Means Of Self-improvement Research Articles

Individualism and Collectivism as a Subject of Social-Philosophical Analysis (Reflections on the Eve of the Scientific Conference “Individualization and Collectivism in Contemporary Russian Society”)

The Branch of Social Sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), the Institute of Sociology of the Federal Center for Theoretical and Applied Sociology of the RAS, the RAS Institute of Philosophy, and the RAS Institute of Psychology are arranging “Individualization and Collectivism in Contemporary Russian Society” scientific conference, to be held in Moscow, April 2024. The event marks the 300th anniversary of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the 95th birth anniversary of the Russian philosopher and social theorist A.S. Akhiezer. Its primary objective is to foster the development of criteria for analyzing intersubjective relations within the act of social development. The conference’s focus on the investigation of social development is grounded in the dominants of contemporary philosophical-sociological non-classics and proposes several topics for discussion. These include the transition from the absolutization of Kant’s categorical imperative, which mandates the consideration of humans solely as the ultimate end in the system of intersubjective communication and the knowledge process, to an alternative consideration of humans as means of self-improvement and a crucial resource for social development (V.S. Bibler). It encompasses the rejection of absolutizing the function of contrasting faith and knowledge, the Self and the Other, the “own” and the “foreign,” scientific and everyday consciousness (V.A. Lectorsky, I.T. Kasavin, V.N. Porus). The interpretation of the meaning of personality shifts from concepts like cogito ergo sum, “pure Self,” “Self,” “Ego,” “Super-,” to the “ability of the Self to respond to the call of the Other,” thereby forming the smallest cell of the socio-individual as a synthesis of the social and the individual (M.M. Bakhtin, V.A. Lectorsky, R.S. Grinberg). Overcoming the established inequality of economic systems is addressed through the socio-individualism of small and medium-sized enterprises (A.S. Akhiezer, R.S. Grinberg). The conference also anticipates discussions on the following topics: How do the transfer and exchange of accumulated global knowledge from the individual to the other, and vice versa, contribute to the formation of small creative groups, serving as a communicative platform for nurturing socially oriented individuals – agents of social development? Moreover, how can dialogue be effectively constructed among participants of partnership relations who operate on differing premises (J.-P. Sartre)? The discussion is aimed at contemplating the contradictory, oxymoronic, yet dialogue and synthesis-oriented concepts of “individualization of the social,” “socially oriented individual,” and “socio-individualism.”

Role of yoga in type 2 diabetes mellitus

Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) has become most common problem worldwide. Yoga provides best means of self-improvement and gaining full potential of one’s body, mind & soul. It has been proved that pranayama and certain Asana’s help in lowering blood glucose, balancing blood pressure and calms nervous system. The asanas improve the sensitivity of β-cells to glucose, improves insulin secretion, and improves glucose uptake. Hence, Yogic asanas are important for preventing and curing many ailments. The effect of yogic practices in diabetics has to be investigated well. To assess the effect of yoga on blood glucose levels and anthropometric parameters before and after doing yoga in T2DMpatients. A total of 100 T2DM diabetic patients in age group 30-60 years were taken. Effect of Yoga on fasting Blood glucose (FBG), Post prandial blood glucose (PPBG), HbA1c levels and serum insulin were assessed. Anthropometric parameters like BMI and waist hip ratio were also assessed. There was significant decrease in FBG, PPBG and HbA1c levels with p value<0.001 after doing yoga. There was also significant improvement in serum insulin levels and decrease in BMI & waist hip ratio. A significant improvement in the blood glucose levels occurred in subjects who practiced Yoga. There was also lowering of the drug requirement.

