Work as a cure for mental illnesses? Opportunism and seeking ways in psychology and psychiatry in the first decades of state socialism in Hungary

ABSTRACT

In Hungary, until the end of the 1940s, there were two main established methods of occupying the mentally ill who were fit for work. From the end of the nineteenth century, a lesser number of patients underwent work therapy in mental asylums, whereas the others were treated with so-called family therapy (otherwise known as the heterofamilial system), exploiting the capacities of families in the countryside. As an important part of this, the mentally ill helped in housekeeping and agricultural work. However, following the political and ideological turn of 1948, the latter form of treatment became debated, and then it was gradually superseded. Parallel to this process, work therapy came to be the most popular type of treatment for mental illnesses, as work formed the basis of the ideology of the communist state, and thus, healing through work harmonized with the general tendencies of the era. This article examines texts related to work therapy published in neurological–psychiatric and psychological journals and monographs between 1954 and 1964. However, although work therapy appeared to be the “handmaiden of ideology,” and even though it was supposed to fulfil a particular role, in reality, the role and perception of work therapy were a lot more complicated.     

Receipt of Formal and Informal Help with Specific Care Tasks among Older People Living in their Own Home. National Trends over Two Decades

Sweden is seen as a typical example of a social democratic welfare regime, with universal and generous welfare policies. However, in the last decades, there have been substantial reductions in the Swedish provision of care for older people. This study aimed to examine trends in sources of care‐receipt in older people (77+) living in their own home and with a perceived need for help with two specific tasks: house cleaning and/or food shopping. Trends in care‐receipt were examined in relation to gender, living alone, having children and socio‐economic position. Data from the 1992, 2002 and 2011 data collection waves of the national study, Swedish Panel Study of Living Conditions of the Oldest Old (SWEOLD), were used. Response rates varied between 86 and 95 per cent, and the sample represents the population well. Trends and differences between groups were explored in bivariate and logistic regression analyses. There was a reduction in formal care‐receipt regarding house cleaning and food shopping over the study period. It was more common for women than men to receive formal care, and more common for men than women to receive informal care. Reductions in formal care have affected older women more than older men. Still, living alone was the most influential factor in care‐receipt, associated with a greater likelihood of formal care‐receipt and a lower likelihood of informal care‐receipt. It can be concluded that public responsibility for care is becoming more narrowly defined in Sweden, and that more responsibility for care is placed on persons in need of care and their families.     

美学研究之当下论域与理论前景

近年来,我国的美学研究蓬勃发展,美学基本原理探讨成效显著,中外美学史梳理有条不紊,部门美学研究异彩纷呈,流派美学研究乐此不疲。其主要特征有五:一是参与者众,成果五花八门;二是师承关系明显,排异性强;三是教材各异,令人无所适从;四是思辨者多,实验取证者少,归纳总结者多,创新者少;五是学位论文俨然成为新见主产地。研究方法主要有哲学思辨法、心理还原法以及语义分析、经验主义、社会学、历史学、系统论等。不足之处即为缺乏理论创新,鲜有大师级人物出现,故此未来之研究应以创新为第一要务,力求把深奥难懂的美学理论阐发得通俗易懂。     

Levels or worlds of welfare? Assessing social rights and social stratification in Northern and Southern countries

Since Esping‐Andersen's Three Worlds, it has become a truism of welfare state research that welfare states do not vary linearly along a single dimension but have to be conceptualized as multidimensional phenomena that cluster into types caused by the political economy of class coalitions. However, when moving beyond the 18 original countries of Esping‐Andersen's analysis, the situation is less clear. Although additional worlds have been identified in the Global North and the Global South, these are usually not conceptualized along the same dimensions as the original three worlds and are rarely empirically compared with them. This paper tackles these omissions by explicitly comparing Northern and Southern countries within Esping‐Andersen's framework. It poses the question whether the central insight of welfare state research, namely, that there are not just gradual differences between welfare states, but different types with qualitative differences, expands beyond classic welfare states. Based on newly generated data on social rights and social stratification, we employ cluster analysis with 45 Northern and Southern countries. This analysis produces mixed results. We do find different types of welfare states with qualitative differences, but these do not fully correspond to Esping‐Andersen's Three Worlds. Moreover, our findings also point to a conceptual issue in welfare regime research: regimes are not just defined and measured in terms of different logics of welfare provision but also take into account degrees of welfare stateism. We argue that this issue is poised to become ever more pressing with the geographical expansion of welfare state research.     

