bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Empathic Accuracy: When does the Perceiver-Target Relationship Make a Difference?
Authors: Hancock Melanie , Ickes William
Published: March 2007

This study sought to determine whether a friend-observer who eavesdrops on a friend-interactant's initial conversation with a stranger will be more accurate in inferring the friend-interactant's thoughts and feelings than will either the stranger-interaction partner or a stranger-observer. The empirical answer in this case was `no', suggesting that the meaning context established in the interactants' initial conversation was generic rather than esoteric (i.e. it did not uniquely benefit the empathic accuracy of the friend-observer). The findings also revealed, however, that nearly half of the variance in the perceivers' empathic accuracy scores was accounted for by differences in the overall `readability' of the various targets; and that, contrary to the cultural stereotype regarding the superiority of `women's intuition', there was no reliable sex difference in the perceivers' empathic accuracy scores. The discussion focused on the conditions in which the hypothesized empathic advantage of the friend-observer might be evident.
Available Support and Received Support: Different Effects Under Stressful Circumstances
Authors: Komproe Ivan H. , Rijken Mieke , Ros Wynand J.G. , Winnubst Jacques A.M. , `tHart Harm
Published: March 2007

Knowledge about how social support operates under specific circumstances lags behind the amount of research on the relationship between social support and well-being. Therefore, the purpose of our research was to study the mechanisms through which social support influences psychological well-being under stressful circumstances. We distinguished between perceived available support and received support in evaluating a hypothetical model specifying the direct and indirect effects of support on depression of recently diagnosed breast cancer patients. Results from structural equation modeling show that available support has direct beneficial effects on depression and received support has indirect effects (via appraisal and coping). Moreover, dependent on the type of support and coping strategy in the analyses, other effects of available and received support were found.
Assessing the Quality of Personal Relationships
Authors: Pierce Gregory R. , Sarason Irwin G. , Sarason Barbara R. , Solky-Butzel Jessica A. , Nagle Lauren C.
Published: March 2007

We report two studies investigating the psychometric properties and construct validity of the Quality of Relationships Inventory (QRI), a self-report measure of support, conflict, and depth in specific family and peer relationships. Study 1 showed that the QRI scales possess high internal consistency, are stable across a period of 1 year, show moderate agreement between participants' perceptions of the same relationship, and predict depressive symptoms beyond the contribution made by measures of general perceived support. In Study 2, adult children's and their mothers' QRI scales assessing the quality of their relationship with one another, but not with other family members or friends, predicted observers' global judgements of their behavior as they discussed a current source of conflict in their relationship. These studies suggest the reliability and construct validity of the QRI scales as measures of the quality of specific relationships. The implications of these results for the conceptualization and assessment of personal relationships are discussed.
Young Children's Perceptions of their Social Worlds in Single- and Two-Parent, Euro- and Mexican-American Families
Authors: Gamble Wendy C. , Dalla Rochelle L.
Published: March 2007

This investigation examined social support available to Euro- and Mexican-American children ( N = 88), as reported by children residing in single- and two-parent homes. Mothers provided descriptions of their own social networks and of their child's adjustment. Child reports of network size and composition varied by ethnicity and maternal marital status, with children from intact, Euro-American homes reporting the fewest network members and those from intact, Mexican-American families reporting the most. No significant group differences emerged in child reports of the amount of, or satisfaction with, support received. The children's reports of total frequency of receiving support were associated with lower rates of externalizing behaviors. Similarly, children whose mothers reported more supportive networks were rated as lower in externalizing behavior, regardless of marital status or ethnicity. In regression analyses, both the mothers' reports of support and the children's reports of support contributed significantly to the prediction of externalizing behaviors.
Communication, Love and Relationship Satisfaction
Authors: Meeks Brenda S. , Hendrick Susan S. , Hendrick Clyde
Published: March 2007

The present research explored the importance of several communication-related variables, including perspective-taking, self-disclosure, conflict tactics and relational competence, as well as love attitudes, in the prediction of relationship satisfaction. Some 140 dating couples completed several measures, including assessments of self as well as the romantic partner. Findings revealed that self and partner communication variables, and love orientations were significant predictors of relationship satisfaction. Implications for the importance of communication in relationships are discussed.
Equity Perceptions and Marital Satisfaction in Former and Current Marriage: A Study among the Remarried
Authors: Buunk Bram P. , Mutsaers Wim
Published: March 2007

