Shaping Society Research Articles

The Use of Mass Media in Substance Abuse Prevention

Prologue: Over the past three decades, the American public has been heavily influenced by the power of television and its ability to shape society. Public health officials' initial optimism about the positive influence of mass media on society led to disappointment and skepticism. That has now been replaced by a sophisticated understanding of the important role media can play when properly executed. In this article, William Dejong and Jay Winsten explore the use of mass media in sending messages about preventing substance abuse, especially among American youth. They find that public health advocates, while producing increasingly sophisticated media campaigns, still have much to learn from the successes of the commercial sector in harnessing the power of the mass media to convince people to change behavior. Here they present recommendations for the design of future media campaigns. DeJong, who received his doctorate in social psychology from Stanford University, was director of research at the Center for H...

"Deep Ecology" and the Revival of Natural Right

EW popular movements in this century can claim as much success as environmentalism in influencing American public policy. Although spokesmen for the movement lament its failure to reach all its goals, its achievements are nonetheless astonishing. In a single generation (since Earth Day in 1970), environmental concerns have become part of the permanent agenda of government (Mann, in Kamieniecki et al. 1986: 20), to be heeded in everything from energy policy and industrial design to transportation and defense planning. However, the environmental movement has been less successful in thinking through the implications of its own victories. If environmentalists could increase their influence over policy-making and eventually shape society as they wished, what changes would ensue? What would an ecologically sensitive world look like, and how would its inhabitants live? These are questions that intersect with the traditional subject matter of political philosophy. They do not suggest that environmentalists ought to become utopians, but merely that the movement's root assumptions and the ultimate ends of its program need clarification. In addressing such issues, we wish to offer a reinterpretation of certain trains of thought already well established in environmentalist literature. We take as our departure point the observations and experiences of a long line of sojourners in nature, who have struggled to articulate a vision of what humans could become if only they acknowledged the accumulated wisdom of the world and shaped their lives in accord with it. We argue that the appropriate conceptual system for clarifying the aims and rationale of ecological politics is a modernized version of the classical natural right tradition as understood by Aristotle and his successors. Of course, most defenders of strong pro-ecology positions would initially demur, since Aristotle's anthropoand logocentrism are anathema to them. Nevertheless, many environmental thinkers unwittingly have resurrected two key ideas of classical right: that there is an order in nature providing normative standards for evaluating laws, actions and policies, and that

Politics for a troubled planet

In spite of healthy giving and volunteering levels—reflecting community concern among Americans—citizens are not linking their concerns with government policies and citiizen politics. If citizens are to view involvement in the political process as a means to beneficial social change, methods must be installed that foster greater identification of personal welfare with community well being and draw upon the creative capacity of citizens to shape society within the parameters of our democratic institutions.

Leisure, lifestyle and status: a pluralist framework for analysis

In contrast to the Marxist view of society and leisure, with its basis of class division and conflict, analyses of leisure based on the pluralist defence of the liberal democratic market system seem to lack both a satisfactory classificatory system of society and an adequate sociological explanation of the dynamic forces shaping leisure and society. This leads in turn to an inadequate agenda for the study of leisure in its wider social context. This paper suggests that Weber's concepts of status, status groups and lifestyle offer a way forward for pluralist analysis. It examines how research on ‘status politics’, or the ‘politics of lifestyle concern’, and existing research on lifestyle might be incorporated into such an approach.

The contribution of ‘story’ to children's development

Story plays an essential part in the growth and development of the mind and all that it contains. It gives insights into human nature, expression to thoughts, ideas and desires and aids in the organisation of experience. It opens up the possibilities of other ways of life, of new and different approaches and views in human relationships. New worlds we didn't know existed are created and familiar worlds are given new structures, put into new frameworks and we are given a deeper understanding of our own, and others', intentions, attitudes and emotions. Reading the following article in the light of the power of story, we find that narrative in the form of books becomes an important part of learning and ultimately in shaping lives and society. Writers, parents and teachers, therefore, should consider the values presented in books, whether implicit or explicit, and be able to justify what they offer to children in the form of literature. This article was written with the intention of showing the importance of ...

