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An increasing proportion of information technology (IT)/information system adoption research collects data using online surveys. However, a paucity of research assesses the equivalence of paper-based versus Internet-based surveys in collectivistic cultures. Furthermore, no theoretical or empirical research investigates how cultural differences between collectivistic and individualistic cultures influence the measurement equivalence (ME) of these survey modes. To explore these issues, online and paper-based surveys with comparable samples were carried out in both an individualistic (the USA) and a collectivistic culture (China). Confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to examine the ME across both survey modes in these different cultures. Results indicate that the relatively larger satisficing discrepancy between paper and online surveys causes respondents in collectivistic cultures to have an increased likelihood of providing responses that vary as compared to respondents in individualistic cultures. The disparate responses, in turn, result in increased measurement variance between the two survey modes. The findings of this study bridge a gap in the literature and address the question of how culture influences online satisficing behaviour and how that behaviour causes measurement invariance across survey modes. This study also explains the possible underlying mechanisms by which different national cultures exert their influence on survey results. The findings provide important implications for IT researchers, especially those in collectivistic cultures or those who need to collect data in collectivistic cultures using online surveys or mixed-mode surveys that include an online survey mode. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents observations on the conference papers on cultural systems and organizational processes in the U.S. Basis for descriptive precision; Identification of the most basic empirical questions regarding culture; Distinct formalization of social systems.

Reproductive coercion (RC) can be conceptualized as any behavior that limits one's ability to make decisions about their reproductive health. Here, we broaden this definition to consider the impact of systemic and sociocultural factors on RC using an ecological model. Specifically, we use Bronfenbrenner's model as a framework for organizing the multilevel factors that influence reproductive coercion (RC) and its impacts on individual health. This paper is intended to offer a primer to historical, sociocultural, community, interpersonal, and individual processes that may interact to shape reproductive decision-making and its effect on individual health outcomes. We emphasize the importance of conceptualizing RC within the broader sociocultural and community context, and the potential implications for reproductive and sexual health research, clinical care, and policy in the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent interdisciplinary scholarship has drawn increased critical attention to issues related to race, gender, class, and culture within public physical activity (PA) spaces, foregrounding the importance of rethinking dominant narratives of PA and promoting diverse and more inclusive practices within these contexts to address PA disparities. This paper addresses issues related to diversity and inclusion within community fitness spaces by examining the experiences of stakeholders and members involved in 'The Collective' Free Fitness Group (CFFG), a free, open-to-the-public fitness community based in Oakland, Ca (the original name has been changed for purposes of anonymity). This organization has made intentional efforts towards addressing diversity and inclusion across its membership and is located in one of the most ethnoracially diverse regions of the country. Drawing on McGee's (1980) concept of ideographs, we explore the potential limitations and consequences of how the CFFG Oakland community members communicated discourses and lived experiences of and to one another and the broader Oakland community. Specifically, we argue that by emphasizing certain expressions of and while deemphasizing alternative forms, participant responses reflected a 'paradox' of diversity, despite their shared in-group identification around as an important individual moral virtue and their open and community. This study contributes new knowledge to the 'paradox' literature and may inform future physical activity interventions and theoretical directions of study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The abortion road trip is a narrative device that has emerged in the last decade whereby the central plot of the story is the journey taken in search of an abortion. In this paper we analyze two young adult novels (Girls on the Verge and Unpregnant) and two films (Grandma and Never Rarely Sometimes Always) that follow adolescent girls traveling for abortions in the contemporary United States. Through the analysis of these four narratives, we argue that representations of the abortion road trip are novel for their focus on the barriers and politics of abortion access in the United States. While the representations do prioritize certain barriers over others, they mark an important shift in abortion discourse in popular culture. Instead of the 'drama' of the plot being the decision to have an abortion, it is increasingly other socio-politico-legal issues such as the lack of abortion clinics, the distance required to travel, legal rights for adolescents, the cost of the procedure, and the opinions of family and friends that take center stage. The focus on these structural, political barriers can help to educate audiences about the realities of abortion access in the US and move abortion discourse beyond the individual. