Data from the Value of Children Study are analyzed to examine preferences for sons in seven Asian Countries and the United States. Boy preference was found to be weak in the Philippines and Indonesia (countries which share a common Malayo-Polynesian background) and in the United States. In Korea and Taiwan (countries with Confucianist the preference for sons was both strong and pervasive. Intermediate levels of boy preference were observed in Turkey, Thailand, and Singapore. Even in countries in which sex preference is not prominent, sons and daughters are expected to play different roles and serve different functions for their parents. A model of the determinants of sex preference is developed and tested using multiple classification analysis. The results indicate that sex preferences for children are determined more by cultural traditions and random biological processed than by the general level of development of a country or individual differences in backgrounds or life styles.

This paper examines the relationship between Internet use and six activities that are important to childhood development: television viewing, newspaper reading, radio listening, sports and physical exercise, interaction with family, and socializing with friends. Perceived importance of the Internet, television, newspaper, and radio as information sources was also included. A panel of 1,251 secondary‐one students was surveyed in 1999, and was revisited in 2000. A total of 817 students remained in the 2000 survey, giving an attrition rate of 34.7%. Results showed that an increase in Internet use depressed television viewing, but stimulated newspaper reading, radio listening, and socializing with friends. However, it had no significant impact on physical activities and interaction with family members. Change in the perception of the importance of the Internet as an information source was also found to be related to the perceived importance of two other media sources. Limitations of the study were included in the discussion section.

The article shows how both macro-and micro-sociolinguistic perspectives are necessary to explain national language management. Macro-level language planning is motivated by tasks of national consolidation by the state, notably in Singapore's case tasks of socio-ethnic integration and economic development. Micro-level language management pertains to individuals' adjustments of language in discourse, including individual language acquisition and use in response to institutional and other changes brought about by the macro-level planning.Following a policy of pragmatic multilingualism, the state in Singapore intervenes proactively in language communication to support non-linguistic goals. This is illustrated by the language policy in education and mass communication. Further, this macro-level language management is made within a constraint of reliance on external norms, thus removing the government from the complications of evaluating particular features of discourse. This distance allows the government to keep people's attention on the longer-term goals of implementing internationally adequate English and Chinese (Mandarin) norms. Meanwhile, exoglossic norms are promoted as the gate-keeping devices for individual social mobility, while massive individual variation is tolerated among speakers.The two approaches to language management are complementary to each other. Since in Singapore relatively more has been done at the macro-level in language management, there is a need for linguists and sociolinguists, as well as language planners, to explore more microlevel issues, with a discoursal and interactional emphasis. A balanced application of the two approaches will contribute to the creation and management of Singapore's language resources and, in the long run, serve both individual growth and the objectives of nation-building. The Sociolinguistic SituationSingapore's population of approximately three million is ethnically heterogeneous, with about 77% Chinese, 15% Malay, 6% of Indian origins, and 2% of other ethnic definitions. Its language situation is richly diversified. The 1980 census lists 20 specific "dialect groups" under the above four major ethnic category labels. It is however important to note that the reference to dialect of

Communications scholars have been challenging the universality of Eurocentric scholarship, which they argue to be a form of intellectual imperialism imposing its provincial ideals and masquerading these as universal. As an answer to Eurocentricity, Asiacentricity proposes to place Asian values and ideals at the center of inquiry to see Asian phenomena from the standpoint of Asians as subjects and agents. This article critiques this Asiacentric agenda and critically examines the implications and premises of this paradigm. It suggests instead that a culture-centric paradigm be adopted to avoid an Asian version of the Eurocentricity crisis. The article advocates the adoption of a more harmonious perspective in light of the convergence of global cultures and calls for approaching research deficiencies as a global community of communication scholars rather than one divided along ethnic fault lines. The culture-centric approach is proposed as a meta-theory that is non-polarizing by nature through its placement of culture at the center of inquiry. To avoid the creation of polarity, culture-centricity seeks to encompass the contradictions and ambivalences as well as other diverse cultural representations. This article argues for a non-polarizing approach so that communication scholars can theorize without ideological bias or artificial boundaries created by arbitrary definitions of what constitutes East or West.

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