Describes an increasing shift in the British educational system toward vocationalism. Recognizes proliferation of the belief that education primarily should prepare the student for work. Differentiates between industry's profit-making goal and education's complex range of functions. Expresses concern that society emphasizes individualism as…

Directed toward the question of how parents and 15-year-old adolescents cope with the demands of social change occurring during unification in Germany, the comparative investigation of 40 families each in East and West Germany examines macro-social conditions of family relationships and rightist attitudes among German adolescents and adults. The…

Research on white college males has shown that people have a more complex schema regarding in-groups than out-groups. In an attempt to replicate the studies (Linville and Jones) on cognitive complexity and liking with a noncollege, racially and sexually mixed population, 60 randomly selected adult males and females read three vignettes describing…

Efforts to enhance the effectiveness of cross-cultural interventions have emphasized the need for counselors to assess their own as well as their client's cultural value systems. To assess cultural world views, the Cultural Attitudes Repertory Technique (CART), which examines the content and structure of an individual's personal system of cultural…

Research has shown that drug use tends to increase during the college years, implying that college students have a more favorable view of drug use than high school students. To compare the attitudes of high school (N=367) and college students (N=260) toward nine recreationally used drugs, a semantic differential technique was used. Statistically…

Sixty-six Nigerian and 120 U.S. rural children and adolescents (ages 6-18) from three social classes were interviewed about their conceptions of economic inequality. The rich and poor were described referring to central (traits, thoughts) and sociocentric (class consciousness, life chances) characteristics. Age was a factor in change of type of…

Examines three reasons why Americans have remained apathetic towards the current farm crisis: consumers have little direct contact with farmers/farm life; relationship between food prices at the supermarket and farm income is hidden; and Americans view "bad" news from the farm sector as a recurring theme in national economic events. (LFL)

Forty-nine introductory psychology students (28 female, 21 male) at the Mormon Church's Brigham Young University in Utah were tested to determine the effects of a pro-feminist, pro-Equal Rights Amendment demonstration by the Utah Women's Rights Movement on attitudes toward the women's movement, civil demonstrations, and Mormon Church leaders.…

The Village College is a uniquely English institution, yet it may be a viable model for rural education in some parts of the United States as well. If so, four adaptations seem paramount: attitudinal restructuring, institutionalization of adult and community education, a demography capable of supporting the effort, and a new model of educational…

Critical assumptions affecting the design of research and intervention for single-parent, mother-headed families of handicapped children involve: extent of father involvement; contribution to child-rearing of persons other than parents; socioeconomic differences between one-parent and two-parent families; heterogeneity of single-parent families;…

Responses of 9,957 Pennsylvanians to a statewide needs assessment questionnaire were examined to determine if there was a rural/urban difference in residualist beliefs about social welfare programs. Results demonstrated that rural respondents were clearly less supportive of specific welfare programs and less accepting of institutional remedies for…

Asserts that policymakers and the general public should be well informed about economic and social issues. Contends that a statistical system in a democracy has a heavy responsibility to ensure that the data represent fact, not opinion. Discusses changes made in the Consumer Price Index to prevent it from becoming politicized. (CFR)

Community integration of individuals with mental retardation in Treguier, Brittany (France) was examined. A grid-group typology of cultural regimes was employed to measure change in social status as reflected in social interactions. Each regime linked the presence of individuals with mental retardation to shared values in a community and produced…

Asserts that during periods of rapid social change, the political consciousness of the population also changes dramatically. Reports on a survey of 1,800 students and 1,270 instructors in Russian higher education institutions. Finds that changes in social consciousness are not proceeding along lines of rational interpretation of facts and ideas.…

Reported in this document are the results of three experiments investigating the potential influence of peers in gender-role socialization. Children were exposed to a series of vignettes providing information about target children who varied in their degree of masculinity and femininity. Drawn from third through sixth grades, participants included…