The study reported in this paper examined the structure and function of Chinese opera (also known as Peking opera) as an effective communication medium of social control and change in China, a land populated by 800 million people and nourished by a 5,000-year-old civilization. The study followed structural-functional analysis, content analysis,…

An entire issue of the "Yale Review of Law and Social Action" has been devoted to 12 articles providing views on potential benefits and pitfalls of cable television in contrast to the picture provided by the Sloan Commission Report. The goal further unifying these articles is that of waging the argument for an expanded cable television policy.…

Three case studies (senior citizens center, senior citizens housing project, and a housing and employment project) are assessed against an operational definition of community development. Since only one of these fits the definition, the author concludes that projects designated as community development activity by agencies and workers often do not…

The authors present two views on the issue of local control of educational television programing.

This report describes the Philadelphia Youth Aid Panel (YAP), an alternative approach to juvenile justice. YAPs, also known as Community Accountability Panels, evolved from 1950s legislation empowering panels of community members to handle low-level juvenile offenders. The Youth Aid Panel allows low-level juvenile offenders who have admitted their…

Community control under a metropolitan structure will encourage suburban citizens who have fled the cities to reexamine the urban crisis and, one hopes, to realize that the future of urban areas must be the concern of all citizens, not only those who remain in central cities. (Author)

Despite pessimistic appraisals, the movement for community control has already made significant inroads, and is likely to become one of the most successful educational reform movements'' in history. (DM)

Basic cause of the differences in range of choice between white and black decentralization plans is the disparity between black registered electoral figures and the number of black students in the high school system. Geographic polarization of Detroit into a black inner city and surrounding white suburbs reinforces this effect. (RJ)

School board decisions should reflect the needs of the public. Questionnaires, home visits and discussions help to achieve these ends. (AF)

Discusses the history and philosophy of the premise of rural localism from Lyndon Johnson's War on Poverty to its present relationship to the New Federalism of the Reagan administration. Concludes that the concept and its consequences should be reexamined by those in the rural social work profession. (Author/BRR)

Identifies a community skills triad (educational professionals, professional support structures, and the community) and undertakes a structural analysis of the interrelationships. Discusses implications for the development of a professional identity for adult educators. (SK)

Two types of organizational structure--centralized and pluralistic--found in 48 states' public assistance organizations can be partly accounted for by the administrative ideology that was dominant at the organization's formative stage. The effects of the structure on some internal components of the organization are long-lasting. (Author/IRT)