Explores the relationship between literary criticism and ethics by analyzing two shifts regarding ethics in literary criticism: (1) a taboo against engaging in ethical criticism, encouraged during the 1930s to 1950s; and (2) the undermining of that taboo, caused by the eruption of social problems concerning race, sex, and class. (MM)

In Asia, the family unit has long been the foundation of society. The family system, instead of the government, provides social, economic, and emotional support to the individual as well as the family itself. Self-reliance and personal responsibility are nurtured within the family, but with increased urbanization and industrialization of Asia, the…

This paper examines the potential of sociohistorical theory for the study of academic debate. The essay describes sociohistorical theory (noting that it is most often attributed to the work of Lev Vygotsky and that contemporary scholars influenced by it include Jerome Bruner and James Wertsch), the relationship between reason and emotion from a…

The relationship between literacy achievement in schools, socioeconomic marginality and cultural difference has been a central theme in literacy research since the late 1960s emergence of civil rights movements. Contemporary approaches to literacy education all begin from the assumption that "more" or "better" reading and…

This paper explores the phenomenon of "flaming," which has been typically cited as an antisocial effect of computer-mediated communication. The paper discusses the diverse range of conceptual and operational definitions of flaming found in the literature. The paper offers a four-point critique of previous theoretical explanations of…

Cultural pressure for thinness has been cited as a contributing factor in the apparent increase in the eating disorders of anorexia and bulimia. Previous research has examined popular periodicals as an indicator of cultural pressure for thinness. This study assessed changes over the past 20 years in numbers of popular magazine articles focusing on…

This paper identifies economic roles in terms of personal and social contexts and defines economic socialization as a life-long, complex, interactional, and multi-disciplinary set of processes that involve the development of ideological beliefs about economic systems and individual roles within an economy. Socialization is influenced by…

The general impression conveyed by the literature in the social psychology of aging is that various dimensions of the self, including self-esteem, are relatively fixed and stable by the later stages of the life cycle. Existing research implies that the self-esteem of older persons is higher than that of younger persons, and also more stable or…

Twenty-two issues of each of six magazines published between 1915 and 1925 were analyzed to determine whether those magazines served only as mirrors of social change or took a more active role, either as agents of social change or as agents of social conservatism. Specifically, the study examined the manner in which the following magazines covered…

The rhetorician Richard M. Weaver analyzed culture as profoundly ill and he viewed rhetoric as closely tied to culture. Rhetoric relies on the cultural focal point for its effectiveness; orators must operate on a basis of common, accepted, uncontested terms and premises to move their audiences, and mutual assent to a "tyrannizing image"…

The document examines the evolution of kibbutzim in Israel. The author suggests that a primary factor in the kibbutz development is the nature and structure of Israeli modernization efforts. The efforts encompass national ideology, industrialization, and legitimization of certain forms of social interaction. This mode of modernization stands in…

In a discussion of the attempts of the organized workers' photography movement in Weimar Germany to redirect the use of photographs in everyday life, this paper analyzes photographs published in the "Arbeiter-Illustrierte-Zeitung," (AIZ) a large and successful picture magazine that emphasized a left-wing, humanitarian approach. The paper…

A study to assess the information function of pop music in the adolescent socialization process involved approximately 500 students in junior and senior high schools and colleges in a large metropolitan area in the northeast and approximately 400 university undergraduates in an introductory sociology class. In-class, self-administered…

The nation's schools face difficult problems that must be solved if they are to continue serving our society constructively and effectively. The two hundred years of our country's history demonstrate that in the past the schools have met new needs and have responded well to growing demands for education. An examination of several of the problems…

The mass media in the United States have played a major role in the emergence of a mass society resulting from the interaction of urbanization, industrialization, and modernization and have thus become an integral part of the total social fabric. Society's culture and social structure shape its system of mass communication so that the development,…