ПЕДАГОГІЧНІ УМОВИ ФОРМУВАННЯ САМОВДОСКОНАЛЕННЯ МАЙБУТНІХ ЛІКАРІВ ЗАСОБАМИ ІНФОРМАЦІЙНИХ ТЕХНОЛОГІЙ

The article examines and theoretically summarizes the pedagogical conditions aimed at the use of information technology by future physicians as a means of self-improvement, including the introduction into the educational process of monitoring levels of self-improvement through information technology among students, ensuring active use of ICD-10, ISRS-2 and "Small Expert System 2.0", organization of independent extracurricular activities of students by means of information technology for their self-development, providing the educational process by teachers with strong practical training in the use of IT in the educational process, and creating an environment aimed at motivating future physicians to use information technology in training and professional activity. It is established that the pedagogical conditions for the development of self-improvement of future doctors by means of IT is a set of interdependent and interdependent informational factors and methodological measures of the pedagogical process, updating the content of improving the quality of self-improvement development for future professional activity. The development and implementation of a specially developed program of extracurricular activities in the medical educational institution contributes to the formation of the readiness of future doctors for self-improvement by means of IT. It should be noted that the role of IT in the training of future doctors is constantly growing, helping to increase interest in IT itself, their use in professional activities, solving a wide range of research and educational tasks. Extracurricular activities of students with the use of IT contribute not only to better preparation of university graduates for professional activities in the information society, but also the formation of the development of self-improvement of the specialist. The motivation of professional self-improvement of a specialist in medicine is a set of all motivations and conditions that regulate the process of professional self-improvement. Professional self-improvement is based on a rather complex system of motives and is due to various sources of activity.

Факторы формирования способности к саморазвитию у студентов вуза

We substantiate the necessity of the student’s self-development ability formation in the conditions of multi-level educational programs implementation in a technical university. We ana-lyze various pedagogical and psychological approaches to the formulation and use in the relevant sciences concept of “self-development of a personality”. We explain the choice of a scientific ap-proach, in which self-development is defined as the process of purposeful activity of a personality in continuous self-transformation, conscious management of your own development, choice of goals, ways and means of self-improvement corresponding to your own life values and attitudes. We define one of the main tasks of technical universities – the task of updating and managing students’ professional education, the result of which is an organically formed personality capable of self-development through self-education and self-upbringing. We formulate external factors (scientific, academic, informational, social and sports bases of the university; research and professional activities at the educational stage; upbringing work under the guidance of lecturers and supervisors; academic work under the guidance of lecturers) and internal factors (factors contributing to students’ self-learning; factors contributing to the self-realization of your own plans and ideas) affecting the readiness for self-development of the future engineer. We substantiate the main external factor – the factor of personal influence of university professors on students’ self-development. Personal characteristics of the main types of technical university teachers are highlighted. We analyze the views of various scientific schools scientists on the problem of lecturer’s personality influence on the formation of self-education and self-development abilities of students.

The return of the reader: contemporary philosophy of literature as a philosophy of reading

The modern philosophy of literature in terms of reading practices, changing the modern way of reading to new types of reading is analyzed, as well as the interpenetration in the present of different types of reading. It has been found that various researchers have been engaged in reading practices and, accordingly, philosophy of reading. A separate direction in the study of reading as a certain way of open dialogue was created by M. Rubakin. This area was called «bibliopsychology», thus reading is considered as a way of anthropological interaction of man and text. The most diverse ideas common to the subject of our research are contained in the writings of Umberto Eco. Four models of modern reading have been identified and characterized. Reading in the first model becomes the best means of selecting and processing information, and the ultimate goal and motive of such reading is the awareness, literacy and ability of the social lift through reading. The second model involves following certain ready-made patterns, it generates and retransmits social myths. This model involves merging text with the reader through myth. In contrast to reading as an exchange of information in reading as a kind of fairy tale there are two components – trust in information and its recipe-effect character. Trust in this model produces a reflection effect. In such a model, the reader wants to find himself, and not others, his way when the essence of a living person is hidden behind the cover of any real book. In the third reading model, the reader joins another’s story or constructs the story independently. The Middle Ages were built on a model of reading aloud, making a dramatic effect on reading. Modern times, through print, novel, newspaper, general employment and time-saving, lose this dramatic element and gradually lose their narrative. Literature and texts become a means of thinking, not an experience. The type of aesthetic reading highlighted by Umberto Eco is analyzed separately. The third type of reading is designed for reading as a means of self-improvement. The fourth type of modern reading involves dialogue with many interlocutors. Reading this type preserves a component of pleasure and empathy, through these two factors, and is actually read as a meeting with a text-friend. It proves that this type of reading involves the basic mechanisms of imagination, fantasy and memory. The fourth type of reading involves the development of both logical and emotional intelligence, the ability to engage the imagination in a constructive activity. Reading is an example of successful communication that touches the deepest levels of the human being.

