Money,Money, Money: Gift Exchange and Credit Giving in Coastal Kerala

For Kerala’s Latin Catholics, financial expenses related to life-cycle events like weddings, baptisms, funerals, and paying for children’s education or for medical treatment are customary expenditures. Yet, many Malayali Latin Catholics in the coastal region are craftsmen and fishermen, and their incomes tend to be unsteady. When they cannot afford these costs using their own resources, borrowing money and accruing debt is a common solution. Besides loans from banks and other institutions, credit is given among relatives, friends, neighbors, and acquaintances. This type of credit is known as ka?a? (“debt”). The article argues that ka?a? can be interpreted as a kind of gift exchange, since it is inseparable from the people involved and the (kind of) relationship that exists between them. Interdependence is the necessary basis of ka?a?, and like gift exchange, credit giving among relatives and friends serves to confirm and strengthen existing relationships.     

责任归因、幸灾乐祸与帮助意愿的关系

本研究具体探讨在他人出现不幸时,作为同学、同伴等的归因、责任推断、幸灾乐祸情感反应程度以及想不想提供帮助的程度之间的关系模型。结果表明：内部归因对责任推断具有显著预测作用;消极情感对同情和幸灾乐祸有显著的预测作用;责任程度与幸灾乐祸关系密切;幸灾乐祸和同情对帮助意愿有显著的预测作用。     

Gift as Devotion,Lesson as Tuition: Transactions Among Temple and Dance-Drama Drummers in Kerala

This article juxtaposes a notion of “gift” as construction of submission and devotion with a concept of lesson as something to be purchased for a fixed fee, as both relate to drumming pedagogy in Kerala. It discusses how guru dak?i?a (a ritual marking the beginning of study and a ceremonial first performance) and a pattern of irregular and grandiose remuneration construct the student’s submission to his teacher, both in private contexts and in institutions. However, the system at a state arts institution partly undercuts this practice; here, students, especially non-Malayā?is, pay monthly, semesterly, or annual fees to the institution. The impersonal nature of this arrangement contrasts with the intimacy inherent in patterns of remuneration in private contexts, yet at the same time guru dak?i?a and other traditional practices continue in the institution. Thus the institution features an uneasy coexistence between a notion of pedagogy as regular payment—something close to “commodity”—and one of construction of submission, mixed with intimacy and devotion.     

The Gift of Law: Liberty,Legitimacy and Autonomy in The Social Contract

Abstract

I examine Rousseau’s claim that any given will can be either itself or another, and cannot be commuted (to representatives, for example), through an investigation of liberty and legitimacy in The Social Contract, with respect to which Rousseau elaborates his notion that we prescribe laws to ourselves. Through an examination of the logic of the general will, I attempt to show that, while the theory of legitimacy is radical, it is faced with serious problems that concern the identification of the we (or the I) that is supposed to be prescribing laws to itself, and that when we are (I am) supposedly doing so, the identity of the will is far from clear.     

Essentialism,Culture, and Beliefs About Gender Among the Aravanis of Tamil Nadu,India

The purpose of this study was to investigate the gender beliefs of the Aravanis, a transgender community in Tamil Nadu. Gender transgression and gender transformation (attempts to change gender) tasks were used to examine the essentialist notions of the Aravanis' beliefs about gender. A total of 100 Aravanis participated in the study. In the gender transgression task the Aravanis endorsed both male and female gender transgressions. In the gender transformation task the Aravanis believed in the male to female transformation but not in the female to male transformation. I argue that the asymmetry in the Aravanis' responses suggests that their beliefs about gender are consistent with Hindu patriarchal beliefs that feminine gender is essential and primordial, whereas masculine gender transformations are viewed as part of the male prerogative. The marginalized gender experience of the Aravanis influenced their judgments about gender transgressions but not their beliefs about gender transformations. I also discuss the implications of a cultural psychology of gender.     

Acculturation,Respect for Cultural Differences,and Biculturalism Among Three Generations of Mexican American and Euro American School Children

In this study, we examined acculturation, respect for cultural differences, and biculturalism among first-, second-, and third-generation Mexican American and Euro American school children. Teachers' ratings of children's classroom behavior were used as measures of acculturation, respect for cultural differences, and biculturalism. Results showed first-generation children to be most integrated with the Mexican American culture and third-generation children to be the most integrated with Euro American culture. In addition, there were no differences in respect for cultural differences between the groups of Mexican American and Euro American children. Finally, first-generation children were the most bicultural group of Mexican Americans. Findings are discussed in terms of their implications for the development of children's bicultural identity.     

Perceptions of Parenting Style Among College Students in India and the United States

Although a growing body of psychological literature has examined the influence of culture on parenting style, relatively less attention has been paid to gender differences in parenting style across cultures. The present study examined perceptions of parenting style as a function of participant’s culture, participant’s gender, and parent gender in college students in India and the United States. Using a new vignette-based self-report measure that characterizes each of Baumrind’s three parenting styles, participants rated perceptions of effectiveness, helpfulness, caring, and normativeness of each style. Contrary to expectation, results showed that Indian college students considered the parent demonstrating permissive parenting to be more effective and helpful than US college students. In contrast, US college students considered the parents demonstrating authoritative and authoritarian parenting to be more effective, helpful, and caring than Indian college students. A majority of Indian and US college students selected the parent demonstrating authoritative parenting as most similar to their own parents, and the type of parent they wish to be in the future. Females considered the parent demonstrating authoritative parenting to be more effective and helpful than males. Relatively few effects of parent gender were found.     