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To better serve the growing population of interracial and interethnic parents raising children and adolescents, social workers must strive to understand their unique experiences. The authors analyzed 15 qualitative interviews with parents in interracial and interethnic marriages raising at least one child 11- to 18-years-old to understand their parenting practices and what they are confronting. Five racial-ethnic socialization strategies were found – cultural socialization, preparation for bias, promoting egalitarianism, imparting anti-racist messages, and teaching the strengths of Biracialism. In addition, three themes or challenges were found that the parents were faced with and to which they needed to respond. These included being affected by the current racial climate in the United States, their children's racial presentation, and the role the children's grandparents and extended family play. This paper includes recommendations for social worker practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Researchers of community health worker (CHW) models in many countries are looking for ways to scale without losing one of their main advantages, their context-sensitivity. This paper looks at one research strategy to make CHW projects scalable, namely by developing a generic notion of culture-sensitivity. Based on in-depth qualitative analysis, we reconstruct how 'culture' has been enshrined in a US-based CHW project and specifically in the artefact of a binder with teaching materials for vulnerable mothers. The inscription of generalized, culture-sensitive spaces into the binder did allow the Project to comply with standards of evidence-based medicine while respecting community self-determination and made space for creative and competent CHW practices. Yet at the same time, it took away from more substantive conceptions of community engagement and from community empowerment through CHWs. Our analysis highlights how the focus on culture can invisibilise and displace the importance of competent CHW practice and processes of community engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To date, 110,000+ people in the United States have died from the COVID-19 pandemic. In this paper, the authors will discuss COVID-19 relative to Black people and their overrepresentation among those who are infected and died from the disease. Their dying, death, and grief experiences are explored through a cultural and spiritual lens. The physical distancing, social isolation, misinformation, and restrictive burials and cremations now elicited by this unprecedented pandemic have had diminished familial, cultural, emotional, and economic impacts on the Black community. Implications for public health and Black peoples' involvement in the political process are also addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many social network sites (SNSs) have become available around the world and users' online social networks increasingly include contacts from different cultures. However, there is lack of investigation into the concrete cultural differences in the effects of contextual factors and privacy concerns on users' privacy decisions on social network sites (SNSs). The goal of this paper is to understand how contextual factors and privacy concerns cast different impact on privacy decisions, such as friend request decisions, information disclosure and perceived risk, in different countries. We performed a quantitative study through a large-scale online survey across the US, Korea and China to model the relationships between contextual factors, privacy concerns and privacy decisions. We find that the contextual influence and focus of privacy concerns vary between the individualistic and collectivistic countries in our sample. We suggest that multinational SNS service providers should consider different contextual factors and focus of privacy concerns in different countries and customise privacy designs and friend recommendation algorithms in SNSs in different countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Critical race theory has recently been blamed for causing harmful outcomes. Conservative activists are believed to be distorting this theory in order to ban it. The campaign to ban critical race theory has affected many schools across the United States. In some cases, school personnel have resigned because of the way some groups have responded to the debate over banning this theory. New laws that restrict teachers from teaching content that may make students uncomfortable have been passed. Banning critical race theory from K-12 schools is a controversial topic because public school personnel usually do not teach it. The controversy involves the programs that may have to be dropped if this theory is banned. This paper focuses on the origins of critical race theory, the misconceptions about this theory, the campaign to ban it, and the negative outcomes resulting from the movement to ban it. It also includes a description of how some groups are resisting this movement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The internationalization of universities and the aging of the global population are two current issues that converge and challenge undergraduate gerontology curriculum development in Canada. One response to this challenge is to envision an intercultural gerontology curriculum. What might this curriculum encompass? How might it be taught? An exploratory study was undertaken to address these two questions. This paper presents findings from this study based primarily on interviews with university-based stakeholders from Canada, the United States, and Europe. Thematic analysis of the interviews resulted in five themes: multiple perspectives on cultural diversity; the dynamic nature of cultural diversity and aging; flow of an intercultural curriculum; institutional culture and intercultural curricula; and principles and practice for intercultural gerontology. Framed by principles of gerontology theory and educational approaches, this paper focuses on the principles and practice suggested by study participants. Scaffolding learning, active learning strategies, experiential learning opportunities, teacher modelling, and internet-based learning are discussed as key to intercultural learning. An appendix includes a list of resources that may be useful to developing an intercultural gerontology curriculum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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It is a core element in Richard Florida's popular theory on growth to be able