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Review Notes on  Values, Learning, & Env Values
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 Intro to Values & Learning   
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 Culture  
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 Subculture   
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 Interests   
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 KBVN AOII   
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 Values   
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           Universal Values   
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           Core Values   
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           The Impact of Values on Behavior   
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 Class & False Consciousness  
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 Advanced Class & False Consciousness   
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 Environmental Values   
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 Human Ecology   
 
 The Five Factor Personality Test maintained by Dr. Tom Buchanan (email buchant@wmin.ac.uk ), Department of Psychology, University of Westminster, UK     http://www.personalitytest.org.uk/
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 Political Personality Quiz by Open Politics             http://www.openpolitics.ca/tiki-page.php?pageName=quiz-home
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 Learning Paradigms   
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 Learning Theory   
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 Types of Learning   
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 Factors Affecting Learning   
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 Belief Bias   
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 Sources   
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 Evaluating Sources   
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 Evaluating Knowledge Institutions   

 
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 Outline on an  Intro to Values & Learning 
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  VALUES & BELIEFS IMPACT OUR LEARNING, OUR DECISION MAKING, & OUR RESEARCH PROCESS FOR WHILE WE TRY TO BE TOTALLY RATIONAL & NEUTRAL, OUR MIND SET IMPACTS CURRENT BEHAVIORS OF LEARNING, ETC 
 
  The supposition of this module is that on the whole, 
what a person does, their behavior, 
depends on what they want, their values,
& what they consider to be true or likely, their beliefs,
about themself & the world, their ideology, worldview, personal culture, cognitive map, etc 
 
  Values are shared personal judgments/preferences about what is considered good/bad, like/dislike that serve as broad guidelines for social life  
  Beliefs are shared truth based on tradition, religion, instinct, emotion, common sense   
  The relationship of values & beliefs to our worldview is not absolute for certainly there are other intervening variables such as what our peers believe, our experiences, our personality, knowledge or facts we encounter, & more 
 
  Values & beliefs come into play whenever one is attempting to make a decision, learn new info, conduct research, apply one's rational facilities to any task, & more 
 
  Our values & beliefs are a significant part of where we come from, on the mental level, & thus they impact where we go 
 
  BRACKETING IS THE SETTING ASIDE OF VALUES, BELIEFS, & OTHER MENTAL ASPECTS THAT MAY IMPACT DECISIONS, LEARNING, RESEARCH, MENTAL TASKS, & IT IS A SKILL THAT IS NOT AUTOMATIC; BRACKETING MUST BE LEARNED   
  Many people expect, agree w/ the fact that our values & beliefs impact our everyday behavior, who I vote for, what religion I follow, but they often mistakenly assume that these factors do know impact what & how they learn   
  Many people believe themselves to be rational, unbiased people & therefore believe that what they believe, learn, & the decisions they make are all unimpacted by values & beliefs, but there is some impact   
  Many people mistakenly believe they can 'turn off' their values & beliefs & be neutral, or that they are neutral, but in general 'bracketing' our values & beliefs is a skill that must be learned; bracketing is a difficult skill to learn   
  Bracketing can be acquired through practice, therapy, training, & so on, but the first step is to learn, clarify, & understand one's own value set & beliefs set 
 
  UNDERSTANDING ONE'S VALUES & BELIEFS IS ONLY ONE STEP TO UNDERSTANDING HOW WHO WE ARE IMPACTS DECISIONS & LEARNING, IE WHO WE ARE BECOMING   
  If one has other significant factors in their life from highly charged experiences, to an extreme class position of privilege or poverty, these should also be understood as impacting one's learning & decision making   
  The great Greek philosopher, Socrates (469-399 BC) said 'know thyself'
 
  Socrates' argument was that we must 'know thyself' in order to be wise 
 
  One must know thyself to know that who we are, our values & beliefs b/c our personal culture impacts how we act in the world, & even what we can & cannot learn 
 
  It is the to advantage of anyone attempting more difficult decisions, learning a controversial subject, or conducting contentious research to know their own values & how they impact the processes of learning, decision making, & researching 
 

 
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  An Overview of  Culture
External
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 -  Video:  Culture 
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  -  Project:  Identifying a Culture 
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  -  Project:  The Intersections of KBVN 
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  -  Project:  Real & Ideal Culture 
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  -  Project:  Real & Ideal Culture at Work 
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  -  Project:  Video:  What Is Culture? 
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 -  Project:  Video:  The Social Orgs of Culture 
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 -  Video:  Romeo & Juliet 
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  CULTURE IS THE SHARED KNOWLEDGE, BELIEFS, VALUES, NORMS ( K B V N ) & THE PHYSICAL & ABSTRACT MANIFESTATIONS OF THAT CONTENT   
  All societies have a culture   
 
 Culture may be defined as the shared content of society   
  The FOUR components of culture are knowledge, beliefs, values, norms       ( K B V N )   
 
 The four components of culture are physically manifested through symbols & language 
 
 
 Symbols are defined as anything that carries a particular meaning recognized by people who share culture 
 
 
 The meaning of the same symbols varies from society to society, w/in a single society, and over time 
 
 
 Culture is the shared set of meanings that are lived through material & symbolic practices, & the socially created objects of everyday life   
  Do not confuse the common usage of the word "culture" w/ the sociological use   
  People commonly use culture to mean society &/ subculture & this usage would include both culture ( KBVN ) & social structure ( PF REG M CEML )   
  THE EXPRESSION OF CULTURE IS ACCOMPLISHED IN MANY WAYS INCLUDING LANGUAGE, ART, RELIGION, CUSTOMS, & MORE   
  When examining culture, KBVN are often expressed in SEVEN configurations 
 Roles                      Language                        Technology 
 Customs                 Material Objects 
 Religion                 Groups of People 		  
 
 Culture shock refers to personal disorientation when experiencing an unfamiliar way of life 
 
 
 Only humans depend on culture rather than instincts to ensure the survival of their kind 
 
  Culture is a long time in the making   
  Culture can be a constraint in that humans cannot live w/o culture, but the capacity for culture has some drawbacks   
  Culture can be a source of freedom in that culture forces us to choose as we make & remake a world for ourselves   
 
 The social sciences carry out 'cultural mapping,' i.e. a cataloging of the various aspects of culture throughout societies   
  THE SOCIAL SCIENCES EXAMINE VARIOUS ASPECTS OF CULTURE   
  1.  Sociologists examine how cultures are created & maintained in modern society & how culture impacts social structures & personality   
  2.  Anthropologists examine how cultures are created & maintained in ancient  &/ indigenous societies   
  3.  Geographers examine how place & space shape culture & vice versa & how culture is organized spatially   
  4.  Psychologists examine how the subconscious is manifested in culture   
  5.  Political scientists examine how culture affects govt & the political process   
  Sociologists generally accept TWO human manifestations of culture:  material & non material culture which occur in the TWO settings of the physical environment & the human environment   
  All the levels meld into one seamless culture: 
1.  Material culture 
     a.  Material culture & the physical environment 
     b.  Material culture & the human environment 
2.  Non material culture 
     a.  Non material culture & the physical environment 
     b.  Non material culture & the human environment 		  
  1.  MATERIAL CULTURE IS MANIFESTED IN OBJECTIVE REPRESENTATIONS OF KBVN 
 
  a.  MATERIAL CULTURE IS MANIFESTED THROUGH THE PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT   
  The physical environment includes the "natural" environment as well as human made rural landscapes, city-scapes, etc.   
  Even the physical environment in which we live comes to be identified as a representative of our material culture & the environment does shape our KBVN   
  Usually different regions have a cultural attachment to their environment   
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 Examples of material culture & the physical environment   
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 b.  MATERIAL CULTURE IS MANIFESTED THROUGH THE HUMAN ENVIRONMENT   
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   1)   World symbols:  An example of a world symbol is the UN Building or the Earth picture   
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   2)   National symbols:  a nation's flag   
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   3)   Regional symbols:  race car   
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   4)   Homes/ businesses styles:  ranch home, mobile home   
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   5)   Cars, boats etc. styles:  SUV, mini van, sports car, etc.   
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   6)   Clothing styles:  woman in a black dress, men in black   
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   7)   Body shape / style:  body art   
  2.  NON MATERIAL CULTURE IS MANIFEST IN SUBJECTIVE, ABSTRACT, IDEOLOGICAL, ETC. REPRESENTATIONS OF CULTURE   
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 Non material culture is manifested in abstract representations of KBVN   
  a.  KNOWLEDGE IS MANIFESTED / DEMONSTRATED IN & BY CULTURE   
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 Knowledge is shared truth based on science   
  Examples of cultural manifestations of knowledge are Darwin fish symbols, Stanford T-shirts, math symbol jewelry, tech gear & the very ideas these symbols represent   
  b.  BELIEFS ARE MANIFESTED / DEMONSTRATED IN & BY CULTURE   
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 Beliefs are shared truth based on tradition, religion, instinct, emotion, common sense   
  Knowledge & beliefs are like two intersecting circles w/ mutual & exclusive content   
  Examples of cultural manifestations of beliefs are Christian fish symbols, Jesus T-shirts, Crescent Moon jewelry, religious dress, & the very ideas these symbols represent   
  c.  VALUES ARE MANIFESTED / DEMONSTRATED IN & BY CULTURE   
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 Values are shared personal judgments/preferences about what is considered good/bad, like/dislike that serve as broad guidelines for social life   
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 Core American values have an ideal & a real Aspect;  See the Table on the Ideal & Real Aspects of Core American Values   
  Ideal values are those that actors hold "patriotically," or rhetorically, that actors believe that they hold   
  Real values are those that actors actually practice; when faced w/ a "situation," actors show their real values   
  The concept of  real values can be seen in the fact that Americans have the core cultural value of democracy, but fail to vote   
  d.  NORMS ARE MANIFESTED / DEMONSTRATED IN & BY CULTURE THROUGH FOLKWAYS, MORES, LAWS, ETC.   
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 Norms are shared expectations about behavior, i.e. socially defined rules 
 
  i.   Folkways are informal, minor norms that usually carry only minor & informal sanctions, or punishments, when they are violated   
 
 Example:  Manners   
  ii.  Mores are informal norms, that are very important to people & may be written into law   
  Example:  People should not talk loudly in religious buildings 
 
  iii. Laws are formal, codified norms which everyone is expected to be aware & which carry specific, legal sanctions   
  Example:  driving regulations 
 
  Western cultural practices are exported by the media to remote corners of globe 
Paul Harvey:  Yet this is not “one world” 		  
  INTERSECTIONS OF KBVN OCCUR AS A RESULT OF SOCIALIZATION & LIFE EXPERIENCES, & VARY WIDELY RESULTING IN INFINITE MANIFESTATIONS OF CULTURE   
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 Culture's components of  K + B + V + N, have limited intersections   
  Knowledge & beliefs are like two intersecting circles w/ mutual & exclusive content   
  WI Thomas on truth.... & culture:  'What we believe to be true, becomes true in its consequences'   
  Examples:  men are buffoons 
Cuban Missile Crisis:  the Russians are offering a way out / the Russians are holding a hard line 
A clique believing someone is cool 		  
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 We each have conflicting views on  KBVN   AOI  which often create anxiety, cognitive dissonance, etc. on an individual level and conflict, strife, war, etc. on a societal level   
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 Non material culture & the physical environment can be seen is the aesthetic question:  "What is the meaning of wind whispering in trees to your culture?"   
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 Non material culture & the human environment can be seen is the aesthetic question:  "What is the meaning of a veiled face?   of green hair?"   

 
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Material culture & the physical environment

Examples:    mountains, ocean, corn fields 
Midwest:  rich farm land, lazy rivers, flat land, cold winters 
West coast:  beaches, sunshine, warm winters, best climate 
Appalachia:  mountains, forests, strip mines 


 
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Material culture & the human environment
Physical objects representing non material or abstract culture 
      World Symbols 
      National Symbols 
      Regional Symbols 
      Homes
      Cars, boats, planes, etc. 
      Clothes 
      Body 

 
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World symbols
Not many of these 

UN Building


 
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National symbols

US Flag 
Confederate Battle Flag 

Some smaller items 
Food:  chocolate 


 
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Regional symbols
Silo 
Mississippi River 
Empire State Building 
Cheese 
Potatoes 
Tobacco 

 
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Homes
Shacks to Mansions to Castles 

 
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Car, boats, etc.
Mini van to SUV to Harley to junker 

 
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Clothing
Clothing, like language, is so personal that it identifies your culture 
We use clothing to indicate respect ( in a ritual such as marriage, or funeral ) or disrespect 

 
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Body
Body image & decoration is becoming more & more malleable: 
We now idolize the thin, athletic body 
But less thin that the "Twiggy" days of the late 1970's 
Heavier men & women were preferred in earlier times 
Women have been subject to greater pressures to achieve the ideal body image than have men.... but is this changing? 

 
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Non material culture
Abstract:  the knowledge, beliefs, values & norms  ( KBVN ) of a society 

           a.  Non Material culture & the physical environment 
           b.  Non Material culture & the human environment 

 
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1. Knowledge:  shared truth based on science   We believe it to be true 

Physical Sciences 
  Natural 
  Life 
Social Sciences 
Humanities 
Arts 

Knowledge is not absolute in that it changes from society to society from year to year 
Generally we can speak of scientific knowledge 


 
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2. Beliefs: shared truth based on tradition, religion, instinct, emotion, common sense 
General recognition of less truth validity 
There is no clear line btwn Knowledge & Beliefs 

 
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3. Values:  Shared personal judgments/preferences about what is considered good/bad, like/dislike that serve as broad guidelines for social life

We are generally unaware of what our values are unless we have gone through training/coaching/therapy to "know thyself" 


 
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Table on the Ideal & Real Aspects of Core American Values
Core American values: general consensus 
( may conflict )		 Ideal culture: 
accepted in principle		 Real culture: 
actually practiced
1.  Freedom   Freedom for all; Freedom is our Number 1 Value!  We allow more freedom for a middle majority & the upper class, less for the others.  Many groups have limited freedom
2.  Democracy
 
 
3.  Individualism 
 
 
4.  Responsibility 
 
 
5.  Religion/morality 
 
 
6.  Science/tech 
 
 
7.  Opportunity
 
 
8.  Competition
 
 
9.  Work ethic
 
 
10.  Humanitarianism
 
 
11.  Practicality
 
 
12.  Nationalism
 
 
13.  Romance
 
 
14.  Sexuality
 
 

 
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4. Norms
 Folkways:    manners, grammar, dressing appropriately 
 Mores:        littering to flag burning 
 Laws:          littering, flag burning, to robbery & murder 

We are not generally conscious of norms 
Their impact is automatic:  internalized 

We often can ponder the norm of a particular situation 


 
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Knowledge, beliefs, values, norms are like four intersecting circles
 K & B can be tested, but are not 
V & N are not recognized as vague 

 
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Culture = K + B + V + N 
The sum of our culture 
(knowledge, beliefs, values, rules [norms]) 
creates truth for each of us 
What people agree on is “the truth”

WI Thomas:  If people believe something is true, it becomes real in its consequences. 
 Knowledge & beliefs define action 
 Earth:  flat or round 
 Love:  eros, filial, romantic 
Beauty: 

We are not generally aware of what our culture is 
We do not know what is in our own mind w/ regards to K B V N 


 
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KBVN AOI
We are generally not explicitly conscious of our KBVN 
We hold conflicting positions in relation to KBVN AOI 
But some people are more introspective about 
     Attitudes
     Opinions 
     Interests 

 
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Non Material culture & the physical environment
Humans definitely attribute abstract meanings to the physical environment 
As scientists, we cannot judge this, only try to understand it
Durkheim delved deeply into this question: 
Some critics today decry our loss of connection w/ the environment & the mystical 

What is the meaning of an untouched forest? 
What is the meaning of a Clinch River freshwater mussel?
What is the meaning of Antarctica?
The moon?
The stars?
The planets? 


 
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Non Material culture & the human environment
As human influence & material creations grow, so does the amount of meaning we attribute to human made creations 

What is the meaning of a Ford Excursion?  ( the largest SUV ) 
What is the meaning of green hair? 
What is the meaning of a 5 caret diamond ring?  estimated value $1/4 million 


 
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 Outline on  Subculture
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  Review:  Culture may be defined as the shared content of society.
Culture is the shared knowledge, beliefs, values, norms  ( K B V N )  & the physical & abstract manifestations of that content
 
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 A SUBCULTURE IS THE CULTURE HELD BY A SUBGROUP OR GROUP SHARING SOME COMMON 
EXPERIENCE OR LIFESTYLE THAT MAY BE SEEN AS PART OF A LARGER CULTURE 
 
  Some social scientists believe that there is a world culture and all other cultures should be thought of as subcultures 
 
  Some social scientists believe that their is no world culture, that there are several major cultures in the world such as Western culture, Eastern culture, Judeo Christian culture, Islamic culture, traditional culture, modern culture, post modern culture, etc.
 
  Subcultures permit specialized activities, carry knowledge, promote a sense of community, & have their own jargon
 
  Subcultures are a source of identity in our mass society
 
  SUBCULTURES FUNCTION TO PERMIT SPECIALIZATION, KNOWLEDGE, 
BELONGINGNESS, ADAPTATION, DIFFUSION, BOUNDARIES, & IDENTIFICATION 		  
  There are SEVEN functions of subcultures
 
  Subcultures function to: 
1.  permit specialized activities 
2.  carry knowledge of a specific act or set of actions
3.  promote a sense of community / belonging & prevent anomie 
4.  promote a source of adaptation 
5.  act as a mechanism of cultural diffusion
6.  set boundaries
7.  allow identification		  
  SUBCULTURES DYSFUNCTION TO FRAGMENT ACTIVITY / KNOWLEDGE, ERODE CONSENSUS, CONFLICT OVER SOCIAL & MATERIAL TURF, CONFOUND COMMUNICATION, DIVIDE PEOPLE, & CREATE IN- & OUT- GRPS   
  There are SEVEN dysfunctions of subcultures  
  Subcultures dysfunction to: 
1.  fragment activity / knowledge 
2.  erode society's consensus 
3.  create conflict over social  "turf"
4.  create conflict over material "turf"
5.  make communication more difficult
6.  set boundaries which may divide people
7.  allow identification which creates in- & out- groups
 
  Examples:  the genders, sexual preference groups, religions, races, ethnic groups  
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 Examples:  Smokejumpers  

 
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Subculture: Culture held by subgroup or group sharing some common experience/lifestyle 

Any ethnic group, computer jocks, cops, teachers, hip hoppers, Xtreems, drugies, musicians 

Examples: 
= roles for M & F in workplace: 
young urbanites  vs old guard 


 
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The Smokejumper Subculture

Subcultures function
    a.  to permit specialized activities:  parachute into wilderness areas, rural areas, urban interface & suppress fire

    b.  to carry knowledge of a specific act or set of actions:  endless story telling:  under the airplane when a cubie streamered

    c.  to promote a sense of community / belonging & prevent anomie:  frequent parties, socialize after work is the norm

    d.  as a source of adaptation:  constant innovation:  every year there is much that is different:  MIST

    e.  as a mechanism of cultural diffusion:  other wildland firefighters emulate the tactics

    f.  to set boundaries:  A rookie can't were a T-Shirt until you have jumped a fire

    g.  to allow identification:  Signage everywhere


 
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 Outline on  Interests
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  An interest is those social relationships an individual or group judge to promote their general welfare   
 
 Interests are the fact or relation of being concerned in or connect w/ a thing through having a right or entitlement to it, or some claim upon it 
 
  Interests are a right to a share in something   
  Interests are the relation of being affected by something in respect of advantage or detriment   
  Interests are the mainspring of one's motives; self interest   
  Interests are what a social actors judges or interprets as promoting their general welfare   
 
 In the social sciences, interests are based on material (economic), social (prestige, honor), political (power) benefit 
 
 
 One's interests are determined by person's relationship to means of production 
 
 
 Varying groups w/ varying interests could ally or conflict 
 
 
 Interests exist mostly below our awareness & thus are often an emotional experience 
 
 
 But we often try to rationalize, i.e., bring logical reasoning to consciousness 
 
 
 Marx & others point out that we need to make interests more apparent to ourselves & to others 
 
 
 People accept ideology of dominant groups in society & so accept their values & do not pursue their own self interests 
 
 
 For conflict theorists, values should be determined by, or at the very least, harmonious w/ one's interests 
 
 
 For conflict theorists,  interests should be determined by one's values 
 
 
 But false consciousness prevents the correct interaction btwn interests & values because the interests of the ruling class come to predominate 
 
 
 The ideology of the dominant group / class is often the most prominent ideology 
 
 
 People accept the ideology of the dominant groups in society & so accept their values & do not pursue their own self interest 
 

 
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 Outline on   KBVN AOII
External
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  -  Project:  Your KBVN AOII & the Env 
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  CULTURE & OUR AWARENESS OF CULTURE   
  Culture is the shared content of society 
 
  Culture is the shared knowledge, beliefs, values, norms ( K B V N ) & the physical & abstract manifestations of that content  
  Attitudes, opinions, interests, & ideology ( AOII ) are an individual's culture  
  Our consciousness or awareness of culture is manifested through our AOII  
  The FOUR components of culture are knowledge, beliefs, values, & norms       ( K B V N ) 
 
  Culture is the shared set of meanings that are lived through material & symbolic practices, & the socially created objects of everyday life
 
  UNAWARENESS OF CULTURE
 
  We are generally unaware of our own culture, of the KBVN that we hold in common w/ most other members of society
 
  The fact that we are unaware of our culture is not to say that we are unconscious of our culture
 
  We can gain awareness of some of KBVN
- through living "the examined life"
- through therapy, counseling, etc.

