Showing papers on "Social change published in 1998"

Internet paradox: A social technology that reduces social involvement and psychological well-being?

Abstract: The Internet could change the lives of average citizens as much as did the telephone in the early part of the 20th century and television in the 1950s and 1960s. Researchers and social critics are debating whether the Internet is improving or harming participation in community life and social relationships. This research examined the social and psychological impact of the Internet on 169 people in 73 households during their first 1 to 2 years on-line. We used longitudinal data to examine the effects of the Internet on social involvement and psychological well-being. In this sample, the Internet was used extensively for communication. Nonetheless, greater use of the Internet was associated with declines in participants' communication with family members in the household, declines in the size of their social circle, and increases in their depression and loneliness. These findings have implications for research, for public policy and for the design of technology.

Social Determinants of Health: The Solid Facts

Abstract: Poorer people live shorter lives and are more often ill than the rich. This disparity has drawn attention to the remarkable sensitivity of health to the social environment. This publication examines this social gradient in health, and explains how psychological and social influences affect physical health and longevity. It then looks at what is known about the most important social determinants of health today, and the role that public policy can play in shaping a social environment that is more conducive to better health. This second edition relies on the most up-to-date sources in its selection and description of the main social determinants of health in our society today. Key research sources are given for each: stress, early life, social exclusion, working conditions, unemployment, social support, addiction, healthy food and transport policy. Policy and action for health need to address the social determinants of health, attacking the causes of ill health before they can lead to problems. This is a challenging task for both decision-makers and public health actors and advocates. This publication provides the facts and the policy options that will enable them to act.

Social remittances: migration driven local-level forms of cultural diffusion.

Abstract: Many studies highlight the macro-level dissemination of global culture and institutions. This article focuses on social remittances--a local-level migration-driven form of cultural diffusion. Social remittances are the ideas behaviors identities and social capital that flow from receiving- to sending-country communities. The role that these resources play in promoting immigrant entrepreneurship community and family formation and political integration is widely acknowledged. This article specifies how these same ideas and practices are remolded in receiving countries the mechanisms by which they are sent back to sending communities and the role they play in transforming sending-country social and political life. The data concern migrants from the Dominican Republic to the Boston area of the United States. (EXCERPT)

Entering the Century of the Environment: A New Social Contract for Science

Abstract: As the magnitude of human impacts on the ecological systems of the planet becomes apparent, there is increased realization of the intimate connections between these systems and human health, the economy, social justice, and national security. The concept of what constitutes “the environment” is changing rapidly. Urgent and unprecedented environmental and social changes challenge scientists to define a new social contract. This contract represents a commitment on the part of all scientists to devote their energies and talents to the most pressing problems of the day, in proportion to their importance, in exchange for public funding. The new and unmet needs of society include more comprehensive information, understanding, and technologies for society to move toward a more sustainable biosphere—one which is ecologically sound, economically feasible, and socially just. New fundamental research, faster and more effective transmission of new and existing knowledge to policy- and decision-makers, and better communication of this knowledge to the public will all be required to meet this challenge.

End of millennium

Abstract: From the Publisher: The final volume in Manuel Castells' trilogy is devoted to processes of global social change induced by interaction between networks and identity. He studies empirically the collapse of the Soviet Union, tracing it back to the incapacity of industrial statism to manage the transition to the Information Age. He shows the rise of inequality, polarization, and social exclusion throughout the world, focusing on Africa, on urban poverty, and on children's plight. He documents the formation of a global criminal economy that deeply affects economies and politics in many countries. He analyzes the political and cultural foundations of the emergence of the Asian Pacific as the most dynamic region in the global economy. And he reflects on the contradictions of European unfication, proposing the concept of the network state. In the general conclusion of the trilogy, included in this volume, Castells draws together the threads of his arguments and his findings, presenting a systematic interpretation of our world in this end of millennium.

Social Structural and Social Psychological Bases of Environmental Concern

Abstract: Efforts to explain environmental concern as a function of social structure have revealed some weak but reliable associations. Stronger associations have been found between environmental concern and...

A structural theory of social influence

Abstract: List of tables and figures Preface Part A. Theory and Setting: 1. Social structure and social Control 2. Toward a structural social psychology 3. A setting in the scientific community Part B. Measures of the Theoretical Constructs: 4. A structural parameterization 5. Interpersonal influence 6. Self and other 7. Social positions Part C. Analysis: 8. The structure of social space 9. The production of consensus 10. Influence of actors and social positions 11. Durkheim's vision References Index.

