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This paper offers a new georeferenced database of Italian roads available by the Italian Unification and constructed from 1863 to 1910. The Italian government (Ministero dei Lavori Pubblici) published three statistics about the road network in 1864, 1904 and 1912. Relying on these sources, this paper reconstructs the provincial and state road network in three benchmark years: 1863, 1904, and 1910. The georeferenced road lines are then integrated despite other information available in the sources. The road network appears already quite widespread at the time of Unification (1861), despite a significant North and Centre vs. South divide. Following the Unification, the road network further expands in a complementary way to the concurrent railroad expansion and mitigates, to some extent, the regional divides in access to road infrastructure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For decades, scholars have constructed various ways to measure Taiwanese public opinion on the nation's future, the independence–unification (Tondu) question. While existing surveys find that Taiwanese people become more likely to support independence, the majority still favors the "status quo" option. Existing measurements have a number of weaknesses. For instance, most do not inform citizens what the "status quo" means, nor do they specify when and how independence and unification will manifest in reality. We propose a new approach to measuring citizens' preferences of the nation's future by specifying five mutually exclusive options on the independence–unification spectrum and field a nationwide survey to illustrate the validity of the new typology. Compared with traditional measurements, our method has more substantial explanatory power for several key political issues in Taiwan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on Costantino Nigra's insights into the Risorgimento and his role in the Italian unification. Topics include his connections with the previous generation and the Revolution of 1821, his thoughts on the events of 1848, and the interplay between history and memory in shaping national identity.

Beijing has played a long game on Taiwan for more than seventy years. Starting with Mao Zedong's aborted aspiration of military liberation in 1949, Deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin, and Hu Jintao focused on peaceful unification although they never renounced the use of force. With the rhetoric of striving for peaceful unification, Xi Jinping has relied more on brinkmanship to press Taiwan to accept his hardened terms of unification. Xi has made clear that the Taiwan question is China's core national interest and essentially non-negotiable, important enough to go to war if pushed. China as a 'divided nation' cannot sit well with Xi's China Dream, the catch-all term for Xi's ambition for great-power status. Riding on the nationalist currents he whipped up, Xi will end the long game according to his timetable, or sooner if the brinkmanship fails and the red lines crossed, whether China is ready or not. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on a nine-city cell phone survey in 2019, this paper systematically examines which groups showed stronger support for armed unification with Taiwan and what factors and mechanisms might contribute to their support. The bivariate analysis shows the politically, economically, and socially privileged groups and those with stronger national pride and more understanding of Taiwan were more pro-armed unification, while residents of the two coastal cities, Xiamen and Guangzhou, were less supportive. Further analysis indicates education and unfavorable view of the Taiwanese government were the two most powerful factors contributing to the support. Possible contributing mechanisms might include both top-down mechanisms, such as political indoctrination and propaganda, and bottom-up ones, such as the respondents' interest and identity considerations influenced by their city's proximity to Taiwan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The general badge of the Canadian Army has undergone a number of changes over the years in response to changes in the status of the land forces of Canada. The most significant of these changes was the disestablishment of the Army as an independent service with unification in 1968. An impressive amount of documentation records the decisions taken with respect to the badge of Mobile Command, a design unlike its predecessor, which had been based on that of the British Army. The demise of Mobile Command saw a return to patterns based on the original design with crossed swords. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The precautionary principle (PP) is an influential principle for making decisions when facing uncertain, but potentially severe, harm. However, there is a persistent disagreement about what the principle entails, exactly. It exists in a multitude of formulations and has potentially conflicting ideas associated with it. Is there even such a thing as 'the precautionary principle'? This paper analyses the debate between unificationists and pluralists about 'the PP', arguing that the debate is hindered by neglecting the question of justification. It introduces reflective equilibrium as a method of justification, and sketches how it could be applied to justify a PP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides a sorely-needed evaluation of the view that mathematical explanations in science explain by unifying. Illustrating with some novel examples, I argue that the view is misguided. For believers in mathematical explanations in science, my discussion rules out one way of spelling out how they work, bringing us one step closer to the right way. For non-believers, it contributes to a divide-and-conquer strategy for showing that there are no such explanations in science. My discussion also undermines the appeal to unifying power in support of the enhanced indispensability argument. