Societal Change and Values in Arab Communities in Israel: Intergenerational and Rural–Urban Comparisons

This study tested and extended Greenfield’s theory of social change and human development to adolescent development in Arab communities in Israel undergoing rapid social change. The theory views sociodemographic changes—such as contact with an ethnically diverse urban setting and spread of technology—as driving changes in cultural values. In one research design, we compared three generations, high school girls, their mothers, and their grandmothers, in their responses to value-assessment scenarios. In a second research design, we compared girls going to high school in an ethnically diverse city with girls going to school in a village. As predicted by the theory, a t test and ANOVA revealed that both urban life and membership in the youngest generation were significantly related to more individualistic and gender-egalitarian values. Regression analysis and a bootstrapping mediation analysis showed that the mechanism of change in both cases was possession of mobile technologies

Une philosophie politique de l’école

Le présent article propose une réflexion sur l’école à partir du point de vue de la philosophie politique. L’auteur s’attache à montrer que cette institution sociale, qui exerce une autorité et un pouvoir sur les enfants, doit s’interroger sur sa légitimité publique et politique. À partir de deux modèles d’écoles qu’il décrit et critique, l’école familiale et l’école citoyenne, il récuse l’hégémonie que la famille et l’État peuvent exercer sur les jeunes par l’entremise de l’école en prônant leur projet respectif de pérennisation culturelle ou de formation d’un modèle de citoyen unique. Même s’il ne nie pas le rôle important qu’elles jouent dans la société, l’auteur est d’avis que ces institutions éducatives peuvent empêcher les jeunes de réaliser leurs intérêts et leurs idéaux personnels. Il propose un modèle d’école qui s’attache au développement de l’autonomie individuelle, ce qui n’est pas incompatible avec les valeurs de liberté et de démocratie. Le lien social découlerait plus d’une relation de confiance entre les personnes que d’identité ou de partage de valeurs communes, l’école se devant de créer un milieu de vie favorable au développement de cette confiance.This article is a reflection about the school from the perspective of political philosophy. The author wishes to demonstrate that this social institution, which exercises an authority and power over the students, must question its public and political legitimacy. He describes and critique two school models, the family school and the citizen school, and objects to the hegemony that the family and State can exercise on the students through the school by advocating their respective plans for cultural permanence or the formation of a unique citizen model. Although he does not deny the important role that schools play in society, the author believes that these institutions may prevent students from following their interests and realizing their personal ideals. He proposes a school model based on the development of individual autonomy, which is not incompatible with the values of freedom and democracy. The social bond would flow more from a relationship of confidence between people rather than from identity or the sharing of common values, since it is the school’s duty to create an environment that promotes the development of this confidence.El presente artículo propone una reflexión sobre la escuela desde el punto de vista de la filosofía política. El autor se esmera en mostrar que ésta institución social, que ejerce autoridad y poder sobre los niños, debe interrogarse sobre su legitimidad pública y política. A partir de dos modelos de escuela que describe y critica, la escuela familiar y la escuela ciudadana, el autor recusa la hegemonía que la familia y el Estado pueden ejercer sobre los jóvenes a través de la escuela que preconiza sus proyectos respectivos de perennidad cultural o de formación de un modelo de ciudadano único. Aunque no niega el importante rol que juegan en la sociedad, el autor piensa que esas instituciones educativas pueden impedir a los jóvenes de realizar sus intereses y sus ideales personales. Propone un modelo de escuela que se esmera en el desarrollo de la autonomía individual, que no es incompatible con los valores de libertad y democracia. El vínculo social derivaría más de una relación de confianza entre las personas que de identidad o de repartición de valores comunes, escuela cuyo deber es crear un medio de vida favorable al desarrollo de dicha confianz

Berlin\u27s Methodological Parsimony

In this Article, I want to suggest a third line of argument that can be retrieved from Two Concepts. It is primarily methodological. It enjoins political theorists to define the extension of normative concepts in a manner that makes as perspicuous as possible the various normative considerations that are relevant to political decisionmaking. Although related to the pluralist defense of negative freedom briefly alluded to above, I will suggest that it is distinct from it, and that it allows us to address important but under appreciated lacunae that beset the argument from value pluralism, as well as the argument according to which negative liberty is on consequentialist grounds to be preferred to positive liberty. I will proceed as follows. I will first lay out the argument as I believe that it can be extracted from Two Concepts and from Berlin\u27s work more broadly. I will then provide three independent arguments that I believe can be mounted in favor of the principle of methodological parsimony that I will be ascribing to Berlin. In a third part, I will distinguish the argument from methodological parsimony from the argument from pluralism. I will show that the former argument provides better grounds than does the latter for negative rather than positive liberty. I will also show that it provides a needed complement to the consequentialist argument against positive liberty that, as I suggested, corresponds with the first period of critical reception. Throughout, I will show that the principle of methodological pluralism provides a needed corrective to contemporary theories of freedom situated within the negative liberty family that do not satisfy the criterion of parsimony advocated by Berlin in Two Concepts

Genomics and bacterial pathogenesis.

Whole-genome sequencing is transforming the study of pathogenic bacteria. Searches for single virulence genes can now be performed on a genomewide scale by a variety of computer and genetic techniques. These techniques are discussed to provide a perspective on the developing field of genomics