Showing papers in "Journal of Social Issues in 1967"

Bilingualism With and Without Diglossia; Diglossia With and Without Bilingualism

Abstract: UNTIL THE 1950s THE psychological literature on bilingualism was so much more extensive than its sociological counterpart that workers in the former field have often failed to establish contact with those in the latter. Since the 1960s a very respectable sociological (or sociologically oriented) literature has developed dealing with bilingual societies. It is the purpose of this chapter to relate these two research traditions to each other by tracing the interaction between their two major constructs: bilingualism (on the part of psychologists) and diglossia (on the part of sociologists).

A Social Psychology of Bilingualism

Abstract: This chapter examines bilingualism from a social-psychological perspective, one characterized not only by its interest in the reactions of the bilingual as an individual but also by the attention given to the social influences that affect the bilingual's behaviour and to the social repercussions that follow from his behaviour. Several of the studies have been conducted since 1958 in greater Montreal, where the conflict between English- and French-speaking Canadians is currently so sharp that some French Canadian (FC) political leaders in the Province of Quebec talk seriously about separating the Province from the rest of Canada, comprising a majority of English Canadians (ECs). The reactions to Continental French (CF) speakers are generally more favourable although less marked. The EC judges appear to be less concerned about European French people in general than they are about the local French people; the European French are neither downgraded nor taken as potential social models to any great extent.

Stability and Change in Family Size Expectations Over the First Two Years of Marriage

Abstract: Family size expectations expressed in 1955 by a national probability sample of white married women in the childbearing years well predicted the aggregate fertility of the cohort for the period 1955-1960. A longitudinal study to assess the relationship of aggregate and individual stability in expectations and the relationship of these to other factors was conducted in Detroit. Responses about expected number of children were obtained in 1962 from a sample of zero-parity women (just married) or who had borne a first second or fourth baby in July 1961. A second and third set of expectations were obtained from the same women in 1962 and 1963. At each interview zero parity women expected on the average .2 more children than the first and second parity women. The family size expectations of the zero parity women were as stable over the interval as were the expectations of mothers of one two or four children. Therefore results supported the view that family size expectations are formed very early in the family life cycle.

Group Process and Social Integration: A System Analysis of Two Movements of Social Protest

Abstract: Social psychology as the area which lies between individual psychology and the social sciences has in the past been polarized toward psychology. The focus has been upon an understanding of the individual as he functions in social settings with limited investigation of those social settings. The study of small groups has pushed beyond this framework but not very far. Group process is generally examined as personal interaction divorced from social context. In fact, the major advances in social psychology since its gradual emergence as a discipline of its own in the late twenties and early thirties have been the growth of an experimental or laboratory social psychology and the accumulation of findings about the nature of small groups. Both types of contributions have been of such substantial character that social psychologists are no longer marginal men in departments of psychology. Indeed the introductory text in psychology which does not utilize fairly heavily the findings of social psychological research is the exception. And the success of these approaches will reinforce continued work along similar lines with potentially valuable outcomes. Nonetheless, it is my thesis that the significant area for the social psychology of the future lies not in a continuation of these main streams of research directed at the individual and small group isolated from social context. Rather, it lies in a social psychological analysis of social structure and the study of societal process. This is the area which led to the creation of SPSSI when psychologists became concerned with economic justice, industrial conflict, social cleavages based upon economic and racial differentials and war and peace.

Fertility, Family Planning and the Social Organization of Family Life: Some Methodological Issues

Abstract: This paper basically argues for a shift in methodological perspective in the field of family planning. The general social context of family life and the presence or absence of family planning has not been examined seriously by social scientists. Rather crash programs for stopping population growth were launched. The source of most of the information of fertility and family planning are found in surveys in which standard questions are asked. The author questions the link between standard demographic or population analyses of variables such as age education residence etc. and attitudes toward family size and family planning. The problems associated with survey methodology interviews interviewers types of respondents etc. are discussed through the example of a study conducted in Argentina. 3 cases are also discussed.

An experimental study of the effect of group meetings on the acceptance of family planning in Taiwan.

Abstract: In order to assess attitudes to knowledge about and practice (KAP) of family planning a 10% sample of 794 of all the married women in two Taiwan townships was drawn. The women who were between the ages of 20 and 44 were interviewed in August 1964. The aim was to measure the effect of small group meetings on changes in KAP of family planning; in particular to see the effectiveness of such meetings in motivating women to accept loops. Results showed that a) the meetings were effective in changing the womens attitudes knowledge and practice of family planning b) those not attentding the meetings also changed but less c) the cost per acceptance was lower in the area in which the meetings were held in every other neightborhood rather than in every neighborhood.

Modern values and fertility ideals in Brazil and Mexico.

Abstract: 627 men in Brazil in 1960 and 740 men in Mexico in 1963 were interviewed on fertility behavior. The mean number of children was 2.6 among the Brazilians and 3.9 among the Mexicans. Middle class status is a main influence towards small family size in Mexico while metropolitan residence is the main factor in Brazil. There is a larger rural/urban differential in Brazil than in Mexico reflecting a declining urban birth rate and a stationary high rural rate in Brazil. Modern values are useful in predicting ideal family size in both coutries but more so in Mexico. The relaxed style of interpersonal relationships greater confidence in nonfamily ties lesser dependence on relatives and less emphasis on male dominance in Brazil leads to a conjugal family structure similar to the modern mode resulting in the desire for fewer children.

Can India reduce its birth rate? A question of modernization and governmental capacity.

Abstract: The analysis of Indias family planning effort chronologically displays three phases In 1952 the Central Ministry of Health received money for family planning for the first time But the first official planning groups and blueprints for family planning on a national scale were established during the second five-year plan period (1956-1960) Although planning training and research got most of the attention during the first stage there was some program accomplishments By 1961 1500 clinics were reported in operation In April 1963 the main program goal was said to be the reduction of the nations birth rate from more than 40 per 1000 to 25 per 1000 population Acceptance of a smaller family size norm personal knowledge on planning methods and availability of supplies and services were to aid the achievement of this goal A final and third blueprint concluded that evaluation of the Planning Commission Decentralization of certain powers to the states and for the Center to make the general policies and guidelines for such grants were recommended By comparing the blue prints and action over the last decade the author presents the gap between the plans for family planning and the governments capacity to execute Recommendations include adding experienced managers from business to those from government orienting them to family planning problems and giving them assistance in social services

Population control and the private sector.

Abstract: Although most contraceptives in the world are manufactured distributed and sold in private sector institutions there is little existing literature on private distribution Serious planning of population control programs would entail not only the study of attitudes knowledge and census data but also attention to the structure and extent of existing contraceptive distribution The model of acceptance proposed here treats diffusion as a joint resultant of psychological acceptance variables (knowledge and motivation) and the accessibility variables (availability price information variety) Some pilot work has been done in Jamaica Trinidad Barbados and Puerto Rico in order to see how worthwhile it would be to research questions such as the availability of a contraceptive market and whom it serves and how distribution can be more widespread Religious barriers and restricting laws are cited as impediments to larger distribution The authors plan further studies employing techniques of marketing analysis