SOCIAL CONSEQUENCES OF BIOTECHNOLOGY IN MEDICINE

SummaryBiotechnology is currently being privatised, with an expectation of future commercial developments. As biotechnology enters into medicine this entrepreneurial ethic is becoming more visible in the medical services being offered to the public. Recent bioethical commentaries have brought proper attention to dilemmas in medical practices but they have largely overlooked the impact on the nature of society. The argument of this paper is that the influence of modern medicine on society is extending in ways that may not be fully anticipated nor desired. By raising the issue of who benefits most from the inclusion of biotechnology into medical practice, the problem of the increasing disenfranchisement of the consumer clearly emerges.During the past two decades, medical techniques and apparatus for the diagnosis and treatment of a variety of human ailments have made rapid progress. Many of the technological innovations are well in advance of statutory regulation. Organ transplants, genetic manipulation, in vitro fertilisation, reproductive options such as cloning, ectogenesis and embryo transfer, are examples of high technology medicine which have provoked controversy and official enquiries, yet still continue to receive support for research. As well, there are increasing medical successes in life‐saving surgical procedures and reconstructions following severe damage through trauma or disease. The Victorian Government's current enquiry into euthanasia has been made necessary by the acknowledged success of medicine in prolonging human life by technological means in circumstances that are unprecedented; for example, the maintenance of premature infants weighing less than 1000 grams or of individuals who are comatosed after trauma.Many universities, hospitals and research institutes have recently created centres for the study of human bioethics, often for the explicit purpose of assisting governmental agencies in the formulation of regulatory legislation. The emergence of such “watchdog” agencies gives weight to the suspicion that human biotechnology may be bringing substantial changes to the society that have not been anticipated. A new class of moral entrepreneur, the bioethicist who is most often a theologian, philosopher, lawyer or economist, has emerged and is attempting to evaluate the impact of biotechnology on the society. To date, the bioethicists major concerns have been specific issues such as the allocation of scarce medical services or the appropriate application of biotechnology to specific human ailments and conditions. Little attention has been given to other important consequences of developments in biotechnology, such as the emergence of the entrepreneurial ‘pharmocrat’ or ‘technodoc’ who is altering the economic and social relationship between the doctor and patient; to the influence that biomedicine is having on the kinds of medical treatments available and for which conditions; and to the changes to the structure of society that are taking place as the distribution of medical services in the community is influenced by the privatised economic interests of the biotechnology industries.This paper does not address the philosophical implications of biotechnology in medicine. Rather, a sociological perspective is taken which views modern medicine as an element in the social fabric and as a leading social force or agent of social change. The issue raised is the power of contemporary medicine to transform society. This issue has received significant impetus from several sources each of which demonstrates a strong reliance on biotechnology: these are, the commercialisation of medicine, the disenfranchisement of the consumer and the current emphasis on an interventionist medicine. On investigation, these mainsprings of medical dominance, largely ignored by the bioethical commentaries, reveal medicine as a powerful economic institution and mediator of social change. These aspects of a commercialised medicine will be developed in the next section. By considering two separate fields of medical practice, namely, the treatment of infertility and the application of high technology medicine in the prolongation of life, the impact of medicine on shaping society will be presented.

New Information Technologies the Knowledge-Based Economy and Education

Determinants of Destiny Technological capability may be the most important of all the forces which mould the present from a myriad of possibilities. Economic and demographic trends and discontinuities play a major role in determining which alternative futures become most probable, and the choice of one political philosophy over another is a crucial decisionpoint. On a deeper level, cultural beliefs and the knowledge, skills, and values instilled by formal education shape societies in powerful ways.

The Creative Artist, State and Society in Africa

This article is a general survey of the complex relations between the creative artist, the state (or political/economic rulers) and the masses of society in Africa. Beginning with a historical account and analysis of the essentially conservative nature and function of traditional pre-colonial African art (i.e., the oral traditions) vis-a-vis the established power structure and society, in general, the paper goes on to discuss the ways in which contemporary writers and filmmakers define themselves and their art in relation to this indigenous artistic heritage, the present-day state structures and apparatuses and society. Where the traditional oral artist functions more as an advocate and promoter of the status quo, the contemporary writer and the filmmaker are seen to be vocal articulate critics and challengers of the established order, the self-appointed trumpets of the dispossessed masses. Oral artists, writers and filmmakers coexist today in Africa, and although each may relate in his/her own idiosyncratic way to the dynamics of contemporary sociopolitical life, they all share the common conception of art as an integral and crucial part of society, important primarily for the special way in which it throws light on the complex of relations and forces that define and shape society over time.

Government in the Soviet Countryside in the Stalinist Thirties: The Case of Belyi Raion in 1937

The Soviet political system of the 1930s is generally regarded as a personal dictatorship par excellence, presided over by a ruler with historically unprecedented powers to control events and shape society to suit his political ambitions and personal whims. Focusing almost exclusively upon the persona of Joseph Stalin as the prime mover in the Soviet system, mainstream Western scholarship on the thirties has tended to attribute Stalin's power to a consciously fostered personality cult and the indiscriminate use of political terror. Laws, institutions, the policymaking process, the economy, the population at large, and other political leaders, both local and national, are usually dismissed by scholars as passive tools or victims in the hands of the all-powerful Stalin. None of these factors are deemed capable of serving as independent historical forces or agencies in their own right.~ An entire epoch of Russian history has been reduced essentially to biography.

