In this paper, I argue that Spinoza's political theory gives us a model for how he might have approached a treatise on moral education. Indeed, his account of the method and aims of politics resembles Renaissance humanist rhetorical approaches to pedagogy -- particularly, the work of sixteenth century Spanish humanist Juan Luis Vives -- so…

This article explores both the prerequisites and barriers of perspective transformation in the context of two Eastern European societies as examples of post-totalitarian states. Although personal cognitive development is considered as an outcome of perspective transformation, I will demonstrate that certain manifestations of cognitive development…

Scholars in the helping professions have become increasingly concerned with how the fruits of their labor can promote social justice (e.g., Vera & Speight, 2003; Swank & Fahs, 2013, North, 2009). At present, there is a lack of theoretical convergence around what social justice consciousness, aptitude, awareness, or orientation actually…

This article considers the relevance of Autonomist Marxism for both research and practice in education and technology. The article situates the Autonomist perspective against that of traditional Marxist thought--illustrating how certain core Autonomist concepts enable a critical reading of developments in information and communication technology.…

Diversity is a defining characteristic of modern society, yet there remains considerable debate over the benefits that it brings. The authors argue that positive psychological and behavioral outcomes will be observed only when social and cultural diversity is experienced in a way that challenges stereotypical expectations and that when this…

This research uses the Defining Issues Test-2 (DIT-2) to investigate the cognitive moral development of college seniors in adult degree completion (ADC) programs and traditional undergraduate (TU) programs at three Council of Christian College and University institutions. Overall, TU students had significantly higher scores on the DIT-2, TU…

Comprehension of moral reasoning is important both for successful moral education and for Kohlbergian claims that moral reasoning development is cognitive in nature. Because a psychometrically appropriate moral comprehension instrument does not appear to exist, the Moral Comprehension Questionnaire (MCQ) was constructed in Study 1 and displayed…

English, German, and American youth from pubescence to late adolescence were interviewed in order to discern the maturation of political perspectives. By comparing youngsters in three countries with different political traditions, the differential impact of social ideas was examined. At each age level subjects were matched for sex and I.Q. and,…

Three major conclusions: First, the economic attitude scale does measure something other than economic knowledge, although it is not independent of knowledge; Second, economic conservatives seem to enter the introductory course knowing more economics; Third, no systematic bias appears in the TUCE in favor of either liberal or conservative when…

A summary of the adolescents' perspective of government, individual rights, crime, and power through his middle years" of development. Concepts range from a utopian ideology to complete naivity and vague misconceptions. Characteristic attitudes reflecting nationalism are found among young citizens of Britain, Germany, U.S. (JB)

Discusses the primacy principle theory which says that political orientations learned during childhood shape all subsequent political attitudes and limit all later attitude changes. The authors argue that there is little evidence supporting the theory and that cognitive development theory casts further doubt on its validity. (AM)

Suggesting that the concept of structure employed by political scientists in the analysis of belief systems is inadequate and misleading, the paper discusses Jean Piaget's concept of egocentrism as a theoretical alternative to belief systems analysis. The purpose of the paper is to provide political scientists with a short but comprehensive…

STRUCTURAL (NONCONTENT) DIMENSIONS OF CHILDREN'S POLITICAL ATTITUDES AND THEIR DEVELOPMENT WERE INVESTIGATED USING NEW METHODS DERIVED FROM SELF-REPORT DATA. THE CONSTRUCT, "ATTITUDE-CONCEPT SYSTEM," WAS INTRODUCED TO DESIGNATE EVALUATIONS OF AN ATTITUDE OBJECT AND BELIEFS ASSOCIATED WITH THIS EVALUATION. THE FIVE STRUCTURAL DIMENSIONS…

The relationship of ego development and the structure of political reasoning among student leftists is examined. The results indicate that lower stage subjects see politics in terms of the emotional effect upon themselves while higher stage subjects see politics in terms of human development and justice. (DE)