A study among 290 remarried individuals examined equity perceptions in the former and the current marriage. The results showed that equity in the former and the current marriage were not related to each other. In general, respondents perceived much more inequity in the former than in the current marriage, and this was especially true for women. Men felt on average deprived in their former marriage, and overbenefited in their current marriage, whereas women in their current marriage were close to perceiving equity. The current marriage was perceived as more satisfying than the former marriage. Satisfaction in both types of marriage was higher the more equitable the relationship was, and the more advantaged one felt. In addition, for women, satisfaction in the present marriage was more strongly associated with the degree of equity, whereas, for men, satisfaction was more strongly associated with the degree of feeling advantaged.
Representations of Self and Other in Conjugal Bereavement
Authors: Field Nigel P. , Hart Daniel , Horowitz Mardi J.
Published: March 2007

A semantic space perspective on representations of self and other was applied to investigate the perceived quality of the past relationship with the spouse in relation to adjustment in conjugal bereavement. According to this perspective, the proximity, or extent to which representations of self and others share similar trait content features, may have important affective implications. Forty-seven bereaved individuals rated different representations of themselves and important others on a set of idiographic features as a basis for determining proximities among the representations. Proximities addressing the quality of the past relationship with the spouse were predictive of the extent and type of blame-related emotions (anger versus guilt) aroused in an empty-chair role-play involving their deceased spouse. These proximities were also predictive of the SCL-90-R global severity index measure of psychological adjustment, and the results indicated that this relationship was partly mediated by the blame-related emotions in the role-play.
My Parent’s Dignified Death is Different from Mine: Moral Problem Solving about Euthanasia
Authors: Leichtentritt Ronit D. , Rettig Kathryn D.
Published: March 2007

The purpose of the study was to explore the moral problem solving of Israeli adult children concerning passive euthanasia when considering the death of any citizen in society, one’s own death, a partner’s death, and the impending death of an elderly ill parent. The qualitative analysis of 12 in-depth interview transcripts by analytic induction and constant comparison methods revealed how adults think about moral problems that are of differing distances from the self. A parents’ death, compared with other deaths, elicited strong emotional reactions and was associated with reasoning struggles that involved a wide range of role perspectives; a moral orientation of care; and value priorities of honor through loyalty, compassion and devotion.
The Impact of Sex and Situational Cues on the Endorsement of Traditional Gender-Role Attitudes and Behaviors in Dating Couples
Authors: Vogel David L. , Tucker Carolyn M. , Wester Stephen R. , Heesacker Martin
Published: March 2007

This investigation examines the effects of sex of participant, sex-role orientation and conversation topic on women's and men's endorsement of traditional gender-role attitudes and behaviors within intimate relationships. Sixty dating couples were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: a discussion about the intimacy in their relationship, a discussion about everyday things, or a no-treatment control condition. The intimate-conversation condition elicited greater subscription to traditional gender-role attitudes and behaviors than the other two conditions. This was true for both men and women. Participants' own feminine or masculine sex-role orientation was not related to their endorsement of gender-role attitudes and behaviors. These findings underscore the importance of examining specific situational influences, such as the nature of the conversation topic, in understanding the dynamic nature of peoples' gender-role attitudes and behaviors.
Education and Training in Business Information at The City University
Authors: Rennie Janet
Published: March 2007

The content of the course in Business Information, available to postgraduate students at The City University's Department of Information Science, is outlined. The course, which has been established for ten years is being developed and so points are raised for discussion. Readers are invited to comment on the legal information coverage, the importance of teaching online databases, the extent to which information professionals can evaluate business information and the range of work which can be undertaken after training.
Towards 1992: Dutch and UK business information resources compared
Authors: Cumberpatch Zena , Rennie Janet
Published: March 2007

Compares the information and advice on 1992 being provided for businesses in the UK and the Nether lands by government deparments, chambers of commerce, employers' organisations, trade union bodies, management associations, enterprise agencies, small firms services and academic institutions.
Quangos and the `Communications Dependent Society'
Authors: Deacon David , Monk Wendy
Published: March 2007

This article examines the public communication activities of quasi-autonomous non-governmental organizations (`quangos') in Britain, paying particular attention to their media relations. The analysis shows that the popular image of these public bodies as highly introverted organizations needs revision, as many place considerable emphasis on public communication issues. However, this recognition contextualizes rather than invalidates concerns about accountability within this tier of government, as publicity activities in the sector are geared towards facilitating the external promotion of organizations' roles rather than scrutiny of their conduct.
Research Note: The Vanishing Young Reader
Authors: Lauf Edmund
Published: March 2007

Europe has a variety of newspaper markets and, yet in almost all European countries newspaper readership is in decline. Research from the US suggests that this decrease may be connected to only a few demographic factors: gender, education, income and age. This analysis of audience data from nine EU member countries in 1980, 1989 and 1998 indicates that the decline is mainly due to both age and cohort effects. As in the US, young people do not read current affairs news daily any more.
Do the Candidates Matter?
Authors: Wilke Jürgen , Reinemann Carsten
Published: March 2007

