Ethical living: relinking ethics and consumption through care in Chile and Brazil

Mainstream conceptualizations of ‘ethical consumption’ equate the notion with conscious, individual, market‐mediated choices motivated by ethical or political aims that transcend ordinary concerns. Drawing on recent sociology and anthropology of consumption literature on the links between ordinary ethics and ethical consumption, this article discusses some of the limitations of this conceptualization. Using data from 32 focus groups conducted in Chile and Brazil, we propose a conceptualization of ethical consumption that does not centre on individual, market‐mediated choices but understands it at the level of practical outcomes, which we refer to as different forms of ‘ethical living’. To do that, we argue, we need to depart from the deontological understanding of ethics that underpins mainstream approaches to ethical consumption and adopt a more consequentialist view focusing on ethical outcomes. We develop these points through describing one particular ordinary moral regime that seemed to be predominant in participants’ accounts of ethics and consumption in both Chile and Brazil: one that links consumption and ethics through care. We show that the moral regime of care leads to ‘ethical outcomes’, such as energy saving or limiting overconsumption, yet contrary to the mainstream view of ethical consumption emphasizing politicized choice expressed through markets, these result from following ordinary ethics, often through routines of practices.     

Who Is the Residential Parent? Understanding Discrepancies in Unmarried Parents' Reports

Research examining parental reports of children's living arrangements has often relied on information about legally ordered custody agreements following divorce. This analysis used data from matched pairs of parents (N = 1,156) in the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study who live apart to compare mother and father reports of their child's residence 5 years after a nonmarital birth. The authors found that over one third of unmarried parents disagreed about who their child lived with and that conflicting reports were much more likely when fathers spent nights with the mother (an indicator of part‐time cohabitation) and had overnights with the child on their own. The results further suggest that discrepancies in unmarried parents' reports were more closely associated with the complexity and ambiguity of their living situations than with the quality of their relationships with each other. Implications for measuring children's living arrangements in families formed outside of marriage are discussed.     

古典家具的“分”与“融”对现代设计的启示

弃“席”而“坐”居住方式的重大变革是中国古典家具“分”与“融”的主要根源。以楚式家具、宋式家具、明清家具为代表，在矮型家具向高型家具的演变进程中，家具突显出在功能、阶级风格上的“分离”和以消除与居住方式的分歧为目的的式样上的“融合”。其中的“分”与“融”，对现代设计中如何把握产品功能、设计元素、品牌文化的“取”“舍”尺度问题具有重要启示。     

C2C网上交易中信号机制的有效性分析

本文应用Berry等(1995)^[2]提出的离散选择需求模型和差异产品的伯川德竞争模型,并利用淘宝网上的交易数据,对声誉、消费者保障计划、保修服务及信息披露四种信号策略在网上交易中的作用进行了实证研究。需求估计结果表明消费者保障计划中的"7天无理由退换货"计划以及保修服务可以作为产品质量的信号;而在其他有效信号策略存在的情况下,消费者保障计划中的"先行赔付"计划以及卖家声誉作为质量信号的作用则被削弱。成本分析表明,信息披露虽然可以提高消费者购买的可能性,但是由于发出信号的成本太低,容易被低质量卖家所模仿,因此并不能作为有效的质量信号。本文首次从供给和需求两个方面分析了信号机制在信息不对称情况下的效应及其作用机制。     

Chapter 5 Impacts of Profit Status of Assisted Living Facilities

Abstract

Florida is a bellwether state in terms of the need for assisted living among elderly persons and has more than 2,000 of the nation's estimated 11,459 assisted living facilities (ALFs). The authors of this article surveyed 140 ALFs in Florida in order to examine the relationship of profit status to ownership of other facilities, willingness to serve low income groups, formal policies, and persons involved in decisions about resident retention. Significant differences were found between for-profit and non-profit facilities in terms of ownership of nursing homes and resident involvement in retention decisions. A discussion of how the profit motive and formal policies can impact residents concludes the article.     

NIMBY, CLAMP, and the Location of New Nuclear-Related Facilities: U.S. National and 11 Site-Specific Surveys

Public and political opposition have made finding locations for new nuclear power plants, waste management, and nuclear research and development facilities a challenge for the U.S. government and the nuclear industry. U.S. government-owned properties that already have nuclear-related activities and commercial nuclear power generating stations are logical locations. Several studies and utility applications to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission suggest that concentrating locations at major plants (CLAMP) has become an implicit siting policy. We surveyed 2,101 people who lived within 50 miles of 11 existing major nuclear sites and 600 who lived elsewhere in the United States. Thirty-four percent favored CLAMP for new nuclear power plants, 52% for waste management facilities, and 50% for new nuclear laboratories. College educated, relatively affluent male whites were the strongest CLAMP supporters. They disproportionately trusted those responsible for the facilities and were not worried about existing nuclear facilities or other local environmental issues. Notably, they were concerned about continuing coal use. Not surprisingly, CLAMP proponents tended to be familiar with their existing local nuclear site. In short, likely CLAMP sites have a large and politically powerful core group to support a CLAMP policy. The challenge to proponents of nuclear technologies will be to sustain this support and expand the base among those who clearly are less connected and receptive to new nearby sites.     

Childless Elders in Assisted Living: Findings from the Maryland Assisted Living Study

We compared data drawn from a random sample of 399 current assisted living residents and a subsample of 222 newly admitted residents for two groups: childless residents and residents with children. The percentage of childless residents (26%) in our study was slightly higher than U.S. population estimates of childless individuals aged 65 years and older (20%). In the overall sample, the two groups differed significantly by age, race, and women's years of education. The childless group was slightly younger, had a higher percentage of African American residents, and had more years of education than the group with children. In the subsample, we looked at demographic, functional, financial, and social characteristics and found that childless residents reported fewer diagnoses of dementia and fewer visits from a relative but more reported paying less money per month for assisted living and having private insurance than residents with children. As childlessness among older adults continues to increase, it will become increasingly important to understand how child status affects the need for and experience of long-term care.     

伊宁市民族居住格局和民族关系

本文以伊宁市民族居住格局为研究对象,通过对伊宁市建城沿革和维、汉、回、哈民族居住史的回顾及对伊宁市的民族居住格局及其变迁状况的调查研究,分析、探讨了影响伊宁市民族居住格局变迁的因素,并在此基础上来研究伊宁市的民族关系.     

中原贫民亡入匈奴地区谋求生存

中原贫民违反汉禁亡入匈奴地区者大量存在,虽有严刑峻法障塞哨卡亦不能完全阻断。出塞攻略匈奴的中原将士多留没不还,其子孙亲戚仍在中原而生活贫困者都愿意亡出塞外去谋求生存。中原农民赋役负担过于繁重:力役兵徭苛捐杂税几十倍于古,产子3岁须出口钱,连续23年的大面积严重黄河水患及皇帝官吏的无度奢靡敲骨吸髓,致使他们常衣牛马之衣而食犬彘之食,不少人因饥寒冻饿而死,或至人相食。破产农民流亡就食他乡被诬指为盗贼,并以军兴之法无情镇压。匈奴地区的管理相对宽松。匈奴中有不少来自中原的“秦人”。     

德昂族生活习俗的变迁 --德昂族经济和社会发展研究报告之三

本文通过考察德昂族村寨民居、服饰、饮食等文化现象,来描述德昂族生活习俗的特点、习俗的变迁及所受影响因素,并对这种变迁进行了一定的思考.