Using data from a survey of more that 1900 first-year students at a large research institution, this paper applies Holland's theory of personality and environment to examine the ways in which students view diversity. Holland categories, individual characteristics such as race and gender, and interactions with people of color prior to college,…

This study examined the relationships between three identity styles (i.e. the information style, the normative style, and the diffuse/avoidant style) and a number of social-cognitive and attitudinal variables (including empathy, prejudice, and conservatism). Discriminant analysis on a sample of late adolescents (N=393) led to the conclusion that…

This was a five-year follow-up study of 572 male and 120 female graduates of a boot camp in the South. The purpose was to examine what elements of life-course theory predict recidivism (felony conviction or parole violation), gender differences in predictors, and some issues regarding the effects of boot camp. Special emphasis was on perceptions…

The value of reciprocity in social exchange potentially comprises both instrumental value (the value of the actual benefits received from exchange) and communicative or symbolic value (the expressive and uncertainty reduction value conveyed by features of the act of reciprocity itself). While all forms of exchange provide instrumental value, we…

Interviewed currently married or widowed women aged 60-75 (N=719), either childless or with one or more children, about advantages and disadvantages of childlessness and about other family-related and social areas. Results indicated that childless older women did not conform to a stereotype of unhappiness and dissatisfaction. (BH)

We introduce a simple empirical model that assumes a positive stigma (or norm) towards child labor that is common in some developing countries. We then illustrate our positive stigma model using data from Guatemala. Controlling for several child- and household-level characteristics, we use two instruments for measuring stigma: a child's indigenous…

Teachers from an urban public high school and from a preK-12 private school in one metropolitan area discussed selections from John Dewey's works on education, art, and experience, in small study groups between 1996 and 1998. I facilitated these study groups as a joint inquiry with teachers about connections between Dewey's aesthetics and thinking…

Theories of learning and instruction usually are grounded in psychological and epistemological assumptions. However, these theories ignore the child in relation to his or her cultural and institutional context and ignore the schoolteacher from the social context that regulates the process of transmission and acquisition of knowledge and skills.…

This research review explores the propaganda model proposed by E. S. Herman and N. Chomsky (1988) as an alternative way of looking at the American news media. The study begins with a review of the theoretical assumptions and the supporting empirical findings highlighting the propaganda framework, following which is a synthesis of research…

Symbolic interactionism is a theoretical framework that derives from critical humanism through social psychology and is presented as an alternative to sociological and psychological views of social reality. This paper analyzes the general arguments of symbolic interactionism, its portrayal of people as responsible agents, and its interpretive…

To better understand the effects of the media on audiences, five media sociology theoretical approaches to the study of influences on media were investigated by looking at tests of the approaches in three journals over the last 10 years. The mirror approach predicted that the media would accurately represent reality, but, while accurate, the media…

Social theory defines "ritualism" as the communal act of accepting the legitimate means to achieve while rejecting the goals. The innovative-school community accepts the goals; however, the legitimate means are rejected. Ninety-three teachers were surveyed in a high-performing high school and a low-performing high school to determine the…

The article presents identity-based training created on the basis of the social identity theory, categorization theory and common identity model. Training consists of three parts: (1) multiplicity and salience of identity; (2) identity as a course of conflicts; (3) ways for tolerance recategorisation, decategorisation, and mutual differentiation.…

Americans increasingly distrust their educational institutions and the people who work in them. This paper is about the salience of social trust in urban schools and its implication for school reform. The paper describes outcomes of a 5-year project that explored Chicago's (Illinois) attempt to use expanded local participation as a lever for…

This paper presents an inquiry into teaching and learning practices in a Year 11 mathematics class at a private college for girls in Western Australia, studying a topic on vectors. The focus is on learning through problem-solving, where students used graphics calculators as a matter of routine. Constructivist and sociocultural theories were…