacy Challenge
Authors: Beasley William , Sutton Rosemary E.
Published: March 2007

The Clinton administration has been characterized by numerous efforts to encourage the use of technology in public education, rooted in the conviction that such activities are a prerequisite for improvements in the econonomy, the environment, and the overall quality of life. Urban public schools face particularly difficult challenges to such technology implementation. The challenges include aged physical plants, extreme funding difficulties, high levels of administrative turnover, and inadequate professional development programs. This article examines the implications of attempting to integrate extensive technology into such environments and considers the perspective that technology is best viewed as part of, rather than a competitor to, the implementation of a school reform model.
Parents’ At-Home and At-School Academic Involvement with Young Adolescents
Authors: Shumow Lee , Miller Jon D.
Published: March 2007

A process-person-context model was used to investigate parental academic involvement with a nationally representative sample of young adolescents. Fathers of young adolescents were less involved at school than were mothers but similarly involved academically at home. Parents of struggling students were involved more in homework assistance and parents of successful students were involved more at school than were other parents. Parent educational level operated as a main effect and as a moderator. High school graduates helped their children with homework more than did parents who were not high school graduates; college-educated parents were involved more at school. Parents’ academic involvement at home was associated negatively with young adolescents’ academic grades and a standardized achievement test score, but associated positively with young adolescents’ school orientation. Parental at-school involvement was associated positively with young adolescents’ academic grades but not with either the standardized achievement test score or school orientation.
Structured Techniques for Handling Loss and Addition of Members in Adolescent Psychotherapy Groups
Authors: Corder Billie F. , Whiteside Reid , Koehne Patrick , Hortman Ruth
Published: March 2007

Loss and addition of a member in young adolescent psychotherapy groups often creates critical, disruptive increases in anxiety levels, intense, nonproductive recapitulation of individual members' previous experiences with loss, and some scapegoating of the new member. This article describes structured techniques for facilitating these changes which have been effective with in-patient groups and have generalized successfully to a number of other treatment settings with similar patient groups. The techniques include: (1) guidelines for structured group discussion sessions aimed at developing specific coping skills, which review "successful and unsuccessful ways of handling loss;" (2) a "Legacy Tape" and "Remembrance Book" concept for departing members which creates a formal ritual effective in moderating group anxiety levels and grief reactions to loss and change; and (3) Pre-therapy training programs for new members which include therapy contracts, guidelines for group participation and expectations for behavior, and video-tape introduction to the group psychotherapy process.
The Effects of Instruction Using Semantic Mapping on Vocabulary and Comprehension
Authors: Margosein Carol M. , Pascarella Ernest T. , Pflaum Susanna W.
Published: March 2007

Forty-four junior-high school students were randomly assigned to two vocabulary instruction treatments. One utilized context-rich three-sentence passages that were used as sources for target word definition. The other, the semantic mapping treatment, entailed learning new words by identifying the similarities and differences with related, known words. Results indicated significant main effects favoring the semantic mapping treatment on average weekly test scores, post treatment test scores, and a standardized measure of general vocabulary knowledge. These findings suggest that focus on word features in related, known words may be an effective instructional method to learning new vocabulary.
Age and Sex Differences in Early Adolescent's Information Sources
Authors: Gould Albert W. , Mazzeo John
Published: March 2007

This study investigated the effects of age and sex on the information sources to which early adolescents turn when confronted with questions concerning general life issues. A total of 615 male and female adolescents ranging in age from 10 to 14 years, responded to a questionnaire consisting of 15 different sources of information. Analysis of the preferred information source utilizing log linear models indicated significant age and sex effects. Specifically, at each age level the odds of a female choosing mother as opposed to father as a source of information was 14 times greater than the same odds were for males. Additionally, it was found that both sexes increasingly rely on peers as age increases, but females rely on peers earlier and to a greater extent across all ages than do their male counterparts. The results are discussed in relation to the available literature concerning adolescent informational sources.
Sex Education for Early Adolescents: A Study of Parents and Students
Authors: Alexander Sharon J. , Jorgensen Stephen R.
Published: March 2007

In two communities parents and adolescents (ages 12-14) were surveyed regarding their views on sex education. Both groups expressed strong support for parents as the primary sex educators of their children, with schools as an important assistant in this area, particularly on topics with medical or technical aspects. Parents and adolescents disagreed on whether they had discussed several topics and expressed different levels of comfort regarding such discussions. Implications for parents, researchers, and educators are given, along with directions for future research.
Family Environments and Self-Consciousness in Early Adolescence
Authors: Yee Doris K. , Flanagan Connie
Published: March 2007

