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While Algerian women were instrumental in the struggle for independence, often carrying on crucial and dangerous work, and their rights are guaranteed by the new government, they still lag behind men in many areas such as education, employment, political participation, and control over reproduction, because of discrimination. (IS)

Women in the Soviet Union are guaranteed equal rights and opportunities and participate fully in the Soviet economy. Despite their achievements, Soviet women still have difficulties in entering and achieving high-level positions in traditionally male fields and in getting men to do their share of household work. (IS)

Sexual mutilation of women in Africa and the Middle East is being actively opposed by groups in the developed world and the Third World. Excision and infibulation, their history and cultural justification, efforts to eradicate these practices, and difficulties in doing so are discussed. (IS)

Malaysian women have been politically active since the struggle for independence. This activity has included participation both in groups with a western focus and those which have stressed Islamic ideals. Muslim groups are becoming increasingly important and their goals are making it difficult for women leaders to emerge. (IS)

The proportion of women in paid employment in India is very low, and working women tend to be concentrated in low-wage, low-status, unskilled jobs, especially in agriculture. Even for the few women working in the modern sector, discrimination is pervasive, and change seems unlikely to occur soon. (IS)

Although women in the Nordic countries have a longer history of participation in politics and participation in greater numbers than the women of many other countries, there are still barriers of discrimination to surmount. The basic societal structures are still patriarchal, and women face continuing discrimination in economics and politics. (IS)

Western preconceptions about the nature of the political process, the division between public and private spheres, and participation in the political process give an incomplete picture of political activity in places like the Sudan. Cultural differences between the northern and southern region further complicate our understanding of the country. (IS)

Reviews conceptual models used for analyzing the implementation of public policies. Stresses the need of citizen involvement in developing policy strategies aimed at social change. (JDH)

Discussed is one social mechanism--society's requirement for trained personnel--that is in constant interaction with the educational system. This requirement is determined by the existing level of development of productive forces, by the structure of the social division of labor, and the career-choice attitudes of youth. (RM)

Discusses "perestroika" (restructuring), a process in the USSR aimed at speeding up social and economic development and negating undesirable aspects of Soviet society such as stagnation, dogmatism, and obstructiveness. States that the social sciences will play a leading role in ensuring that socialist society becomes an expression of all that is progressive and humanistic. (GEA)

The way documentation procedures are organized in society has a decisive influence on the democratization and dissemination of power. The impact of documentation and information processing systems, data banks, and telecommunications networks on third world development and democratization trends is discussed. (AM)

Better-integrated, more comprehensive models in the social sciences for practitioners involved in policy making and administration are needed. Marxian historical materialism, systems theory, and a mathematical language of analysis are required to analyze modern capitalist countries, either more or less developed. (KC)

A social impact assessment (SIA) should accompany plans for land development in developing nations. An SIA team should maintain an ongoing relationship with the community and attempt to implement recommendations. (KC)

There is need to assess the impact of migration on the Caribbean ecosystems. As a 150-year-old institution, emigration is related to the carrying capacity of the islands and the need to export the surplus population when capacity is threatened. Emigration, however, is a deterrent to development and individual independence. (KC)

Examines the dimensions of an emerging awareness of a world society. A sociological framework for describing worldwide societal systems and how they interact is presented. Major traits of the image of a world society, as derived from the framework, are described. (AM)

The various forms of oppression in urban daily life include oppression in living conditions, production, consumption, and use of space, and ideological oppression. Responding to this oppression is a "subversive" culture. Based on individual and group awareness of creative potential, it opposes oppression and is the source of change. (CS)

Increase in research and development (R&D) activity in the industrialized countries has resulted in the expansion of the arms production capacity of the Third World. The transfer of arms production systems is carried out through production under license, subcontracting, and joint production of weapons. Politico-social and economic effects are discussed. (RM)

Tasks for scientists in a demilitarized world--developing a mental model of the new international economic order and solving environmental, food, and other social problems--are examined. The humanities can help scientists reorder values. Includes an appendix of possible products for a converted military industrial capacity. (SR)