Drivers of learning for the low skilled

The drivers of learning for mid-career workers with few initial qualifications from the Czech Republic, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Italy and Poland are examined. The focus in this article is upon the learning pathways and experience of the low-qualified drawn from empirical research which gathered and analysed the strategic career and learning biographies of 105 low-skilled individuals, mainly aged between 25 and 40, in the 7 countries, using semi-structured narrative interviews. The five drivers for learning evident in the interviews were enhancing self-efficacy; self-improvement; labour market-orientated learning; significant others motivating learning; and work-related practical learning. The interviewees were divided between those who wanted tangible and immediate learning outcomes and those who saw learning primarily as a means of self-improvement. Some interviewees with negative experiences of initial education were motivated to re-engage by a positive experience with continuing education, encouragement of significant others or through an experience of mastery of challenges at work which led to an increase in their self-efficacy. For the majority of interviewees, practical learning was particularly appreciated, whether undertaken to secure or enhance their current labour market position or undertaken to increase their self-efficacy.

Music from the Berlin Sing-Akademie

Music from the Berlin Sing-Akademie Daniel F. Boomhower Carl Heinrich Graun. “Ich suchte den, den meine Seele liebet”: Kantate zum ersten Ostertag, GraunWV B:IX:5, für Soli (SATB), Chor (SATB), zwei Oboen (Oboe d’amore), zwei Violinen, Viola und Basso continuo. Herausgegeben von Tobias Schwinger. (Quellenpublikationen aus dem Archiv der Sing-Akademie zu Berlin, Bd. 3.) Beeskow: Ortus Musikverlag, 2011. [Editorial in Ger. and Eng., p. vi–vii; pref. in Ger., p. viii–xi; crit. report in Ger., p. xii–xiv; plates, p. xv–xviii; score, p. 1–53. ISMN M-700296-63-6, 979-0-700296-63-6; pub. no. OM 114. €18.50.] Johann Theile. Der Sionitin Wiegenlied: “Nun, ich singe, Gott, ich knie,” für vier Singstimmen (SATB), drei Violen, Violone (zwei Violinen, Viola, Violoncello) und Basso continuo. Herausgegeben von Ekkehard Krüger. (Quellenpublikationen aus dem Archiv der Sing-Akademie zu Berlin, Bd. 4.) Beeskow: Ortus Musikverlag, 2011. [Editorial in Ger. and Eng., p. vi–vii; pref. in Ger., p. viii–ix; text in Ger., p. x; crit. report in Ger., p. xi; plates, p. xii–xiii; score, p. 1–10, and 6 parts. ISMN 979-0-700317-04-1; pub. no. OM 135. €15.00.] Johann Christian Roellig. “Uns ist ein Kindlein geboren”: Kantate für den 1. Weihnachtstag, für Soli (SATB), Chor (SATB), zwei Trompeten, Pauken, zwei Hörner, Flöte, zwei Oboen, Fagott, zwei Violinen, Viola und Basso continuo. Herausgegeben von Klaus Winkler. (Quellenpublikationen aus dem Archiv der Sing-Akademie zu Berlin, Bd. 5.) Beeskow: Ortus Musikverlag, 2012. [Editorial in Ger. and Eng., p. vi–vii; pref. in Ger., p. viii; text in Ger., p. ix; crit. report in Ger., p. x–xi; plates, p. xii–xiii; score, p. 1–72. ISMN 979-0-700317-34-8; pub. no. OM139. €29.90.] At the time of Carl Friedrich Zelter’s death in 1832, the music collection of the Sing-Akademie in Berlin stood as perhaps the most tangible representation of how its late director influenced musical life in the Prussian capital. Even in the waning years [End Page 566] of the Enlightenment, a sensitivity toward a historical musical repertory had begun to emerge in Berlin. After his ascension to the throne in 1740, King Frederick II of Prussia explicitly imitated the Saxon court at Dresden, and in doing so promoted a less than innovative state music. Ironically, upon invading Saxony in 1756 in what became known as the Seven Years’ War, music at Frederick II’s court stagnated. Until the end of his reign in 1786, almost all music heard at the Prussian Royal Opera was composed by either Carl Heinrich Graun, who died in 1759, or Johann Adolph Hasse. Some hosts of musical salons mimicked the staid musical fashions of the court, in part to curry favor or standing in Berlin. Meanwhile, several musicians, particularly Johann Philipp Kirnberger, cultivated a different strand of veneration for the musical past, focused to a great extent on the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. However, it was Zelter who institutionalized music historicism in Berlin. At least from the time of his appointment as director of the Sing-Akademie in 1800, Zelter further expanded the audience for music of the past to the educated upper middle class, and constituted the Sing-Akademie as a means of self improvement or cultivation (Bildung). In order that private choral rehearsals would support the attainment of Bildung, the collection needed to include examples of great historic music. Thus, Zelter amassed an impressive array of music, containing repertoire dating back to the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and extending well beyond just a performance collection. In the Sing-Akademie’s collection of music, past masters held pride of place. But, despite the growing interest in historical music among a broader segment of the population, the music collection of the Sing-Akademie had remained throughout the nineteenth and the first half of the twentieth century a collection available only to select members of the private choral society. By the time the collection was removed from Berlin to protect it from bombing raids during World War II, few scholars had examined its contents, despite increasing awareness among musicologists of the richness of...