Moving Cultures: The Perilous Problems of Cultural Dichotomies in a Globalizing Society.

Abstract: The accelerating process of globalization and the increasing interconnections between cultures involve an unprecedented challenge to contemporary psychology. In apparent contrast to these trends, academic mainstream conceptions continue to work in a tradition of cultural dichotomies (e.g., individualistic vs. collectivistic, independent vs. interdependent), reflecting a classificatory approach to culture and self Three developments are presented that challenge this approach: (a) cultural connections leading to hybridization, (b) the emergence of a heterogeneous global system, and (c) the increasing cultural complexity. By elaborating on these challenges, a basic assumption of cross-cultural psychology is questioned: culture as geographically localized. Finally, 3 themes are described as examples of an alternative approach: a focus on the contact zones of cultures rather than on their center, the complexities of self and identity, and the experience of uncertainty.

Incarceration, social capital, and crime: implications for social disorganization theory*

Abstract: This study is a theoretical exploration of the impact of public social control on the functioning of local social controls. Set within the framework of social disorganization and systemic theory, the study argues that an overreliance on incarceration as a formal control may hinder the ability of some communities to foster other forms of control because they weaken family and community structures. At the ecological level, the side effects of policies intended to fight crime by controlling individual behavior may exacerbate the problems they are intended to address. Thus, these communities may experience more, not less, social disorganization.

Social Capability and Economic Growth

Abstract: The conventional wisdom is that postwar economic growth has been unpredictable. In the 1960s few observers accurately forecast which countries would grow quickly. In this paper we show that indexes of social development constructed in the early 1960s have considerable predictive power. These results indicate the importance of "social capability" for economic growth. We emphasize that social arrangements matter for reasons beyond those discussed in recent work on trust and social capital. However, we are also able to show that one of the indexes may be a useful proxy for social capital in developing countries.

Social Networks, Gender, and Immigrant Incorporation: Resources and Constraints

Abstract: Most research on social networks and immigrant incorporation focuses on the short-term and positive functions of networks, neglecting changes in networks over time. Author present a dynamic and variable portrayal of networks to demonstrate how they gradually assume different forms and functions for women and for men that differentially affect settlement outcomes, particularly opportunities to become legal. The gendered social relations of neighborhood, work, and voluntary associations interact to produce this outcome. The conclusions suggest that social networks can both strengthen and weaken over time, can change differentially for different segments of the immigrant community, and therefore can have disparate effects on incorporation.

Collective identification and social movement participation.

Abstract: Determinants of collective behavior, as suggested by the social identity or self-categorization approach and social movement research, were examined in 2 field studies. Study 1 was conducted in the context of the older people's movement in Germany and Study 2 in the context of the gay movement in the United States. Both studies yielded similar results pointing to 2 independent pathways to willingness to participate in collective action; one is based on cost-benefit calculations (including normative considerations), and the other is based on collective identification as an activist. Study 2 included an experimental manipulation and provided evidence for the causal role of collective identification as an activist. Directions for future research on the proposed dual-pathway model are suggested. Members of disadvantaged groups who do not want to passively accept their lot have to find ways to improve their situation. To do so, they can adopt a variety of strategies that can range from individual strategies of social mobility to collective strategies of social change. The former rest on the belief that one's own position can be improved by moving from one social position to another as an individual (Tajfel, 1981). These individual strategies thus involve leaving a disadvantaged group physically or at least psychologically. Collective strategies, on the other hand, are adopted to the extent that a person believes that "the only way for him to change these [disadvantageous] conditions ... is together with his group as a whole" (Tajfel, 1981, p. 247). Collective strategies include not only militant forms of intergroup behavior or collective action such as revolts and strikes but also more moderate forms such as signing a petition or attending a group meeting. Although individual social mobility strategies are often pre

The relationship between social connectedness and anxiety, self-esteem, and social identity.