The arms build-up in Nigeria and its effect on health, education, food production, and the economy are analyzed. "Indigenization" in the context of militarization only means the import of the frenzy and irrationality of the arms race into social structures riddled by hunger, inequality, sickness, and ignorance. (SR)

The relationship between military expenditure and the stimulation of aggregate demand, inflation, investment, trade balance, foreign exchange, the improvement of taxation, and employment creation and industrialization in the Third World is analyzed. To some extent military expenditure does promote economic growth, but it does not automatically promote socioeconomic development. (SR)

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various reports within the special issue on topics including gender and the management of climate-related risks in Northern Thailand, sustainability and social science research in Singapore, and communication for sustainable social change.

This article presents information on transactions of the fifth world congress of sociology held during September 2-8, 1962, in Washington D.C. Volume one contains main contributions to the plenary sessions on "The Sociologists, the Policy-Makers and the Public" and "The Nature and Problems of Sociological Theory." The first theme is treated from the point of view of communication between sociologists and policy-makers, and between sociologists and the general public. Papers dealing with the second theme attempt to define the character of sociological explication, to make a historical survey of sociological theories, and estimate their value. The contributors to this volume are, A. Sauvy, D. Chosh, R. Treves, A. Vratusa, R. Weitz, E.C. Hughes, T. Agersnap, F. Fernandes, S. Groenman, J. Hochfeld, R. KOnig, E. Geilner, H. Lefebvre, A.K. Saran and P.A. Sorokin. Volume two, entitled "The Sociology of Development," deals firstly with early stages of growth and contains papers on following topics; new groups, entrepreneurship, the development of a labour market, economic requirements of modem industrialization, urbanization and the traditional work ethos.

Information on the topics discussed during the International Conference on Comparative Political Sociology. The theme of the conference revolved around the discussion of the party system in the process of socio-economic change and the new trend in political sociology which is the effort to fuse the analysis of ideological change with the changes of the structure in society. Another issue discussed concerned the analysis of the party system which is considered as a pre-requisite for social change.

The way cultural veil models such as the sefsari or takrita (or foulara) have been dropped in favour of sartorial styles hailing from the Near or Middle East underscores the emergence of a transnational religious fact within a political sphere defined by the nation-State. The high profile of the khimar – the scarf worn by Tunisian young women – is a pointer to social change and current transformations at the local level as interpenetrated by the global. In this paper, we propose to describe some causes of the current veil-wearing phenomenon in Tunisia and the social and political impact implicit in the emergence of this novel practice model in that country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper traces the genealogy of legal developments regarding the expansion of civil jurisdiction for human rights abuses. It endeavours to illuminate the relation between these civil remedy developments in alien tort action and globalisation. It elucidates the dimensions of this development, implied by the transformations in substantive and procedural jurisdiction, as well as in legal personality, and subjectivity, reflecting upon the ways that these normative changes help to constitute global rule of law. It ends by concluding that, whatever their contribution, these transnational remedies are best conceived as complementary to the protections offered by state legal systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the last 30 years, rapid social change has dramatically altered the conditions and meanings of women's lives in Bangladesh. After generations of public neglect and exclusion, women are now widely exposed to a globalised world of foreign aid, migration, trafficking, factory work, and urbanisation. The sharp rise in women's participation in the labour force, involvement in governmental and non-governmental programmes, and migration to urban centres as well as other countries augment their greater social and political visibility. The presence of women in the marketplace and public space has improved opportunities for greater access to resources and the capacity to act, but exposed large segments of the population as highly vulnerable targets of sexual violence, repression in workplaces, and religious persecution. This paper frames the realities of escalating violence against women within the contemporary discourses of gender empowerment and development. It argues that current development policy in Bangladesh assumes increased welfare for women in the process of economic development when, in fact, women are subjected to new and intensified forms of violence during these changes in the economy and society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study proposes to examine the recomposition of the practices and notions of social change that are currently used in the World Social Forum (WSF). The alternative globalisation movement is united around the idea of shifting from current societies to“another possible world”. How does the movement envision and implement this shift? Today, the approaches to social change that coexist and interact within the Forums are being completely recomposed, both conceptually and practically. To analyse these evolutions, this paper will study a French group made up of actors implicated in the organisation of the 2003 European Social Forum. The goal of the group is to establish a collective space for self-assessment of the alternative globalisation movement. Since the group lacks an overall vision or political project, it experiences the present as a space that it must completely occupy in order to shape and stimulate the recompositions in progress. It seeks to recompose political goals and an overall vision, using as its starting point the host of practices and analyses found in the Forums. In this approach, by establishing consistency between the form and content of social change and between the different levels and domains of action, localised changes are able to connect, circulate, and“become part of a system”. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To begin with one should note that any study of change in the Japanese family must go back over three periods-the pre-Meiji period, the Meiji and post-Meiji period and the post-second world war period. And, in fact, recent sociological studies in Japanese family cover not only the latter stage but the others as well. It would hardly be possible to attempt a complete survey of the trends of these studies in this paper, since considerable background knowledge is needed of the peculiar characteristics of the Japanese family system and of the special concepts employed. Nevertheless, some of the more important aspects can be discussed here. As is well known, the family and the village are the two fields of Japanese sociology in which sociological research had already made a great deal of progress, even before the war. These two fields overlap to a large extent. With the possible exception of the first family sociologist, T. Toda, family sociologists who have made the most important contributions, such as K. Ariga and K. Kitano, are also the rural sociologists. Their studies of the Japanese family have been carried out in relation to the village, and particularly in relation to the "ie," or traditional family system, and the dozoku, which is a sort of special institutional group composed of several it.

