With globalization, increased mobility of families, and the resultant changes to the social and cultural profiles of many countries, early childhood education is in an exciting, challenging, and, in some ways, uncomfortable position. For many years, teachers have been influenced by developmentalists as they have tried to respond to the diverse…

Social workers have long been involved in identifying resources and making final arrangements for clients who die without an estate or have no heirs, who may be institutionalized or unknown to the community, or whose body may be unclaimed for burial. Absent quick intervention, these individuals are often at risk for an anonymous potter's field…

Structure and agency of cultural diversity in (international) higher education have to be addressed with a critical perspective on international mobility and practices of international academic teaching. In order to overcome naive assumptions about intercultural developments on the individual and the organizational level, sociological analysis…

This article uses activity theory to consider how teacher learning and development occurs. It aims to show that imitation and orienting activity, both of which make use of the analysis of actions into means and goals, can help explain how a group of Malaysian mathematics and science teachers learned to use the language-teaching practice of tasks…

In their "Telling Identities: In Search of an Analytic Tool for Investigating Learning as a Culturally Shaped Activity", Anna Sfard and Anna Prusak articulate the promise of story or narrative in defining identity as an analytic tool in sociocultural research on learning. The article strives toward a process-rich notion of identity that responds…

Children constantly encounter signs during cultural practices, although many theories do not fully acknowledge sociocultural aspects of semiotic development. The author examines research on cultural practices and contexts in which children learn to produce signs involving representational drawing and pretend play. This work is contrasted with more…

This article outlines Foucault's conception of critique in relation to his writings on Kant. In that Kant saw Enlightenment as a process of release from the status of immaturity in that we accept someone else's authority to lead us in areas where the use of reason is called for, it is claimed in this article that Foucault's notion of critique…

Despite significant social changes in the past 50 years, research continues to find a strong and enduring link between religious homogamy and marital quality. Yet, research has not explicitly examined whether this link has changed over time or over generations. To address historical and generational trends, I use national, longitudinal data…

This article conceptualizes acculturation from a sociocultural theoretical framework. Drawing on data from a 2-year ethnographic study of immigrant families, specifically their beliefs and practices related to discipline, the authors show that acculturation is a complex, dynamic, and interactive process that cannot be easily measured through…

Rhetoric must be defined not merely as a way of transmitting knowledge, but as a way of knowing. Knowing is a social act, requiring the mind to categorize sensory data intersubjectively, according to category systems that are socially generated and consensually validated. The dissociation between knower and known implied by the stance of…

Contemporary sport stylizes social modes and reflects conceptions of social roles. (JS)

This report explains the procedure for terminating parental rights and discusses related issues, including grounds for termination, consideration of the child's best interests, and procedural safeguards for the rights of parents. Emerging issues of interest to state legislators are examined. An analysis of involuntary termination of parental…

Discusses ways of addressing superiors, inferiors and peers in a war zone setting, Vietnam 1965-70. Charts are given of address forms for enlisted men and non-commissioned officers. Also discussed are addresses during action. Degrees of intimacy for various titles are explained. (SC)

Studies the general theory of language development and particularly the modernization of Tamil and the sociocultural factors responsible for the way development has taken place in this language. (SC)