Minority leadership, science, symbols, and the media: The Belgian Islam debate and its relevance for other countries in Europe

This article discusses the processes that occurred in Belgium during the period of 1989–2000 in the constructive areas of minority policy decision-making regarding the search for a representative and legitimate partner to represent Muslims vis-à-vis the State: minority leadership, the administration, the academic community, the great social symbolic events, and the media. It concludes with the political decision-making process itself. The conclusions refer to the interpretation of change in terms of continuity and discontinuity, and to the means of coping with historical ethnic otherness. Comparisons are made with other European countries.     

Perceptions of campus climate, academic efficacy and academic success among community college students: an ethnic comparison

The present study examined whether there are ethnic differences in perceptions of campus climate, social support, and academic efficacy among community college students, and whether student perceptions were associated with academic success. A total of 475 community college students completed a questionnaire that measured students’ perceptions of cultural congruity, college environment, mentoring, peer social life and academic self efficacy. Ethnic differences were observed, as African American and Caucasian students reported higher levels of cultural congruity than Asian students and higher academic self efficacy than Asian and Latino students. There were also ethnic differences in the relationship between the students’ perceptions and GPA. Cultural congruity and efficacy correlated with GPA among Latino students, academic efficacy correlated with GPA among Asian students, peer social support and college environment correlated with GPA among Caucasians, however, none of the perceptions scales correlated with GPA among African American students. The lack of relationship between academic efficacy and GPA among African American and Caucasians students is discussed.     

Social preference,social prominence,and group membership in late elementary school: homophilic concentration and peer affiliation configurations

This study investigated the social preference and social prominence of 622 5th graders (290 boys, 332 girls) in relation to peer group membership. The sample was recruited from 11 elementary schools in a southeastern state. The ethnicity of participants was 55% European American, 41% African American, and 4% other. Peer groups were classified on each of three domains (academic, aggression, popular) by the proportion of group members who were high on the characteristic of interest. Participants’ peer affiliations were also classified with cluster analytic techniques that yielded distinct configurations of aggression, popularity, and academic competence. Social preference and social prominence were each related to popular peer group type for both boys and girls and differentially related to aggressive and academic group types. Social prominence, but not social preference, was related to peer group configurations for both girls and boys. Implications for the development of social contextual interventions to support students’ adjustment and academic engagement during late elementary school are discussed.     

Voice as Heuristic Device to Integrate Biological and Social Sciences. A Comment to Sidtis &; Kreiman’s <Emphasis Type="Italic">in the Beginning was the Familiar Voice</Emphasis>

Sidtis and Kreiman (2011) offer a two-sided approach to voice where the biological side is thought to support the psycho-social one. Linking psychological and biological sciences by the notion of “familiar voice” they introduce, Sidtis and Kreiman (2011) foster integration in science and offer a broad view on the voice phenomenon. The way this integration is conducted is closely observed in this comment. The conclusion is that a common point of departure which does not belong to the mainstream in present academic discourse can be ascribed to both sides invoked: a dialogic view of human beings. The social dimension of the neuropsychological social model of voice recognition the authors propose is then discussed. This is taken up in the closing considerations addressing the core notion of familiarity with regard to the conception of sociality it implies; this perspective raises also the issue of the relationship between (familiar) voice and language. In analogy to the dialogic view of human beings we advocate for in accordance with Sidtis and Kreiman (2011), a notion of language emphasizing the sensorily experienced performance of symbolic activity is put forth. In this, voice holds a core place .     

Academic press and sense of community: Conflict,congruence, and implications for student achievement

This paper examines tensions between two visions of schooling. One stresses social cohesion (i.e., common beliefs, shared activities, and caring relations between members). The other emphasizes strong academic mission (i.e., values and practices that reinforce high standards for student performance). Though not incongruous, numerous organizational studies reveal the potential for social cohesion and communality to be achieved at the expense of academic demand or “press.” To examine their separate and joint effects, measures of academic press and communality are developed from NELS:88 First Follow-up data. Results of hierarchical regression analyses indicate (1) significant links between academic press and student achievement; (2) that academic press has its greatest achievement effect among low-SES schools; (3) that strong sense of community may have a negative impact on achievement in low-SES schools with weak academic press; and (4) that for low- and middle-SES schools, the greatest achievement effects follow from strong combinations of communality and academic press. These findings highlight an important additional component of the “school as community” model, indicating that for most schools, academic press serves as a key prerequisite for the positive achievement effects of communality. The author wishes to express appreciation to National Science Foundation for it support under the grant “Improving Mathematics and Science Learning: A School and Classroom Approach” (RED-9255880). The views expressed here are those of the author, and no official endorsement by the National Science Foundation is intended or should be inferred. Correspondence concerning this article should be sent to Roger C. Shouse, The Pennsylvania State University, 315 Rackley Building, University Park, PA 16803, U.S.A.     