The purpose of this paper is an analysis of the impact of radical and rapid social change on patterns of family organization and on the relationship between the family and the community. The study deals with three of the types of family found in Israel (a) the family in collective settlements (Kibbutzim); (b) the family in co-operative settlements (Moshavim) settled by immigrants from Islamic countries; and (c) the family among European refugees in urban centers. It focuses the analysis on these cases because they represent three analytically distinct modes of interaction between the family and the community. In the Kibbutzim the community reigns supreme and the family is subordinated to it. The traditional family in the Moshavim is kinship centered, the elementary family is subordinated to wider kinship groupings which mediate between it and the community. The isolated refugee family in urban centers is cut off from kin and estranged from the community.

The article presents information on various documents and publications of the United Nations and its specialized agencies, as of February 1, 1961. "International Conference on the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy," is an index of more than 2,100 papers classified by subject and by author. "Report of International Law Commission Covering the Work of its 12th Session, 25 April- July 1, 1960," gives a draft article on consular intercourse and immunities and another relating to special missions. "Second Report on Consular Intercourse and Immunities," is a report, that deals with the question of the personal inviolability of consuls and of their exemption from penal jurisdiction, as well as with the application of the man favored nation clause in the matter of consular intercourse and immunities.

The International Social Science Council and the International Research Office on Social Implications of Technological Change held a round table conference, devoted to the social implications of technological change, as of August 1, 1958. According to the work programme, the discussion was centred on three aspects, i.e. changes occurring at the level of the firm, the family and the community. A historical and geographical comparison was also planned with the intention of demonstrating these differences between the industrialization process of the 19th and the early 20th century and the development to be observed today in new regions. Reports specially prepared by some participants provided the basis for discussion at each meeting. Most of these papers examined the problem of social change by means of an analysis of the situation in a particular country and the discussion was almost always directed to general situations which these national and regional analyses made it possible to identify.

The article discusses the publication on the results of the work from the History and Observation of Social Transformations (HOST) network. The work reconsiders existing economic and social theories of change that have influenced, three decades of development strategies in countries of the South. Rejecting blanket approaches to development paradigms that make no explicit reference to concrete situations or to specific contexts, this volume deepens our knowledge of the long-term effects of development and of those economic, social and cultural variables which help explain its success or failure. The article discusses eight papers which provide the first base for an overall assessment of particular growth patterns. They endeavor first to determine the main components of growth patterns in general and of the changing relations between agriculture and industry within a long time-frame. Moving beyond the national setting, they also assess the extent to which these patterns are independent of, or dependent on, international contexts and globalization. Finally, they attempt to identify the link, very often disregarded in development theories, between economic development and social development.

