Apparent political apathy among youth in the United States has led to a moral panic about the future of democracy. Many researchers question the facts, while others seek to engage and mobilize young people around public issues they care about in order to master the citizen role and to bring social change. Civic youth work has its modern roots in…

To do research that really makes a difference--the authors of this book argue--social scientists need questions and methods that reflect the complexity of the world. Bringing together a consortium of voices across a variety of fields, "Methods that Matter" offers compelling and successful examples of mixed methods research that do just…

Discussion of the future of the liberal arts college is more fruitful if it begins not with its own practical internal matters but rather with a consideration of the problems in the supporting society in the solution of which the colleges could, if they chose to do so, render unique assistance. External activities designed to improve the lot of…

In the recent social revolution, rebellious middle-class youth attacked and rejected, among other values, the American middle-class belief in the worthwhileness of work. Although this recent humanistic revolt hardly affected the patterns of working life in America, it influenced attitudes toward work not only among middle-class adolescents and…

In addressing issues that are common to all educational jurisdictions in Canada, the author has designated as "national" those issues that are manifest concurrently within the provincial and local board arenas and as "federal" those issues that integrally involve relationships between the federal government and the provinces.…

Fourteen science fiction stories are collected and arranged under the themes, MarsAmerica, Progress, Machine, Society, and Weapons. These stories make statements about the present as well as the future and allow students to confront that future before it overtakes them. The purpose of the anthology is to prepare students for the different…

This book provides a framework for examining violence as a social issue in contemporary society. Discussion is limited to violence as it occurs in the United States. The book can be used as a teacher resource or a secondary-level reader on violence, giving an historical background and a discussion of violence as a social phenomenon. The framework…

These papers by four social scientists were prepared for a conference to analyze the current absence of a value consensus in American life and to examine grounds for a consensus. Further, the contribution of education and the media to the shaping and dissemination of values is explored. Kenneth Boulding contends that underlying moral diversity is…

The goal of American education must be to provide more learning for more people. Accomplishing this objective will require formidable commitments of social will, educational expertise, and financial resources. Although there are many good schools in America, many others face many impediments in their efforts to educate children. Obstacles for…

The paper analyzes how the attempt to assimilate ethnic groups into American society has contributed to social, economic, and political inequality. The hypothesis is that the official model of classical sociology has blinded us to a vast range of social phenomena which must be understood if we are to cope with the problems of contemporary America.…

The pessimists' view is that the U.S. family is collapsing; on the other hand, optimists view it is as merely diversifying. Too often, both camps begin with an ahistorical, static notion of what the family was like before the contemporary period. Noting that the actual complexity of our history gets buried under the weight of an idealized image,…