Process Without Purpose

Process Without Purpose

From Refugee to Good Citizen: A Discourse Analysis of Volunteering

This paper is concerned with how refugees who work as volunteers with a refugee organization talk about themselves and their work. A Foucauldian Discourse Analytic approach is employed in order to explore how participants construct themselves as both refugees and volunteers, the discourses they draw on, and how this impacts on the possible ways-of-being open to refugees. The findings indicate a meta discourse of good citizen; volunteering was constructed as a technology of self, a way of transforming the refugee into a ‘good citizen’. Volunteering was also seen as a way of preparing for entry into the labour market and a means of self-improvement.

The Making of a Southerner: William Barclay Napton's Private Civil War (review)

The Making of a Southerner: William Barclay Napton's Private Civil War. By Christopher Phillips. (Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press, 2008. Pp. vii, 162. Illustrations. Paper, $19.95.)Reviewed by Lillian Marrujo-DuckChristopher Phillips's The Making of a Southerner: William Barclay Napton's Private Civil War narrates the experiences of a Jersey-born northerner, William Napton, whose desire for political, economic, and social status led him to the slave South, where he fully adopted an elitist, paternalistic ideology and lifestyle. In the process, Napton committed to the protection of slavery as a morally superior way of life and, after the Civil War and the end of slavery, he became a staunch advocate of Lost Cause mythology.Phillips organizes Napton's life into well-researched chapters that begin with his early alienation from his father, representing his rejection of northern ethics, and end with the loss of his wife, representing Napton's sharing in the sacrifices made by the South during the Civil War. Phillips relies on an immense collection of primary sources, including Napton's detailed journals, numerous legal decisions, and family papers, all fleshed out by the latest scholarship on issues relating to the church, slavery, and politics. Phillips begins each new era of Napton's conversion with a set of lengthy entries from Napton's journal, most of which nicely illustrate the evolution of an adopted southerner's social and political views.William Napton's father, John, worked his way up to the position of master tailor in New Jersey, a free-labor state, diversifying his skills and opening his own business. Napton Sr. used his resources to provide his son with the best education he could afford, including private tutors and attendance at the College of New Jersey (later Princeton). William used this education as a means of self-improvement, but his learning was rote, lacking any creativity or originality of thought. According to Phillips, precedents of the past outweighed the realities of the present and the possibilities of the future, an important hint as to Napton's future leanings as a jurist (11). When his father's business failed and the funds were no longer available to keep him in college, young Napton went South, angry, cutting short his legal study to support by tutoring the children of a wealthy and influential Virginia family.In Virginia, Napton, re-invented himself (19). As the children's tutor, Napton was often included in the dinner invitations his wealthy host family received. So enchanted was Napton with the genteel South, so eager was he to be accepted and included by the elite Virginian society he was exposed to, he dismissed his northern college degree as worthless and attended the University of Virginia to continue reading for the bar. He also fully embraced the cultural and social assumptions of the oldest southern region, home to George Washington, James Madison, and, especially, Thomas Jefferson. Surrounded by the leading families of Virginia and their descendants, Napton yearned to gain entry into their society. Yet even graduating at the top of his class at Jefferson's university did not earn him the prestige he desired: He was not southern born, and Virginia's genteel, elite world was a privilege of birth only.Out west, however, Napton could be a founding luminary. In Missouri, Napton's entry into legal circles and marriage into a southern Democratic, politically active, and slave-holding family provided the groundwork from which he could pursue his goals. He married a young Melinda Williams, barely half his age, but with land as a dowry. The marriage suited him. Both Napton and Williams accepted an ideology that required women to focus purely on domestic endeavors, while the men engaged in the public contests of the day.In 1838 Napton was appointed judge, a position from which he could interpret and extrapolate the law. …