The article presents evidence that economic, cultural and political change are linked in coherence, as modernization theory claimed. From the perspective of cultural relativism, it would be ethnocentric not to believe that all cultures are equally conducive to economic development and democracy. This paper analyses an unprecedented body of data on the values and beliefs of the publics of 43 societies representing 70 per cent of the world's population. Conversely, these cross-national comparisons provide hints about how the outlook of the publics of poorer countries may change, if their societies become industrialized and economically secure. Together these two postulates imply that some patterns are more probable than others, and hence that development is to some extent predictable. Secularization is one of the pervasive tendencies linked with modernization. This holds true although it is often asserted today that there is a rapid growth of fundamentalist religion throughout the world. Within the last 25 years, a major change in the direction of change has occurred, which might be called the postmodern shift. Marxists and capitalists disagreed about how the fruits of production should be distributed, both sides shared an unspoken consensus that economic growth was a good thing.

For many years now, social scientists have observed and studied certain aspects of youth in tropical Africa and indeed in much of the developing world. Several ideas have been put forward concerning the relationship between education and social change, the inadequacies of imported educational systems, the overproduction of unemployable school-leavers and the alienation of youth from their roots because of the development of new institutions. These views have been echoed by politicians who constantly reiterate the need for programmes to keep youth on the land through agricultural education and national service, point to allegedly frustrated and alienated school- leavers and see them as a source of political and social turmoil. Briefly, the purpose of the Uganda Youth Survey was to assess how far these popularly held views of youth in developing Africa fitted the situation in Uganda, and to consider among other things whether an identifiable youth culture existed in that country by examining some of the norms, values, expectations and behaviour of youth. The survey involved interviewing a total sample of 700 youths in three village areas in the eastern, northern and central regions of Uganda. We interviewed every youth twice, once in 1970 and again a year later. Our sample included both those who lived in the village and those whose family lived there but who had themselves left. A sample of 300 adults from the same villages was interviewed for comparative purposes.

The article presents abstracts of social structures research. They include "Rapid Social Change and Juvenile Delinquency in Africa," the "State of Labour Force and Employment Statistics in Africa" and "The Quality of Labour and Economic Development in Certain Countries," by W. Galenson and Graham Pyatt.

Social gerontology is an emergent field of research and teaching which is not directly concerned with the biological aspects of ageing but concentrates rather upon its economics, social psychological, sociological, and political aspects. Its objects of research is not individual organisms but people as population aggregates, as members of society and its components groups, and as the creators and the carriers of culture. Specifically, social gerontology studies the status and roles of older persons, their cultural patterns, social organization, and collective behavior as they affected by and as they affect social change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In South Africa there is an urgent call for decolonisation and Africanisation in academia, including appeals for Africanised research. This study aims at investigating the role of the academic editor in ensuring effective cross‐cultural collaboration to guarantee that the curricula and higher education research remain rooted in Africa. In the context of higher education, while remaining invisible, editors should ensure they do not silence the African voice and are guided by the quest for decolonisation and Africanisation of academic research. This call for social change, brought about by the student‐led 2015 #FeesMustFall protest movement, needs to be promoted through the editing process This study, which is a preliminary investigation into possible guidelines and strategies for editors involved in editing decolonised and African texts, identified a number of strategies for further exploration, namely: a journey of self‐exploration; changing the mindset and attitude of the editor; ensuring diverse representation on editorial boards; immersion of self in the indigenous text; creating new styles and terminologies; and collaboration with authors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the role and place of Communication for Sustainable Social Change (CSSC) in the 21st century. CSSC has begun addressing several concerns and issues society faces including rural development and livelihood, poverty reduction and food security. Sustainable development is seen as a way to enhance decision-making so that it brings a more comprehensive assessment of these problems. Communication and culture play a vital role by improving information and knowledge sharing.

