Migration Patterns and Remittance Transfer in Nepal: A Case Study of Sainik Basti in Western Nepal

International labour migration is a main livelihood strategy for many people in Nepal. This article analyses the migration process from the perspective of migrants and their non‐migrating household members, exploring the institutional regulations that structure the organization of migration and the cash flows involved. The results are based on a case study conducted in Sainik Basti, Western Nepal, in 2002. The article shows that for different destinations there are specific ways of organizing migration. These country specific ways of organizing migration demand specific assets from prospective migrants and their household members and, therefore, influence their choice of destination. Savings are remitted back home mainly by carrying them personally or by using the hundi system. In spite of the risks and difficulties involved, international labour migration often contributes to sustainable livelihoods. The main outcomes of migration are increased financial capital, education of the children, migration‐specific knowledge, and increased social capital. This enlarged asset endowment lowers both investment costs and risks involved in migration, and thereby increases its potential net return. Each act of migration, therefore, facilitates and stimulates subsequent migration.¹     

Assimilation vs. multiculturalism: Views from a community in France

A recent American survey of attitudes toward societal multiculturalism vs. assimilation has found surprisingly widespread support for maintaining heritage cultures not only among immigrant minority groups but also among most subsamples of majority host groups, black and white. Working-class whites are the one exception. This pilot study explores the same attitude domain in a contrasting European setting. Randomly selected samples of middle- and working-class families (a mother, father, and teenage son or daughter) from a small city in France were interviewed. As a group, they were neutral to slightly favorable to immigrants maintaining heritage cultures and languages rather than losing them through assimilation. On measures of attitudes toward specific immigrant groups, there were marked intergroup dyfferunces with Maghrebian Arabs rated leist favorably and Southeast Asians, the model immigrants, most favorably. Comparisons of subgroups of respondents who varied in terms of (a) political left-right orientation, (b) social class standing, (c) degree of religiosity, and (d) generational level provide the base for a more general discussion of cultural assimilation and multiculturalism.     

Surplus Food Recovery and Food Aid: The Pivotal Role of Non-profit Organisations. Insights From Italy and Germany

Food security and food waste are unanimously recognised as relevant issues affecting the whole society and should be therefore acknowledged as a priority on the public agenda. Nonetheless, in many countries the third sector stands in for public actors and operates to tackle both these issues. This paper explores the role of public and third sector in tackling food poverty and food waste, particularly analysing the role of the non-profit organisations involved in the food recovery and redistribution processes in two European regions: Lombardy (Italy) and Baden-Württemberg (Germany). By comparing the two different policy framework and the organisations’ actions, the study recognises the ability of the non-profit sector to create new relationships among different actors (private for-profit, private non-profit as well as public actors) while answering various unmet needs. The paper draws on a mix of secondary and primary data including observations and interviews in the two regions carried out in 2014 and focuses on two relevant case studies (the “Associazione Banco Alimentare” and the “Tafel”).     

Challenging the Myths of Black Women—A Short-Term,Structured, Art Experience Group: Exploring the Intersections of Race,Gender, and Intergenerational Trauma

ABSTRACT

The authors describe a short-term structured group process for African American women in the suburbs of Washington, DC, highlighting the perspective of the group leaders. The group was started to address the unique needs of African American women who are also survivors of childhood abuse and neglect. The group leaders used discussion and art in the group to explore the intersections of race, gender, and intergenerational trauma. Having shared experiences with the participants of the group, the authors explore the ways the group leaders were changed and challenged in the process.     

Wie Wahrnehmungs- und Bewertungsprozesse unsere materielle Zufriedenheit beeinflussenHow perception and evaluation processes affect material satisfaction

There is ample evidence that shows external circumstances affect our level of satisfaction. Unclear, however, is which processes or mechanisms underlie this relationship. This article examines the importance of perception and evaluation processes for explaining the relationship between income and material satisfaction. The analyses are based on representative survey data from 2006 for Germany and mediation models are employed. The results show that the influence of income on material satisfaction is at least partially explained by differences in the self-perception of the position within the social hierarchy as well as the justice perception of income. Differences in material satisfaction between East and West Germany are fully explained by regionally divergent perception and evaluation patterns. These findings demonstrate the sociological relevance of cognitive mechanisms and support the integration of these mechanisms within empirical survey research.     

The politics of the Digital Single Market: culture vs. competition vs. copyright

This paper examines the implications for European music culture of the European Union’s (EU) Digital Single Market strategy. It focuses on the regulatory framework being created for the management of copyright policy, and in particular the role played by collective management organisations (CMOs or collecting societies). One of the many new opportunities created by digitalisation has been the music streaming services. These depend on consumers being able to access music wherever they are, but such a system runs counter to the management of rights on a national basis and through collecting organisations which act as monopolies within their own territories. The result has been ‘geo-blocking’. The EU has attempted to resolve this problem in a variety of ways, most recently in a Directive designed to reform the CMOs. In this paper, we document these various efforts, showing them to be motivated by a deep-seated and persisting belief in the capacity of ‘competition’ to resolve problems that, we argue, actually lie elsewhere – in copyright policy itself. The result is that the EU’s intervention fails to address its core concern and threatens the diversity of European music culture by rewarding those who are already commercially successful.     

An ergonomics approach to citrus harvest mechanization

Due to the increase of production costs in manual harvesting, strategies must be developed in order to overcome these effects, such as the attempts in implementing agricultural machines in harvest activities, whether being totally or partially mechanized. This study brings a qualitative and quantitative comparison on the impacts in work conditions and productivity in Brazilian orchards caused by the use of semi-mechanized harvesting systems, such as multiplatforms. The results come from the application of Ergonomic Work Analysis method, which focuses in the activity, quantifying and analyzing times and frequencies of the harvesting cycle, as well as the amount of movements. To achieve this, footage, interviews and a stopwatch were used in the observation 12 pickers' work cycles, six for each method of harvesting. The data interpretation pointed to improvement in working conditions with a reduction in the amount of movements performed by the picker, and increase of up to 60% in productivity with the use of semi-mechanized harvesting. Thus, the found results indicate the viability of this harvesting method. However, other variables must be observed in future studies in order to complete the guidelines for a healthy progress in the area of citrus harvesting in Brazil.