Gender Equity for Athletes: Multiple Understandings of an Organizational Value

Although gender equity for athletes is a frequently researched topic, it is often assumed that understandings of gender equity are unitary and shared, which may complicate the implementation of it. The purpose of this study was to understand and critique the meanings of gender equity for athletes through in-depth interviews with 5 administrators, 6 coaches, and 17 athletes at 1 Canadian university athletic department. These data were coded and categorized using Atlas.ti. The findings revealed multiple but narrow meanings of gender equity: (a) equality, (b) conditional equality, and (c) a women’s only issue. None of these challenged the taken for granted assumptions associated with university athletics; however, they illustrated the complexities and struggles involved in understanding this organizational value.     

Sociocultural Predictors of Physical Appearance Concerns among Adolescent Girls and Young Women from China

This research assessed the extent to which sociocultural predictors of body dissatisfaction implicated in Western studies extend to the prediction of physical appearance concerns among young women and adolescent girls in Southwest China. In Study 1, 408 Chinese university-age women completed measures of fatness concern (FC), facial appearance concerns (FAC), sociocultural influence (i.e., appearance pressure, comparison, teasing), and demographics. In hierarchical regression analyses, appearance pressure and comparison predicted both FC and FAC, independent of other factors. In Study 2, effects of appearance pressure and comparison were replicated among middle school (n = 346) and high school (n = 563) girls. Together, findings suggest that appearance pressure and social comparison correspond with specific body image concerns of young females in China.     

5·12地震灾后四川和北京大学生价值观类型的对比

价值观作为社会意识形态的反映,会受到重大社会事件的影响。5·12汶川大地震以其突发性和巨大的破坏性特征成为影响价值观的可能因素之一。该研究以青年大学生为对象,以“价值观类型量表”为工具,关注地震后大学生价值观的变化特点,并对比北京、四川两地大学生价值观特点的异同。结果发现：1）灾后北京和四川两地大学生的价值观整体排住从高到低依次是：社会型、实用型、信仰型、科学型、政治型、审美型。2）社会型价值观已经成为大学生的主导价值观,且四川大学生更为重视。3）北京和四川大学生在震后的价值观系统均包含四个层次,其中在北京大学生的价值系统中,社会型是第一层次,实用型是第二层次,信仰型是第三层次,审美型、政治型和科学型合并为第四层次;而在四川大学生的价值系统中,社会型是第一层次,实用型和信仰型合并为第二层次,科学型是第三层次,政治型和审美型合并为第四层次。     

论道德生活史研究的独特视阈及原则要求

道德生活史是一个国家和民族道德生活的历史叙述和再现,是以不同时期的道德生活为研究对象并力图揭示其发生发展线索的集描述性伦理学与规范性伦理学为一体的学科。道德生活史的研究因道德生活的本质特点决定了它有自己独特的研究视阈和原则要求。道德生活史的研究既是一种实证性的描述研究,同时又是一种规范性的价值研究,必须超越自然主义和超验主义的研究立场,而将自然主义与超验主义作一有机的整合,必须既联系伦理思想来进行研究但是又不能局限于伦理思想的研究,必须坚持事实与价值相统一、一元与多元相统一以及内容与形式相统一的研究原则。     

Personal values and relational models

In this study, the comprehensive value research by Schwartz (e.g. 1992) was linked to Fiske's relational models theory (RMT, e.g. Fiske, 1991). A sample of 297 people answered the personal values questionnaire (PVQ), the modes of relationship questionnaire (MORQ) and the relationship profile scale (RPS) in a web‐based online survey. As hypothesized, the set of 10 values correlated in a systematic manner—according to the circular structure of personal value systems—with both trait‐like construal of and motivational investment in the relational models communal sharing (CS), authority ranking (AR) and market pricing (MP). Further research concerning a person–environment value congruency approach to predict well‐being is suggested combining the two research traditions. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Beijing Calling... Mobile Communication in Contemporary China

Subsequently, with the recent wave of industrialization, China has become the “factory” of the globalized world. The modernization of this country, however, is not confined to the provision of production at a low added value: It also entails technological appropriation and innovation. In particular, China represents the biggest world market for mobile phones and will soon dominate the Internet market. In this country, the total number of mobile and fixed-line subscribers exceeds 750 million, and the total number of Internet users is more than 162 million. The present study focuses on how, after a decade of mobile phone use, the inhabitants of Beijing evaluate the changes in the social and communicative sphere as a result of the introduction of the mobile phone. In this paper, we present some results of a quantitative research, specifically focused on mobile communication. Based on face-to-face questionnaires administered to a convenient sample of 487 respondents, this study addresses the following research questions: After a decade of mobile phone use, how do Chinese people perceive the importance of this device? To what extent do the adoption and use of mobile phones increase or decrease social connectivity in contemporary China? To what extent does the use of mobile phones in everyday life enhance or reduce the communications – do they make you feel closer to or more distant from other people? What are the variables that predict users’ attitudes toward mobile phones in China?     

Dual pathways to engage in ‘Silent Marches’ against violence: moral outrage,moral cleansing and modes of identification

A survey (N = 120) examined variables that contribute to the willingness of people to engage in silent marches against violence in the Netherlands. As argued in Sacred Value Protection Model (SVPM) of Tetlock, Kristel, Elson, Green, and Lerner ( 2000 ) and moral mandate theory of Skitka, Bauman, and Sargis ( 2005 ), moral threats that are triggered by violent incidents, may indeed drive people to protest against such incidents. Our findings indicated dual pathways to such protests, that are all associated with reactive, angry empathic concerns. These concerns involve people's outrageous, punitive reactions towards offenders on behalf of the victims. These concerns are directly or indirectly related to people's participation intentions. That is, they directly influence the participation intention variable, or indirectly, through (re‐)establishing the belief in a just‐world, or through more fearful, self‐directed moral cleansing reactions. These latter reactions aim at reinforcing community‐shared moral standards. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The pedagogical imperative of values education

Recent research has exposed the potential of quality teaching to exercise a positive influence on student achievement. Extending beyond surface and factual learning, quality teaching has posited conceptions of ‘intellectual depth’, ‘communicative competence’ and ‘self‐reflection’ as being central to effective learning. Implicit in these conceptions are values dimensions reflected in notions of positive relationships, the centrality of student welfare, school coherence, ambience and organisation. The influences of these on student learning, welfare and progress have been observed across public, private and religious sectors, thus confirming earlier studies of similar phenomena in religious schools. Evidence from the Australian Government's Values Education Good Practice Schools Project indicates the benefit to all schools of reflecting on, re‐evaluating and rethinking the implications of values education for curricula, classroom management and school ethos in the interests of student wellbeing and progress. This indicates a pedagogical imperative for values education which extends beyond boundaries of personal or systemic interests and ideologies.     

What is wrong with religious education? A response to Philip Barnes

This article reviews Philip Barnes’ account of problems with religious eEducation (RE), and explores the practical implications of his position. Acknowledging his compelling logic – that RE is premised on an acceptance of all religions as equally theologically true – this article argues for optimism: with controversy and ambiguity moving to centre stage, a re‐orientation of RE’s attainment targets could focus RE curricula and provide a measure of direction for future progress. Equally, a focus on developing individual values for life in a plural democracy – where personal destinies often conflict both culturally and existentially – would likewise give RE a more potent purpose and the foundations for a normative agenda. Inspired by J.S. Mill, this article concludes that such RE may have to move beyond the classroom to achieve its potential as a critical, inclusive, relevant and progressive subject with coherent social and educational aims.