The article explores the shift of South Korea from an organized society to a more individualized civil society. Topics discussed include the factors behind the growth of democratization in the country, the weaknesses and problems associated with the radicalization of the individualized civil society of South Korea and the ways in which individualization has changed the foundations of the country's social institutions.

There has been much talk recently of a retreat from multiculturalism across western democracies. While people disagree about what comes after multiculturalism, there is a broad consensus that we are indeed in a post-multicultural era. In this article I explore and critique this rise and fall narrative and suggest an alternative framework for thinking about the choices we face. Both the rise and fall of multiculturalism have been very uneven processes, depending on the nature of the issue and the country involved, and we need to understand these variations if we are to identify a more sustainable model for accommodating diversity. In particular, I argue that the master narrative (a) mischaracterises the nature of the experiments in multiculturalism that have been undertaken over the past 40 years, (b) exaggerates the extent to which they have been abandoned and (c) misidentifies the genuine difficulties and limitations they have encountered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present article analyses the current situation of HIV trends in a low-prevalence transition country (Albania) and proposes six complementary areas of intervention aiming at keeping prevalence low in the country. Through the analysis of a specific case study, it will be argued that in low-prevalence/high stigma areas characterized by rapid social changes, interventions should not be limited to especially vulnerable groups such as those who are victims of trafficking or who practise anal sex. In a context of dramatic social and cultural change, it cannot be assumed that traditional behavioural codes will prevail, particularly among the youngest generations. The lack of accurate information and the low level of condom use, as well as the difficulties in reaching the most vulnerable individuals, point to the need to launch culturally sensitive media interventions which should be accompanied by more targeted Information-Education-Communication (IEC) activities aiming at reaching specific groups. Targeting specific sites – such as the main city centres, the roads and towns near the borders, the student neighbourhoods, hotels, motels, clubs, armed forces settings, airports and ports – might be more effective than trying to reach specific groups who might be inaccessible as a consequence of the stigma and illegality associated with certain kinds of behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on developments related to the International Social Science Council (ISC) as of December 2005. ISSC president Lourdes Arizpe has addressed the 33rd Unesco General Conference. Four organizations have been accepted to membership in the council which includes the Economic Social and Research Council, German Research Foundation, Research Council of Norway and the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research. Two task forces were set up in pursuit of the Strategic Planning Advisory Committee recommendations. The International Global Social Change Programme was successfully held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on September 7-8, 2005.

During the past 10 years South Africa has been through a period of unprecedented change. The process of democratisation that began in 1990 has resulted in more political, economic, and social change than was experienced during the period of 70 years following the establishment of the modern South Africa state in 1910. The aim of this article is to explore not only the changes in the role of the state in South Africa, but also to highlight the changes that have taken place since the process of democratisation began. During South Africa's transition to democracy one of the most important developments was the adoption of a new Constitution, Bill of Rights, and electoral system. However, the racial characteristics of the old political system are too deeply ingrained to expect a generally high level of confidence in the new political institutions. Any discussion of the possibility of sustained democracy in South Africa thus inevitably shifts to the role of the state. A central issue that has influenced contemporary South African politics has been a fear of domination. This fear can be conceptualised in both political and economic terms: the first is for the potential economic domination of the white minority over the black majority, while the second concerns the potential political domination of the majority over the minority.

The article examines the macroeconomic policy implications of the new types of economic crises in East Asia, Brazil, Russia and other countries and develops an underlying framework for motivating and evaluating policy reforms to prevent and mitigate the crises. An overview of the recent trends in economic growth and macroeconomics policy are presented by documenting the impressive achievements of many developing countries and the improvements in the macroeconomic policy regime. The increasing frequency and severity of economic crises and some of their long-lived consequences for economic and social development are examined in detail. The financial crises of the 1990s, which differ in important respects from the crises of the 1980s, most importantly in that their roots are in the voluntary decisions of the private sector rather than the fiscal profligacy of the developing country governments are analyzed.

