The other side of Malaysia’s enviable economic and multiethnic stability: the obstinate resilience of ‘money politics’

Many governments, in their zeal to progress and deliver the fruits of development, are caught in a web of unsavory habits and practices that impair not only their international image but also domestic legitimacy. One such perennially persistent and resilient disease is ‘money politics.’ Taking Malaysia as a case study, we note that despite sustaining a remarkable record of economic and multiethnic stability, the country has also been helpless in mitigating this obstinate issue. In this article, it is posited that the phenomenon is not a new or recent portent but has actually persisted even prior to independence. We shall then contend that unless the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition government attaches greater priority in stamping out this political bug, the country’s otherwise enviable development trajectory and the quest to reach a ‘developed nation’ status via its Vision 2020 declaration, even if fulfilled, are not cause for celebration, given its implications to the country’s economic sustainability and multiethnic stability.     

Family court ordered “reunification therapy:” junk science in the guise of helping parent/child relationships?

This Commentary addresses the issue of the ethics of mental health professionals recommending or doing what family courts and some others are calling “Reunification Therapy.” This is often being recommended and used across the country, and ordered by family courts, as if it has a scientific basis for successful therapy between an estranged parent and a child who does not wish to re-engage with that parent, often where the child has alleged the parent has abused them physically, sexually, or psychologically. This Commentary challenges the ethics and validity of such approaches and programs.     

受众心理分析视角的网络谣言治理

网络受众是网络谣言传播的主体，其不同的心理状态推动了网络谣言的生成与传播。网络受众的心理状态主要表现为泄愤心理、从众心理、窥私心理、投射心理以及选择心理等多种复杂的心理状态。这些心理状态的成因在于社会主义民主法制不健全、政府公信力低以及受众理性精神不足。唯有通过加强民主法制建设，健全网络法治监管，建立信息发布机制，建立辟谣中介组织以及加强网络媒介素养教育等途径，才能培育成熟的网络受众心理，从而提升网络谣言治理的成效。     

Coining societies: an inter-functional comparative analysis of the Euro

The present analysis of the Euro looks for the marks that function systems make on what we commonly take for the European money. Clearly distinguishing between coins and currency, the Euro coins and banknotes are not taken for economic tokens per se but for storage devices that contain both economic and noneconomic information. A systemic analysis of the function system references on these storage devices shows that the economy has left fewer marks on the Euro than politics, art, and the mass media systems have. We, hence, argue that “the Euro” “is” not just money with a political second mission but rather can be understood as an indicator of the relative relevance that specific function systems do or do not have for the European societies and the European society.     

Work,parenting and gender: the care–work negotiations of three couple relationships in the UK

Changes globally mean that there are now record numbers of mothers in paid employment and a reported prevalence of involved fathering. This poses challenges to mothers and fathers as they negotiate care–work practices within their relationships. Focusing on interviews with three heterosexual couples (taken from a wider UK qualitative project on working parents), the paper considers care–work negotiations of three couples, against a backdrop of debates about intensive mothering and involved fathering. It aims to consider different configurations of work and care within three different couple relationships. We found that power within the relationships was negotiated along differential axis of gender and working status (full- or part-time paid work). We present qualitatively rich insights into these negotiations. Framed by a critical discursive psychological approach, we call on other researchers to think critically about dominant discourses and practices of working, caring and parenting, pointedly how couples situated around the world operationalise these discourses in talking about themselves as worker and carers.     

基于可能自我概念的高职生心理健康教育

可能自我概念属于心理学范畴，本文通过分析当前环境下高职生的心理特点，结合可能自我横向和纵向两个方面的内容及其形成原因，介绍了在实际学生工作中如何利用这一概念做好思想教育工作，改善高职生自我认知，从根本上对这一群体给予心灵和行为上的关怀。     

Time‐Space Distanciation: An Interdisciplinary Account of How Culture Shapes the Implicit and Explicit Psychology of Time and Space

The growing body of research on temporal and spatial experience lacks a comprehensive theoretical approach. Drawing on Giddens’ framework, we present time‐space distanciation (TSD) as a construct for theorizing the relations between culture, time, and space. TSD in a culture may be understood as the extent to which (1) time and space are abstracted as separate dimensions and (2) activities are extended and organized across time and space. After providing a historical account of its development, we outline a multi‐level conceptualization of TSD supported by research on cultural differences in the experience of time and space. We impact this conceptualization by examining two ethnographic case studies. We conclude by highlighting future research directions. TSD is an integrative, interdisciplinary, multi level construct with the potential to guide the burgeoning social science of time and space.     

中国文化心理学论要

中国文化心理学的意义在于其作为一种话语，能够促进心理学体系间的对话和发展。中国文化心理学的核心内容在于关注现实的社会心理生活，提供理解和改变心理生活的独特视角。在方法论层面，中国文化心理学研究必须坚持多维一体、实用主义的研究方式。     

Family Formation and Close Social Ties Within Religious Congregations

The study of family and religion has yet to elaborate on the social ties that connect these two important and changing institutions. Specifically, how does family formation (i.e., marriage and childrearing) impact social ties to religious communities? Using longitudinal data from the Portraits of American Life Study (2006–2012) and fixed effects regression models that control for time‐stable heterogeneity (N = 1,314), this study tests the effects of marriage and childrearing on changes in close congregational social ties. Fixed effects estimates suggest that marriage actually decreases close social ties to religious congregations, whereas rearing children within marital unions increases them. Thus, it is children, not marriage per se, that actually integrates married couples into religious communities. These contrasting effects tend to be the strongest among young adults, but they weaken with age as well as marital duration.     

Financial liberalization and long-run stability of money demand in Nigeria

A stable money demand function is essential when using monetary aggregate as a monetary policy. Thus, there is need to examine the stability of the money demand function in Nigeria after the deregulation of the financial sector. To achieve this, the study employed CUSUM (cumulative sum) and CUSUMSQ (CUSUM of square) tests after using autoregressive distributive lag bounds test to determine the existence of a long run relationship between monetary aggregates and their determinants. Results of the study show that a long-run relationship holds and that the demand for money is stable in Nigeria. In addition, the inflation rate is found to be a better proxy for an opportunity variable when compared to interest rate. The main implication of the study is that interest rate is ineffective as a monetary policy instrument in Nigeria.