Scholars of political communication seem to agree that western democracies share some common long-term trends of election coverage. The authors raise the question whether this assumption really is supported by empirical data and illustrate this by using the USA and Germany as examples. They present results from a content analysis of the campaign coverage of four German quality papers in all previous national elections in Germany between 1949 and 1998. The focus was on investigating the amount, personalization, tone and interpreting character of campaign coverage in general and the portrayal of the candidates for the chancellorship in particular. The study found that: (1) there was no overall trend towards more or less campaign coverage; (2) there was no overall trend towards more personalization; (3) there was no overall trend towards negativism; (4) there was a trend towards more interpreting coverage. The article concludes with a discussion of possible reasons for these findings and the apparent differences between Germany and the USA.
Between Normative Research and Theory of Forms and Content: Italian Studies on Mass Communication
Authors: Mancini Paolo
Published: March 2007

This article discusses the combination of influences on the focus and direction of Italian media research after its beginnings over thirty years ago, through the 1970s and up to and including current research efforts. During the 1950s and 1960s, Catholic culture was a strong influence and this combined with normative goals in the research commissioned by RAI. An important political and ideological debate on the future of the Italian broadcasting system influenced the direction and subjects of research in the 1970s. Present day research seems more influenced by the start of competition between public service broadcasting and commercial networks in Italy.
Television Structures and Adolescent Viewing Patterns: A Swedish—American Comparison
Authors: Pingree Suzanne , Hawkins Robert P. , Johnsson-Smaragdi Ulla , Rosengren Karl Erik , Reynolds Nancy
Published: March 2007

The television systems of Sweden and the United States are different in very interesting ways, stemming from a combination of historical, economic, technical and cultural factors. This study investigated viewer behaviour in these two different systems, using variables constructed from television viewing diaries and questionnaire responses. Results showed five clusters of viewer behaviours for each country, with a general similarity in clusters between Sweden and the US. However, further analysis showed a surprising dissimilarity: while social class, gender and uses and gratifications all predicted viewer type in Sweden, none of these variables predicted viewer type in the US. The authors speculate that some of these differences may be structural, but others cultural.
Development of Broadcasting Law in the Federal Republic of Germany
Authors: Ruck Silke
Published: March 2007

The development of broadcasting law in the Federal Republic of Germany is marked by increasing commercialization and deregulation. In the course of changing economic, political and social frameworks, normative requirements have been retracted or have lost effectiveness. This is particularly true for private broadcasting, which has been licensed since its beginning in the mid-1980s with less stringent requirements than public broadcasting. On the one hand, broadcasting regulators, at least rhetorically, still adhere to the public service concept, but in practice this traditional idea of broadcasting is threatened by economic considerations. Nevertheless, one continues to find a functioning public broadcasting system able to compete with private broadcasters. Both parts of the dual broadcasting system are still bound in a rather dense network of broadcasting regulations.
Qualitative Audience Research and Transnational Media Effects
Authors: Biltereyst Daniël
Published: March 2007

Some years ago reception analysis and similar types of qualitative audience research had been welcomed as a new `paradigm' in the whole discussion on media meaning, functions and impact. A crucial case, on which several scholars focused, dealt with the issue of the impact of transnational media, emphasizing the active participation of the receiver in the consumption process. These studies have been reconceptualizing existing theories and arguments in international communication, media imperialism and cultural dominance. Recently the qualitative audience approaches have been labelled as `revisionist', `relativist' and even `postmodernist'. In this article we evaluate the contribution of the approach to the whole debate on the cross-cultural impact by transnational media. The central argument is that the (theoretical) debaters on both sides of the spectrum (defenders and opponents) have not adequately considered (1) the intrinsic information value of the approach and (2) the diversity and ambiguities of the concrete studies themselves.
Changing Identities and Practices in Post-Soviet Journalism
Authors: Davis Howard , Hammond Philip , Nizamova Lilia
Published: March 2007

Journalism in Russia is being shaped by new forms of regulation, ownership and economic organization as well as new conceptions of the role of the journalist in relation to authorities and audiences. While centralized broadcasting and communications in the Russian Federation continue to have a dominant role, the centrifugal tendencies of the post-Soviet period have enhanced the autonomy and importance of the provincial media. Using data from research interviews, supported by documentary and statistical sources on the media in Tatarstan, this article examines journalists' perceptions of their role and how it is changing. Key issues include the distinction between `information' and `presentation', the search for a new ethos among the younger generation of journalists, and orientations towards the audience. In a republic with an ethnically and religiously mixed population, often taken to be a model of stable political evolution, journalists are finding ways to accommodate to, rather than challenge, new structures.
Children and Computer Games
Authors: Roe Keith , Muijs Daniel
Published: March 2007

