Suchergebnisse

The Dept of Soc-Anthrop has recently made studies of elites in a Ewe community at Keta on the Gold Coast & the Birom tribe of central Nigeria. Ewe culture is relatively complex. The people are influenced by Western educ, though 75% of the adult pop is illiterate. Among the Keta, the direction of societal change is largely under the hand of the literate but not highly educated individuals. Among the Birom, the material standard of living is one of the most meagre in Africa. Though their mode of existence is quite primitive, some gov officials say that the Birom are about to surpass all other northern Nigerians. This change toward a great desire for educ & progress is due not only to the influence of a few British pol'al officers & European missionaries but certainly to the intelligence of the people through their educ & personal qualities. These new wise men of the tribe are respected, trusted, & imitated. No longer do these once 'primitive' people feel themselves despised. B. J. Keeley.

A review & critique of AMERICA AS A CIVILIZATION (See SA 5664). Lerner's middlebrowism in the 1950's is what his radicalism was in the 1930's-the unexamined (& almost unrecognized) habitat of his mind where he makes some of the archetypal errors of conventional thought. Thus, one of the blind spots of his book is that, though it speaks of the highbrow lowbrow, it says next to nothing about the middlebrow. This is astonishing in a book.which purports to comment on the cultural scene at the present time when middlebrowism complacently rules our intellectual life. The question to test Lerner's analytic prowess would be, why, despite the energies of mobility, so conformist, so smug, & so rich in power over opinion? Criticism is meaningless if it cannot detect the place of cultural power in the life of intelligence. But, instead of confronting the reigning middlebrowism, Lerner is content, on the one hand, to warn us about certain potential shortcomings in popular culture, & on the other, to snipe away at the `intellectuals' (See also SA 7332). J. A. Fishman.

A Committee of Congress & the press finds the existing morality in broadcasting disturbing. However, those primarily at fault, the broadcasters, have escaped attention. The intended benefits of the Communications Act were: (1) a rich diversity of programs, (2) provision for the needs of cultural & soc minorities, (3) broad interpretation by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) of what constitutes the public interest & (4) regulatory control of licensees in the performance of public service. The changes during the past quarter cent underscore the wisdom & foresight of those framing the original Act. A world undergoing rapid change esp in technological spheres demands the utmost in intelligence & refined sensibility to avoid destruction. In the race to establish a moral order the mass communications media are not a luxury but services that must be harnessed to democracy's needs. Broadcasters at first thought of the future as bringing widespread educ'al & cultural benefits but the proportion of programs devoted to human betterment has diminished relative to the increase in the number of radio & TV stations. The FCC has not been the consistent, careful, devoted guardian of the public interest that was originally envisioned. The following policies of change are recommended: (1) revised procedures respecting FCC appointments which ignore party labels & focus on proven integrity, intelligence & distinguished public service of the candidates, (2) recovery of the Blue Book & enforcement of its provisions as a condition of every license renewal, (3) appropriations by the Congress sufficient for staff to permit careful scrutiny & appraisal of services rendered before license renewal, (4) the holding of license renewal hearings should be held in the locality served by the licensee, (5) the creation of a nat advisory commission representing major cultural & other interests throughout the nation to advise the FCC on matters relating to broadcasting & the public interest, (6) a minimum of a half hr nightly devoted to serving the interests of lesser majorities & major minorities in the arts & discussion of public issues, be required of each licensee, (7) the (total - sum) divorce of advertising from determination of program content & the limiting of advertising time to 3 minutes per half hr to be filled only by an announcer, (8) congressional grants-in-aid for activation & sustenance of all the 258 frequencies reserved for non-profit educ'al TV, (9) consideration of ways & means to implement the recommendation of the Luce Commission on Freedom of the Press involving a continuing content analysis of the broadcasting media. G. M. Coughenour.

