Research on the Attitudes of Pupils and Teachers towards the Shoa in Germany

In this paper, I examine the state of Holocaust education in Germany. I also look carefully at the knowledge and attitudes of German students, from both the western and eastern part of the country. Through the presentation of results from various empirical studies, I compare German students with other students in Europe. I conclude that, though the overall picture is quite positive in German schools, there is some cause for concern due to the fact that certain taboos surrounding National Socialism seem to be disappearing among the younger generations.     

Political Economy of Immigration in Germany: Attitudes and Citizenship Aspirations1

This paper examines resident foreigners’ interest in German citizenship. We use a unique data set from a survey of foreign residents in the German states to study the roles played by factors such as attitudes towards foreigners and political interest of foreigners. We find that negative attitudes towards foreigners and generational conflict within foreigner families are significant negative factors. While interest in political participation is among the important positive factors, hostile attitudes, lack of voting rights, or uncertainty about staying in Germany mainly discourage foreigners who actively participate in the labor market, have more years of schooling, and are younger.     

The Islamic Regime in Iran and Its Attitude towards the Jews: The Religious and Political Dimensions

Anti-Semitism is deeply ingrained in Shi `i Iran, both religiously and historically. Apart from being the first enemies of Prophet Muhammad, Jews have been been the subject of gross accusations, such as having a desire for world control, exaggerating the dimensions of the Holocaust, committing genocide, using blood in making unleavened bread, and distorting Holy Scriptures. The establishment of a Jewish state, Israel, added a political dimension to the already hostile religious attitude towards the Jews. This hostile religious-political attitude was contained to a large extent under Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, but it burst out with vigour after Khomeini and his fellow clerics took over the reins of power in 1979. Faced with the constraints of international game rules and the pressure of a Western public opinion sensitive to expressions of anti-Semitism, the ruling clerics attempted to conceal their anti-Semitism by adopting a number of tactics, such as issuing far fewer public anti-Semitic statements, or by allowing others, through ‘freedom of speech’, to ‘freely’ express their anti-Semitic views. This is in line with taqiyyah (concealment) – one of the basic principles of Shi `i Islam. The primary purpose of this article is to show that in spite of its repeated public announcements in differentiating between ‘Jews’ and ‘Judaism’ (the religious dimension), on the one hand, and ‘Zionism’ and ‘Israel’ (the political dimension) on the other, the Islamic regime in Iran not only fails to make such a differentiation, but actually often identifies the two as one.     

Foreigners and Outsiders: Exclusionist Attitudes towards Labour Migrants in Israel

This paper examines theoretical propositions regarding the social mechanisms that produce hostility and discriminatory attitudes towards out‐group populations. Specifically, we compare the effect of perceptions of socio‐economic and national threats, social contact and prejudice on social distance expressed towards labour migrants. To do so, we examine exclusionary views held by majority and minority groups (Jews and Arabs) towards non‐Jewish labour migrants in Israel. Data analysis is based on a survey of the adult Israeli population based on a stratified sample of 1,342 respondents, conducted in Israel in 2007. Altogether, our results show that Israelis (both Jews and Arabs) are resistant to accepting and integrating foreigners into Israeli society. Among Jews, this is because the incorporation of non‐Jews challenges the definition of Israel as a Jewish state and poses a threat to the homogeneity of the nation. Among Arabs, this is probably due to threat and competition over resources. The meanings of the findings are discussed within the unique ethno‐national context of Israeli society and in light of sociological theories on ethnic exclusionism.     

Attitudes and policies towards residential development in the Scottish countryside

This paper reports the results of a two-year study of attitudes towards residential development in the Scottish countryside, and how these impinge upon processes of policy formulation for land release. The research focused on two casestudy districts while also exploring processes of policy formulation at national and local levels.At a national (Scottish) level, the most potent influence on policy was found to be the professional ideologies of the civil service elite, with professional planners' opposition to housebuilding in the countryside increasingly challenged by the emergence of a housing professional community. At the local level, policies were the outcome of a struggle between individual councillors acting ‘parochially’ on behalf of their constituents (notably high-status, home-owners, landowners and farmers) and planning officials acting in accordance with dominant professional planning ideologies to oppose rural residential development.     

Justice towards youth: Investigating the mismatch between current policy and public opinion

In this article, we present evidence that public perceptions within the United States are not as supportive of the harsh treatment afforded juveniles as public policy would suggest. Based on data from a representative state-wide survey, we used path analysis to investigate whether respondents' understanding and beliefs surrounding child and adolescent development were related to their beliefs surrounding appropriate levels of punishment towards juveniles. We estimated direct and indirect pathways whereby factors such as the age at which a respondent considers a youth responsible for his/her actions and adolescents' cognitive ability were associated with overall attitudes towards punishment. The results indicated respondents' attitudes towards punishment were associated with their beliefs and attitudes concerning different aspects of adolescent development. The results provided support for the premise that deeper knowledge and understanding of adolescent development does make a difference in terms of how individuals view appropriate punishment options. We argue that such evidence can be used as part of a broader advocacy strategy designed to develop more just programs and policies directed at children and youth involved with the justice system.     

