Showing papers on "Value (ethics) published in 1969"

Introduction to Value Theory

Abstract: A reprint of the popular 1969, Prentice-Hall edition, the principal innovation of this philosophical introduction to value theory is its focus upon values as they are dealt with in everyday life situations, and have sometimes been studied by sociologists and social psychologists, rather than upon value as has been standard in the philosophical tradition.

Welfare Economics and Public Subsidies to the Arts

Abstract: Subsidizing the Arts involves the same kind of issues as subsidizing particular industries or services in the economy, however distasteful this may seem to those who are conditioned to think in terms of a moral hierarchy in the ordering of consumption expenditure. In this analysis, attention is confined to two arguments for subsidization which are derived from the existence of 'market failure', i.e. the recognition that the strict Paretian assumptions of divisibility of goods and absence of externalities of production and consumption are not met with in practical life. A particular aspect of the problem of indivisibility which is relevant to the subsidization of the Arts is the taking account of the welfare of future generations, that is to say the welfare of those whose interests cannot be directly expressed at present through the exercise of their own preferences in the market. It is assumed that we are not interested in the contribution of Arts to stabilization or growth. Full employment of resources is given and we ignore the possibility that subsidizing the Arts might be a possible way of inducing people to work harder and more efficiently than if cultural activities were left solely to the judgement of the market. Cultural paternalism which might be justified on the grounds that the community does not know what is good for it, is ruled out. Apart from any predisposition of the author to oppose paternalism, the assertion of imposed value judgements is too easy a way of deriving support for public intervention designed to give the public not what it wants but what it ought to have! Before we can proceed to answer the question, should we subsidize the Arts, and how it might be done, we need information on two matters. The first is the scope of the 'industry'. Here I shall consider only the performing arts, although much of the argument could be applied to the visual arts. I shall also assume that

II. Thomas Hobbes and the Nature of the Early Royal Society

Abstract: Why was Thomas Hobbes never made a Fellow of the Royal Society? The question has been asked and answered in nearly all the intellectual biographies and other such studies of Hobbes, as well as in several of the histories of the early Royal Society itself. Since I wish to discuss the same question again, it is worth pausing first of all to neutralize two possible doubts about the value of this exercise.

Social Determinism and Rationality as Bases of Party Identification

Abstract: In The Responsible Electorate, V. O. Key urged upon us “the perverse and unorthodox argument … that voters are not fools.” He challenged the notion that the voting act is the deterministic resultant of psychological and sociological vectors. He believed that the evidence supported the view of the voter as a reasonably rational fellow. The present article offers a corollary to Key's “unorthodox argument.” It suggests that certain sociological determinants, secifically group norms regarding party identification, may, upon examination, prove to be rational guides to action. For the voter who is a reasonably rational fellow, it will be argued, these group norms may seem rather sensible.Before proceeding to the analysis of data, some discussion of the notion of rationality seems in order. The usage subscribed to in the present analysis derives from contemporary game theory. Put most simply, being rational in a decision situation consists in examining the alternatives with which one is confronted, estimating and evaluating the likely consequences of each, and selecting that alternative which yields the most attractive set of expectations. Formally, this process entails making calculations of the following type as a basis for the decision:where:E(Vai) = expected value of alternative i.P(oj∣ai) = probability of outcome j given that V(oi) = value of outcome j to the decision maker.

Anthropomorphism: Motive, meaning, and causality in psychoanalytic theory.