Modified versions of Epstein and McPartland's Family Decision-Making Scale were administered to upper elementary and junior high school children to assess their perceptions of the degree to which the child shares power and authority with parents and the degree to which the child participates in making decisions at home. Support was found for the hypothesis that parent-child authority relationships are systematically related to children's self-consciousness in various spheres of experience. Children from highly Authoritarian families reported greater self-consciousness in the math classroom, amongst peers, and in sports settings; they also reported a greater overall tendency to avoid situations in which the self was salient. In contrast children from families offering opportunities for self-direction reported an opposite pattern. Finally children's self-consciousness was differentially related to children's selfesteem and self-concept of ability in math, social, and sports domains. The authors conclude that parent-child authority structures are systematically related to children's self-assessments. Future research is needed to augment our understanding of the parent-child dynamics which contribute to these observed relationships.
Students' and Teachers' Decision-Making Fit Before and after the Transition to Junior High School
Authors: Midgley Carol , Feldlaufer Harriet
Published: March 2007

Student and teacher perceptions of actual and preferred student decision-making opportunities in mathematics classrooms are assessed before and after the transition to junior high school in a longitudinal sample of 2210 students in 117 pre-transition and 137 post-transition classrooms. The findings include: (a) students and teachers perceive fewer actual student decision-making opportunities after than before the transition; (b) students express a preference for more decision-making opportunities while teachers believe students should have fewer opportunities after than before the transition; and (c) the congruency between students' actual and preferred perceptions declines after the transition while teacher perceptions both before and after the transition are highly congruent. It is suggested that there is a "developmental mismatch" between maturing children and the classroom environments they experience before and after the transition. This mismatch may be related to the negative changes in student beliefs and behaviors that have been observed when students enter junior high school.
Televised Occupational Stereotypes and their Effects on Early Adolescents: Are they Changing?
Authors: Wroblewski Roberta , Huston Aletha C.
Published: March 2007

By the mid 1980s, prime time television contained frequent portrayals of females in traditionally male occupations such as lawyer, police officer, and private detective. To determine whether young people's gender schemas about such occupations have been affected by these portrayals, fifth and sixth grade students were questioned about stereotypically feminine and masculine occupations they encounter frequently in real life, occupations often shown on television, and those infrequently encountered in real life or on television. The masculine "television" occupations were those in which females were frequently portrayed in the mid-1980s. Children knew more about the "real life' and "television" occupations than about the remaining jobs, confirming the prediction that television serves as a source of occupational information. Television occupations were regarded as more extremely sex stereotyped than real life occupations, and students had more negative attitudes about males participating in televised feminine occupations than in real life feminine occupations. The results for girls supported the hypothesis that gender schemas have changed for televised "masculine"' occupations. Girls expressed positive attitudes about female participation and stated high personal interest in engaging in these occupations. Individual differences in home viewing did not predict knowledge or attitudes except that girls who expressed high aspirations for feminine television occupations (e.g. model) often watched programs showing traditional sex roles and infrequently viewed programs with nontraditional roles.
Identity Status Development and Cognitive Prejudice in Early Adolescents
Authors: Streitmatter Janice L. , Pate Glenn S.
Published: March 2007

A sample of early adolescents (N = 182) completed a questionnaire assessing identity status development, social desirability, self-esteem, and cognitive prejudice. Bivariate correlation coefficients yielded relationships between cognitive prejudice and self-esteem and Ideological Diffusion; Interpersonal Foreclosure and social desirability; and Interpersonal Diffusion, Ideological Foreclosure, Total Foreclosure, and Total Diffusion. A stepwise regression analysis indicated the measures of Total Moratorium (negatively), Total Foreclosure and social desirability, and Interpersonal Diffusion as the strongest predictors of stereotypical thinking in the early adolescent sample.
Images of Work, Gender, and Social Commitment among Guatemalan Adolescents
Authors: Gibbons Judith L. , Stiles Deborah A. , Schnellmann Jo de la Garza , Morales-Hidalgo Italo
Published: March 2007

