Presents a case study of the United Colors of Benetton advertising campaign as a conscious strategy to transform advertising into a broader category of communication. Argues that the campaign reflects the discomfort created by the postmodern dilemma of arbitrary meaning. Analyzes selected advertisements from the campaign. Recommends further study…

Examines stories that racially diverse, college educated adults tell about race and racism. Discusses the function of stories in culture, presenting counternarratives told predominantly by respondents of color and hegemonic narratives told predominantly by Whites. Analyzes the prevalence and effects of color blind ideology in white stories.…

Investigated public officials' use of subtle exclusionary language regarding immigrant-related issues. Data were collected from mainstream U.S. Newspaper articles from 1995-2000, focusing on unregulated pharmacies, food vendors, and housing. Results suggest that while public officials discuss immigrant problems with seeming empathy to avoid being…

Examines the causes of public anger and intellectual embarrassment with computer literacy and argues that it is no mere coincidence that intellectual embarrassment has become our besetting cultural vice at the same time that information technology proliferates. Roszak suggests that the book belongs to a rich and necessary way of thinking that…

Known but neglected validity issues in measurement are reviewed from the perspective of a 50-year history of research. Important but too often overlooked validity issues in applying assessment to social issue are identified, and needed directions for the fields of assessment and measurement are suggested. (SLD)

Discusses whether religion can affect health and social welfare and what types of religious influences are most beneficial to the individual and society, identifying three separate but related faith factors: organic religion, programmatic religion, and ecological religion. Examines research on faith-based approaches to social and urban problems.…

Presents a conversation with picture book creator Emily Arnold McCully. Acknowledges her frequent focus on strong women in her picture books. Shares ideas about using history in her writing. (SG)

Selects seven journal articles that feature young adult novels and, in the commentary, covers a topic of importance in the teaching of adolescent literature: theory, social issues, history, exposition, and practice. Contains a summary of each novel, a summary of the accompanying article, as well as information about the journal and the article…

Sketches some events in the life and career of Lowry Nelson, a rural sociologist, and relates these events to the development of rural sociology and the Rural Sociological Society. Asserts that the dream of using science to ameliorate social problems during the early development of rural sociology is still present today. (KS)

Offers a personal perspective on the shortcomings of contemporary news reporting. Considers four shortcomings: partial coverage, abstracting of issues, excessive objectivity, and elitism. States that reporters should always pursue the truth. (PA)

Examines how social conditions can become social problems and argues that there are objective ways of determining the scale of a particular problem. The paper supports its argument through examinations of prohibition, the decline in tobacco consumption, and the war on drugs. (GLR)

Presents a conversation with philosopher of science Sandra Harding, a major exponent of "feminist standpoint theory." Argues that objectivity is maximized not by excluding social factors from the production of knowledge but by starting the process of inquiry from an explicitly social location--the lived experience of those traditionally…

Summarizes findings from "The Troubled Journey: A Portrait of 6th-12th Grade Youth," a study of society's role in youth development. Highlights missing supports, destructive influences, at-risk behaviors, and promising strategies (e.g., reduce deficits/increase assets, strengthen youth-oriented institutions, involve youth in caring for others,…

The last 25 years have seen the mainstreaming of adult education through national and international organizations. Future challenges include continuing education of adult educators, accountability, social issues, and technological change. (SK)

Defends the Bradley Commission on History in Schools' and the National Commission on Social Studies' recommendations that history should be the basis of social studies instruction. Discusses claims that such an approach is ideologically conservative and unsupported by research. Addresses the suggestion that the study of social problems is the…