Abstract: terms does not accomplish the leap across this logical gap. The only way the abstraction process works is via such bridge concepts which link causal and empathic by definition, and by means of parallelistic assumptions about the nature of the apparatus and the nature of experience, such as we have described in the earlier portion of this paper. There are several varieties of concepts which speak of subjective experience in objective terms. One group gives a theoretical, or systematic, status to the terms of commonplace experience. "Tension" (see above) is one such example. Others are: libidinal investment, the wish, the system Conscious, narcissism, and the self. Another group of terms such as "depression" and "anxiety" are commonly used both to denote clinical states and subjective experience. These terms create entities by reifying the terms designating the subjective states and their observable concomitants (Sarbin, 1964), (1968). The third type is seen in the concept of "drive," which brings together a quality of subjective experience and a concept of biological functioning. It is clear that the use of any of these bridge terms always requires further specification of the sense in which it is being used. In all of these cases, diverse models of observation, experience, and conceptualization are amalgamated by means of a linguistic device. Using different terminologies, the issue of these two logically independent realms has been discussed by a number of authors, including Brierley (1951), Grossman (1967), G. S. Klein (1966), (1968), Kohut (1959), Mischel (1964), Meissner (1966), Rycroft (1968), and Sutherland (1963). With still a somewhat different focus, but quite germane to the present issues, Schafer (1968) outlined what he considers two types of theory within psychoanalysis, which he calls the "adaptational" and "dynamic" types of conceptualization. He states that Freud attempted both types of conceptualization, but did not always differentiate and coordinate the two approaches: "Roughly speaking, his evolutionary, adaptational formulations of the psychic apparatus are the ones that tend to be quasi-neurophysiological and mechanistic, and it is his dynamic psychological formulations that tend to be anthropomorphic." Schafer does not necessarily hold to their being logically incompatible, and in fact he argues that each has its value, but "distinguishing one from the other helps one to understand what these authors [Hartmann and Rapaport] and Freud are doing in one context or another" (p. 51). We speak with Schafer of coordinating two types of approach in dealing with two logically independent models of explanation. The only way to use them simultaneously is by coordinating them in their application to the empirical unity of the phenomena under study. For example, in psychophysiological research we work with a notion of covariants, such as the physiological concomitants of a reported experience. The coordination is an empirical activity, which is not equivalent to providing a unitary explanation for experience and physiology. We may try to establish a concordance, or parallelism, which will tell something about correlations. Only some superordinate framework, yet to be discovered, could provide one logical system in which both aspects could be encompassed (cf. Langer, 1967). In current dream research, for example, there is a high correlation between dreaming and rapid eye movement sleep (REMS). However, no greater understanding of the meaning of dreams is derived from the clarification of the REM mechanism. Even the question of the precise nature of the correlation between dreaming and REM sleep remains a matter of controversy. In the psychophysiology of affect, too, perfect correlations are not found between an affective state, as defined physiologically, and the same state as defined experientially. The question of how to deal with these various contrasting pairs of terms is one which was taken up in the very earliest of Freud's psychoanalytic writings, and even in his neurological writings (1891). In the "Project" (1895), he attempted to conceptualize the transformation of qualities into quantities. In The Interpretation of Dreams he took up the same issue again in relation to the question of how the wish or the intention (psychological functions) arises from the basic biological organization of the infant. In Studies on Hysteria (1893-1895) one can see throughout the work, particularly in the contrast between Breuer's section and Freud's section, the attempt to conceptualize clinical phenomena in both causal and motivational terms. Freud's discussion of the organization of memories and their role in pathogenesis, for example, represents an early formulation of the relationship between causal factors and motivational factors in pathogenesis. In general, in these early writings, one finds a constant interplay between dynamic, i.e., conflictdefense, formulations of psychological states and physiological, mechanical, and neurological expositions The problem of the distinction between the two types of formulation, one in causal terms and the other in intentional terms, permeates virtually every level of the theory, in every stage of its development. It goes beyond questions of whether or not experience can be reduced to neurophysiological terms. We encounter this difficulty whenever we try to distinguish descriptive from systematic usage of terms, or experiential usage from systematic. For example, in 1912, Freud said (p. 264): It is by no means impossible for the product of unconscious activity to pierce into consciousness, but a certain amount of exertion is needed for this task. When we try to do it in ourselves, we become aware of a distinct feeling of repulsion which must be overcome, and when we produce it in a patient we get the most unquestionable signs of what we call his resistance to it. Thus, there is an experienced feeling of the resistance to making the unconscious conscious. Resistance has an introspectable referent and a theoretical sense as well. This statement quite clearly also implies an introspectable aspect to energy. In fact, the systematic and experiential uses of "energy" and "libido" are not consistently distinguished in Freud's writings. He may speak of "libido" or "cathexis" as equivalent to investment or interest (e.g., 1911, p. 70); (1917, p. 224).

The Mirages of Marriage.

