Public support for government use of network surveillance: An empirical assessment of public understanding of ethics in science administration.

This article relies upon the recreancy theorem to empirically assess the extent to which people's desires for technology efficacy, personal security, and social justice affect their trust in and support for government use of network surveillance as it is applied to local law enforcement and homeland security. The recreancy theorem complements technology adoption models in that it focuses upon public assessments of innovations as they are managed by societal institutions, thereby providing conceptual congruity between technology adoption and public assessments of institutional competency and integrity. Based upon the results of a social survey of 1488 adults living in the contiguous United States, the article expands our conceptual understanding of public opinions of network surveillance and empirically documents public demand for network surveillance that fosters goals of social justice more so than goals of self-interest.

Sowing the seeds of skepticism: Russian state news and anti-GMO sentiment.

Biotech news coverage in English-language Russian media fits the profile of the Russian information warfare strategy described in recent military reports. This raises the question of whether Russia views the dissemination of anti-GMO information as just one of many divisive issues it can exploit as part of its information war, or if GMOs serve more expansive disruptive purposes. Distinctive patterns in Russian news provide evidence of a coordinated information campaign that could turn public opinion against genetic engineering. The recent branding of Russian agriculture as the ecologically clean alternative to genetically engineered foods is suggestive of an economic motive behind the information campaign against western biotechnologies.

Developmental Idealism: The Cultural Foundations of World Development Programs.

This paper extends theory and research concerning cultural models of development beyond family and demographic matters to a broad range of additional factors, including government, education, human rights, daily social conventions, and religion. Developmental idealism is a cultural model-a set of beliefs and values-that identifies the appropriate goals of development and the ends for achieving these goals. It includes beliefs about positive cause and effect relationships among such factors as economic growth, educational achievement, health, and political governance, as well as strong values regarding many attributes, including economic growth, education, small families, gender equality, and democratic governance. This cultural model has spread from its origins among the elites of northwest Europe to elites and ordinary people throughout the world. Developmental idealism has become so entrenched in local, national, and global social institutions that it has now achieved a taken-for-granted status among many national elites, academics, development practitioners, and ordinary people around the world. We argue that developmental idealism culture has been a fundamental force behind many cultural clashes within and between societies, and continues to be an important cause of much global social change. We suggest that developmental idealism should be included as a causal factor in theories of human behavior and social change.

Trends in Global Gender Inequality (Forthcoming, Social Forces).

This study investigates trends in gender inequality for the world as a whole. Using data encompassing a large majority of the world's population, we examine world trends over recent decades for key indicators of gender inequality in education, mortality, political representation, and economic activity. We find that gender inequality is declining in virtually all major domains, that the decline is occurring across diverse religious and cultural traditions, and that population growth is slowing the decline because populations are growing faster in countries where there is the greatest gender inequality.