论民间文学与社会生活的关系及对其的影响

从五四运动前后开始,我国就以科学的方法在收集民间文学作品,通过搜集民间传说、故事、歌谣等方法,以此来还原当时的社会生活。民间文学,是集广大民众的智慧集体创作,并用口口相传的方式来叙述故事,展示当时的广大民众的生活,记录着当时广大民众认识社会的过程,是表达情感的重要方式之一。民间文学是民众生活的独特伴侣,无论是从生产到生活,从家庭到社会,民间文学始终都是人民生活忠实的伴侣,满足民众多种社会生活需要,并影响着社会生活。然而,民间文学同时也是社会劳动生活的产物,与生活有着联系。在此,就民间文学与社会生活的关系做出进一步的探讨。     

"教育救国"理念下近代中国社会教育发展研究

晚清民国时期社会教育的兴起是伴随着民族危机下的"教育救国"思潮产生的,以"唤起民众"、"作新民"为基础,旨在弥补学校教育带来的各类问题.在此过程中,社会教育地方化实践冲击着原有的教育空间,借"教育救国"重塑权力结构.以民众教育馆为例,作为社会教育中心机构,它通过传播现代知识、开展民生服务等方式重构民众的知识体系和生活空间,进而重新确立国家和民众之间的联系.     

中国现代居住模式溯源——20世纪80年代集合住宅套型研究

在20世纪80年代,城镇住宅现代化加速发展,集合住宅居住模式不断更迭,最终在20世纪80年代末形成了中国现代居住模式的基础框架。为了究明20世纪80年代居民生活变化对住宅空间演变的影响,本文围绕卧室、厨卫、起居室三个代表性空间,梳理城镇集合住宅设计方案发展的脉络与趋势,同时横向对比住宅建设方面的政策、经济、观念变化,将住宅套型设计方案演变的内在原因归为户内人均居住面积、住宅商品化与大众居住观念三个因素。在大众生活方式快速改变的当下,本文关于20世纪80年代住宅套型演变过程的研究,将对中国城镇居民居住观念及住宅居住模式发展研究具有借鉴意义。     

拆分权力与资本合谋的制度空间

当政府公务人员和企业勾结,即政府被“俘获”以后,政府的公共权力性质发生了变化,成了“权力资本”,资本的谋利过程也演变为权力的谋利过程,而其最终成本只能由公众来承担。反官商勾结,消灭资本与权力的同盟,需要将政府管制的单边治理,转变为由政府与社会的多边治理,并最终形成一整套系统化的制度性运作空间。     

拆分权力与资本合谋的制度空间

当政府公务人员和企业勾结,即政府被"俘获"以后,政府的公共权力性质发生了变化,成了"权力资本",资本的谋利过程也演变为权力的谋利过程,而其最终成本只能由公众来承担.反官商勾结,消灭资本与权力的同盟,需要将政府管制的单边治理,转变为由政府与社会的多边治理,并最终形成一整套系统化的制度性运作空间.     

近代宁波公园辟设原因探析

公园的出现是近代宁波城市发展过程中的一个显著变化。这一新式公共空间得以辟设是西方文化影响、城市发展需要、民众生活诉求、空间权力介入和经济发展支持等多种合力下的产物。对公园出现原因的分析有利于加深对近代宁波城市发展的认识。     

国家政权建设与新中国信访制度的形成及演变

本文旨在从国家政权建设的角度讨论新中国信访制度形成及演变的历史过程和规律。研究发现,信访制度是中国共产党根据群众路线而创立的。根据群众路线,信访工作有社会动员和冲突化解两个基本内容,并应做到二者的有机统一。但在信访实践中,国家在不同历史时期总是偏重其中一个方面,并相应形成社会动员和冲突化解这样两种信访工作取向。1978年以前,在社会动员取向主导下,信访制度建设趋于革命化,结果造成国家社会动员与民众利益诉求之间的严重对立。1978年以后,国家信访工作的主导观念向冲突化解取向调整,从而极大地促进了信访制度的科层化。随着社会形势的变化,冲突化解取向也逐渐暴露出它的局限,即不能有效地回应民众的政治参与需求,却又在客观上有利于民众的政治动员。国家怎样回应这一矛盾,将在很大程度上决定今后信访制度的演变。     

乡村精英格局演变的启示

我国的乡村社会一直处于“精英治理”的状态下,乡村精英始终作为联系国家和农民的桥梁而存在。然而在各个不同历史时期,国家权力对乡村社会渗透程度的强弱变化,一方面会导致精英发挥作用的政治空间的变更,另一方面也直接造成了不同时期乡村精英格局的演变。因而,乡村精英的生存状态及其格局演变是与国家权力渗透的程度密切相关的。     

乡村精英格局演变的启示

我国的乡村社会一直处于"精英治理"的状态下,乡村精英始终作为联系国家和农民的桥梁而存在.然而在各个不同历史时期,国家权力对乡村社会渗透程度的强弱变化,一方面会导致精英发挥作用的政治空间的变更,另一方面也直接造成了不同时期乡村精英格局的演变.因而,乡村精英的生存状态及其格局演变是与国家权力渗透的程度密切相关的.     