Abstract: The late Dr. Don D. Jackson and Mr. William Lederer have undertaken an ambitious project inThe Mirages of Marriage. They have attempted to present a work on the marital relationship and its vicissitudes that would be of interest and value to a wide audience. This would include marital therapists from various disciplines, marital counselors, and marital couples concerned with their problems in marriage. Their success in this undertaking is a credit to their knowledge of the problems of marriage and their skill as writers. Dr. Jackson had done extensive work in the fields of human communications and family relationships. Mr. Lederer, the co-author ofThe Ugly American, became interested in the problems of marriage as a result of his study of systems theory at Harvard University, where he is writer-inresidence. Their collaboration has resulted in a "successful marriage." The "Forward" by

Group Care: Friend or Foe?

Abstract: ■ This paper reports on a study of five different types of group eare settings for children in Austria/ Israel, Poland, and Yugoslavia, in which assumptions about intellectual, personality, and value development of group-reared children were tested. In general, the group-reared children appear to show no intellectual or psychosocial deficiencies when compared with children reared at home. The group setting also seems to have the potential to change values. The author concludes that the conditions necessary for an environment conducive to change, as shown by these settings, may not be wholly acceptable to the American professional, but that he must surmount the conflict he feels. ■

Toward a Rational Theory of Decentralization: Some Implications of a Mathematical Approach

Abstract: This paper seeks to open for exploration the field of decentralization in politics and organizational design. As a first approach, it examines conditions under which decentralization is preferable from the viewpoint of rationality or cost-effectiveness. Our normative statements as to what would be best, or what should be done, are formulated first from the viewpoint of the subjects or clients, but they are expected to include the interest of the community in ensuring adequate service at low cost, and they also include the interest of the rulers, insofar as their power in the long run depends on their capacity to respond to the demands made upon them quickly enough and adequately enough to retain their political support.The political theory underlying our study assumes that modern governments retain “their just powers by the consent of the governed,” and hence that both their legitimacy and their power will depend at least in significant part on their ability to respond adequately to the popular demands made upon them. We do not deal in this study with other important criteria of preference, such as the psychological value which some of those who take the role of powerholders may put upon centralized control, or the contrary value which some of those who identify with their subjects may put upon power sharing and decentralization.

Correlates of Political Complexity

Abstract: Morland, J. K. 1958 "Educational and occupational aspirations of mill and town school children in a Southern community." Social Forces 59 (December): 169-175. Reiss, Jr., Albert J. 1963 "Status deprivation and delinquent behavior." The Sociological Quarterly 4 (Spring): 135-150. Reissman, L. 1959 Class in American Society. Glencoe, Ill: The Free Press. Roach, J. L. and D. K. Gursslin. 1965 "The lower class status frustration and social disorganization." Social Forces 43 (May):501-510. Rodman, Hyman. 1963 "The lower class value stretch." Social Forces 42 (December):205-215. 1966 "Illegitimacy in the Caribbean social structure: A reconsideration." American Sociological Review 31 (October):673-683. Rosenberg, Morris. 1962 "Test factor standardization as a method of interpretation." Social Forces 41 (October) :53-61. Seanger, G. and N. S. Gordon. 1950 "The influence of discrimination on minority group members in its relation to attempts to combat discrimination." The Journal of Social Psychology 31:95-120. Shils, Edward A. 1963 "The theory of mass society." Pp. 30-47 in P. Olson (ed.), America as a Mass Society. New York: The Free Press. Short, Jr., J. F. 1964 "Gang delinquency and anomie." Pp. 98127 in Marshall B. Clinard (ed.), Anomie and Deviant Behavior. London: Collier Macmillan Limited. Spergel, Irving. 1964 Tacketville, Slumtown, Haulberg. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. Stephenson, R. N. 1957 "Mobility orientation and stratification of 1,000 ninth graders." American Sociological Review 22 (April): 204-212. Turner, Ralph H. 1964 The Social Context of Ambition: A Study of High School Seniors in Los Angeles. San Francisco: Chandler Publishing Co. Wilson, A. B. 1959 "Residential segregation of social classes and aspirations of high school boys." American Sociological Review 24 (December): 836-845. Wilson, T. P. 1969 "A proportional-reduction-in-error interpretation for Kendall's tau-b." Social Forces 47 (March):340-342. Zetterberg, Hans L. 1966 "On motivation." Pp. 124-141 in Joseph Berger, et al., (ed.), Sociological Theories in Progress. New York: Houghton Mifflin Co.

