TRANSITION OF THE POLITICAL SYSTEM AND POLITICAL ATTITUDES IN PORTUGAL

The period of Portuguese authoritarian government, followingupon the heels of economic and social decline which the countrylived through after the installation of the republic in 1910,was bolstered politically, culturally, and economically by theexperience of the country during these 64 years. Economic andcultural changes after 1945, including development of the media,worker migrations, tourism, and the decolonialization movements,gave rise to attitudes and behavior of increasingly wide groupswho rejected authoritarianism and the monolithic political system.Various factors paved the way for the downfall of this regime,among them Oliveira Salazar's physical incapacity and his replacementby the more liberal but less prestigious Marcelo Caetano, theunease in public opinion caused by the sending of troops tothe colonies in Africa, and international and political andcultural pressures. Public opinion was in favor of the new politicalsystem, and, gradually consolidated its hold with the supportof the Western international community, and, in particular,the countries of the EEC. The political parties contributedto the development of the political attitudes of the Portuguesepopulation and ensured that the regime maintained itself withina liberal democratic framework.     

ATTITUDES TOWARDS DEMOCRACY IN ARGENTINA DURING THE TRANSITION PERIOD

Transitions to democracy are good settings to observe possiblechanges of beliefs, attitudes and values. This paper analyzesshifts in democratic beliefs during Argentine political transitiontowards democracy. Through the analysis of different surveysin the period 1982–8 diverse patterns concerning two setsof democratic attitudes were observed. Those dealing with participatorydemocracy proved to be not only highly supported but also stablethroughout the period. On the other hand the libertarian orientationsexhibit lower consensus and proved to be much more unstable.They grew at the beginning of the transition but later a regressionto pretransition levels took place, associated with the increaseof socio-economic discontent. Also a relationship between lesslibertarian democratic attitudes and lower socio-economic levelswas observed. The findings call into question the socializationeffects of democratic institutions during relatively short periodsin a context of economic crisis and rising discontent.     

PARTY IDENTIFICATION AND ATTITUDES TOWARDS HOMOSEXUALS IN GREAT BRITAIN

Legislative activity and controversy concerning the issue ofhomosexual rights and practices has intensified in Britain overthe last decade. Despite this increase in intensity, however,the question of mass public opinion in relation to homosexualrights and practices has received little empirical investigation.In an effort to remedy this situation, this paper focuses onthe influence of party identification in determining publicattitudes towards homosexuals. Using data from the British SocialAttitudes Surveys, the results suggest that although party identificationexerts an independent and statistically significant effect onattitudes towards homosexuals, in all cases, however, theseeffects are both secondary and variable. Other equally, if notmore salient, determinants include: gender, education, age,occupation, and type of homosexual relationship. Of these varioussocio–demographic variables, both age and education standout as having the strongest and most consistent effect. In otherwords, at least as far as current British society is concerned,anti-homosexual views are most prevalent among both older individualsas well as the lesser educated.     

CANADIAN AND AMERICAN ATTITUDES TOWARD THE ROLE OF GOVERNMENT AND THE PRIVATE ENTERPRISE SYSTEM

This paper compares the attitudes of Canadians and Americanstoward their governments and selected aspects of the privateenterprise system. It examines some of the historical differencesbetween the two countries and hypothesizes that these differenceswill be reflected in current attitudes. Further, it hypothesizesthat Canada's two main linguistic groups—the English andthe French—will be closer in attitude to each other thaneither will be to the American sample.     

THE INDEX TO LEGAL PERIODICALS AND CURRENT LAW INDEXA COMPARISON

No abstract available for this article.     

MENTAL MAPS OF SCIENCE: KNOWLEDGE AND ATTITUDES AMONG CANADIAN ADULTS

This study addresses the question of the relationship betweenscientific knowledge and public attitudes toward science andtechnology. General work on cognitive schemas suggest that theseknowledge maps may have significant links to affect. A telephonesurvey of 2,000 Canadian adults was conducted and included abattery of knowledge items to test scientific cognition on basicscience concepts, to examine understanding of science processes,and to tap technological literacy. The survey also examinedattitudes toward science and scientists. Factor analysis of the attitude items resulted in two dimensions:trust in science and feelings of efficacy on science issues.A structural equation model was applied to certain demographicantecedent variables (education, exposure to science courses,age), the scientific literacy score, and to the attitude dimensionsof trust and efficacy. Findings demonstrated that scientificliteracy was positively correlated with attitudes of trust andfeelings of efficacy. These results were explained in termsof potential positive exposure to science in general in formalscience training (in schools) as well as to informal informationsources such as the media.     

THE POLITICAL,ECONOMIC, AND TECHNOLOGICAL ROOTS OF SOME LEGAL ISSUES IN LIBRARY NETWORKING

No abstract available for this article.     

CULTURAL DIFFERENCES IN LISTENING STYLE PREFERENCES: A COMPARISON OF YOUNG ADULTS IN GERMANY, ISRAEL, AND THE UNITED STATES

Do the listening styles preferred by young adults in Germany,Israel, and the USA differ significantly? In order to addressthis question, college students in all three countries completedversions of the Listening Styles Profile (LSP; Watson et al.1995) presented in their native languages. Factor analysis revealedfour predominant constructs underlying the LSP, which were designatedas people, action, content, and time listening styles. Comparisonsbetween the three cultures revealed distinctively differentpatterns of listening style preferences, with Germans preferringthe action style, Israelis endorsing the content style, andAmericans favoring both the people and time styles.     

THE INFLUENCE OF GENDER ON PUBLIC ATTITUDES TOWARD HOMOSEXUAL RIGHTS IN BRITAIN

Controversy concerning the issue of homosexual rights and practiceshas intensified in Britain over the last decade. Despite thisincrease in intensity, however, the question of mass publicopinion in relation to homosexual rights and practices has receivedalmost no empirical investigation. In an effort to remedy thissituation, this article focuses on both the role of respondents'gender as well as their perceptions concerning the gender ofparticipants in a homosexual relationship (both sexes versusgay men) in distinguishing their attitudes toward the publicacceptance of homosexuals and the adoption rights of lesbiansand gay men. Using nationally representative data from the BritishSocial Attitudes Surveys, we found that, whereas both respondents'gender and the gender of participants in a homosexual relationshipdemonstrated a significant influence on attitudes toward thepublic acceptance of homosexuals, they were unrelated to theadoption rights of lesbians or gay men. Even in relation tothe public acceptance of homosexuals, however, gender was notthe only, or even the most important, attribute in distinguishingindividual opinion in this instance. Other stronger and moreconsistent influences were education, age, and attitudes towardeither pre-marital or extra-marital sexual relations. The implicationsof these findings for both policy makers and homosexual activistsare discussed.     

THE EDITORIAL PRODUCTION PROCESS AND EDITORIAL VALUES AS INFLUENCES ON THE OPINIONS OF THE BRITISH PRESS TOWARDS EUROPE

British newspapers have been criticised for their coverage of the European Union and accused of contributing to the strength of anti-European opinion in the United Kingdom. Despite these claims, research by media sociologists and political communications scholars has commonly focused on news reporting, overlooking editorial opinions on European issues. This article addresses this gap by presenting a sociological analysis of editorial journalism in relation to European integration at 10 British national newspapers. The findings show that newspapers vary widely in the resources and roles they have assigned for editorialising on Europe, and provide an original insight into the common routines employed for producing editorial opinion. A model, entitled the editorial production process, is developed to illustrate the key stages of this routine. The specialist practices of editorial journalism are discussed through the identification of a set of editorial values used to select issues for comment.