Featured series 
Tag: ” Sociology
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Science & Tech
Strong student support found for war
American college students strongly support U.S. war objectives in Afghanistan aimed against the Taliban and Osama bin Laden’s al Qaeda terrorist network, according to a survey conducted by the Institute of Politics at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. The survey was released in early November 2001. Support among undergraduates for air strikes…
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Science & Tech
The skin’s the thing for conserving a building’s energy
It has been estimated that a third of the world’s energy is consumed by buildings, a third by transportation, and a third by industry. With gasoline prices rising and electrical blackouts plaguing California and threatening the rest of the country, conserving energy in all areas seems more and more of a necessity. That’s why a…
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Science & Tech
School segregation on the rise despite growing diversity
Nearly 50 years after the U.S. Supreme Court declared Southern segregated schools to be unconstitutional, resegregation is happening again. And it is occurring despite the nation’s growing diversity. According to Gary Orfield, co-director of The Civil Rights Project and professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, resegregation is contributing to a growing gap in…
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Science & Tech
Eighty-five percent of immigrant children separated from families during migration
An ongoing study of more than 400 children who have immigrated to the United States shows that 85 percent of them experience separation from one or both parents during the process of moving to this country. About 35 percent of these children are separated from their fathers for more than five years. Nearly half (49…
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Science & Tech
Depiction of alcohol, tobacco use in G-rated animated films still high
Alcohol and tobacco use is depicted as normal behavior in nearly half of G-rated animated feature films. While researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health say that this is a slight decline, they note that “trends do not provide a strong indication of a commitment from the film industry to eliminate the depiction of…
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Science & Tech
What determines who goes to college and who does not?
More than ever, policymakers are adopting merit-based, rather than need-based, financial aid programs, a trend that disquiets Harvard Graduate School of Education Assistant Professor Bridget Terry Long. In Georgia, for instance, a new state policy offers students with a B-average or higher free tuition at an in-state public college of their choice. Such plans are…
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Health
Nonsmoking college students 40 percent less likely to take up smoking when they live in smoke-free dorms
Although 81 percent of colleges prohibit smoking in all public areas, only 27 percent prohibit smoking in students’ dormitories. Harvard School of Public Health researchers say the finding sends a clear message that colleges can influence students not to smoke by banning the practice where they live. “These findings suggest that smoke-free dorms may help…
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Science & Tech
Study defines clear roles for parents of teenagers
A new study by the Center for Health Communication at the Harvard School of Public Health cuts through the confusion that parents of teenagers experience because of conflicting advice. The study lidentified key messages about raising teenagers on which experts agree. The results focus on practical guidelines and strategies that can contribute to healthy adolescent…
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Science & Tech
Minority students more likely to be labeled “mentally retarded”
When compared with their white counterparts, African-American children were almost three times more likely to be labeled “mentally retarded,” according to a paper by Thomas B. Parrish, managing research scientist at the American Institutes of Research. New statistics compiled on each state show both over- and under-representation of minorities in the categories for “mental retardation,”…
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Science & Tech
Ancient Chinese script rewrites history
“This is like the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls,” says Tu Weiming, director of the Harvard Yenching Institute, who has played a key role in the preservation of ancient texts that cast new light on early Confucianism. The texts were discovered in 1993 near a river in Guodian, China, not far from a farmhouse…
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Science & Tech
Study confirms that students in “substance-free” dorms drink less
Residents of college housing where alcohol and smoking were banned were less likely to be victims of actions by students who were drinking. Findings from the Harvard School of Public Health College Alcohol Study show that substance-free college residence halls are making an impact in the effort to reduce the harms that heavy drinking produces…
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Science & Tech
The U.S. and faith-based social initiatives
U.S. President George W. Bush has signaled that he is serious about offering federal support to faith-based social service initiatives. What does that mean for the separation of church and state, and how will it affect the country? A collection of essays published by Harvard Divinity School points out that religious motivation has often generated…
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Science & Tech
Drivers place children in rear seat because of new law
A Rhode Island law that requires that children sit in the back and wear proper restraints imposes fines of $30 for violation of the rear seating requirement and $150 for violation of the restraint requirement. The law was passed after research by Harvard Center for Risk Analysis Director John Graham and others showed that, nationwide,…
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Science & Tech
High school dropouts concentrated in 35 cities
The nation’s high school dropout problem is most desperate in between 200 to 300 schools in the 35 largest cities in the U.S. The cities are Indianapolis, Detroit, Cleveland, San Antonio, Baltimore, Fort Worth, Dallas, Houston, Chicago, Philadelphia, New York City, Austin, Columbus, Milwaukee, Denver, Kansas City, Nashville, Memphis, El Paso, Oklahoma City, Portland, Los…
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Science & Tech
Soft news and critical journalism eroding audiences
A rise in soft news and critical journalism “may now be hastening the decline in news audiences” and “weakening the foundation of democracy by diminishing the public’s information about public affairs and its interest in politics,” according to a Harvard study. The study, conducted by the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public…
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Science & Tech
How we talk can change the way we work
If we want a better understanding of the prospect of change, we first need a better way of seeing into our own powerful inclination NOT to change. Considering every workplace as a language community, psychologists Robert Kegan and Lisa Laskow Lahey show us how our aspirations for change are undermined by the ordinary language forms…
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Science & Tech
What will it take to attract, and keep, new teachers?