to attract the creative class to a geographical area. But Florida is not very specific on which kind of amenities are important for attracting and keeping the creative class. The purpose of this paper is to analyse which kind of cultural activities the creative class is actually using. Which kind of cultural activities does the creative class use more intensively than other groups in society? This paper presents new empirical results on preferences for leisure and culture. Richard Florida's theory can be, and has been, criticised - especially on the issue of causality. The analyses presented in this paper show that being part of the creative class has an independent and significant role in explaining preferences for leisure and culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Convergence, media cross-ownership and multimedia newsrooms are becoming increasingly part of the vocabulary of contemporary journalism—in practice, education, as well as research. The literature exploring multimedia is expanding rapidly but it is clear that it means many different things to different people. Research into what multimedia in news work means for journalism and journalists is proliferating. In this paper the social and cultural context of multimedia in journalism, its meaning for contemporary newsrooms and media organizations, and its current (emerging) practices in Europe and the United States are analyzed. The goal: to answer the question in what ways ‘multimedia’ impacts upon the practice and self-perception of journalists, and how this process in turn shapes and influences the emergence of a professional identity of multimedia journalism. This paper offers an analysis of the professional and academic literature in Europe and the United States, using the concept of media logic as a theoretical framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper contributes to the critique of evolutionary psychology (EP) presented by Gannon. It argues that while it proved problematic to develop an effective multidisciplinary approach to understanding human evolution, EP need not have turned out to have such a narrow remit. Contemporary EP emerged on the socio-biology-psychology borderline rapidly disconnecting from the palæodisciplines. This is attributed to the cultural pre-occupations in the US with gender-relations, sexual behaviour and male aggression. This paper is a plea for the reinstatement of palaepsychology and the discovery of how psychology might contribute to that multidisciplinary endeavour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Domestic violence (DV) has serious implications for the welfare of South Asian (SA) women in the United States. Previous studies have identified significantly lower rates of help-seeking among SA women compared to the dominant culture and other cultural groups. However, there are no scoping reviews that summarize the literature to identify strategies for intervention and future research in order to promote faster and larger systemic wide change that is urgently necessary to meet the needs of this vulnerable population. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to review and synthesize empirical studies that explore the socio-cultural factors related to the help-seeking behavior of SA women primarily in the United States. Forty-five English language peer reviewed articles met the inclusion criteria. The socio-cultural factors identified in the reviewed studies using a descriptive analytical method with a narrative review are patriarchy, acculturation, socioeconomic status, cultural competency, and immigration status. Implications for research and practice are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Black/African Americans have the most severe and disproportionate burden of HIV of all racial/ethnic groups in the United States. Oppression operates at four interrelated levels (i.e., socio-structural (macro), institutional (exo), community/family (meso), and inter- and intrapersonal (micro)) that perpetuate the HIV epidemic in Black/African American communities. Oppressive (e.g., racist and sexist) cultural scripts transferred to individuals through community, family and interpersonal relationships may play a role in HIV/STI risk. However, socio-behavioral health interventions or behavioral risk reduction interventions have traditionally focused solely on individual-level health risk behaviors allowing invisible, inequitable socio-structural factors to continue unchallenged. A new intervention, Black Men and Women: Empowering Self, Relationships and Community, was sculpted from two existing interventions Community Wise and Men of African American Legacy Empowering Self (MAALES) to develop awareness of oppressive cultural scripts operating on interpersonal and intrapersonal levels and to take action against these oppressive messages to reclaim identity, restore relationships, and build community. This paper summarizes the theory and selected sociodramatic components of the intervention that promote healing in action to reduce HIV/STI risk among heterosexually identified, low-income African American men and women with multiple sex partners. Lessons learned in theory, research and practice are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding Twitter by individuals and organizations to raise awareness and give voice to the disability community provides important insight into digital discourse around disability. This study examines #disability tweets shared during National Disability Employment Awareness Month in October 2018. Sourced and cleaned, English language tweets (n = 12,963) were analyzed through a mixed-methods approach. As the title of this paper, a tweet from our dataset, suggests, Twitter discourse reflects disability activism and culture as it exists globally. This work highlights important methodological considerations for differentiating the ways individuals and organizations utilize Twitter and highlights the importance of qualitative analysis in this regard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this review article, a content area of athlete career in sport psychology is analyzed through the cultural lens: that is, through paradigmatic perspectives of cross-cultural