In pre-WW II industrial development in Palestine was retarded when compared to industrialized countries; but soc conditions were favorable toward such development when compared to many Oriental countries. Since the 1948 creation of the Israeli State, industrialization has proceeded rapidly because of the impetus of national policy & assistance from the US. During this period the accelerated immigration into the new State has radically changed the composition of the pop. There has been a huge increase in the % of new-comers to resident pop & the character of the immigration has shifted from a predominantly Western to an Oriental one. These changes have led to problems of econ & soc adjustment. In effect this has put two contrasting societies vis-a-vis each other: the Ur, industrialized society with its special traits of acquisitiveness & aggressive att's toward SE change facing the pre-industrial, agri'al society with its traditionalism & its high valuation of leisure. Contrary to expectations, no major breakdown in the process of absorption ensued. The adjustment of the newcomers to industrial employment became the subject of the UNESCO investigation here described. The most important inquiries undertaken were those which covered 11 modern industrial enterprises in the Haifa district. The results were verified by a survey taken in the Tel-Aviv district. Information on the vocational preferences of young workers was provided by a statist analysis carried out by the Vocational Guidance Dept of the Hadassah Educ'al Services in Jerusalem. The Haifa investigation covered 420 workers in 11 industrial enterprises organized largely on the assembly line system. The majority of these were employed at spinning, weaving, sewing, glass manufacture, & railway shops. Most of the workers were immigrants from Iraq, Morocco, Egypt, & other Oriental countries. The immigrants were less likely to be employed in the old-established factories not greatly expanded since 1948. That most workers interviewed were resigned to their status as workers is indicated by the fact that 332 of 420 did not contemplate leaving their present employment in the near future. Acceptance of present status was high among immigrants from Yemen, India, Turkey, & Bulgaria. Discontent was high among those from Egypt, Iraq, & Morocco, countries where a large part of the Jews belong to the Mc. Dissatisfaction was generally low among F's, perhaps because they regarded the arrangement as a temporary one. 25% of M's below 25 years in age were discontent & 11% of those above. Factory managers held their chief complaint against workers from Oriental countries to be their lack of punctuality & absenteeism. They agreed, however, that these immigrants can be easily influenced & in time become excellent workers. Because of this some managers preferred to employ Oriental over European immigrants. Management tried to treat all workers equally: only 37 of the 420 expressed dissatisfaction with the attitude of management. The managers interviewed indicated that workers were quite sensitive to any form of discrimination, real or imagined. Soc contacts with Oriental workers was limited. Trade union organization, unknown to Oriental Workers, was associated by them with the Israeli authorities who rule over them. There was no serious attempt to educate workers in respect to their union organization (Histadrut). There was a greater knowledge & appreciation of the operations & signif of trade unionism among workers in the smaller enterprises (up to 100 workers). There appeared to be no serious friction among workers themselves regardless of recentness of immigration or source. This is in accord with community philosophy which considers all soc discrimination as immoral. Most immigrants were convinced that they are discriminated against in situations which are not work-related, but few could name instances to prove it. Contrary to popular opinion, normal working relations were not observed to lead to closer personal contacts. Specific adjustment to factory work was easier among those who found the greatest number of common elements between their previous & their new job. The following conclusions are reported: (1) the general adjustment of the immigrants to the industrial way of life is satisfactory; (2) educ is important in-so-far as it facilitates training & work assignment; consequently, educ is more functional with some types of jobs than others; (3) desire for security of employment motivates the immigrant to strive for a skilled type of job; (4) F's adjust to industrial work more smoothly than M's; (5) the adjustment to specific job requirements is somewhat impeded by the relative unfamiliarity of the immigrant with machinery & its operation; (6) managers & forement disagree on the intelligence & perception of the new immigrants, but studies of Einstein suggest that certain initial differences in perception & abstract thinking exist between the various ethnic groups of the pop; (7) wages are not an incentive & positive factor in adjustment; (8) there is virtually no discrimination against newcomers on the part of management or veteran workers (except for some discrimination against Oriental workers), but there seems to be a spectacular indifference to & ignorance of the special problems of the newcomers on the part of the Histadrut (General Jewish Labor Federation). It can be concluded that the process of adjustment of new immigrants to the requirements of an industrial society has proceeded with remarkable promise. B. J. Keeley.

In a comparison of studies on problems of compromise by R. H. Lowie (see SA 2143-iB0690) & C. Moraze (see SA 2143-B0694) sponsored by the Liternat'l Soc Sci Council (UNESCO, UN), it is emphasized that the dyadic roles of reciprocity in the interplay of soc instit's follow the `law of exchange' in primitive as well as modern societies. There is no gap in intelligence or reasoning between primitive & modern peoples - but, the range of situations responsive to rational treatment is wider in modern groups. Studies were conducted by specialist assistants of Lowie on certain 'primitive' civilizations which showed that all societies are concerned with self-preservation, & in the face of conflict, adopt varying techniques of compromise depending on the value placed on 'conciliation & flexibility of customs & laws.' Eg, (1) Islam; although believed to oppose compromise, the Koranic law contains various clauses with the `spirit of conciliation' (including references re the equality of women), & Moslem Legislation favors prevention of conflicts. (2) India; caste, cultural diversity, & the religious trends of non-violence & asceticism foster compromise. (3) China; mediation through skillful negotiators in the feudal period established a tradition of compromise through reconciliation. P. D. Montagna.

A polemical exchange touched off by an earlier article by Meyerhoff. McCall: Many of the eulogists, including Mr. Meyerhoff, used the occasion of the centennial for broadsides against the so-called cultural deviationists. The revisionists are highly vulnerable targets. They substitute one monism for another, their theories are as unsusceptible as Freud's to verification, & the results of their treatment are equally questionable. But the Freudians do not attack them on methodological but on philosophical grounds. To attack them methodologically would mean opening the Freudian system itself to examination. Instead, the revisionists are accused of being light-minded optimists. But is a pessimistic theory founded on false premises any `deeper' than an optimistic theory founded on false premises? The Freudians are attacking, through the revisionists, the tradition of the Enlightenment which holds that man is a rational animal who can solve his problems through the use of his intelligence. Meyerhoff: Freud never claimed infallibility for himself- as Jones has shown abundantly in his biography. Greatness will do for praise. There is little enough in our world as it is; & compared with his critics & his epigones, Freud looms like a giant. It is embarrassing to have to defend him again--at this time, in these pages, & against such scurrilous charges. Freud would not have thought it worth bothering. J. A. Fishman.