Sociology

This paper uses Gallup poll data to assess two narratives that have crystallized around the 2011 Egyptian uprising: (1) New electronic communications media constituted an important and independent cause of the protests in so far as they enhanced the capacity of demonstrators to extend protest networks, express outrage, organize events, and warn comrades of real-time threats. (2) Net of other factors, new electronic communications media played a relatively minor role in the uprising because they are low-cost, low-risk means of involvement that attract many sympathetic onlookers who are not prepared to engage in high-risk activism. Examining the independent effects of a host of factors associated with high-risk movement activism, the paper concludes that using some new electronic communications
media was associated with being a demonstrator. However, grievances,
structural availability, and network connections were more important than was the
use of new electronic communications media in distinguishing demonstrators from
sympathetic onlookers. Thus, although both narratives have some validity, they
must both be qualified.

The postmaterialist thesis holds that postmaterialist and liberal values tend to be strongest in affluent locations and among people in higher socioeconomic locations. We demonstrate the degree to which China fails to conform to these expectations and seek to account for Chinese exceptionalism. We use multilevel models fitted to 2006 Chinese General Social Survey data to test the postmaterialist thesis. In general, we find expected associations for postmaterialism but not for liberalism. Indicators of individual-level status, including household income, middle/upper class status, urban residence, and majority ethnic group status are not associated with liberalism. Provincial-level affluence is not positively associated with either postmaterialism or liberalism, while income inequality is positively associated with liberalism. We conclude that in highly collectivist cultures like China's, economic development can have unexpected effects on value change. Growing inequality, which people in lower-status positions perceive as a threat, can promote liberalism, while people who benefit most from rising affluence and growing inequality may be more inclined to support traditional than liberal values.

Researchers have repeatedly found a positive correlation between education and tolerance. However, they may be victims of an unrepresentative sample containing only rich Western liberal democracies, where political agendas have a liberalizing effect on curricula. In this paper, we specify the relationship between education and liberal attitudes by analyzing data on educational attainment and tolerance of homosexuality (one dimension of liberalism) drawn from a heterogeneous sample of 88 countries over the period 1981-2014. We argue that nonliberal political agendas in some countries undermine the supposed universality of the positive relationship between educational attainment and tolerance of homosexuality. In relatively free countries, education is indeed associated with greater tolerance. However, in relatively unfree countries, education has no effect on tolerance and in some cases encourages intolerance. Specifically , our analysis demonstrates that education is associated with tolerance of homosexuality only when regimes energetically promote liberal-democratic values. The larger theoretical point is that the agendas of political regimes shape civic values partly via education systems. Especially in an era when democracy is at risk in many countries, it is important to recognize that education is not always a benign force.

In the twenty-first century, the call for International Non-governmental Organizations (INGOs) to demonstrate their effectiveness has become popularized. This has given rise to scholarly attention examining the roles of program evaluation and impact assessment in assisting INGOs in demonstrating their effectiveness. While previous studies suggest that INGOs actively conduct program evaluation and impact assessment, this article explores the perspectives of two Canadian INGOs on how they understand, use, and experience evaluation and assessment as it relates to their work. Our study uncovers three continuing challenges: evaluation and assessment are largely descriptive and lack more sophisticated analyses; efforts to conduct evaluation and assessment are consolidated within organizations’ head offices, while staff members and volunteers are largely excluded; and evaluation and assessment remain rooted in the paradigm of
quantifiable results, which do not truly reflect the nature of work being conducted on the ground.