OPPOSING STANDARDS WITHIN THE CULTURAL WORLDVIEW: TERROR MANAGEMENT AND AMERICAN WOMEN'S DESIRE FOR UNIQUENESS VERSUS INCLUSIVENESS

Two different standards within American women's overall cultural worldview were examined in two studies: standing out and fitting in. American culture prescribes and values uniqueness, yet gender norms for women prescribe and value inclusiveness. Thus, unlike American men, American women encounter incongruent cultural norms that make it unclear which she will uphold when faced with thoughts of death. We hypothesized that, for women (and not men), gender salience would moderate worldview adherence. Using standard terror management manipulations, American women were subjected to a self or gender prime (Study 1) as well as a non-gender-group prime and compared to men (Study 2). Results showed that under mortality salience, women primed with gender identified more with their gender group, were more likely to behave inclusively, and were more likely to desire affiliation. In contrast, those primed with the self, a non-gender-group prime, as well as men, were more likely to desire uniqueness. These findings suggest that, for an American woman, both inclusiveness and uniqueness are responses to mortality salience, depending on her momentary reference point.     

Gaining access to shiftworkers through labor unions

In this paper, we provide the procedures used to gain access to shiftworkers who served as subjects in a work-sleep study. Our experiences in gaining the cooperation of labor union organizations and their members are described in detail, as are characteristics of the surveyed workers.     

Gabrielle Suchon,Freedom, and the Neutral Life

ABSTRACT

A central project of Enlightenment thought is to ground claims to natural freedom and equality. This project is the foundation of Suchon’s view of freedom. But it is not the whole story. For, Suchon’s focus is not just natural freedom, but also the necessary and sufficient conditions for oppressed members of society, women, to avail themselves of this freedom. In this paper I, first, treat Suchon’s normative argument for women’s right to develop their rational minds. In Section 2, I consider Suchon’s three necessary and sufficient conditions for freedom and the manners in which women are blocked from meeting them. The normative argument together with the obstacles to women meeting the conditions for freedom raises the question of how to get women into a position where they can enjoy the freedom to which they are entitled. In Section 3, I outline Suchon’s answer: women must live a life without attachment. I argue this answer situates Suchon both chronologically and theoretically between the Béguines, a medieval women’s spiritual movement, and twentieth-century feminist separatism. I conclude that Suchon’s view of freedom is radical, both for its time and ours, and deserves greater attention from historians of philosophy and of feminist thought.     

A Phenomenological Study of Immigrant Parents of Adolescents with Delinquent Behavior in Israel

Scarce qualitative literature has focused on understanding the perspective of parents of adolescents involved in crime, and no prior literature has examined how the status of being a parent of an adolescent who is involved in delinquency intersects with being an immigrant parent. The current phenomenological study examined, through the eyes of immigrant parents, how they comprehend their children’s involvement in delinquent behavior. This study examined in-depth semistructured interviews conducted with fourteen immigrant parents (10 mothers and 4 fathers) from the former Soviet Union in Israel of children treated in rehabilitation facilities for delinquent youth. Data analysis revealed a gradual decline in children's behavior ascribed to the developmental stage of adolescence, the pressures of immigration, and cultural conflict. These three factors are interwoven together to create a fabric within which they see their children turning to crime. Parents' gradual loss of control is balanced by attempts to idealize the parent–child relationship and to minimize the severity of the offenses committed. They describe various differing and even contradictory experiences of themselves as parents and their struggles to piece together incohesive, alternating experiences of themselves as parents. Despite the critical role they can play in their children’s rehabilitation, as well as the distress that they themselves experience, parents of children involved in delinquent behavior have often been ignored in research. Acknowledging parents' perspectives and experiences can allow development of appropriate therapeutic strategies to support them and maximize their abilities to support their children.