Patient Value Change in Milieu Therapy

Abstract: OBSERVERS and practitioners of psychotherapy have frequently emphasized the role of patient values and value changes in the process of treatment. A series of descriptive and anthropological studies during the past two decades have demonstrated the existence of ward or hospital "cultures" in a variety of settings. These institutional value systems, it has been argued, strongly affect the attitudes of patients, and exert great power over patient behavior and prognosis. 1-5 Recognition of such cultures has led both to a more sophisticated examination of the psychiatric hospital as a complex organization, and to a more self-conscious use of the hospital community as a major therapeutic instrument. At the same time, a small number of investigators have begun to examine the specific effects of therapeutic values on the values and attitudes of patients. Most formal studies have examined value phenomena during individual

The Dimension of Poverty

Abstract: TOWARD the end of the Administration of Lyndon Johnson it became briefly popular to talk about programs for eliminating poverty at home versus programs for mitigating poverty abroad. But it can also be argued that the two are sildes of the proverbial coin and that the experience of the one has meaning for the other. The present troubles of the domestic "war on povetty" do not diminish the value of the comparison. If anything, they enhance the need to consider the programs together. The rationale for attacking poverty is much the same at home and abroad though better recognized domestically. The simple moral argument that the rich have an obligation to help the poor ("God says so," says a senior developmenrt scholar of my acquaintance not entirely facetiously) is perhaps more compeliling than it is fashionable to admit. And the connection between poverty and insecurity for the rich has been made frequently. While the urgency of attacking domestic poverty is easier for Americans to see-after all, our cities are burningthe argument on the international plane is still obvious enough. Basically, we must simply recognize ithat we are in the business of building a community, a sense of shared purpose and shared destiny, both at home and abroad. The central values of our own civilization permit no less. "Anti-commitment," as Harlan Cleveland says, is "irrelevant."' At home we have long accepted the proposition that a community musit take responsibility for the welfare of all its members and that this will require some form of concerted action in favor of the weak and the poor. If nothing else so dictates, the familiar shrinkage of our planet requires that we apply the same reasoning to the world at large. It would be foolish to convince ourselves that the problem is simply one of economics. "This is the decade of the Negro's claim to full equality in all aspects of American life," James Tobin

Milieu Therapeutic Process

Abstract: T HE VALUE experience of patients, the treatment ideologies of therapists, and the cultures of treatment services are being recognized increasingly as critical aspects of therapeutic process. 1-4 Although most discussions of values have concerned individual treatment, it is now universally accepted that the value systems of psychiatric inpatient services also have powerful effects upon patient course. 5.6 This is especially true of therapeutic communities, where treatment occurs on a small group or ward level, and where group and unit norms are recognized as a critical component of the hospital experience. 7,8 The topic of induced value change in psychiatric units has received little theoretical analysis and even less empirical investigation. Research has been hampered by the difficulty in knowing what values to examine, by the fact that the value system of most hospitals are implicit, and by the lack of reliable and valid instruments for measuring value change in

The Social Functions of Public Education

Abstract: YEAR BY YEAR INTEREST HAS BEEN GROWING IN A KIND OF HISTORICAL inquiry that as yet has no name. It is concerned with the manner in which people have functioned through institutional means, and it takes as its point of departure the values people bring to their actions. Men's behavior-the policies they advocate, the rules they establish, the laws they support-acquires meaning from the beliefs men carry to it. These inquiries have also paid particularly close attention to the place of an institution in a social structure, because they assume that the role of an institution depends upon its fit-the nature of its interaction-within a larger social organization.' This essay explores the possible value of such an analysis in the field of public education since the 1830s.2

Marriage in the New Testament and in the Early Church

Abstract: Christian ethics is not a matter of fixed and unchangeable laws. If we are to study its history we must follow a story of development and trace the evidence of an evolution. This is not something that should shock us as though its development were something that puts in question its changeless value. On the contrary, its value is confirmed by its evolution, because Christian ethics is essentially dynamic. From this intrinsic dynamism we are constantly pushed forward. As Christians we live under one commandment, the commandment of love given by Jesus himself which is the centre of the dynamism. If Christian ethics becomes static, it contradicts its very nature. Far from being a tradition that is to be upheld from age to age, Christian ethics is the means of criticising the traditions of every age and a means of searching lines of development for the future.