Social Science and the Politics of the Arms Race

Folks don't often try to mix psychology and politics. When they do, there are a number of reasons, including the hunt for interesting data, the wish to be useful to society, and the desire to influence political events. Political involvement itself can assume a number of forms, including helping to shape a political program, helping to sell the program, uncovering the subtle ways in which the opposition has structured public discussion of the issues, and doing battle with opposition experts. Often, political involvement is viewed as the irreconcilable enemy of good science. Yet, the two seem to be very intertwined, with political considerations shaping science in many ways and science helping to shape society in return. By confronting the interdependence, it is possible to create a more deliberate science and one more effectively applied to social problems. In the context of studying people's images of nuclear war, several of the key issues are the degree of respect that psychology implicitly affords to the judgments of experts and of laypeople, as well as the role that it envisions each filling in the determination of defense policy.

A taste for freedom: The case of the Gomal nomads

THIS PAPER is speculative and exploratory. Data were gathered during the period I was Political Agent in South Waziristan Agency (1978-1980) in Pakistan where some groups of the nomadic Suleman Khel and Dottani tribes live. These tribes have traditionally used the Gomal route to enter Pakistan, along the Gomal River which flows from Afghanistan into the Agency to join the Indus near Dera Ismail Khan. Over the last two generations some members of these tribes have decided to settle along the Indeed, their association with the Gomal, reinforced by the presence of those who settled here created a name for them. They are known and refer to themselves as de Gomal khalq the people of Gomal. In this paper, I will, therefore, refer to the two tribes under discussion as the Gomal nomads. Nomad ethnographies have traditionally, and perhaps correctly, placed an emphasis on the dominant role of ecology as a factor shaping society; indeed, comparative studies have almost come to regard nomadism as an ecological adaptation. Climate and terrain, availability of pasture and water, and types of animals herded, are seen to influence patterns of movement and forms of herding and camping associations (Johnson 1969; Krader 1959;Rubel 1969; Spooner 1973; Sweet 1965). Thus nomadism is treated as a trait of cultural ecology, characterized by lack of interest in fixed property and fixed resources (Spooner 1973: 3-4). Political structures, too, are seen as related to ecology (Barth 1961,1962; BlackMichaud 1975; Salzman 1967; Sweet 1965). Reflecting another view, Bates (1971) and Irons (1974) supported Lattimore's argument (1940) that nomadism may be also seen as an adaptation to the political rather than the natural environment. Although sufficient literature exists on the above themes, there is a conspicuous lacuna on the ideological/cultural content of nomadic life as it relates to concrete administrative/political zones. The Gomal nomads exhibit a defined ideological position which instructs daily life. This ideological position offers additional significant explanations for understanding Gomal nomads and phases of their sedentarization. While agreeing with the main body of literature on nomadism, I suggest that perhaps we may usefully examine ideology as an additional factor to ecology in explaining nomadism. My data from Waziristan indicates that we should examine ideology with specific reference to and within administrative zones more closely as an explanation of and for nomadism. I argue here that the Gomal nomads live in the administrative and social interstices of the larger states not by accident but by choice, not

NATO's Science and Future Choice

If one has any doubts about the usefulness of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization with its vast expenditure on munitions and manpower, one can have little doubt at all after reading these books of the value of its Science Committee. In its short 20-year life the Committee's Science Programme has enabled some hundred thousand scientists to engage in significant research and training projects covering a wide range of disciplines-a considerable achievement that was enriched by involving scientists from countries that were not members of NATO: one of those positive spin-offs that sometimes come from even the most negative origins. ow with these two volumes to commemorate its 20th birthday, the Science Committee has added further lustre to its image by asking, in Volume One, several distinguished scientists to set down a retrospective and prospective appraisal of their respective disciplines and, in Volume Two, to consider the active role scientists should take in forming and shaping society. In other words, how the long dreamt-of marriage between scientists and politicians could be achieved. A generous range of the knowledge and thought that affect man and mankind is considered, surveyed and stood up to be counted: first by a leading specialist in a particular field and then by a summary and over-view that brings the specialist and his discipline into perspective. The chapters range from the hard facts of our daily bread to the poetry of existence; from M. F. Ashby's paper on engineering materials in everyday life-the world of polymers and ceramicsto Beagt Stromgren's lucid and catching enthusiasm for the limitless world of Astrophysics. The result is a valuable collection of scientific papers that mark where we are in several fields of thought and application: what we do and do not know. While the majority of the pa!>ers are set down with careful awareness of the need to use words and visual aids that are meaningful to the layman and specialists in other disciplines, one or two unfortunately ilIus-