The study involved 250 urban Guatemalan adolescents who ranked 10 qualities of either the ideal man or the ideal woman and drew a picture of the ideal person engaged in an activity. Both boys and girls ranked being kind and honest, being very intelligent, and liking children as the most important qualities for both the ideal man and the ideal woman. Drawings of the ideal person most often depicted the ideal person working in a job or at home. Many students attending public schools drew the ideal person sweeping or gardening, whereas many students attending private schools drew the ideal person working in an office. Comments on the drawings often suggested that the ideal person was working for the social good -his or her family, company, or country. These results are interpreted as reflecting both cultural ideals and the developmental stage of adolescence.
The Relationship between Parental Employment and Three Measures of Early Adolescent Responsibility
Authors: Keith Joanne G. , Nelson Christine S. , Schlabach Joetta H. , Thompson Christine J.
Published: March 2007

Early adolescence is a crucial period in the development of autonomy which includes the taking of responsibility and self-management. The relationship between the development of responsibility and changing parental employment patterns was the focus of this study. Two-way analyses of variance were employed to determine whether levels of responsibility differed according to parental employment status and gender of adolescent. The sample consisted of 174 early adolescents and their parents who were part of a statewide survey conducted in Michigan in 1987. Interviews with adolescents and their parents yielded data in personal, family-related, and social responsibility. Neither parental employment status nor gender of child was found to be related to personal responsibility. Gender effects were significant for family responsibility with boys and girls assuming traditionally male and female roles. In the area of social responsibility, adolescents from two-parent families in which one parent was not employed participated in more volunteer activities than did adolescents from single-parent families. Girls were more likely than boys to participate in volunteer activities.
Developing Capable Young People
Authors: Scales Peter
Published: March 2007

Policies of the past 20 years have failed to reduce the incidence of adolescent pregnancy, school dropout, or substance abuse among United States youths. It is argued that this failure has been due, in part, to a narrow conceptualization of prevention and an unduly negative view of the adolescent stage of development. A policy framework and an agenda are outlined that focus not on preventing seemingly separate social problems but on developing healthy and capable young people with critical thinking skills, a sense of purpose, economic opportunities, high expectations, and significant social support. It is argued that this approach has a greater chance than previous efforts to reduce or prevent many social problems among children and youths.
Parental Child Rearing and Academic Achievement in Boys
Authors: Wentzel Kathryn R. , Feldman S. Shirley , Weinberger Daniel A.
Published: March 2007

This study investigated two nonintellectual factors that may partly explain the relation between parenting and academic achievement-sons' self-restraint and emotional adjustment-in a sample of 85 sixth-grade boys. Results of multiple regression techniques indicated that sons' reports of mothers' harsh and inconsistent discipline were related both directly and negatively to sons' classroom grades and indirectly via sons' global distress and low cognitive self-worth. Fathers' harsh and inconsistent discipline was related only indirectly to sons' grades by way of its independent association with sons' distress and low self-restraint. In general, these results were replicated when standardized test scores were substituted into the model. These findings underscore the critical contribution of social and emotional development to academic and intellectual achievements, and the key role of parent-child relationships in influencing such development.
Antisocial Behavior in Adolescence
Authors: Pakiz Bilge , Reinherz Helen Z. , Frost Abbie K.
Published: March 2007

In a sample of 404 White adolescents (mean age 14.5 years) from working-class families, striking similarities were found for both genders in levels and correlates of antisocial behavior. Aggressive conduct was most strongly associated with delinquent behavior. Also, both genders reported interpersonal difficulties with intimate relationships and family, including large numbers of breakups with close friends and escalating numbers of arguments with parents. In spite of these interpersonal difficulties, antisocial youth indicated less need for positive feedback. Different, but related, internalizing behaviors were noted for both genders. Antisocial boys had low self-esteem and girls had more depressive symptoms. Additionally, boys perceived their families as lacking cohesion and girls were more affected by parental marital disruption. Only antisocial girls indicated low levels of involvement in school-related activities. Maternal reports also noted girls' unproductivity. Implications of accurate identification of correlates of antisocial behavior are discussed.
Young Adolescents' Perceptions of the Link between Low Self-Worth and Depressed Affect
Authors: Harter Susan , Jackson Bradley K.
Published: March 2007

