At the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century, representatives of the politically oppressed middle class in a politically fragmented Germany began to look to education in search for a means of emancipation, with the pedagogical concept of "Bildung" as their central focus. The attractiveness of the concept was also a…

In this paper, the author describes his own understanding of the process on how he moved from being a working-class boy who experienced school as a digression from his real interest--sports--to someone who had made education his life work. In particular, he describes his own changing gender, race, and class identity within the context of an…

This chapter provides an international perspective on the promotion of positive development and the prevention of risky behavior among youth. We discuss some of the specific challenges that youth face in low- and middle-income countries and identify six key evidence-based policies and programs that aim to promote positive youth development and…

Children's socialization environments reflect cultural models of parenting. In particular, Euro-American and Chinese families have been described as following different socialization scripts. The present study assesses parenting behaviors as well as parenting ethnotheories with respect to three-month-old babies in middle-class families in Los…

This case study addresses a middle class family's role in their son's literacy development through an investigation of the socio-cultural practices that support his literacy acquisition. Rogoff's socio-cultural framework, which proposes three planes of analysis for observation of human development, is used for the analysis. The literacy practices…

This article reports on case study research of seven- and eight-year-old children's discourse about reading. The case studies were selected to provide classrooms in contrasting neighbourhoods within a white "working class" town in the North of England. Mixed methods were employed, but primarily the case studies were ethnographic in…

This paper draws on an Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) funded research project on men (aged 18-54) participating in pre-university access and foundation programs in four London further and higher education colleges. Men's educational choices and decisions are analysed and discussed within current policy debates about widening…

A discussion of speech behavior and social distance outlines the major ways in which the study of rules of speaking can provide insights into the norms and values of a speech community. It shows ways in which the same material can provide information about the interaction process and the situations in which interlocutors negotiate their…

This paper proposes a comprehensive model in which the emergence and growth of various professions in Sweden can be localized and better understood. An opening section offers some remarks about the problem of definition and delineation of the concept of "profession." This section defines professionals as carriers of abstract expert…

Although a great deal of attention since the late 1970s has been given to the masculine construction and practice of science, this critique has not completely entered the realm of school science. To the extent that it has, it has largely been deployed to depict the disadvantage that female students find themselves at as they negotiate within this…

In studying sociolinguistic rules, researchers must be aware of some guiding principles: that (1) these rules are below the conscious level of awareness, and (2) rules of speaking differ across cultural groups, with none being more correct than another. Even when members of different cultural groups interact in the same language they may find it…

The present study (1) explores the extent to which the standard format of the conservation assessment task may mask conserving abilities of preschoolers and (2) investigates how the wording of a typical conservation task may affect the type of justifications offered by children of two different socioeconomic backgrounds. Subjects included 48 4- to…

Discusses the need to include areas in graduate social work curriculum not only to combat racism but also to direct attention to the lower-class white ethnic population. The profession must renew its commitment to cultural pluralism, with a goal of identifying bridge issues among varied groups and developing coalitions. (Editor/PG)

Differences in communication and interaction styles of groups defined as literate and those defined as oral are discussed. (RM)

Income disparities between wealthy and other Americans widened significantly in the 1980s. The most affluent Americans reaped exceptionally large income gains during that decade, while middle-income Americans gained little, and low-income Americans fell further behind. The richest one percent of all Americans now receive as much income after taxes…