A social psychologist who studies social identity, power, political mobilization, and intergroup relations.Research Interests -- intergroup relations, intergroup dialogue, social identity
Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears... more Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact
... We are grateful for valuable advice from Alice Kessler-Harris and the thoughtful contribution... more ... We are grateful for valuable advice from Alice Kessler-Harris and the thoughtful contributions of William Chafe, Barbara Farah, Joan Hoff ... Russell Sage Foundation for supporting the workshops and publications of this book, and special thanks to Peter de Janosi, Vice-President ...
This paper reviews previous literature on the culture of poverty underclass and welfare dependenc... more This paper reviews previous literature on the culture of poverty underclass and welfare dependency; examines the extent and duration of poverty using data from a nationally representative longitudinal survey; and tests the extent to which values inhibit the mobility of poor people or the children of the poor. Arguments about the culture of poverty typically emphasize psychological defects behavioral deviancy the permanency of need and the intergenerational transmission of psychological problems. None of the arguments of the proponents or opponents of the theory were based on a well-articulated theory of motivatons which linked values and motives to economic achievement and behavioral deviancy and the proponents of the underclass and welfare dependency theses did not provide strong empirical Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) an economic survey of American families conducted annually since 1968 suggest that 1/4 of the population was poor at some time from 1969-78 but the majority were only temporarily poor. About 2.2% of the entire population were poor for at least 8 of the 10 years. 1/3 of the persistent poor were elderly or lived in households headed by an elderly individual 2/3 lived in the south 1/5 lived in large urban areas and over 1/4 lived in households where the head had a substantial work history in 5 of the 10 years. Not counting welfare payments 1/2 of the persistently poor lived in the south and 1/3 in large urban areas 62% were black and 61% lived in female-headed households. An expectancy-motive framework developed to examine the links between values and economic outcomes differentiates between stable internal motives and more malleable externally-based expectancies about ones own ability to take effective actions. Little evidence was found that children raised in longterm poverty or welfare dependency will repeat their parents economic failures.
This chapter focuses on intergroup dialogue (IGD), an educational approach that teaches about and... more This chapter focuses on intergroup dialogue (IGD), an educational approach that teaches about and for social justice. Intergroup dialogue addresses one of the central concerns in contemporary research on intergroup contact between groups with distinct social statuses: Do identity salience and positive relationships mobilize or sedate collective action on the part of disadvantaged or advantaged groups? We explicate how IGD addresses the concerns through its theoretical and practice model. IGD pedagogy—content, structured interaction, and facilitation—fosters critical-dialogic communication processes that in turn impact cognitive and affective psychological processes. These two kinds of processes then produce outcomes. Results from a longitudinal, multi-site field experiment of randomly assigned (dialogue and control) students (N = 1437) showed significant treatment effects for dialogue students and strong support for the theoretical model and the centrality of the communication proce...
Like many other institutions, we have been working to develop new ways to educate our students to... more Like many other institutions, we have been working to develop new ways to educate our students to be flexible lifelong learners and leaders capable of responding to a world of constant change. We want to provide a foundation for intentional, critically engaged lifelong learners, people who can identify what they are learning and understand why it is relevant to their lives. We recognize that in order to learn for life, students will need to know how to consciously learn from their life experiences. They must learn how to pay attention to subtle "a-ha" moments, recognizing the insights and dissonance that often accompanies new learning. They will need to know how to work effectively within diverse teams and groups, balancing the needs and views of others while also staying engaged with their own intentions and sources of curiosity. To do this, they will need to be able to reflect critically on their decisions and actions, recognize the strengths and limitations of their own and others' perspectives, and continually seek feedback from others and the environment. This seems to be a tall order.Although the mandate for integrative and lifelong learning extends to nearly all fields and professions, we have found very little is actually known about how to facilitate this type of learning. The literature is not yet clear, for example, on how the term "integrative" applies to different types of learning environments. Reward systems for faculty and university staff, still firmly rooted within disciplinary and institutional silos, make it difficult for them to work across their differences to create more integrative experiences. Moreover, one of the biggest challenges to educating integrative and lifelong learners is the fact that much of the knowledge, skills, and capacities people gain through informal learning is tacit and therefore unconscious and invisible. Research shows that the