Role In Social Change Research Articles

Gendered aspects of social change

Gender roles are changing with the change of priorities and spheres of social influence in great historical upheavals. Transitional societies have undergone significant changes in social structure and gender roles have been influenced accordingly. Retraditionalization and globalization play important roles in that process.

Commentary on Tse MMY, Pun SPY & Benzie IFF (2005) Pain relief strategies used by the older people with chronic pain: an exploratory survey for planning patient‐centred intervention. Journal of Clinical Nursing 14, 315–320

Commentary on Tse MMY, Pun SPY &amp; Benzie IFF (2005) Pain relief strategies used by the older people with chronic pain: an exploratory survey for planning patient‐centred intervention. <i>Journal of Clinical Nursing</i> 14, 315–320

Understanding Social Change in Conducting Research on Adolescence

In the present essay, we focus on G. Stanley Hall's contributions to the study of the role of social change for adolescent development. After introducing Hall's main ideas, we discuss recent demands adolescents face because of social change and how Hall's work could inform research on adolescent development in times of social change.

O cinema e a formação docente: um diálogo sobre as questões de gênero

The article indicates the potential of some motion pictures as mediators in the denaturalization of sexuality and gender issues. It also offers a reflection on the pertinence and contribution of this matter for the teachers’ education. Based in the Cultural Studies, this analysis highlights the importance of cinema for building the individual cultural identity. The examination of sequences of three cinematographic productions from the Sixties and Seventies — Chuvas de Verão, by Cacá Diegues; Julieta dos Espíritos, by Federico Fellini; and Vivre sa Vie, by Jean Luc Godard — supports the deconstruction of stereotypes and redeem the complexity of the sexuality and gender issues. As object of reflection and analysis by teachers, cinema shows to be a tool capable of leveraging change and meaning shifts of life and social roles.

Models of the Aging Self

Older adults are faced with numerous physical, psychological, and social role changes that challenge their sense of self and capacity to live happily. In addition, they are inundated by our youth‐oriented culture with negative ageist stereotypes. Nevertheless, most older adults live happy, fulfilling lives. In this article, we review theories of the aging individual that address this apparent paradox. These theories can be largely divided into those that emphasize control and goal attainment, and those that emphasize the self's organizational capacity. Of the self‐oriented theories, we will highlight Whitbourne's (1996) identity process perspective, which is specific to the aging process and attempts to explain the self's unique capacity to remain stable yet change over time.

An Asian Perspective on Relationship and Marriage Education

The goal of this article is to provide couple therapists and relationship educators with information to enhance the cultural relevance of their work with Asian populations. Because of the rapid social, economic, cultural, and gender role changes, the various Asian interpretations of the institution of marriage are undergoing major transformation. This article describes the general trends in marriage in several Asian nations, with a focus on the swiftly rising divorce rates and changing cultural attitudes to marriage, and discusses current relationship education initiatives in these nations. Finally, based on my experiences working with Asian populations, I present a few humble insights regarding adaptation of marriage education to render it more culturally appropriate for Asians.

Up and Down in Middle Age: Monotonic and Nonmonotonic Changes in Roles, Status, and Personality.

It is proposed that personality (conceptualized in terms of motives and psychological resources) changes normatively not only from young adulthood to middle age but also within middle age and that these changes take place in relation to social and biosocial change over the same period. Data from 123 women studied at ages 27, 43, 52, and 61 largely supported hypotheses about change in social roles, status, health, motives, personality characteristics, emotion regulation, and relationships. Noteworthy aspects of the findings were substantial curvilinear change within middle age and associations of work involvement and physical health with personality change during late middle age.

Needs, values and aspirations of rural youth

Contemporary Serbian society faces increasing social and economical problems as results of social crisis. Such problems reflect on the quality of life of all social groups. Problems of one of the social groups, rural youth, are particularly interesting, specially regarding to specifics of its social status, role they were (un)rightfully given and problems they are facing. The paper is focused on determinating dominant needs, values and aspirations of rural youth, as well as their social potential, willingness to take an active role in social changes. The sample the research was based on consists of young rural population of Sivac, third biggest settlement in the municipality of Kula. The research addresses 107 persons, age from 19 to 30 years, living in Sivac and deals with issues such as their opinions on social environment they are living in, family, spare time, religion, values and needs etc. Theoretical analysis of the problems is followed by empirical data collected by a questionnaire. Specific issues are being analyzed through the prism of dominant social processes and relations. The research was conducted in April 2004.