应急管理中缘何出现“信息悖论”现象?——基于中国国家治理视角的考察

信息是国家治理的重要依据。中国国家治理常规机制与运动式治理机制间的矛盾深刻地体现在了日常管理与应急管理的差异之中。当下的治理逻辑必然地要求日常管理采取科层制的非人格化管理模式，对直接上级的负责制形塑了信息沿纵向逐级向上衰减的常规信息传递机制。但在应急管理机制之下，上级应对突发事件的精准决策却有赖于对真实信息的掌握，而常规机制所带来的表象性避责策略则会削弱上级的决策准确性，由此这一张力进一步形塑了中国国家治理在应急管理机制中的“信息悖论”现象。      

Ethiopia's developmental state: A building stability framework assessment

Ethiopia has been lauded for its economic growth and progress in human development indicators. For some, that success is rooted in the developmental state approach advocated by the government. For others, the theory of the developmental state and the practice in Ethiopia were often at odds. Up until 2018, ideas that challenged the state and its approaches were not welcome, and politicians, academics and journalists were jailed for expressing alternative views. However, this appears to have changed, and in June 2018 the Deputy Prime Minister called for debate on the developmental state model. This article explores Ethiopia's developmental state model using the building stability framework, analysing its ability to establish fair power structures, foster inclusive economic growth, develop conflict‐resolution mechanisms, create effective and legitimate institutions, and enable a supportive regional environment. We find the developmental state was effective in a number of ways, but that this modality of governance appears to have passed its peak of securing advantage in Ethiopia. A shift from the developmental state to developmental democracy appears to be underway. Decision‐making and economic policies need to align with this change.     

Can the welfare state replace parents? Children's cognition in the United States and Great Britain

We compare family and parental effects on child verbal facility, verbal achievement and mathematics achievement in the United States and Great Britain. We study 3,438 5–13 year-old children from the 1994 NLSY Child-Mother Data Set and 1429 same-aged children from the National Child Development Study, also known as the British Child. Multivariate analyses suggest that the processes through which families invest in child cognition are similar across societies, with factors including low birth weight, child health, maternal cognition, family size and children's home environments being consequential. We conclude that parental investments are equally important across the two societies. The more developed welfare state in Great Britain does not notably compensate for parental investments in that society, although it may play a greater role when parental resources are absent or stretched thin.     

Revisiting the effectiveness of the employment‐oriented welfare state: Considering the quality of employment achievement

The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of an employment‐oriented welfare state. While previous studies have focused on employment growth, this study considers the quality of employment, especially its mediating impact between public social expenditure and fiscal soundness. Three‐step mediated regression analysis was conducted on a data sample from 19 developed countries from 1991 to 2013. The results show that while public social expenditure negatively affects fiscal soundness, if it promotes total and part‐time employment, it can positively affect fiscal soundness. However, when the incidence of involuntary part‐time employment is high, public social expenditure and its impact on employment performance no longer guarantee fiscal soundness. This study addresses the importance of promoting not only employment growth but also employment quality to secure fiscal soundness.     

元代玉山雅集诗序探微

以顾瑛为核心的玉山草堂雅集是元代最具代表性的文人雅集，学界虽不乏相关研究成果，但对相关诗序文献均未给予重视。文中从诗序这一独特视角对顾瑛玉山雅集进行观照，以拓展、加深对其认知：以诗序为据，梳理历次玉山雅集活动系年、场所、人员及主要活动内容；玉山雅集诸方面超越前代，分韵赋诗是玉山雅集文学活动的核心形制；玉山雅集诗序是折射元末文人心态及时代变化的一面镜子。     

Applications of quadrivariate exponential distribution to a three-unit warm standby system with dependent structure

Two-unit warm standby systems have been elaborately dealt within the literature. However, the study of standby systems with more than two units, though very relevant in state-of-the-art practical situations, has received little attention because of mathematical intricacies involved in analyzing them. Also, such systems have been studied assuming: (i) the lifetime or repair time of the units to be exponential, or (ii) the lifetime and repair time to be independent. The present contribution is an improvement in the state-of-the-art in the sense that three-unit warm standby system with dependent structure is shown to be capable of comprehensive analysis.