Symptoms of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and Social and School Adjustment: The Moderating Roles of Age and Parenting

This study examined the associations between symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and social and school adjustment (academic performance, peer relationships, school social problems) and the moderating roles of children’s age and maternal parenting (affection and overprotection) in these associations. The sample consisted of 2,463 students who were in the first to ninth grade in northern Taiwan. Results from the linear mixed models demonstrated that ADHD symptoms were inversely associated with academic performance and positively associated with social adjustment problems. Further, children’s age and maternal parenting moderated the associations between ADHD symptoms and school and social adjustment. For example, maternal overprotection moderated the relation between hyperactivity and negative peer relationships (i.e., difficulty forming and maintaining friendships), such that this relation was stronger for children who experienced higher levels of overprotection than children who did not. Moreover, children’s age moderated the association between attention problems and decreased academic performance, such that this association was stronger for older children and adolescents than for younger children. Furthermore, children’s age and maternal affection interacted to influence the association between attention problems and school social problems (i.e., bullying, aggression, and peer rejection) with maternal affection acting as a buffer for older children (grades 4–6) only. These findings are discussed from a developmental psychopathology perspective.     

Differential Associations Between Relational and Overt Aggression and Children’s Psychosocial Adjustment

Although much research has focused on the association between childhood aggression and negative psychosocial adjustment, the link between the subtypes of aggression and adjustment is less clear, particularly for relational aggression. The current study examined whether overt and relational aggression in childhood (M = 10.4 years, SD = 1.1) are differentially associated with four psychosocial adjustment outcomes (i.e., academic performance, social problems, depression, and delinquency). Results indicated that relational aggression was negatively associated with academic performance, while overt aggression was positively associated with delinquency. Additionally, findings suggested gender differences in the link between aggression subtypes and social problems. Specifically, overt aggression was positively associated with social problems for boys and relational aggression was positively associated with social problems for girls. Neither subtype of aggression was uniquely associated with depression. Thus, this study suggests that psychosocial outcomes may differ depending on the form of aggression that is utilized.     

The grammar of aesthetic intuition: on Ernst Cassirer’s concept of symbolic form in the visual arts

This paper provides a précis of Ernst Cassirer’s concept of art as a symbolic form. It does so, though, in a specific respect. It points to the fact that Cassirer’s concept of “symbolic form” is two-sided. On the one hand, the concept captures general cultural phenomena that are not only meaningful but also manifest the way man makes sense of the world; thus myth, religion, and art are considered general symbolic forms. On the other hand, it captures the formal structures and semiotic tools thanks to which meaning is constructed within each general symbolic form (Cassirer called these structures “modes of objectivation”); thus, in art, perspective or the golden section are well-known examples of symbolic forms, now in a narrow sense, i.e. they are means to configure parts into an organized, meaningful whole. The paper will comment on art along both these two dimensions, but its main goal is to provide with concrete examples of aesthetic symbolic forms in the narrow sense in order to show how conceptual meaning can be inscribed in the space of aesthetic intuition.     

Society’s Symbolic Order and Political Trials: Toward Sacrificing the Self for the “Big Other”

The need to establish a borderline between legitimate and illegitimate political trial is one of the central societal discourses. In this paper the author claims that the issues are complex and that a political trial can remain legitimate as long as it is not dealing with a confrontation with the symbolic order on which the society (and the court itself) is founded and as long as the subject (or action) it is dealing with does not threaten the symbolic order’s (or the “Big Other”) existence. When the symbolic order’s existence is in danger, the court is bound to participate in an act of “sacrifice” that is intended to protect the “order.” The author uses Jacques Lacan’s psychoanalytic theory of the “Big Other” (and its development to ideological-political terms) in examining three categories of sacrifice. Through these categories the author claims that in extreme cases of confrontation with the existence of the symbolic order, the court cannot remain objective and it would be difficult to justify the trial as legitimate (especially in historical perspective).     