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to explore how the theoretical and pedagogical intersections of sonic art and creative oral history may work together to enhance the public response of socially engaged, interdisciplinary artwork. The main topics of discussion will include Panos Amelides's paper 'Acousmatic Storytelling', the socio theoretical approach suggested by Salome Voegelin in her paper 'Sonic Memory Material as "Pathetic Trigger"', the behavioral study from the oral history sound installation by Dr Luis Sotelo Castro called Not Being Able to Speak is Torture, and the Deep Listening and Sonic Meditation practices and teachings of Pauline Oliveros, as well as compositions by Yves Daoust, Hildegard Westerkamp and Trevor Wishart. One consistent theme revealed through these investigations was that socially engaged, aurally focused artwork informed and woven by familiar and documented 'life' sounds or nostalgic sound events increases emotional triggers for the audience, creating a deeper engagement with the art piece or performance. Furthermore, an informed and host-led directive encouraging participatory and attentive listening through either meditation or discussion increases audience reception and takeaway, thus inspiring and unifying mass group empathy. This article suggests that the application of these techniques by electroacoustic composers, sonic artists, oral historians and interdisciplinary artists will create informed, passionate and empathetic listening spaces that live beyond the insular, creative experience itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's exchange-rate regime reform policies have fluctuated since the early 1990s, experiencing at least six significant policy changes: 1994 unification, 1998 stabilization, 2005 reform, 2008 stagnation, 2010 relaunch and 2015 '8•11' reform. This policy fluctuation plausibly suggests that China has behaved as a speculative pragmatist without being disciplined by established and consistent values, principles or national interests, particular against the backdrop of the current international power transition. Adopting an integrative Foreign Policy Analysis (FPA) analytical framework that differentiates and bridges International Relations (IR) national interests with FPA policy motivations, this article compares the six policy changes and argues that China has been a steadfast reformer rather than a speculative pragmatist since the early 1990s. Namely, the market-oriented exchange-rate regime reform has consistently reflected China's national interest since the early 1990s, notwithstanding occasional policy fluctuations that diverge from the national interest. This integrative analysis contributes to transcending the 'holism failure' of IR studies by looking into the specific decision-making processes, and escaping from the 'reductionist gamble' of FPA studies by examining the long-term tendency and interests behind these apparently inconsistent policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present the first ever analysis of the provincial population in Italy since ca. 1770, using 1911 boundaries, and providing a key variable for future studies on Italian economic history. The new data reveal, in line with national figures, two distinct stages: one of low population growth before 1821, and one of higher growth after 1821. A preliminary inspection suggests that the process of Unification did not represent a significant factor of change in the demographic trends of the majority of the Italian provinces, with only a few exceptions. Rather, it seems that the end of the Napoleonic Wars and the period of Restoration constituted the key dynamics in driving population growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author researches the constitutional history of the various Italian States in the period between 1796 and 1861, prior to the unification of Italy and against the background of a rising liberal and patriotic movement. The author traces the influence of the French and English institutional models on the formation of a specific Italian model, which found its origins in the "Statuto Albertino" granted by the King of Sardinia in 1848. This unique constitutional blend while formally reserving all the executive power to the Monarchy, opened the way to a kind of "parliamentary government", whereby, at least in part, the appointed executive body found political legitimacy by leaning on the legislative chamber. As a result of Parliament becoming the key institution of the State, the practice of "trasformismo", i.e. members of parliament switching allegiances, became paramount. The Author claims that this evolution was made possible both by the flexibility inbuilt in the Statuto Albertino, as well as by its transformative interpretation throughout the whole period in which Italy remained a Monarchy and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We introduce unification in first-order logic. In propositional logic, unification was introduced by S. Ghilardi, see Ghilardi (1997, 1999, 2000). He successfully applied it in solving systematically the problem of admissibility of inference rules in intuitionistic and transitive modal propositional logics. Here we focus on superintuitionistic predicate logics and apply unification to some old and new problems: definability of disjunction and existential quantifier, disjunction and existential quantifier under implication, admissible rules, a basis for the passive rules, (almost) structural completeness, etc. For this aim we apply modified specific notions, introduced in propositional logic by Ghilardi, such as projective formulas, projective unifiers, etc. Unification in predicate logic seems to be harder than in the propositional case. Any definition of the key concept of substitution for predicate variables must take care of individual variables. We allow adding new free individual variables by substitutions (contrary to Pogorzelski & Prucnal (1975)). Moreover, since predicate logic is not as close to algebra as propositional logic, direct application of useful algebraic notions of finitely presented algebras, projective algebras, etc., is not possible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Republic of Cyprus is a country characterised by a long-term conflict which resulted in the geopolitical division of the island. Greek-Cypriots and Turkish-Cypriots have lived in separation for