psychology, cultural psychology, and cultural studies. Based on previous review papers, but mainly on the chapters of the anthologyAthletes' Careers across Cultures, we identified three dominant (North American, Australian, and European) and two emerging (Asian and South American) cultural discourses in the career topic. These discourses are characterized by research foci, theoretical frameworks, and career assistance programs in action. Our critical analysis of career research and assistance around the world further indicates a need for more contextualized and culturally competent career projects, which blend theory/research, applied work, and lived culture into cultural praxis. To satisfy this need, a new paradigm termedcultural praxis of athletes' careersis suggested. In conclusion, we emphasize the importance of review papers in negotiating emerging terminology, values, principles, and approaches underlying the career topic, and share some ideas for future reviews in career research and assistance. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Canada officially abolished capital punishment in 1976. For the last few years, however, our federal government has been adopting increasingly harsher penal policies that resemble American law-and-order politics. As punishments increase in severity, there is pressure to add harsher penalties at the 'top' of the scale, that is, for heinous killing. Members of the federal government are almost exclusively pro-death penalty, so it seems the possibility for reinstatement is real. If the death penalty were proposed it would very likely follow on the heels of a shocking crime, and the discourse surrounding the debate will be one that exploits the emotionality of crime and punishment. In this vein, state killing will present not as a rational response to rule violation but as a necessary ritual to combat a metaphysical form of evil. The purpose of this paper is to examine the ritualistic aspects of state killing as practised in the US today, with a view to deepening our understanding of the punishment's popular appeal so that we can more effectively resist reinstitution or, where capital punishment exists, fight for its abolition. The paper focuses on three aspects of death penalty procedure - the detailed reporting of the offender's final countdown and last meal, and the presence of clergy - to illustrate the connections between concrete practices of state killing and existing transcendental fixtures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes Disneyland Paris and how glocalization theory has been successfully applied to it. Glocalization means interaction of the global and the local. When the park was first opened, it was such a financial debacle that it has become the typical case study on how not to open a theme park. The mistake that Disney made was to use its traditional method to force-feed its US products to local cultures. The main premise of this paper is that even a giant like Disney has to show adaptation to local preferences in order to generate maximal profits and remain competitive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growth and employment of non-traditional research methods have increased dramatically over the last few decades, especially within the USA and the UK. With the increase of globalisation of research these new methodologies are gaining use and credibility within the human disciplines in Australia. The following paper examines the new methodologies movement from an historical context, funding perspective and as part of the wider, morally oriented 'culture wars' that have been playing out on the main arena of Australian socio-political life over the past decade. In an attempt to gain a deeper understanding of some of the issues, challenges and benefits of these new methodologies the paper proceeds to examine some of the methods involved in arts-based social inquiry. It argues that regardless of the increased call to employ engaged and innovative research, the constraints of the Australian funding and political environment has resulted in the maintenance and dominance of traditional methodological approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mass shootings have become a recurrent tragedy in the United States. This paper examines these incidents from a Jungian perspective. While much of the discourse around mass shootings surrounds finger-pointing and the gun control debate, making meaningful action and legislation untenable, my aim is to look deeper, reflecting on what may be amiss in both the individual and collective psyche. The symbolic meaning of the gun specific to American history and culture is amplified, and the role the gun continues to play as a cultural and political symbol. The author posits that mass shootings point to an archetypal possession, the constellation of both a cultural and personal gun complex, where shadow aspects of ourselves, including power, rage, and aggression, become enacted with destructive and fatal consequences. The trend of mass shootings is investigated from a mythopoetic standpoint, using the myth Ares to further explore this phenomenon. The author also examines the necessity of owning our shadow side, namely our power, rage, and aggression, both personally and collectively. In this work comes the importance of connecting with the positive creative potential of the inner gun. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article comments on the paper "Shame: An Acute Stress Response to Interpersonal Traumatization," by Dianne Trumbull. Topics mentioned include the visual dimension, power, and pain of shame, distinction between shame and guilt, the role of shame in development and attachment emotion, the impact of shame on self-esteem, and the interaction of shame and culture.