Effects of Parent’s Gender, Child’s Gender, and Parental Involvement on the Academic Achievement of Adolescents in Single Parent Families

We used a national database (Educational Longitudinal Study) to investigate the effects of parent’s gender, child’s gender, and parental involvement in school on the academic achievement of adolescents in single-parent families. A three way 2 × 2 × 2 (parent’s gender × child’s gender × parental involvement) MANCOVA was conducted with four student academic achievement indicators as dependent variables and SES as a covariate. The results indicated that parent gender and child gender interact with parent involvement to affect adolescents’ academic achievement differentially. Specifically, daughters who lived with highly involved single-fathers performed better academically than the other groups did. These findings suggest that researchers who study single-parents’ involvement in their adolescents’ academic achievement need to pay more attention to gender-specific effects.     

It’s not just what you know, it’s who you know: Testing a model of the relative importance of social networks to academic performance

Applying three mathematical modeling techniques, this study proposes and tests the fit of an academic performance model, and then estimates the relative importance of four performance predictors: academic ability, performance goal orientation, educational technology use, and social network density. Drawing on social network theory, findings from this study show that social network density is a statistically important and unique predictor of academic performance, suggesting that “who you know” matters in large classroom settings. However, this study also indicates that academic ability is the most dominant factor in the explanation of academic performance. Practical and theoretical implications for enhancing academic performance through social networks are discussed.

Social episodes and social structure in an academic setting: The social environment of an intact group

The social environment of an intact academic group, composed of faculty members, research students, and staff, was studied using a multidimensional scaling (MDS) procedure. The perceived group structure and the perception of social episodes were represented, and the relationship between these two aspects of the social environment was analyzed. Results indicated that (a) the perceived group structure could be adequately represented in three dimensions with group members differentiated along dimensions of sociability, creativity, and competence, (b) an individuals' perception of the group and his position within it were significantly related, (c) group members perceived the social episodes of the group in terms of attribute dimensions such as anxiety, involvement, evaluation, and socioemotional vs task orientation, and (d) an individual's formal status and perceived position within the group were significantly related to his perception of the group's episodes. The results are discussed in terms of the factors influencing episode perception, and the symbolic processes mediating between social position and perception. The utility of social episodes in describing a social environment is considered.     

The Sociology of Knowledge Approach to Discourse (SKAD)

The article presents the sociology of knowledge approach to discourse (SKAD). SKAD, which has been in the process of development since the middle of the 1990s, is now a widely used framework among social scientists in discourse research in the German-speaking area. It links arguments from the social constructionist tradition, following Berger and Luckmann, with assumptions based in symbolic interactionism, hermeneutic sociology of knowledge, and the concepts of Michel Foucault. It argues thereby for a consistent theoretical and methodological grounding of a genuine social sciences perspective on discourse interested in the social production, circulation and transformation of knowledge, that is in social relations and politics of knowledge in the so-called ‘knowledge societies’. Distancing itself from Critical Discourse Analysis, Linguistics, Ethnomethodology inspired discourse analysis and the Analysis of Hegemonies, following Laclau and Mouffe, SKAD’s framework has been built up around research questions and concerns located in the social sciences, referring to public discourse and arenas as well as to more specific fields of (scientific, religious, etc.) discursive struggles and controversies around “problematizations” (Foucault).     

Sacred space and the city: Greece and Bhaktapur

Conclusions Prompted by Levy’s observations and questions, our brief review of symbolic space in ancient Greece suggests that some features of Greek culture that at first sight seem rationalist and modernizing, signs of the transformation of the archaic city, were deeply rooted in the culture of the city-states from as early as we can study them.¹¹ It may be that they are factors that contributed to the intellectual process referred to as the breakthrough or enlightenment which is not easily attributed entirely to economic and social changes in the late sixth and early fifth centuries BCE. The largely secular political tradition is sometimes, and plausibly, invoked as a cause (cf. Humphreys 1986). It should probably be seen as part of the overall ordering of the sacred vis-à-vis the profane. By the later fourth century BCE, contact with a larger, multiethnic world and the growth of impersonal market relationships produced or hastened secondary urbanization and with it the fracturing of a social coherence. In the intervening classical period, in some areas, such as drama, festival, and the visual arts, the first stirrings of the enlightenment may actually have fostered a more intense deployment of traditional resources. The symbolic use of space in the Greek cities probably never matched, despite important similarities, the more complex traditional systems of their South Asian counterparts. Greece’s traditional culture only reached its acme when new winds were blowing (and even because of them), but before they had swept away the delicate links that held the culture together.     