The article discusses the political landscape in which poverty eradication is possible. Eradication of any social problem is not possible without some kind of distribution or redistribution of economic, political or social resource. All kinds of distribution and redistribution have a built-in conflict potential, irrespective of how trivial the distribution or redistribution seems to be. Where poverty problems are closely associated with ethnic and political problems or pressure on land use and water resources, it is likely that the built-in conflict in the transfers would increase. Economic development is dependent on the development of human capital, through public investment in basic education and health services for the poorer part of the population. In both the poorest countries and the not-so-poor ones, the surplus generated from economic growth has been seen as a necessary prerequisite for poverty reduction.

This article attempt to see what lessons can be drawn from Russian experience for a better understanding of social change in general, and in particular for the elaboration of strategies and policies of social transformations. In contrast to the growing individualism of Western approaches, Russian thinking tends to view society as a product and at the same time as an indispensable condition of human existence. Human potentialities and society constantly co-evolve. The first specific feature of Russia is well known. Society in Russia has historically been much less open than in most other countries. Moreover, there exists a tremendous inertia in society; social change has always had to move great masses and overcome long distances. Accordingly, Russia often lagged behind in the creation of social institutions, which more intensive development patterns forced on Western European societies at an earlier stage. A very prominent and important feature of Russia is that, traditionally, political power has never been seriously restrained by existing social and legal institutions, by set divisions of functions and responsibilities and so on. When Western societies were already far advanced into a flexible, democratic pattern of development, Russia still remained for a long time a rigid survival-oriented society. This has led to social structures, power relationships, attitudes and mentalities that will undoubtedly continue to influence future developments in Russia for a long time to come.

The article presents a comparative study of the nine fundamental contradictions related to globalization and migration. Migration is both a result of global change, and a powerful force for further change in migrant-sending and receiving societies. Its immediate impacts are felt on the economic level, social relations, culture, national politics and international relations. Migration inevitably leads to greater ethno-cultural diversity within nation-states, transforming identities and blurring traditional boundaries. Most migration takes place within transnational social networks, which link families and communities across long distances. International migration is an essential part of globalization. Globalization has so far mainly meant the imposition of drastic changes on local communities by powerful forces from above. The development of countervailing forces of "globalization from below" is the main hope for a more equal world, in which economic and social change does not mean exclusion and impoverishment for so many people.

The article discusses the socio-political changes taking place as a result of migrations in the Asia-Pacific region. The last two decades have been a period of massive transformation in the Asia-Pacific region. This vast and populous area has experienced economic, demographic, political and social change on a pace and scale almost without historical precedent. One of the most significant elements in this change has been a substantial increase in population mobility. On the international level, migrations have increased greatly in scale and complexity. The overriding concern of the scholars who have joined together in the Asia-Pacific Migration Research Network (APMRN) is to increase awareness of the long-term effect. For immigration countries, admitting to the potential for permanent settlement means addressing issues connected with citizenship and national identity. Even with its official migration and ethno-cultural diversity as factors of transformation of the societies of the Asia-Pacific region. Currently, the network includes universities and other research bodies based in Australia, the People's Republic of China including former Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, The main difficulty faced by the APMRN is the lack of public understanding of possible long-term effects of migration. Inadequate funding at the international level has slowed development of the network.

The article discusses anthropology. The idea of development, it would seem, is losing some of its hold. Its failure to fulfill its promises along with resistance by many social movements and communities, are weakening its imaginative appeal; practitioners of critical development studies are attempting through their analyses to give form to this social and epistemological weakening of development. It could be argued that if development is losing its grip it is because it is no longer necessary to capital's strategies of globalization, or because the rich countries simply no longer care. If it is true that post development and forms of non-capitalism and alternative modernity are always under construction, there is hope that they could get to constitute new grounds for existence and significant re-articulations of subjectivity and alertly in their economic, cultural and ecological dimensions.