The field of human resource development (HRD) is not easy to define, whether in the United States or internationally. Understanding of the meaning of HRD varies from country to country based on a number of identifiable factors specific to that country. This paper explores the meaning of HRD in Lebanon through examining relevant ideas about socio-demographic variables such as history, religion, culture, family and gender that affect the Lebanese notion of HRD and of occupational attainment. The paper concludes with an agenda for research to further our understanding of challenges and opportunities for workforce and human resource education in the Lebanon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The undeniable realities of globalization at the dawn of the 21st century have brought the United States and its citizens to the startling realization that we must grapple politically, economically, and culturally with the wide range of diversity existing within and without our borders. As greater numbers of culturally diverse persons are now represented in their caseloads, psychoanalysts are also forced to examine the relevance of psychoanalytic theories and practice in meeting their needs. The author discusses three papers that propose overlapping and differing opinions as to the function of psychoanalysis in the lives of culturally diverse patients, and its capacity to influence more public, social and political change. This paper questions the meaning of the term "culture." It attempts to tease apart the nature of memory and dissociation among those who suffer intergenerational trauma because of their membership in particular cultural or ethnic groups. Also addressed is the extent to which, as described by social constructivist theory, self is entirely a socially constructed phenomenon. The author questions the extent to which, alternatively, "self," possessed of will, agency and authority, exists in a mutually influencing relationship with the social world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In all aspects of health and mental health care-the emergency room, the outpatient clinic, inpatient facilities, rehab centers, nursing homes, and hospices-social workers interact with patients from many different cultures. This paper will introduce an assessment tool for health care professionals to advance understanding of culturally diverse patients and their families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we bring together the literatures on frame analysis, the meaning of race and campus racial climate to analyse the race frames – lenses through which individuals understand the role of race in society – held by white students attending elite US universities. For most, the elite university experience coincides with a strengthening or emergence of the diversity frame, which emphasizes the positive benefits of cultural diversity. Still, many also hold a colour-blind frame, which sees race groups as equivalent and racial identities as insignificant. We highlight the ambivalence that these divergent frames create for student perspectives on affirmative action and interracial contact on campus. Our findings demonstrate the mutability of race frames. We also highlight the impact that institutions may have on individuals' race frames. The paper is based on in-depth interviews with forty-seven US-born white undergraduates attending Brown University and Harvard University. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights the annual meeting organized by the Society for the North American Cultural Survey in Lexington, Kentucky. Activities made during the event; Range of topics of the paper presented; Other planned meetings of the society.

This paper describes the importance of foreign languages and cultures and their integration into U.S. international business programs. The author juxtaposes globalization strategies of European and American business schools and highlights pre-university foreign language study in Europe and the U.S. The paper goes on to describe model U.S. undergraduate and graduate international business programs and their use of strategies that lead to professional proficiency. The author concludes with a discussion of strategies to be considered by U.S. business schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the strategies of the French fashion business to authenticate its designs and brands under the challenge of mass-produced ready-to-wear clothing by US manufacturers. It focuses on the 1950s as a pivotal moment in fashion history, as the older model of elite fashion ‘trickling down’ to the lower strata of garment production made way for a multiplicity of trendsetters and a democratisation of fashion. Starting from a situation in which New York-based manufacturers produced low-price copies of Parisian designs, the paper analyses the various strategies of French fashion producers to get control over the exploitation of their designs. As attempts to secure international copyright for fashion designs failed, Parisian designers brought out tie-in products and boutique lines and managed to shift the authenticity of their work from the design to the brand. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Current theories regarding grief and mourning often acknowledge continued connection and reworking of the relationship to the lost person rather than relinquishing ties and bonds, and acknowledge the importance of culture in grief and mourning. Although there is little research regarding Italian-Americans and grieving, these ideas fit well with the description described by researchers as ‘Italians tend to keep their dead with them’. This paper explores Italian-American responses to the loss of a loved one. It comprises a brief summary of relevant literature around grieving, followed by an overview of themes from Italian traditions and culture that inform our thinking about Italian-Americans and grief. The authors, as participants in both the culture and the experience of grief, briefly situate themselves vis-à-vis these experiences. Three segments then illustrate our concepts of continued bonds and reworking relationships: a pilot study of Italian-Americans’ experiences of loss and grieving over time, a normative case study of one woman’s creative, ongoing response to major loss, and the importance of objects after loss from a research project of daughters who have lost their dads. Conclusions focus on the importance and complexity of mourning; the centrality of relationship; the use of symbol, ritual and meaning-making; and development of resiliency, for Italian-Americans and perhaps other groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The