Keywords: Sociology of Religion, Turkey, Gender Roles, Religious Attitudes.

Submitted: Oct 28, 2004

Type: Tier One - Scholarly

Abstract

The aim of this research is to clarify that the social change in modern Turkey influence on attitudes, behaviors and expectations about gender roles, with findings about theoretical, practical and social aspects of religion. I explored that differentiation which has been seen in participants’ attitudes to gender relationships according to gender, age, marital status, educational level, occupation and subjective religiosity. Finally, I summarized that in spite of affecting secularization, urbanization and social change process, in Northern Turkey attitudes to gender relationships generally reflects that Turkey’s today situation. However, this differentiation is not as structural type and model. There are just some changes in attitudes to gender relationships in this area. So, it might be stated that traditional structure still remains to influence on gender roles and relationships.

Keywords: Marriage, External Social Factors, Marriage Ceremonies and Marriage types

Submitted: Sept 25, 2004

Type: Tier One - Scholarly

Abstract

The objectives of this study were (1) to identify the impact of external social factors on the marriage system of Gidda Oromo (2) to identify criteria to marriage, marriage ceremonies and types of marriage among Gidda Oromo. Most of the information was obtained by interviewing with elders of the study community. The interview was undertaken from January 1993-August 1993. Some external social factors such as migration, politics and religion brought a great change in marriage custom of Gidda Oromo. Relationship by blood, economic, social and occupational statuses of both families as well as age at marriage were found to be the essential consideration before marriage. Naqataa (betrothal) is the most common type of marriage followed by Sabat marii, Hawwii, Butii, Aseennaa and Dhalaa.

Keywords: Socioeconomic impacts (SI), highway project, and public perception

Submitted: Sept 25, 2004

Type: Tier One - Scholarly

Abstract

Socioeconomic benefits are the driving force for highway development process. Assessment of socioeconomic impacts due to a highway project is an integral part of planning process. A methodology is presented in this paper for the quantification of impact on socioeconomic attributes based on the perception of people in the influence area of the project. The variation of impact with distance from highway is also modeled for each socioeconomic attribute. The spatial distribution of the impact is considered along with the intensity of impact in estimating impact values for different socioeconomic attributes. Aggregation of impacts on socioeconomic attributes is demonstrated with reference to a case study by considering the relative weights of different socioeconomic attributes.

Keywords: HIV/AIDS, Global Epidemiology, Socio-Economic Implications of AIDS

Submitted: Sept 12, 2004

Type: Tier One - Scholarly

Abstract

Humankind has been besieged throughout its evolution by micro-organisms that pose a continual challenge to the survival of the species. Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome [AIDS] is epidemic and the whole globe is on the edge of the abyss. It is spreading like wildfire in almost all the countries. The spread of HIV/AIDS threatens to reverse a generation of accomplishments in human development and is rapidly becoming a socio-economic crisis on global scale. AIDS has a profound impact on workers and their families, enterprises and national economies. HIV/AIDS has diversified but integrated socio-economic effects. AIDS is an epidemic that has killed more than the international terrorism. AIDS is threading to reduce, halt and even reverse economic growth of the Asian countries. Especially Thailand, India, Nepal, and even Singapore are loosing economic sustainability because of uncontrolled epidemic disease, “AIDS”. It terrorizes to kill the people of Asia at the prime of their productive years. It is a qualitative research-oriented study to examine the increasing dangers of HIV/AIDS throughout the world and especially in the continent of Asia and Africa. The socio-economic implications of HIV/AIDS are deeply discussed and sincere efforts are made to unearth the obvious and hidden dangers. The beneficiaries of this study may include, experts of public health, executives of NGOs, medical students, central policy makers, common man, and above the all masters of national treasuries to combat with the alarming situation of HIV/AIDS.

