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The causes of the Asian economic crisis have been the subject offierce debate among economists. Yet little is known about the impact on employment and wellbeing. in Indonesia, the worst affected country, the malaise turned info a political and societal upheaval which brought an end to the New Order regime. Based on anthropological field work in two villages along the coast of West Java, the paper discusses the repercussions for work and welfare in the rural hinterland. The author criticizes the policies of the Government of Indonesia as well as those of the World Bank and other international agencies on what has happened and what should be done. His micro study on socio-economic dynamics in two localities, researched in a longitudinal perspective, argues that since the start of the crisis the poverty level, then already much higher than officially acknowledged, rose to include more than half of all households. In contrast to the received wisdom that the village still functions as a community, the crisis has widened the gap between the rural rich and poor. The fieldwork findings are held to justify conclusions for areas with similar structural characteristics: densely populated, with a highly skewed pattern of land distribution, long-distance labour circulation between city and countryside and involving a substantial part of the total workforce, especially the landpoor and the landless. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information on two research papers published in the November 1987 issue of "International Social Science Journal," on the topic of universality and diversity in the social sciences. One basic tenet of science is its universality. Though heavily influenced by cultural, ideological and socio-economic variables of the societies in which they are practiced, the social sciences must none the less respect universality, at least aim towards it if they are to claim scientific status. One of the papers, discusses the need in the Third World to reinforce the indigenous character of the social sciences. Indian sociologist Yogesh Atal, has identified four tendencies in the efforts of indigenization of the social sciences in Asia. First, teaching in the national language and use of local materials; second, research carried out by nationals; thirdly definition of research priorities; and fourthly theoretical and methodological orientation. The debate between universality and diversity goes far beyond the field of social science. It relates to the crises of modernity. The problems of universality and relativity of values, of individual liberty and life in community and solidarity cannot he avoided and must be resolved.

This paper presents social science understandings of successful aging for a broad audience in multidisciplinary gerontology in Asia–Oceania.The international literature on social science aspects of successful aging is reviewed with a focus on Asia and social improvement.New positive approaches to aging research are identifying opportunities for maintaining capacities and well-being over the life course. Successful aging, productive aging, and active aging are key concepts. Increasing life expectancy and fertility control are major social achievements that underpin population aging as the mainstream social transformation facing the world. Asia will be at the forefront of this change and the consequences will vary greatly between cultures, nations, and subgroups within them. Older people generally maintain good quality of life and the capacity to‘age well’ is influenced by life-long maturation and emotional, social, and economic resources. Good health can be enhanced through positive actions such as physical activity, good nutrition, and not smoking. Mental capacities can also be improved and maintained throughout old age. In advanced old age, the‘fourth age’, the focus turns to ameliorating the effects of loss and to maintaining dignity.The social sciences contribute knowledge useful for improving life experiences for older people and aging societies. Population aging is central to national economic development. Public policy and individual action concerning aging can benefit all age groups. To better inform these developments it is important to address the serious shortfall of social science research on aging in the Asia–Oceania region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How culture-proof are the social sciences? Travelling in another continent, one meets culture's influences not only in the objects of social science research, but at least as much in the minds of the researchers. Researchers' problem definitions and choices of issues to be addressed and questions to be asked limit what they will find; they are a potential source of ethnocentric bias. A case example of the discovery of such a bias was the emergence of a fifth dimension of national cultures supplementing Hofstede's four, through Bond's Chinese Value Survey. In the area of personality research, a number of newer and older findings by Asian and European researchers suggest the need for expanding the ‘Big Five’ model of personality traits with a sixth factor, Dependence on Others, in order to make the model culturally universal. In general, researchers recognize primarily those aspects of culture for which their own culture differs most from others. For escaping from the cultural constraints in our own research we therefore need to trade ideas with colleagues from other parts of the world. In this respect, Asian researchers have an important role to play. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]