contraceptive needs of women for whom the benefits of menstrual bleeding may outweigh its disadvantages have largely been overlooked, especially outside high-income countries. Some providers and researchers have assumed that users of nonhormonal birth control (non-HBC) are misinformed about the positive and negative effects of HBC and/or the need for menstrual bleeding. This study takes the position that many of those rejecting HBC in favor of methods that do not alter bleeding are, in fact, making informed decisions. Using questionnaire data from 4,255 contraceptive users in three countries, we compared current HBC users explicitly open to hormone use ("H-receptive") and non-HBC users explicitly rejecting hormones ("H-averse"). To the extent that menstrual bleeding attitudes affect contraceptive choice, these two groups should have the greatest contrasts in those attitudes. This novel study design mitigates ambiguities arising from posing hypothetical scenarios to those ambivalent about using hormones or who are not currently using contraception. In all three countries, of those agreeing with the prompt, "I don't want to change my natural menstrual cycle," the fractions of H-averse and H-receptive users are disproportionally high and low, respectively (p ≤.0026). Responses to other prompts varied across populations, revealing complex juxtapositions of multiple criteria, including bleeding preferences, that likely influence contraceptive choices. These patterns, reflecting personal and culturally salient values, highlight the necessity of not assuming that menstrual bleeding is undesirable or relying on a single criterion to ascertain clients' contraceptive needs and preferences. Rather, acknowledging a client's personal hierarchy of preferences regarding contraceptive attributes best serves their goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many of the principles and practices that have influenced outdoor education in Aotearoa New Zealand find their genesis in the United Kingdom and North America. In recent times, many of these foundational assumptions have been called into question. This paper highlights how emerging ‘local’ voices are questioning and reframing how outdoor education is conceptualised and practiced. In large part this is due to a sense of distinctiveness borne from the bicultural foundations that underpin governance and policy-making. This paper explores how outdoor educators are developing pedagogies that acknowledge the particularities of our context, particularly the bicultural foundation of Aotearoa New Zealand. The paper highlights how social and cultural influences shape educational policy and how outdoor educators are responding, both theoretically and practically, to meet the needs of learners in an increasingly diverse society. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The Pittsburgh Courier, the leading African American-produced newspaper of the segregation era, had a double mission: to show the American normality of African American life and culture and to show the injustice of mainstream America. The tension between the conservative former and the progressive latter informs all parts of the paper. With America's entry into World War II, this tension becomes acute. Reviewing the comics page at the end of each issue, this essay hopes to introduce a neglected area of comics history and show its relationship to the larger world of the Courier and African American experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we propose an interdisciplinary framework to study perceptions of child sexual abuse and help-seeking among South Asians living in the United States. We integrate research on social marginality, intersectionality, and cultural psychology to understand how marginalized social experience accentuates South Asian immigrants' desire to construct a positive self-identity. Using model minority ideology as an example of such a construction, we highlight its role in silencing the topic of child sexual abuse within this immigrant community as well as its impact on attitudes towards professional mental health services. We contend that our framework, the idealized cultural identities model on help-seeking and child sexual abuse, provides a unique analytical model for clinicians and researchers to understand how South Asian Americans process, experience, and react to child sexual abuse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although there are currently at least 6 million lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) persons in the United States, there are no prior studies analyzing how this group is represented in the medical literature. An examination of published LGBT topics over a 57-year period was performed using OvidSP. A total of 21,728 publications was analyzed for topic using information from the title, keywords, subject headings, and abstracts. Several trends became apparent. The largest proportion of LGBT publications (31.78%) was devoted to HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs), yet there was an overall lack of emphasis on general health topics or common causes of mortality. Further analysis showed that if publications on HIV/AIDS or STIs addressed sexual orientation, they were more likely to be about LGBT persons than heterosexuals. Overall, the volume and range of medical publications on LGBT persons may not be reflective of the health care needs of this population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current approaches to the link between family and housing tend not to closely examine cultural change. This paper attempts to provide a theoretical framework, rooted in symbolic interaction, dramaturgy and critical theory, well suited to the study of cultural change. This critical dramaturgical framework is applied to explore the changing link between housing as a stage prop and the privileged performance of motherhood. It is argued that redefinition of the proper performance of motherhood by the privileged constitutes an important aspect of cultural change, making positive evaluations of motherhood more difficult to achieve without a proper house. This results in an increase in stage fright, or women avoiding