Keywords: Death, chinese culture,

Submitted: Oct 21, 2004

Type: Tier One - Scholarly

Reviewers Assigned: Oct 21, 2004

Abstract

In recent years, there have been many disasters and casualties that have happened in Taiwan. Through suicide, accidental death, diseases, and death caused by violence, death seems to be always engulfing life. Yet, death is a taboo subject in Chinese culture. Confucius acknowledges this when he (551~479BC) said: “Not understanding birth let alone the death” (Soothill, 1995). When a death event happens, it is always taken care of privately. There are similar cases in America. DeSpelder & Strickland (1988) reveal that Americans avoid talking about death and often use the word “it” when referring to a dead child....

Keywords: Euthansia, Religiosity, Israeli Social Science Students

Submitted: Oct 16, 2004

Type: Tier One - Scholarly

Reviewers Assigned: Nov 01, 2004

Abstract

The paper deals with the attitudes of Israeli social sciences students towards physician-assisted death, in view of the marked increase in approval rates of voluntary termination of life practices for the terminally ill. Basically, it set out to assess the relationship between the students’ self-identified religiosity and their attitudes towards euthanasia. It analyzes the findings of an exploratory study carried out on a purposive sample of one hundred twenty seven social sciences students in an Israeli public college. The administered questionnaire was meant to trace three components of the students’ attitudes to PAD: affective, cognitive and conative. It embraced two parts, one dealing with feelings and opinions, the other – with ideological-behavioural attitudes. All in all, the study revealed that religiosity plays a major role in shaping attitudes towards assisted end-of-life, both in as much as the affective, cognitive and conative components of the students’ attitudes are concerned. However, the study also revealed that lukewarm support for euthanasia transcends religiosity. It turned out that even the secular students’ support for PAD was very reserved. One conclusion of the paper is that the institutional character or climate of the studied college was a possible major contributor to that uncharacteristic conservative attitude.

Keywords: Multiculturalism, British Schooling, Religious education

Submitted: Sept 12, 2004

Type: Tier One - Scholarly

Reviewers Assigned: Sept 22, 2004

Abstract

There are questions about the relevance of the policy of multicultural education for England and Wales. This paper looks at the legacy that is embedded in the British social life as an epitome of cultural beauty. It sees the policy on multicultural education with particular reference to the teaching of religious education as an erosion, which has been legislatively channeled across this cultural beauty. This paper, while attempting to model a multicultural education programme ideal within a multi-ethnic society, points out some of the dangers a society faces when no respect or regards is given to its cultural integrity.

Keywords: Islam, Female Employment, politcal roles of women

Submitted: Aug 22, 2004

Type: Tier One - Scholarly

Reviewers Assigned: Oct 16, 2004

Abstract

This paper reconsiders the cross-national determinants of female labor force participation in Islamic settings. It explores a neopatriarchal perspective using indicators of the role of the government and the political role of women. The study shows that government plays a significant role determining female employment. Islamic ideology as a cultural variable also contributes significantly to the model. Thus, the results indicate that Islamic ideology per se is not the only factor determining female labor force participation; the political atmosphere and economic development also contribute.

Keywords: American Elite, War in Iraq, Just War

Submitted: Aug 22, 2004

Type: Tier One - Scholarly

Reviewers Assigned: Oct 21, 2004

Abstract

In the justifications that are drawn up for wars by the media, it is seldom realized that no war can be described as a “just war” when it involves the daily killing of civilians, the continuous psychological terrorizing of entire populations of civilian cities, or when it forces people to leave their homes and become refugees, or when it destroys the civilian infrastructure and disrupts the provision of daily necessities to the common people. My purpose in this paper is to try to bring facts in line with their human consequences, to restore reason and reflection that are so often robbed from us by those whose desires for continuous war are seldom affected by humanitarian concerns. Given the nature of weapons possessed by militaries around the world, the concept of the traditional “just war” has become completely outdated. The use of these weapons in all cases, in spite of the claims of them being “smart”, involves the killing of unarmed, noncombatant civilians.

