This conference paper asserts that there are four faces to the stories of people's lives: (1) a personal face; (2) a political face; (3) a historical face; and (4) a sacred face. The study explains how each of these faces interacts in society and is used to analyze and to teach multicultural literary works as archetypal stories from the…

Marxist/Maoist interpretations of sport in China differ significantly from the functional and meritocratic perspectives in the West which emphasize competition and personal reward. The latter school stresses the ability of the upwardly mobile aspirant to prove ability through competition. Individuals with talent are placed in valued positions in…

The American public school is a political idea, as well as an educational institution, that is still awaiting full realization. Public schools fail to deliver the promised indiscriminate availability of educational goods and services. Discussions of that failure frequently revolve around the school's educational agenda and questions of pedagogy…

Political science and its subfields cannot ignore the work being done in two areas of the life sciences: sociobiology and neurobiology. Current theories of political socialization which suggest that society molds the child will be increasingly affected by sociobiological theory which posits that children operate as independent actors in the…

This paper offers a historical overview regarding the nation state aspect of Norway because of its dramatic influence in curriculum making. The study examines aspects of the Norwegian national curriculum identity related to curriculum structure, to the underlying principles and consequent form those principles will take in the curriculum, and to…

Confucius (551-479 B.C.) believed in the power of language to regulate society. Concerned about civil war and the moral and social decay of his time, he advocated a peaceful society with a mild and moderate form of law and order and with an emphasis on the well-being of individuals through compassion, kindness, and justice. This form of law…

Social control in school situations is a restrictive and constraining process that can take both overt and covert forms. Examples of both overt and unobtrusive control mechanisms include such things as study halls, student council, elementary school door guards, and substitute teachers. The recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance is one ritual of…

The late 1970s can be characterized as an era of practical concerns in civic education. There is a trend toward useful applied learning which can be evaluated by the actions or skills it produces. Current civic education programs are similar to curriculum reform efforts of the 1930s in that they are committed to educating citizens to function…

A theoretical framework for mapping school political life is developed which distinguishes elite, bureaucratic, coalitional, and participant types of school political organizations. The framework provides tools for analyzing and comparing patterns of political behavior within and across school political behavior settings. Definitions and…

The paper examines the extent to which national identification changed among 91 Americans who immigrated to Australia from 1974 to 1978. The objective was to gain a deeper understanding of the bonds between individuals and nations by examining the decisions and decision processes of people who had actually been confronted with and taken advantage…

Because men hold most of the high status, decision-making positions in American society, they have greater access to and control of property, power, and prestige. Women, conversely, are accorded low status because they fulfill the lower prestige roles of childbearing and childrearing. Although some city and county government positions are filled…

Social studies textbooks currently used in Iran have been rewritten since 1979 to achieve the socialization of children into current Islamic political thought. An analysis of the content of current social studies textbooks concludes that explicitly political textbooks are used to teach state approved values and appropriate political behavior while…

Although ethnicity has generally been relegated to secondary status as an explanatory factor in urban political participation studies, this research hypothesizes that ethnicity plays a major role in determining communal political participation. Communal participation is defined as participation in which the individual acts in concert with or on…