Data from the National Longitudinal Study were used to relate seven life experiences with four developmental outcomes (personal agency, political participation, concern for social inequality, and social action). Each of the life experiences was significantly related to one or more outcomes, supporting the connection of life experience, learning,…

Argues that composition and rhetoric scholars should become involved in civic life beyond the social activism inherent in their teaching. Emphasizes the difference between missionary activism, which introduces certain literacies to promote an ideology, and scholarly activism, which facilitates literate activities that already take place in a…

Examines the special burdens and obstacles women face when they become actively involved in environmental activism. Contains profiles of women activists, their achievements, motivations, and knowledge gained. (LZ)

Social entrepreneurs are private citizens who play critical roles in bringing about catalytic changes in the public sector agenda and the perception of social issues. Factors that make their projects--such as the Partnership for a Drug-Free America and Earth Day--successful include problem complexity, credibility, and a commitment to a collective…

As implemented in Boston, the federal Healthy Start Initiative aimed at reducing infant mortality revealed the following: (1) conflict is inherent in a federal program that also calls for community participation and control; (2) trust among community-based partners is essential; and (3) meaningful input from community members is necessary if…

Demonstrates use of action research in project to mobilize youths and adults living in rapidly changing, culturally pluralistic, low-income suburban community to confront impact of drug and alcohol abuse in context of mutual respect and support. Explains how group of youths, in partnership with professionals, surveyed their contemporaries with…

This review of China's liberation struggle, 1920-40, examines political education in the Chinese Communist army, the educational process during land reform, and the participatory process of learning in social action exemplified by the history of this period. (SK)

Clarifies the characteristics of participatory research that distinguish it from other forms of research aimed at generating action. Discusses the role of ordinary people in motivating and sustaining research efforts, the nature of the knowledge generated, and the social-change mechanism embedded in participatory research. (Author/CCM)

Explores interviews with environmentalists in Kentucky (n=30) and Norway (n=26) who represented a broad range of issues from wilderness protection to urban planning to determine the sources of their environmental commitment. (Author/CCM)

Based on life-history interviews it was determined that Russian teenagers emphasized continuity over change, and described themselves more as passive participants than active shapers of a democratic society. Concludes that post-Soviet Russian adolescents, having witnessed political and economic upheavals but experiencing a lack of tangible…

Governmental and nongovernmental community work in Israel is examined through five dimensions: locus of initiation, funding, goals, intervention methods, and levels of complexity. A new division of labor among public, voluntary, and private sector community work is proposed. (SK)

Four types of theatre uses in adult education are theatre for education, for development, for conscientization, and popular theatre. The latter involves a group's interpretive study of its own social, economic, cultural, and political conditions, leading to collective action. (SK)

Examines how the politics of gender have influenced and shaped the modern debates over sexual abuse and memory. Explores the level of scrutiny applied to women accusers, the language used to characterize women within the debate, and why the sexual abuse memories of women have become the specific and focused target of "false memory"…

Considers several ways to think about the teacher's role in the teaching of reading. Notes that a curriculum built on critical literacy is one that highlights diversity and difference while calling attention to how people are constructed as literate beings. Argues that students should position themselves as social activists who challenge the…

Discusses policy factors in child and family social services that still serve to maintain biases--toward child protection in the UK and toward institutionalization in Romania--at the expense of family support. Discusses how the interaction of national and local conditions and professional and personal priorities shape the way that general…