more than 30 years until the border re-opened in 2003, allowing people to cross and visit 'the other side'. One of the crossing points is located in the heart of the commercial area in Nicosia, the capital. This study explores the visibility of the two official languages, namely Greek and Turkish, and also English in the multilingual public space near the border. Unlike previous quantitative Linguistic Landscape investigations, this study is using a qualitative Semiotic Landscape approach [Scollon and Scollon 2003. Discourse in Place: Language in the Material World. London: Routledge; Jaworski and Thurlow 2010. Semiotic Landscapes: Language, Image, Space. London: Continuum] to understand how the public space that divides the two communities interacts with written discourse, visual modalities, spatial arrangements and dimensions of history and culture to create meaning and project ideologies, identities and power relations. The findings show that traditional discourses of separation and conflict are dominant in the public space but at the same time new discourses of unification, peace and integration slowly begin to surface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article, 'Italy's Unification and its Discontents: Verga's Cos'è il Re, focuses on the mental confusion of the protagonist, Cosimo, which becomes symptomatic of the southern rural masses' disenfranchisement from the unification process. Verga's political disillusion with the new state, for which he fought, comes to the fore, underlining how the Savoy kingdom's constitution was no guarantee of a real improvement for the rural masses. Verga's story contrasts the Savoy king, whose power is limited by the constitution, with the Bourbon Monarch's Corpus Mysticum, as described by Ernest Kantorowicz, whose power is absolute, like that of Jesus Christ. The story denounces, then, the paradox that the Bourbon monarch, in his paternalistic governance, was better for the impoverished rural masses than the constitutional Savoy king. Moreover, Italy's unification under the Savoy sovereign further developed a national discourse that systematically racialized Southerners because of their subaltern position within the nation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Creativity Game / Igra Ustvarjalnosti is the property of University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Architecture and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article returns to a question posed by Andreas Huyssen (and others), namely whether and how minority writers can "migrate into" a German memory culture that is largely shaped by the "ethnic German" memory of German responsibility for the Holocaust. Here, however, the focus is on two "other" ethnic German memories that are arguably repressed in today's Germany, namely German wartime suffering and the forty-year history of the German Democratic Republic. The article offers a close reading of Russian migrant writer Nellja Veremej's 2013 novel Berlin liegt im Osten as a highly unusual—even unique—literary engagement with these "non-integrated" German pasts that not only critiques present-day Germany's memory culture but also challenges what the novel frames as its self-satisfied liberal nationalism. A brief concluding section speculates on how "big history" and growing global consciousnes of the Anthropocene might impact our engagement with twentieth-century German and even world history. (ST) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Unification Church, or the Unificationism, also known as HAS-UWC (Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity) or 'Moonies' (the term deemed now as disrespectful) but originating from the name of the founder Sun Myung Moon, who set up this Christian religious movement in Northern Korea in 1954 has approximately 3 million followers worldwide. Its existence and popularity are a global phenomenon, interesting not only for sociologists of religion but for politicians, philosophers and people of faith. The impact of this movement and the two-way social change remain a rare subject of study and this paper aims to fill the gaps and to discuss contemporary situation in regards to its followers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the difficult Italian state-building in the 19th century, values and bourgeois prerogatives produced social and gender discrimination through laws and liberal institutions. Among them, in Italy, there was the Cavour Rule on prostitution, a tool for controlling and protecting public order, hygiene and morality. The Regulation affected a particular female component: the rural one involved in mobility and urban development processes. Economic, social and political transformations, resulting from the Italian unification, were handled by the peripheral administration which, among other things, applied the Cavour Rule not only in the most developed urban realities but also in the provinces where the process of modernisation was not started, or was just at the beginning. The women for this bureaucracy, for prejudices and for social control was the protagonist of the building of a role: the prostitute. Women, however, sometimes accepted this role, but often opposed it. This contribution intends to revisit the features of the Cavour Rule, its supporters and opponents, examining its application in the southern province of Basilicata. The Italian woman, in the second half of the 19th century, on the basis of a regulation not approved by parliament, was discriminated for her sexual behaviour, because she was considered as an alternative and dangerous social model or just because she was useful for the social order in the role of a prostitute. