Compares tabloid and traditional broadcast news magazine coverage of crime and the content of their crime narratives. Finds that tabloid shows are more likely than traditional shows to feature crime stories. Tabloid shows are more likely to feature criminals of the middle and upper classes, while traditional shows are more likely to feature…

Examined children's conceptions of the causes of wealth and poverty. As their ages increase, children explain wealth and poverty by referring to individual differences in work, effort, and intelligence rather than social, structural, or political factors. (PCB)

Examines the perceptions of Israeli college students toward the modal intelligence of and social distances among the following groups: (1) European Jews; (2) Eastern Jews; (3) Christian Arabs; (4) Moslem Arabs; and (5) Druze. Concludes that perceptions are molded by and function like cultural group stereotypes. (FMW)

Proposes that literacy must be judged against social background. Analyzes the racial and social differences in the interpretations of a story by a working-class Black student, a working-class White student, and an upper-class White student. (FMW)

Identifies and explains the nature of syntactic and pragmatic codes on prime-time television which distinguish characters on the basis of gender and social class. Finds that middle-class television characters employed a syntactic code by using linguistic elaboration and structural complexity. (SR)

Discuses briefly how, by understanding the social distances that define and separate students' self-selected peer crowds in secondary schools, school staff can help students with peer pressures, develop their own identities, and succeed academically. (SR)

One way in which larger social conflicts influence classroom conversations is described. The analysis of linguistic clues uncovers conflict at an implicit level between worker-class White teachers and lower-class African-American students. A level of interactional activity is described in which speakers implicitly position themselves with respect…

Analyzed data from San Francisco 85+ Study, longitudinal study of community-dwelling older adults, to make comparisons between whites (n=150) and African Americans (n=122). Found that African Americans were significantly more disadvantaged than whites in socioeconomic status. African Americans perceived their health as poorer than whites but were…

Contributes to scholarship on communicative processes in employment interviewing and on cultural diversity. Discusses communication processes aligned with nondominant group membership. Presents a picture of the performance burdens that members of traditionally underrepresented groups may experience when attempting to meet traditional expectations…

Tested for social class differences in social support among older adults. Data suggest social class differences emerge when measures of contact with friends, support provided to others, and satisfaction with support are examined. Significant differences failed to emerge with indicators of contact with family, support received from others, and…

Among 1,493 adolescents ages 14-20 years, the lower the social group, the higher the average neurotic defense style score. Boys had higher scores of mature defense styles than girls. Among boys who had lost their father, lower social class was related to immaturity. Social class differences in defense styles may partly explain later differences in…

Environmental harms involve a "double diversion"--two forms of privilege that deserve greater attention. The first involves disproportionality, or the privileged diversion of rights/resources: Contrary to common assumptions, much environmental damage is not economically "necessary"--instead, it represents privileged access to the environment. It…

This chapter describes the history of the Eccles et al. Expectancy Value Model and research on the influence of social and psychological factors on gender and ethnic differences in math, science, and information technology choices. (Contains 1 figure.)

Boudon has distinguished between the primary and secondary effects of socialization as a cause of social disparities in education. His explanation of secondary effects, which rests on an analysis of decision-making within opportunity cost constraints, has attracted support from realist sociologists. The empirical evidence, however, suggests that…

This article presents a roundtable held by the editorial board of "Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniia"; the sector of the sociology of education of the Institute of Sociology, Russian Academy of Sciences; and the committee for research on the sociology of education, Russian Society of Sociologists. The meeting was conducted by Doctor of…