"Know thyself"
 
  INTERSECTION OF K & B 
 
  Individuals usually believe that their K & B are the same
 
  What we K may not jive w/ what we believe such as is seen w/ general society beliefs on female & male drivers, & the knowledge that, for example, the insurance industry has about female & male drivers
 
  To the extent that K & B are in sync in a person, that person has a consistent, healthy mental state
 
  To the extent that K & B are in sync in a subculture, culture, or society, it has a consistent, healthy mental state & would tend to be a functional social entity
 
  To the extent that K & B are out of sync in a person, that person has a conflict, possibly unhealthy mental state that may be characterized by anomie or alienation  
  To the extent that K & B are out of sync in a subculture, culture, or society, it is in conflict, & may be characterized by anomie or alienation  
 
 The impact of culture on actions comes through our attitudes, opinions, & interests ( AOI )
 
  ATTITUDE   
 
 An attitude is a mental state that one consciously feels (emotes) that affects beh & generally cannot be articulated
 
 
 An attitude is the amalgam of our culture, our KBVN, that we can sense but are not consciously enough aware of so that we can explain or voice it to ourselves or others
 
 
 But since we do often act on the basis of emotion or feeling, attitudes are important in shaping behavior
 
  We are generally unaware of our attitude in a rational sense, i.e. we find it difficult to explain or even understand it   
  When we have a strong attitude, we may be aware of it's general direction   
  Those significant others who know us well may know our attitude better than we do because they have a better chance to be an outside, objective observer   
  OPINION   
 
 An opinion is an attitude that one can articulate, at least to a minimum extent
 
  We can voice our opinion  
  It is a reflection of our K & B of which we are aware  
  An opinion is a reflection of our Vs & Ns which are general below our level of awareness   
  But in most cases our understanding of our opinion is a poor reflection of our actual or real attitudes   
  Because we often cannot totally explain opinions, or because it is obvious to us that they are based on beliefs or values, & not on knowledge, an opinion is a particular judgment or belief resting on grounds insufficient to produce certainty  
  Most people recognize that opinions are not rationales for doing or believing something   
  We generally accept that opinion can be easily swayed  
  PUBLIC OPINION   
 
 Public opinion is the opinions of people throughout a soc about 1 or more controversial issues
 
 
 Generally a group or society can voice its public opinion if they have a relatively free & open society & they have the resources in the form of media or social scientists to uncover that public opinion & make it known
 
  Public opinion is a reflection of our below awareness V & N but in most cases it is a poor reflection  
 
 In modern societies today there is often the sense that public opinion is true
 
  There are two reasons that public opinion is judged to be true  
  One reason modern societies have the sense that public opinion is true is because it is judge to be an accurate, scientific reflection of many people & thus the truth is based on the idea that the opinion has been reliably measured  
  One reason modern societies have the sense that public opinion is true is because we have a fundamental, democratic value "the people" are always right  
  We are more likely to believe public opinion is true if we believe it is accurate & if we have the same belief  
  We are more likely to believe public opinion is true if we believe that many people hold that belief  
  Many earlier social scientists examined what they called the spirit of society (SpS) which is the generally unconscious attitude of a society  
  The SpS is mostly below most people's awareness level & thus it is an emotional experience  
  Durkheim wrote about the collective unconsciousness which is similar to the SpS  
  Tocqueville wrote about the which is similar to the SpS  
  In his exposition of the sociological imagination, Mills writes that to understand our relationship in the world, it is necessary to understand the general character of the men & women who are coming to prevail in that society & thus the general character is similar to the SpS  
  In his exposition of class & false consciousness, Marx writes that a class of people must have a historical view of the social relationships that are the best for them, i.e. their interests, in that society, & thus class consciousness is similar to the SpS  
  INTERESTS   
  An interest is what social relationships an individual or group judge to promote their general welfare  
  Interests are usually economic  
  For Marx, an interests is determined by person's relationship to the means of prod  
  Interests are mostly below the level of awareness for an individual or a group & thus are an emotional experience  
  Marx & others pt out that we need to make interests more apparent to selves & others if we expect society to function properly  
  Example:  What is my interest in a new road going by my house?  What is my  interest in the war in Iraq?  What is my interest in the development of the space shuttle?   
  TYPOLOGY OF INTERESTS   
  People often act against there self interest & against the interest of soc  
 
Type of Interest
Real one's "objective" interest
Perceived what one believes to be their interest
False not in one's "objective" interest
Class the interest of a class
Community the interest of a community
Social the interest of a society
Human the interest of the world/all humanity
 
  IDEOLOGY  
  An ideology is a  particular system of ideas a characteristic way of thinking of a people, a group or a person especially on social & political topics  
  Ideologies are mental systems of beliefs about reality
 
  An ideology may be understood as a "worldview"  
  KBVN AOII AFFECTED BEHAVIOR  
  It is only logical to assume that one's attitude, opinion, etc. would affect or determine one's behavior  
  In most cases, we assume that our actions, therefore, are congruent w/ out KBVN AOII, but in practice that may not always be so  
  Because much of KBVN AOII falls below the level of explicit consciousness, & because we may have one or several conflicts, contradictions, or inconsistencies in our mental system of KBVN AOII, we may act in a way that does not represent what one would expect from our KBVN AOII  
  We may not act consistently because we may emphasis one part of our mental system in one context & another part in another context  
  A person may believe that K is motivating her/him, when in fact an inconsistent V is actually motivating them  
  To the extent that we know ourselves & to the extent that our mental system is consistent, we will act more predictably  
  The Table on Examples of KBVN AOI Affecting Behavior shows that we can have various mental states about the same subject that may or may not be consistent  
  The Table on KBVN AOII & the Ways of Understanding shows that particular parts of our mental system are mostly strongly influenced by a particular way of understanding, a process of learning, a process of socialization  

 
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Table on Examples of KBVN AOI Affecting Behavior
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Knowledge He wore a coat because he knew it would rain; he saw the weather radar report  
Belief She wore a coat because she believed in would not rain because it was nice in the morning  
Value He  work a coat because he valued being warm & dry, as opposed to the value of looking good w/o one  
Norm She wore a coat because Mom always made her wear one when it looked like rain  
Attitude His negative attitude about wearing his coat was apparent to everyone but him; he didn't believe he needed it.  
Opinion In her opinion, she didn't need to wear the coat.  
Real Int It was in his (real) interest to wear the coat because there was a high chance of rain.  
Perceived She saw that it was in her interest to wear the coat because she knew her mother watched the weather.  
False He didn't think it was in his interest to wear the coat because he thought it looked bad.  
Class It is in the interest of the lower class to have coats.  It is not in the interest of the rich for the lower class to have coats because it makes them comfortable & more likely to demand other things.  
Community It is in the interest of the community for the lower class to have coats.  
Natl It is in the interest of the nation for all classes to have coats.  
World It is in the interest of the world for everyone to have coats.  
Ideology Belief in an ideology of human rights including the basic necessity of life for all means that all people should have food, water, clothing, shelter, ed....  
  The Table on Examples of KBVN AOI Affecting Behavior shows that we can have various mental states about the same subject that may or may not be consistent  

 
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 Table on KBVN AOII & the Ways of Understanding
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  Way of Understanding Cultural /mental state  
  Common sense BN O  
  Religion BN O  
  Science K  
  Emotion VN AI  
  All of the above Ideology  
  Ways of Understanding
Link
  The Table on KBVN AOII & the Ways of Understanding shows that particular parts of our mental system are mostly strongly influenced by a particular way of understanding, a process of learning, a process of socialization   

 
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 Outline on  Values
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  Values are shared personal judgments/preferences about what is considered good/bad, like/dislike that serve as broad guidelines for social life   
 
 Values are what a social actor, i.e. a person, group, society, etc., judges as good or bad in a social relationship, thing etc. 
 
  A values is something (as a principle, quality, or entity) intrinsically valuable or desirable, as in a regulated system of values   
  Erich Fromm, the psychologist, said that all values are relative to a given culture   
 
 Values concerning social relations are often termed morals or ethics 
 
  A value is a principle, standard, or quality considered worthwhile or desirable: "The speech was a summons back to the patrician values of restraint and responsibility"   
  Values are the beliefs of a person or social group in which they have an emotional investment (either for or against something); "He has very conservatives values"   
 
 Morals are habits of life or modes of conduct; as in a principal of life 
 
 
 People usually accept the ideology of dominant groups in society & so accept their values & do not pursue their own self interests 
 
 
 Ideologies are mental systems of beliefs about reality 
 
  See Also:  Ideology   
 
 For conflict theorists, values should be determined by, or at the very least, harmonious w/ one's interests & interests should be determined by one's values 
 
 
  See Also:  Interest 
 
  People have an ideology characterized by class consciousness or authenticity when they have values & interests in support of their own group / sub culture   
  See Also:  Class & False Consciousness   
 
 But false consciousness prevents the correct interaction btwn interests & values because the interests of the ruling class come to predominate 
 
 
 The ideology of the dominant group / class is often the most prominent ideology 
 
 
 People accept the ideology of the dominant groups in society & so accept their values & do not pursue their own self interest 
 
  RANGE OF VALUES   
  Values are always defined by their variability in that one may believe in monogamy or polyamory, i.e. having one lover / spouse, v. having more than one   
  Values imply a choice as in I prefer chocolate cake to coconut cake   
  Values may be more or less absolute in that I prefer chocolate cake but also have a taste for coconut cake   
  Our taste for food, does not demand mental consistency, we see variety as the spice of life   
  Most people prefer a high level of consistency consistency in their values, & inconsistency causes the self to feel anxiety, & for SOs to judge one unfavorably, & for GOs to treat one w/ disdain   
 
 Because people are generally unaware of their real values (see below), there is often a wide range of inconsistent values operating in one person   
 
 When one has a life experience which calls for the demonstration of a value, if one has not developed that value, one often chooses a value w/ which one believes they are being consistent w/ their other values   
 
 Thus individuals seek to be consistent in one value, operating the same all the time, & to be consistent in their entire value set   
  Values are often in harmony, & sometimes in conflict   
  Values w/in one society are frequently inconsistent & even opposed to one another   
  Like all elements of culture, values change over time as seen in the fact that Americans are placing increased importance on leisure   
  Emerging values occur in even the most stable of societies & in open countries like England, emerging values are more generally accepted while in closed nations such as No Korea, emerging values are not accepted & in fact they are often the source of conflict & oppressed   
  A global perspective on values makes it clear that values vary from culture to culture around the world   
  People in lower income nations develop cultures that value survival   
  People in higher income countries develop cultures that value individualism & self expression   
  US VALUES   
  Robin Williams identifies ten key values of US culture including: 
1.  equal opportunity 
2.  achievement and success 
3.  material comfort 
4.  activity & work 
5.  practicality and efficiency 		 6.  progress 
7.  science 
8.  democracy & free enterprise 
9.  freedom 
10.  racism & group superiority 
 
 
 ORIGIN OF VALUES 
 
  One word describes how we get our values:  socialization 
 
  Some social scientists, physical scientists, theologians, philosophers, etc. believe or seek to demonstrate that values come from sources other than socialization   
  Non socialization arguments for the origin of values hold that values originate from one's physical being such as genes, e.g. the altruistic gene; god or his or her representative, e.g. God, Jesus, Mohammed, Diva, etc.; rationalizations e.g. "I think, therefore I am.... " or some other argument   
  Socialization is the only argument for the origin of values which has been scientifically established   
  Socialization includes the processes of selective exposure, modeling, identification, positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, & nurturance  ( SMIPNN )   
  See Also:  Socialization   
  The major task for social scientists is to determine the agent of socialization which is responsible for the creation of a culture's, org's, or individual's value set   
  Functionalists believe that we we gain our values primarily through all of the social structures ( PF REG M CEML )   
  See Also:  Functionalism   
  See Also:  The Social Structures   
  Conflict theorists believe that we gain our values primarily through work, the economy, & education, as well as the family, who gets it's values from it's experience of work, the economy, & education   
  See Also:  Conflict Theory   
  REAL & IDEAL VALUES   
  Core American values have an ideal & a real aspect   
Link
 Table: Core American Values: Ideal & Real Aspects 
 
 
 Ideal values are those that actors hold "patriotically," or rhetorically, that actors believe that they hold 
 
 
 Real values are those that actors actually practice; when faced w/ a "situation," actors show their Real Values 
 
 
 The importance of a value, any value is the extent to which it is accepted 
 
  Ideal values are that set of values that are popular, or widely held, in a society's culture, or sub culture   
  In some cases, some people may believe that they hold values, called counter values, which run contrary to the values of a society   
  Real values are the operative or in practice values, which a person may not be conscious of   
  Thus a person may believe in equal opportunity, but not practice it, operating instead on nepotism, cronyism, favoritism, bribery, etc.   
  A person is generally not aware of their real or actual set of values   
  A person may not even have a set of ideal values in that if asked what their opinion is, or their values around a subject, they don't know what it is   
  People gain awareness of their real values through several routes, including:  therapy, surveys, a 'test of life,' action in life, long consideration of a value or subject, etc.   
  MICRO & MACRO VALUES   
 
 Values range in extent from broad cultural forces to individual norms 
 
 
 Three types: 
 
 
 a.  Macro level values include cultural norms & expectations include the deep roots in a culture that are usually uncritically accepted in that norms are social rules, formal & informal, that are obvious because everyone follows them 
 
 
 b.  Mid level values include ideological positions are rationalizations for particular policy views 
 
 
 Agencies, legislatures, courts, interest groups, etc. all have norms & expectations about goals & behavior 
 
 
 c. Micro level values include personal beliefs & attitudes that vary from individual to individual:  desire for power or fame, integrity 
 

 
Top  
Table: Core American Values:
Ideal & Real Aspects
Core American Values: 
general consensus 
( may conflict ) 		 Ideal culture: 
accepted in principle 		 Real culture: 
actually practiced 
1.  Freedom   Freedom for all; Freedom is our Number 1 Value!  We allow more freedom for a middle majority & the upper class, less for the others.  Many groups have limited freedom
2.  Democracy 
 
 
3.  Individualism 
 
 
4.  Responsibility 
 
 
5.  Religion / morality 
 
 
6.  Science/tech 
 
 
7.  Equal Opportunity 
 
 
8.  Competition 
 
 
9.  Work ethic 
 
 
10.  Humanitarianism 
 
 
11.  Practicality 
 
 
12.  Nationalism 
 
 
13.  Romance 
 
 
14.  Sexuality 
 
 

 
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 Outline on  Universal Values 
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  UNIVERSAL VALUES INCLUDE THE SET OF VALUES THAT ALL HUMAN SOCIETIES PRACTICE, & THUS THE RANGE OF THEM IS VERY WIDE, & THUS UNIVERSALITY DOES NOT IMPLY SIMILARITY 
 
  In any analysis of values, some values compete w/ each other or make another value unattainable, while other values complement or enhance the ability to practice a value or set of values   
  There is little agreement among social scientists on whether universal values exist both b/c of the variety & range of values in existence & b/c of a lack of a complete understanding of this complex phenomenon 
 
  There is agreement that humanity, across time & across the globe, has had values related to a universal set of cultural practices, including everything from conception & birth to death & the afterlife, & every cultural practice in btwn 
 
  MURDOCK'S SET OF UNIVERSAL PRACTICES DEMONSTRATES THAT EVERY CULTURE MUST STRUCTURE VALUES AROUND ALL HUMAN BEHAVIORS FROM BIRTH TO DEATH   
  The anthropologist George Murdock found that despite their differences, all societies have certain common practices & beliefs, or cultural universals 
 
  Cultural universals are specific behavioral elements that are common to every culture.   
  Cultural universals in practice aren't nearly the same everywhere 
 
  Murdock's list of cultural universals included: 
athletic sports 
cooking 
courtship 
dancing 
family 
funeral ceremonies 
games 
language 
marriage 
medicine 
music 
religion
sexual restrictions 
 
  Murdock was pointing out is that each culture has its own way of cooking, burying, celebrating, procreating, etc.   
  Although Murdock's universals are found in every culture, the way in which they are expressed varies from culture to culture
 
  SCHWARTZ ORGANIZED A SET OF UNIVERSAL VALUES INTO 4 CATEGORIES OF OPENNESS TO CHANGE, SELF TRANSCENDENCE, CONSERVATION, & SELF ENHANCEMENT 
 
  The psychologist Shalom Schwartz has elaborated a widely accepted value model that consists of 10 human value types
 
  For Schwartz values can be seen as abstract concepts or beliefs concerning a person's goals and serve as guiding standards in his or her life
 
  Values describe what is fundamentally important to a person & therefore form a main part of an individual's identity
 
  For Schwartz values are ordered along two major dimensions: openness to change vs. conservation and self enhancement vs. self transition 
 
Link
 See the Figure:  Model of Value Priorities
 
 
VALUE PRIORITIES
VALUE 
Openness to Change  Stimulation 
Self Direction
Self Transcendence Universalism
Benevolence
Conservation Conformity 
Tradition
Security
Self Enhancement  Power 
Achievement
Hedonism
In relating value priorities to values, the values may overlap into adjoining priorities 
 
