Summary: Ads targeting girls between the ages of 8 and 12 employ an increasing level of sexuality. Are advertisers responding to neo-feminist notions of "girl power" or are they leading girls toward harmful self-images? This program examines the trend by following a group of tween girls through their daily lives, recording their perceptions of fashion, celebrities, boys, and themselves. Interviews with...

Format: software, multimedia

Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007

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Summary: This program examines types of conflict that can occur at the local level, whether that locality is a single town, a region, or an entire country. After generally addressing armed conflict-different types of war, where they tend to proliferate, and kinds of weaponry used-Conflict on a Local Scale illustrates unarmed conflict through five examples. They include a clash of recreational interests...

Format: software, multimedia

Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010

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Summary: This program redefines fear stimuli and explores the fine line between fright and excitement. The rapid evolutionary modification of supposedly hard-wired responses to heights, enclosed spaces, and darkness by the demands of modern living is described, along with the new terrors that have taken their place. But parallel to the desire for safety is the desire for excitement. The risks people...

Format: software, multimedia

Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006

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Summary: Most Americans engage in "retail therapy" from time to time, but what form does it take among immigrant populations? Is excessive shopping a way of coming to grips with a new culture-and leaving another behind? This program examines that possibility in the context of the Latino community, raising provocative questions about cultural identity, consumerism, and assimilation. Ten first-generation...

Format: software, multimedia

Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009

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Summary: The "Summer of Love" is remembered today through a haze of nostalgia, hindsight, and hype. But how was the emergence of the youth counterculture actually covered at the time? In this program, selections from the NBC News archives offer an insightful look at the beginning of a cultural shock wave that is still being felt and debated today. Reporter Aline Saarinen offers a reality check as she...

Format: software, multimedia

Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008

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Summary: Scientific discoveries, futurist Juan Enriquez notes, demand a shift in code, and our ability to thrive depends on our mastery of that code. In this TEDTalk, he applies that concept to the field of genomics. A broad thinker who studies the intersection of science, business, and society, Enriquez has a talent for bridging disciplines to build a coherent look ahead. Says Nicholas Negroponte:...

Format: software, multimedia

Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007

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Summary: Philip Zimbardo has spent decades researching the transformation of character that occurs when generally good people are led to engage in evil actions. In this lecture, Zimbardo discourses on theories of conformity, prejudice, aggression, social influence, and antisocial behavior. Topics include the permeability of behavioral boundaries; the nature of evil and its societal consequences;...

Format: software, multimedia

Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009

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Summary: Obscenities, screaming matches, fistfights, shootings-these have become almost standard forms of public expression. Why? Can society's violent downward spiral be reversed? This program explores the emotional causes and social dangers of short fuses, linking the pressures of a hard-driving, high-tech world to the prevalence of an easily threatened, easily angered point of view. Breaking its...

Format: software, multimedia

Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006

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Summary: Whether following stated procedures or complying with implicit rules of conduct, modern humans willingly modify their behavior dozens of times each day. In this program, the conformity necessary for mass interactions and the flexibility required to learn and use the behaviors of conformity are investigated. In addition to conventions such as air travel protocol and museum manners, instances of...

Format: software, multimedia

Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006

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Summary: The consequences of armed conflict are complex and long-lasting. Using Zimbabwe, Sierra Leone, and Afghanistan as points of departure, this program examines some of the economic, environmental, and social impacts of conflicts at the national and international levels. Topics include the pernicious phenomenon of child soldiers; the plight of refugees and internally displaced persons; thorny...

Format: software, multimedia

Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010

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Summary: This groundbreaking special presents viewers with profound moral, ethical, and social dilemmas to spark conversation about the tough decisions each of us face in this modern world. The show fuses dramatic storytelling, web interactivity, and expert panel discussions to create fun, enlightening debates in which viewers can participate. With daily revelations of fraud in corporate boardrooms,...

Format: software, multimedia

Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2002

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Summary: The U.S. Army Reserves have sent 155,700 deployments to Afghanistan or Iraq since September 11, 2001. Yet rarely is there an opportunity to see the personal effects inside the homes and lives immediately following a “call to duty.” Kansas to Kandahar, a part of the PBS America at a Crossroads series, is an up-close look at the physical and emotional challenges of these citizen soldiers who are...

Format: software, multimedia

Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007

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Summary: Despite the colossal and continuing legacy of America's civil rights era, the movement is often best understood through the historical moments in which it took place. This NBC News program presents original coverage from frontline correspondents and camera teams at work during critical junctures in America's battle for racial equality. Hosted by NBC anchor Lester Holt, the video examines the...

Format: software, multimedia

Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009

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Summary: One of the first in-depth televised interviews given by Martin Luther King, Jr., this program was first broadcast on October 27, 1957, on the NBC News show Look Here. Filmed only a year after he had reached national prominence during the Montgomery bus boycott, the 27-year-old King offers host Martin Agronsky invaluable insights into his goals, his philosophy, and his unshakable dedication to...

Format: software, multimedia

Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008

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Summary: Is the U.S. so divided into communities of the like-minded that people have stopped hearing any political opinion that differs from their own? This program reported by ABC News' George Stephanopoulos explores the polarizing phenomenon known as "the big sort" and how that detrimental force is reshaping activism, influencing the media, and suppressing bipartisan discourse in Congress. Stopovers...

Format: software, multimedia

Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006

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Summary: The Karuk, Yurok, and Hoopa peoples live along northern California's Klamath River, and each tribe's ancient culture revolves around the majestic Pacific salmon. Today, four large hydroelectric dams have made salmon extinction a real and frightening possibility. This case study follows tribal members as they confront the owners of the dams-specifically, a global energy giant in Scotland which...

Format: software, multimedia

Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009

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Bernstein, William J.

Summary: ""We are the apes who tell stories," writes William Bernstein. "And no matter how misleading the narrative, if it is compelling enough it will nearly always trump the facts." As Bernstein shows in his eloquent and persuasive new book, The Delusions of Crowds, throughout human history, compelling stories have catalyzed the spread of contagious narratives through susceptible groups-with enormous,...

Format: text

Publisher / Publication Date: Atlantic Monthly Press 2021

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Summary: As common courtesy becomes less common and good taste is all but a contradiction of terms, Americans continue to push the envelope of socially acceptable behavior. Does the Golden Rule still apply, or are people too busy to care about the feelings of others? This program probes the apparent erosion of decorum in the United States, which has had a profound impact on respect for authority, trust...

Format: software, multimedia

Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006

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Summary: Pickup basketball is democracy in action. This program-an astute study of sports sociology-tracks a mixed group of serious amateurs through an eight-month period, studying player culture, hierarchy, and interaction as they manifest in a setting that has no place for referees. Age, gender, race, injuries, and multigenerational families of players are also considered, as are the game rules and...

Format: software, multimedia

Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006

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Summary: I wondered for many years, reveals the Rev. Billy Kyles, "why I was there at that crucial moment." Rev. Kyles stood only a few feet away from Dr. Martin Luther King when the eminent civil rights leader was assassinated. This Academy Award-nominated documentary features Rev. Kyles' reflections on the tragedy-and on the events leading up to it, most notably the sanitation workers' strike that Dr....

Format: software, multimedia

Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009

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Summary: Who determines when one person's right to expression must give way to another's sense of propriety? In this program, ABC News correspondent John Stossel looks at growing constraints on free speech made in the interest of protecting the public from offense. Using such controversial examples as the worker who was fired for telling a joke he heard on a popular prime-time TV show, Mr. Stossel...

Format: software, multimedia

Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006

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