Short review and book note

G. J. Cuming and D. Baker, ed. Studies in church history, vol. 8: Popular belief and practice. Cambridge University Press, pp. xii and 331. £6.40.

James E. Wood, Jnr. (Ed.), Jewish-Christian relations in today's world (The Markham Press Fund of Baylor University Press, Waco, Texas, 1971) pp. 164.

Stern, S. M. and Walzer, Sofie, Three unknown Buddhist stories in an Arabic version, introduction, text and translation. Oxford, Cassirer, 1971, 38 pp. £2.00

Brown, Peter, Religion and society in the age of Saint Augustine, Faber and Faber, 1972, pp. 352. £3.25; MACINTYRE, ALASDAIR, Against the Self‐Images of the Age, Duckworth, 1871, pp. vi‐284. E3.45; WINCH, PETER, Ethics and Action, Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1972, pp. 231. £2.75.

Woodcock, George. Gandhi. Fontana, Collins (London), 1972. 108 pp., paperback 35p.

Masunaga, R. A primer of Soto Zen: A translation of Dogen's shobogenzo zuimonki. Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1972. 126 pp., £1.25.

Swanton, Michael (Ed.). The dream of the road. Manchester University Press, 1970. ix + 146 pp. £1.20 (paperback 60p).     

Making Sense of Walt: A Psychoanalytic Understanding of Racism

This paper explores Klein's concepts of the depressive position, paranoid position, envy, projective identification and reparation, and their application to understanding overt racism. An extensive case example from the movie Gran Torino and its protagonist Walt Kowalski are the foci of this theoretical speculation. Implications for antiracist practice are discussed.     

Applying Motivational Interviewing in a Domestic Violence Shelter: A Pilot Study Evaluating the Training of Shelter Staff

ABSTRACT

This pilot study examined the use of motivational interviewing (MI) with 20 women receiving services at a domestic violence shelter. The experimental group (n = 10) received regular treatment services (RTS) from shelter counselors who were trained in MI; the control group (n = 10) received RTS only. Fisher's exact test showed that participants who received MI-enhanced RTS were significantly more motivated for change (p = .029), as measured through a dichotomous readiness for change motivational variable on the University of Rhode Island Change Assessment (URICA; Center on Alcoholism, Substance Abuse, &; Addiction Research Division, 1996 Center on Alcoholism, Substance Abuse, &; Addiction Research Division. 1996. University of Rhode Island Change Instrument (URICA) Scale, Albuquerque, NM: Author.  [Google Scholar]). Findings suggest that MI can be helpful in increasing the readiness for change in domestic violence survivors who contemplate leaving abusive relationships.     

Generation Units and the Student Protest Movement in the United States: An Intra- and Intergenerational Analysis

The American student protest movement provides exceptional opportunities to observe how formative political experiences can affect intragenerational cleavages over the adult life span and how they may reflect on intergenerational continuities. Long-term national panel data from the high school class of 1965 and data from their parents and offspring are used here to exploit these opportunities. The results show that a sharp rift in political participation and attitudes emerged between protesters and non-protesters during the protest era, a rift that persists into mid-life and one that testifies to the conceptual utility of generation units. Continuities across the three lineage generations are demonstrated by the moderate similarities in the ideological and participative orientations that are associated with the protest status of the student generation.     

Executive Heads and the Role of Intergovernmental Organizations: Expansionist Leadership in the United Nations and the European Union

Despite considerable advances in methods to examine leaders' personal characteristics using at–a–distance assessment, few studies have applied such techniques outside of the national level. This study reveals that such approaches can provide analytical leverage for examining executive heads of intergovernmental organizations (IGOs). The personal characteristics of six United Nations Secretaries–General and four European Union Commission Presidents were measured via content analysis of their responses to questions. Separately, their behavior in office was measured via historical accounts and analyses. In general, executive heads with higher expansionist leadership style scores displayed a greater willingness to try to enhance the status of their organizations.     

Behavior in adulthood and during aging is affected by contaminant exposure in utero

Environmental contaminants can alter the course of neural development, with consequences that appear in behavior. Such effects extend into adulthood and sometimes accelerate the rate of aging, even when exposure ceases by birth. The neurotoxicant methylmercury provides an interesting case study that reveals much about how disrupted neural development has lifelong consequences. Methylmercury also provides an example of the assessment and management of risks associated with exposure to developmental neurotoxicants.