The manifest popularity of computer games for many children has led to speculation about the meaning and effects of their use. However, research has yet to provide an adequate picture of the social characteristics of computer game players. This article, based on a large-scale study of Flemish 10- to 11-year-olds, is intended to sketch a profile of the computer game heavy user. The results indicate that heavy use of computer games is associated with negative rather than positive outcomes in terms of academic achievement, self-esteem and sociability. Finally, a LISREL model is tested which assesses the contribution which school-related factors, in interaction with gender and socioeconomic status, make in accounting for the varying amounts of time children spend playing computer games.
Young People's Ownership and Uses of New and Old Forms of Media in Britain and the Netherlands
Authors: van der Voort Tom H.A. , Beentjes Johannes W.J. , Bovill Moira , Gaskell George , Koolstra Cees M. , Livingstone Sonia , Marseille Nies
Published: March 2007

Using data obtained in a national survey carried out in Britain ( N = 1309) and the Netherlands ( N = 1355), this article compares British and Dutch children and young people aged 6-17 with respect to: (1) the availability of different media in children's homes, and particularly in the children's own room; (2) the amount of time spent on different media; and (3) the gratifications associated with the use of different types of media. Attention is paid to new forms of media (electronic games and the personal computer) as well as old forms of media (print media and television and video). Cross-national similarities and differences in ownership and uses of media are established, both for the whole 6-17 age group and for subgroups formed in terms of gender, age and socioeconomic status. Special attention is devoted to points where British children and young people are clearly differentiated from their Dutch peers.
`Tabloidization' of News
Authors: Esser Frank
Published: March 2007

`Tabloidization' is a new, frequently used term equally employed by journalists, media critics and academics to characterize a recent, dubious trend in the mass media. This article sets out to define this diffuse, multidimensional concept and discusses its usefulness for communication research. It emerges that `tabloidization' can only be analysed adequately with a long-term cross-national design that focuses on quality news media and employs a wide range of empirical measures. This approach is taken here by comparing the press of Britain, Germany and the US, whereas the focus remains on the first two countries. A three-step empirical analysis — based on a definition developed before — demonstrates that journalistic values, media cultures as well as economic and legal conditions are responsible for the degree of `tabloidization' in a given country.
Civilization in a Historical and Global Perspective
Authors: Mazlish Bruce
Published: March 2007

This article focuses initially on the age-old difference between civilized and barbarian and the reification of the term `civilization', which came into existence only in 1756. The reasons why this neologism arose at the time are examined, and various definitions of the term are given. From this beginning in 18th-century Europe, the inquiry goes in two directions. One explores how societies described themselves before 1756: that is, what synonyms for civilization we encounter in their self-conception; examples relate to the Roman Empire, China and the Arab world. The second direction involves the question when, and under what conditions, does `civilization' get adopted in other, non-western societies.
IN DEFENCE OF INDIGENISATION IN SOCIOLOGICAL THEORIES
Authors: Sanda A. Muyiwa
Published: March 2007

Universalism in sociology has been closely associated with construction of theory and assuming certain questions are fundamental. As such it may be a design for imperialism and domination of other societies. But sociology is influenced by the social and cultural context and cannot but be ethnocentric, as is illustrated by the concept of modernisation. Ake and others argue that Western social science can have only limited utility in Africa. Grounded theory on the contrary provides a basis for indigenous research and basing theory building in data from the sociologist's own country is a contribution to the greater comparability of data and systems of knowledge.
WOMEN'S PARTICIPATION IN THE MEDICAL PROFESSION: THE INDIAN CASE
Authors: Abidi Nigar Fatima
Published: March 2007

In India it is only a century since women were accepted as fully-fledged professionals on parallel lines to male doctors. Since Independence, governmental policies ensuring equal opportunities for women to work and health care for all have provided an impetus to women's involvement in the medical profession. The expansion in the facilities for professional knowledge and training as well as socio-cultural factors have allowed a substantial increase in the participation of women doctors, yet their number seems to be low compared with other women professionals as well as compared to male doctors. The historical, social, educational and professional participation of women is examined, and an analysis of data between 1950 and 1974 has been made to identify the changes in and possibilities for increasing participation of women doctors in India.
RACIALISATION AND NATIONALIST IDEOLOGY: THE JAPANESE CASE
Authors: Armstrong Bruce
Published: March 2007

