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Four papers discuss research exchanges between the United States and the USSR and East Europe. The first paper considers the evolution of perceptions of social scientists in these countries during the Cold War and Detente. The dominant view of American researchers during the Cold War was that the United States, as the most modern society, was the yardstick for measuring other societies. The United States experienced rapid growth of training and research related to the Soviet orbit. However, Soviet scholars were constrained by Marxist-Leninist doctrine and by educational and research policies. In the 1960s, American social scientists gained a greater appreciation for the complexities of modern societies and East European social scientists began innovative studies. The second paper discusses evaluations of research exchanges between the United States and the Soviet Union. The conclusion is that these exchanges are scientifically valuable to both countries. The most serious problem is Soviet political repression of its scientific community. The third paper discusses problems and accomplishments of East European studies in the United States. Although progress seems to be steady, American social scientists have come to pursue topics that are politically safe, and thus often of secondary importance. The final paper suggests that in exchanges between the Soviet Union and the United States, both academic and government communities profit. The point that Soviet exchanges are generally in sciences and engineering and American exchanges are in history and literature illustrates that each side sends whom it wishes. Thus, the author concludes that this type of exchange is neither unbalanced nor unfair. (Author/KC)

A cognitive theory about the representation and processing of ethnic attitudes is presented, and strategies people use to express ethnic attitudes in conversations are discussed. Recent developments in cognitive and social psychology and in microsociology have shown that ethnic prejudices or attitudes are both cognitive and social results of social information processing in intergroup relations. Ethnic prejudice, formulated in terms of attitude schemata about minority groups, can be categorically organized in terms of their major social functions: dominance, differentiation, distance, depersonalization, diffusion, diversion, and the various forms of daily discrimination. Ethnic groups are represented according to prototypical characteristics, e.g., origin, appearance, socio-economic position. There are many strategies which can be used to manipulate these cognitions, including irrelevant participant categorization, use of negative prototypical properties of minorities, favoritism in ambiguous situations of ingroup members, and negative information spreading. How everyday talk exemplifies many of these cognitive and social strategies of prejudice is shown. (RM)

The nature of violence and civility were explored from sociological and philosophical perspectives to contextualize violence and civility in terms of their implications for the theory and practice of adult education. The exploration focused on the following topics: (1) the nature of violence and civility and their relevance to contemporary realities; (2) the nature of violence in relation to the problem of good and evil; and (3) the question of whether the "axis of evil" is myth or reality. The terrorism of September 11th was deemed a form of violence that, although illegitimate, was justifiable by those who committed it for the purpose of interrupting civil order in the United States. It was argued that our best hope for counteracting the evil that led to the violence of the September 11th attacks lies in working to transform life through active participation in a civil society. Adult education was seen as a vehicle for nurturing transformation of life by actively engaging individuals in thinking and acting according to constructive powers of reason. Adult educators were urged to think and act wisely and to exercise their transformative powers. (14 references) (MN)

This paper outlines the procedures for a study that will focus on the information needs of the 12 Department of Sociology faculty members at Ball State University. By comparing needs of the sociology department with current holdings in the library, deficiencies in monograph and serial holdings are expected to be identified. Needs are defined here as the primary information sources students use to complete their coursework and the materials containing in-depth knowledge conducive to faculty research. Among the questions to be considered are whether the sources listed in course bibliographies of the Department of Sociology are available in Bracken Library, and whether the serials and monographs cited in the publications of current faculty members are available in the library. Following a review of the related literature and a brief historical background, the study procedures are defined in terms of population, data collection, data reduction, and data analysis. Finally, a 10-week timetable outlines the significant events in the study. A sample letter to faculty members is appended, and a 13-item bibliography is included. (THC)

By examining assumptions which comprise traditional sociological thought, problems, and criticisms of sociological practice, and current issues of feminist sociology, the document investigates ways in which sociology can be transformed to include feminist perspectives. Following a rationale for reformulating fundamental assumptions of sociology to include women, the document is arranged into three parts. Part 1 identifies six theoretical sociological assumptions that are compatible with the feminist perspective. Part 2 focuses on problems and criticisms of sociological practice, mainly that theoretical and methodological issues raised by feminist scholars continue to be ignored despite more than a decade of research on women and gender. Traditional assumptions challenged as a result of feminist thought are discussed and questions concerning the preservation of classical sociological thought are raised. Part 3 discusses current issues in feminist sociology, particularly in the area of epistemology, and discusses the ideas and recommendations of Dorothy Smith and Marcia Westkott. The document concludes that while the core assumptions of sociological thought can be maintained, the transformation of much of its actual theory and practice is necessary to integrate more fully the scholarship on women to the sociological "mainstream." (LH)