The dynamics of school integration : problems and approaches in a northern city

Abstract: This case study of the attempt by one middlesized mid-western community to integrate its schools contributes very little to or understanding of the "dynamic of school integration." The book combines most of the weaknesses of the case study method with few of its advantages, and has little or no scholarly value. There is no discussion of methodology, no in-depth investigation of the key elements of the particular case, and no comparative data from other cases. There are teachings on the evils of segregation, the need for integration, and the naive view that the solution of school integration problems depends on getting the right articles "into the hands of the right people. . ." The book offers little for serious students of education, school integration, or public policy. It is, in fact, simply a recapitulation of some previous literature regarding the problems of ghetto schools and a superficial tracing of the history of the school integration issue in "Community

Technology and humanistic values

Abstract: What I should like to talk about today is the relationship between technology and the humanities. In doing so, I shall be construing both terms very broadly. I will mean by "technology" the totality of the tools that men make and use to make and do things with. Our technology, then, is our society's toolbox, which includes, not only hand tools and machines, but also the spectrum of intellectual tools, from language, to ideas, to science, and to such latter-day techniques as computer programs, systems analysis, and program planning and budgeting systems. It is with this toolbox that our society and the people in it do their work; the nature of work cannot be understood apart from the concept of tools. When construed in this broad way, of course, the concept of technology begins to shade into the wider concept of knowledge, which is why we often hear our time referred to as a "knowledge" society. There are a number of important issues, in fact, that have very little connection with technology as such, but that are nevertheless relevant to technology by virtue of illuminating the social role of knowledge in general. Knowledge in this general sense also includes information of all sorts, intellectual methodologies of all sorts-such as the use of computers by the arts and humanistic disciplines, for example-and extends further to a commitment to the value of rationality, and to the multiplication and growth in influence of a host of knowledge institutions, from universities, to research and development institutes, to analysis and planning staffs in public and private organizations. It is through enhancing the status, office, and importance of knowledge in one or another of its forms, in other words, that science and technology may be affecting society most significantly. In that sense, understanding technology in the broader sense of knowledge-as the ancient sense of scientia, if you will-may be a precondition of understanding the relationship between technology and the humanities or any other aspect of society that we may be interested in. I construe the word "humanities" equally broadly, as naming the concern with the expressive, moral, and contemplative aspects of living, as distinct from the instrumental ones. The arts are the concern of the humanities in this sense, as are history, and philosophy-at least in its original sense-and our aesthetic, ethical, and religious values. It is to this side of life that we appeal when we speak of the value of leisure-but leisure in the best sense, not in the potentially self-defeating sense of time off from work.

The Ethics of Heart Transplantation: A Personal View

Abstract: It seems a pity we have to spend so much time discussing and documenting not the scientific aspects of heart transplantation but the diverse problems related to it. However, a critical evaluation of these "happenings" can be most valuable, particularly in exposing for possible correction many of the unspoken and unexplored facets of medical practice and ethics. It is time to examine methods of scientific communication, criteria of death, confidentiality, rights of individuals, and the behavior of physicians, all quite aside from the value of cardiac transplantation as an experiment or a practical treatment. But I must warn you that I am no better prepared than anyone else to give definitive answers. My only claim to be heard is based on seniority and my belief that those who ignore the mistakes of the past are doomed to repeat them. I shall place my views at your disposal for consideration, not

Judicial Attitudes and Public Morals

Abstract: If there is an ascertainable community standard as to what acts are right or wrong?a value system within our society?is that standard shared equally by all elements of society, including judges? Sociological research in the State of Washington indicates a broad consensus shared by judges and other groups in the community, but yet there are deviations that possibly are explained by the education, status and sophistication of judges. T\0 JUDGES SHARE the commonly **-^ accepted moral standards of the community, or do their ideas of right and wrong represent a closed system, alien to that of the community they are judging? Are there in fact shared standards within the community re garding right and wrong, or is there a hodgepodge of different value sys tems operating in conflict with one another?

