Describes the endeavor by the Chinese Communist Party to construct a community-based, urban welfare system that would cater to the needs of urban dwellers who were not under the protection of the workers' social assistance system or whose needs could not be met entirely by it. (CT)

An attempt to examine study motivations from societal expectations of adult learners is described. A multi-year statistical follow-up of postsecondary Israeli kibbutz students is described. (Author/MLW)

Reviews the history of the kibbutz movement, kibbutz child-rearing practices, and the results of research in kibbutz socialization. The research indicates that the 'kibbutz personality' is essentially nonpathological and effective. Recent changes in child-rearing patterns in the kibbutz, and a return to traditional family child-rearing, are viewed…

Presents evidence that disengagement from life may be situational--that how an individual ages depends largely on his/her social milieu, and that socially isolated older people may disengage but that older people supported by a community of appropriate peers, do not. (Author)

Four living-learning communities are analyzed in terms of their cultural implications. (Editor)

Concern exists that youth leaving the kibbutz have no occupation skills needed to secure work in the outside world. In a survey, two opposing hypotheses were examined: (1) kibbutz-born persons will be unable to adapt to outside life because of educational limitations; and (2) because of their education, kibbutz-born persons will display…

A rating of the prestige levels for occupations in kibbutz and nonkibbutz society indicated that kibbutz members rated jobs according to values which differed markedly from those of other sectors of society. Kibbutz grading did not discriminate between white- and blue-collar jobs, while nonkibbutz grading was determined by income level,…

A study of lapsed and successful relationships is reported. Confirmed that friends who had chosen, after acquaintance in communal quarters, to live with one another in more personal accommodation were more similar in personal constructs. (Author)

The study compared families with disabled children (43 families living in an Israeli kibbutz and 48 families living in an Israeli city) and similar families with nonhandicapped children. Findings revealed more dissatisfaction in parents of disabled children, greater differences between mothers and fathers of disabled children, and no mediating…

This study examines teachers' perceptions of classroom motivation and achievement among students displaying culture-based classroom behaviors. Sixty-two elementary school teachers read scenarios of hypothetical students who behaviorally manifested themes purported to be consistent with a European/mainstream cultural ethos (competition,…

Despite the current impression of gloom regarding the health of American family life, several efforts at improving family relations are enumerated. (Author)

A study demonstrating how religious ideology influences Hutterian attitudes toward farming and the agricultural environment. The Hutterian Brethren are Anabaptist pacifists who live mostly on communal farms in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Alberta, Canada. The responses of both Hutterian and non-Hutterian farmers to an attitudinal questionnaire were…

Danish communes, while exhibiting substantial flexibility, ingenuity and viability, invariably fail for primarily personal reasons or motives. However, unlike their American counterparts, economic and practical considerations play a correspondingly minor role. Presented at the Southern Sociological Society, Miami, Florida, April 9, 1976. (Author)

Studied 32 secular urban communal households to discover conditions of their relative success. Success was measured by duration of commune and satisfaction of members. Elements of conventionality (economic prudence, voluntary time limitation, regular housework, perception of sufficient private time) enhanced satisfaction. (Author/RC)