Abstract: Social connectedness and its relationship with anxiety, self-esteem, and social identity was explored in the lives of women. Social connectedness was negatively related to trait anxiety and made a larger unique contribution to trait anxiety than social support or collective self-esteem. Women with high connectedness also reported greater social identification in high, as compared with low, cohesion conditions. Women with low connectedness exhibited no difference in either condition. Social connectedness was also positively related to state self-esteem across both conditions but did not have an effect on state anxiety. Future research in gender and cultural differences, self-evaluation process, and intervention strategies are discussed in light of the findings.

Behavioral, Social, and Emotional Assessment of Children and Adolescents

Abstract: Part: I: Foundations and Methods of Assessment. Foundations of Assessment. Assessment and Classification. Direct Behavioral Observation. Behavior Rating Scales. Interviewing Techniques. Sociometric Techniques. Self-report Assessment. Projective-expressive Techniques. Part II: Assessment of Specific Problems, Competencies, and Populations. Assessing Externalizing Problems. Assessing Internalizing Problems. Assessing Other Behavioral, Social, and Emotional Problems. Assessing Social Skills and Peer Relations. Assessing Social and Emotional Behavior of Young Children. Assessment and Cultural Diversity

Intimacy: Personal Relationships in Modern Societies

Abstract: Acknowledgements. 1. Introduction. A Story of Intimacy?. The Wider Significance of Intimacy in Personal Life. Dimensions of Intimacy. Stories and Story Tellers. Conclusion. 2. From a The Familya to Sex and Industry. . The Making of the Conventional Modern Family. Visions of the Future. 3. Parenting and Intimacy. Mothers and Fathers as Intimates. More Shared Caring Between Mothers and Fathers?. Parenting: Trends in Intimacy and Democracy?. 4. Are Good Friends All You Need? . Friends, Kin and Intimacy. Gender, Heterosexuality, Friendship and Intimacy. 5. Sex and Intimacy. . Introduction. Stories of a Normal Sexa and Intimacy. The Realities of Sexual Lives. Stories, Practices and Social Change. 6. The Couple: Intimate and Equal? . The Heterosexual Couple: Still She the Housewife, He the Earner?. Domestic Violence and Forced Intimacy. Same--Sex Couples. Intimacy and Relationship Breakdown. 7. Conclusion. . Notes. Bibliography. Index.

Psychological sequelae of torture and organised violence suffered by refugees from Iraq. Trauma-related factors compared with social factors in exile.

Abstract: BACKGROUND Refugees who have suffered traumatic events present complex therapeutic challenges to health professionals. There is little research into post-exile factors that may be amenable to change, and therefore reduce morbidity. We examined the importance of social factors in exile and of trauma factors in producing the different elements of psychological sequelae of severe trauma. METHOD Eighty-four male Iraqi refugees were interviewed. Adverse events and level of social support were measured. Various measures of psychological morbidity were applied, all of which have been used in previous trauma research. RESULTS Social factors in exile, particularly the level of "affective" social support, proved important in determining the severity of both post-traumatic stress disorder and depressive reactions, particularly when combined with a severe level of trauma/torture. Poor social support is a stronger predictor of depressive morbidity than trauma factors. CONCLUSIONS Some of the most important factors in producing psychological morbidity in refugees may be alleviated by planned, integrated rehabilitation programmes and attention to social support and family reunion.

Children exposed to marital violence: Theory, research, and applied issues.

Abstract: The Impact of Woman Abuse on Children's Social Development - Research and Theoretical Perspectives Children Exposed to Marital Conflict and Violence - Conceptual and Theoretical Directions Children as Invisible Victims of Domestic and Community Violence Using Multiple Informants to Understand Domestic Violence and its Effects Correlates of Adjustment in Children at Risk Heterogeneity in Adjustment Among Children of Battered Women Descartes' Error and PTSD - Cognition and Emotion for Children Who Are Exposed to Parental Violence - the Emotional, Cognitive and Coping Responses of Preadolescent Children to Different Dimensions of Mental Conflict The Parenting Behaviours and Beliefs of Battered Women Breaking the Cycle of Violence - Helping Families Departing From Battered Women's Shelters Child Custody Disputes and Domestic Violence - Critical Issues for Mental Health Social Service and Legal Professionals Appraisal and Outlook.