Attitudes towards judicial review in Japan and South Korea: indications for the existence of a liberal-democratic civic culture

Though very close geographically and culturally, postwar Japan and the Republic of Korea – both non-classical Western democracies – each experienced a very different democratization process and adopted a different kind of democratic regime. This is strongly expressed in the form of their judicial review mechanisms that are aimed in different ways at assisting citizens in encouraging the courts to review laws and policies. Given this backdrop, through the analysis of the attitudes of the Japanese and Korea's citizens to their judicial review mechanisms we search for civic attitudes in these societies. By doing so, we try to contribute to the great debate regarding the capability of non-Western societies that did not develop from a well-rooted liberal culture to adopt and internalize liberal-democratic values.     

Attitudes towards Women's Work Roles and Women Managers in a Sports Organization: The Case of Turkey

In recent years the need to apply gender equality principles to all sectors of Turkish society has been widely acknowledged and has become an increasingly important issue because of the modernization and recent Europeanization project of Turkey. However, even as this has been acknowledged, attempts to apply gender equality in employment in sports organizations have been mostly ignored. This article reports on the attitudes towards women's work roles and women managers of 83 women and 138 men who work in the General Directorate of Youth and Sport (GDYS) which is the biggest national governing body for sport in Turkey. The findings of this study indicate that both female and male workers in the GDYS scored lower on their attitudes towards women's work roles and held more negative attitudes towards women managers. Although male workers scored higher on attitudes towards women's work roles than female workers they held more negative attitudes towards women managers. In addition, femininity scores were found to be the only predictor of attitudes towards women's career advancement. Finally, we discussed these findings regarding previous studies and the sociocultural context of Turkey.     

Undergraduate Activists in the Woman's Movement and Their Public: Attitudes towards Marriage and the Family

Abstract

This paper compares the attitudes towards women's home and famiy roles of two groups of undergraduate women: undergraduate activists in the Women's Liberation Movement and a random sample of non-activist undergraduates. Data from both of these groups pertaining to career aspirations, marital and fertility expectations, communal living arrangements, and possible strains between future family and work roles are examined. While the desire to combine family and career roles is typical of undergraduate women in both groups, there are important differences between activists and non-activists in their plans for integrating the two role constellations. Activist women's responses are also compared with positions on women's family roles indicated by spokeswomen of the wider radical Women's Movement, and some important differences are suggested by the data. The paper concludes by briefly exploring the implications of the findings for future social change in the family and in the society of which it is a part.     

Attitudes towards and perception of gambling among secondary school students in a developing country

ABSTRACT

Gambling is common in Nigeria and over the years has gained wide acceptability among the populace. Improved technology and legalization of gambling have led to increased gambling opportunities among young people. The aim of this study is to determine the attitude towards and perception of gambling among a sample of secondary school students in South East Nigeria. A total of 507 male students from three male-only urban Secondary Schools in Owerri, Imo State participated in the study. Multistage sampling technique was used in sample selection. Data was collected using a self-administered socio-demographic questionnaire and the 9 Item Attitude Towards Gambling Scale. Results showed an overall negative perception of gambling. Majority of the respondents (82.8%) perceived gambling as a risky activity while few (27.3%) perceived it as a good way of earning an income quickly. More than half of the respondents (52.7%) believed that gambling yields a high return. There was a significant association between parental gambling and positive attitude towards gambling (X = 6.27, p = 0.04). Thus, preventive strategies targeted towards changing gambling attitudes in parents may serve a dual role of changing attitudes and perception of gambling in their offspring.     

Attitudes towards European Monetary Union in Greece: Antecedents, strength and consequences

The objective of the present study was twofold: First, to examine Greek people's attitudes towards European Monetary Union (EMU) and to explore the antecedents, strength and consequences of these attitudes on intentions to support or oppose the single European currency. Second, and from a more theoretical perspective, to investigate the structure of attitude strength and the effects of strength dimensions on attitude–intention consistency. A total of 644 Greek citizens participated in the study. The findings indicate that Greeks are fairly supportive of the monetary union and are quite optimistic about its consequences. The anticipated outcomes of EMU for Greece and for Europe were found to be significant determinants of attitudes. In addition, attitudes were determined by the strength of national identity and by the more general attitudes towards the membership of Greece in the European Union. On the whole, attitudes were fairly strong and had a substantial relation with intentions. Attitude strength was found to consist of three dimensions: Embeddedness, Conviction and Internal Consistency. Only Conviction and Internal Consistency were found to have a significant moderating effect on the attitude–intention relation. Further, the moderating effect of these factors was interactive, in that either high Conviction or high Internal Consistency sufficed to make an attitude influential.     