In today’s expansive job market, with its escalating definition of a competitive salary, teaching is underpaid. Graduates are actively recruited to work in investment banking, consulting, and technology, where beginning salaries average twice those of first-year teachers. Who will become the next generation of teachers? And what will it take to recruit talented people and…
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Science & Tech
Before- and after-school hours key to the nurturing of children
How to keep children occupied and engaged in worthwhile after-school pursuits is becoming a major focus of study at the Harvard Family Research Project at the Graduate School of Education. The project is analyzing existing research while constructing a database that will be useful for policy-makers, public and private funders, and those who run after-school…
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Science & Tech
Protecting nature religiously
“Our religious institutions are the only institutions that are not completely implicated in the culture of materialism and growth,” said Bill McKibben, an environmental activist and a fellow at Harvard Divinity School’s Center for the Study of Values in Public Life. “The church can posit some other reason for human existence than the accumulation of…
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Science & Tech
Business professor works to unlock the mysteries of television viewing habits
Media consultants have spent years studying what convinces viewers to watch certain programs. While there are no purely empirical answers why certain programs are more popular than others, a new study led by a researcher at the Harvard Business School (HBS) provides some strong clues — and a surprising conclusion. “What we found is that…
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Science & Tech
Men have distorted image of what women find attractive
Asked by researchers to choose the bodies they would most like to have, male college students in a study picked computer images with 30 pounds more muscle than they actually had. Asked to select their most-wanted body from the same computer images, female college students chose men with 15 to 30 pounds less muscle than…
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Science & Tech
Study finds that for young men, family comes first
Breaking ranks with their fathers and grandfathers on the important issue of work-family integration, 71 percent of men 21-39 said in a survey that they would give up some of their pay for more time with their families. “What we’re seeing is a transformation between generations and gender,” said Paula Rayman, director of the Radcliffe…
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Health
Unlocking the mystery of artistic taste
“Unlike infants, who share innate preferences about shapes and colors, preschoolers already differ in their artistic tastes,” says Kim Sheridan, a doctoral student at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Using cognitive development, developmental psychology, art, brain-imaging technology, and education, Sheridan is now trying to unlock the mystery of artistic taste. A year in Kenya…
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Science & Tech
New generation of faculty members sets new priorities
Although doctoral candidates and new faculty still regard tenure as important when seeking employment, they will consider non-tenure over tenure-track positions if jobs meet other conditions, including desirable geographic location, balance of research and teaching, and competitive salary. “This generation of scholars is very different from previous cohorts,” says researcher Cathy Trower. “They entered academe…
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Science & Tech
Immigration experts focus on attitudes of children
Too many immigrants in the United States are staring into what Marcelo and Carola Suarez-Orozco call “a toxic mirror” that seriously compromises the self-image of children who will grow up to be part of American society. The husband-and-wife team, who co-direct the Harvard Immigration Project, believe it’s time for society to remake the image in…
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Science & Tech
Differences between vowels and consonants are real
While working with colleagues in Rome, two Harvard researchers serendipitously met two women with intriguing speech deficits. As the result of a stroke, one patient could not reproduce the sounds of vowels properly. Another patient experienced the same trouble with consonants. After studying the two women, the Harvard team concluded that the difference between vowels…
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Science & Tech
Despite some progress, segregation persists in Boston area
A report, “Segregation in the Boston Metropolitan Area at the End of the 20th Century,” found that despite the progress that disadvantaged minorities have made in achieving homeownership outside of Boston, there is a danger that the benefits of such ownership may not accrue to them because of racial and ethnic segregation. In particular, the…