地域文化与青年成长

地域文化是人们生活在特定的地理环境和历史条件下，世代耕耘、经营、创造、演变的结果。浙江地域文化的渊源和文化传承表现为：经世致用、崇尚事功的文化观念：开拓创新、敢为天下先的文化精神；善于经营、富于机变的文化性格。浙江青年的成长与发展离不开这一文化的积淀、培育、浸润和重建。     

'Out of Place', 'Knowing One's Place': space, power and the exclusion of disabled people

Disabled people are marginalised and excluded from 'mainstream' society. In general, our understanding of the processes of exclusion is grounded in time and history. In this paper, it is argued that space, as well as time, is instrumental in reproducing and sustaining disablist practices. Disability has distinct spatialities that work to exclude and oppress disabled people. Spaces are currently organised to keep disabled people 'in their place' and 'written' to convey to disabled people that they are 'out of place'. Furthermore, social relations currently work to spatially isolate and marginalise disabled people and their carers. Disability is spatially, as well as socially, constructed. It is contended that an understanding of society's reaction to, and the experiences of, disability should be framed within an approach that combines a spatialised political economy with social constructivism. Unlike neo-Marxist approaches this approach is centred on notions of power rather than capital. Using this approach, the spatialities of disability are explored.     

The spatiality of social relations: an Indian case-study

Using ethnographic information, the paper asserts the significance of space–society relations in rural India. In particular, the paper shows that material interests of classes and other social groups are normally tied to particular geographical areas. So agrarian social relations are local relations. Similarly, given the territorial organization of the state, state–society relations are local relations too. Thus as locally dependent members of classes and other collectivities and as citizens dependent on local branches of the state, people often find themselves predisposed to interact locally. There is also a counter-tendency to this in that people try to escape local dependence and interact with distant places. In either case, social relations are spatial relations, and the fact that social relations are spatial relations makes some difference to the way society works, although the specific ways in which this spatiality makes a difference are place-specific. The paper shows that social processes such as economic development, class conflict, reproduction of caste and kinship relations and performance of public policies can be better understood if we analyse the spatiality of these processes in particular places.     

Paradoxes, locations and the need for social coherence: a qualitative study of living with a learning difficulty

Policy rhetoric over recent decades has promoted social inclusion of the more vulnerable sectors of society, such as people with learning difficulties. This study aimed to describe the experiences of people who live with learning difficulties in order to inform local service development. Thirty-five people with a learning difficulty and/or a family member were interviewed. A model of social coherence was developed that moves beyond the self-limiting debates about social inclusion and exclusion. It is underpinned by a sense of location for the person with a disability in relation to services and carers, family and community, dependency and risk, temporality and space, events, control and society. Key recommendations are for services to know the individual and his/her family; to be responsive to individual needs; to enhance the capacity of families and communities to support people with difficulty in learning; and to help these people to feel more valued.     

“I Really Belong Here”: Civic Capacity-Building among Returning Citizens

This article focuses on unlikely movement actors whose civic engagement has been understudied: people with criminal records (“returning citizens”). We present findings from 18 months of ethnographic research with members (leaders) of Fighting to Overcome Records and Create Equality (FORCE), a civic group led by returning citizens. FORCE leaders received institutional support from Community Renewal Society (CRS), a larger faith and community-based organization, to lead a rights reform movement in Chicago. Findings suggest that FORCE leaders constructed notions of kinship, recognition, and power through civic capacity-building efforts—and that social belonging was core to such capacity-building efforts. While bonding social belonging occurred as FORCE leaders formed kinship with people facing similar social and economic marginality, bridging social belonging emerged as leaders felt recognized by CRS staff organizers, affiliates, and elected officials. Bonding and bridging social belonging enabled FORCE leaders, who faced constant social exclusion in society, to experience much needed kinship, recognition, and power. Future studies should continue to uncover how local capacity-building processes have life-changing relational effects on movement participants from socially and economically marginalized groups.     

Globalization and cultural mediation: the construction of Arabia in London

The Arab Gulf’s relationship to London epitomizes the processes of globalization i.e. flows of people, images, ideas and wealth beyond national borders. The rise of oil wealth in the mid–1970s financed the growth of London as a centre of Gulf Cooperation Council–funded Arab cultural production. The British capital’s populations of ex–servicemen, former diplomats and Middle Eastern immigrants serve as ‘third culture’ mediators. Often well educated, well heeled and well connected, these intermediaries possess the social position and cultural know–how to play a central role in the construction and marketing of Gulf Arab local culture and heritage. Romantic notions of Gulf Arab cultural particularism feature prominently in mediators’ products and activities. In the case of Arab London’s mediation industries, globalization results not in cultural homogenization, but rather in the (re)production and commodification of reified notions of cultural difference.     