Keywords: Exchange Theory, Social Interaction, Social Psychology

Submitted: Aug 22, 2004

Type: Tier One - Scholarly

Reviewers Assigned: Oct 21, 2004

Abstract

Exchange theory has become one of the most ambitious social, especially socio-psychological, theories. Social exchange theory’s fundamental premise is that human behavior is an exchange of rewards between actors. This is the rationale for the claim that social exchange can serve as a general paradigm for sociology and anthropology as well as social psychology. The present critique is aimed at rational choice and behaviorist variants of social exchange theory rather than at the theory as such. First, the main assumptions of (these variants of) social exchange theory are presented. This is followed by a critique of these assumptions at two levels. The first level pertains to the treatment of social interaction as an exchange, and the second to the status of social exchange as an economic or psychological phenomenon. Other criticisms of exchange theory are also presented.

Keywords: Interracial Dating, Korolewicz, African Americans

Submitted: Aug 22, 2004

Type: Tier One - Scholarly

Reviewers Assigned: Oct 16, 2004

Abstract

As America’s population becomes increasingly more diverse ethnically and culturally, the opportunities for individuals of differing racial backgrounds and ethnic groups to mix interracially when engaging in romantic relationships increase also. The purpose of this study was to compare college students’ perceptions of couples engaged in interracial romantic relationships compared to college students’ perceptions of couples engaged in romantic relations with individuals of the same racial heritage. Possible effects of subject age, gender and educational level are examined as well. The research was conducted in the southwest region of the U. S., using adult college students drawn from student populations on one publicly supported, historically Black university and one private Baptist university. The purpose of this research report is to make a comparative examination of the attitudes and perceptions concerning interracial dating. In total, 107 students completed the Korolewicz Interracial Dating Preference Questionnaire (K-IDPQ), an instrument designed to assess attitudes toward interracial dating. Results indicate that African Americans and those with previous interracial dating experiences were significantly more likely to express an openness to becoming involved in an interracial relationship.

Keywords: children’s suffrage law; child\'s vote.

Submitted: July 17, 2004

Type: Tier Two - Popular

Reviewers Assigned: Oct 16, 2004

Abstract

The paper attempts to propose, in our view, the most effective mechanism for improving children\'s well-being and solving children\'s problems in the new century, -- namely, children’s suffrage exercised by children\'s parents or legal guardians. The paper analyzes the social, political and moral necessity of children’s suffrage, and its connections with the constitutional and electoral laws. The paper outlines a spectrum of the positive effects the law of children’s suffrage may have on all societal spheres, and social obstacles to its adoption. This paper is the theoretical basis for conducting of the international sociological research of the attitude of population to children\'s suffrage.

Keywords: Scarpetta figure, feminism, Cornwell

Submitted: Jun 05, 2004

Type: Tier One - Scholarly

Reviewers Assigned: Sept 28, 2004

Abstract

The literary text has no real existence until it is read; its meaning can only be discussed by its readers. We differ in our interpretations only because our ways of reading differ. According to Raman Selden, Peter Widdowson and Peter Brooker, it is the reader who applies the code in which the message is written and in this way actualizes what would otherwise remain only potentially meaningful (48). Seen in this way the addressee is not a passive recipient of an entirely formulated meaning, but an active agent in the making of meaning. In literary interpretation, the reader must act upon the textual material in order to produce meaning. This is my starting point when focusing on the reader’s role in the making of best-selling Patricia Cornwell’s stories. In her serial murder novels, the dead body is the site, where the author and the reader make their mutual encounter within the framework of American society. Throughout her writing career, Cornwell has been constructing a role model of the white, heterosexual, middle-class, professional female heroine for her ideal reader, who either fulfills or wishes to fulfill the same requirements. Cornwell charges the Scarpetta figure with idealized images of the invincible femininity and integrates her identity by identifying with her, and so does Cornwell’s ideal reader, who becomes an accomplice in their mutual searche la femme.