more a person becomes competent or expert in a given task or area, the more likely it is that her knowledge will recede into a tacit or unconscious realm (Polyani 1966). Although tacit knowledge is directly linked to the development of effective leaders, experts, innovators, and reflective practitioners, this type of knowledge is largely ignored in most higher education curricula (Sternberg and Horvath 1999.)Research conducted with University of Michigan (UM) students in 2005-2006 demonstrated the need to address these gaps. Focus groups with UM undergraduate student leaders showed that although most reported having "extraordinary" learning experiences at UM, they could not describe what they had learned, why it was valuable to them, or how they might apply the knowledge and/or skills they had gained once they left the university (Leskes and Miller 2006). Although these students felt quite positive about their UM experiences, they could neither articulate nor share what they had learned with others. In response to these and other gaps, we have spent several years developing, testing, and validating several methods for fostering integrative and lifelong learning through the use of integrative teaching methods supported by e-portfolios. To evaluate these methods, we have also created a multidimensional assessment instrument using criteria from a number of the VALUE rubrics, which were developed by the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U).THE MPORTFOLIOS PROJECTThis work has been part of the larger campus-wide Mportfolio Project, which was formally established in 2008 as a way to coordinate various integrative learning and e-portfolio efforts across several UM campuses. As a joint effort between the University of MichiganDearborn School of Education and the division of student affairs and UM Libraries in Ann Arbor, the Mportfolio project seeks to create pedagogy, technology, and assessment methods that support students in knowing and demonstrating what they are learning within both formal and informal learning environments, applying their knowledge to the world around them, and integrating learning with their own passions, goals, and sources of curiosity. …
Attitudes toward bilingualism among a national sample of per-sons'of Mexican descent are cas... more Attitudes toward bilingualism among a national sample of per-sons'of Mexican descent are cast in a set of social psychological forces in which structural integration and childhood linguistic environment influence ethnic identity, which in turn influ-ences bilingualism attitudes through its impact on political consciousness. Support is provided by evidence that ethnic identity, specifically a politically-framed conception of self as ChicanalChicano and as part of In mza, fosters positive views of bilingualism both directly and indirectly through political consciousness. Ethnic identity also influences bilingualism at-titudes through a different and contradictory path. Traditional self-conceptions as Mexican and Spanish-speaking directly en-courage support of bilingualism but, at the same time, engage conservative political attitudes that discourage it. Language is an obvious differentiator among ethnic groups (Giles & Powesland, 1975), one which fosters the political, economic a...
Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears... more Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact
... We are grateful for valuable advice from Alice Kessler-Harris and the thoughtful contribution... more ... We are grateful for valuable advice from Alice Kessler-Harris and the thoughtful contributions of William Chafe, Barbara Farah, Joan Hoff ... Russell Sage Foundation for supporting the workshops and publications of this book, and special thanks to Peter de Janosi, Vice-President ...
This paper reviews previous literature on the culture of poverty underclass and welfare dependenc... more This paper reviews previous literature on the culture of poverty underclass and welfare dependency; examines the extent and duration of poverty using data from a nationally representative longitudinal survey; and tests the extent to which values inhibit the mobility of poor people or the children of the poor. Arguments about the culture of poverty typically emphasize psychological defects behavioral deviancy the permanency of need and the intergenerational transmission of psychological problems. None of the arguments of the proponents or opponents of the theory were based on a well-articulated theory of motivatons which linked values and motives to economic achievement and behavioral deviancy and the proponents of the underclass and welfare dependency theses did not provide strong empirical Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) an economic survey of American families conducted annually since 1968 suggest that 1/4 of the population was poor at some time from 1969-78 but the majority were only temporarily poor. About 2.2% of the entire population were poor for at least 8 of the 10 years. 1/3 of the persistent poor were elderly or lived in households headed by an elderly individual 2/3 lived in the south 1/5 lived in large urban areas and over 1/4 lived in households where the head had a substantial work history in 5 of the 10 years. Not counting welfare payments 1/2 of the persistently poor lived in the south and 1/3 in large urban areas 62% were black and 61% lived in female-headed households. An expectancy-motive framework developed to examine the links between values and economic outcomes differentiates between stable internal motives and more malleable externally-based expectancies about ones own ability to take effective actions. Little evidence was found that children raised in longterm poverty or welfare dependency will repeat their parents economic failures.
