China Rise, Doctor-Parent Divide, Asian-American Achievement

Guest: Daniel Lynch, Ph.D., Professor of International Relations at the University of Southern California  The popular narrative over much of the last decade has been that China is unstoppable. The International Monetary Fund announced last year that at least by one measure, China had overtaken the US to become the world’s top economic power. A burgeoning Chinese middle class adds fuel to China’s rise.   But the latest manufacturing numbers out of the country are weaker than expected and the Chinese stock market has been tumbling for several weeks. Has all the talk about China’s inevitable, unending rise been too heady?

Guest: Laura Scherer,  Ph.D., Assitant Professor of Psychological Sciences at the University of Missouri  Parents have a lot to consider when making healthcare decisions for their child. It’s not much of a surprise that they expect doctors to do everything in their power to make their kids better, and according to a new study published in the journal Clinical Pediatrics, the way a doctor words a diagnosis can drive how parents react.

Guest: Jill Manning, Ph.D., Colorado Sexual Recovery Center  The decision not to include pornography addiction as a mental illness in the latest diagnostic manual from the American Psychiatric Association has fueled debate in the therapeutic community. Some practitioners have made treatment of sexual addictions their sole focus. One has gone a step further and made the spouses of pornography addicts her focus.

Guest: Grant Madsen, Ph.D., Professor of History at BYU  This week Marcus Smith talks with Madsen about the origins of big government.

Guest: Jennifer Lee, Ph.D.,  Professor of Sociology at University of California, Irvine  Of all ethnic groups in the US, including native-born whites, Asian-Americans have the highest household median income and education level. That probably doesn’t surprise you. Asian Americans are the country’s “model minority” group. Their culture places high value on educational achievement. Their hard-driving “Tiger Mothers” see to it Asian American children get good grades, develop stunning musical abilities and end up at Ivy League schools.