  Self Direction:  Self direction values an independence of  thought & action where one values freedom, choosing, creating, exploring, curiosity, & choosing one's own goals in life. 
Universalism:  Universalism values understanding, equality, social justice, wisdom, broadmindedness, protection of the env, unity w/ nature, appreciation, tolerance, protection for the welfare of all people & nature, & a world of beauty. 
Benevolence:  Benevolence values the preservation & enhancement of the welfare of people w/ whom one is in frequent personal contact.  Benevolent people value helpfulness, honesty, forgiving, loyalty, & responsible behavior. 
Conformity: Conformity values restraint of actions, inclinations, & impulses likely to upset or harm others or violate social expectations or norms.  Conformists value self discipline, politeness, obedience, & honoring parents & elders. 
Tradition:  Tradition values respect, commitment, & acceptance of the customs & ideals that traditional culture or religion provide.  Traditionalists are devout, humble, moderate, & respect  tradition. 
Security:  Security values safety, harmony, & stability for society, relationships, the self, family, & the nation. 
Power:  Power values social status & prestige, control or dominance over people & resources, authority, social power, wealth, & preserving one's public image. 
Achievement:  Achievement values ambition, success, capability, influence, & personal success through demonstrating competence according to social standards. 
Hedonism:  Hedonism values personal pleasure or sensual gratification, enjoying life, & self indulgence.
Stimulation:  Stimulation values excitement, novelty, a varied life, an exciting life, challenges, daringness. 		  
  Extensive research in numerous countries has confirmed the validity of this model across cultures, however, individuals & cultures all differ in their value priorities
 
  BROWN INCLUDES PRACTICES, SUCH AS BIRTH, & BELIEF SYSTEMS, SUCH AS ABSTRACT THOUGHT, AS ALL HAVING VALUE THAT STRUCTURE THE PRACTICE OR BELIEF   
  Brown has compiled the most comprehensive list of universal human behaviors which are closely linked to cultural traits & structured by the values of the society   
  Brown's list of cultural universals includes: 
abstraction in speech & thought
actions under self control distinguished from those not under control
aesthetics
affection expressed and felt
age grades
age statuses
age terms
ambivalence
anthropomorphization
anticipation
antonyms
attachment
baby talk
belief in supernatural/religion
beliefs, false
beliefs about death
beliefs about disease
beliefs about fortune and misfortune
binary cognitive distinctions
biological mother and social mother normally the same person
black (color term)
body adornment
childbirth customs
childcare
childhood fears 
childhood fear of loud noises
childhood fear of strangers
choice making (choosing alternatives)
classification
classification of age
classification of behavioral propensities
classification of body parts
classification of colors
classification of fauna
classification of flora
classification of inner states
classification of kin
classification of sex
classification of space
classification of tools
classification of weather conditions
coalitions
collective identities
conflict
conflict, consultation to deal with
conflict, means of dealing with
conflict, mediation of
conjectural reasoning
containers
continua (ordering as cognitive pattern)
contrasting marked and non marked sememes (meaningful elements in language)
cooking 
cooperation
cooperative labor
copulation normally conducted in privacy
corporate (perpetual) statuses
coyness display
critical learning periods
crying
cultural variability
culture
culture/nature distinction
customary greetings
daily routines
dance
death rituals
decision making
decision making, collective
differential valuations
directions, giving of
discrepancies between speech, thought, and action
dispersed groups
distinguishing right and wrong
diurnality
divination
division of labor
division of labor by age
division of labor by sex
dominance/submission
dreams
dream interpretation
economic inequalities
economic inequalities, consciousness of
emotions
empathy
entification (treating patterns and relations as things)
environment, adjustments to
envy
envy, symbolic means of coping with
ethnocentrism
etiquette
explanation
face (word for)
facial communication
facial expression of anger
facial expression of contempt
facial expression of disgust
facial expression of fear
facial expression of happiness
facial expression of surprise
facial expressions, masking/modifying of
fairness (equity), concept of
family (or household)
father and mother, separate kin terms for
fears
fear of death
fears, ability to overcome some
feasting
females do more direct childcare
figurative speech
fire
folklore
food preferences
food sharing
future, attempts to predict
generosity admired
gestures
gift giving
good and bad distinguished
gossip
government
grammar
group living
groups that are not based on family
habituation
hairstyles
hand (word for)
healing the sick (or attempting to)
hope
hospitality
husband older than wife on average
hygienic care
identity, collective
imagery
incest between mother and son unthinkable or tabooed
incest, prevention or avoidance
in group distinguished from out group(s)
in group biases in favor of
inheritance rules
institutions (organized co activities)
insulting
intention
interest in bioforms (living things or things that resemble them)
interpolation
interpreting behavior
intertwining (e.g., weaving)
jokes
judging others
kin, close distinguished from distant
kin groups
kin terms translatable by basic relations of procreation
kinship statuses
language
language employed to manipulate others
language employed to misinform or mislead
language is translatable
language not a simple reflection of reality
language, prestige from proficient use of
law (rights and obligations)
law (rules of membership)
leaders
lever
likes and dislikes
linguistic redundancy
logical notions
logical notion of "and"
logical notion of "equivalent"
logical notion of "general/particular"
logical notion of "not"
logical notion of "opposite"
logical notion of "part/whole"
logical notion of "same" 
magic
magic to increase life
magic to sustain life
magic to win love
making comparisons
male and female and adult and child seen as having different natures
males dominate public/political realm
males engage in more coalition violence
males more aggressive
males more prone to lethal violence
males more prone to theft
males, on average, travel greater distances over lifetime
manipulate social relations		 marking at phonemic, syntactic, and lexical levels
marriage
materialism
meal times
meaning, most units of are non universal
measuring
medicine
melody memory
mental maps
mentalese
metaphor
metonym
mood- or consciousness altering techniques and/or substances
moral sentiments
moral sentiments, limited effective range of
morphemes
mother normally has consort during child rearing years
mourning
murder proscribed
music
music, children's
music related in part to dance
music related in part to religious activity
music seen as art (a creation)
music, vocal
music, vocal, includes speech forms
musical redundancy
musical repetition
musical variation
myths
narrative
nomenclature (perhaps the same as classification)
non bodily decorative art
normal distinguished from abnormal states
nouns
numerals (counting)
Oedipus complex
oligarchy (de facto)
one (numeral)
onomatopoeia
overestimating objectivity of thought
pain
past/present/future
person, concept of
personal names
phonemes
phonemes defined by set of minimally contrasting features
phonemes, merging of
phonemes, range from 10 to 70 in number
phonemic change, inevitability of
phonemic change, rules of 
phonemic system
planning
planning for future
play 
play to perfect skills
poetry/rhetoric
poetic line, uniform length range
poetic lines characterized by repetition and variation
poetic lines demarcated by pauses
polysemy (one word has several meanings)
possessive, intimate
possessive, loose
practice to improve skills
precedence, concept of (that's how the leopard got its spots)
preference for own children and close kin (nepotism)
prestige inequalities
pretend play
pride
private inner life
promise
pronouns
pronouns, minimum two numbers
pronouns, minimum three persons
proper names
property
proverbs, sayings
proverbs, sayings - in mutually contradictory forms
psychological defense mechanisms
rape
rape proscribed
reciprocal exchanges (0f labor, goods, or services)
reciprocity, negative (revenge, retaliation)
recognition of individuals by face
redress of wrongs
resistance to abuse of poser, to dominance
rhythm
right handedness as population norm
risk taking
rites of passage
rituals
role and personality seen in dynamic interrelationship (i.e., departures from role can be explained in terms of individual personality)
sanctions
sanctions fro crimes against the collectivity
sanctions include removal from the social unit
self control
self distinguished from other
self as neither wholly passive nor wholly autonomous
self as subject and object
self image, awareness of (concern for what others think)
self image, manipulation of
self image, wanted to be positive
self is responsible
semantics
semantic category of affecting things and people
semantic category of dimension
semantic category of giving
semantic category of location
semantic category of motion
semantic category of other physical properties
semantic components
semantic components, generation
semantic components, sex
sememes, commonly used ones are short, infrequently used ones are longer
senses unified
sex differences in spatial cognition and behavior
sex (gender) terminology is fundamentally binary
sex statuses
sexual attraction
sexual attractiveness
sexual jealousy
sexual modesty
sexual regulation
sexual regulation includes incest prevention
sexuality as focus of interest
shame
shelter
sickness and death seen as related
snakes, wariness around
social structure
socialization
socialization expected from senior kin
socialization includes toilet training
spear
special speech for special occasions
statuses and roles
statuses, ascribed and achieved
statuses distinguished from individuals
statuses on other than sex, age, or kinship bases
stinginess, disapproval of
stop/nonstop contrasts (in speech sounds)
succession
sucking wounds
sweets preferred
symbolism
symbolic speech
synesthetic metaphors
synonyms
taboos
tabooed foods
tabooed utterances
taxonomy
territoriality
thumb sucking
tickling
time
time, cyclicity of
tools
tool dependency
tool making
tools for cutting
tools to make tools
tools patterned culturally
tools, permanent
tools for pounding
toys, playthings
trade
triangular awareness (assessing relationships among the self and two other people)
true and false distinguished)
turn taking
two (numeral)
tying material (i.e., something like string)
units of time
verbs
violence, some forms of proscribed
visiting
vocalic/non vocalic contrasts in phonemes
vowel contrasts
weaning
weapons
weather control (attempts to)
while (color term)
world view
 
 
 VALUES IMPACT OUR CULTURE, IE OUR KNOWLEDGE, BELIEFS, & NORMS 
 
 
 Our values are the foundation of our mindset & thus they impact what we accept as knowledge, the beliefs we embrace, & our norms or rules for living 
 
  Our values impact our knowledge, beliefs, & norms & thus they impact our decision, our behavior, our lifestyle   
  Most people change either b/c of a momentous life event or b/c we are able to enter a new env, observe new info, accept that info as new knowledge, & experience personally influential people or grps embracing that new knowledge, making new or different decisions   

 
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VALUE PRIORITIES
VALUE 
Openness to Change  Stimulation 
Self Direction
Self Transcendence Universalism 
Benevolence
Conservation Conformity 
Tradition
Security
Self Enhancement  Power 
Achievement
Hedonism
In relating value priorities to values, the values may overlap into adjoining priorities 

 
Self Direction Self direction values an independence of  thought & action where one values freedom, choosing, creating, exploring, curiosity, & choosing one's own goals in life. 
Universalism Universalism values understanding, equality, social justice, wisdom, broadmindedness, protection of the env, unity w/ nature, appreciation, tolerance, protection for the welfare of all people & nature, & a world of beauty. 
Benevolence Benevolence values the preservation & enhancement of the welfare of people w/ whom one is in frequent personal contact.  Benevolent people value helpfulness, honesty, forgiving, loyalty, & responsible behavior. 
Conformity Conformity values restraint of actions, inclinations, & impulses likely to upset or harm others or violate social expectations or norms.  Conformists value self discipline, politeness, obedience, & honoring parents & elders. 
Tradition Tradition values respect, commitment, & acceptance of the customs & ideals that traditional culture or religion provide.  Traditionalists are devout, humble, moderate, & respect  tradition. 
Security Security values safety, harmony, & stability for society, relationships, the self, family, & the nation. 
Power Power values social status & prestige, control or dominance over people & resources, authority, social power, wealth, & preserving one's public image. 
Achievement Achievement values ambition, success, capability, influence, & personal success through demonstrating competence according to social standards. 
Hedonism Hedonism values personal pleasure or sensual gratification, enjoying life, & self indulgence.
Stimulation Stimulation values excitement, novelty, a varied life, an exciting life, challenges, daringness. 

 
Internal
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 Outline on Core Values
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 CORE VALUES ARE A SUBSET OF UNIVERSAL VALUES & ARE IN MANY RESPECTS MORE SPECIFIC THAN UNIVERSAL VALUES, BUT STILL VAGUE, & OFTEN COMPLEMENT SOME CORE VALUES & CONFLICT W/ OTHERS 
 
 
 Values are one's principle, standard, or quality that one considers to be worthwhile or desirable 
 
 
 Core values constitute a set of one's most fundamental, important or central values 
 
 
 Universal values are those most general or broad values that everyone, everywhere shares 
 
 
 Soc scientists do conceptualize & examine the core values of a nation or society & these are core values that individuals have in common 
 
 
 Core values are a subset of universal values, & one's individual core values are a subset of a society's core values 
 
  CORE VALUES ARE BOTH ABSTRACT IN THAT THEY HAVE IDEAL ASPECTS, IE THOSE WE BELIEVE WE HOLD, AS WELL AS REAL CORE VALUES, IE VALUES IN PRACTICE, THOSE WE HOLD IN ACTUAL SITUATIONS WHERE WE FACE A MAJOR DECISION OR LIFE CRISIS   
 
 The US, a pluralistic society, is made up of many different grps who represent different political & social ideologies, religions &  racial ethnic grps, as well as countless thousands of interest groups that center around such divergent activities from collecting Barbie dolls to  hunting quail 
 
 
 A given society does share core values which form it's macro level non material culture 
 
 
 In the US core values are generally assumed to be 'the American way' & are taught to school children as morality & signs of good character
 
 
 People are socialized to believe in their society's values through interaction w/ peers, media presentations, religion, political speeches, the workplace, & the other 'agents of socialization' 
 
  W/in any society there is still a range of values in the core value set, & a given person is often inconsistent in their own values   
  WILLIAMS IDENTIFIED 15 CORE VALUES, INCLUDING ACHIEVEMENT, ACTIVITY & WORK, MORAL ORIENTATION, HUMANITARIANISM, EFFICIENCY & PRACTICALITY, PROCESS & PROGRESS, MATERIALISM, EQUALITY, FREEDOM, EXTERNAL CONFORMITY, SCIENCE & RATIONALITY, NATIONALISM, DEMOCRACY, INDIVIDUALISM, RACISM & GRP SUPERIORITY   
 
 Sociologist Robin Williams is well know for research in 1965 in which he posited a set of core values for US culture, including:
1.  achievement 
2.  activity & work
3.  moral orientation
4.  humanitarian motives 
5.  efficiency & practicality 
6.   process & progress 
7.   material comfort
8.   equality 		 9.   freedom 
10.   external conformity 
11.  science & rationality 
12.  nationalism 
13.  democracy
14.  individualism 
15.  racism & grp superiority 
 
 
 1.  For Williams the core value of achievement is manifested through personal success through demonstrating competence according to social standards 
 
 
 The value of achievement is embodied in the individual who has achievement & success as their major goals 
 
  Americans place a high value on personal achievement, esp outdoing others   
  Americans have a success emphasis   
  This value includes getting ahead at work & school, & attaining wealth, power, & prestige   
 
 2.  For Williams the core value of activity & work is manifested through being hard working, believing work is 'good for you' or a necessary condition for a healthy, happy life 
 
 
 The value of activity & work is embodied in the individual who values activity & work above leisure & laziness 
 
  Americans expect people to work hard & to be busily engaged in some activity even when not at work   
  Americans believe in work or work's sake   
 
 3.  For Williams the core value of moral orientation is manifested through the importance of believing in doing good for oneself, others & one's nation b/c of a value of right & wrong 
 
  The value of moral orientation is embodied in the individual who is concerned absolute judgments of good, bad, right, wrong, etc   
 
 4.  For Williams the core value of humanitarianism is manifested through helping others as motivated by a sense of duty or obligation, & not as a career or a practice to be rewarded or compensated for   
  The value of  is embodied in the individual who believes in & demonstrates philanthropy & crisis aid   
  Americans emphasize helpfulness, personal kindness, aid in mass disasters, organized philanthropy, & so on   
  5.  For Williams the core value of efficiency & practicality is manifested through 'Yankee ingenuity', ie a focus on getting things done both rapidly & w/ a conservation of  effort   
  The value of efficiency & practicality is embodied in the individual who is has a preference for the quickest & shortest way to achieve a goal at the least cost.  
  Americans award high marks for getting things done efficiently   
  Even in everyday life, Americans consider it important to do things fast, & they constantly seek ways to increase efficiency   
  The value of efficiency & practicality easily & often comes into conflict w/ tradition, non material goals such as beauty, respect for nature, process as pleasure, & more   
 
 6.  For Williams the core value of process & progress is manifested through embracing rationality, science, & tech to create a real, material growth, development or evolution of society 
 
  The value of process & progress is embodied in the individual who believes that tech can solve all problems, & that the future will be an improvement over the past   
  Americans expect rapid technological change & believe that they should constantly build 'more & better' gadgets that will help them move toward that vague goal called 'progress'   
  Some post modernists & other societal critics question whether an increasing sophistication of technology actually signifies that a society has 'progress'   
  Some post modernists & other societal critics believe that 'progress' is not happening as indicated by levels of poverty, crime, violence, immorality, & so on, that may be no better than in the past   
  7.  For Williams the core value of material comfort is manifested through achieving or desiring a middle class or higher life style, w/ all the accompanying rights & benefits   
  The value of material comfort is embodied in the individual who is enjoys or wants to enjoy the the American Dream, ie the 'normal' components of life today including a job, a home, a car or two, often children, education, etc   
  Americans expect a high level of material comfort including not only good nutrition, medical care, & housing, but also late model cars &  recreational playthings, from boats to computer games   
  8.  For Williams the core value of equality is manifested through fairness & equal justice in access to social instit such as jobs, ed, religion, political participation, etc   
  The core value of equality is embodied in the individual who believes in equal treatment under the law, access to all spheres of society, equal opportunity at work, the merit system, etc   
  Equality of opportunity has significantly influenced US history & continues to mark relations btwn grps that make up US society   
  The core value of equality of fair treatment under the law & equality of opportunity plays a central role in American society   
  9.  For Williams the core value of freedom is manifested through freedom as a individual right against the state   
  The value of freedom is embodied in the individual who supports the principle that some or all individual rights should generally trump the state's rights   
  The core value of freedom pervades US life perhaps more than in any other nation   
  The core value of freedom is underscored by the dogma or mythos of the American Revolution  
  Americans pride themselves on their personal freedom   
  10.  For Williams the core value of external conformity is manifested through the ideal of going along, joining, & not rocking the boat   
  The value of  is embodied in the individual who is, at least on the surface, part of main stream society, & is happy or satisfied to live a mid class life   
  11.  For Williams the core value of science & rationality is manifested through the acceptance that science & rationality are the primary means of mastering the environment & secure a better life in terms of material comforts   
  The value of science & rationality is embodied in the individual who practices logic, common sense as well as rationality & science in their life as the primary determinant of action, problem solving, & understanding the world, ie constructing their world view   
  The core value of science & rationality in embodied by the individual who believes that there is no conflict btwn science & rationality & religion or spirituality   
  Americans have a passion for applied science, for using science to control nature, to tame rivers & harness wind, & to develop new technology, from motorized scooters to talking computers.  
  For some people, science, rationality, technology, etc conflict w/ religiosity, spirituality, a moral orientation, freedom, democracy, & more   
  The conflict btwn the values of rationality & religious is esp intense in traditional societies & religious conservatives in modern societies   
  While many people see no conflict btwn religion & rationality, some religious oriented people see rationality as incompatible w/ their religion, & on the other hand, some rational people see religion as incompatible w/ their rationality   
  12.  For Williams the core value of nationalism is manifested through the belief that, in general, their nation's values & institutions represent the very best on Earth   
  The value of nationalism is embodied in the individual who embraces the values of their nation to the extent of defending them above all other nations & threats, who has national pride   
  13.  For Williams the core value of democracy is manifested through belief in & working for the equality & freedom of individuals   
  The value of democracy is embodied in the individual who accepts, believes in the dictum that one cannot be free until all are free   
  For Americans democracy refers to majority rule, to the right of everyone to express an opinion, & to representative govt   
  14.  For Williams the core value of individualism is manifested through an emphasis on personal rights & responsibilities   
  The value of individualism is embodied in the individual who is more concerned w/ personal rights & responsibilities than w/, for example, democracy, nationalism, or the rights & responsibilities of a group of people or a society   
  Americans have traditionally prized success that comes from individual effort and initiative   
  Americans cherish the ideal that an individual can rise from the bottom of society to its very top & if someone fails to 'get ahead,' they generally find fault w/ that individual, rather than w/ the social system for placing roadblocks in his or her path   
  15.  For Williams the core value of racism & group superiority is manifested through prejudice & discrimination against those who are racially, religiously, & culturally different from their own in group   
 
 The core value of racism & group superiority is embodied in the individual who is generally opposed to humanitarianism, democracy, equality, freedom, & others 
 
  Although it contradicts freedom, democracy, equality, & other core values, Americans value some grps more than others &  have done so throughout their history.   
  The slaughter of Native Americans and the enslaving of Africans are the most notorious examples of the core value of racism & group superiority  
 
 HENSLIN IDENTIFIED ADDITIONAL CORE VALUES INCLUDING EDUCATION, RELIGIOSITY, & ROMANTIC LOVE 
 
  In 1975, sociologist James Henslin updated Williams’ analysis be adding three values.
           16.  education 
           17.  religiosity
           18.  romantic love 		  
 
 16.  For Henslin the core value of education is manifested through a belief & supporting behavior that education is the foundation of democracy, science, rationality, progress, equality of opportunity, & more   
 
 Americans are expected to, & generally do go as far in school as their abilities & finances allow  
 
 Over the years, the definition of an 'adequate' education has changed, & today a college education is considered an appropriate goal for most Americans, w/ just under 1/3 possessing a baccalaureate degree today   
 
 Those who have an opportunity for higher education and do not take it are sometimes viewed as doing something “wrong” – not merely as making a bad choice, but as somehow being involved in an immoral act  
 
 The core value of education is seen in free public ed of K through 12, & one of the largest investments in higher ed in the world   
 
 17.  For Henslin the core value of religiosity is manifested through belief in a higher power & the practice of worship of this power   
 
 There is a feeling that 'every true American ought to be religious'   
 
 The core value of religiosity does not mean that everyone is expected to join a church, synagogue, or mosque, but that everyone ought to acknowledge a belief in a Supreme Being & follow some set of matching precepts.   
 
