The "Struggle for Identity in Today's Schools" examines cultural recognition and the struggle for identity in America's schools. In particular, the contributing authors focus on the recognition and misrecognition as antagonistic cultural forces that work to shape, and at times distort identity. What surfaces throughout the chapters are…

This book attempts to shed light on the seemingly contradictory aspects of Japanese behavior. Separate chapters, grounded in interaction-oriented social scientific theory, focus on the themes of social relativism, belongingness, empathy, dependency, occupying the proper place, reciprocity, situational interaction, early socialization, selfhood,…

The nature of language change over time is examined, and an evolutionary theory of language is proposed. The text, intended for laymen, students, and experts alike, first addresses the reasons and mechanisms by which language changes, and attempts to identify a relationship between the essence of language, reasons for change, and the genesis of…

Most contemporary social and political discourse in the United States takes place within a particular framework of assumptions. The rise of mass media, mass politics, and massive government means that an elite group of articulate people have great leverage in determining the course of the whole society. This book examines the vision of the…

This volume offers ten essays by a diverse group of thinkers and scholars on the university's role in teaching moral behavior and performing moral duty. An introduction by the volume's editor, Dennis L. Thompson, opens the book by noting the period of moral confusion society is in and calling for higher education institutions to take a clearer…

National educational reform must be interpreted from a broader sociopolitical vantage point. Following the introduction, "The Change Process and Educational Reform" by Val D. Rust, the four papers in part 1 are devoted primarily to conceptual issues related to educational reform. They include: (1) "Problems of Educational Reforms in a Changing…

This book contains selected papers and excerpts from books by Seymour B. Sarason which chronicle the development of his ideas on educational change. Early papers addressed several themes that were later incorporated into a perspective of educational change: (1) professionalism is a combination of making mistakes and valuing one's own knowledge;…

This book argues that the literature on leadership, especially business leadership, has neglected ethical issues by focusing on approaches and strategies that emphasize individualistic concerns. The book calls for an end to the traditional separation of personal and public morality. It also argues that ethics of leadership is consistent with the…

This book focuses on what it feels like and what it means to spend substantial portions of one's everyday life in the chat rooms, support groups, and virtual communities of cyberspace. Interviewing heavy users online, and becoming one herself, the author creates and ethnographic site for inquiring into the meanings of life online, a place where…

This book is a collection of 25 essays that explore what communities will look like in the future. They include: "Introduction: Civilizing the City" (Peter F. Drucker); (1) "The Paradox and Promise of Community" (Margaret J. Wheatley and Myron Kellner-Rogers); (2) "Economic Community and Social Investment" (Lester C. Thurow); (3) "The…

Serious confrontation of the problems facing education requires a reform of the organizing principles of learning: a shift from an instrumental purpose to the moral and political purpose of cultural renewal, from learning for economic purposes to learning for citizenship. This book focuses on the work of secondary schools in the contexts of…

This book explores how learning is the lifetime quest to understand personal identity, purpose, and meaning while conforming and adapting to the perceived and real confines of a paradoxical society. It examines the complex social experience of learning, revealing how culture, gender, race, and other societal factors shape and mold an individual's…

The status of student political activism in the 1970s and 1980s in such nations as the United States, Britain, India, Japan, Italy, Canada, West Germany, Greece, Zambia and Latin America is examined. The volume consists of 13 chapters written by scholars who all agree that student activism is not now at peak levels of the 1960s, yet student…

This analysis of cultural pluralism in the United States focuses on the central concerns of balancing inequities and cultivating pluralistic values and attitudes. The first chapter reviews the historical background of cultural pluralism and its implications for educators. In Chapter 2, the theory of cultural pluralism is explored, concentrating on…

Noting that the adoption and entry into force of the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1989 was an important milestone in history reflecting the changing image of the child, this book examines the relationship between education and children's rights. Chapter 1 deals with motivation, the different but interconnected reasons for…