Although most parents want school officials to enforce rules for a drug-free school environment, they often feel differently when their own children are the objects of student searches. This paper argues that as long as searches are directed at "others,"--those who are known or assumed to be guilty of school rule violations or criminal activity--people tend to believe that searches by school officials are justified. The paper describes how and why the concept of the "other" or enemy is created. School administrators, with the help of the judicial system, have applied that process to certain types of students to justify increasingly intrusive searches by school officials for a wide range of infractions. James Aho's model explaining how enemies are created (1994) is used to compare two strip-search cases decided by the Seventh Circuit Court and similar cases in other jurisdictions. The discussion illustrates changes in courts' handling of school search cases over the last 15 years. The conclusion challenges educators to acknowledge their role in creating and perpetuating an enemy whose only place in society is outside the social norm. Two figures are included. (Contains 23 references.) (LMI)

For over 10 years, the accelerated schools movement has worked to implement a cohesive philosophy and process for change in over 1,000 schools in 41 states. This paper describes the characteristics of accelerated schools and details the influences that districts have on them. It demonstrates how districts influence the success or failure of accelerated-school efforts by portraying instances of district support, as well as neglect and inadvertent sabotage. The paper next describes the genesis and history of school districts, and uses sociological social-movement (resource mobilization) and institutional theories to understand why the central focus of most districts has consistently been on compliance and control. The following conditions suggest that fundamental district reform may now be possible: (1) an articulated vision of change; (2) a network of agents who can effectively advocate for change at multiple levels; and (3) a shift in the institutional environment. The paper concludes by presenting the first pieces of the vision of a "new" school district that supports accelerated and other restructuring schools--cultural and functional match with its schools. (Contains 57 references). (LMI)

"Literacy" is a hot buzzword for schools today. This is evident from the number of "literacies" that are making claims on the traditional subject-matter territory of the pre-college curriculum. Typically, each subject area of the school is asked to play a role in the achievement of these "literacies." Such is the case with "technological literacy" and the social studies curriculum. Focusing on the secondary curriculum only, this paper examines whether social studies should play a role in the development of technological literacy, and whether social studies is equipped to play a role in the development of technological literacy, specifically at the secondary level. The former task requires the formulation of a defensible rationale for social studies becoming involved in such a literacy effort, given the fundamental purposes of social studies education. The latter requires the design of a curricular framework within which the social studies' role may be most effectively performed, consistent with the content and methods of social studies education at the secondary level. After describing this framework, the paper concludes that the development of technological literacy is consistent with the purposes of social studies education and that the framework proposed should sharpen students' awareness not only of current social impacts of science and technology but also of issues arising from now unforseen scientific achievements and new technologies. (AA)

In recent years, rural sociology has been the subject of sociological inquiries. Many of these have been highly critical, raising questions about the ontological nature of the discipline. This paper extends the tradition, providing a brief historical analysis of rural sociology's roots as both theoretical and applied and critiquing current rural sociology in a critical theory perspective. Questions about rural sociology's very being and how it could become more policy-oriented are raised. Illustrating a direction in which research and practice are more interwoven rather than merely discussed and suggesting a direction in which rural sociology could go, the paper gives examples from economics. Finally, the paper cautions rural sociologists that not to address these questions is to run the risk of creating a scientifically pure but substantively vacuous discipline. (Author/NEC)

The basic concepts of the positivistic paradigm are traced historically in this paper from Aristotle through Comte, the Vienna Circle, empiricism, Durkheim, sociobehavioral theory, and organizational theory. Various concepts have been added, deleted, and transformed through positivism's history, but its fundamental basis has remained the same: Objective reality exists that can be known only by objective means. Underlying this reality are organizational principles, and, thus, reality is inherently ordered. The ultimate purpose of positivism is to control and predict human and natural phenomena. Sociobehavioral and organizational theory apply positivism's basic concepts to the study of society and organizations. Under this paradigm, sociobehavioral theorists view society as an independent entity with inherent order underlying society and individual behavior. Human behavior is studied as a natural type of behavior via the empirical method in order to control and predict human social behavior. Positivistic organizational theorists posit that organizations that are inherently ordered are independent entities that can be studied as a type of social structure by empirically testing organizational behavior with the ultimate goal of controlling and predicting organizational behavior. (Contains 35 references.) (RT)