Music in Other Words: Victorian Conversations (review)

Reviewed by: Music in Other Words: Victorian Conversations Donna Parsons (bio) Music in Other Words: Victorian Conversations, by Ruth Solie; pp. 223. Berkeley, Los Angeles, and London: University of California Press, 2004, $39.95, £26.95. During the past 25 years, scholars have focused more attention on appraising the musical lives of the Victorians. Musicologists as well as literary scholars have shown that in nineteenth-century Britain, a place once branded as "the land without music," musical aptitude, ambition, and careers flourished both within and outside of London. Simply [End Page 468] put, the Victorians cultivated music. It permeated every aspect of their lives, through private performances in front of family members and friends, musical at-homes before select audiences, church services, and regular concert attendance. Although England was a great importer of music and musicians from the Continent, the country itself was not devoid of natural talent; rather, it was deficient in its nurturing of native musicians. Lacking needed patronage, access to advanced musical training, and venues in which to perform or have works performed, British musicians were often forced to relegate their musical activities to a secondary or subordinate role. Over time, their contributions to Victorian musical life have been submerged or even forgotten. Ruth Solie's Music in Other Words: Victorian Conversations allows "the muffled, even subterranean, conversations that tell us so much about what musical experience was like among the Victorians, what music actually meant to them" (2) to take center stage. I find her notion of "subterranean conversations" appealing, as this dialogue reveals subtle and rarely considered aspects of nineteenth-century culture and musical life. Solie's grasp of both music and literature—the disciplines that ground these conversations—is as impressive as her ability to interweave the two is thought provoking. Although several chapters have appeared in various forms elsewhere, their inclusion in this volume forms a cohesive whole that paints a vivid picture of musical life in the nineteenth century. Solie's discussion ranges from ideological commentary on Beethoven's Ninth Symphony (1824) to the proliferation of musical themes in Macmillan's Magazine during George Grove's tenure as editor, the socialization of girls via piano studies and in-home performances, the connection between Schubert and Biedermeier domesticity, the dynamics of cosmopolitanism and canon formation in George Eliot's Daniel Deronda (1876), and the opera box as a trope in American fiction. We must keep in mind—as Solie acknowledges in her "prelude"—that she uses the term "Victorian" geographically to cover Europe and North America and does not apply it as a "style- term" (3). Victorianists might be skeptical as to how a study with such a broad scope could benefit our understanding of nineteenth-century England, but Solie's opening chapter quickly puts such reservations to rest. Her exploration of nineteenth-century commentary on Beethoven and his Ninth Symphony examines "the ways in which religious, philosophical, and political ideologies are reflected in the interpretation of music during the nineteenth century" (6). The most intriguing aspect of the study is her discussion of the connection reviewers made between the Ninth Symphony and Deronda. Examining the commentary that links Eliot to Beethoven—which she characterizes as typical—Solie provides literary scholars with a new method by which to interpret and understand both the reception of the work and Eliot's stature as a novelist. Citing Edward Dowden's 1877 review of Middlemarch (1871–72) and Deronda as a prime example, Solie observes that he invokes the later works of Beethoven and Turner as a means to contrast the complexity of Eliot's late novels with the simplicity of her earlier ones (34). Dowden reminds readers that they should have matured individually, just as the novels collectively did (33–34). Solie also examines George Bernard Shaw's 1893 review of the Ninth in The Musical World, a piece of criticism that links multiple listenings of the Ninth to multiple readings of Deronda, and implies that the novel may profitably be reread as a means of self-improvement: as with the symphony, each new encounter with the novel yields something more (33). [End Page 469] Solie also makes further comparisons between the Ninth Symphony and...