  The core value of religiosity is so pervasive that Americans stamp 'In God We Trust' on their money & declare in their national pledge of allegiance that they are 'one nation under God' 
 
  America has struggled w/ it constitutional provision of the separation of church & state in that public displays of religiosity, & religiosity in governance have always been in contention   
 
 18.  For Henslin the core value of romantic love is manifested through a belief in & behavior manifesting romantic courtship, marriage, the family, sexuality & more   
 
 Americans feel that the only proper basis for marriage is romantic love. . They especially love the theme that “love
conquers all.”		  
 
 Songs, literature, mass media, & folk beliefs all stress the value of romantic love   
 
 While the nature of love / courtship, marriage, the family, & sexuality have all changed radically, ie they have moved from patriarchy toward equality, our core value of romantic love pervades life & society perhaps more than it ever has   
 
 SOCIAL SCIENTISTS HAVE IDENTIFIED ANOTHER CORE VALUE OF LEISURE & RECREATION   
 
 19.  For many social scientists the core value of leisure & recreation is manifested through a belief in the importance of play, creativity, renewal, adventure & more   
 
 In the 1900s as the mid class gained ascendancy, the 40 hr work week, week ends, holidays, vacations, etc became a normal part of life   
  As the mid class & industrialism grew, people actually had the energy, time, & money necessary to enjoy life through, sports, recreation, leisure activities, entertainment & more & so a norm of leisure & recreation began to complement the norm of activity & work & efficiency & practicality   

 
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 Outline on the  Impact of Values on Behavior
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  AN INDIVIDUAL'S & EVEN A SOCIETY'S VALUE SETS ARE FICKLE, IE CHANGE FREQUENTLY B/C WE DO LITTLE TO DETERMINE WHAT ACTUALLY CONSTITUTES OUR VALUE SET   
  The typical person does not actually know their real values even though they may be able to explain or talk about their values in great detail b/c our actual values are only known when we are tested or perhaps through intensive counseling designed to reveal our values 
 
  B/c of the fickleness of values, public opinion polls swing rapidly & widely, individuals are often uncertain or do not have an opinion on many basic issues 
 
  Another issue related to the fickleness of values is that many values conflict w/ each other, or at least the expression of one value may reduce or counter the expression of another value 
 
  An example of values countering each other is that many have a core value of efficiency & practicality, as well as freedom & democracy, yet no one would say that freedom & democracy are either efficient or practical 
 
  An example of values countering each other is that many have a core value of democracy & individualism, but  democracy demands that the will of  the majority rules the individual   
  For most people, their values, ideal & real, do evolve over time as we gain more experience, perspective, knowledge, & friends & acquaintances in life 
 
  While some maintain that a person's core values are in essence 'written in stone' or permanent in some sacred sense, in reality, our value set changes both slowly throughout life, & additionally may change radically if we have a 'major life event' such as a tragedy related illness, death, job loss, abandonment, & so on, or a major life event such as a great experience such as fortune, fame, the love of our life, the birth of our child, & so on   
 
 VALUES IMPACT THE OTHER 3 ASPECTS OF CULTURE:  KNOWLEDGE, BELIEFS, & NORMS 
 
 
 Each individual has a range of values related to universal practices as seen in that some individuals & even societies participate in & value high levels of abstraction in speech & thought while others do not 
 
 
 Each universal practice has a range of values that individuals & societies judge that practice w/ 
 
 
 The aggregation of all the individuals' values on a practice, creates the socially acceptable practice for that culture 
 
 
 The existing culture does structure or guide the acceptance of values & practices of the individuals & thus individuals do not completely, freely choose their own practices & values 
 
  Values are important for social scientists, & citizens who are in may way independent social scientists, b/c they enhance or limit our ability to observe, ie scan the environment, accept or reject information, interact w/ others, & ultimately to make decisions   
  We are more likely to enter circles, ie our 'comfort zone' where there are people like us, & there is info that conforms to our mind set   
  In our 'comfort zone' we are more likely to find info that we can accept as knowledge, thus reinforcing our knowledge & belief base   
  In our comfort zone, w/ info that conforms to our expectations, we are more likely to encounter & find people, orgs, soc mvmts, etc that we fit into & that reinforce our culture, our mindset   
  In our comfort zone, w/ our standard info, knowledge & beliefs, w/ people like ourselves, we are more likely to make decisions based on this set of experiences & expectations   
  It is often difficult to find new info or knowledge; it is often difficult to relate to people w/ very different knowledge & beliefs from our own, & it is often difficult to arrive at a decision that goes against much of what we have believed over our life time   
  PERSONAL, ORGL, OR INSTITL CHANGE OCCURS WHEN WE CAN PERCEIVE OR 'SEE' NEW INFO IN THE ENV, WHEN WE ACCEPT THAT NEW INFO AS VALID KNOWLEDGE, WHEN INFLUENTIAL OTHERS ACCEPT THAT NEW INFO AS VALID KNOWLEDGE, & WHEN INFLUENTIAL OTHERS MAKE NEW DECISIONS ALIGNED W/ THE NEW INFO   
  Education rarely changes a person's beliefs on a subject   
  A conversation or even a debate rarely changes a person's beliefs on a subject   
  One's beliefs often change as a result of two often, but now always, different experiences   
  One's beliefs may change b/c of an intense, life changing event which may include violence, generosity, a near death experience, etc   
  A brush w/ one's mortality can give one an entirely new perspective & fundamentally change one's values, beliefs, & thus behavior   
  One can change when all the factors maintaining our mindset line up for change   
  One can change when they 'see' new things in the env, when they gain or accept new info as valid knowledge, when others they respect or relate to embrace the new knowledge & beliefs, & these others also make decisions in harmony w/ the new knowledge & beliefs   

 
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 Outline on an  Intro to Class & False Consciousness
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  -  Project:  Class & False Consciousness 
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  -  Project: The Reasons the US has no Class Consciousness
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  CLASS CONSCIOUSNESS OCCURS WHEN GROUPS ACCEPT THE IDEOLOGY RELEVANT TO THEIR OWN INTERESTS
 
  Class consciousness is when subordinate groups do not accept the ideology of the dominant group, but accept ideology relevant to their own interests 
 
  Class consciousness is when a group of people embrace a culture / life- style that represents their own interests 
 
  An example of class consciousness is that the rich believe in their own superiority & the natural inferiority of the poor 
 
  An example of class consciousness is that the middle class believe in equal opportunity for all & not in the superiority of the rich & not in the natural inferiority of the poor 
 
  FALSE CONSCIOUSNESS OCCURS WHEN SUBORDINATE GROUPS ACCEPT THE IDEOLOGY OF THE DOMINANT GROUP & BELIEVE THINGS THAT ARE NOT IN THEIR OWN INTEREST
 
  False consciousness is when a group of people embrace a culture / life-style that harms their own interests 
 
  For Marx, when non upper class people accept the world view of upper class, they have false consciousness 
 
  An example of false consciousness is that the middle class indulging in consumerism, believing the rich are deserving, the poor are not deserving 
 
  An example of false consciousness is that during the 1972 Presidential race, McGovern, the Democratic candidate, proposed limiting inheritance to .5 mm & this position was opposed by the vast majority of people even though over 90%  wouldn't be affected 
 
  Class consciousness occurs when a group of people w/ a common self interest correctly perceive that interest & develop beliefs, values, & norms consistent w/ advancing that interest 
 
  The concepts of class & false consciousness do not denote correct & incorrect consciousness   
  Historically, the class & false consciousness Ideologies of some groups have been accepted as wrong by most observers   
  Marx saw the workers, i.e. the proletariat, as the only group capable of class consciousness 
 
  False consciousness is the beliefs, values, etc. that work against a group's / class' self interest 
 
  Both workers & owners can experience false consciousness 
 
 
 Many theorists believe this is the common condition today 
 
 
 For Marx, we have either class or false consciousness   
 
 For Marx, class consciousness develops out of working class experience/context   
  An important aspect of class is the extent to which a society has members who are aware of, & identify w/ the social classes to which they belong   
  Americans are less class conscious than people in other societies   
  Nearly all Americans think of themselves as "middle class" or "working class"   
  In many societies, the wealthy readily identify themselves as upper class   
 
 There are FIVE reasons the US has no class consciousness
1.  The culture & ideology of the US is that of equal opportunity 
2.  The media & all social structures support the Horatio Alger Myth 
3.  The US has a relatively weak Labor Movement & no Labor Party 
4.  Education is tied to social class in the US 
5.  The US once had more structural mobility 
 
 
 1.  THE CULTURE & IDEOLOGY OF THE US IS THAT OF EQUAL OPPORTUNITY
 
  As a result of  the US's foundation on the counter value of rebellion against title & monarchy, & the dissemination of the Horatio Alger Myth, the US's ideology mystifies class status   
  American's prefer not to openly acknowledge their class status   
  Americans prefer to believe that people have similar statuses & similar situations in life; that we are all pretty much alike   
 
 2.  THE MEDIA & ALL SOCIAL STRUCTURES SUPPORT THE HORATIO ALGER MYTH 
 
  America's entertainment media, education system, all sectors of society, support the belief that anyone who tries can succeed, & that love will easily overcome social class differences btwn people   
  Examples of media support of false consciousness:   
  Pretty Woman   
  Dirty Dancing   
  White Palace   
  The Horatio Alger Myth supports false consciousness, preventing people from acting in their own interests   
      See Also:  The Horatio Alger Myth   
  The widespread presence of the Horatio Alger Myth, & similar ideological components in Am culture illustrates that it is in the class interest of the wealthy to promote the image of Am as a society where class doesn't really matter & where anyone can "make it"   
 
 When people perceive that there is not equal opportunity, they criticize the system & support change 
 
  When people have false consciousness, when they believe that anyone can succeed, they accept the system as fair & legitimate   
  As long as people have false consciousness, believe in the fairness of the system, they will not demand changes that threaten the wealthy & the powerful   
  It is in the interest of those w/ wealth, including ownership & control of the media, to promote the Horatio Alger Myth, the ideology that the system is open & fair   
 
 3.  THE US HAS A RELATIVELY WEAK LABOR MOVEMENT & NO LABOR PARTY
 
  There is evidence that people who question the ideology of fairness are treated more harshly in the US than elsewhere   
  For example Sexton, 1991, demonstrates that Labor Unions & Labor organizers were, & are, repressed more harshly in the US than in Europe   
  In the 1930s, the US used the military, police & private security companies to interfere w/ strikes, often w/ the use of violence & the hiring of strikebreakers was common  
  Today, the US has the most restrictive labor laws of any industrialized country, & has the least amount of both physical & labor rights protection   
  In Canada, all public employees have the right to organize, bargain, & strike, while in the US they may not strike, taking much power away from organization & bargaining   
  In the US, companies can refuse the contract of a newly certified union, demanding a recertification   
  In Canada, to form a union, unions need only submit signed cards from a majority of workers   
  While the process of using signature cards to obtain union certification is legal in the US, in practice, signature cards & most certification elections are contested   
  The lack of a Labor Movement means there has been no Labor Party in the US, resulting in a general weakening of the political left   
  Canada & most European countries have a major labor or "social democratic" party   
  In Canada & Europe income & vital services such as health care are more equally distributed   
  4.  EDUCATION IS TIED TO SOCIAL CLASS IN THE US   
  Because most educational systems are funded by state & local taxes, usually property taxes, educational systems are much more effective in more wealthy regions, enhancing their class consciousness   
  The upper class sends their children to private school, enhancing their class consciousness   
 
 5.  THE US ONCE HAD MORE STRUCTURAL MOBILITY, WHICH MEANT THAT CLASS RELATIONSHIPS, & HENCE CLASS CONSCIOUSNESS, WAS LESS APPARENT TO PEOPLE & ALSO LESS NECESSARY   
 
 The US had a rapidly expanding economy through the 1950s, providing ever more, higher paying jobs lessening the need for class consciousness   
  As the rest of the world has moved to a modern, industrial economic base, the US faces more global competition, resulting in less economic expansion increasing the need for class consciousness   
  Less economic expansion creates less jobs, which creates less structural mobility making class consciousness more necessary   

 
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 Outline on  Class & False Consciousness - Advanced
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  Marx believed class consciousness would develop out of the working class' concrete experience in the capitalist system because of  FIVE historical material conditions   
  a. working in a collective setting   
  b.  increasingly miserable conditions   
  c.  the contradiction of the wealth of the owners   
  d.  the lack of other solutions   
  e.  education   
  Lenin, Mao, Stalin, & others believed society needed an elite to rule the proletariat   
  Other conceptions of class consciousness often use the term to signify any feelings of self awareness or common identity among members of a social class   
  Existential philosophers have often used the terms authentic & inauthentic in a manner similar to class & false consciousness   
  For Lukacs, class consciousness is when the dominate group acts in their own objective interest   
  For Lukacs, false consciousness is when the subordinate group acts against their own objective interest; usually accepts ideology (know & beliefs) of dominant group   
  For Lukacs, class consciousness is neither the sum nor the average of individual consciousnesses   
  For Lukacs, class & false consciousness are a property of a class   
  Lukacs' view is that class & false consciousness are largely determined by social relations in the economic sphere of life   
  For Lukacs, capitalism is the best context for overcoming false consciousness   
  Lukacs believed we do not realize extent of our exploitation, nor our socio historical, economic conditions, & therefore we can only understand, i.e. see, our exploitation by comparing contemporary exploitative relationships to relationships in the past   
  Thus, for Lukacs, the working & middle classes must have an understanding of history to develop class consciousness   
  Lukacs believed most classes in history could not overcome false consciousness   
  Lukacs believed the proletariat have the opportunity to overcome false consciousness because:   
  a.  the economic base of capitalism is simple & clear   
  b.  the state & economy are clearly linked & this was not so in past systems   
 
 c.  status is less important today while in the past system status was very important   
 
 Lukacs believed the proletariat must move from fighting for survival to fighting for a specific aim 
 
 
 For Mann, 1973, the elements in class consciousness are class identity, class opposition, class totality, & the vision of an alternative society 
 
  a. Class identity as an element in class consciousness is the definition of oneself as working class   
  b. Class opposition as an element in class consciousness is the perception that capitalists & their managers constitute an enduring opponent  
  Note that many theorists would denote race or gender as the major oppositional element in society   
  c. Class totality as an element in class consciousness is the social phenomenon where class conflict defines social totality; i.e. it is a characteristic of all aspects of society   
  d. An alternative society as an element in class consciousness is the belief in the need for fundamental change in our social system   
  e.  Class position (not discussed by Mann) as an element in class consciousness is the level of class one is inhabiting whether that be upper class, upper middle class, middle class, working class, lower class, etc. as well as the status & power that society bestows on that class 
 
 But false consciousness prevents the correct interaction btwn interests & values because the interests of the ruling class come to predominate 
 
 
 The ideology of the dominant group or class is often the most prominent ideology   
 
 People accept the ideology of the dominant groups in society & so accept their values & do not pursue their own self interest   

 
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 Outline on  Environmental Values
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  ENVLISTS HAVE VALUES & BELIEFS WHICH, AT LEAST PARTIALLY, MOTIVATE ACTION; ACTION MAY HAVE OTHER MOTIVATORS SUCH AS PEERS 
 
  Environmentalists generally have an ideology, ie knowledge, beliefs, & values which support their envlism 
 
  An ideology may be thought of as an individual's own culture 
 
  Culture consists of shared knowledge, beliefs, values, & norms   
  An env ideology, worldview, culture, mind set, & son on denotes a set of values about human relations in & w/ the env 
 
  Soc scientists often understand ideology, worldviews, culture, mind sets, & so on as surrounding & justifying the operation of econ mkts (free mkt cap) or political sys (democracy, liberalism, conservatism, etc) 
 
  Envlism is rooted in the worldviews, social paradigms, & cognates of people in that envlism has an abstract or mental side as well as a physical or action side 
 
  Env ideologies & cultures, or any ideology or culture is not only an abstract set of beliefs & models about how the world works, they are the beliefs & models that are used, sometimes deliberately, to either legitimate things as they are or to justify change 
 
  ENV VALUE SETS TRANSCEND POLITICAL VALUE SETS
 
  Env values cannot easily be located on a political left right spectrum
 
  For example, once one questions the env impact of a corp mega project, they often alienate the capitalists, workers, & any communities poised to benefit from the project 
 
  Env values often involve distribution values, which are inherently political 
 
  B/c env values are concerned w/ how all humans are related in a global commons, they transcends concern w/ the particular pol & econ self interests of the poor, the rich, or the mid classes, or w/ the interests of those in more developed nations, & less developed nations 
 
  AMERICAN ENV VALUE SETS HAVE DEVELOPED ALONG W/ OUR NATION FROM THOREAU TO MUIR TO THE EPA TO GREENPEACE TO ... 
 
