Seeks to explain the strong persistence in patterns of staff contact in a high school, between the spring of one academic year and the fall of the next, despite a 50 percent turnover of personnel in the interim. (DE)

Presents a selected review of Habermas'"Theory of Communicative Action." The theorist's model of action rationality and concept of the "life world" are discussed, and an approach is suggested linking Habermas's substantive theory to psychological-developmental dimensions. (Author/RH)

Over the past ten years, the inferior social status of musicians in several Asian countries has improved. The social history and contemporary status of musicians and the impact of the mass media on the social role of music in Asian countries are described. (AM)

We must recognize that literacy is a serious problem in the American population but, at the same time, reject the notion that the problem may be met by programs such as the Back to Basics movement that eschew critical thinking. (Author/GC)

Examined data on suicide rates for males age 20 to 64 by occupation and industry for 1950. Results indicated variations in suicide are related to changes in the size of the group from which significant others are selected. Conclusions support a structural change approach to suicide. (Author)

The author discusses ritual as a process of creating social frameworks through the mobilization of communal sentiment and purpose. He presents a case study in which the ritual process was applied by an external change agent to develop social partnerships and local support for the establishment of a community center. (SK)

A social-psychological and historical context for understanding contemporary sex roles, fertility, parenting, and the family is provided by reviewing origins and objectives of the women's movement; feminist efforts to change social structures affecting women's choice of roles and fertility require continued attention. (Author)

Discusses career patterns of administrators within a public school system administrative hierarchy, using flows of people between positions as measures of connections between positions. Specific career patterns studied included promotion to superintendency via central office administration and via secondary school supervision. (Author/DB)

An argument is built for the investigation of the activity of schooling through an understanding of the personal ideologies of those people through whose actions schools are created and maintained. Provides an example of how recent developments in the inquiry into organizational life may complement current curriculum reconceptualization. (Author)

The application of nonequilibrium thermodynamics could lead to new ways of understanding social processes. (BB)

The failure of Western industrial societies to fulfill the individual's need for a sense of community as it existed in the social structure of Medieval Europe, and the implications of this failure for both the individual and society as a whole are discussed. (RW)

Discusses research in three Australian secondary schools planning to implement school-based decision-making and planning procedures as part of a "corporate-managerialist" restructuring program. Results showed that secondary schools are open social systems comprised of complex relationship patterns. A unitary view of secondary schools is…

Two trends in postmodernist thought are discernible: one redefines modernist principles such as democracy, reason, and equality; the other deconstructs and rejects these principles. However, the redefinition of modernist principles offers educators the most hopeful and useful conception of dialogue across differences. (SK)