Keywords: Economic interests, Australia, world economy

Submitted: Jun 05, 2004

Type: Tier One - Scholarly

Reviewers Assigned: Oct 16, 2004

Abstract

This paper will demonstrate that through the historical development of Australia a dependent economy based on the export of primary product has been produced, placing Australia on the semi-core of the World-System at a very early stage. Because of the past successes Australia has enjoyed in terms of profiting from low-end production and export of agricultural and Mining product, as well as the political and economic interests built up around this form of production domestically, these patterns of production have not changed substantially to this day despite some attempts, most notably in the 1950s and 1980s to reverse this production trend.

Keywords: rape crisis, state funding, feminism

Submitted: May 21, 2004

Type: Tier One - Scholarly

Reviewers Assigned: Jun 04, 2004

Abstract

Wherever feminist groups provide services for women there will be conflicts and challenges surrounding the funding of such services. Rape crisis movements have a long history across Europe and in the US and a common concern has emerged in relation to state funding. This article uses local and national level examples from the UK to consider the potential dangers that exist in taking money from the state. Can the rape crisis movement retain its identity and autonomy whilst managing the demands of the state as paymaster, particularly at a time when the paymaster is constructing new legislation which may further constrain the work of rape crisis?

Keywords: social movements. political opportunity structure, framing

Submitted: May 18, 2004

Type: Tier One - Scholarly

Reviewers Assigned: Sept 14, 2004

Abstract

This paper examines the history of the international Esperanto from the late 1940s to the present, offering an interesting case study on the dynamics and interplay of frame alignment and political opportunities in what some would label a dying social movement. An examination of recent movement history demonstrates the reciprocal relationship between political opportunities and frame alignment. In the period just after World War II, political opportunities shaped the movement's dominant frame. By the late 1980s, a competing frame shapes the perception of political opportunity for some movement activists. The directional change of this relationship can be attributed partially to generational differences.

Keywords: human capital theory, educational assessments

Submitted: Mar 08, 2004

Type: Tier One - Scholarly

Reviewers Assigned: Mar 10, 2004

Abstract

In this paper the concept of High Stakes Testing is evaluated against human capital theory and cognitive psychology’s concept of aptitudes for the purposes of determining whether or not the use of assessment in high stakes testing policies is consistent or inconsistent with cornerstone beliefs in American public education. In the process, an important criterion is established for evaluating, more generally, the use of educational assessments.

Keywords:

Submitted: Mar 08, 2004

Type: Tier One - Scholarly

Reviewers Assigned: Oct 16, 2004

Abstract

This paper uses a study of the UK Better Government for Older People [BGOP] programme to analyse the use of public participation in state governance. BGOP is shown to be an example of the British ‘New Labour’ government successfully enrolling the resources of non-statutory organisations and local authorities into its modernisation agenda. This analysis is extended into a local ‘Better Government for Older People’ pilot partnership where the local authority established a framework for communication and used strategies for managing communication to elicit public support for its proposals. Whilst governance is characterised by inequalities in power and resources it should not be thought of as a one way process. BGOP showed the government needed to adapt its thinking to win support from non-statutory organisations. At the local level, older members of the public used participation to access various resources and employed their own strategies for getting their agendas on to the table

Keywords: health care reform, globalization, medical insurance

Submitted: Mar 08, 2004

Type: Tier One - Scholarly

Reviewers Assigned: Oct 16, 2004

Abstract

Medical insurance, hospital organization and system management reform in China are well underway. As the first part of this study suggests, these developments have taken place within a dynamic context of overall government reform and sustained economic development. This overall context now includes the globalization of China’s trade relations in areas ranging from finance to agriculture to intellectual property and chemicals to automobiles and including health services, drugs, technical barriers to trade and food safety matters. With all these changes, the fundamental processes of public administration in health can be expected to undergo changes as health institutions and legislation are transformed. The dynamics of economic growth have provided new conditions for governmental response in medical insurance and health system development.