Commitment to Work, Care Giving and Seniority: The Case of Nursing

The current study examined whether differences in commitment to paid employment or different levels of private sphere responsibility between women and men could explain the gender segmentation of the paid work force. A survey of a composite sample (N?=?380) of Australian nurses showed that there were no significant differences between women and men in terms of commitment to paid employment although commitment was a predictor of seniority. Primary care-giving status also predicted seniority and women were more likely than men to have care-giving responsibility for dependents. Multiple logistic regression showed that, independent of gender, primary responsibility for care-giving to dependents, rather than commitment to paid employment, explained more of the differing chances for women and men of being in senior positions.     

On Being Church in the New Millennium: The Challenge and Gift of Gay Believers

Abstract

Taking his childhood experiences in the American South as a starting point, Lindsey explores the scapegoating of marginalized groups. Vicious processes of social exclusion are resisted by those targeted as ‘demeaned outsiders’. However, their experience gives them a special knowledge of how structures of power function. Gay Christians are in a position to translate this knowledge into a call for radical transformation that is vital for the survival of the church. The gift gay believers offer is a vision of the church as it might become; an imagined community of the future rather than a memorial of the past.     

A Comparative Study of Mystical Experience Among Christian,Muslim, and Hindu Students in Tamil Nadu,India

Hood developed a Mysticism Scale based on the theoretical work of Stace. The scale was tested by Hood and others in a comparative perspective. Using an abridged version of Hood's Mysticism Scale, we join the debate with a study of a much larger number of Christian, Muslim, and Hindu respondents (1,920 college students) living in Tamil Nadu, India. Our empirical analysis yields a moderately reliable model of mystical experience that permits comparison between the three religious traditions. We argue for the usefulness of a comparative model of vertical mysticism that combines with the complementary common characteristics of noetic quality and ineffability. Vertical mysticism has a revelatory, ineffable character and is comparable in the experience of adherents of the Christian, Islamic, and Hindu traditions.     

Stories as Gift: Patient Narratives and the Development of Empathy

Critical thought and assessment of medical, emotional, and social problems faced by patients is central to genetic counselor training and development. However, primary emphasis on these critical problem-solving approaches can interfere with the development of empathic listening skills. Using a narrative medicine approach, I describe how learning to reframe one patient’s story of healing as a gift allowed me to become a more open and empathic listener. Ultimately, the empathy and understanding that I learned from this patient’s narrative added to what previous patients had taught me and helped me assist other patients (and myself) in identifying and nurturing healing narratives for people coping with illness and grief. The approach presented here emphasizes the importance of recognizing patients as valuable teachers in the development of higher-level empathy skills.     

小学儿童的尊重观念及其发展

以开放式尊重观念问卷对小学三到六年级儿童进行集体施测研究儿童的尊重观念,结果发现：(1)小学儿童认为尊重就是有礼貌,尊重对象的特征和尊重原因都是要求对方品质好或学习好。尊重的对象既有长辈又有同辈,提到尊重同辈的显著多于只尊重长辈的。不同的人际背景下,儿童的尊重观念不一致。(2)小学儿童的尊重观念具有显著的发展特征,表现出从单向尊重到双向尊重的发展趋势。不同人际关系下的尊重观念的发展特征不同,对父母和老师的尊重主要为单向尊重,对朋友的尊重主要为双向尊重。(3)小学儿童的尊重观念具有显著的性别差异。     

The Danger in Sexism: The Links Among Fear of Crime, Benevolent Sexism, and Well-being

In two studies utilizing undergraduate students at a large public university in the Northeastern U.S., we examined how fear of crime negatively impacts psychological well-being and gender relations. In Study 1, students (N?=?216, 105 female) who indicated higher levels of fear of crime also indicated greater endorsement of benevolent sexism (but not hostile sexism) as well as higher levels of behavioral inhibition and lower self-esteem. In Study 2, fear of crime was manipulated and participants (N?=?115, 73 female) in the crime condition indicated greater endorsement of benevolent sexism, greater behavioral inhibition and lower self-esteem, as compared to participants in a control condition. The implications of the findings for gender relations and psychological well-being are discussed.     

Voices of Outreach: The Construction of Identity and Maintenance of Social Ties Among Chabad-Lubavitch Emissaries

Fundamentalists typically avoid influences from the outside world and form intense social bonds with members of their own group. Yet, active fundamentalists must create relationships with the objects of their missionary action, the Other. In this article I address the connections between the cultural practice of missionary work and the formation and maintenance of social ties among ultra-Orthodox Jewish missionaries belonging to the fundamentalist Hasidic sect Chabad-Lubavitch. These missionaries attempt to bring Jews to the beliefs and practices of Chabad by hosting Jews at Sabbath meals. This missionary act is an utterance that "speaks" with multiple voices, indexing the missionaries as both friendly members of their local Jewish community and ideal Lubavitchers. Through these meals, the missionaries engage not only the local Jews but also other Lubavitchers in dialogue, constructing a community that transcends face-to-face interaction.