The empowerment of marginals: strategic paradoxes

This article is about the disability movement in the Netherlands and its strategies for empowerment of disabled people. Only since the end of 2003 has the Netherlands enjoyed anti‐discrimination legislation for disabled people. But, how important actually is legislation for the empowerment of disabled people? To answer this question, we take a closer look at social movements and their involvement in empowerment and active citizenship. We criticise the disregard of differences and care in notions of active citizenship and propose instead the idea of a ‘varied society’ based on the notions of diverse and ‘careful citizenship’. One of our main arguments is that empowerment strategies necessary to create this kind of society are above all bottom‐up strategies. However, the highly organised disability movement in the Netherlands is confronted with strategic paradoxes that have ‘de‐powering’ consequences. Based on these paradoxes, five recommendations for the disability movement in the Netherlands are presented.     

Searching for a Capacity Building Model in Social Work Education in China

This paper contains our reflections about our experiences in employing a capacity building model for training social workers to conduct community development work in rural China. Unlike the conventional approach to social work practicum, our approach advocates an educational practice of capacity building; not only for local people and learners, but for educators as well. It stresses that the educator should assume a non‐expert role in relating to his/her students so that the students will do the same with local people. We challenge the concept of the social work educator as an expert because it gives a teacher the power and authority to dominate students, which disempowers students during the learning process. In the same vein, we challenge the desire of social work students to become experts in rural development, which in turn disempowers local people from taking charge of the future direction of their lives in rural China. The capacity building approach subscribes to a critical pedagogy that calls for a re‐invention of self by challenging tradition and culture, and by developing academic knowledge, the habit of inquiry and critical curiosity about society, power, inequality, and social change.     

Seeking Liberation,Facing Marginalization: Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders' Conditional Acceptance in Hip‐Hop Culture

Using interview data with Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) hip‐hop participants, we analyze how respondents construct hip‐hop as a liberating space where they can circumvent limiting racial and ethnic stereotypes. However, an intersectional lens reveals the constraints that hip‐hop's hypermasculinity places on AAPI men as well as the ethnosexualized expectations that AAPI women must negotiate. The experience of AAPI men and women in hip‐hop due to their unique position in racial and gender hierarchies interacts with stereotypical notions of AAPI people in wider society to relegate these participants to the margin rather than center of hip‐hop culture. Thus, we find respondents' constructions of hip‐hop less an indicator of hip‐hop culture's openness than a statement of how constricting the mainstream U.S. culture is for AAPI Americans, rendering hip‐hop's conditional acceptance preferable by comparison.     

Explaining the Role of Culture and Traditions in Functioning of Civil Society Organizations in Kazakhstan

Recent studies find that Western-style professional nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in Kazakhstan and other Central Asian countries are weak and unsustainable. Most of these NGOs developed strong dependency on foreign donors for funds, and did not develop local network of support. This study is conducted to understand the lack of effectiveness of NGOs in Kazakhstan and to test popular sentiments toward NGOs. The interview with local and foreign social science experts and public figures confirm that NGOs in Kazakhstan are weak and unsustainable. The explanations of institutional ineffectiveness lay in disconnect with local traditions, low visibility of NGOs, and unsupportive government. Survey of general population suggests that people in Kazakhstan know very little about NGOs and do not appreciate their utility. We explain the inability of civil society organizations to reach out to local people by cultural mismatch. By using the Hofstede national culture model (Culture's consequences: International differences in work-related values. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications, 1984), we argue that local culture is in striking dissonance with the culture of donor countries, which created the NGO agenda in Kazakhstan.     

Gender relations,development practice and "culture"

Most development practitioners have the following preconceived notions about gender and culture: 1) that gender relations are equated with the most intimate aspects of society; 2) that culture and tradition are immutable; 3) that there is no independent resistance to subordination within the culture; and 4) that religion is culture. These notions interfere with work on developing equitable gender relations and complicate efforts to allocate resources in ways that redress the imbalance of power between men and women. The validity of these notions can be tested by analyzing an experience the author had in 1984 when she published a book on women and development in India. On a publicity tour in Liverpool, England, she addressed an audience composed largely of men from India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. This audience attacked her book and defended an idealized version of the position of women in the culture of South Asia. They accused the author of being a traitor to her own culture and of being Westernized. A Pakistani woman member of the audience, however, thanked the author for her presentation and reported that she was working with Asian women facing domestic violence. The men understood the cultural identity of South Asia as being composed of identical families dedicated to mutual interest, love, and cooperation. However, this family unit requires the subsuming of women's interests. This myth of the family ignores real life experiences of women who suffer abuse and ignores the fact that the notion of "family" is constantly undergoing change. Development practitioners should use culture as a way of opening up intractable areas of gender relations rather than regarding it as a dead-end which prevents work towards equitable gender relations. A new definition of "cultural sensitivity" would be to acknowledge that contests surround the significance attached by a society to different aspects of social constraints and that these contests often represent challenges to hierarchical social relations.