Conceptualizing social justice in education: mapping the territory

Abstract: Within recent studies of education policy, social justice has been an under‐theorized concept. This paper is an attempt to begin to remedy this situation. It critically examines some of the most prominent ways in which social justice has been and is being thought about within various traditions of social theory and concludes by sketching out a framework for conceptualizing social justice in the context of education policy research. However, the main purpose of the paper is not to provide a definitive conceptualization of social justice but to open up a debate which might usefully inform the work of the education policy research community.

Civil Society and Social Capital Beyond Putnam

Abstract: Both civil society and social capital have proven useful heuristics for drawing attention to neglected nonmarket aspects of social reality and constitute a needed corrective to narrowly economistic models. However, both break down, although in different ways, when treated as the basis for elaborating testable hypotheses and further theory. Civil society is most useful in polemical or normative contexts, but attempts to distinguish it from other sectors of society typically break down in unresolvable boundary disputes over just what constitutes civil society and what differentiates it from “state” and “market.” Work by Robert Putnam and others has assimilated social capital to the civic culture model, using it as just another label for the norms and values of the empirical democratic theory of the 1950s. This strategy undermines the empirical value of James Coleman and Pierre Bourdieu's useful social relational concept.

Children who prosper in unfavorable environments: the relationship to social capital

Abstract: OBJECTIVE. Social capital describes the benefits that are derived from personal social relationships (within families and communities) and social affiliations. This investigation examined the extent to which social capital is associated with positive developmental and behavioral outcomes in high-risk preschool children. DESIGN. A cross-sectional case-control analysis of young children "doing well" and "not doing well" at baseline in four coordinated longitudinal studies. PARTICIPANTS. A total of 667 2- to 5-year-old children (mean age, 4.4 years) and their maternal caregivers who are participating in the Longitudinal Studies of Child Abuse and Neglect Consortium. At recruitment, all children were characterized by unfavorable social or economic circumstances that contributed to the identification of the children as high risk. MEASURES. Social capital was defined as benefits that accrue from social relationships within communities and families. A social capital index was created by assigning one point to each of the following indicators: 1) two parents or parent-figures in the home; 2) social support of the maternal caregiver; 3) no more than two children in the family; 4) neighborhood support; and 5) regular church attendance. Outcomes were measured with the Child Behavior Checklist, a widely used measure of behavioral/emotional problems, and with the Battelle Developmental Inventory Screening Test, a standardized test that identifies developmental deficits. Children were classified as doing well if their scores on these instruments indicated neither behavioral nor developmental problems. RESULTS. Only 13% of the children were classified as doing well. The individual indicators that best discriminated between levels of child functioning were the most direct measures of social capital-church affiliation, perception of personal social support, and support within the neighborhood. The social capital index was strongly associated with child well-being, more so than any single indicator. The presence of any social capital indicator increased the odds of doing well by 29%; adding any two increased the odds of doing well by 66%. CONCLUSIONS. Our findings suggest that social capital may have an impact on children's well-being as early as the preschool years. In these years it seems to be the parents' social capital that confers benefits on their offspring, just as children benefit from their parents' financial and human capital. Social capital may be most crucial for families who have fewer financial and educational resources. Our findings suggest that those interested in the healthy development of children, particularly children most at risk for poor developmental outcomes, must search for new and creative ways of supporting interpersonal relationships and strengthening the communities in which families carry out the daily activities of their lives. Language: en

Social anxiety in children with anxiety disorders: relation with social and emotional functioning.

Abstract: Investigated the psychometric properties of the Social Anxiety Scale for children-Revised (SASC-R) as well as relations between social anxiety and children's social and emotional functioning. Participants were a clinic sample of children, ages 6-11 with anxiety disorders (N = 154) who completed the SASC-R. For a subset of these children, parent ratings of social skills, and self-ratings of perceived competence and peer interactions were also obtained. Factor analysis of the SASC-R supported the original three-factor solution and internal consistencies were in the acceptable range. Among children with simple phobia, scores on the SASC-R differentiated those with and without a comorbid social-based anxiety disorder. Social anxiety was also associated with impairments in social and emotional functioning. Specifically, highly socially anxious children reported low levels of social acceptance and global self-esteem and more negative peer interactions. Girls with high levels of social anxiety were also rated by parents as having poor social skills, particularly in the areas of assertive and responsible social behavior.

Men's violence against women in rural Bangladesh: undermined or exacerbated by microcredit programmes?

