Social Studies

What is autonomy? How are individual factors (such as temperament and physical development) and social factors (such as parents, family climate and peers) related to the development of autonomy in adolescence? What is the ideal relationship between autonomy and attachment?

Feminist social and cultural studies and critiques of science have challenged traditional methodologies and theoretical perspectives as being insensitive to the contexts in which knowledge is produced. New studies, methodologies, theories, and concepts have been developed to re-envision the scientific/ academic/research enterprise. Donna Haraway’s concept “situated knowledges” offers a new perspective that challenges traditional Western concepts of how and why scientific knowledge is produced. This book draws on Haraway’s theories, applying it to cultural studies, in the humanities as well as the social sciences.

This study in organisation theory draws heavily on the Theory of Social Intergration as stated by H.J. van Dongen and on Weick's theory of reducing equivocality in processes of social interaction. Case studies of cooperative alliances between Chinese and Western enterprises are presented to introduce and develop these concepts.

This publication originates in a conference Youth at Risk, initiated by the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sports and supported by the Federal Ministerium für Familie, Senioren, Frauen und Jugend of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Europe is a patchwork quilt, a diversity of national and regional cultures. But Europe is also a common cultural heritage. And it is a culture in the making. The creation of the European Union would not have been possible without this common heritage and the endeavour to have a common future. Paradoxically, Europe’s specificity, its common heritage, is threatened by one of its major exports, the ideology of modernity and modernisation. So a very important task that Europe confronts is to be at the same time modernising and preserving its specificity and variety.

The heart of family care is where care is being given: in the family. Increasingly, family members are made responsible for caregiving. This increased care responsibility is a consequence of the changing society. Welfare states are changing into management states. This civil responsibility has important consequences for practice, where patients and family caregivers meet. Often, family caregivers who are providing care are doing fine, they experience joy. But many family caregivers are overburdened. Family care and care responsibility are the main topics of this study.

In these postmodern times, we are bombarded with rumours, allegations of conspiracies and revelations about the real, but hidden objectives of powerful interest groups. We cannot live without collective representations. They are inside us, as part of our ‘covert’ culture. In this publication, Dr. Jan Berting presents the disjunction phenomenon.

This book describes the impact of life events on the development of housing careers in the second half of the twentieth century in the Netherlands.

Artwell Cain analyses the factors that have been conducive to the upward mobility of ethnic minorities in The Netherlands. Because this topic has not been studied, Cain’s research has great relevance for both policy makers and social scientists. Moreover, the study adopts a distinctive perspective by focussing on the factors that have generated the professional success of ethnic minorities.

In this study, burnout has been studied among Dutch teachers using the theoretical frame of equity theory. Burnout is a metaphor that describes a particular syndrome which is typically found in human service professions, such as teaching, and is assumed to be linked to the emotional strain of working frequently and intensively with other people.