  American env values bloomed & changed in the 60s, & thus is the product of over 100 yrs of collective action & mvmt orgs that existed in particular hist circumstances 
 
  As American envlism developed, different waves or stages of framing env problems & different discourses about  them among both envlists & the broader public arena came & went, & continue to do so   
  By the 60s, Am env values became more concerned w/ ecosystems & the Earth, more ecocentric, rather than only w/ issues of human health & well being   
  At the turn of the 20th C, disasters such as the near extinction of the buffalo, a forest fire in WI in 1871 that killed 1500 people, the Jonestown flood of 1889, clear cutting of the forests, coal fueled air pollution, & so on all inspired envlism by the 'progressives' Teddy Roosevelt, John Muir, Gifford Pinchot, & others   
  The values of conservationism developed during this era, but these values were soon challenged by the values of preservationism   
  Conservation supports the values of wise use of env resources;  use resources in a way that is sustainable   
  Preservation supports the values of setting aside sectors of the env to maintain a minimum of human use for scientific, aesthetic, & non consumptive recreational use   
  THE CONSERVATION & PRESERVATION VALUE SETS HAVE BEEN SUPPLEMENTED TODAY BY MAINSTREAM, GRASS ROOTS, & RADICAL ENVLIST VALUE SETS  
  In the 50s, conservationism was well estb in Am life, but could not compete w/ our econ expansionist values   
  Silent Spring by Rachel Carson in 1962, Paul Erlich's the Population Bomb in 1968, the Santa Barbara oil spill in 1969, the burning Hudson River in 1969, & other events of the 60s gave an impetus to envlism   
  Silent Spring exposed DDT as a chemical pesticide that was decimating bird populations & reducing bone density in all animals   
  DDT had been seen as a 'modern miracle' b/c it had allowed greater control of insects, esp mosquitoes, & the diseases they carry, on a great scale   
  Typical conservation values evolved into greater envlist values b/c   
  1.  the activist culture of the 60s encouraged mobilization   
  2.  greater scientific knowledge of ecosystems   
  3.  an increase in outdoor recreation   
  4.  post WW2 econ expansion & affluence   
  Today env values are manifest in 3 structures, including:   
  1.  mainstream national level orgs such as the Sierra Club & Greenpeace   
  2.  grass roots envlism as manifest in local env orgs or single issue env mvmts related to a construction project   
  3.  radical envlism deep ecology, social ecology, & eco fem all embrace a criticism of Western & industrial worldviews, rejecting anthropocentric values & embracing ecological values   
  ENV VALUE SETS ARE OFTEN IN COMPETITION W/, IN OPPOSITION TO  OTHER VALUE SETS, BUT SOME MAY BE COMPLEMENTARY OR EVEN COOPERATIVE   
  The varieties of env values have elicited a variety of anti env values, esp those that urge putting the welfare of people over any or all of nature   
  Anti env values often sync well w/ pro econ development values   
  Consumerist values also conflict w/ env values   
  The dominant env values remain that:   
  1.  the env is an open ended resource sys for human use   
  2.  there is a low regard for nature for  its own sake   
  3.  that growth, consumption, possessions, & the accumulation of wealth are important values   
  4.  there are no real limits to growth   
  5.  science & tech are effective means to address all manner of human, econ, & env problems   
  Envlist values hold that:   
  1.  the env is a limited source which we can only carefully use   
  2.  one should  have care, regard, respect, even love for the env & all the miracles it holds  
  3.  one's quality of life & experience's in the env are more important than growth, consumption, possessions, & the accumulation of wealth   
  4.  there are limits; our planet is small & it is all we have   
  5.  science & tech might be able to address human problems, but so far society has not had the will to direct them to do so   
  Envlist values embrace policies that recognize the:   
  1. importance of maintaining the balance of nature  
  2.  reality of limits to growth   
  3.  need for population control   
  4.  seriousness of anthropogenic env degradation   
  5.  need to control ind growth, urban sprawl, deforestation, habitat degradation, etc   
  ENV VALUES HAVE EMERGED IN SOCIETY SINCE THE 60'S, THEN DECLINED, & ARE NOW BROADENING OUT INTO MORE SECTORS OF THE POPULACE   
  The nature of env problems & our response to them has substantially changed over the past nearly 5 decades since the birth of the modern env mvmt in the 60s, & so we may assume that our values have also changed   
  Soc scientists assume that env concern has diffused throughout the public resulting in a broadening base of support   
  We see that during difficult econ eras that concern for the env declines   
  Key socio political demographics of env concern are age, ed, pol ideology in that younger, well ed, liberals are more likely to have a greater level of interest in the env   
  Public awareness of env issue reach a peak in 1970 w/ the celebration of the 1st 'Earth Day'   
  Concern for the env is relatively stable, those who believe that the amt spent by the govt on the env is either about right or too little ranges from 87% to 84% (Frey, 2001)  
  The base of support for the env is broadening from its beginning core demographic of the young, well educated, liberal sector of society   
  There is evidence of a recent emergence of envlism w/in minority communities, less educated residents of rural areas, older adults, & political conservatives   
  Those who are economically disadvantaged are the most likely to w/draw their support for env protection when the econ is down or when env interests conflict w/ econ interests   
 
 FOR DOUGLAS & WILDAVEDSKY POSIT EGALITARIAN, INDIVIDUALIST, HIERARCHICAL, & FATALISTIC CULTURES WHICH SUPPORT ENVLISM
 
  Douglas & Wildavedsky have a theory of cultural bias which posits 4 frames of organizing & justifying social & political life: egalitarian, individualistic, hierarchical, & fatalistic   
  Each is a pt of view, has its own framing assumptions & readily available solutions for standardized problems   
  People in each mind set construct their policy preferences so as to bolster their preferred pattern of social relationships   
  Perceptions about env risks & dangers are embedded in cultural orientations rather than being a fiction of the level of info about safety of particular tech or a product of general psych predispositions, such as risk acceptance or aversion 
 
  For D & W, env activists are worried about env issues not only b/c they are concerned about the fate of the Earth, but b/c they desire to transform how human beings live w/ one another in an egalitarian direction 
 
 
 The egalitarian culture view  holds that nature is fragile & that a misstep may result in cataclysmic consequences for the human species helps egals to justify politics that curtail entrepreneurs in the name of collectivity 
 
  The competitive individualists culture view: constructs a view of nature as forgiving as resilient b/c it makes it easier for them to justify laissez faire & to resist those who would enhance centralized govt control
 
  Competitive individualists in order to resist encroachment on bidding & bargaining, counter by focusing on the 'resource full' nature of individuals   
  The hierarchical values culture view:  In the past, the post mat view dominated, that people worry about the env when they reach 'a higher stage of consciousness' either b/c they have at last been ed enough about the real harm to the env or b/c they have satisfied their primary subsistence & econ needs & so move to 'higher needs'   
 
 The fatalistic culture view:  The idea of resources as non renewable & rapidly depleting is hypothesized as appealing to egals b/c it enables them to justify regulating & redist resources
 
 
 Note that other soc scientists see other values or cultures related to the env, never the less D & W's assumptions about the function of cultures & values are valid regardless of what value set one chooses to embrace 
 
 
 Fore these & many soc scientists, the debate about nature is fundamentally a contest of cultures & values
 
 
 Risk analysts accept this pt of view 
 
 
 D W hypothesize & many other soc scientists hold that perceptions of the env are 'defined, perceived, & manage' according to a cultural bias 
 
  B/C ENV CONCERN IS BASED ON A UNIQUE SET OF VALUES / CULTURE, MANY, THOSE ON EITHER SIDE OF THE ENV DEBATE DO NOT CONSISTENTLY ALIGN W/ POLITICAL IDEOLOGIES; HOWEVER DEMS ARE GENERALLY PERCEIVED TO BE MORE ENV CONCERNED THAN REPS  
  D W challenges the belief that envlism transcends conventional pol ideology   
  This is the view that envlism is neither left nor right  
  For Paehike, left & right compete over distribution  
  P holds that we need to draw a distinction btwn the distributive politics of the traditional political spectrum & envl politics  
  Dist pol is concerned w/ dist & redist of the products & other intended benefits of econ activity   
  The ethical debate here is carried out in terms of equity   
  Envlism completes w/ the whole dist agenda & adds the dimension of pro anti envlism   
  The 'New Politics' of W Euro agree w/ Paehike that envlism is orthogonal to trad pol materialistic, equity based pol but they embed envlism in a new left right framework around post material issues such as participation & individual freedom   
  Envlism, like the other new soc mvmts of the peace & women's mvmts, is said to be driven by a new 'elite challenging' as opposed to elite directed style of politics   
  See also:  New Social Mvmts   
  In this view citizen participation & opposition to elite authority, more than equal dist of resources is the motive power of envlism
 
  MOST WHO CONSIDER THEMSELVES AS ENVLISTS, SEE LITTLE IN THE DEMS IN SUPPORT OF THE ENV 
 
  Envl Values in Am Culture (Boster & Hartley, 1995) argues that there is a single cultural consensus on envl values & beliefs & those few who do not share this consensus do not adopt a coherent & consistent alt view   
  Cultural consensus does not mean that every person agrees w/ all the others on env issues, but that there is only one set of culturally agreed upon answers   
  Even the members of radical env grps like Earth First have more or less the same beliefs & vals as other Americans   
  What differs is there willingness to make personal sacrifices   
  Far from being part of an egal challenge to dominant Am values, envlism is the Am cul mainstream   
  SOME SOC SCIENTISTS POSIT THAT AFFLUENCE IS A PREREQUISITE TO EMBRACING ENV VALUES   
  Poli sci assumes support for the env is based more on 'post materialist values' resulting from post WW 2 affluence in the ind nations   
  Support for the env is limited primarily to residents of wealthy, highly ind nation in the northern hemisphere while residents of poorer, non ind nations are assumed to be too preoccupied w/ econ & physical survival to be concerned about env problems   
  Underlying the materialist / post materialist distinction is the assumption of a hierarchy of human needs & values as suggested by Maslow  
  The post materialists argument is similar to the hierarchical values culture view based on Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs whereby people develop higher needs, & env concern is one of those higher needs   
  Sociologists typically view envlism as an exemplar of the 'new soc mvmt' that have arisen w/in the wealthy, ind societies to pursue lifestyle & quality of life goals rather than econ interests   
  Econ views envlism as a 'luxury good' that is likely to be of concern only to those who do not have to worry about food, housing, & econ survival   
  OTHER SOC SCIENTISTS NOTE THAT AFFLUENCE IS NOT A PREREQUISITE TO EMBRACING ENV VALUES IN THE DEVELOPING WORLD B/C ENV QUAL IS LINKED TO SURVIVAL VALUES  
  Citizens of poor nations are just as concerned w/ env issues as are their counterparts in wealthy nations, but they are often concerned based on different values than people in the richer nations   
  Theories of post materialist values & new soc mvmts are useful for explaining envlism w/in wealthy, ind nations but are unable to acct for the emergence of grass roots envlism & widespread public concern for env qual in poorer nations  
  In the dev world, env degradation is seen as less of a qual of life issue, & is more a threat to human survival issue   
  Env qual is moving from a higher order value to a lower order value in Maslowian terms   
 
 Island nations in the pacific being threatened by rising ocean levels, deforestation in Africa threatening traditional life styles, 'super pollution' threatening general health in China, the near extinction of the tiger, & the declining elephant populations in India, & many more examples attest to the fact that many in the developing world are concerned about env issues 
 
  The env interests of those in the developing world are often based on survival level values   
  Awareness of threats posed by env degradation at local, national, & global levels, stimulated by activists, scientists, & the media, as well as some degree of personal observation, are beginning to reinforce one another   
  THERE IS A GLOBAL CONCERN FOR THE ENV BASED ON BOTH 'POST MATERIALIST' VALUES IN THE DEV WORLD & 'SURVIVAL' VALUES IN THE DEVELOPING WORLD, & IT IS DIFFICULT TO FORM EFFECT ENV POLICY BASED ON THESE TWO VALUE SETS   
  This multi level concern for the env is stimulated by an anthro centric concern w/ the welfare of one's self, family, descendants, but hay lead to a more ecological perspective that recognizes that human welfare is inextricably related to the env  
  There are different sets of values which motivate one to support the env & these values have developed as society has developed   
  People in advanced nations have experienced greater affluence which has allowed them to develop higher needs & embrace values which encourage them to look outside themselves, to be caring for others, & other things, eg the env   
  People in less advanced nations have experienced more envl degradation which has threatened their way of life which has allowed them to embrace values which encourage them to caretake the env   
  People in advanced nations who have not experienced greater affluence are experiencing a broadening of env values possibly b/c of education & the general understanding & sentiment that the env has both physical & ethical worth   

 
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 Outline on  Human Ecology
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 HUMAN ECOLOGY HOLDS THAT HUMANS ARE JUST ONE PART OF THE EARTH'S ECO SYSTEM, & THAT LIKE ALL PARTS OF THE ECO SYS, THERE IS A MUTUALLY INTERDEPENDENT RELATIONSHIP BTWN THEM 
 
  Culture consists largely of our shared knowledge, beliefs, values, norms & the material & abstract processes & products which represent them   
  Social structure is the organization of society, our patterns of behavior as seen in family structure, education, etc, including institutions, social positions, the relationships among social positions, the groups or orgs that make up society, & the distribution of scarce resources w/in the society   
  Human ecology focuses on how human culture & structure impacts the env & how changes in the env impact a society's culture & structure   
  Human ecology thus examines how people think about the env, their beliefs & values about the env & how these impact 'everyday or normal' practices in the env & how these practices become structured in institutions, orgs, roles, & the dist of resources   
  HUMAN ECOLOGY DOES NOT MAKE THE ERROR THAT HUMAN'S IMPACT ON NATURE BEGAN W/ THE INDUSTRIAL AGE, & THUS OFTEN FOCUSES ON HUMAN ENV INTERACTIONS OF THE PAST IN ORDER THAT WE CAN LEARN FROM THEM FOR OUR FUTURE  
 
 Human ecology examines the relationship of humans & the environment 
 
  Human ecology focuses on: 
          -  how cultural practices affect adaptation to env 
          -  interconnectedness of cultural practices & env 
          -  material & non material culture 
          -  food production as a cultural practice 
 
  An example of the analytical usefulness of human ecology is the understanding it adds to the conquest of the Incas by Pizarro, circa 1531, & other Spanish conquests 
 
  Pizarro brought European plants & animals including cattle, ox, horses, donkeys, pigs, sheep, goats, rabbits, turkeys, tools, & more to the Americas 
 
  During the European conquest of the Americas, the European technology & practices eventually upset delicate balance Incas had w/ env & they had to return to pastoralism w/in 90 yrs 
 
  Processes, technology, plants, animals, & more which were imported during the British conquest of India had a major impact on India's env 
 
  When American industrial agricultural practices were adopted in Russia in the early 1900s, they had a major impact on the env 
 
 
 ENV VALUES HAVE CHANGED BASED ON SOCIETAL TYPE FROM HUNTER GATHERER, TO AGRICULTURAL, TO INDUSTRIAL, TO POST INDUSTRIAL   
  Some cultures of the past had a greater reverence for nature than we do today & some cultures did not   
  Even though many native or tribal cultures in the hunter gatherer stage of development had great reverence for all things natural, there were significant env impacts of their lifestyles   
  By the time agricultural societies were developing, they generally lost this reverence for nature & saw it as either an opponent to be conquered, a resource, or at best a child to be controlled   
  The range of env values during the industrial age embraced all the value sets of the past, viewing nature w/ reverence, as an opponent, as a child, & then as a resource which we should conserve or even preserve   
  The range of env values today has constituents which embrace all the value sets of the past & now additionally as an eco system of which we are a part of   

 
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 Outline on  Learning Paradigms
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  MAJOR LEARNING PARADIGMS INCLUDE LEARNING BASED ON ROTE, INSIGHT, CREATIVITY, & PHYSIOLOGY
 
  Theories of learning are based on facts obtained from experiments such as those on classical & instrumental conditioning
 
  Social scientists differ in their interpretation of the facts on learning & conditioning & thus as a result, there are a number of learning theories which can be divided into three groups habit, insight, creativity, physiology 
 
  In practice most people use several methods of learning, learning some things by rote, some by reaching the 'aha' moment of intellectual understanding, & some by creatively expressing or demonstrating ability or learned practices   
  LEARNING BY ROTE IS HABIT BASED LEARNING IN THAT THE PROCESS FOR GAINING BY ROTE IS TO REPEAT OR CONTINUALLY GO OVER THE KNOWLEDGE OR PRACTICE UNTIL ONE CAN SUCCESSFULLY REPEAT IT OR DEMONSTRATE IT 
 
  Habit  Rote
 
  One grp of social scientists emphasizes stimulus response relationships in learning & has performed experiments w/ classical & instrumental conditioning 
 
  Some social scientists say all learning is the forming of habits 
 
  When we learn, we connect a stimulus & a response that did not exist before, thus forming a habit 
 
  Habits can range from the simplest ones to complex ones that are involved in learning skills 
 
  These social scientists believe that when we meet a new problem, we use appropriate responses learned from past experience to solve it 
 
  If this procedure does not lead to the solution, we use a trial & error approach 
 
  We use one response after another until we solve the problem 
 
  The stimulus response approach has been used to explain & modify bad habits 
 
  If a person is irrationally afraid of dogs, a learning method called behavior modification can be used to replace the fear response to a dog w/ a more relaxed response
 
  LEARNING BY COGNITIVE INSIGHT IS THE PROCESS WHEREBY ONE ABSORBS AS MUCH INFO ON A SUBJECT OR PRACTICE THAT ONE IS ABLE TO & THEN IS ABLE TO 'PUT IT ALL TOGETHER,' OR UNDERSTAND / EXPLAIN HOW IT ALL RELATES   
  Cognitive Insight  
  Some social scientists stress cognition, the act of knowing, above the importance of habit   
  Cognitive insight experts feel that experiments w/ classical & instrumental conditioning are too limited to explain such complex learning as understanding concepts & ideas   
  The cognitive insight approach emphasizes the importance of the learner's discovering & perceiving new relationships & achieving insight & understanding.  
  LEARNING BY EXPRESSIONS OF CREATIVITY IS THE PROCESS WHEREBY ONE ABSORBS AS MUCH INFO ON A SUBJECT OR PRACTICE THAT ONE IS ABLE TO & THEN IS ABLE TO DEMONSTRATE THE MEANING OF THAT INFO IN A NEW WAY THROUGH THE PRACTICES OF PROSE, POETRY, ART, THEATER, ETC   
  Expressions of Creativity  
  Some social scientists have developed humanistic theories of learning   
  According to humanist / expressionist / creative theories of learning, much human learning results from the need to express creativity   
  Almost any activity, including athletics, business dealings, building, homemaking, etc can serve as a creative outlet   
  The social scientists in the expression of creativity grp believe that each person must become involved in challenging activities & must do reasonably well at them, to have a satisfying life   
  Through creative learning the individual gains a sense of control, growth, & knowledge from such activities   
  For learning to occur, people must feel free to make their own decisions   
  Learners  must feel worthy, relatively free from anxiety, self respecting, & respected by others   
  Under conditions of self respect & respect, learners' own inner drives will lead them to learn   
  Some kinds of grp therapy try to provide an accepting, supporting env   
  An accepting, supporting env is intended to increase people's awareness of their own thoughts & of the world around them   
  CURRENTLY OUR UNDERSTANDING OF PHYSIOLOGICAL LEARNING IS MOSTLY FOCUSED ON THE UNDERSTANDING OF THE PHYSICAL PROCESSES OF LEARNING BUT THE EXPECTATION IS THAT DRUGS, ELECTRICAL STIMULATION, TREATMENTS, IMPLANTS, ELECTRONICS, & OTHER TYPES OF PHYSICAL MANIPULATION WILL SOME DAY ALLOW US TO LEARN BETTER, OR SIMPLY 'ACQUIRE KNOWLEDGE' W/O THE STANDARDS PROCESSES OF LEARNING   
  B/c learning involves changes in the nervous system, some social scientists believe that a physiology based learning paradigm is necessary to complete our understanding of learning   
  Scientists are discovering the processes that take place in the brain on cellular, electrical, chemical, connectivity, etc levels which produce learning   
  Research on the cellular, electrical, chemical, connectivity, etc levels in the nervous system  is contributing to a physiological theory of learning   