This chapter focuses on intergroup dialogue (IGD), an educational approach that teaches about and... more This chapter focuses on intergroup dialogue (IGD), an educational approach that teaches about and for social justice. Intergroup dialogue addresses one of the central concerns in contemporary research on intergroup contact between groups with distinct social statuses: Do identity salience and positive relationships mobilize or sedate collective action on the part of disadvantaged or advantaged groups? We explicate how IGD addresses the concerns through its theoretical and practice model. IGD pedagogy—content, structured interaction, and facilitation—fosters critical-dialogic communication processes that in turn impact cognitive and affective psychological processes. These two kinds of processes then produce outcomes. Results from a longitudinal, multi-site field experiment of randomly assigned (dialogue and control) students (N = 1437) showed significant treatment effects for dialogue students and strong support for the theoretical model and the centrality of the communication proce...
Like many other institutions, we have been working to develop new ways to educate our students to... more Like many other institutions, we have been working to develop new ways to educate our students to be flexible lifelong learners and leaders capable of responding to a world of constant change. We want to provide a foundation for intentional, critically engaged lifelong learners, people who can identify what they are learning and understand why it is relevant to their lives. We recognize that in order to learn for life, students will need to know how to consciously learn from their life experiences. They must learn how to pay attention to subtle "a-ha" moments, recognizing the insights and dissonance that often accompanies new learning. They will need to know how to work effectively within diverse teams and groups, balancing the needs and views of others while also staying engaged with their own intentions and sources of curiosity. To do this, they will need to be able to reflect critically on their decisions and actions, recognize the strengths and limitations of their own and others' perspectives, and continually seek feedback from others and the environment. This seems to be a tall order.Although the mandate for integrative and lifelong learning extends to nearly all fields and professions, we have found very little is actually known about how to facilitate this type of learning. The literature is not yet clear, for example, on how the term "integrative" applies to different types of learning environments. Reward systems for faculty and university staff, still firmly rooted within disciplinary and institutional silos, make it difficult for them to work across their differences to create more integrative experiences. Moreover, one of the biggest challenges to educating integrative and lifelong learners is the fact that much of the knowledge, skills, and capacities people gain through informal learning is tacit and therefore unconscious and invisible. Research shows that the more a person becomes competent or expert in a given task or area, the more likely it is that her knowledge will recede into a tacit or unconscious realm (Polyani 1966). Although tacit knowledge is directly linked to the development of effective leaders, experts, innovators, and reflective practitioners, this type of knowledge is largely ignored in most higher education curricula (Sternberg and Horvath 1999.)Research conducted with University of Michigan (UM) students in 2005-2006 demonstrated the need to address these gaps. Focus groups with UM undergraduate student leaders showed that although most reported having "extraordinary" learning experiences at UM, they could not describe what they had learned, why it was valuable to them, or how they might apply the knowledge and/or skills they had gained once they left the university (Leskes and Miller 2006). Although these students felt quite positive about their UM experiences, they could neither articulate nor share what they had learned with others. In response to these and other gaps, we have spent several years developing, testing, and validating several methods for fostering integrative and lifelong learning through the use of integrative teaching methods supported by e-portfolios. To evaluate these methods, we have also created a multidimensional assessment instrument using criteria from a number of the VALUE rubrics, which were developed by the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U).THE MPORTFOLIOS PROJECTThis work has been part of the larger campus-wide Mportfolio Project, which was formally established in 2008 as a way to coordinate various integrative learning and e-portfolio efforts across several UM campuses. As a joint effort between the University of MichiganDearborn School of Education and the division of student affairs and UM Libraries in Ann Arbor, the Mportfolio project seeks to create pedagogy, technology, and assessment methods that support students in knowing and demonstrating what they are learning within both formal and informal learning environments, applying their knowledge to the world around them, and integrating learning with their own passions, goals, and sources of curiosity. …
Attitudes toward bilingualism among a national sample of per-sons'of Mexican descent are cas... more Attitudes toward bilingualism among a national sample of per-sons'of Mexican descent are cast in a set of social psychological forces in which structural integration and childhood linguistic environment influence ethnic identity, which in turn influ-ences bilingualism attitudes through its impact on political consciousness. Support is provided by evidence that ethnic identity, specifically a politically-framed conception of self as ChicanalChicano and as part of In mza, fosters positive views of bilingualism both directly and indirectly through political consciousness. Ethnic identity also influences bilingualism at-titudes through a different and contradictory path. Traditional self-conceptions as Mexican and Spanish-speaking directly en-courage support of bilingualism but, at the same time, engage conservative political attitudes that discourage it. Language is an obvious differentiator among ethnic groups (Giles & Powesland, 1975), one which fosters the political, economic a...
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