This paper suggests that the analysis of racism in Japan can be advanced by taking note of theoretical arguments produced in the context of studies of European racisms. Specifically, the paper discusses the relationship between racism and nationalism, and argues that this relationship can be understood only if the ideological character of the notion of `race' is recognised. The significance of racist ideology in the discourses of the state during the period of the Japanese colonial empire is analysed and some implications of this analysis for the situation of minority populations in contemporary Japan are discussed.
Globalization
Authors: Meyer John W.
Published: March 2007

The world polity and cultural system are relatively stateless, but they legitimate strong nation-state identities as the dominant actors. This produces very strong tendencies for the adoption of common models of modernity, despite extraordinary differences in resources and local culture. Local distinctiveness is also legitimated, so long as it is not inconsistent with homogeneity on the main dimensions of stratification and identity.
Globalization or the Age of Transition?
Authors: Wallerstein Immanuel
Published: March 2007

Globalization is a misleading concept, since what is described as globalization has been happening for 500 years. Rather what is new is that we are entering an `age of transition'. We can usefully analyze the current world situation using two time frames: 1945 to the present and circa 1450 to the present.

The period since 1945 has been one long Kondratieff cycle, with an A-phase that ran through 1967-76 and a B-phase ever since. The economic and political developments of the last 50 years are easy to place within this framework. The period from 1450 to the present is the long history of the capitalist world-economy, with its secular trends all reaching critical points. This article analyzes the long-term rise in real wage levels, in costs of material inputs of production and of levels of taxation, the combination of which has been creating constraints on the possibilities of capital accumulation. The long history of the antisystemic movements and their structural failures has led to a serious decline in the legitimacy of state structures which is threatening to subvert the political pillars of the existing world-system.

For all these reasons, the modern world-system is in structural crisis and has entered into a period of chaotic behavior which will cause a systemic bifurcation and a transition to a new structure whose nature is as yet undetermined and, in principle, impossible to predetermine, but one that is open to human intervention and creativity.
Globalization in the Neighborhood
Authors: Helvacioglu Banu
Published: March 2007

The main premise of this article is that globalization is both a universal phenomenon with common characteristic tendencies and a condition of plurality defined by the historical and geographical specificities of particular localities. This paradoxical point is explained in the theoretical context of the spatial configuration of globalization. The main concepts used to that end are Robertson's notion of glocalization, Castells' notion of polarization, Sassen's notion of global city and Appadurai's conception of imaginary worlds. The main objective is to elucidate, both in theory and in practice, a series of contradictions, ambiguities and irregularities that result from particular articulations of global and local developments. Turkey is used as a case study in order to analyze the practical implications of globalization(s) at both the national and local levels and at the level of neighborhoods. Borrowing from Appadurai's distinction between a locality and a neighborhood, the article argues that an empirical analysis of globalization(s) in neighborhoods helps us problematize the unsettling consequences of practical modes of glocalizations. Such problematization is necessary to understand the universal condition of globalization as an open-ended process that shapes and is shaped by particular cultural, political and spatial patterns.
THE CRISIS OF MODERNITY AND THE LIFE-WORLD
Authors: Krasnodebski Zdzislaw
Published: March 2007

One of the most influential diagnoses and therapies of the crisis of modernity was formulated by Husserl. He spoke about the crisis of modern European culture as a situation of dramatic choice between the heroism of reason or barbarism. The crisis results from scepticism and irrationalism as products of scientific rationality itself. Husserl was convinced that the only remedy against it is a universal science, based on an absolutely firm foundation and proceeding according to the rigorous method - i.e. transcendental phenomenology. In The Crisis he turned to historical reflection in order to realise the goals of philosophising and of humanity. He also discovered the life-world - the therapy for rationalism must consist in returning to the Lebenswelt. The paper shows tensions between two motives in Husserl's late philosophy and two different practical philosophies which emerge from it. Contrary to Husserl's programmatic declarations, the phenomenological analysis of the life-world does not portray the human being as an autonomous being, but as being rooted in tradition and history, bodily present in the world, and always among opaque facts and limited in sovereignty. In addition, the alternative of the heroism of reason and barbarism has proved false. We have no scientific ethic, our morals and mores are provisional and non-absolute. For Husserl such a situation would mean the demise of humanity. Be he did not draw this conclusion from his own discoveries. The lesson we have to learn from our experience of the twentieth century and from Husserl's inconsistent attempt differs from the one he wanted to teach us. The paradoxical implication of his philosophy is that the only thing of which we can be absolutely certain in our ethical and political life is the fact that we can never be absolutely certain. But the fact that we are conscious of this does not turn us into barbarians, but, on the contrary, protects us from that.
THE PROBLEM OF THE ONTOLOGY OF THE LIFE-WORLD AND THE EXISTENTIAL SITUATION IN MODERN SOCIAL SCIENCE
Authors: Koev Kolyo
Published: March 2007

This article analyses three variants of a situation characteristic for modern social science called `Roquentin's situation', the main character in Sartre's Nausea who symbolises the mutual estrangement between a researchers' standpoint and their social object.

