BOOK REVIEWS

Book Reviewed in this article:
Fanning, P., & McKay, M. (Eds.). Family guide to emotional wellness: Proven self-help techniques and exercises for dealing with common problems and building crucial life skills.
Leiblum, S., & Rosen, R. (2000) (Eds.). Principles and practice of sex therapy (3rd ed.).
Sturkie, K., & Bergen, L.P. (2001). Professional regulation in marital and family therapy.
Kaslow, F. (Ed.). (2000). Handbook of couple and family forensics: A sourcebook for mental health and legal professionals.     

What is a ‘Handbook of Sociolinguistics’?

Florian Coulmas (ed.). The Handbook of Sociolinguistics (Blackwell Handbooks in Linguistics, 4). Oxford: Blackwell. 1997. x + 532 pp.Cloth (0–631–19339–1) £70.00.     

话语诠释学:跨多学科的探索

话语在其最广泛的意义上包括了交流的不同层面,从人际到国际,甚至不同文明间的对话。当代世界的不同文明之间迫切需要建设性的对话和话语。为探寻那些可以引向积极和建设性话语的哲学与文化假设,探索促进富有建设性和积极性的话语原则,将当代哲学、与话语相关的思想及其实践应用结合起来分析,并对某些不同学科领域里的理论假设及其实际影响做了一个简要回顾。分析认为,后结构主义的传播方式倾向于将语言看成是非此即彼,由支配关系构成的话语,或是有着几乎无限的模糊性,可提供机会通过颠覆意义来抵抗被支配;诸如伽达默尔和哈贝马斯所提出的诠释学方法提供了达成相互理解、建立共识以及团结的途径。     

Value change: Analyzing national change in citizen secularism across four time periods in the World Values Survey

Convergence or divergence are two plausible but different views on how local cultures respond to the forces of globalization. In the present study, a newly formulated value dimension of secularism was used to investigate the direction of value change induced in members of national groups over the last two decades by the forward march of recent history. A culturally equivalent but single dimension of secularism was extracted from the items tapping the two dimensions of value originally proposed by Inglehart (1997) in the World Values Survey. No evidence of convergence or divergence in secularism was found, as there were no significant differences in standard deviations of citizen scores on secularism across any of the six time periods across which the World Values Survey was administered on the four occasions to date. In addition, there was evidence, though it was not consistent, showing that people across the planet are becoming more secular. Furthermore, a consistently significant relationship between change in HDI (Human Development Index) and change in secularism could not be consistently found for countries, suggesting that cultural value change is not determined by social-economic development. However, the secularism of a country's citizens was found to moderate the impact of social development on secular change during certain recent time period, such that only citizens in initially more secular countries increased their secularism. Future research agendas were proposed in light of these findings.     

Organizational Form as a Mechanism to Involve Staff,Public and Users in Public Services: A Study of the Governance of NHS Foundation Trusts

In addition to introducing markets and market‐like structures into public services, New Labour wished to promote the involvement of users and the public in decision‐making in other ways than as individual consumers. One way was to involve the public in the governance of organizations. This could be done by removing public services from state control, and transferring them to mutual ownership; or by increasing public involvement in the governance of public bodies. NHS foundation trusts (FTs) were presented as mutuals. Our study shows FTs are not mutuals, as they continue to be owned by the state. Moreover, staff of FTs were generally not engaging with the new governance structures. In general, there was mixed experience of the new structures enabling governors to increase accountability of the hospitals to the public. On the other hand, having a membership did enhance the legitimacy of FTs, as opposed to other NHS organizations. The findings of the study are of current interest as the coalition government is continuing with the policy of FTs, and also encouraging mutuals and other forms of public involvement.     

Optimism in the Face of Despair: Black‐White Differences in Beliefs About School as a Means for Upward Social Mobility*

Objective. This study aims to provide a better understanding of how beliefs about the system of social mobility affect students' schooling outcomes. Previous studies reach conflicting conclusions because they conflate two forms of beliefs about social mobility (i.e., perceived value of school and perceived barriers despite schooling). Methods. The Maryland Adolescence Development In Context Study (MADICS) is used to examine black‐white differences in beliefs about the value of school and barriers to upward mobility despite schooling and how these beliefs predict academic achievement and educational attainment. Results. The analyses show that relative to whites, blacks hold stronger beliefs in both the value of school and barriers to social mobility, and have greater affective attitudes toward schooling. However, belief in barriers to social mobility is not consequential for academic outcomes. Conclusions. Beliefs about upward mobility are mechanisms by which the opportunity structure influences individuals' schooling behaviors and making clear distinctions between various beliefs about the system of social mobility can refine the understanding of this link. This study suggests that individuals make nuanced distinctions about the role of schooling for upward mobility, each with separate effects on academic outcomes.