Some Observations on Method in Literary Studies

Abstract: A WORK of literature, or, indeed, a work of architecture, a statue, or a painting is usually approached in either of two ways. It may be presented as a "work of art" embodying elements that appeal more or less spo tan ously to the student. Its relevance may be explained on the basis of the insights of the teacher regarding form, structure, and techniques that are thought of as belonging to the province of all art. On the other hand, the student may be led to examine sources, traditions, historical information of relevance to the work in question, and other matters thought to have a subsidiary value in appreciating the work of art. Roughly, those who employ the first approach are called "critics" while those who employ the second are called "scholars." This difference has led to a great deal of debate.1 To avoid the unpleasantness arising from controversy, and perhaps, with some sense of creating a kind of Hegelian "higher synthesis," many scholars now like to be thought of as "scholar-critics," and critics have in some instances made certain concessions to scholarship. Usually, the "scholar-critic" agrees with the critic that human nature is a constant and that there are qualities of art that may be said to have a universal appeal. The deliberate cultivation of exotic art, either as "primitive art," or as art from geographically remote places, during the early years of this century, together with an increasing interest in humanity for its own sake, regardless of its specific cultural traditions,2 has given a tremendous impetus to the study of all forms of human expression. Most recently, it has become fashionable to reduce works of art, literary or visual, to their elemen-

A value-oriented framework for education and the behavioral sciences

Abstract: The valuing process characterizes man's conscious or unconscious striving in both personal and institutional contexts. Education helps learners to clarify, analyze, and modify their valuing processes. Therapy unifies value thinking with expressions of feeling in the therapist-client relationship.

Ética y derechos humanos - hacia una fundamentación de la bioética

Abstract: The presence of the other in our lives, its implications, the dependence that this presence generates we do not feel when we think of humans as beings that are self-sufficient, as individual subjects that should take their own conclusions and solve their own conflicts of conscience by themselves. Ethics as a justification for the actions when in front of others and as a responsibility improvement: answer, its only a result from the human characteristic of being social. The greatest expression of this special human way of living is its language and a specific part of this language that is the reason. Modernity has been calling attention, since the XVth century, to the value of the reason and its need inside the interpersonal relations, especially in the ethics field. Ethics, that usually justifies, needs to be justified itself, what in the modern language we call foundation. The objective of the present study is to get a justification for bioethics or, using another words, to get a foundation for it, taking in account that bioethics is an ethical exercise. The search from the study was guided by the human rights.

A Note on Nietzsche and Dostoevsky

Abstract: THE frequent mention of Nietzsche and Dostoevsky together is still topical for the very reason that both of them were among the acutest anatomists of our cultural, social, and moral crisis, the symptoms of which were already so prominent in the second half of the nineteenth century, let alone the century that followed. The character of their writing may have been conditioned also by their own bad health, since Dostoevsky was racked by attacks of epilepsy, while Nietzsche had to fight a long and painful illness which ended in progressive paralysis and a complete mental collapse. Yet their very ailments fostered in a way their psychological insight as well as their belief in the value of hypersensitive or extraordinary states of mind and body. Anti-rationalistic in their approach to the fundamental problems of man's existence, they were both keen questioners and doubters. They were also inwardly torn between a strong religious temperament and that strong anti-religious attitude which was so frequent a phenomenon of the age they lived in. Finally, both were "underworld minds" unable to come to terms either with other people or with the conditions they saw around them.

The Entrenchment of a Bill of Rights

Abstract: One of the most contentious issues involved in the current dialogue over constitutional reform is the value of an entrenched bill of rights. The author presents a brief history of the debate and some of the arguments for each side. Relevant provisions of the proposed Char ter of Human Rights, government documents and independent papers give important in sight into the issue of entrenchment.

A Choice Among Values: Theoretical and Historical Perspectives on the Defence of Necessity

Abstract: The author explores various theoretical approaches to the defence of necessity, rejecting both excusatory conceptions of the defence and those based on the notion of moral involuntariness. Rather, the author argues that necessity is properly understood as a justificatory defence based on a lack of moral blameworthiness. After extensively surveying the history of the defence in Canadian law, the author critiques the way in which the Supreme Court of Canada has restricted the defence. He contrasts the current Canadian approach with the treatment of the defence in other jurisdictions and concludes that Canadian law would be served best by a robust defence of necessity, which would acknowledge that, in some circumstances, pursuit of a value of greater worth than the value of adherence to the law can be justified.

Segregation and Integration: The Multi-Ethnic or Uni-Ethnic School.