This paper looks at science from a sociological perspective while still trying to retain the aim of improving rationality. The paper claims that it is rational to have a methodological division of labor in science, in particular in the social sciences, and concludes that mono-methodological Crusonian rationality should be replaced by multi-methodological social rationality. The paper distinguishes among four different kinds of competition (parallel and counter, public-oriented and actor-oriented), and among three different kinds of rationality (technological, normal scientific, and philosophical), and then relates competition structures and rationality structures to each other. Finally, it discusses the particular case of rationality in the social sciences. This discussion focuses on research within economics and sociology that is public-oriented parallel competition, and rationality within social sciences that is similar to technology and applied natural science. The paper advocates a three-tiered methodological approach: (1) a single scientist cannot be fully rational; (2) all scientists should not conform to the same main methodological rules; and (3) science as a whole is rational when there is an interaction between the different rationalities. (6 references) (JDD)

Undergraduate introductory sociology courses should actively engage students in learning the concepts, theories, and research methods that comprise the core knowledge of the discipline. The course should introduce the social theorists Durkheim, Marx, Mead, and Weber. Social concepts of the human group, social system, and social organization; structural social inequality; socialization and social change; industrialization; urbanization; and the demographic transition should be included. Methodologies should cover social facts, concepts, generalizations, and hypotheses; variables; participant observation, questionnaires, and use of local records; reading and constructing percentage tables; and sampling. Students should be able to see the world sociologically, understand the policy implications of sociology, consider sociology as a possible major, and see the relationship between sociology and work. Course materials such as Durkheim's suicide study, for example, can introduce a variety of concepts at different levels of abstraction as well as methodological issues. Blau's "Dynamics of Bureaucracy" introduces the complex organization through functional theory, a range of methods, and the interplay of formal and informal groups. Marx provides an opportunity to distinguish between social theory and research on the one hand and social action on the other. Strategies should involve games and simulations, short papers on newspaper and magazine articles, essay exams, and a term paper. (KC)

This paper identifies and describes specific applications of knowledge from other disciplines to adult education. It is observed that the concept of adult educators' borrowing from other fields has been widely discussed in both North and South America. Verner's criteria for selecting usable material are cited. The following four general topics of interest to adult educators are identified as being informed by knowledge from other disciplines: (1) learning and instruction, (2) participation and persistence, (3) program planning, and (4) research. Eleven illustrative kinds of questions in the four general topics identify areas in which the adult educator could look to research in other disciplines for varying degrees of assistance. Finally, illustrations are provided to show more specifically how other disciplines have contributed knowledge and assistance in the four general topical areas. In this section of the paper, information on anthropology, psychology, sociology, and other fields have provided useful information and models that have greatly enriched the field of adult education. (KC)

The paper suggests that new values created by modern forms of leisure have intersected with critical changes in the work structure to form a new social pattern. The new pattern emerges from a crisis in industrial societies. Factors which have created this crisis include the rupture of the time frames of society (how work and non-work are allocated); changes in the division of labor (the decline of technical labor due to automation); scientific and technological changes; aesthetic-ethical mutations (new values evolving from people's use of and increasing desire for leisure); and major changes in the world's economy. The end result is a new social solidarity called corporate communalism. It is characterized by a scaling down of size, a recovery of community, an appreciation of tradition, and a new form of differentiated labor in which individuals diversify. However, one must be aware of two currents which run counter to these new patterns: the power of the marketplace, particularly advertising, and the ideology of progress which is closely related to growth and size. The author concludes that sociologists should study the contours of the new solidarity as a potential scientific research program. (Author/KC)

As a result of the emphasis given to the "black perspective" since the late 1960s, there has been a proliferation of research and writing on the black experience by black social scientists. However, a coherent and integrated body of knowledge on the nature of the black experience has yet to be established. There has been no attempt to develop a cumulative body of knowledge that would clearly establish the direction for a new black sociology. Until black social scientists begin to shift their attention and energies from the relabeling of words and the use of imprecisely defined and non-operationalized concepts, they will reinforce the non-cumulative path which presently characterizes their efforts. Avant garde black social scientists must test and verify propositions. It is their task to convert those elements of reality with which blacks are concerned into intellectually insightful propositions. It is the resulting "unified body of verified principles" that will lead to a black radical paradigm of American society with appropriate and pro-black models and theories of black life and culture. (Author/RLV)

Social and ethnic differences in moral judgment are examined, and a critique of the cognitive-developmental model is presented in this paper. In opposition to Piaget and Kohlberg, the thesis advanced is that morality and moral development are culturally and socially determined constructs. While Piaget postulated the presence of qualitatively distinct stages of moral development to be found in all societies, the position presented in this paper is that the number of stages, the content of the stages, and the order of the stages vary across cultures. While Kohlberg asserts that morality is located in the psychological structures of th individual, this paper argues that moral reasoning and behavior is largely determined by such social factors as role demands, class interest, national policies, and ethnic antagonisms. Moreover, it is not possible to be moral in an immoral social role irrespective of childhood socialization, psychological predispositions, or commitment to abstract principles. (Author/IS)