 
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 Outline on  Learning Theory
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  LEARNING IS THE PROCESS BY WHICH CHANGES IN BEHAVIOR RESULT FROM EXPERIENCE OR PRACTICE   
  Learning is a process that brings together cognitive, emotional, & environmental influences & experiences for acquiring, enhancing, or making changes in one's knowledge, skills, values, & world views  
  Behavior is any response that an organism makes to its environment whether it is from learning or some other process   
  Thus, behavior includes actions, emotions, thoughts, & the responses of muscles & glands   
  Learning can produce changes in any of these forms of behavior:  emotional, intellectual, physical, spiritual   
  Learning taking place all the time, but there is no simple explanation of the process   
  LEARNING THEORIES ARE INFLUENCED BY BEHAVIORISM, COGNITIVISM, & CONSTRUCTIVISM  
  Behaviorism focuses only on the objectively observable aspects of learning   
  Cognitive theories look beyond behavior to explain brain based learning   
  Constructivism views learning as a process in which the learner actively constructs or builds new ideas or concepts   
  THE GENERAL PARADIGMS OF HOW WE LEARN, INCLUDE:  1. CLASSICAL CONDITIONING,   2. INSTRUMENTAL CONDITIONING,  3. MULTIPLE RESPONSE LEARNING, &  4. INSIGHT LEARNING   
  (1) In classical conditioning, learning occurs when a new stimulus begins to elicit behavior similar to that originally produced by an old stimulus   
  (2)  In instrumental learning, often a person learns to perform a response as a result of what happens after the response is made   
  (3)  In multiple response learning when we learn skills, we first learn a sequence of simple movement patterns & then combine these movement patterns to form a more complicated behavior pattern   
  (4)  Insight learning often occurs suddenly, such as when a person looks at a certain problem for some time & then suddenly grasps its solution   
  Learning theory combines features of classical conditioning, instrumental learning & multiple response learning   
 
 There are four main theories of child development that psychologists use in research on the behavior of children & adults: (a) maturational theory, (b) psychoanalytic theory, (c) learning theory, & (d) cognitive theory 
 
 
 Learning theory says a child's development depends mainly on experience w/ reward & punishment 
 
 
 Children learn these responses primarily through their association w/ reinforcement (pleasant consequences following certain behavior) 
 
 
 If a mother smiles at her child each time the child is polite to adults, her smile reinforces the learning of manners 
 
 
 The task of the adult is to arrange the environment so that it provides suitable & effective reinforcements for desired behavior 
 
 
 Learning theorists base their ideas on various types of learning 
 
 
 -  classical conditioning, discovered by the Russian physiologist Ivan P Pavlov 
 
 
 -  instrumental conditioning, studied by the American psychologists EL Thorndike & BF Skinner 
 
  -  insight learning   
 
 Maturation & heredity have relatively little importance in the learning theory 
 
 
 Some theorists such as Miller & Dollard posit that these same learning processes continue throughout life, that we continue to learn 
 

 
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 Outline on the  Types of Learning
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  THE GENERAL PARADIGMS OF HOW WE LEARN, INCLUDE:  1. CLASSICAL CONDITIONING,   2. INSTRUMENTAL CONDITIONING,  3. MULTIPLE RESPONSE LEARNING, &  4. INSIGHT LEARNING
 
  1.  CLASSICAL CONDITIONED LEARNING OCCURS WHEN A NEW STIMULUS BEGINS TO ELICIT BEHAVIOR SIMILAR TO THAT ORIGINALLY PRODUCED BY AN OLD STIMULUS   
  Classical conditioning is based on stimulus response relationships 
 
  A stimulus is an object or a situation that excites one of our sense organs; eg, a light is a stimulus because it excites the retina of the eye, allowing us to see   
  Often a stimulus makes a person respond in a certain way, as when a flash of light makes us blink 
 
  Social scientists say that the stimulus elicits (draws forth) the response 
 
  An example of the stimulus response relationship is when a person tastes some lemon juice, which makes the person salivate, if, while the person is tasting it, a tone is sounded, & if these two stimuli, the lemon juice &  the tone, occur together many times, eventually, the tone by itself will make the person salivate 
 
  Classical conditioning has occurred because the new stimulus (the tone) has begun to elicit the response of salivation in much the same way as the lemon juice elicited it 
 
  Any condition that makes learning occur is said to reinforce the learning 
 
  When a person learns to salivate to a tone, the reinforcement is the lemon juice that the tone is paired with; & w/o the lemon juice, the person would not learn to salivate to the tone 
 
  The classical conditioning process is particularly important in understanding how we learn emotional behavior 
 
  When we develop a new fear, for example, we learn to fear a stimulus that has been combined w/ some other frightening stimulus   
  Studies of classical conditioning are based on experiments performed in the early 1900s by the Russian physiologist Ivan P Pavlov 
 
  He trained dogs to salivate to such signals as lights, tones, or buzzers by presenting these signals when he gave food to the dog 
 
  Pavlov called the learned response a conditioned response because it depended on the conditions of the stimulus 
 
  To emphasize the fact that a stimulus produces a response in this kind of learning, classical conditioning is often called respondent learning 
 
  Classic conditioning may occur at a social mvmt action when people become excited or enthusiastic merely as the sight of a social mvmt action because of their past experiences at such actions   
  2.  INSTRUMENTAL CONDITIONING OCCURS WHEN A PERSON LEARNS TO PERFORM A RESPONSE AS A RESULT OF WHAT HAPPENS AFTER THE RESPONSE IS MADE   
  Instrumental conditioning is also called operant conditioning because the learned response operates on the environment to produce some effect   
  There is no one stimulus that elicits the response of begging   
  A child may learn to beg for candy, & the child begs because such behavior occasionally results in receiving candy, & every time the child receives candy, the tendency to beg becomes greater, & candy, therefore, is the reinforcer  
  The American psychologist BF Skinner performed important experiments w/ instrumental conditioning in the 1930s such as when he trained rats to press levers to get food  
  In one experiment, Skinner placed a hungry rat in a special box containing a lever attached to some concealed food, & at first, the rat ran around restlessly, but eventually, it happened to press the lever, &  the food dropped into the box   
  In the rat in the box w/ a reward lever experiment, the food reinforced the response of pressing the lever, & after repeating the process many times, the rat learned to press the lever for food   
  Skinner's experiments were based on those performed earlier in the 1900s by the American psychologist EL Thorndike  
  In Thorndike's experiments, an animal inside a puzzle box had to pull a string, press a pedal, or make some other response that would open the box &  expose some food   
  Thorndike noted that the animal learned slowly & gradually   
  He called this type of learning trial & error behavior   
  Instrumental conditioning may occur at a social mvmt action when people are rewarded by others in the crowd for a particular behavior such as singing, chanting, shouting, becoming violent, or even remaining peaceful in the face of violence   
  3.  MULTIPLE RESPONSE LEARNING OCCURS WHEN A PERSON LEARNS A SEQUENCE OF SIMPLE MVMT PATTERNS, & THEN COMBINES THEM TO FORM A MORE COMPLICATED BEHAVIOR PATTERN   
  In most cases, various stimuli guide the process   
  Learning that involves many responses requires much practice to smooth out the rough spots   
  Operating a typewriter requires putting together many skilled finger movements, & these mvmts are guided by the letters or words that we want to type.   
  At first, a person has to type letter by letter, bu w/ practice, the person learns to type word by word or phrase by phrase   
  In verbal learning, such as memorizing a poem or learning a new language, we learn sequences of words, & we then combine these sequences of responses into a complex organization   
  To examine this kind of learning, social scientists have observed animals learning to run through a maze   
  Starting at the beginning, the animal wanders through the maze until it finds food at the end   
  Multiple response learning occurs when an animal runs a maze to find food & the animal periodically comes to a choice point, where it must turn right or left, only one choice is correct, eventually the animal learns the correct sequence of turns   
  Social scientists have found that the two ends of a maze are learned more easily than the parts near the middle   
  In the same way, when we learn a list of things, we usually find the beginning & end easier than the middle   
  Multiple response learning may occur at a social mvmt action when people respond to multiple envl inputs such as the leaders/speakers, friends in the crowd, peers in the crowd, opposition to the mvmt, the police or other authority figures & more, & develop behavior to address the opportunities & threats posed by these envl inputs   
  4.  INSIGHT LEARNING REFERS TO SOLVING A PROBLEM THROUGH UNDERSTANDING THE RELATIONSHIPS OF VARIOUS PARTS OF THE PROBLEM  
  Insight often occurs suddenly, such as when a person looks at a certain problem for some time & then suddenly grasps its solution   
  The psychologist Wolfgang Kohler performed important insight experiments in the early 1900s   
  Kohler showed that chimpanzees sometimes use insight instead of trial & error responses to solve problems   
  When a banana was placed high out of reach, the animals discovered that they could stack boxes on top of each other to reach it   
  They also discovered how to put two sticks together to reach an object that was too far away to reach w/ one stick   
  The chimpanzees appeared both to see &  to use the relationships involved in reaching their goals   
   may occur at a social mvmt action when people suddenly feel or believe they grasp an important point of the mvmt or a charismatic leader   

 
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 Outline on the  Factors Affecting Learning
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  SOCIAL SCIENTISTS HAVE DEMONSTRATED THAT LEARNING PROFITS FROM: 
A READINESS TO LEARN 
THE MOTIVATION TO LEARN 
THE TACTICS USED TO LEARN 
THE TRANSFER OF KNOWLEDGE / BELIEFS / SKILLS 
THE COMPLEMENTARITY OF KNOWLEDGE / BELIEFS / SKILLS 
THE SOCIAL PSYCH FACTORS INCLUDING BELIEF BIAS, FLEXIBILITY IN THINKING, INTELLIGENCE, PRIOR KNOWLEDGE, VALS, BELIEFS, ETC 		  
 
 THE READINESS TO LEARN IS IMPACTED BY PHYSICAL CAPABILITY, MENTAL ABILITY, SOCIAL BKGRD, CULTURE, THE PHYSICAL ENV, THEIR STATE OF  WELL BEING, & MORE 
 
  A person's readiness, physical & mental ability, & their social & physical env all impact learning 
 
  Learning occurs more efficiently if a person is ready to learn physically in relation to the maturity of a child or young person, a person's health, their state of sustenance, & their physical capacities such as eye sight, hearing, & so on
 
  This readiness results from a combination of growth, experience, environment, & well being 
 
  Children cannot learn to read until their eyes & nervous systems are mature enough & old people may having failing eye sight & are more easily tired 
 
  Children & people from different cultures must have a sufficient bkgrd of spoken words & reading experience w/ letters & pictures 
 
  When the principle of readiness to learn is applied to learning the social sciences, it illustrates that those who generally support social programs, the env, etc are, b/c they have the soc bkgrd, & cultural experiences related to soc programs, are more likely to be able to learn more about them & support them   
  MOTIVATION TO LEARN IS IMPACTED BY A PERSON'S KNOWLEDGE & BELIEFS OF WHAT THEY WANT TO LEARN, WHICH IS INTERNALLY BASED, AS WELL AS BY WHAT THEY SHOULD LEARN, WHICH IS EXTERNALLY BASED 
 
  Social scientists & educators recognize that learning is best when the learner is motivated to learn 
 
  External rewards are often used to increase motivation to learn 
 
  Motivation aroused by external rewards is called extrinsic motivation 
 
  people are motivated simply by the satisfaction of learning.
 
  Motivation that results from such satisfaction is called intrinsic motivation 
 
  Intrinsic motivation motivation can be even more powerful than extrinsic motivation 
 
  Punishment, particularly the threat of punishment, is also used to control learning 
 
  Experiments have shown that intrinsic & extrinsic rewards serve as more effective aids to learning than punishment does 
 
 
 Intrinsic & extrinsic rewards are more effective than punishment b/c learners can recognize the direct effects of reward more easily than they can the effects of punishment 
 
  Intrinsic & extrinsic rewards are more effective than punishment b/c the by products of reward are more favorable   
 
 Reward often leads to liking the rewarded task, but punishment often leads to dislike of the punished deed 
 
  Social scientists also look at the motivation of learning from the individual learner's pt of view   
  When we think of our own learning experience of a task or body of knowledge, we tend to think about it in terms of our success & failure; did I learn it or did I fail to learn it?   
  As learners we don't think of our learning experience in terms of 'was I rewarded for that behavior/knowledge or punished?'   
  Success consists of reaching a goal that we as learners set for ourselves   
  Failure consists of not reaching the goal   
  An ideal learning situation is one in which learners set progressively more difficult goals for themselves, & keep at the task until they succeed   
  Skill learning and verbal learning   
  Through research, social scientists have discovered some general rules designed to help a person learn   
  When the principle of motivation to learn is applied to learning the social sciences, it illustrates that those who generally support social programs, the env, etc are, b/c they are motivated in relation to soc programs, are more likely to be able to learn more about them & support them   
  GENERALLY SOME PRACTICES OR TACTICS OF LEARNING, SUCH AS REPEATED SHORT TERM EXPOSURE, MAKE IT MORE EFFECTIVE & PERMANENT  
  1.  Generally for learning a skill, w/in a given amt of practice time, you can usually learn a task more easily if you work in short practice sessions spaced widely apart, instead of longer sessions held closer together   
  2.  Generally for learning a skill, you can learn many tasks best by imitating experts   
  3.  Generally for learning a skill, you should perform a new activity yourself, rather than merely watch or listen to someone.   
  4.  Generally for learning a skill, you learn better if you know immediately how good your performance was.  
  5.  Generally for learning a skill, you should practice difficult parts of a task separately and then try to incorporate them into the task as a whole.   
  Two additional rules apply mainly to verbal learning   
  1.  Generally for verbal learning, the more meaningful the task, the more easily it is learned.  
  2.  Generally for verbal learning, you will find a task or subject easier to learn if you can relate it to other things you have learned   
  3.  Generally for verbal learning, a part of a task or subject  is learned faster when it is distinctive   
  When studying a book, for example, underlining a difficult passage in red makes the passage distinctive & easier to learn   
  When the principle of tactics of learning is applied to learning the social sciences, it illustrates that those who generally support social programs, the env, etc are, b/c they have the practices or tactics related to soc programs, are more likely to be able to learn more about them & support them   
  SOC SCIENTISTS RECOGNIZE TRANSFER OF LEARNING AS WHAT ONE HAS PREVIOUSLY LEARNED OR BELIEVED HELPING, OR HINDERING IN LEARNING OR BELIEVING ANOTHER TASK OR SUBJECT   
  Social scientists & educators recognize that new learning can profit from old learning b/c learning one thing helps in learning something else   
  This process of prior knowledge, experience, skills, learning, etc is called transfer of learning  
  Transfer of learning can be either positive or negative  
  Suppose a person learns two tasks; usually after learning Task 1, the person might find Task 2 easier or harder   
  If Task 2 is easier, then the old learning has been a help & positive transfer of learning has occurred   
  If Task 2 is harder, the old learning is a hindrance & negative transfer has occurred   
  When the principle the transfer of learning is applied to learning the social sciences, it illustrates that those who generally support social programs, the env, etc are, b/c they have prior knowledge related to soc programs, are more likely to be able to learn more about them & support them   
  KNOWLEDGE, BELIEFS, OR VALUES WHICH COMPLEMENT EACH OTHER IN LEARNING A TASK OR SUBJECT MAKE THAT LEARNING MORE EFFECTIVE OR EASIER   
  Whether transfer is positive or negative depends on the relationship btwn the two tasks   
  Positive transfer occurs when the two tasks have similar stimuli & both stimuli elicit the same response   
  For example, if we know the German word gross, it is easier to learn the French word gros because both words mean large b/c in this case, similar stimuli (gross & gros) elicit the same response (large)   
  Negative transfer occurs when the two tasks have similar stimuli, which elicit different responses   
  After you learn the German word Gras (grass), it is harder to learn the French word gras (fat) b/c the words are similar, but they have different meanings   
  In this case, similar stimuli (Gras & gras) elicit different responses  
  Knowledge, beliefs, or values which do not complement each other, ie are dissimilar, conflict, dissonant, illogical, etc make learning a task or subject ineffective or difficult   
  When the principle of complementarity is applied to learning the social sciences, it illustrates that those who generally support social programs, the env, etc are, b/c they have more similar knowledge, beliefs, & values related to soc programs, are more likely to be able to learn more about them & support them   
  SOCIAL PSYCH FACTORS INCLUDING BELIEF BIAS, FLEXIBILITY IN THINKING, INTELLIGENCE, PRIOR KNOWLEDGE, VALS, BELIEFS, ETC  
  Belief bias is the tendency to judge the strength of arguments based on the plausibility of their conclusion rather than how strongly they support that conclusion  
  Flexibility in thinking is the extent to which one is able & willing to 'think outside their own box' so to speak  
  Flexibility in thinking is the extent to which one is able & willing to question one's own thinking, mental processes, assumptions, conclusions, & so on   
  Studies have shown that intelligent people are more likely to look at a variety of processes in solving a problem, as well as a variety of solutions for a problem   
  One prior values, beliefs, knowledge, & experiences in general form the foundation of one's personality, of one's personal subculture & thus impact how & what we learn just as they impact how & what we are, & how & what we are becoming   

 
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 Outline on  Belief Bias
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 BELIEF BIAS IS THE PROCESS WHERE AN INDIVIDUAL'S OWN VALUES, BELIEFS, PRIOR KNOWLEDGE, EXPERIENCES, & SO ON AFFECTS, OR DISTORTS THE REASONING PROCESS THROUGH THE ACCEPTANCE OF INVALID ARGUMENT OR DATA 
 