Social comparison choices in the classroom: further evidence for students' upward comparison tendency and its beneficial impact on performance

AbstractBlanton and colleagues (1999) found that children who nominated a comparison‐target in several courses chose same‐sex students who slightly outperformed them in class. This had a beneficial effect on children's course grades, which were also independently predicted by comparative evaluation (i.e. how the children evaluated their relative standing in class). These phenomena were examined at two time periods with a more detailed record of comparison choices while including several psychological moderators (i.e. closeness to and identification with the comparison targets, perceived academic control, importance of academic domains). The present findings (1) replicate those found earlier by Blanton and colleagues, (2) offer evidence that children compare upward with close friends with whom they identify as a means of self‐improvement, (3) show that this identification is more likely to occur when children perceive control over their standing relative to the comparison target, and (4) suggest that the effects of comparison‐level choice (i.e. the level typical of the persons with whom one chooses to compare) diminish over time. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

China Takes Off: Technology Transfer and Modernization by E. E. Bauer

180 Book Reviews TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE seen as the representatives of employers; the tendency of engineers to avoid involvement in potentially contentious situations; and the re­ lationship between trade unions and professional associations. On this last point, the author accepts too readily the traditional interpre­ tation of professional engineering institutions as interest groups, without appreciating their important historical role as means of selfimprovement and education. The author’s judgment on most of the issues that he discusses is generally sound. But it derives only incidental and anecdotaljustifica­ tion from the survey of two anonymous British engineering firms that is the core of the book. Thejudgment about engineers and scien­ tists quoted above, for instance, reflects an appraisal from a much wider basis of evidence than that contained in the answers to Whalley’s questionnaire submitted to engineers in the firms of his choice. The book, in short, succeeds in stimulating reflection on some important aspects of modern industrial relations and the role of engineers in society, despite a largely irrelevant methodology. R. Angus Buchanan Dr. Buchanan is director of the Centre for the History of Technology, Science and Society at the University of Bath. He is currently working on a history of the engi­ neering professional institutions. China Takes Off: Technology Transfer and Modernization. By E. E. Bauer. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1986. Pp. xvi+227; illustrations, notes. $20.00. This is an interesting book with a misleading title. It is not a gen­ eral account of technology transfer to China; rather, it is a personal account of Boeing’s customer support manager in China. From Janu­ ary 1980 to December 1984, E. E. Bauer played an important role in the modernization of China’s commercial air fleet, putting him in a prime position to observe the actual process of technological modernization. This on-the-spot experience gives an immediacy to the narrative that is not often found in more abstract accounts of tech­ nology transfer. Here the myriad problems of bringing advanced technology to a poor nation become painfully apparent. Hydraulic pumps fail prematurely because inferior Chinese-made seals and gas­ kets do not meet specifications. Non-reusable filter cartridges are su­ perficially cleaned and reused, leading to more failures. The translation of technical manuals takes months, and, when they fi­ nally appear, the mechanics generally ignore them. The complexity ofjet aircraft coupled with a severe shortage of in­ digenous skills and infrastructure made problems of this sort inevita­ ble. But they were exacerbated by the system of economic organization that prevailed in China for much of the author’s stay. Rigid centralization and an overwhelming emphasis on hierarchy re­ sulted in the stifling of initiative, an unwillingness to take responsibil­ TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE Book Reviews 181 ity, and an agonizingly slow response to problems as they arose. Bauer recites these shortcomings over and over, interspersing them with continual complaints about living accommodations, travel ar­ rangements, and the harshness of the climate. This endless carping becomes tedious, especially when it is mixed with patronizing state­ ments about his hosts, for example, “The Chinese are a happy, gen­ tle people. Artistry is their finest talent” (p. 102). Is it possible that Bauer is completely ignorant of China’s historic scientific and techno­ logical legacy? I also grew impatient with Bauer’s narratives of his junkets to vari­ ous parts of China. They are familiar travelers’ tales, and they add nothing to the substance of the book. Of equally dubious value are his rehashes of stories that originally appeared in Western maga­ zines and newspapers. Many of them are tangential, and in any event they have been covered with greater insight and thorough­ ness elsewhere. The narrative is also occasionally marred by factual errors, as when Machimpex, China’s machine-importing agency, is identified as the agency responsible for machine building (p. 120). After recounting his frustrations over China’s slow rate of technol­ ogy absorption, Bauer curiously ends on an optimistic note. Signs of progress had become evident, as when Chinese mechanics did a first-rate repair job on a damaged wing section. More generally, after years of Maoist misrule, the policies initiated by Deng Xiaoping have given China...