The first variant is represented by the transcendentalist position of Edmund Husserl. We find Roquentin in the passages of the transcendental ego expanding the philosopher's position by a certain constellation of inner viewpoints of the social object itself. The idea of a possible ontology of the life-world appears to be an indispensable condition for this reassessment. But the lack of a sociologically worked out concept of everyday life as a self-problematising layer of the culturally formed life-world confines it to an idea ` en passant' and results in privileging the self-evidences of the philosopher as `functionary of European mankind'.

Everyday life as a `paramount reality' has already become privileged in Alfred Schutz's social phenomenology. Thus emerges the intersubjective drama between the ego agens and the objective observer, which leads to the figure of the ontologist of the life-world. Schutz's solution tacitly leads to ensuring a firm position for scientific consciousness.

Harold Garfinkel's ethnomethodology provokes the figure of the objective observer as an ontologist of the life-world as well as the figure of the philosopher as a functionary of European mankind. The ethnomethodological attitude provokes not only functioning intentionality itself, but also gains access to its own mode of functioning. Thus the peculiar mobility of the researcher's position becomes clarified as a continual gaining of marginal grounds between practical everyday worlds and scientific reality as everyday reality par excellence. In other words, Roquentin's situation here is not resolved but becomes a motif for its own incessant reproduction.

We feel that even when all possible scientific questions have been answered, the problems of life remain completely untouched. Of course there are then no questions left, and this itself is the answer.

(Wittgenstein 1969: 149)
THE CRISIS AS A BANK RUPTCY OF TRUST: THE FIDUCIARY ATTITUDE, HUMAN NATURE AND ETHICAL SCIENCE
Authors: Vaitkus Steven
Published: March 2007

Edmund Husserl's Crisis of the European Sciences prompts the search for an alternative to the development of nihilistic social systems which arise out of this situation. The breadth of the crisis problem manifesting itself in all realms of culture, including not only the natural sciences, but even art and music is first outlined, followed by a general definition which includes those found in Georg Simmel, Max Weber and Florian Znaniecki. Husserl's phenomenological and first depth analyses of the crisis, theoretically and historically tracing it back to its mathematical-natural scientific origins, are briefly considered until they break off around the problem of intersubjectivity, which he first discovered around the turn of the century. Bertrand Russell and Rudolf Carnap are then seen to attempt to dissolve this problem into a logical mystical intersubjectivity so as to maintain that there was never really a scientific crisis of the sciences and never one calling for such a notion. Finally, the works of Alfred Schutz and Aron Gurwitsch, as an extension of the original Husserlian intuition with their consideration of intersubjectivity now as `a mundane problem of the natural attitude' of the everyday social group, are taken up as a guide in this search for the non-nihilistic ( aliquid).

Through an independent description of a `fiduciary attitude' (i.e. a trustful and not necessarily practical attitude), new light is thrown on the crisis as essentially a `bankruptcy of trust', and a brief attempt is then made to describe our most profound and foundational fiduciary engagement in that primordial `something' which is seen to be in the end a very ` human nature'. Upon this basis, and more specifically upon a fiduciary familiar milieu of social nature, I must simply have faith carrying hopes and fears in the world. This is the basis for a trustfully grounded science in everyday life. It may be developed by `well-informed actors' into a modern higher reflection involving a supreme respect for the unknown in the other and in nature, so as to give rise to an ethical science guided by faith in the future advancement of our one single international world.
Communality, Rationalization and Distributive Justice
Authors: Dar Yechezkel
Published: March 2007

A utopian outlook in the earlier kibbutz has sustained symbolic criteria in the evaluation of work. However, a process of rationalization has enhanced the instrumental importance of work and stimulated individualistic self-fulfilment. Facilitated by changing conceptions of distributive justice, social evaluation of work has become both more materialistic and more differentiated. The increasing praise of talents and of the market value of work output at the expense of manual dexterity and moral virtues jeopardized kibbutz egalitarianism long before the recent period of economic and social crisis. Yet, economic setback has boosted decommunalization and further blurred the distinction between equitarian symbolic and equitarian materialistic rewarding.
ART AND PHILOSOPHY IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA
Authors: Kimmerle Heinz
Published: March 2007