  In everyday life, our conclusions are often correct; for example, if your finger is bleeding, then a likely explanation is some variation of a cut, but such leaps of logic are often not valid in more complicated situations   
  Our prior expectations help us to organize our experiences & understand the world   
  The belief bias effect is a situation in reasoning when people make judgments based on prior beliefs & general knowledge, rather than on the rules of logic   
  The belief bias effect occurs whenever conclusions are drawn based on a person's prior beliefs as opposed to purely relying on logic   
  When a situation is difficult we tend to fall back on what we know from experience instead of wking through it logically   
  BELIEF BIAS IMPACTS HOW WE REASON IN THAT WE ARE MORE LIKELY TO USE LOGIC & RATIONALITY WHEN THE SUBJECT, TASK, KNOWLEDGE, DECISION, ETC COMPLEMENTS OUR MIND SET, & MORE LIKELY TO ESCHEW LOGIC & APPLY PRIOR UNDERSTANDING WHEN THE SUBJECT, TASK, KNOWLEDGE, DECISION, ETC CONTRADICTS OUR MIND SET   
  When a reasoning task is difficult, people should search for additional info relevant to the situation & apply logic to all relevant info, but w/ belief bias, people will ignore info, esp info that contradicts their world view, & rely heavily, erroneously on only their own knowledge & beliefs   
  If something seems sensible, it is often b/c it fits w/ our present mind set, & people often agree that the reasoning process is correct b/c they have made prior errors based on both their bkgrd knowledge as well as their prior decisions   
  When people see a solution that looks as if its reasoning process is correct, they do not pay attn to the reasoning process that generated the statement or critically assess the outcome   
  THE BELIEF BIAS EFFECT IMPACTS OUR ABILITY TO PERCEIVE NEW INFO IN THAT WE ARE MORE LIKELY TO PERCEIVE INFO THAT IS COMPLEMENTARY TO OUR MIND SET & LESS LIKELY TO PERCEIVE INFO THAT IS CONTRADICTORY TO OUR MIND SET   
  While the belief bias effect affects how we process our bkgrd info, ie we usually give our own knowledge, experience, decisions, beliefs, etc priority over other knowledge & beliefs, esp if new knowledge & beliefs contradicts our prior mind set, the belief bias effect also impacts how we process or perceive new info   
  Belief bias distorts how we perceive new info   
  People are more likely to both acknowledge or accept & remember info that is consistent w/ their bkgrd knowledge & beliefs   
  People are less likely to either acknowledge or accept or be able to remember info that is contradicts their bkgrd knowledge & beliefs   
  INTELLIGENCE & FLEXIBILITY IN THINKING BOTH IMPACT THE EXTENT OF OUR BELIEF BIAS EFFECT   
  People vary widely in their susceptibility to the belief bias effect   
  People with low scores on an intelligence test are esp likely to demonstrate the belief bias effect   
  People are likely to demonstrate the belief bias effect if they score low on a test of flexible thinking   
  In contrast, people who are flexible thinkers are more likely to solve the reasoning problems correctly, w/o being impacted by the belief bias effect   
  In general, flexible thinkers also tend to look more carefully at a reasoning problem, trying to determine whether the logic is faulty   
  Individuals who are firm in their own beliefs will be less likely to accept rules of logic & instead look toward their own knowledge to solve problems   
  Generally, one's bkgrd knowledge & beliefs act as a good tool for problem solving; however, these tools can lead to erroneous conclusions when dealing w/ a reasoning problem   
  B/c general knowledge & beliefs are a basis for our problem solving, erroneous knowledge & beliefs are likely to influence a decision or perception in an erroneous manner   

 
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 Outline on  Sources
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  THERE ARE MANY ACADEMIC SOURCES OF INFO IN THE SOCIAL SCIENCES & THUS THE CHALLENGE IS TO FOCUS IN SO AS TO FIND THE INFO THAT IS MOST RELEVANT, HISTORICAL, UP TO DATE, COMPARATIVE, ETC 
 
  We live in an age overflowing w/ sources of info
 
  With so many info sources at our fingertips, knowing where to start, sorting through it all & finding what we want can be overwhelming 
 
  Books present a multitude of topics. B/c of the time it takes to publish a book, books usually contain more dated info than will be found in journals & newspapers 
 
  Newspapers: Predominately covering the latest events & trends, newspapers contain very up to date info 
 
  Newspapers report both info that is factual in nature & also share opinions 
 
  Generally, however, newspapers will not take a 'big picture' approach or contain info about larger trends 
 
  Academic & Trade Journals are where to find the most up to date info & research in industry, business, & academia 
 
  Journal articles come in several forms, including literature reviews that overview current & past research, articles on theories & history, or articles on specific processes or research 
 
  Government Reports & Legal Documents: The government releases info intended for its own use or for public use   
  Govt report types of documents can be an excellent source of info   
  An example of a government report is the US Census data  
  Most govt reports & legal documents can now be accessed online.  
  Press Releases & Advertising:  Companies & special interest groups produce texts to help persuade readers to act in some way or inform the public about some new development  
  Flyers, Pamphlets, Leaflets: While some flyers or pamphlets are created by reputable sources, b/c of the ease in which they are created, many less than reputable sources also produce these  
  Flyers, pamphlets, & leaflets are useful for quick reference or very general info   
  Multimedia: printed material is certainly not the only option for finding research   
  Also consider media sources such as radio & television broadcasts, interactive talks, & public meetings   
  Web Sites:  Most of the info on the Internet is distributed via Web sites. Web sites vary widely in quality of info & validity of sources  
  Blogs / Blogs: A rather recent development in Web technology, web logs or blogs are a type of interactive journal where writers post & readers respond   
  Web sites, blogs, blogs, etc vary widely in quality of info & validity of sources & so should be used only when their academic credential is estb   
  Many prestigious journalists & public figures may have blogs, which may be more credible of a blog than most   
  Message Boards, Discussion lists, & Chat rooms: Discussion lists, chat rooms, & message boards exist for all kinds of disciplines both in & outside of the university. However, plenty of boards exist that are rather unhelpful & poorly researched  
  Multimedia:  The Internet has a multitude of multimedia resources including online broadcasts & news, images, audio files, & interactive Web sites   
  Journal Indexes:  There are reviews of books in many journal indexes found by selecting a general journal index or an index for the subject area of the book & then searching for the title &/or author of the book   
  Citation Indexes:  To see the impact a particular source has had on scholarship, consult a citation index   
  A citation index lists when & where a work has been cited   
  In other words, one could consult a Citation Index to see all the articles that have cited, for example, David Ho's research on HIV  
  Book Reviews: A book review, which can appear in a journal, magazine or newspaper, provides a descriptive, evaluative discussion of a recently published book   
  Reading how others have evaluated a book may help you decide whether to use that book in your research   
  There are a number of indexes you can consult that provide references to book reviews, including: 
Book Review Digest (1905-current ) Online: 1905-1982 and 1983-current. UCB only 
Book Review Index (1965- ) 
New York Review of Books (1963-current) 		  
  PRIMARY SOURCES PRESENT ORIGINAL RESEARCH; SECONDARY SOURCES PROVIDES A COMPILATION OF EXISTING RESEARCH   
  In determining the appropriateness of a resource, it may be helpful to determine whether it is primary research or secondary research  
  Primary research presents original research methods or findings for the first time   
  Secondary research does not present new research but rather provides a compilation or evaluation of previously presented material   
  An example of primary research is a journal article, book, or other publication that presents new findings & new theories, usually w/ the data   
  A newspaper account written by a journalist who was present at the event he or she is describing is a primary source (an eye witness, first hand account), & may also be primary 'research,' but often the research is not considered scholarly   
  Scientific article summarizing research or data, such as in Scientific American, Discover, Annual Review of Genetics, or Biological Reviews are secondary research, though recently these top end periodicals have published some primary research articles   
  Examples of secondary research include an encyclopedia entry, entries in most other reference books, textbooks, many trade journals, & more   
  An article in a popular magazine such as Mother Jones about the public health aspects of handgun control may be either or both primary & secondary research in that if it relies on interviews w/ experts & does not present any new research in the area, the article would be considered secondary research   
  If one of the experts interviewed in the Mother Jones article published a study in JAMA (The Journal of the American Medical Association) documenting for the first time the effect that handguns have on youth mortality rates, only the JAMA article would be considered primary research, but if the expert had not published in JAMA & revealed the outcomes of the research 1st in the Mother Jones interview, then this would be primary research   
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 Some Social Sciences Indexes:   
  Sociological Abstracts: 
San Diego: Sociological Abstracts, 1952–. The most detailed index for the field, covering journal articles, book chapters, dissertations, & conference presentations on cultural & social structure, demography, family & social welfare, social development, studies of violence & power, & more. Recently added material includes the sources cited in an article & links to works that have cited a given article		  
  Social Science Index: 
New York: Wilson, 1974–. An interdisciplinary index to over 600 key journals in the social sciences, including anthropology, psychology, sociology, economics, & political science. In some libraries, the database includes the full texts of selected articles. 		  
  Social Science Citation Index: 
Philadelphia: Institute for Scientific Information, 1956–. An interdisciplinary database covering more than 1,700 journals in the social sciences. Search by author, keyword, or cited source, a good way to trace the influence of a particular work. Part of the Web of Knowledge, this database also offers a powerful Related Records search, which identifies articles that cite one or more of the same sources. 		  
  Intute Social Sciences:
http://www.intute.ac.uk/socialsciences. A selective catalog of thousands of Web sites in the social sciences, hosted in the United Kingdom. Users can browse by topic & region or search by keyword. Each entry has been reviewed & is annotated. The focus is on high quality sites that provide info directly rather than just link to other sites. It is an excellent resource for international social sciences data. 
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  SocioSite
http://www.sociosite.net. A collection of links arranged in 18 categories and, within those categories, by country. Of particular note are the sections on sociologists, subjects in sociology, & data archives. The site is maintained by Albert Benschop of the University of Amsterdam. 
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  Social Work & Social Services Web Sites
http://gwbweb.wustl.edu/Resources/Pages/socialservicesresourcesintro.aspx. A topical list of recommended sites on topics such as abuse & violence, evidence based social work, family issues, poverty, & welfare. A service of the George Warren Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis.
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  Journal-Ranking.com    http://journal-ranking.com/ranking/listCommonRanking.html?selfCitationWeight=1&externalCitationWeight=1&citingStartYear=1901&journalListId=440
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  Sociology Journals    University of Rajasthan.       http://www.uniraj.ac.in/JOURNALS/sociologylist.html
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  List of Sociology Journals.  Wikipedia.     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sociology_journals
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  The Open Directory Project             http://www.dmoz.org/docs/en/about.html
The Open Directory Project is the largest, most comprehensive human edited directory of the Web. It is constructed & maintained by a vast, global community of volunteer editors.
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  The WWW Virtual Library             http://vlib.org/
The WWW Virtual Library (VL) is the oldest catalogue of the Web, started by Tim Berners-Lee, the creator of HTML & of the Web itself, in 1991 at CERN in Geneva. Unlike commercial catalogues, it is run by a loose confederation of volunteers, who compile pages of key links for particular areas in which they are expert; even though it isn't the biggest index of the Web, the VL pages are widely recognized as being amongst the highest quality guides to particular sections of the Web.
Individual indexes live on hundreds of different servers around the world. A set of catalogue pages linking these pages is maintained at http://vlib.org/. A mirror of the Catalog is kept at East Anglia (UK).
The catalogue pages started life on the original web server at CERN, & have been hosted at various locations around the World since then. They moved to a new server in Geneva in 2004, not many kilometers from their first location.
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  JSTOR          http://www.jstor.org/
Journals, primary sources, & books, available as a service through most libraries 
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 Some Sociological Sources:   
  American Journal of Sociology  
  American Sociological Review  
  Annual Review of Sociology  
  Comparative Studies in Society and History  
  Contemporary Sociology  
  Criminology   
  Critical Sociology   
  Current Sociology  
  Deviant Behavior  
  Economy and Society  
  Electronic Journal of Sociology  
  Environment & Society   
  Ethnic and Racial Studies  
  Gender and Society   
  Journal of Marriage and Family  
  Journal of Politics & Society 
 
  Journal of Sociology 
 
  Journal of World-Systems Research 
 
  Mobilization: The International Quarterly Review of Social Movement Research 
 
  Qualitative Sociology
 
  Rural Sociology   
  Science and Society   
  Social Forces  
  Social Problems   
  Society   
  Sociological Quarterly   
  Sociological Theory  
  Sociology   
  Sociology of Education  
  Work & Occupations   
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 Some Social Science Sources:   
  Administrative Science Quarterly   
  Urban Institute
http://www.urban.org. The Web site of a nonpartisan organization devoted to research on economic & social policy. The site includes a wealth of reports by topic as well as analysis of issues. 
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  Psychological Abstracts  
  Popular Guide to Govt Publications  
  New York TImes Index  
  Facts on File  
  Editorial Research Reports  
  Business Periodical Index  
  Monthly catalog of Govt Publications  
  Public Affairs Info Service Bulletin   
  Educational Index   
  Applied Science & Technology Index   
  A Guide to Geographic Periodicals   
  General Science Index   
  Biological & Agricultural Index   
  Nursing & Applied Health Index   
  Nursing studies Index   
 
 Index to Little Magazines   
 
 Popular Periodical Index  
  Biography Index   
  Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report   
  Library Literature   
  Bibliographic Index   
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 Data Sources in Sociology:  
  American Statistics Index.
Washington: Congressional Information Service, 1974–. A useful index to statistics that are buried within government publications. The online version, called Statistical Masterfile or LexisNexis Statistical, contains some links to full texts. It is searchable by keyword, subject, author, title, agency, or year & can be limited by demographic, geographic, or other variables. 		  
  FedStats
http://www.fedstats.gov. A well organized portal for statistical info available from more than 100 U.S. government agency sites. Statistics can be searched by keyword or browsed by topic or agency. Links to downloadable data sets are included. 
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  Internet Crossroads in Social Science Data
http://www.disc.wisc.edu/newcrossroads/index.asp. Offers more than 800 annotated links to online data sources. Searchable by keyword or browsable by category, the site includes links to government & non government sites concerned w/ domestic & international economics & labor, health, education, geography, history, politics, sociology, & demography. The site is maintained by the Data & Program Library Service at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. 
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  U.S. Census Bureau
http://www.census.gov. Offers access to an astounding amount of demographic, social, & economic data. The search engine can pinpoint relevant statistical tables & reports. The site is updated almost daily w/ newly released reports
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  The Gallup Poll.
Wilmington: Scholarly Resources, 1972–. An annual print compilation of opinion poll statistics gathered by the Gallup organization from 1935 to the present.		  
  Historical Statistics of the United States: Earliest Times to the Present.
Ed. Susan B. Carter. Rev. ed. 5 vols. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006. Offers vital statistics, economic figures, & social data for the United States over time; it includes a subject index. For more recent figures, consult the latest volume of the Statistical Abstract of the United States		  
  International Historical Statistics, 1750–2000: Europe.
By B. R. Mitchell. 5th ed. New York: Palgrave, 2003. Offers time series data for European countries, including figures on population, agriculture, the economy, transportation, communications, & education. Other volumes by the same author cover different regions of the world		  
  Statistical Abstract of the United States.
Washington: Government Printing Office, 1879–. Perhaps the single most useful collection of statistical info available in a small package. It includes hundreds of tables w/ figures on areas such as population, economics, & social factors as well as references to the original sources. An index provides easy access. Statistical abstracts from 1995 to the present are available on the Web at http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab
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 Reference Books in Sociology:   
  International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences.
Ed. Neil J. Smelser & Paul B. Baltes. 26 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2001. A vast compendium of scholarly articles on topics in the social sciences. International & interdisciplinary in perspective, this work is particularly useful for its cross references among related topics. 		  
  The Social Sciences: A Cross-Disciplinary Guide to Selected Sources.
Ed. Nancy L. Herron. 3rd ed. Englewood: Libraries Unlimited, 2003. Provides info about the most important tools for social sciences research, w/ essays describing the structure of each discipline's literature. 		  
  Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology.
Ed. George Ritzer. 11 vols. Malden: Blackwell, 2007. Offers thorough coverage of sociological theory & topics such as alcohol & crime, community, consumption, prejudice, the public sphere, & hundreds more. 		  
  Encyclopedia of American Social Movements.
Ed. Immanuel Ness. 4 vols. Armonk: Sharpe, 2004. Covers a range of social movements including civil rights; antiwar protests; the labor movement; religious movements; the gay, lesbian, bisexual, & transgender movements; nativist & conservative movements; & women's rights. 		  
  Encyclopedia of Social Theory.
Ed. George Ritzer. 2 vols. Thousand Oaks: Sage, 2005. A handy place to find overviews of theories & theorists, both classical & cutting edge. A good starting place for tracking down key ideas & core sources. 		  
  International Encyclopedia of Marriage and Family.
Ed. James J. Ponzetti. 2nd ed. 4 vols. New York: Macmillan Reference, 2003. Covers aspects of family life including adolescent parenthood, family violence, fatherhood, & gender in a cross cultural context. 		  
  Encyclopedia of Sociology.
Ed. Edgar G. Montgomery et al. 2nd ed. 5 vols. New York: Macmillan Library Reference, 2000. Provides scholarly discussions of such topics as class & race, ethnicity, economic sociology, & social structure. The articles are written by specialists & include excellent bibliographies.		  
  Violence in America: An Encyclopedia.
Ed. Ronald Gottsman & Richard Maxwell Brown. 3 vols. New York: Scribner, 1999. A wide ranging exploration of political, social, & psychological aspects of violence, including violence in sports & popular culture as well as violence against the environment, economic aspects of violence, & violence against specific populations. Experts from many disciplines contributed over 600 essays; the third volume includes an index to the set. 		  

 
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  TODAY THE DECISION MAKER, LEARNER, & RESEARCHER WILL FIND A SURPLUS OF INFO ON ALMOST ANY TOPIC & THE CHALLENGE & THE ART IS TO LOCATE APPROPRIATE INFO & EVALUATE IT TO DETERMINE IT'S ACCURACY & OBJECTIVENESS
 
  Evaluating sources of info is an important step in any research activity
 
  In the social sciences a researcher must eval as sources:  books. journals, bibliographic citations, & internet sources 
 
  The world is full of info to be found; however, not all of it is valid, useful, or accurate 
 
  Evaluating sources of info that a researcher is are using is an important step in any research activity, or simply in any learning effort 
 
  The quantity of info available is so staggering that we cannot know everything about a subject 
 
  For example, it's estimated that anyone attempting to research what's known about depression would have to read over 100,000 studies on the subject 
 
  There is the problem of trying to decide which studies have produced reliable results   
  Similarly, for info on other topics, not only is there a huge quantity available but w/ a very uneven level of quality   
  A researcher or a learner should not rely on the news in the headlines of sensational tabloids near supermarket checkout counters, & it's just as hard to know how much to accept of what's in all the books, magazines, pamphlets, newspapers, journals, brochures, web sites, & various media reports that are available   
  People want to convince others to buy their products, agree w/  their opinions, rely on their data, vote for their candidate, consider their perspective, or accept them as experts  
  Decision makers, learners, scholars, researchers all have to sift through info & make decisions all the time, & they want to make responsible choices that they won't regret   
  Evaluating sources is an important skill which has been called an art as well as work, much of which is detective work   
  One has to decide where to look, what clues to search for, & what to accept   
  One may be overwhelmed w/  too much info or too little   
  The temptation is to accept whatever one finds   
  Learning how to evaluate effectively is a skill we need for decisions in everyday life, for life's most important decisions, for learning,  for course research papers, as well as for scholarly, professional research   
  When writing research papers, the researcher will be evaluating sources as she or he searches for info   
  The researcher will need to make decisions about what to search for, where to look, & once they've found material on their topic, if it is a valid or useful source for their project 
 