Life Course Social Science Perspectives on the GLBT Family

The life course perspective in the social sciences focuses on the place of generation-cohorts in understanding social life. Emphasizing shared understanding of self and society among a group of persons born in some adjacent birth years (often a decade) and the impact of the experience of certain events (a reminiscence bump) taking place across the early adult years, this approach to the study of social life and social change emphasizes social timing and role changes in understanding the course of life. The life course perspective is used in this discussion in understanding sexual minority families including both families in which an offspring self-defines as GLBT across the years of young adulthood, and families in which a parent self-identifies as GLBT, and which includes offspring of one or both partners. Issues in family formation and morale of family members are explored from this life course perspective emphasizing time, social change and the role of the state as factors influencing sexual minority families.

The Power and the Glory: A Novel of Appalachia, and: The Crux, and: That Affair Next Door and Lost Man's Lane, and: Other Things Being Equal, and: &amp;quot;A Half Caste&amp;quot; and Other Writings (review)

The Power and the Glory: A Novel of Appalachia. By Grace MacGowan Cooke. Edited by Elizabeth S. D. Engelhardt. Boston: Northeastern University Press, 2003. 373 pp. $18.95 paper. The Crux. By Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Edited by Jennifer S. Tuttle. Newark: University of Delaware Press, 2002. 242 pp. $42.50. The Crux. By Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Edited by Dana Seitler. Durham: Duke University Press, 2003. 171 pp. $49.95/$16.95 paper. That Affair Next Door and Lost Man's Lane. By Anna Katherine Green. Edited by Catherine Ross Nickerson. Durham: Duke University Press, 2003. 445 pp. $74.95/$21.95 paper. Other Things Being Equal. By Emma Wolf. Edited by Barbara Cantalupo. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2002. 274 pp. $18.95 paper. "A Half Caste" and Other Writings. By Onoto Watanna. Edited by Linda Trinh Moser and Elizabeth Rooney. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2003. 180 pp. $34.95/$16.95 paper. In a time of compressed budgets for both universities and university presses, we must consider ourselves fortunate to have access to a number of recently reprinted texts written by American women authors. The commitment of scholars and presses to the process of recovery and the publication of scholarly editions is crucial to the continued survival and expansion of our field. Recovery work allows us—indeed, forces us—continually to reevaluate the field of American women's writing as we know it, rethinking our own canonization of particular authors, methods of periodization, and aesthetic and political standards of judgment. In this review, I focus on the reprinting of fiction originally written and published in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The names of some of these writers will be easily recognizable, while others—and their work—will come as a satisfying and even delightful surprise. Each one of these texts facilitates the developing dialogue regarding American women writers' use of popular genres and publishing venues during this period. The most intriguing of these recent reprints is Elizabeth S. D. Engelhardt's edition of Grace MacGowan Cooke's The Power and the Glory: A Novel of Appalachia (1910). The novel itself is a wonderful read, but just as important, it expands our understanding of the intersections of feminist, environmental, and Appalachian studies. The Power and the Glory features the fiercely independent heroine, Johnnie Consadine, a mountain girl who moves to a factory town in order to earn money to support her family. Cooke's discussion of women and work is complicated, however, in that she acknowledges the benefits of labor for women as well as the damaging effects of both domestic work and mill work on women's health and ambition. Using a range of female characters, Cooke demonstrates how difficult it is for women—especially poor women—to find meaningful work in a patriarchal, class-conscious society. [End Page 91] Cooke also deplores the exploitation of both the physical environment of the mountains and the Appalachian people, ultimately imagining a utopian community in which mill owners and laborers can work together to improve living and work conditions. A prolific and talented writer, Cooke has virtually disappeared from literary view; according to Engelhardt, her work has been, for the most part, out of print for seventy years. Engelhardt's introduction deftly repositions Cooke within the many cultures, communities, and literary movements wherein she lived and wrote. The introduction also addresses the novel's importance, both in its time and our own; Engelhardt writes, "By making her story of industrialization and changing social roles an Appalachian one, Cooke raised questions that were largely unvoiced in other literature of the time" and, I would add, in much of our own scholarship (ix). In The Crux (1911), Charlotte Perkins Gilman imagines a domesticated western frontier in which opportunities for young women—both for fulfilling work and for romance&#x02014...