The author argues in this paper that we need a new paradigm for the idea of development. Its linkage with the notion of ever on-going progress has to be abandoned. Mere tinkering with this concept of development, such as advancing the idea of organic development, is no longer sufficient. In fact only phases of development exist within a dynamic equilibrium. This idea, however, does not seem to be appropriate, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. Hence, a provisional strategy is necessary to implement a countermovement to the idea of development. This countermovement can arise from a reflection upon art and philosophy which are non-developmental phenomena, i.e. they do not have a development in the sense of unlimited progress. Thus, in the fields of art and philosophy a distinction between developed and developing countries cannot be maintained, while developmental differences between the Western world and sub-Saharan Africa are of course very real in other fields. A dialogue between artists and philosophers from both parts of the world can and has to take place on the level of complete equality. As such it also acts as a counterforce to the idea of development in areas other than art and philosophy.
Trust and Emerging Democracy
Authors: Sztompka Piotr
Published: March 2007

The former communist societies of Eastern Central Europe (e.g. Poland) repeatedly experience barriers and blockades on the road toward an open, democratic, market society of the Western type. The author claims that most of the problems are due to the deficiency of cultural resources, the central of which is trust. A theory of trust is proposed, informed by the author's earlier work on `social becoming'. The `culture of distrust' is found to pervade Polish society at all levels of social life. Part of that syndrome derives from the legacy of real socialism, but more attention should be focused on current conditions: the new `risk environments', widespread anomie, inefficiency of political elites, and an enhanced feeling of relative deprivation after revolutionary elation and unrealistic hopes. To restore trust, an indispensable component of robust social tissue, the consistency of reforms must be safeguarded, the rule of law meticulously observed, integration with Western democracies speeded up and trust itself turned into a recognized social value.
The Transformation of Naming Practices in Chinese Families
Authors: Zhigang Wang , Micklin Michael
Published: March 2007

Chinese family organization has undergone significant change, first as a result of the founding of the People's Republic in 1949 and more recently as a consequence of the one-child policy initiated in 1979 and the declining influence of patriarchy. These changes have created dilemmas regarding appropriate forms for central family values and practices. The problems inherent in this situation are illustrated through the choice of family and given names for newborns. Traditionally, family names have been the principal symbolic means of reflecting the continuity of kinship and the immortality of the ancestral family. Chinese given names also serve social functions as generation markers, as a projection of personal identity, a gender indicator and indirect reflection of social change. Evidence suggests considerable ambiguity and debate among contemporary Chinese regarding the cultural guidelines for selection of family and given names for newborns. These microsocial conflicts are consistent with observed structural discontinuities in family organization, illustrating the reciprocal relationship between institutional conditions and behavior.
The Limits and Renewal of Modernity
Authors: Lee Raymond L. M.
Published: March 2007

The breakdown of modernity has brought into question the future of world development. Structural changes in the West, the disintegration of socialist governments and the rise of the East Asian economies suggest the need for a serious rethinking of this question. Development can no longer be conceptualized as a hierarchy of three worlds but as a dynamic interplay of global capital, instrumental rationality and traditional values. Each of these concerns has functioned as a vital component of the old modernization paradigm, but must now be re-evaluated in the context of a new configuration of social and cultural relations. The redefinition of Confucianism in Asian development suggests important changes in the Western perception of Asian cultural values. Indeed, these changes imply the emergence of a new Orientalism that could reshape the meaning of world development.
The Employment of Foreign Workers in Korea
Authors: Lee Hye-kyung
Published: March 2007

Since 1991 Korea has experienced a large influx of foreign workers. The number of foreign workers in Korea in 1992 was 100,000 but has grown to 160,000 in 1996. Most of them are Korean-Chinese, Filipino, Bangladeshis and other Asian workers. While the Korean-Chinese tend to work in the construction, service and manufacturing industries, other Asians are concentrated in manufacturing.

The Korean government has utilized trainee programs since 1992. About 10,000 Asian workers came to Korea under this program in 1992, and there were about 57,000 trainees in Korea in June 1996. However, the trainee program produced problems: the trainees tended to become undocumented workers due to wage differentials, and the trainees were not protected by the Labor Standard Law because they were not classified as laborers.

