A total of 734 sixth through twelfth grade students completed two questionnaires in a study that focused on the development of consumer skills, the sources of consumer skill acquisition, the effects of cognitive development and social factors on the socialization processes, and the effects of levels of competency on various consumer skills. A…

Recent studies confirm that organized labor's role in society does not get fair treatment in the social studies and American history courses of the nation's schools. The report covers the first stage of AFL-CIO efforts in dealing with this problem, bringing together concerned persons in labor and education. Following the opening of the conference…

The black community is considered as an economy where the consumption and investment behavior of black families have no significant impact on the growth rate of family income. This is seen to be a problem. The thrust of the argument that follows is that in the absence of a closer relationship between aggregate black family consumption spending,…

Asserting the need for social scientists and policymakers to acknowledge that there is no single, standard image of the family, this report describes the mandate of the Vanier Institute of the Family and examines family relationships, focusing on families in Canada. The report identifies several reasons for the emergence of the dual wage-earning…

Effects of educational policy reforms on provision of special educational services to students with disabilities in Scotland are examined. Topics discussed include the impact of British policy on Scottish practice; the culture of achievement; devolved school management; parents as consumers; consumerism, competition, and the Warnock legacy; the…

A review of research suggests that female participation in the work force in the United States creates change in the socioeconomic status of women and thus in their consumer behavior. In 1950, 25 percent of married women were in the labor force; in 1975, 44 percent worked outside the home. The increasing number of married working women has led to…

Advertising by multinational corporations in Southeast Asia is generating a growing resistance to its perceived role in creating a "consumer culture" damaging to indigenous values systems. Critics of advertising in Southeast Asia argue that when multinational advertisers or their multinational advertising agencies move into this foreign…

Videocassette recorder (VCR) acquisition and use in developing nations is largely an individual or household decision, and their rapid diffusion is influenced by several factors: price, and its variations due to government restrictions; income and income distribution; the content of broadcast television; the diversity of entertainment media…

Forty-seven elementary school teachers, librarians, curriculum specialists, and administrators participated in a research oriented education course that consisted of 15 television programs designed to help elementary school teachers and students analyze and understand economic concepts. Teachers also: (1) viewed programs with students; (2) used a…

It is important to examine assumptions concerning leisure time and families within the larger contexts of demographic, technological, social, political, economic, and cultural change. Many people assume that individuals have more leisure time now than did their predecessors. While there has been a reduction in the average length of the work week,…

Because of increased life spans and lower fertility rates, adults over 65 will continue to comprise a larger proportion of the population. The traditional emphasis on individual and family care of older Americans has been replaced by an emphasis on the obligation of society. Currently, poor health is the most prevalent problem reported among older…

This document is intended to present background information on the basic consumer protection issues in postsecondary education. Topics discussed are: (1) recruitment practices of postsecondary schools; (2) the role of a state agency in consumer protection; (3) consumer rights, responsibilities and redress of consumer protection; (4) advertising…

This study explores the consumer socialization process in adolescents with regard to mass media and interpersonal factors associated with the acquisition of consumer skills, knowledge, and attitudes. Questionnaires were completed by 300 consumer education students in three Grand Forks, North Dakota schools, assessing such variables as "consumer…

This paper locates the phenomenon of self-managing schools within the framework of "fast capitalism" and identifies themes of organization central to fast capitalism, which are argued to also underpin the self-managing schools. "Fast capitalism" refers to the rapidly intensified integration of regionalized productive activities into the global…

One of a series of studies related to the Delphi research project: "Policy Instruments for Higher Education in the Western Europe of the Future", this paper reports that, despite the many complaints about government influences on higher education, both U.S. and European studies show that it has only a limited effect on higher education in…