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ladyman and Ross’s account of the metaphysical component of ontic structural realism was associated with a unificationist view of the connection between fundamental physics and special sciences. The aim of the present article is to assess the sense of unification that is at issue in Ladyman and Ross’s definition of metaphysics. Given the ontic core of Ladyman and Ross’s version of structural realism, it should be assumed that the unifying endeavour is worthwhile only if the connective links that underpin unification are metaphysically significant. Ladyman and Ross employed information-theoretic notions, e.g. ‘projectibility’, to account for the significance of real patterns, which underpin unification. I build upon McAllister’s engagements with the same topic, to argue that these notions fail to accomplish this objective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A description and characterization of free and projective monadic MV - algebras in the variety generated by perfect MV -algebras is given. It is proved that the variety generated by monadic perfect MV -algebras has unitary unification type. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The no-miracles argument (Putnam 1975) holds that science is successful because successful theories are (approximately) true. Frost-Arnold (2010) objects that this argument is unacceptable because it generates neither new predictions nor unifications. It is similar to the unacceptable explanation that opium puts people to sleep because it has a dormative virtue. I reply that on close examination, realism explains not only why some theories are successful but also why successful theories exist in current science. Therefore, it unifies the disparate phenomena. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to develop a new account of scientific explanation for computer simulations. To this end, two questions are answered: what is the explanatory relation for computer simulations? And what kind of epistemic gain should be expected? For several reasons tailored to the benefits and needs of computer simulations, these questions are better answered within the unificationist model of scientific explanation. Unlike previous efforts in the literature, I submit that the explanatory relation is between the simulation model and the results of the simulation. I also argue that our epistemic gain goes beyond the unificationist account, encompassing a practical dimension as well. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Epistemic logics are essential to the design of logical systems that capture elements of reasoning about knowledge. In this paper, we study the computability of unifiability and the unification types in several epistemic logics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are several important criticisms against the unificationist model of scientific explanation: (1) Unification is a broad and heterogeneous notion and it is hard to see how a model of explanation based exclusively on unification can make a distinction between genuine explanatory unification from cases of ordering or classification. (2) Unification alone cannot solve the asymmetry and irrelevance problems. (3) Unification and explanation pull in different directions and should be decoupled, because for good scientific explanation extra ad explanandum information is often required. I am presenting a possible solution to those problems, by focusing on an often overlooked but important element of how theoretic unification is achieved-the conceptual frameworks of theories. The core conceptual assumptions behind theories are decisive for discriminating between explanatory and non-explanatory unification. The conceptual framework is also flexible enough to balance the tension between informativeness and maximum systematization in constructing explanatory inferences. A short case study of orthogenetic and Darwinian explanations in paleontology is presented as an illustration of how my addition to the unificationist model is applicable to a historical debate between rival explanations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Cahiers des Amériques Latines is the property of Institut des Hautes Etudes de l'Amerique Latine and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Drawing on Parkin's [Marxism and class theory: A bourgeois critique. London: Tavistock Publications] concept of dual closure, this paper examines the attempt to secure the regulation of the accountancy profession in post-unification Italy. The state's establishment of a class of ‘expert accountants’ in 1865 represented an imperfect closure of the profession. In consequence, a chain of closure attempts ensued. These ventures involved shifting constructions of dominant and subordinate occupational groups and the deployment of diverse strategies to achieve usurpationary and exclusionary forms of closure. The study reveals that the achievement of state regulation of the profession in 1906 reflected the successful pursuit of usurpationary closure by a subordinated group within the accountancy field. However, it also points to the failure of the profession's efforts to make incursions into the jurisdictions of higher status occupations, especially lawyers, who wielded considerable sociopolitical power in newly unified Italy. Consistent with the findings of previous studies, the paper confirms the complexity and uncertain outcomes of closure projects in the accountancy profession. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In post-unification Germany, lingering conflicts between East and West Germans have found some unusual outlets, including a debate of the relative superiority of East and West German ‘Ampelmännchen’ pedestrian traffic signs. In our study, we probed the visual efficacy of East and West German Ampelmännchen signs with a Stroop-like conflict task. We found that the distinctive East German man-with-hat figures were more resistant to conflicting information, and in turn produced greater interference when used as distractors. These findings demonstrate Stroop-like effects for real-life objects, such as traffic signs, and underline the practical utility of an East German icon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An essay is presented on the efforts of the telecommunications company Globacom Ltd., in resisting the neocolonialist dimensions of neoliberalism while raising questions about media imperialism in Nigeria. It discusses how the company identified Pan-Africanism as the philosophy of unification. The methods that the company used to resist neoliberalism is provided. It mentions the diversity of media practices and allegiances in West Africa that the company is currently dealing with.