Pioneer Conservationists of Western America by Peter Wild

Pioneer Conservationists of Western America by Peter Wild

The Organisational Problems of Combining Teaching and Research: Humboldt, Weber, and the Polish Experience

Theoretical constructions-seemingly distant from reality but constituting, as it were, ideal blueprints-are extremely helpful in describing and analysing complex organisational systems. In the general theory of organisation, such a part is played by the Weberian concept of bureaucracy. Though modern organisations rarely correspond to Weber's model, de latter can be of great value when analysing an existing organisational structure and the way it works. Itldeed, it is paradoxical that, since Weber's iime, a more universal and useful cognitive model has not been constructed in this field. \Vith respect to higher education, a similar function to that of the Weberian model is fulfilled to this day by the concept of the university created by Humboldt. Central to this concept was the idea of an organic link between the creation of knowledge and its subsequent transference, an idea forming the basis for the establishment, by Humboldt, of Berlin Universitzr, which played a highly significant and positive role in shaping Prussian State and society. It is important to underline that, in contrast to the descriptive concepts of Weber, Humboldt's concept enjoyed a material existence in the shape of the University and its activities, a fact which served to emphasise its basic strengths and weakrlesses. I stress this because the concept subsequently became (almost certaitlly contrary to the itltentions of its creator) a cognitive model of the organisational system of an institutiotl of higher education, a kind of ideal type. Over time, Humboldt's ideal of the unit of research and teaching began to inhibit development of these two areas of activity. Social and economic advancement was increasingly rapid. The classical university could no longer ensure adequate training for those employed in administration and business, and so new types of higher educational establishment, whose aims were professional rather than academic, started to appear. Much the same applied to scientific research, since the key requirement of industrial development was the possibility of applying research rather than freedom to carry it out. Consequently, the classical German university contrasted with the emergence in all economically developed countries of serious competitors. And these new institutions of higher education, oriented mainly towards professional training of students, as well as great industrial laboratories and institutes, were later supplemented by research organisations established and supervised by the state. The initial reaction of the university was one of withdrawal, as what was progressive in classical terms came to be viewed as retrograde and non-functional. This was noted by Weber himself, for whom observaiion of the century-long implementation of Humboldt's ideal was one of the basic premises of the theory of bureaucracy [I]. The counter-trend, which according to Weber and many of his contemporaries,

Road Accidents

A realistic evaluation is attempted of the underlying human instincts and weaknesses contributing to the complexity of the road accident problem. The thin veneer of civilization is stripped away to reveal the real man, his need for security, his irrationality, and his space-age natural selection. Individual and societal decision making are examined in the light of the preceding, and the personal agony flowing from defective decisions highlighted. The wider ramifications of blind technological forces shaping society are integrated into the accident syndrome.

Rehabilitation Counseling Practice: Some Sociological Insights

The purpose of this article is to selectively offer insights from the discipline of sociology which rehabilitation counselors could find useful in improving the practice of their profession. Among the dominant topics discussed are the role of society in shaping and defining man's behavior, the role of society in rehabilitation, the concept and conferment of deviance, and Merton's self-fulfilling prophecy construct. Implications for rehabilitation counseling practice are presented.

Public Versus Client Interests—An Ethical Dilemma for the Engineer

The conflict created by the engineer's responsibility to the public and to the client he serves presents a complex ethical problem. Past performance dictates that the engineer must change his scope to encompass broader fields more alined with the magnitude and effects of his work. Engineers must be permitted to question the goals of the public and private interests they serve without fear of retaliation. The engineer must work with other professionals to shape society.

Finland's penal colonies: The forbearant model and community-based corrections

Community-based corrections is widely heralded as the proper basis for future penal administration. Penal colonies of Finland are employed in this paper to relate changes in society at large to innovation in corrections. The penal colonies were the indirect result of the postwar crisis in Finland and changes brought by industrialization and urbanization. Unprecedented opportunities for solving problems of conventional administration motivated officials to introduce penal colonies as a means of accomodating prisons to the new expectations being imposed on correctional work. The forbearant model is proposed as a hesitant and primitive reaction to pressures to bring corrections into conformity with the trends shaping society at large. This model is useful in analyses of the American movement toward community-based corrections.

Women and their Role in Shaping Society

Women and their Role in Shaping Society

Materialitet og mening. En studie av de besøkende på bygdetun

Both in Norway and Sweden, there are a large number of small rural museums that aim to tell the story of the local community and that intend to serve as meeting places for the inhabitants. Most of these museums were established in a period when they were heavily influenced by the values shaping society at the time, such as a very prevalent rurally based nationalism. Based on a master thesis, this article asks what these museums mean to the visitors today, and especially, how the materiality affects the visitors when entering such museums. The article also discusses what challenges this poses to the contemporary, everyday museum practice in museums like these.