Symbolic Storytelling,Freedom Movements,and Church Education: Cesar Chavez as Virtuoso of Identity

Freedom movements historically have shown power to transform social and personal identity. Absorbing the narrative of a movement can lead to something not unlike conversion. Accepting the truth of a movement's story implies change in who one believes oneself to be and may reorient one's life story. Movements like Cesar Chavez's National Farm Workers Association of the 1960s offer a distinctive reading of history that refocuses individual and collective memory around a cause. In this article, I explore one movement's holistic approach and urge that church education should be re-imagined as comprehensive storytelling.     

The Development of Provision for Young People with Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties: An activity theory analysis

In this article we consider aspects of past and continuing transformations in specific forms of social practice relating to educational services for young people now described as having emotional and behavioural difficulties (EBD). Our particular concern is the evolution of this provision and how historical dilemmas and tensions are relevant to explaining present and likely future developments. We believe that the framework of Activity Theory, not previously employed in this field, is a useful aid to analysis and facilitates wider understanding.     

MEDIA INFLUENCES ON SUPPORT FOR PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES IN PRIMARY ELECTIONS: THEORY, METHOD, AND EVIDENCE

In this article the authors argue that studies of the influenceof the mass media on public support for presidential candidatesin primary elections should return to the social pyschologicalmodel of attitude change. This model should take into account,however, that in the real world, unlike laboratory settings,randomization and complete controls of variables are not possible,and rational and strategic choice considerations come into play,along with the cumulative effects of new information on aggregateopinion. The variables found to be relevant to attitude change,especially the characteristics of the communicator and the communication,have not been studied systematically in natural settings. Littleis known about how new information unrelated to electoral ‘momentum’affects the public's evaluations and support for candidates.A fuller explanation is needed of what are complex media influenceson candidate support in primary elections—including especiallythose messages conveyed through the media which tend to be distinctiveand most accessible to memory: information about the viabiltiyof candidates; positive messages and images conveyed directlyfrom the candidates themselves and (to a lesser extent) fromother major party leaders who support or oppose them; and, ofspecial theoretical importance, the ostensibly credible newscommentary about the candidates.