Pointing out the problems of the trainee program in particular and the employment of foreign workers in general, this article suggests that: first, the employment of foreign workers should be minimized until the Korean labor market can promote skill advancement for local production workers, prevent local female workers from leaving the labor market, and utilize more of the potential Korean work force, such as married women, older and disabled people; and, second, in order to minimize the number of foreign illegal workers, the trainee program should be changed to a well-defined contract worker program.
Globalization and the Rise of East Asia
Authors: Arrighi Giovanni
Published: March 2007

Discussions of the impact of globalization on the powers of nation-states generally assume, first, that globalization is so novel a process that its dynamics and likely outcome(s) are hard or impossible to predict and, second, that nation-states have been the basic governmental units of world capitalism since its inception, which some date from the 19th century and others from the 17th century or even earlier. The article questions both assumptions. It argues that much of what goes under the catch-word `globalization' has in fact been a recurrent feature of world capitalism since early modern times. Only by recognizing what is recurrent in ongoing transformations of world capitalism, can we hope to isolate what is truly new and anomalous in these transformations. It then goes on to argue that the leading organizing centers of world capitalism have never been `nation-states' proper. Rather, they have been something less or something more than that and, in their succession, they describe an evolutionary pattern which is now at an impasse. The article concludes by speculating on possible ways out of this impasse with special reference to the implications of the rise of East Asia to the most dynamic center of world-scale processes of capital accumulation.
The Transmission and Formation of Socioreligious Identities in Modernity
Authors: Hervieu-Léger Danièle
Published: March 2007

Like all institutions of socialization, religion is confronted by the cultural discontinuity characteristic of societies in high modernity, but this predicament is particularly problematic because transmission to younger generations is the very process by which religion constitutes itself as religion across time. Thus, the question of transmission is at the centre of a sociology of religious modernity. This analysis examines, at an exploratory level, some of the trajectories by which individuals' religious identities are established. It proposes that various trajectories involve different dimensions and combinations of dimensions - communal, ethical, cultural and emotional - of religious identification (in contrast to the traditional pattern of all dimensions unified in a single institutional package).
The Chicago-Poznan and Columbia-Poznan University Connections
Authors: Lopata Helena Znaniecka
Published: March 2007

In spite of the tendency of national culture societies and individuals to be protective about products identified as of their own creation, the cosmopolitan community of scholars has developed along many lines, even in the pre-email and Internet times. This study traces one such line, initiated by one scholar interested in knowledge of another society who personally went to it, met another scholar and entered into a joint venture. Their product became a classic and the contacts extended over the years and involved increasing numbers of students and scholars who crossed national, even continental boundaries. I have limited myself here to the contacts of scholars between two universities in America and one university in Poland. The initial lines of connection have been followed by other scholars into other centers, resulting in numerous contributions to scholarly knowledge.
Lay Perceptions of Global Risk
Authors: Dunlap Riley E.
Published: March 2007

This article reports results from a 1992 Gallup survey conducted in six nations (Canada, USA, Mexico, Brazil, Portugal and Russia) that explored public perceptions of global warming in some detail. Overall the results tend to support those of the small-scale but in-depth studies on which the present study built: Lay publics in these six nations see global warming as a problem, although not as serious as ozone depletion or rain forest destruction. Most people acknowledge that they do not understand global warming very well, and results from questions about the perceived causes and consequences of global warming illustrate their limited understanding. While often confusing global warming with ozone depletion and air pollution, majorities of respondents in all but Russia believe that it is already occurring and large majorities within all nations believe that it will occur within their lifetimes. Furthermore, as discussions of the `risk society' suggest, public perceptions of global warming do not vary consistently across differing social strata within the nations. The article ends by discussing implications of the results, and questions whether detailed public understanding of highly complex issues like global warming is feasible or even necessary for effective policy-making.
Societal Development, or Development of the World-System?
Authors: Wallerstein Immanuel
Published: March 2007

The terms, society and development, are two of the most common, most ambiguous, and most deceptive words in the sociological lexicon. 'Society' is closely identified with 'state'. 'Development' is closely identified with 'evolution'. Using an empirical analysis of the problems surrounding any discussion of two 'societies'- Germany and Puerto Rico - it is argued that the 'boundaries' of these 'societies' turn out to be redefined constantly, with changing political fortunes, and consequently offer no solid basis for the analysis of social processes. If there is any 'society' that has 'developed' in modem times, it can only have been that of the world-system.
Mass Social Movements and Social Class
Authors: Pakulski Jan
Published: March 2007

The paper critically reviews the major class interpretations of contemporary mass movements, including the fascist movements, Polish Solidarity and Western Green (eco-pax) movements, and argues that these accounts are deficient. A paradigmatic shift from the class interpretation of movements to `post-Marxist' and `post-modernist' accounts has been occurring in movement literature. This shift follows the processes of social change and broadening of research horizons. Contemporary conflicts, and the mass movements that articulate them, seem to be more diverse, more detached from structural-economic divisions, and less linked to class identities than the nineteenth-century conflicts analysed by Marx. This limits the heuristic value and theoretical utility of class theories in analyses of mass social movements and brings to the fore alternative accounts in terms of generation, status politics and civil society.