The Social Production of Technical Work: The Case of British Engineers by Peter Whalley

technology and culture Book Reviews 179 tory was semiassembly in nature, whereas many of the more skilled pottery workers produced individual crafts. Sons of the Machine stands as an important study, however, be­ cause of the fundamental questions posed by Savage in the course of his research. By postulating that the worker represented an essen­ tial social component in the factory as well as the community, Sav­ age broke ground for new and meaningful studies about the workplace in the modern world and how work values affect changes in the larger social ethos. William L. Cumiford Mr. Cumiford is curator of business and industrial history at the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History. He has just completed several articles on the trade union movement in the Caribbean. The Social Production of Technical Work: The Case of British Engineers. By Peter Whalley. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1986. Pp. xiv+237; tables, notes, appendix, bibliography, index. $29.50. Despite its somewhat opaque title, this book is about the role of en­ gineers in modern industry, and particularly the social conscious­ ness of British engineers. The subtitle recognizes that it is a “case” study but does not acknowledge the very narrow basis of the empiri­ cal evidence. In fact, only two firms are studied in the text, and, as these are hidden by a shroud of anonymity, the reader is obliged to depend on Peter Whalley’s own assessment of their representative character. Like much contemporary sociology on the margins of the history of technology, the book is long onjargon and short on his­ torical analysis. It is noteworthy that the author is dismissive of “largely anecdotal” treatments of industrial relations, even though his own method involves a measure of selectivity which is essentially anecdotal. The sociological analysis presented in these pages is no less selective in its choice of relevant evidence than any other method, but insofar as it purports to be objective and scientific it is po­ tentially more misleading. The level of valid generalization which may be inferred from such an examination is in reality disappoint­ ingly low. Having established these caveats about the methodology of the book, we can observe that Whalley raises some interesting questions and that he deals with them cautiously and constructively. Among the important themes that he tackles are the relationship between sci­ ence and engineering, where he reaches the conclusion that “there is little evidence that engineers are becoming scientists” (p. 65); the role of engineers in British industry as experts rather than as manag­ ers, so that they normally exercise little responsibility in line manage­ ment but acquire the status of “trusted workers” and are frequently 180 Book Reviews TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE seen as the representatives of employers; the tendency of engineers to avoid involvement in potentially contentious situations; and the re­ lationship between trade unions and professional associations. On this last point, the author accepts too readily the traditional interpre­ tation of professional engineering institutions as interest groups, without appreciating their important historical role as means of selfimprovement and education. The author’s judgment on most of the issues that he discusses is generally sound. But it derives only incidental and anecdotaljustifica­ tion from the survey of two anonymous British engineering firms that is the core of the book. Thejudgment about engineers and scien­ tists quoted above, for instance, reflects an appraisal from a much wider basis of evidence than that contained in the answers to Whalley’s questionnaire submitted to engineers in the firms of his choice. The book, in short, succeeds in stimulating reflection on some important aspects of modern industrial relations and the role of engineers in society, despite a largely irrelevant methodology. R. Angus Buchanan Dr. Buchanan is director of the Centre for the History of Technology, Science and Society at the University of Bath. He is currently working on a history of the engi­ neering professional institutions. China Takes Off: Technology Transfer and Modernization. By E. E. Bauer. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1986. Pp. xvi+227; illustrations, notes. $20.00. This is an interesting book with a misleading title. It is not a gen­ eral account of technology transfer to China; rather...

