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Probit/logit techniques are applied to the data from Barometer No. 2,829 published by the Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas to examine three problems related with public sector decentralisation. The paper concludes, first, that citizens' perception of efficiency gains from decentralisation have a positive effect on their support for decentralised government. Second, that citizens are more likely to perceive the efficiency gains from decentralisation if they correctly ascribe responsibility for education and health services to regions. And third, that citizens who most accurately identify regional responsibility for the provision of those services tend to be better educated, older, engaged in paid work or public employment, concerned about regional politics and resident in one region with higher initial level of devolved powers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents research findings that focus on analyzing the conditions that enable and/or complicate the development of the critical intercultural approach in Pre-schools and Primary schools. To this end, three case studies were conducted in schools in the Spanish Autonomous Region of Andalusia. The main data production techniques used were: participatory observation, interviews and documentary analysis. The results are organized around three dimensions of analysis: the concept of inequality and/or diversity as a driving force for change in schools and the opening-up of the school setting as a challenge/ reproduction of cultural homogeneity and hegemony. The findings show how the dynamics and interactions that exist within these schools provide opportunities but also create limitations when it comes to shaping new intercultural realities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper estimates public and private (household) spending per student on education in early childhood, primary and secondary education in Spain, in public educational institutions and in publicly-funded private educational institutions. We use 2007 data from the Household Spending on Education Survey and the Statistics on Public Spending on Education. Public expenditure on education per student in publicly-funded private educational institutions was 49.9% that spent on public educational institutions. The cost assumed by families in public institutions was 38.7% that spent on publicly-funded private educational institutions. The total expenditure per student on publicly-funded private educational institutions was 66.9% that spent on public educational institutions. Enrollment in publicly-funded private educational institutions implies a reduction of public expenditure on education and the transfer of part of those educational expenses to families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taking as an empirical basis some of the data from a questionnaire applied to a sample of approximately eight hundred parents from three public secondary schools, this paper discusses how various categories of parents organise «hierarchies of excellence» through the «arguments for choice» that they prioritise when choosing their children's school for entrance into secondary education (year 10 of schooling, equivalent to the year 4 of compulsory secondary education in Spain - ESO). The analysis of the data highlights that, in all segments of parents, a group can be found that attaches great importance to academic indicators; in addition, an unequal concentration of these groups was verified in the three establishments studied, which reflects a predominance of different types of public in each school. Thus, even though the importance attributed to the «arguments for choice» varies according to the educational level of the parents, in the cases studied the «hierarchies of excellence» are distinguished, above all, by the school variable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses determinants of the aspirations and expectations among immigrant offspring on the basis of a representative sample of second generation adolescents interviewed at schools in the metropolitan area of Madrid. Seven hypotheses are formulated in relation to status attainment in general and aspirations and expectations in particular. We present breakdowns of educational and occupational aspirations and expectations by gender, parental education and school. The analysis is completed with structural equation models which offer an integrated theoretical perspective on the causal structure of ambition in the Spanish context. We examine the consequences of our conclusions for theory and policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the old organization of politics based upon the Nation-State gave way to national social movements, the emergence of transnational social movements is decisively fostering the contemporary re-definition of post-national politics. In fact, it cannot simply be stated that globalization has produced transnational forms of collective action; globalization is, in part, the outcome of an early transformation of social mobilisation. Be that as it may, it looks as though social theory has not yet responded properly to the current displacement, from national movements, comfortably set up until now in the familiar framework of the Nation-State, to some transnational movements that do not respond to such a well-defined institutional context. This paper attempts to shed some light on these new transnational movements, paying special attention to the anti-globalization movement and a desire to explain its relations with the liberal political order. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces an ethnomethodological reading on the concept of habitus in Bourdieu and Elias. It aims at showing the relationship between the generation of practical acquisition processes (ethnomethods) of some body activities and the development of a practical sense (the one that Bourdieu's habitus refers to) and certain affective economy (the one that the Elias' habitus refers to) throughout continued immersion in such activities. In order to do this, the study of a practical sense acquisition and a certain control over violence in the generation of normal patterns during the practice of aikido and boxing was chosen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article studies the preferences for co-ethnic concentration among ethnic minorities in schools, one of the least known mechanisms of ethnic segregation. Using a survey carried out among Bangladeshi, Caribbean, Chinese, Indian and Pakistani people living in England and Wales, the paper indicates that both the proximity to the culture of origin and the perception of a context of discrimination are factors related to the preference for seeking a greater proportion of co-ethnics when choosing schools. The article also indicates that the preferences for co-ethnic concentration in schools seem to be independent from other processes of ethnic concentration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the processes of transition experienced by young men and women as a privileged field for identifying elements of permanence and change in relation to schooling processes, professional insertion models and the emergence of new varieties of family emancipation. Taking a biographical approach to transition as the point of departure, some results of previous studies made by the GRET are presented and compared with the results of the Catalonia 2002 Survey on Young People. This allows us a glimpse at dominant and emerging professional insertion models in relation to models that are recessive at the present time. One of the major changes detected in relation to insertion models refers to the increase in qualification levels among young women and the fact that they are working in more qualified jobs, in comparison with their male counterparts. However, these changes survive with the old forms of employment inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]