  DECISION MAKERS, LEARNERS, & RESEARCHERS EVALUATE INFO & SOURCES IN ORDER TO AVOID INACCURATE INFO, TO AVOID BIASED INFO, & TO AVOID THE HUMAN TENDENCY TO 'SEE' INFO THAT ONE AGREES W/ & TO NOT 'SEE' INFO THAT ONE DOES NOT  
  Some info is inaccurate b/c of honest mistakes, poor methods, lack of understanding, purposeful deception, & more   
  Some info is biased b/c the author wishes to only tell one side of the argument, the author is ill informed, the author is biased, poor methodology, & more   
  Researchers attempt an objective eval of sources b/c of the everyday tendencies to misinterpret sources through such process as belief bias, being more easily steered to sources that  support our viewpt, being more likely to overlook sources that oppose our viewpt, & so on   
  We are more likely to find sources that support our viewpt b/c we are more familiar w/ that set of info while we are less likely to find sources that oppose our viewpt b/c we are less or unfamiliar w/ that set of info   
  BIBLIOGRAPHIC CITATIONS ARE A GOOD PLACE TO BEGIN EVALUATING A SOURCE   
  When searching for info in library catalogues & online article databases such as EbscoHost or Proquest Direct, one first encounters a bibliographic citation entry  
  A bibliographic citation provides relevant info about the author & the publication as well as short summary of the text   
  Before one reads a source or spend time hunting for it, begin by using the info in the citation to evaluate whether it's worth finding or reading   
  When evaluating a citation consider: the publisher, the author, the title of the work, the summary, where it is, the timeliness of the entry, the author's institution, & the funder(s) of the research   
  It is also useful to look at the keywords to see what other categories the work falls into   
  ONE SHOULD EVALUATE A SOURCE AS THEY READ THROUGH IT   
  After one has asked themself some questions about the source & determined that it's worth your time to find & read that source, one can evaluate the material in the source as it is read through   
  Read the preface to determine what the author wants to accomplish   
  Browse through the table of contents & the index to give an overview of the source   
  Examine whether the topic covered in enough depth to be helpful   
  If the topic ins not discussed, try searching for some synonyms in the index   
  Check for a list of references or other citations that look as if they will lead to related material that would be good sources   
  Determine the intended audience by considering the tone, style, level of info, & assumptions the author makes about the reader   
  Try to determine if the content of the source is fact, opinion, or propaganda   
  If the source is offering facts, ensure that the sources for those facts clearly indicated 
 
  Determine whether there's enough evidence offered & the coverage is comprehensive; as one learns more & more about a topic, this gets easier as one becomes more of an expert   
  Ensure that the language is objective & not emotional unless the objective is to find opinionated, emotional sources   
  Look for broad generalizations that overstate or oversimplify the matter   
  Expect a good mix of primary & secondary sources for info   
  In some sources, the researcher may expect or want emotion, opinion, etc   
  If the source is opinion, look for sound reasons for adopting that stance by considering again those questions about the author such as their reputable   
  Check for straight forward accuracy   
  Look to see how timely the source is   
  Old sources are not necessarily invalid sources as one may be looking or historical info, comparative info, the origin of the issue, other paradigms, etc   
  Some info becomes dated when new research is available, but other older sources of info can be quite sound 50 or 100 yrs later   
  Do some cross checking to see if some of the same info is given elsewhere   
  Examine the credibility of the author & if the document is anonymous, examine the credibility of the organization   
  If there vague or sweeping generalizations that aren't backed up w/ evidence, the article is less scholarly  
  If arguments are very one sided w/ no acknowledgment of other viewpoints, this is a watch out situation   
  THERE ARE MANY ASPECTS OF A SOURCE THAT CAN BE EVALUATED TO DETERMINE A SOURCE'S CREDIBILITY FROM AUTHOR TO AUDIENCE   
  Author:  While print media usually make the authorship clear, a web site or document may not have an author   
  On the internet you may need to do some clicking & scrolling to find the author's name.   
  If you have landed directly on an internal page of a site, for example, you may need to navigate to the home page or find an 'about this site' link to learn the name of the author  
  If there is an author, can you tell whether he or she is knowledgeable & credible  
  When the author's qualifications aren't listed on the site itself, look for links to the author's home page, which may provide evidence of his or her interests & expertise  
  On websites, it is often not clear whether there is an author of the document or not   
  If you cannot determine the author of the site, then think twice about using it as a resource   
  Determine the author's academic credentials   
  Determine what else the author has written   
  Sometimes info about the author is listed somewhere in the article  
  Other times, you may need to consult another resource to get background info on the author  
  Sometimes it helps to search the author's name in a general web search engine like Google   
  Scope: Examine the breadth of the article, book, website or other material  
  Determine whether the source is a general work that provides an overview of the topic or whether it is specifically focused on only one aspect of the topic   
  Determine whether the source's breadth of the work match the expectations of the research project   
  Determine whether the source covers the right time period for the research project   
  Audience: Determine the intended audience for this source  
  Determine whether the material is too technical or too clinical, too elementary or too basic   
  You are more likely to retrieve articles written for the appropriate audience if you start off in the right index   
  For instance, to find resources listing the latest statistics on heart disease you may want to avoid the Medline database which will bring up articles designed for practicing clinicians rather than social science researchers  
  Determine whether the site was created to argue a position, to sell a product, to inform the general public, to inform a narrow constituency, & so on   
  Timeliness:. Determine when the source was published   
  If it is a website, determine when  it was last updated & avoid using undated websites  
  Library catalogs & periodical indexes always indicate the publication date in the bibliographic citation   
 
 Scholarly vs. Popular:  A scholarly journal is generally one that is published by & for experts. . . 
 
  In order to be published in a scholarly journal, an article must first go through the peer review process in which a group of widely acknowledged experts in a field reviews it for content, scholarly soundness & academic value  
  In most cases, articles in scholarly journals present new, previously unpublished research  
  Scholarly sources will almost always include all the info needed to evaluate the author, institution, the data collection, methods, the general quality of the study, & more   
  As a general rule, scholarly journals are not printed on glossy paper, do not contain advertisements for popular consumer items & do not have colorful graphics & illustrations (there are, of course, exceptions)   
  Popular magazines range from highly respected publications such as Scientific American & The Atlantic Monthly to general interest newsmagazines like Newsweek & US News & World Report   
 
 Articles in popular publications tend to be written by staff writers or freelance journalists & are geared towards a general audience 
 
 
 Articles in popular magazines are more likely to be shorter than those in academic journals 
 
  While most magazines adhere to editorial standards, articles do not go through a peer review process & rarely contain bibliographic citations   
 
 Documentation: A bibliography, along w/ footnotes, indicate that the author has consulted other sources & serves to authenticate the info that he or she is presenting. 
 
  In websites, expect links or footnotes documenting sources, & referring to additional resources & other viewpoints   
 
 Institution:  Determine whether the site is sponsored by a group or org
 
 
 If a web site sponsored by a grp or company, determine if the grp advocates a certain philosophy
 
 
 Try to find & read 'About Us' or similar info to determine the credentials of the author & sponsoring org(s) 
 
 
 The 'Other Links' Section:  Assess how credible & authentic the links to other resources are 
 
 
 If the Other Links are to less than credible sources, this is an indicator that the source itself is weak 
 
  EVALUATING PRINT & INTERNET SOURCES REQUIRE ONE TO EXAMINE SOME SIMILAR & SOME DIFFERENT ASPECTS OF THE SOURCES INCLUDING  AUTHOR, PUBLISHER, INSTIT, REVIEWERS, & MORE   
  W/ the advent of the World Wide Web, we are seeing a massive influx of digital texts & sources   
  Understanding the difference btwn what you can find on the Web & what you can find in more traditional print sources is key to evaluating your sources  
  Some sources such as journal or newspaper articles can be found in both print & digital format   
  However, much of what is found on the Internet does not have a print equivalent, & hence, has low or no quality standards for publication   
  Understanding the difference btwn the types of resources available will help you evaluate what you find   
  While most of the strategies for evaluating info can be applied to any type of resource (books, articles or websites), the unfiltered, free form nature of the web provides unique challenges in determining a web site's appropriateness as an info source   
  Most traditional print sources go through an extensive publication process that includes editing & article review in that  the process has fact checkers, multiple reviewers, & editors to ensure quality of publication   
  Anyone w/a computer & access to the internet can publish a web site or electronic document & so most web documents do not have editors, fact checkers, or other types of reviewers   
  Print sources clearly indicate who the author is, what organization(s) he or she is affiliated w/, & when his or her work was published.  
  Authorship & affiliations are difficult to determine on the internet & some sites may have author & sponsorship listed, but many do not   
  In most traditional print publications, external sources of info & direct quotations are clearly marked & identified while in most internet sources the author used or referred to in the text may not be clearly indicated in an internet source   
  Qualifications of an author are almost always necessary for print sources in that only qualified authors are likely to have their manuscripts accepted for publication   
  Even if the author & purpose of a website can be determined, the qualifications of the author are not always given   
  Publication info such as date of publication, publisher, author, & editor are always clearly listed in print publications while dates of publication & timeliness of info are often problematic on the internet   
  Dates listed on web sites could be the date posted, date updated, or a date may not be listed at all  
  TO DETECT BIAS, THE OBJECTIVITY OF THE RESEARCH IS THE CENTRAL ITEM, BUT AUTHORSHIP(S), INSTIT, FUNDING SPONSOR(S), OPENNESS TO ALT VIEWS, & MORE ARE ALSO INDICATORS   
  While bias certainly exists in traditional publications, printing is more expensive & difficult to accomplish   
  Most major publishers are out to make a profit & will either not cater to special interest grps or will clearly indicate when they are catering to special interest grps   
  Internet Sources: The purpose of the online text may be misleading in that a web site that appears to be factual may actually be persuasive &/or deceptive   
  If the website is sponsored by a company or organization that advocates a certain philosophy, this may be an indicator of bias   
  The author's or publisher's endorsement of affiliations w/ political or religious views could affect objectivity   
  An author or publisher associated w/ a special interest group, such as Greenpeace or the National Rifle Association, might present only one side of an issue   
  If no alternative views are presented & addressed, this may indicate bias   
  How fairly the author treats opposing views is a good indicator of bias or objectivity   
  Presentation of a particular point of view by the author w/o regard for other pts of view can indicate bias   
  The author's language may show signs of bias or objectivity   
  The author's central claim or thesis should be examined for bias or objectivity   
  How the author support their claim, w/ relevant & sufficient evidence or w/ just a few anecdotes or emotional examples, is an important indicator of bias or objectivity   
  Whether the statistics are consistent w/ those encountered in other sources is an important indicator of bias or objectivity   
  Whether the statistics have been used fairly is a clear indicator of bias or objectivity   
  The author should explain where the statistics came from   
  It is possible to 'lie' w/ statistics by using them selectively or by omitting mathematical details   
  If the author's assumptions questionable, this is an indicator of bias   
  If the author considers opposing arguments & refutes them persuasively & fairly, this is an indicator of objectivity   
  Whether the author falls prey to any logical fallacies is a clear indicator of bias or objectivity   
  If an article is an editorial, it is certainly biased & trying to argue a position w/o obj regard for other positions   
  If an article is published in a magazine that has a particular editorial position, this may be an indicator of bias   
  Objectivity.  Consult resources which indicate whether a publication is known to be conservative or progressive, or is affiliated w/ a particular advocacy group:   
 
 THERE ARE SEVERAL WEB SITES THAT MAY ASSIST IN SOURCE EVALUATION   
 
 Among the reference sources available that list biographical info about authors & scholars are: 
American Men & Women of Science (some Reference sections at Q141.C312) 
Ask at reference desks about specialized versions for Economics, Medical, Social & Behavioral, & other disciplines 
Contemporary Authors .(some Reference sections at A12.C592 Biographies) 
 
 
 A good resource that provides background info to help you evaluate periodicals is: 
Magazines for Libraries (Reference in some libraries:  AP1.21.K3 Directories). 
Tip: When searching a journal index such as Expanded Academic ASAP, try narrowing your search by limiting to refereed publications 
This will retrieve only scholarly journals matching your search terms 
Some other journal indexes offer this or a similar option. 
 
 
 The World-Wide Web Virtual Library    Evaluation of info sources    http://www.vuw.ac.nz/staff/alastair_smith/evaln/evaln.htm
Link
 
 The World-Wide Web Virtual Library contains pointers to criteria for evaluating info resources, particularly those on the Internet. 
It is intended to be particularly useful to librarians & others who are selecting sites to include in an info resource guide, or informing users as to the qualities they should use in evaluating Internet info 
Feedback & suggestions of other sites for inclusion are welcomed by the site maintainer, Alastair Smith. 
 
 
 Center for Public Integrity           http://www.publicintegrity.org/?gclid=CPfV3O2j8rsCFUgS7AodBkIAaw
Link
 
 Center for Public Integrity
Nonprofit organization
The Center for Public Integrity is an American nonprofit investigative journalism org whose stated mission is "to reveal abuses of power, corruption & dereliction of duty by powerful public..." 
Founder: Charles Lewis
Founded: March 1989
Nonprofit category: Government & Public Administration
 
 
 Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting              http://fair.org/
 Link
 
 Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting 
Non-profit
Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting is a progressive media criticism organization based in New York City, founded in 1986 
Tax ID: 13-3392362 
Nonprofit category: Nonprofit Management 
Founder: Jeff Cohen 
 
 
 Check out Fair's pages on 'What's Wrong w/ the Media,' 'How to Detect Bias in the News Media' & others 
 
 
 Center for Media & Democracy          http://www.activistcash.com/organizations/12-center-for-media-democracy/?gclid=CN6H-IKh8rsCFWUV7AodQlYA9A
 Link
 
 The Center for Media and Democracy is a liberal non profit org based in Madison, WI 
CMD is a self described "non-partisan progressive watchdog group," focused "on exposing corporate spin & govt propaganda" 
Founder: John Stauber
Founded: 1993
 
 
 Source Watch          http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/SourceWatch
Link
 
 UC Berkeley:  Virtual Library.  The Good, The Bad & The Ugly: Or, Why It's a Good Idea to Evaluate Web Sources 
From New Mexico State University, this guide includes links to examples of both "good" & "bad" websites		  
  UC Berkeley:  Virtual Library.  How to Critically Analyze Information Sources 
A quick guide to help you determine the relevance & authority of a resource 
A useful companion guide is one titled Distinguishing Scholarly Journals from Other Periodicals. Both from Cornell University. 		  
  UC Berkeley:  Virtual Library.  Evaluating Information Found on the Internet 
A thoughtful guide to evaluating web & other Internet resources for scholarly purposes, from John Hopkins University Library. 		  
  UC Berkeley:  Virtual Library.  Evaluation of Information Sources is an extensive list of links to the many other sites available on evaluating info.   
  UC Berkeley:  Virtual Library.  Evaluating Web Pages: How and Why   

 
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 Outline on  Evaluating Knowledge Institutions
External
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  ONE IMPORTANT ASPECT OF EVALUATING SOURCES IS TO EVALUATE THE INSTITUTIONS WHICH SUPPORT THEM THROUGH PUBLICATION, A WEB SITE, FUNDING, MEDIA EXPOSURE, & MORE 
 
  To evaluate a source, evaluate the institution(s) which support that source or author 
 
  When evaluating a source on a web site, determining who sponsors the site is a necessary step 
 
  The sponsor of a site is often named & described on the home page, though many sites may not wish to reveal a sponsor(s) 
 
  The URL tells you the type of grp hosting the site 
 
  The domain name extension often indicates the type of grp hosting the site: commercial (.com), educational (.edu), nonprofit (.org), governmental (.gov), military (.mil), or network (.net). URLs may also indicate a country of origin: .uk (United Kingdom) or .jp (Japan), for instance 
 
  In print publications in the appendices to these volumes, consult the lists of Periodicals; then look up the names of sponsoring org 
 
  ORGS' PERSPECTIVES RANGE FROM CONSERVATIVE TO LIBERTARIAN TO CENTRIST TO LIBERAL & MORE  
Link
 Generally Conservative Orgs  
Link
 Generally Libertarian Orgs  
Link
 Generally Centrist Orgs  
Link
 Generally Liberal Orgs  
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Org List

 GENERALLY CONSERVATIVE ORGS 
 
 
 American Enterprise Institute 
 
 
 American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) 
 
 
 American Legislative Exchange Council 
Corporation
The American Legislative Exchange Council is a 501 American organization, composed of politically conservative state legislators & business representatives. Wikipedia
CEO: Ron Scheberle
Nonprofit category: Government and Public Administration
Founded: September 1973
 
  Center for Consumer Freedom   
  Center for Consumer Freedom
Non-profit
The Center for Consumer Freedom, formerly the Guest Choice Network, is an American non-profit firm that lobbies on behalf of the fast food, meat, alcohol & tobacco industries. Wikipedia
Founder: Richard Berman
Founded: 1995
Nonprofit category: Civil Liberties Advocacy
Assets: 1.318 million USD (2010)
Income: 2.164 million USD (2010)
Tax deductibility code: 501(c)(3)		  
 
 Center for Immigration Studies
 
 
 Center for Security Policy 
 
 
 Claremont Institute
 
 
 Committee on the Present Danger   
 
 Foreign Policy Research Institute 
 
 
 Heritage Foundation 
 
 
 Heritage Foundation
202,264 followers on Google+
The Heritage Foundation is an American conservative think tank based in Washington, D.C. 
Heritage's stated mission is to "formulate & promote conservative public policies based on the principles of ... Wikipedia
Tax ID: 23-7327730
Founded: February 16, 1973
CEO: Edwin Feulner
Nonprofit category: Public, Society Benefit Research Institutes and/or Public Policy Analysis
Tax deductibility code: 501(c)(3)
 
  Hoover Institution for War, Revolution, and Peace   
  Hudson Institute   
  Manhattan Institute   
  Middle East Forum   
  National Center for Policy Analysis   
  Pacific Research Institute   
  Project for the New American Century   
 
 State Policy Network (SPN)
 
 
 State Policy Network
The State Policy Network is a U.S. national network of free market oriented think tanks focused on individual U.S. states. 
SPN is based in Arlington, Virginia. Wikipedia
Tax ID: 57-0952531
Nonprofit category: Civil Rights, Social Action, Advocacy Management & Technical Assistance
 
 
 U.S. Chamber of Commerce          https://www.uschamber.com/
 Link
 
 U.S. Chamber of Commerce 
A business federation representing companies, business associations, state & local chambers in the U.S., & American Chambers of Commerce abroad
 
 
 Wilson Center
 
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Org List

 GENERALLY LIBERTARIAN ORGS  
  Ayn Rand Institute   
  Atlas Economic Research Foundation   
  Cascade Policy Institute   
  Cato Institute   
  Competitive Enterprise Institute   
  Foundation for Economic Education   
  Foundation for Rational Economics and Education  
  Goldwater Institute   
  Heartland Institute   
  Independent Institute   
  Mackinac Center for Public Policy  
  Mercatus Center   
  Mises Institute   
  Reason Foundation   
  Show-Me Institute   
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Org List

 GENERALLY CENTRIST ORGS  
  American Iranian Council   
  Aspen Institute   
  Atlantic Council of the United States   
  Brookings Institution   
  Carnegie Endowment for International Peace   
  Center for Strategic and International Studies   
  Constitution Project   
  Corporation for Enterprise Development   
  Council on Foreign Relations   
  Committee for Economic Development   
  Information Technology and Innovation Foundation   
  New America Foundation   
  Progressive Policy Institute   
  Resources for the Future   
  Henry L. Stimson Center   
  The RAND Corporation   
  The Stanley Foundation   
  Urban Institute   
  Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars   
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Org List

 GENERALLY LIBERAL ORGS 
 
  Center for American Progress   
  Center on Budget and Policy Priorities   
 
 Common Cause
 
 
 Common Cause
Non-profit
Common Cause is a non-profit, liberal advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C. 
It was founded in 1970 by Republican John W. Gardner, the former Secretary of Health, Education, & Welfare in the administration of President Lyndon Johnson. Wikipedia
Tax ID: 52-6078441
Founder: John W. Gardner
Founded: 1970
 
 
 Center for Economic and Policy Research 
 
 
 Center for Progressive Reform   
 
 Demos
 
  Economic Policy Institute   
  Institute for Policy Studies 
 
  Phoenix Group   
  Rockridge Institute 
 
  Public Citizen   
  The Roosevelt Institution 
 

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