Courts and criminal justice: Emerging issues : (Perspectives in Criminal Justice 9) edited by Susette M. Talarico Sage Publications (275 South Beverly Drive, Beverly Hills, California 90212), 1985, 175 pp., hardcover—$22.00, softcover—$10.95

There is a growing body of research on the motives for prescription drug misuse (PDM) among university students. However, the overall findings of this research are hard to decipher. Studies use different methods, they examine different drug types, the motives are phrased in various ways, and the results differ widely. In order to make sense of this body of knowledge, it is necessary to synthesise the results across studies and draw out conclusions.The research comprises a systematic review and meta-analysis of studies on the motives of university students for illicit use of four different types of prescription medication (stimulants, analgesics, tranquillisers and sedatives). The search for studies was conducted on six bibliographic databases with stated criteria governing search eligibility and inclusion in the final review.Overall, the most prevalent motives for PDM among university students cover some kind of personal enhancement to the user in terms of performance (in relation to sports, and academic outcomes), mental health (ability sleep, to reduce anxiety), or physical health (manage pre-existing illnesses). Fewer than half of users said that they were involved in PDM for pleasure purposes (to party, to get high, or to experiment).PDM among students might be viewed as a means of self-improvement when other means of achieving desired objectives are unavailable or restricted. A more thorough understanding of motives for PDM, especially in relation to their influence on behaviour, might help in devising university-based treatment and prevention programmes.

Factors Related to Pupil Observation Reports of Teachers and Attitudes Toward their Teacher

Perceptions of 4,368 pupils of the teacher behavior characteristics of 180 secondary teachers as measured by the Pupil Observation Report (POSR) and Scale for Measuring Attitudes Toward Any Teacher (SMAT) were analyzed by pupil characteristics: sex, age, grade, course mark, ability group; and teacher characteristics: age, certificate, sex, field of teaching, and years of teaching experience. Among numerous significant differences were the consistent patterns of higher course marks with more favorable pupil perceptions. High ability groups had more favorable perceptions. Science teachers consistently received the lowest ratings, and teachers with the least and the most experience were perceived more favorably except for Factors II and III. Teachers above the age of 35 received lower ratings than those below 35. Among significant interactions were pupil sex and pupil age, in which, except for 19-year olds, the older groups rated teachers higher. In three of five POSR factors, boys had more favorable opinions of men teachers, whereas girls favored women teachers. Girls favored social studies teachers, whereas boys had more favorable perceptions of science and mathematics teachers. A CONSIDERABLE body of published re search has pertained to student ratings of teachers. The pros and cons of student ratings have been argued over the past 40 years. Critics of the use of student ratings have pointed to the incompetence of the student as a judge of teach ing ability, emphasizing his lack of experience and difficulty of reporting objective judgments. Pro ponents have held that effective learning results from the interaction of student and teacher and that however biased ratings may be, they are valuable as a source of information concerning student reactions to the behavior of teachers. A major portion of the research in this area was conducted by Remmers and Bryan, strong advocates of student evaluation as a means of self-improvement for teachers. Research conclu sions pertinent to the present study may be briefly summarized as follows:

Both can benefit, student and teacher

The author argues that programmed instruction is useful to the teacher as a means of self improvement because it provides him with control and order.