Rationality and digital technology

With the increasing pervasiveness of digital technology, the computing profession faces new circumstances. But computing professionals must be alert and responsive to the wider social implications of digital technology's ever-growing adoption. Further, they must base this alertness and responsiveness on an understanding of digital technology and its role in social change, which is much wider than commonly acknowledged during the education of computing professionals. The profession must monitor the development of technology and, if necessary, influence it. The social effects of technology reflect the contention between rationality and irrationality, and they result from the contrast between personality and authority in affecting the contention. By personality, Churchill meant the taking of personal responsibility for values and actions, which is very much the essence of professionality as far as learned professions of any kind are concerned.

Family, work and quality of life: changing economic and social roles through the lifecourse

This article reports research funded as part of the recent ESRC Growing Older initiative. The project ‘Family, Work and Quality of Life’ explored changes in economic and social roles across four birth cohorts passing through mid-life (45–59/64 years) in Britain. The relationship between multiple role responsibilities and a range of indicators of quality of life, including material resources, health and engagement in social activities were investigated. The research was based upon secondary analysis of four different surveys: the 2000 British Household Panel Study, the 1994–95 Family and Working Lives Survey, the 1985, 1990, 1995, and 2000 General Household Surveys, and the longitudinal Retirement Survey (1988/89 and 1994). A particularly interesting finding is that being ‘caught in the middle’, in terms of having simultaneous care-giving responsibilities to dependent children and frail parents whilst in paid work, has been atypical. Only one-in-nine British women, and one-in-ten British men, aged 45–49 years (born in 1941–45) occupy all three roles concurrently, but multiple role occupancy is increasing across cohorts, particularly the combination of caring and paid work. Role occupancy significantly affects the accumulation of pension entitlements (particularly second-tier pensions), with the effect that many women who have fulfilled the important social roles of carer and parent will face a low income in old age. Where adverse health outcomes were found, parental role in mid-life was most frequently associated with such poor health, suggesting that continued parental demands in mid-life may have negative health consequences.

The role of social change in the US transport sector for climate change mitigation

Since 2001, the United States government has blithely avoided developing a coherent climate change policy, even though the US economy is responsible for about a quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions. In this paper, I examine passenger transport, an important source of these emissions, and point out major barriers to achieving deep reductions that are necessary from this sector. Interventions would have to be based on an understanding of social psychology, whereby vehicle users are provided incentives and reasons for changing behaviour and attitudes. These appear to be essential to bring about both the technology policy and behavioural changes needed to meet emission reduction goals.

The Warren Court in East Asia: An Essay in Comparative Law

The Warren Court was the apex of liberal legalism in America, embodying hopes that courts could play a leading role in social change. It has thus been an inspiration to judges and activists around the world. This paper traces the influence of the Warren Court in East Asia, focusing on three countries, Korea, Taiwan and Japan. Because of the Japanese colonial legacy, these three countries share certain institutional structures and basic orientations of the legal system, providing a useful context for a comparative analysis. The paper first traces the impact of Warren Court jurisprudence in each country in particular doctrinal areas, especially criminal procedure and reapportionment. It then goes on to consider the factors that account for differential levels and modes of impact in different contexts as a way of drawing comparative conclusions about the conditions for transnational judicial influence. It argues that institutional structure, as well as political forces, is the crucial determinant of whether ideas from abroad can become effective legal transfers.