As United Methodism commemorates its fortieth anniversary, it needs to look back far past 1968 into its earlier denominational history in order to discern the peculiar circumstances, trends, and influences that have conspired and coalesced-for good or for ill-to make it what it is today. By 1884, the centennial of its founding as a church, Methodism had become a horizontally and vertically integrated system. It could make decisions and implement them. It was also a segregated system, a sexist system, and a racist system. And the 1939 unification ratified its faults and undercut its strengths. It is to 1884 and 1939, rather than to 1968, that United Methodists should look for explanations of the inertias that led eventually to failures of evangelism and mission, to local and connectional self-preoccupation, to leadership bent inward on institutional maintenance. Only by understanding how it came to be in its current situation and condition can United Methodism hope to find a way forward into its future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The end of the Cold War eliminated many of the external constraints that had straitjacketed German policy during the Cold War era. At the same time, unification augmented Germany's already substantial power base. In light of these changed geopolitical circumstances, it was only logical for the dominant theory of security studies, namely realism, to expect a reorientation in German foreign policy behavior toward unilateralism and increased levels of power politics. Yet these expectations proved wrong. This article argues that German foreign policy behavior in the post-Cold War era can be ascribed to a foreign policy culture of reticence —a culture of restraint and accommodation that can be traced to well-defined sets of fundamental beliefs of the German decision-making elite. This article systematically examines these beliefs in the post-Cold War era, relates them to foreign policy choices, and concludes with a plea for increased attention to ideational variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investigates the effectiveness of political strategies used to mobilize voters under the political conditions in the 2002 presidential elections in South Korea. Recognition by candidate Roh Moo-hyun of the potential loss of his party against Chun Mong-Joon; Impact of the decision to shift to unify into a single candidacy on Roh's win; Failure of the other political issues to affect electoral results.

This article deals with a study of the Moonies in Belgium, focusing on unificationism. It was learned that the Unification Church has been accorded an importance in western countries because of the attention of the mass media. Orchestrated press campaigns have typically alleged that Moonies induce converts to break off contact with their families, deceive donors and potential converts about their identity, and brainwash their recruits. The media have both fed and in part created public and political concern, yet, outside the Far East, there have never been more than about 12,000 Moonies. The organization, development and activities of Moonies in Belgium was examined to determine who had joined, how they were attracted and recruited, and the consequences for family relationships. Compared with other places, Unification Church in Belgium enjoys considerable autonomy, having first depended for assistance in evangelism on Austrian missionaries, who began work in 1968-69. The Belgian Church began properly in 1973, when a Belgian couple were converted in Denmark. The main activities of Belgian Moonies were witnessing, fund-raising, and business. Their activities differ from other Church congregations.

This paper reports the findings of a participant observation study of the role system of the Unification Church. After noting several strategic inconsistencies in the literature on roles and the organization of authority in the Church, the paper describes 1) the therapeutic ideology of "heart" elaborated by the Moonies; 2) the communal ideal they pursue, the personalized family; 3) the two fundamental role-sets of the Church: father and child, Abel and Cam; and 4) the organization of these roles in a therapeutic but hierarchical apparatus of charismatic relations. On the basis of its role system, the Church synthesizes the seemingly opposed social forms of personalism and authoritarianism in a distinctively therapeutic religion; it is an egalitarian gemeinschaft which organizationally integrates the "impulsive focus" of the contemporary narcissistic culture of emotions with its apparent opposite, the "institutional focus" of extreme religious fundamentalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been very little social science research on the financing of social movements despite the obviously critical role economic resources play in movement survival and impact This paper offers a major accounting of the economic structure of the Unificationist Movement The primary resource generating and disbursing structures are described and the relationships among them analyzed This analysis suggests that 1) the movement is a minor factor in the religious economy although relatively highly diversified, 2) the economic structure is consistent with the characteristics of a world transforming movement, and 3) the Unificationist Movement is most unusual in its creation of a corporate conglomerate to underwrite its theological agenda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on legal trends and developments in the United States, current as of November 1981. Abolition of interspousal immunity; Supreme Court of Minnesota's ruling on the attorney-client privilege; Right of a Unification Church member to sue his parents.

