The growing social phenomenon of grandparents caring for their grandchildren has implications for educational psychology practice, since children who are wards of their grandparents frequently experience problematic school functioning. In this paper, the literature regarding children cared for by grandparents is reviewed. Issues concerning…

In examining the Frankfurt School's critical theory of society in an effort to discover the theoretical basis for the school's inability to merge theory with praxis, this paper points out that the school's analysis of culture in the 1930s and 1940s presents a radical, penetrating critique of the role of mass communication in advanced…

Nowhere is myth more commonplace than in the correctional setting. With its foundation firmly implanted in tradition and folklore, a great deal of prison management is based on intuitive principles. Moreover, the popular theoretical positions concerning the impact of incarceration have been equally intuitive, or at best ideologically based in the…

Examination of the social science knowledge base relative to Afro-Americans indicates that the social sciences traditionally have attempted to understand the life experiences of socially diverse groups through a narrow cultro/ethnocentric perspective and against an equally narrow standard. (Author/GC)

Compares Piaget's and Vygotsky's interpretations of transmission and transformation. Notes that differences are apparent in the preformation of knowledge, availability of a third alternative to nature and culture, and unity and identity in social interaction. Vygotsky was concerned about the novel transformation of the learner; Piaget, with the…

Using a stochastic model, shows that Chodorow's theory on the reproduction of mothering does not work. According to Chodorow, daughters become more nurturing than sons because mothers do more nurturing than fathers; this becomes a self-reproducing cycle. However, this theory does not sustain a sex differential in nurturing. Considers strategies…

Examines the postmodern challenge to the representation and practice of comparative and international education. Reviews the literature to identify major positions or arguments in the postmodern debate in comparative education. Maps these positions or knowledge communities as a discursive field of diverse perspectives and draws conclusions about…

This article concerns the usefulness of postmodernity for illuminating change in higher education associated with the new millennium. Overarching is the notion that history is not a smooth, rational, progressive unfolding of events but a series of ruptures and fragmenting disjunctures. This article asserts that when viewed in epochal terms, the…

There are an estimated 2 to 10 million gay and lesbian parents raising from 6 to 14 million children in the United States. Research has revealed few measurable differences between gay and lesbian families and heterosexual families. However, as a result of living in a homophobic and heterosexist society, gay and lesbian families face unique…

Universals in nonverbal behavior represent an important issue in the study of the cross-cultural communication. Perhaps the most well-known research in nonverbal universals was conducted by Paul Ekman, who examined literate and preliterate cultures from various language groups and identified six universal facial expressions: happiness, sadness,…

By focusing on concepts of power, culture, and ideology in light of new socio-cultural and anthropological interpretations with regard to their use in international, intercultural, and cross-cultural communication research, an outline for the framework of a more hermeneutic-interpretive approach to the study of communication and socio-cultural…

Reviews several theories explaining adolescent drug use to provide background for describing peer cluster theory. Peer clusters dictate the shared beliefs, values, and behaviors that determine where, when, and with whom drugs are used. Peer cluster theory incorporates those psychosocial factors that promote or inoculate against drug use in youth.…

Reviews current research on play. Notes different theoretical explanations and maintains no adequate general theory of play exists. Covers such areas as: (1) the effects of toys on play, (2) categories of play, (3) the influence of parents and educators on play, (4) mental activity and play, and (5) factors related to play intensity. (JDH)

Provides sociological analysis of recent documents on social education in Scotland. Argues that sociological theory underpinning prescriptions for social education takes no account of social inequalities and social conflict in both education and society. Explores contradictions between social education and meritocratic individualism. Discusses…

Reviews the 1984 book of Bernard Semmel, "John Stuart Mill and the Pursuit of Virtue." (JDH)