Civic Culture Meets the Digital Divide: The Role of Community Electronic Networks

The concept of social capital reflects the norms and social relations embedded in the social structure of societies that enable people to coordinate community action to achieve desired goals. Our research focuses on the role that norms of cooperation and civic and political culture play in addressing the "digital divide" in computer use and Internet access. We review evidence from mail surveys of randomly selected respondents in two rural Minnesota communities as well as qualitative focus group and archival evidence suggesting that the communities have adopted different approaches to technology diffusion. Whether information technology is viewed as a public or private good depends in part on the civic culture of a community.     

Depictions of Public Service in Children's Literature: Revisiting an Understudied Aspect of Political Socialization

Objective . Scholars who have investigated depictions of public service in children's literature have come to a mix of conclusions regarding the portrayal of public figures in children's literature. We revisit these studies, attempting to answer the question of how public servants are portrayed in children's literature. Methods . We perform content analysis of 93 books and examine 868 characters for benevolence and competence. Results . We find that public servants are portrayed as no more incompetent or malevolent than other adults in children's literature. On a few dimensions, we find just the opposite. Furthermore, we find that women in general are portrayed as more benevolent than men, although the same patterns are not found between sexes when examining only those in the public service. Conclusions . If children are developing negative stereotypes of government officials and institutions, these stereotypes do not appear to be formed through their reading of children's literature.     

Practice Wisdom Meets Evidence-Based Practice: Building Capacity in Agencies

Agencies have a need to develop and evaluate therapeutic practices that show efficacy in treating specific client problems. University-agency collaborations combine the wisdom of practitioners with research skills that appraise evidence of efficacy, operationalize concepts and skills, and identify and implement evaluation methods. This article discusses the processes involved as practitioners and administrators collaborated with university researchers to transform a well-established mutual aid (MA) model of group work into an evidence-based model that showed efficacy in preventing substance use with adolescent populations. A case study will include the phases of the collaboration including relationship building, reviews of similar programs, identification of appropriate evaluation measures, development of a curricular-based manual and analysis and interpretation of the data for use in applying for funding. Implications for agency practice that respond to current demands in social services will be discussed.     

Seeing Red (and Blue): Effects of Electoral College Depictions on Political Group Perception

Colored maps depicting electoral results may exacerbate perceptions of polarization, rather than merely reflecting them. Participants viewed maps of state-by-state Presidential election results that were either Electoral (red/Republican or blue/Democrat) or Proportional (purples that proportionally reflected each group's support). Half of the maps also displayed state-level numeric electoral results. Participants viewing Electoral maps perceived the nation as more politically divided, stereotyped the political beliefs of residents of various states more, and saw people holding views in the political minority as less agentic and less likely to vote. These differences occurred even in the presence of numeric data. Implications of these findings for intergroup perception in several domains are discussed, including the impact of electoral depictions on political campaigns and elections .     

日本家庭主妇阶层的形成

家庭主妇阶层是在近代城市化和工业化的过程中,在社会结构变迁、家庭结构变迁等社会变迁的背景下产生的。尽管在发达国家,家庭主妇作为中产阶级地位的象征是普遍存在的,但是不同国家中的家庭主妇阶层的规模是不同的,其中以日本的家庭主妇阶层最为典型,数量最为庞大和壮观。值得注意的是,在全球化和经济一体化的时代,日本能够产生典型的家庭主妇阶层显然还存在着更深刻、更典型的制度根源。通过对日本国家制度的研究,有助于我们理解日本家庭主妇阶层产生的深层原因。     

日本海:中国对日地缘战略新转向

中日矛盾的双重性、中日结构性矛盾的双重性以及日本的大陆战略传统,使中日两国间的战略对立和竞争具有长期性,而近年来日本国内政治的右倾化又使中日两国间的这种对立和竞争表现出严峻性。为此,中国应提高对日斗争1的战略性、全局性和主动性,落实在地缘战略上,即是要充分认识到中国也是日本海相关国家以及日本海在未来地区和世界政治中的重要性。在当前对日斗争中,中国应以东北地区为前沿,将对日斗争的主要区域从东海转向日本海,同时巩固自身在日本海的经济、军事和政治存在。本文认为,中国的这一战略转向在近期着眼于中日关系,长期则放眼于地区和世界政治的大趋势。     

When Southern Symbolism Meets the Pork Barrel: Opportunity for Executive Leadership*

Objectives. Many empirical studies have sought to explain executive‐legislative relations at the federal level; however, much less research on this topic is available at the state level. This article examines legislative‐gubernatorial relations in Georgia using the highly visible, emotion‐laden, and politically costly issue of changing the state flag. Methods. Using probit models, estimated probabilities for various sets of hypothetical legislators are constructed to explain the vote in each house of the Georgia General Assembly. Results. In the absence of executive pressure, constituency characteristics, specifically district racial composition, dominated legislative decision making on the governor's initiative. In the Senate, where there was adequate time for lobbying before the vote, the carrot of additional school construction funding weighed heavily in legislators' vote calculus. Conclusions. This study demonstrates that governors can, and do, use district‐specific benefits as a tool to help ensure the success of their legislative agendas.