motherhood because they feel ill prepared to perform it properly, and an increase in the devaluing of certain categories of mother. US census data collected through the IPUMS project is used to provide evidence of these trends, where available, and further avenues of research are suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The foreign-born population comprised 11.5% of the U.S. population in 2002. Immigration to the U.S. has grown substantially and continues to grow. A close examination of the immigration data shows that immigrant community in the U.S. is not homogeneous and in fact is very diverse both within itself and from the native-born population. U.S. Census Bureau data reveal that these differences create pockets of divergent populations within the country. How these populations assimilate into the U.S. healthcare system is not clearly understood. Cultural values, beliefs, and practices often juxtapose the immigrant to the healthcare system. Religious differences coupled with educational and income disparities add to the challenge of developing and implementing healthcare programs. This paper concludes with suggestions for more research in healthcare to immigrants. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Many Asian-Americans are immigrants for whom English is a second language. These characteristics pose challenges for clinical neuropsychologists who must evaluate these clients. This task can be more daunting within a forensic context in which the neuropsychologist must meet the Daubert Standard for admissibility of scientific evidence. The purpose of this paper is to provide neuropsychologists with guidelines to perform forensic neuropsychological evaluations with Asian-American immigrants that would address the Daubert Standard. We briefly review the history of admissibility of scientific evidence tier U.S. courts and the admissibility of neuropsychologist testing in general. Specific issues for testing Asian-American immigrants are identified and strategies offered for hypothesis testing, information gathering, test selection, administration, interpretation, and report writing. The paper concludes with considerations for accepting a forensic case with this population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers how Russian managerial values are developing in the context of the sweeping economic, political and social changes associated with the transition of Russia to a market economy.By replicating earlier research (Holt et al., 1994; Ralston et al., 1997), it was possible to overcome the weaknesses of previous cross-sectional studies by tracking changes in Russian managers' values over time.The paper concludes that some convergence between the values of Russian and US managers can be observed, but that the form of this convergence is not uniform. In addition, the way in which Russian managers act upon these values in the context of their own national context means that considerable divergence in managerial behaviour is still evident. Implications for international human resource management are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to examine several dimensions of culture as described by Hofstede and analyze their potential impact on the entrepreneurial process. Differences in scores on Hofstede's variables between several Latin American countries and Canada and the United States are noted and the implications for using a North American model of entrepreneurship for the economic development of Latin LDCs are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Much has been written about globalisation generally and globalisation in logistics. However, the literature has focused on managing logistics in different environments according to western management techniques, examined differences between developed and less-developed nations, or explored relationships between companies and countries. There has been little discussion of different logistics management styles across global contexts. Manufacturing and quality researchers have considered these issues in benchmarking and quality improvement contexts and have investigated different attitudes towards quality initiatives. Marketers have also considered different cultural contexts that have been primarily related to consumer behaviour and intentions. Yet there is some evidence that cultural and contextual factors shape different attitudes between logistics managers and academics in the UK/Europe and the US/North America regarding management across logistical functions and environments. This evidence, stemming from the literature and an empirical study of UK customer service that highlighted management differences compared with several US empirical studies, are discussed in this paper. A framework of culture expressions adapted from Hofstede is proposed as one possible tool for research in this under-developed area of global logistics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper treats long-term care planning from a cultural perspective, that is, as a cultural system in which components of long-term care interlock culturally and therefore meaningfully. In the introduction and background sections, we provide a context in which long-term care planning may be viewed, based on the finding that relatively few people take advantage of long-term care planning and insurance; we also discuss some earlier work on long-term care from a psychological perspective that emphasizes themes of imagination and self-efficacy. We then examine long-term care from a cultural perspective by identifying and explicating five broad themes that help us better understand the meaning of long-term care planning to Americans. Finally, we use these themes to suggest some important social policy correlates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Is there a disability culture? Or are disabled people simply individuals-or at best a socio/political minority group-striving to fit in to the dominant culture (whatever that is)? The author challenges Lois Bragg's contention that Deaf Culture exists, but not Disability Culture. The paper first traces historically the different conceptualisations of culture, beginning with E. B. Tylor's Primitive Cultures (1871) through