The English public space: developing spirituality in English Muslim schools

Developing a language and a context for a spirituality that can speak to children and young people in a post‐modern, secular English society is a challenge for anyone, parent or teacher, who wishes to raise the vision beyond the purely material and the everyday. The challenge is both epistemological and pedagogical. How young people see, know and describe the world in which they find themselves is central to any school curriculum. For English Muslim schools the epistemological and pedagogical interfaces with the cultural and theological in a search for a language and spirituality that is a reflection of a contemporary English Islam.     

Contrast and contradiction: Being a black adolescent in contemporary South Africa

This study aimed to gain in-depth understanding of the lived identity of black African adolescents in a contemporary South African setting. A purposive sample of 59 adolescents (females = 47%; Sesotho = 46%, Setswana = 36%, Other = 18%) from the Motheo district of the Free State, South Africa, participated in focus group discussions and in-depth individual interviews. Thematic analysis suggested that black South African adolescents experience transitional identities characterised by contrasts and contradictions. Altruism, autonomy, religiosity and cultural experiences were important to their lived identities. The interplay between African rituals, Christian principles, Western values and the globalisation of cultures provided fertile ground for developing a nuanced and multi-dimensional identity as an adolescent living in contemporary South Africa.     

Psychoanalysis meeting the challenges of globalisation: Commentary on Cláudio Laks Eizirik's paper

Abstract

Identity and structure as signifiers of the unconscious are in flux as a result of the evaporation of the relations in the modern world. The author develops some hypotheses on the input of the changing identity in respect to the psychoanalytic encounter in therapy and to processes in institutions. He comes to the conclusion that the orientation to the individual dynamics, the therapy room and the therapeutic relationship, which is at present substantial for most analysts, will no longer be relevant. Whether we will be successful or not as psychoanalysts depends on whether we see the world growing together, share the responsibility for it and take up the burning questions of globalisation.     

Can children develop a dual identity when immigrant mothers feel homesick? A short-term longitudinal study among Turkish immigrants

Abstract

Turkish immigrant-origin youth in Western Europe often develop strong ethnic and weaker national identities. To advance our understanding of this pattern, we investigated the concurrent development and intergenerational transmission of both identities over time in conjunction with maternal homesickness. Our study was based on a sample of 176 Turkish mother-child dyads from Germany, Norway, and the Netherlands. Mothers (M _t1 = 38 years) reported on their identities and homesickness at T1 and children (M _t1 = 12 years) on their identities at T1 and T2. Our results showed that children’s ethnic and national identities became more incompatible over time, mother’s homesickness strengthened children’s ethnic identities, and mother’s ethnic identities in combination with high levels of homesickness weakened children’s national identities. We conclude that early adolescence is a critical time for Turkish immigrant youth’s identity development and that a focus on parental acculturative stressors can advance ethnic socialization and cultural transmission research.     

Is Europe, Along with its Bioethics, Still Christian? Or Already Post-Christian? Reflections on Traditional and Post-Enlightenment Christianities and Their Bioethics

This introduction explores the relationship between Europe andits Christianities. It analyses different diagnostic and evaluativeapproaches to Europe's Christian or post-Christian identity.These are grouped around the concepts of diverse traditional,and, on the other hand, post-Enlightenment Christianities. Whilethe first revolves around a liturgical and mystical accountof the church, a Christ-centred humanism, an emphasis on man'sfuture life, noetic theology and a foundationalist claim touniversal truth, the second endorses a moralization of the "Christianmessage," political implementation of "Christian goals," rationalism,a this-worldly humanism, and tolerance for religious diversity.Since even the concepts of "traditional" and "post-Enlightenment"Christianity turn out to be deeply ambiguous, the essay concludeswith exploring the different ways in which the Christianityof the Apostolic Church, the Enlightenment (along with the "Western"Christianities it shaped), and contemporary liberalism eachconceive of their respective endorsements of human freedom aseither normative, that is obligatory, value-laden, or contingent,and arbitrary. In each case, a different notion of "tradition"(as well as familial and church authority) is placed eitherin harmony or in opposition to such freedom. As a result ofthis conceptual analysis, the deeply fractured identity of Europe,as exemplified by the diverse bioethical positions adopted bythe authors in this issue, becomes visible.     