Abstract: THE CURRENT TREND among leading school authorities is to regard the separate uni-ethnic schools as disadvantaged schools no matter how excellent their programs, and to regard ethnic integration as a major step forward in the education of minority-group children. Evidence has been compiled by several major studies which indicates, for example, that Negro children, on the average, achieve better in integrated schools than in segregated schools. There is, however, nothing inherently bad about uni-ethnic schools in a homogeneous country as regards formal academic achievement. The majority of schools the world over are homogeneous schools, in the sense of drawing their students from a single language group, nationality, or ethnic population; many such schools quite obviously have not been disadvantaged in a formal academic sense. Indeed, an argument could be made that uni-ethnic schools fail to acquaint pupils with youths of other backgrounds and, therefore, contribute to narrow nationalism, ethnocentrism and chauvinism (and ultimately to international hostility, misunderstanding, and warfare). This argument, in no way, renders uni-ethnic schools per se academically unsound. While it is true that we live in an age of global interaction and on the threshold, perhaps, of international unity, our major socio-ethnic units, or nationalities, are still very much in the grip of ancient anticosmopolitan ideals. Nationalities almost always have sought to indoctrinate their youth in patriotism, i.e., loyalty to the ethnic unit, or nation-state, and part of this process of enculturation has consisted in an attempt to draw a rather sharp line between "one's own people," and "foreigners" or "outsiders." It is likely, then, that uni-ethnic schools will continue to be highly esteemed, not so much for their educational value as for their ability to maintain youth within a system of national and group loyalties. This whole matter becomes more complex, of course, when schools within the boundaries of a heterogeneous political unit (such as the United States) are discussed. The United States is a state (a sovereign political unit), but it is not yet a nation (a single nationality or ethnic unit). It has always been a multi-ethnic state dominated by one group, the English-speaking white

Marxist Sociology in the Worldwide Sociological Movement

Abstract: We have grown accustomed to looking at the tasks of sociology from the standpoint of ideological struggles and ideological confrontation of the socialist countries with the Atlantic bloc, in the light of the tempestuous events of 1968. Under such an approach, first place is always given to those tasks that have to do with the ideological role of our discipline — i.e., its role in shaping political views and formulating propositions, hypotheses, and theories to explain the social processes arising in the world of today and capable of influencing political convictions, positions, and actions of significance in political struggle. At the same time, less attention is paid to the cognitive value of these theories, their practical significance in the solution of various pressing problems arising in contemporary society on the basis of changes consequent upon scientific and technological progress, the improvement of the organization of labor and rationalization of the processes of economic decision-making, chang...

Planning for Bellak's third revolution.

Abstract: Traditional planning models which aim for comprehensiveness are examined and found to be misleading. Comprehensive planning is limited by the planner's knowledge and information sources, the influence of value premises, and the multiplicity of decision centers. Citizen participation is viewed as a further limitation upon rationality in the decision-making process. But citizen participation is also suggested as a means for adjudicating value conflicts and also as a purposeful method for overcoming the “politics” of community decision-making.

Universal Values and World Politics

Abstract: The history of thought in any discipline reflects a progression in study from the more obvious and simple variables to less well defined and more complex ones. In political studies, geopolitical and institutional influences were among the first to be subjected to careful analysis and assessment. From time to time additional variables attracted attention as social environments began to feature them, and as thought in other areas called attention to them. Independence movements and struggles for participation in decision-making have recently provoked reconsideration of some notions of legitimacy; and innovations in engineering and electronics have provided additional models and tools for analysis of decision-making. Explanations of society are made, successively giving prominence to each new variable and mode of thought. Schools of thought and fashions in models are evidence of this process. A contemporary trend is to look behind structures, systems, and institutions to discover the drives, fears, anxieties, aspirations, or other motivations that create them. This seems to lead to consideration of human values. There has always been a wide interest in values among philosophers and political scientists. Probably no single topic has been more discussed. However, it has never been clear what precisely was being discussed. "Values" has been used to describe the long-term aspirations of states, such as peace and prosperity; the national interests of states as perceived by authorities; immediate policy objectives; the strategies by which goals are sought; and ethnic, religious, and ideological norms that are associated with different cultures and traditions. It has also been employed as a generic term to cover all the above, that is anything which is held to be valuable, the test being a willingness to expend resources in its defence or attainment. A recent usage relates to conditions necessary for the preservation of social systems; for example, the value attached to preserving rates of change