Keywords: Cultural Capital, Graduate Student Achievement, Bourdieu

Submitted: Aug 03, 2004

Type: Tier One - Scholarly

Reviewers Assigned: Sept 23, 2004

Abstract

Bourdieu’s cultural capital thesis asserts that students from privileged socioeconomic backgrounds tend to acquire a background in high culture (i.e. cultural capital) that they invest in scholastic pursuits and thereby obtain returns in the form of academic achievement and degree attainment. Cultural capital research by Bourdieu and others has examined the attainment of undergraduate and graduate degrees, but has treated graduate level education as a “black box” (i.e., such research has confined the examination of academic achievement to the undergraduate level). This study made a preliminary quantitative attempt to test the bourdieuian thesis that students from higher socioeconomic backgrounds tend to have higher levels of graduate academic achievement because they enter graduate school with cultural capital that they acquired prior to college. A convenient sample of liberal arts students attending a socioeconomically diverse graduate school was utilized as the basis for conducting a graduate student survey (n=113). An analysis of the survey data found that after controlling for relevant variables, neither socioeconomic status nor cultural capital (operationalized as pre-college attendance at various high culture events) had a substantively meaningful or statistically significant relationship with graduate academic achievement (operationalized as graduate grade point average). These preliminary findings suggest that Bourdieu’s thesis needs to be amended; graduate students can become academically liberated from the cultural effects of their socioeconomic origins.

Keywords: digital divide, higher education, usage gap, structural factors, Israel, web-based-instruction

Submitted: Jun 22, 2004

Type: Tier One - Scholarly

Reviewers Assigned: Jun 22, 2004

Abstract

This paper focuses on the effects of social-structural factors (age, ethnicity and gender) on university students\' use of web based instruction - WBI. The study uses data from registration questionnaires of students at the Open University of Israel. During the period between 1995 and 2002 there has been a continuous increase in the proportion of students who use the Internet and e-mail for study purposes. However, a significant minority (1/3 of the students) are still not Internet users. Previous studies have referred to the digital divide in terms of differences in access to the relevant hardware and explained it mainly by social and structural factors. Current research tends to focus on the digital divide in terms of use rather than access and explains it mainly by micro, individual and situational characteristics. The present study shows that also structural factors such as age, gender and ethnicity play a significant role in the continuous existence of the usage gap. The social and educational implications of this gap are discussed.

Keywords: Body, disembodiment, cyberspace, phenomenology, perception, enlightenment, Cartesian split.

Submitted: May 18, 2004

Type: Tier One - Scholarly

Reviewers Assigned: Sept 28, 2004

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to examine the entangled relationship between the technology of cyberspace and the rhetoric of disembodiment by using Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenological approach. I start with an overview of the Enlightenment’s epistemology regarding the body and precisely that of the Cartesian split, then go on to argue how the body still subsists in the symbolic world created by virtual reality, focusing on materiality, spaciality and bodily experiences within the realm of cyberspace. This in an attempt to negate the idea that digital environment is the location par excellence for fulfilling the dream of Cartesian dualism.

Keywords: drugs, prohibition, Robert Merton, dysfunctions, social problems

Submitted: May 18, 2004

Type: Tier One - Scholarly

Reviewers Assigned: Sept 23, 2004

Abstract

Taking a cue from Robert Merton’s concept of “dysfunctions”, this study takes prohibition policies to be a problem for users of “hard drugs”. The paper theorizes why this problem has been neglected and draws upon a qualitative research project to provide an initial experiential audit. Twenty semi-structured interviews were conducted in Australia probing the ramifications of a context of illegality for those who routinely engage in illicit drug use. Prohibition was found to have negative consequences for users in financial, legal, social and personal spheres. Drug research has mostly explored the pharmacological risks of drug use and the collective impacts of drug prohibition policy. An additional research focus is required investigating how drug regulation may contribute to outcomes and experiences within the everyday lives of drug users.