It is informed that religious sects have been studied sociologically as social movements, minorities and deviant groups. The perspective of the sociology of deviance has principally been adopted in attempts to understand those instances when a sectarian group has aroused public hostility. It is opined that both deviance amplification and the sect-to-denomination models can offer important insights into the role of public hostility in the life of a religious movement. It is informed that the principal aim of this article is to demonstrate the need to take a broad view of the dynamics of conflict between nascent religious sects and their "host" societies by examining the limitations of the deviance-amplification model and the ambiguities implicit in the sect-to-denomination model. This critical evaluation of the deviance amplification and sect-to-denomination models will be conducted with reference to two empirical cases: first, that of the public hostility around by the Mormons in mid-nineteenth-century Illinois, and second that of the Moonies in Great Britain during the last decade.

Samples of one new religious group (Unificationists) and two established religious groups (Catholics and Presbyterians) were compared on measures of the importance of communal experiences to one's religious faith and the number of prior religious associations. A three-way interaction emerged among religious group, importance of communal experiences, and number of prior religious associations. Also, communal experiences in a religious context generally were valued for the social support they provide, although the type of social support differed among the three groups. These findings provide evidence of the ‘communalization of experience’ and religious searching for some members of one new religion and even for some members of two established religions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the implication of the rise of cults in the evolution of the sociology of religion. Religion has often been fiercely controversial in the U.S. In the period in which the present writer grew up and became a sociologist, religion in the U.S. has seemed rather tame, and decidedly non-controversial. It was in this period that the dominant attitude toward theistic religion was expressed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who stated that everyone should have a religion and he didn't care which one. Yet it was precisely this period, the period of detente between religion and social science which has provided the context in which the scientific study of religion and the modern sociology of religion have developed and flourished. There is a greater focus on sociologists who are alleged to be pro-cult in a different critical commentary. Jack Ross criticized Anthony, Robbins and Doucas for publishing a piece in Sociological Analysis which allegedly depicts the Moonies "as a nice, relaxed bunch of ordinary people giving members free medical care and clothing. Sociologists of religion and religious studies scholars do have biases. New religious movements testify to the continuing significance of one's speciality, religion, as well as provide interesting research opportunities.

This paper considers a relatively neglected topic in social movements research: the structural conditions under which counter-movements emerge and expand and the relation of the counter-movement's mobilization strategies and tactics to those of the movement(s) which it opposes. The primary movement analyzed is the Unification Church of Sun Myung Moon (as the most prominent of the ''new" religious movements in America), and its characteristics as a "world-transforming movement" (in particular its ideology, organizational style, economic resources, and recruitment/socialization practices) are examined in terms of their potential for generating societal conflict. The counter-movement examined is what has been labelled the American anti-cult movement. Drawing upon a wide variety of published and unpublished sources gathered during the authors' three-year study of both movements, the anti-cult movement's institutional origins in the family and (secondarily) in organized religion, as well as the controversial tactics it adopted (including deprogramming), are considered relative to specific aspects of the "Moonies" and similar groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article develops gender analysis of the experience of conversion to one particular religious perspective, the modern Orthodox Judaism. The analysis reveals important gender differences in the processes of recruitment and re-socialization, based on interviews with newly Orthodox men and women. Within the sociology of religion, the last twenty years has seen a proliferation of studies of the conversion process. The vast majority of these studies focus on conversion to the perspectives of religious groups that are regarded by the larger society as deviant, such as Hare Krishna and the Moonies. This tendency to focus on conversion to groups viewed as deviant from the perspective of the Jewish and Christian traditions may have produced a distortion in. scholarly understanding of the conversion process. Male recruits were more likely to have been active seekers and to have found Orthodoxy on their own, while women were more likely to enter through personal contacts. Men emphasized ethical and workplace concerns in discussing the appeal of Orthodoxy while women stressed issues related to family and personal relationships.

Adapted from Bogardus, a religious distance scale to measure acceptability of 19 "target " denominations was administered to 938 university students from the western United States and Canada. Four broad, interrelated hypotheses guided the study. New religions, followed by proselytizing and conservative Christian groups were reported least tolerable while Mainline Protestants and Catholics were best received. Religious factors, especially denomination and informal religious activity of rater, were found to be stronger correlates of religious, distance than were standard background variables, e.g., SES. Two target groups, the Mormons and Unificationists, were emphasized in a multivariate exploration. Methodological considerations are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]