Macroeconomic determinants of migration: the case of Germany, 1964-1988

Macroeconomic determinants of immigration are analysed with pooled cross-country and time series data on net immigration to Germany from European countries during 1964-1988.
Results demonstrate clearly that both high and low frequency determinants have been important. Long run trends are determined by the degree and speed of per capita income convergence between the sending and receiving countries, while year-to-year changes in net immigration flows are dominated by cyclical economic conditions.     

Attitudes towards globalization and cosmopolitanism: cultural diversity, personal consumption and the national economy

One of the widely accepted consequences of globalization is the development of individual outlooks, behaviours and feelings that transcend local and national boundaries. This has encouraged a re-assessment of important assumptions about the nature of community, personal attachment and belonging in the face of unprecedented opportunities for culture, identities and politics to shape, and be shaped by, global events and processes. Recently, the upsurge of interest in the concept of cosmopolitanism has provided a promising new framework for understanding the nexus between cosmopolitan dispositions and global interconnectedness across cultural, political and economic realms. Using data from a representative social survey of Australians this paper investigates the negotiation of belonging under the conditions of globalization. The data tap into attitudes and behaviours associated with a broad gamut of cosmopolitan traits in the domains of culture, consumption, human rights, citizenship, and international governance. They show how cosmopolitan outlooks are shaped by social structural factors, and how forms of identification with humanity and the globe are fractured by boundaries of self and others, threats and opportunities, and the value of things global and local.     

Opposing the Lottery in the United States: Forces behind Individual Attitudes towards Legalisation in 1975

In the 1970s, opposition to the lottery started to fracture in the USA. This study examines causes of the fracture and historical factors that contributed to changes in individual attitudes towards legalisation. The opponents at the time held to traditional arguments against legalised lotteries—negative economic effects, costs to others and increased crime. Unlike the past, however, there was weak religious institutional opposition to lotteries. Individuals with a strong commitment to their religious affiliation were more resistant to pro-lottery arguments, but in most cases could be convinced to support the lottery. The pre-World War II generation remained steadfast against the lottery, but there was relatively greater support among the post-World War II generation. This study has examined the 1975 survey data using a logit model to predict future legalisation in states with large population samples. As expected, analysis of 1975 attitudes shows that states with low levels of opposition are likely to legalise lotteries earlier than states with high levels of opposition.     

Attitudes of high school students and teachers towards Muslims and Islam in a southeastern Australian community

This study investigated attitudes of Australian high school students and teachers towards Muslims and Islam in two suburban high schools in the Logan/Brisbane area of southeastern Australia. Subjects (N = 156) responded to a questionnaire consisting of 24 survey items. Frequency, percentage distribution, and content analysis were performed. It was found that, generally, more respondents disagree with the negative stereotypes of Muslims as the media tend to present them. A majority of the respondents demonstrated positive attitudes towards Muslims and Islam, and strongly support the idea of multicultural coexistence in Australia. Recommendations are given in light of the research findings.     

Attitudes to child care reform in Romania: Findings from a survey of Romanian social workers

This paper presents the findings of a survey of Romanian social workers' attitudes towards two key aspects of child and family social work in their country: namely, the development of foster care, and the regulation of inter-country adoption. Major changes to the law on these matters were introduced in Romania in 1997, and the paper links the research findings with discussion of the progress, and difficulties, of putting the new legislation into practice. The research was undertaken in spring 1999, by means of a self-completion questionnaire for social workers and workers in related occupations. Comparisons between the attitudes of the two groups, and analysis of differences within the social work group, generate insights into the ways in which the new approaches to child and family welfare are taking hold in Romania. The research highlights the wide range of opinions and beliefs within the social services workforce in Romania, and draws attention to the complex interaction of professional education, workplace culture, and government policy in shaping those attitudes. The conclusion offers some thoughts on ways forward for child care policy, practice, research, and training in Romania.     

Attitudes and knowledge of social work students towards sexuality in later life

Background: Sexuality in later life may be compromised by restrictive attitudes, and lack of knowledge among professionals. This study examined social work students’ attitudes and knowledge towards sexuality and sexual expression in later life and investigated associated factors.

Method: Undergraduate social work students from Israel (n = 375) completed the Attitudes and Knowledge towards Older Adult’s Sexuality Scale and questionnaires regarding contacts and exposure to older adults, prior sexual education and sociodemographic.

Results: Attitudes and knowledge were correlated. First year students were the most conservative and demonstrated the least knowledge. No differences were found between men and women regarding attitude. However, men and married students had greater knowledge regarding older adults’ sexuality than women or non-married students did. Increased religious observance predicted more conservative attitudes. Age predicted more permissive attitudes and greater knowledge about sexuality in later life. A mediating process examined, suggested knowledge is a mediator variable between age and attitudes towards older adults’ sexuality.

Conclusion: As the population in Israel and in Western countries ages, it is important to examine the knowledge and attitudes of social work students regarding older adults’ sexuality and to develop educational and interventional programs aimed at increasing awareness, knowledge, and positive attitudes in this area.