Abstract: Using data from a recent ethnographic study in rural Bangladesh to explore relationships between men's violence against women in the home, women's economic and social dependence on men, and microcredit programmes, this paper suggests that microcredit programmes have a varied effect on men's violence against women. They can reduce women's vulnerability to men's violence by strengthening their economic roles and making their lives more public. When women challenge gender norms, however, they sometimes provoke violence in their husbands. Male violence against women is a serious, widespread, and often ignored problem world-wide. By putting resources into women's hands, credit programmes may indirectly exacerbate such violence; but they may also provide a context for intervention.

Postmodern fertility preferences: from changing value orientation to new behaviour

Abstract: This paper examines whether the term postmodernism or its derivatives can be useful in demographic studies and population analysis. It is noted that postmodernism and its derivatives can play a role in scientific study of population if precise conceptualization is formulated. Although it is difficult to attain such precision due to elusiveness of the concept conceptualization of postmodernity as a historical era can be beneficial. As such postmodernity can strengthen the links between demography and theorizing in the social sciences more generally. It also offers an opportunity to study demographic change and understand its relation with broader cultural and economic changes in society. Another approach to conceptualization of postmodernity suggests little variation across industrialized societies as noted in fertility preferences. Moreover preferences of respondents with postmaterialist or postmodernist value orientation appear to be higher than their materialist and modernist counterparts. In this respect theoretical propositions underlying the shift to postmodernity account the impact of social economic and technological change on demographic change.

Explaining recent increases in students' marijuana use: impacts of perceived risks and disapproval, 1976 through 1996.

Abstract: OBJECTIVES: Marijuana use among high school seniors increased during most of the 1970s, decreased throughout the 1980s, and has been increasing again during the 1990s Earlier analyses of the classes of 1976 through 1986 attributed the historic trends during that period to specific changes in views about marijuana This study examined whether recent increases in marijuana use among seniors and among students in earlier grades reflect similar processes METHODS: Multivariate regression analyses were conducted on data from large annual nationwide surveys of high school seniors from 1976 through 1996 (approximate n = 61,000) and 8th and 10th graders from 1991 through 1996 (n's = 87,911 and 82,475, respectively) RESULTS: Individual lifestyle factors (grades, truancy, religious commitment, evenings out for recreation) correlated substantially with marijuana use but did not explain the historic changes in marijuana use Rather, decreases in perceived risk of harmfulness and in disapproval can account for the r

Getting the Goods on Social Capital1

Abstract: This article presents an overview of the origins, development, rapid diffusion, and current usage of the concept of social capital in both the academic (research-oriented) and more applied (social policy) literature. Following a short quantitative survey of the appearance of the term in both theses and journals, various meanings of social capital are examined in the light of classical and contemporary sociological theory. Three main research approaches, which are based on the operationalization of social capital or its application as a heuristic device, are critically examined. These approaches are associated with the work ofJames Coleman, Pierre Bourdieu, and Robert Putnam, but there are also some references to the work of economists. The authors contend that, while social capital has value and appeal as a new term, basic theory needs greater development. In particular, attention should be paid to acknowledging the specific perspective on social capital that underlies its usage, the scale or level of analysis employed, and the value of a qualitative use of social capital.

Social science in question

Abstract: How do social scientists study the social world? Is social scientific practice in transformation? Can social science learn from its own past? Social Science in Question provides an accessible and authoritative guide to both traditional debates and new approaches to knowledge construction in the social sciences. The book takes the reader on an intellectual journey starting with the story of modern science and the impact that this has had on social scientific practice, and going on to outline and critically review the major approaches to social scientific inquiry, ranging from positivism to postmodernism. This innovative text poses questions about the recent 'cultural turn' in the social sciences. The central dilemmas of the philosophy of social sciences are readdressed in the light of contemporary debates on: perception and imagination; detachment and involvement; simplicity and complexity; representation and reality; and subjectivity and objectivity.

Contending Stories: Narrative in Social Movements

Abstract: Study of stories and storytelling in social movements can contribute to our understanding of recruitment that takes place outside formal movement organizations; social movement organizations' ability to withstand strategic setbacks; and movements' impacts on mainstream politics. This paper draws on several cases to illuminate the yields of such study and to provide alternatives to the overbroad, uncritical, and astructural understandings of narrative evident in some recent writings. It also urges attention to the role of literary devices in sociological analyses of collective action.