Children’s Judgments of Cultural Expertise: The Influence of Cultural Status and Learning Method

The authors investigated children’s use of cultural status (i.e., foreign vs. American) and learning method to evaluate informants’ expertise in novel cultural practices. Ninety-six 6- to 9-year-olds heard about a foreign informant (i.e., member of an unfamiliar out-group) and an American informant (i.e., member of the participant’s in-group) who each learned about a novel cultural practice differently (i.e., from a person vs. from a book). Participants decided which informant executed the cultural practice better, which informant they would prefer to learn from, and which learning method they would want to use themselves (i.e., learning method preference). Overall, participants endorsed foreign informants over American informants and foreign informants who learned from a person were generally viewed as the preferred option for imparting information in this context. These findings suggest that during the transition to middle childhood, learning context is an important influence on children’s evaluations of cultural identity and learning methods.     

实践社区成员的自我效能感对知识传播过程和效果的影响

通过自编实践社区成员自我效能感问卷以及知识传播过程和效果问卷对宁夏、重庆两地200名企业实践社区成员进行测量,以研究自我效能感对知识传播过程及效果的影响。结果表明,问卷具有良好的信度和效度;自我效能感不同的实践社区成员在知识传播过程和效果方面存在显著的差异,可以利用自我效能感来预测实践社区知识传播的过程和效果。     

实践社区成员的面子意识对知识传播的影响

为研究中国人面子意识是否影响实践社区及其成员的知识传播过程,采用自编实践社区成员面子意识问卷以及知识传播过程与效果问卷对重庆、银川、南京和上海等地企业的430名实践社区成员进行测量。结果表明:问卷具有良好的信度和效度;男性的面子意识显著高于女性;工作年限为11~15年的被试"面子—能力学识"得分显著高于其他组别;"面子—人际交往"对"投入程度"、"区外获取"及"传播效果"的预测作用都为正向,而"面子—能力学识"对这三项的预测作用均为负向;"面子—人际交往"和"面子—能力学识"是面子的两个独立维度。     

实践社区成员的成就动机对知识传播的影响

为了研究成就动机对实践社区及其成员的知识传播过程的影响,采用自编实践社区成员成就动机问卷以及知识传播过程与效果问卷对重庆、银川、南京、上海等地企业的430名实践社区成员进行测量,研究了成就动机对知识传播的影响.结果表明:问卷具有良好的信度和效度;不同性别被试的社会取向成就动机存在显著差异;工作年限为11-15年的被试社会取向成就动机识显著高于其他组别;自我取向成就动机对知识传播的路径系数除"自我取向-区内吸收"外均达到显著性水平,即对"知识传播投入程度"、"社区外知识获取能力"及"知识传播效果"的预测作用都是正向的;社会取向成就动机仅对知识传播效果产生显著影响.     

Demonstrating knowledge: The effects of group status on outgroup helping

We examined, in two experiments, the notion that members of low status groups, more than members of high status groups, use outgroup helping as a strategic tool to demonstrate their group's knowledge and boost its reputation. In Study 1 (N = 103), we compared outgroup helping in response to requests for help with offering help. As predicted, participants' knowledge was positively related to outgroup helping in response to requests, but only among members of low status groups. Knowledge also predicted the offering of help among members of high status groups. The second study (N = 75) replicated the findings from the requested help condition and showed that the effect disappeared in a condition in which help could not reflect ingroup knowledge. Additional data support a conclusion in terms of a collective strategy to boost the ingroup's reputation by demonstrating ingroup knowledge to the outgroup. The implications for promoting outgroup helping in a salient intergroup context are discussed.