In the aftermath of the Attica prison riot, the shooting of George Jackson at San Quentin, and a major prison scandal in Arkansas, an assessment of public reaction to inmate grievances tests basic values in American politics. (Editor)

Discusses the Minority Rights Group, an international specialized research and information unit, devoted to fighting discrimination against minorities. (AM)

Newspapers devoted 8.8 percent of their space to coverage of social issues; most stories were written by staff members and oriented to issues rather than events. (KS)

Presents the views of a Nobel Prize winner regarding problems in the relationship between scientific enterprise and society. Examples are given from cancer research relating to cost-benefit misunderstandings and the decision-making machinery that chooses priorities in science. Further examples from recombinant DNA research relate to society's…

Presents a case study of the United Colors of Benetton advertising campaign as a conscious strategy to transform advertising into a broader category of communication. Argues that the campaign reflects the discomfort created by the postmodern dilemma of arbitrary meaning. Analyzes selected advertisements from the campaign. Recommends further study…

Examines stories that racially diverse, college educated adults tell about race and racism. Discusses the function of stories in culture, presenting counternarratives told predominantly by respondents of color and hegemonic narratives told predominantly by Whites. Analyzes the prevalence and effects of color blind ideology in white stories.…

Investigated public officials' use of subtle exclusionary language regarding immigrant-related issues. Data were collected from mainstream U.S. Newspaper articles from 1995-2000, focusing on unregulated pharmacies, food vendors, and housing. Results suggest that while public officials discuss immigrant problems with seeming empathy to avoid being…

Examines the causes of public anger and intellectual embarrassment with computer literacy and argues that it is no mere coincidence that intellectual embarrassment has become our besetting cultural vice at the same time that information technology proliferates. Roszak suggests that the book belongs to a rich and necessary way of thinking that…

Known but neglected validity issues in measurement are reviewed from the perspective of a 50-year history of research. Important but too often overlooked validity issues in applying assessment to social issue are identified, and needed directions for the fields of assessment and measurement are suggested. (SLD)

Discusses whether religion can affect health and social welfare and what types of religious influences are most beneficial to the individual and society, identifying three separate but related faith factors: organic religion, programmatic religion, and ecological religion. Examines research on faith-based approaches to social and urban problems.…

Presents a conversation with picture book creator Emily Arnold McCully. Acknowledges her frequent focus on strong women in her picture books. Shares ideas about using history in her writing. (SG)

Selects seven journal articles that feature young adult novels and, in the commentary, covers a topic of importance in the teaching of adolescent literature: theory, social issues, history, exposition, and practice. Contains a summary of each novel, a summary of the accompanying article, as well as information about the journal and the article…

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)

Offers a personal perspective on the shortcomings of contemporary news reporting. Considers four shortcomings: partial coverage, abstracting of issues, excessive objectivity, and elitism. States that reporters should always pursue the truth. (PA)

Examines how social conditions can become social problems and argues that there are objective ways of determining the scale of a particular problem. The paper supports its argument through examinations of prohibition, the decline in tobacco consumption, and the war on drugs. (GLR)