Although we think that schooling promotes individual achievement, it has more to do with maintaining social inequality than many people realize. In practice, our school systems help some at the expense of others. The academic excellence of young Southeast Asian immigrants suggests that socialization has a greater impact on achievement than big budgets for school systems. The major players in today's cities are the large business interests . But, says one analyst, the planet's long-term survival may depend on cutting our current population by half.
Abortion remains an explosive issue.
Janet Hadley presents the controversies and campaigns in three counties. Modern societies, Durkheim warns, are losing the capacity to rein in our desires, promoting the normlessness he terms anomy. Whereas members of traditional societies explain their existence in terms of mystical forces, modern people assume they can rationally comprehend all reality. But science, claims Weber, provides no answer to questions of ultimate meaning. But this promise blinds people to the costs of losing their traditional way of life.