Intervention sociology: history and foundations

Our intention is to state the main characteristics of intervention sociology, from its origins, the beginnings of which can be situated in Frédéric Le Play's monographic work carried out 150 years ago, to its present forms. Rather seldom mentioned in sociological literature or if so in the course of a paragraph or in methodological appendixes, intervention sociology, although widely practised outside the academic field, today still lacks legibility and institutional recognition. By proposing a thorough reading of the main theories and conceptions developed during the past two centuries, our article aims at explaining, through the sociological prism, the fundamental concepts of intervention sociology.     

Relational sociology: a well-defined sociological paradigm or a challenging ‘relational turn’ in sociology?

In this paper I present and summarize the theoretical proposals of four leading scholars of the so-called ‘relational sociology’. First of all I try to contextualize its emergence and developments in the increasingly globalized scientific system. From this particular (and international) point of view, relational sociology seems to develop through a peculiar scientific path opened and charted by well-identified actors and competitors, their invisible colleges, their global connections, cleavages, and coalitions. Whatever the structuring of this field, it accomplishes the criticism of classical individualistic and collectivistic sociological theories, a task strongly facilitated by the development of new methods and techniques of empirical research, and by the increasingly powerful computing capabilities. After this brief historical reconstruction, and following very strictly the contributions of the four scholars, I try to synthetize their theoretical designs, focusing the analysis on two scientific issues of great significance for the future of relational sociology: the specific ontology of ‘social relations’ and the methodologies used to observe it adequately. Finally, I wonder if we are facing a new sociological paradigm, already well structured and internationally established, or rather a ‘relational turn’ that probably will develop into a new ‘sociological field’ internally very differentiated and articulated.     

代际学习：互联网时代社会学的新议题

数字革命的发生使20世纪下半叶以来备受关注的代沟问题又增添了新内涵,即数字鸿沟。老龄化社会与互联网时代的交叠引发了一种被称作代际学习的社会事实,代际学习过程正在导致一种新的代际形构,在从代际融合到社会整合这种静态结构层面,以及在从社会传承和社会更新这种动态发展维度,都呈现了诸多新的功能。而探究和认识这种新的代际形构及其功能正是社会学的学术使命所在,将研究成果运用于相关的社会政策、工作机制和实务领域,则是社会学的社会功能体现。     

Transcending Existing Traditions of Sociology—A Review of Fei Xiaotong’s Reflections on Sociological Method in His Old Age*

费孝通晚年有关中国社会学方法论的思考开启了超越社会学既有传统的崭新空 间, 这笔精神遗产值得进一步阐释。在费孝通看来, 中国传统文化和智慧中深藏着的 许多观念性资源, 诸如天人合一、将心比心等, 都需要做进一步的界定, 并应以此作 为超越社会学既有传统的支点。

关键词: 费孝通 反思 社会学传统界限

In his old age, Fei Xiaotong’s reflections on Chinese sociological method opened up new room for transcending the existing traditions of sociology. His spiritual legacy is well worth further explanation. According to Fei, traditional Chinese culture and wisdom embodies a wealth of concepts, such as “harmony between nature and man,” “mind for others” and so on, all of which need further definition and should be used as fulcrums for the transcending of sociological traditions.     

户籍制度改革的成本与收益估算：基于广东省的数据

户籍制度改革是中国当前的一项重大议题，制度改革的财政成本和收益迫切需要得到准确的估算。从人口迁移和福利磁力的研究视角出发，本文聚焦于制度改革的社会救助福利成本与收益，在估算公式中纳人了区域福利水平差距、劳动者定居比率和福利迁移比率等数据指标进行估算。估算结果表明：现阶段制度改革的高昂财政负担和我国相对紧张的财政状况，使制度改革只能遵循渐进的方式进行，目前仍不具备立即推行全面改革的足够空间。     

货币政策与财政政策的分区域产业效应比较

 在具有总量效应的同时，货币政策和财政政策在产业效应方面各自表现如何？本文运用1990～2008年东、中、西部地区的动态面板数据模型进行实证分析，结果显示：东部与中部地区的货币政策和财政政策都存在产业效应，而西部地区货币政策和财政政策的效应均不理想，同时，货币政策和财政政策对三次产业的效应都存在明显的区域性。并且，结合相关理论，文章从产业和区域两个层面对实证结果予以分析，揭示出产业间在增量资本产出率和政府扶持力度以及区域间在银行集中度和基础设施投资方面存在的差异，是实证结果的主要致因。     

Racial differences in high school dropout rates: An analysis of U.S. Metropolitan areas

In this paper, we explore the differences in high school dropout rates among white, black and Hispanic students in 275 U.S. Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) in 2000. Our analysis focuses on the impact of community and labor market conditions, in hopes of providing insight into the relationship between place and educational outcomes. The explanatory power of our regression models is mixed across racial groups, performing best for whites and Hispanics. Our results also indicate that community factors – most importantly, same-race adult educational attainment in the community, teenage birth rates and residential stability – have a greater impact on dropout rates than labor market factors. Our results suggest that as education reform moves toward broad-based solutions to improve student outcomes including dropout rates, it will be increasingly important to address the structural origins of inequality outside of schools.     

“There Aren't Any Gays Here”: Encountering Heteroprofessionalism in an International Development Workplace

Western-oriented workplaces use professionalism as a normative value to sustain and promote a cohesive work environment. Yet, through this qualitative study, the author points out some implications of using professionalism to manage staff relationships and behaviors. Using post-conflict Kosovo as the context, the author examined (a) the work experiences of 8 gay male aid workers and (b) the attitudes toward homosexuality of foreign staff members in 2 international aid agencies. The author introduces and suggests heteroprofessionalism as a root to homophobic and heterosexist behaviors present in the study. Heteroprofessionalism is defined as a professional value that screens out homosexuality.     

On the almost inconceivable misunderstandings concerning the subject of value‐free social science

A value judgment says what is good or bad, and value‐free social science simply means social science free of value judgments. Yet many sociologists regard value‐free social science as undesirable or impossible and readily make value judgments in the name of sociology. Often they display confusion about such matters as the meaning of value‐free social science, value judgments internal and external to social science, value judgments as a subject of social science, the relevance of objectivity for value‐free social science, and the difference between the human significance of social science and value‐free social science. But why so many sociologists are so value‐involved – and generally so unscientific – is sociologically understandable: The closest and most distant subjects attract the least scientific ideas. And during the past century sociologists have become increasingly close to their human subject. The debate about value‐free social science is also part of an epistemological counterrevolution of humanists (including many sociologists) against the more scientific social scientists who invaded and threatened to expropriate the human subject during the past century.