Search

Presents the review of a program of the World Council of Churches (WCC) on the search for a Just, Participatory, and Sustainable Society (JPSS). Review of the advisory committee of WCC on the JPSS; Issues identified by the Advisory Committee for open debate; Scope of JPSS program; Significance of emphasis on JPSS.

This article provides information on the reports of the National Committees of the National Council on Family Relations, as of November 1950. The National Council on Family Relations directs its Committee on Education for Marriage and Family Life in the Schools to explore all the possible ways of accomplishing its objective of extending the family education programs at the elementary and secondary levels, particularly through volunteering its services in planning programs at meetings of educational groups and associations. At a business meeting of the National Committee on the Economic Basis of the Family on September 7, 1950, the group discussed the function of this committee, its general program of work, its relationship to the council as a whole and to other committees within the council. Meanwhile, the Education for Marriage and Family Living in the Colleges Committee's conference sessions were the results of cooperative planning by many committee members throughout the year. It was suggested that future programs of the Committee be based on a Workshop plan. In the meantime, the National Committee on Family Life Education in the Community voted to change the name from Education for Marriage and Family Living in the Community to Family Life Education in the Community. On the other hand, the National Committee on Marriage and Family Counseling named a standing committee charged with responsibility for studying and reporting upon proposed state and federal legislation which may affect the practice of marriage and family counseling.

This article describes some adaptations made by the small town newspaper in Washington to the social and cultural changes occurring in the rural environment. Among these adjustments are: a stability in numbers has been reached, although at the expense of some loss of per capita circulation strength; a reduction in the number of two-newspaper towns; an increase in the size of the newspaper page; a shift from Saturday to Thursday as the second most important day of publication; a decreased interest in political parties and policies; a concentration on local news, particularly of persons and organizations. These trends suggest certain observations on the process of change and adaptation in social institutions, which by nature are slow to change: (1) adjustment to change is forced upon an institution by the inroads of competing agencies; (2) the stimulus to change comes from without, not from within the institution; and (3) changes in any one of the four elements of any institution, (a) rank and file membership, (b) leadership, (c) physical structure and equipment, and (d) pattern of attitudes lending sanction to the operation of the institution, will evoke changes and adpatations in the structure and functions of the institution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analysis of the content of small-town weekly newspapers offers a basis for estimating the socializing efficiency of this rural agency. A sample of twelve issues each of twenty Virginia weeklies showed 49 per cent of total space devoted to advertising, 34 per cent to news, 11 per cent to magazine material, and 5 per cent to opinion. Thus, three fifths of the space represented the business side of the newspaper, two fifths the community phase. Interpretation of locally significant events frequently was neglected. Magazine materials were largely non-shop-set. News was of persons, the primary group environment, and local institutions, including government, school, and church. Monthly and seasonal variations were found in type of newspaper content, emphasizing the value of the weekly newspaper as a source for sociological investigations into the nature and activities of the rural community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the author's opinion of 1936 religious census. According to the author, anyone studying the 1936 Census of Religious Bodies carefully will recognize that it provides only an incomplete enumeration of churches and the resulting church statistics. A careful scrutiny of the data indicates that the 1936 Religious Census represents only a large proportion of the total number of churches. Enumeration of churches usually is incomplete, and for certain denominations is far more incomplete than for others. The first index to the accuracy of the census is the number of churches reported. In this respect, the census shows up well, for its total of 981 churches in the 13 bodies is 93 percent complete when compared with the directory total of 1051 churches. The author believes that, if the religious census is to be repeated in 1946, steps should be taken soon to improve the methodology that it may achieve greater accuracy. Census officials, church leaders, statisticians and social scientists might well collaborate in working out the details of an improved census of religious bodies.