Visual images are not simply embodiments of social reality; they are indeed ideological sites embedded with powerful discursive sociopolitical meanings that exert strong influences on the ways in which people live their lives. The author of this paper describes the Ad-Deconstruction Project, which challenged students to integrate aesthetic…

Central to sociology is the assumption that virtually all forms of social action and public policies have unanticipated consequences for their actors and social systems. Sociologists seek to explore these unanticipated consequences and delineate how they will affect people, policies, and practices. This essay focuses on the unanticipated…

In September 1999, over 3000 Australian students in 115 schools representing all schooling sectors participated in the Australian component of the IEA Civic Education study. In this paper, the focus in particular is on Australian students' democratic values and on their attitudes towards participation and social action. The results suggest that…

The paper explores processes of social movement learning within SINTRAEMCALI, a public service trade union in the South West of Colombia, which has successfully prevented a series of attempts by the national government to privatise public utilities. The paper develops the concept of "strategic learning" and applies it to an exploration…

Addressing Social Issues in the Classroom and Beyond: The Pedagogical Efforts of Pioneers in the Field is comprised of essays that delineate the genesis and evolution of the thought and work of pioneers in the field of social issues and education. The authors (many of whom, themselves, are noted professors of education and who have done…

This report provides testimony from children and adolescents who have experienced violence, along with testimony and comments from child advocates, legislators, government officials, educators, and youth leaders on violence and its effects on American youth. The report includes background information on the Children's Express Foundation (CE), a…

This report discusses the increasing incidence of divorce and unwed parenthood in the United States, arguing that the "divorce revolution" of the last several decades has created terrible hardships for children, generated poverty within families, and burdened the nation with unsupportable social costs. It calls for a fundamental shift in cultural…

This workbook, developed for an international workshop held in the Philippines in 1994, is designed to enrich adult environmental education worldwide and to ensure that the International Treaty on Environmental Education for Sustainable Societies and Global Responsibility is implemented in an action-oriented program. The workbook is organized in…

With the current interest and allocation of resources accorded service learning comes a growing need to clarify the varied ideological perspectives on school and society that underline service learning activities and programs. Drawing on an evaluation of Stanford's Service Learning 2000 project and on a rhetorical analysis of policy talk on…

This report discusses changes in markers of the well-being of children in California, focusing on at-risk children in lower income groups. The report considers earnings growth and decline for California's families, public and private resources available, family economics, health, education, and safety. Specific problems are discussed such as a…

Peace lifestyles are possible in social environments that endorse peace activism. This discussion of community change processes provides an outline of mechanisms needed for successful community activism working at the cultural level. The Community Peace Cultures Program (CPCP) is an approach to building supportive environments for peace…

These two lectures discuss children's rights and the role that government can play in helping to alleviate some of the difficulties faced by children in developing nations, focusing on the situation in Costa Rica, specifically, and Latin America, in general. The first lecture examines some of the economic and social problems in Costa Rica, their…

This paper examines social welfare policy and its impacts on Appalachian children. The discussion is based on a notion that a just society meets basic needs of all its members. Current social policy: (1) does not include a comprehensive family policy; (2) depends on state and local contributions which are limited in rural Appalachia; (3) has…

Designed to serve as a framework from which high school debate students, coaches, and judges can evaluate the issues, arguments, and evidence present in sustaining and reforming the United States welfare system, this booklet provides guidelines for research on the 1984-85 debate resolutions selected by the National Federation of State High School…

Calls for an end to aridity in the general education curricula of 2-year colleges by promoting a much closer link between the study of traditional disciplines and the community which surrounds academe. (JT)