The Social Regulation of Classroom Performances: a Theoretical Outline

Based on 20 years of research on the social regulation of academic performances, this paper provides arguments for the idea that the social context in which cognitive functioning takes place is an integral part of that functioning, not just the surrounding context for it. Several studies in the classroom setting indeed reveal that student's cognitive performances can depend on interactions between their actual and past social experiences, most notably interpersonal comparison and evaluation episodes. Because of their recurrence, these episodes can become part of student's autobiographical memory and, therefore, can affect their actual behavior in specific conditions. Theoretical suggestions are made for a ‘social psychology of cognition.’ This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

On The Universal and Local Aspects of Confucianism

To counter the tendency of making Confucianism “localized” and thereby turning Confucianism research into research of local social history, the author criticizes this tendency and thinks it is unilateral to emphasize or stress the importance of a small unit’s locality, but ignore the oneness of the distribution of Confucianism and the universality of Confucian thought. The thesis emphasizes that the main schools of Confucianism in the Song and Ming Dynasties are all not local ones and cannot be reduced to reflections of some local need and social structure. The author points out that we need to self-examine the following phenomena: aggrandizing the function of local social structure to culture and thought, coming down academic schools to reflections of local social benefits, opposing this kind of research to the research of thought itself, thus rejecting philosophical research and analysis of thought itself.     

Social support networks, stress, sense of coherence and academic success of university students with learning disabilities

The current study evaluated the extent to which 191 university students with learning disabilities (LD) differed from 190 students without disabilities in terms of their perceived social support, stress and sense of coherence. The study also investigated students’ perceptions of their academic success at university as compared with their rating of their struggles and failures. Findings indicated that students with LD perceived themselves as having less social support than did students without LD. Students without LD were more likely than students with LD to attribute their academic success to study skills and to their academic characteristics, while students with LD were more likely to attribute their academic success or lack of success to external factors. Although overall the levels of stress reported by the entire sample were relatively low, students with LD tended to experience slightly higher academic stress than students without LD.     

Media representations of British Muslims and hybridised threats to identity

Muslims have never before occupied such a central position in the British media, given their general absence from more ‘normalised’ representational positions such as in popular soaps, literature and reality television. Recent studies reveal the primarily negative ‘hypervisibility’ of Muslims across the media, which has encouraged negative social representations. Drawing upon relevant concepts from intergroup threat theory and identity process theory, this paper argues that British Muslims are increasingly constructed in terms of a hybridised threat to the ethno-national ingroup, consisting of both symbolic and realistic aspects. This account offers a socio-psychological perspective by exploring the potential socio-cognitive and behavioural repercussions of exposure to representations of British Muslims as a hybridised threat. The focus upon identity processes among the non-Muslim British majority elucidates the identity implications of Islamophobic representations in the Press and some of the potential causes of Islamophobic prejudice. It is argued that the principles of continuity, distinctiveness and self-esteem are particularly susceptible to change as a result of such negative media representations. The transition from media representation to dominant social representation is discussed, in addition to the potential implications for intergroup relations.     

物质主义者眼中的奢侈品：符号还是功能？

本研究通过眼动和情境实验相结合的方式,探讨了物质主义与奢侈品社会符号价值的关系,以及公众自我意识在上述关系中的中介作用。结果发现,相比功能价值信息,高物质主义者更加关注奢侈品的社会符号价值信息(研究1);对于高社会符号价值的奢侈品具有更强的购买意愿,公众自我意识起着中介作用(研究2)。研究表明,高物质主义者具有较高的公众自我意识,因而在购买奢侈品时更加重视其社会符号价值。     

Social interactional behaviors and symbolic play competence as predictors of language development and their associations with maternal attention-directing strategies

Children’s early social interactional behaviors and symbolic play competence were studied at 14 months in a sample of 111 mother-infant pairs. The categories of social interactional behaviors, joint visual attention, socially coordinated and object oriented interactions were assessed via observations of mother-infant joint play. An index of symbolic play was derived from the child’s solitary play, which was assessed independently. We examined both the interrelations of these two types of early language predictors, and their relation to children’s language skills and maternal attention-directing strategies. Measures of children’s language comprehension and production were obtained using the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventories at 14 months, and Reynell Developmental Language Scales at 18 and 30 months. We found that at 14 months, social interactional behaviors and symbolic play competence were not statistically significantly related to each other. In line with our hypotheses, social interactional skills were associated more strongly with language production, and symbolic play competence more strongly with language comprehension. Maternal attention-directing strategies were strongly related to both children’s social interactional behaviors and symbolic play competence. Our findings indicated that maternal strategies that expanded the infant’s level of functioning were more effective in stimulating the children’s language development than were the other types of strategies.