to post-modern accounts by Kuper, Giroux and McLaren. Using a wide range of these concepts, three possible world views of disability culture are developed: Culture as Historical/Linguistic, Culture as Socio/Political, and Culture as Personal/Aesthetic. From these alternatives, a macro-sociological framework is set forth to evaluate each of these world views, as well as a set of ethical questions to consider in choosing which one might be most robust. The paper concludes with a proposal for a syncretized view of disability culture and asserts that the experience of disability culture is a thriving cross-cultural phenomenon which knows no national boundaries-and in particular, is not limited to Martha's Vineyard and American Deaf people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes a number of threats to the cultural values and traditions of Old Order Amish society. The influences, upon the Amish, of government legislation, high fertility rates and rising rural land prices are specifically considered, as is the phenomena of increasing factory employment in many Old Order communities. This paper further explores the manner in which the Amish are adapting to external threats to their traditional beliefs and lifestyles. The occupational structure of the Geauga County (Ohio) Amish is analyzed as an empirical case in point and an assessment is made of the impact that widespread factory employment and modernization are having upon that settlement Finally, several cultural survival strategies, which are being widely employed by the Amish throughout the United States, are described and briefly evaluated including: (1) non-violent resistance to government authority, (2) partial accommodation to factory work, (8) psycho-social techniques of cultural boundary maintenance and (4) cottage industry employment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing prevalence of so-called cognitive-enhancing drugs is well documented in American higher education. There has been little historical analysis, however, specifically exploring the role of postsecondary institutions in this evolving drug narrative. This paper traces substance use and research trends in American higher education over the past half-century, divided into three eras defined by their disparate approaches to drug policy and public health. Contextualised by historic events, shifting policies and epidemiological data, this multidisciplinary analysis contends that functional, academically oriented drug use is likely to continue rising on US campuses, while recreational drug use will evolve and persist. As history provides a useful lens for understanding the involvement of academe in the first era of drug concern in America, ongoing innovations in medical and social science may be instructive to help ensure that institutions respond judiciously in the present era of new drug synthesis and drug policy recession. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Over the last 30 years, the victims' rights movement has expanded the role of victims in the American criminal justice system. As a result of this movement, judges, prosecutors and parole boards must now hear victims' views at all stages of the criminal justice process, including plea bargains, and sentencing and parole decisions. Legislative efforts have been spearheaded by victims' families, and legislation has been named after deceased victims. Also, victims' families can now view executions in states across the country. The victims' right movement assumes that the criminal justice system should privilege victims' interests over those of society. In so doing, it denies society as a consideration, which is tantamount to a denial of society itself. This article positions victims' rights' denial of society within the current conjuncture, marked as it is by the contradiction between neoliberalism and American liberalism. Victims' rights' denial if society is an expression of the denial of society implicit in American neoliberalism, which seeks to privilege individual interests over those of society. This paper argues that victims' rights is a powerful element of the neoliberal project for three reasons. First, victims' rights imputes the authority of legal discourse to neoliberalism's denial of society. Second, important actors in the rise of neoliberalism have also worked to establish victims' rights. Finally, victims' rights comprehensively circulates throughout America and offers powerful points of identification that incorporate Americans into the victims' rights formation. I explore the denial of society in three victims' rights practices: naming criminal legislation after crime victims and passing such laws in honour of victims; allowing victims' families to view executions; and prosecutors, judges and police personnel making legal decisions according to victims' wishes. I examine the consonant denial of society in three neoliberal practices -- monetarism, supply-side economics and welfare reform -- and demonstrate how neoliberal advocates like Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan and Paul Gann worked to advance victims' rights. I also describe the production, consumption and comprehensive circulation of victims' rights texts. Finally, I consider Cultural Studies' unique contribution to legal studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Laban Movement Analysis is a common resource used in dance education curricula in the United States. When used to analyze dance forms that are created outside the Eurocentric lineage, the application of this system must be contextualized as a perspective stemming from beyond the mores of the cultural creators of that dance form. This article examines the effects on student learning when Laban Movement Analysis is promoted as a universal tool for all dance forms rather than as a particular cultural perspective on how to perceive dance. Clarification of terminologies and their biases, the cultural context in which Rudolf Laban developed his principles and system of movement analysis, and ramifications and potential solutions for how best to apply Laban Movement Analysis across dance forms are detailed in this article. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]