Processes of social learning in integrated resources management

AbstractIn recent years the human dimension and governance issues have gained more and more in importance in the management of natural resources. One important aspect is to understand the processes of social learning that precede any collective decision‐making.The HarmoniCOP project developed a framework for social learning for resources management that can be interpreted as combining content management as well as social involvement processes to achieve both technical and relational outcomes.Social learning was taken into account in a new approach called participatory agent based social simulation. Participatory agent based social simulation deviates in a number of ways from conventional modelling. The actors themselves whose behaviour is represented in the model and who are supposed to later use the models for decision‐making and strategic planning, participate and contribute to the modelling process. Models serve as tools of communication in processes of social learning.This article reports on a Swiss case study which dealt with the development of new management strategies for urban water management. It will provide examples of how different techniques can be used to establish a process of social learning within a long‐term participatory management project using participatory agent‐based social simulation. Social learning is highlighted as important for management regimes that require changes in social practices, roles and responsibilities. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley &amp; Sons, Ltd.

Gender Similarities and Differences

Changes in women's social role over the past years likely influenced the gender gap in substance use and substance—related disorders, with potentially significant prevention and treatment implications. The authors reviewed the literature about gender differences in prevalence estimates and course of substance—related disorders. Male—to—female ratios of prevalence estimates of substance use are narrowing in different countries. The initiation of substance use is progressively taking place at younger ages, the trend being more dramatic among women as compared to men. Women's accelerated progression to dependence (so—called “telescoping effect”) is a robust finding among alcohol—dependent individuals, although the effect seems to be weaker among younger individuals. As for other drugs, the literature is weaker and further research is needed. It is concluded that women's earlier age of initiation of substance use, faster progression to dependence and under—representation in addiction treatments should be addressed in future health care planning.

MTV, Technology, the Secular Trend, and HIV/AIDS: Why Kenyan Parents Need to Learn about Adolescent Development

As technological innovation increases the pace of communication and trade traditional patterns of family interaction education for adult social and vocational roles belief systems health and dietary practices also change. This is so because it is generally the young who are most heavily exposed to imported ideas and practices. They become the early adopters not only of technology but also of trivial fashion fads and of profound life-changing behavior values and ideology. At no stage in life is this more apparent and of greater concern to their elders than when it occurs concurrent with the physical changes marking puberty. Traditionally the biological changes of puberty were both themselves predictable and predictably associated with changes in social role often marked by rites of passage and always marked by change of status within the community. In recent times however the timing of puberty itself has changed. It is now earlier most markedly so among urban dwellers and catches children and families unaware. This more than the annoyingly rapidly turnover in fads related to popular culture that are readily accessible even in remote areas through communications technology is likely to be a source of family conflict. (excerpt)

Creating Justice Through Balance: Integrating Domestic Violence Law into Family Court Practice

ABSTRACTFreedom from domestic violence is a central right that will be realized through a transformation of culture. Law, embedded within the evolving cultural transformation, plays a necessary, though not sufficient, role in social change. This article reviews the development of family and domestic violence law. It compares and contrasts the core precepts of family and domestic violence jurisprudence with resulting practice and policy ramifications arising from the inherent substantive tensions. Finally, critical civil legal system actors, courts, and attorneys are challenged to apply and practice domestic violence law in the struggle to afford justice for all.

Aging and social systems

In our society, medical care and economic progress have improved the duration and quality of life, but aging is accelerated by social norms and their psychological introjection. Healthy aging involves the continuing pursuit of creative activity. Changes in self‐view and behavior will require and promote a change in social roles, and the emancipatory mobilization of senior adults of both sexes and all classes.

A VA inpatient respite program for patients with dementia.

can result in high levels of stress, unwanted social role changes, depression, anxiety, a lowered sense of wellbeing, feelings of being burdened, deterioration of physical health, and a general feeling that life is overwhelming (5). Research on the family caregivers of persons with dementia has consistently revealed that respite care ranks among urgently desired community services (6). Inpatient respite care is a shortterm out-of-home stay for the patient with dementia. In the VA system, sustained treatment and rehabilitation units, nursing home care units, and extended care rehabilitation units usually provide this care for a short period, generally one or two weeks. The service gives the caregiver—who is usually related to the person with dementia, often as a spouse or adult child—a break from the stressful task of caring for the patient at home. As well as providing temporary relief from worry and stress, this type of service gives the caregiver time to attend to his or her own needs (7). The purpose of this column is to discuss the effects of inpatient respite care on persons with dementia and on their caregivers and the clinical implications for both patients and caregivers. We include a synopsis of an inpatient respite program at a local VA medical center as an example and make suggestions for better serving persons with dementia as well as their caregivers.