Previous research has documented a substantial correlation between global self-worth and affect (cheerful to depressed). It has typically been asserted that the self-evaluative component causally precedes the experience of affect. Efforts of the authors have caused them to question this claim In addressing adolescents' experience of the directionality of self-worth and depressed affect, approximately 40% report that low self-worth precedes depressed affect, whereas 60% report that they first experience depressed affect followed by low self-worth. Those reporting the primacy of low self-worth cited causes involving dissatisfaction with the self, in contrast to those reporting the primacy of affect who described actions of others against the self Finally, the affects associated with depression differed for the two directionality groups. Those experiencing the primacy of affect reported more anger toward others, whereas those experiencing the primacy of self-worth reported more shame and guilt. Findings were discussed in terms of different pathways toward potential depressive symptomatology.
Social Goals, Academic Goals, and Avoiding Seeking Help in the Classroom
Authors: Ryan Allison M. , Hicks Lynley , Midgley Carol
Published: March 2007

Why do some students avoid seeking help with their class work when it is needed? Investigated in this study were the relations between early adolescents' academic and social goals and reports of avoiding help-seeking and perceiving that help-seeking is a threat to self-worth. Surveys were administered to 443 fifth graders in 12 elementary schools. Being oriented to demonstrating ability (relative ability goals) and wanting to be associated with the popular group (social status goals) were related positively to perceiving threat and avoiding help-seeking. Being oriented to developing ability (task-focused goals) was related negatively to perceiving threat and avoiding help-seeking. Wanting to form positive relationships with peers (intimacy goals) was related negatively to avoiding help-seeking. There was a significant Grade Point Average x Relative Ability Goals interaction, indicating that lower-achieving students with relative ability goals were more likely to avoid help-seeking than were higher-achieving students.
Suicide Ideation and Acculturation among Low Socioeconomic Status Mexican American Adolescents
Authors: Rasmussen Katherine M. , Negy Charles , Carlson Ralph , Burns JoAnn Mitchell
Published: March 2007

The purpose of this study was to determine whether Mexican American adolescents' suicide ideation could be predicted from their acculturation levels. A nonclinical sample of 242 Mexican American eighth-grade students completed the Suicidal Ideation Questionnaire-Junior High School version, the Acculturation Rating Scale for Mexican Americans (modified version), the Beck Depression Inventory-Short Form, and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. A stepwise regression analysis was conducted. Although adolescents' acculturation levels did not correlate independently with suicide ideation scores, acculturation did significantly (and positively) predict suicide ideation when combined with depressive symptoms and low self-esteem. Also, Mexican American female adolescents had significantly higher suicide ideation scores and depressive symptoms as well as significantly lower self-esteem than did their male counterparts. Cultural inhibitory variables that possibly decrease Hispanics' suicidal behavior are discussed.
Care-Based Moral Reasoning in Norwegian and Canadian Early Adolescents:
Authors: Skoe Eva E. A. , Hansen Kristine L. , Mørch Willy-Tore , Bakke Ingeborg , Hoffmann Tone , Larsen Beate , Aasheim Merete
Published: March 2007

A sample of 79 Norwegians, 11 through 13 years of age, was assessed on a care-based morality measure, the Ethic of Care Interview (ECI). Content analyses of the adolescents’real-life moral dilemmas also were conducted. The Norwegian scores were compared with those of 46 Canadians of the same age. No gender differences on the ECI or in real-life moral conflict content were found in Norway. In contrast, in Canada, girls scored significantly higher on the ECI than did boys, and more girls than boys generated relational real-life dilemmas, whereas more boys than girls generated nonrelational dilemmas. Furthermore, more Canadian than Norwegian girls scored at ECI Level 2 (conventions of goodness, caring for others). Norway and Canada might differ in female gender role expectations, which probably is associated with girls’moral reasoning. The results indicated that North American findings should not be viewed necessarily as representative even of other similar Western societies.
Improving Students’ Understanding of the Retail Advertising Budgeting Process
Authors: Gable Myron , Harris Lynn , Fairhurst Ann , Dickinson Roger
Published: March 2007

This article reports on a survey of academics with respect to teaching advertising in the first retailing course. Most respondents cover methods of budgeting advertising as part of the course. Furthermore, they report on both the methods they recommend for small and large retailers and the techniques they believe small and large retailers use. The favorite budgeting technique among academics is the objective and task. Academics reflect this as (1) establishing advertising objectives, (2) determining tasks to achieve specified objectives, (3) determining costs for each of these tasks, and (4) totaling the costs. The authors maintain that the implementation of the objective and task approach requires the use of methods of both prioritizing alternative expenditures and setting a cutoff point. These points are often neglected by academics, including textbook writers, when defining the approach. Furthermore, for the most part, a combination of techniques should be used when implementing an objective and task method. Recommendations for the teaching of advertising budgeting in the introductory retailing course are offered.