Proposes that a direct and authoritative challenge to the scientific racism of the late eighteenth and early twentieth centuries was urgently needed, and was one of the leading rhetorical contributions of W.E.B. DuBois. Specifically examines three issues: social Darwinism, the eugenics movement, and psychologists' measurement of intelligence.…

Discusses the gruesome images of death occurring in medieval art and letters. Suggests that the images are a form of symbolism based on body metaphors. By means of decomposing bodies, artists and poets symbolized the disintegration of medieval institutions and the transition to the early modern period in Europe. (JAC)

The history of the Congress for Change, a professional librarian's group favoring aggressive library response to societal problems, is highlighted, and its past and present objectives are reviewed. (MBR)

Provides excerpts from David Berninghausens's "Social Responsibility vs. the Library Bill of Rights" and responses that appeared in "Library Journal" in 1972 and 1973 because of the continuing debate over the role of the American Library Association (ALA) Social Responsibilities Round Table and whether or not ALA should take…

The history of the eugenics movement is reviewed. The authors conclude that, despite changed terminology and a shifting emphasis, advocacy of eugenics and its discrimination against poor and mentally retarded persons still persists today. (MC)

Suggests that the years between cataclysmic wartime occurrences and the period during which Japanese Americans became viewed as the "successful minority" were a period of crisis rather than a period of transition. Discusses "social amnesia" in terms of issues never fully resolved by Japanese Americans. (MK)

Examines the career of Robert Hutchins, dean of the Yale Law School and later president of the University of Chicago, and his shift from advocating a curriculum based on the social sciences to one based on philosophy and the great books. (DM)

In an examination of the dynamics that mold a bill and keep it before the attention of the national legislature, this paper traces the behind-the-scenes history of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), H.R. 925, from its origin as a benefit solely for pregnant women workers to its current status as a broad remedy for the stresses of modern…

The Aboriginal Australians traditionally were a homogeneous people, living as hunter-gatherers and dispersed across Australia. Today there are 176,300 Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders in Australia--more than one percent of the country's population. Their history and current problems are examined. (RM)

Sketches some events in the life and career of Lowry Nelson, a rural sociologist, and relates these events to the development of rural sociology and the Rural Sociological Society. Asserts that the dream of using science to ameliorate social problems during the early development of rural sociology is still present today. (KS)

Details Lawrence Oxley's work as director of the Division of Work among Blacks from 1925 to 1934. Discusses racial attitudes and legal injustices toward Blacks. Oxley addressed social problems of Blacks such as unfair capital punishment, juvenile delinquency, and lack of social services. (KS)

Discussed are the different ways the term "brain dysfunction" was interpreted and advocated by special educators, parents, persons concerned with social problems, and other groups urging that the condition be recognized through federal legislation. (Author/RM)

Discusses disease and genetic disorders as evolutionary mechanisms. Emphasizes the archeological evidence from past human populations and societies, mentioning albinism, scurvy, sleeping sickness, bone conditions, various host-parasite relationships, rickets, sickle-cell anemia, diabetes, and influenza. (CS)

Presents an account of the Mondale Initiative, i.e., an attempt during the period from 1967-73 to develop a national system of social indicators to improve social policy. The role of social scientists in national decision making and policy formation is examined, and a legislative history of the Mondale Initiative is appended. (51 references) (LRW)

Items on the unfinished agendas of society, education, and physical education include: (1) the war on human suffering; (2) the paradox of education as the equalizer of social differences, although it recognizes individual merit based on academic excellence; and (3) physical education as an agent of social change and responsibility. (JN)