Financial decision making in collective society—A field test on Israeli kibbutz members and city residents

This comparison of Israeli kibbutz members to city residents examines how of individualistic/collective society affects financial decision making. Findings revealed that kibbutz members are more risk averse and discount the future more than city residents, undermining the assumption that collective society accords a safety net. We claim that the collective financial management of the kibbutz reduces individuals’ financial knowledge and experience, causing them to be more risk averse in financial decisions, and thus overpowering the safety net offered by the collective society. In addition, we argue that despite privatization, individuals still operate according to collective ideas in handling their personal finances, but less than before the onset of the privatization process.     

大学生版权意识现状研究

版权意识是落实版权制度、促进版权保护的基础。当代大学生作为社会年轻的知识群体,其版权意识具有重要的示范意义。当代大学生版权意识现状如何,具有什么特点?值得分析。以广州大学城的大学生作为样本对象,围绕当代大学生对于版权意识的诸多认知进行问卷调查分析,总结出其版权意识的有关特点,提出了提高大学生版权意识的有关建议:政府部门和司法机关发挥职能,为提高大学生版权意识营造良好的社会环境;开展有针对性的版权专题宣传活动,扩大受众范围;高校应加强课堂内外版权法律知识教育,拓宽交流平台;提高大学生的版权的主体意识,维护自身权利并积极履行义务。     

Retrofitting Drucker: Knowledge work under cognitive capitalism

This article uses Peter Drucker's work vector-like, to carry the thesis of cognitive capitalism into the management field. Drucker's prophetic insights into the knowledge society are juxtaposed with recent, Italian autonomist Marxist-inspired analyses of capitalism's cognitive phase. If the capacity to create knowledge – or what autonomists call the ‘general intellect’ – is becoming the key productive force, arguably there is a need for a full-blown social form of knowledge management. Our reading of Drucker thus retrieves the one worthwhile thing from the rubble of normative knowledge management. It is the idea of society-level knowledge management premised on a universal and unconditional guaranteed basic income (GBI; or social wage). Basic income represents not just a social investment in knowledge, which Drucker himself called for, but also compensation for biolabour's augmented social productivity. With Drucker as the steppingstone, we conclude, the autonomist tradition merits greater attention from critical management and organisational scholars interested in factoring class and gender back into the knowledge management equation.     

Social and Psychological Barriers to Private Retirement Savings in Hong Kong

Using a phone survey conducted among Hong Kong workers, we examined the association of institutional, social, and psychological factors with engagement in both private retirement savings and the total amount of savings. Alarmingly, this study demonstrates that approximately 42% of Hong Kong workers do not save privately for their retirement. We found that age, education, number of children, support from spouse and friends, social regulation, perceived financial knowledge, and financial management capacity are associated with engagement in private retirement savings. Among those who saved, age, education, perceived financial knowledge, and financial management capacity are related to the amount of savings. Measures that could increase the social support for retirement savings as well as enhance their financial knowledge and management ability should be developed and implemented so that more workers engage in private retirement savings. A promising policy option for the Hong Kong government is to offer a tax incentive to promote additional savings for old-age income protection.     

Human Development Education for Social Workers in Multicultural Societies

In many countries, social workers are faced with the challenge of tailoring their practice to the diverse needs of children and families in multicultural realities. Our training and teaching practices, however, lag behind in their readiness to face this challenge. Attempts to reconcile cultural perspectives and postmodernism with the traditional goals of human development education are generally premised on the following assumptions: (a) postmodernist education fosters the ability to think critically and question assumptions underlying claims to knowledge; (b) theories should be evaluated for their usefulness and applicability to a more equitable society; and (c) a dialogic model of education in human development highlights the ‘inherently polysemous’ nature of human existence rather than transmitting a codified body of knowledge. The paper calls attention to the challenges of cross‐cultural psychology, indigenous psychology and postmodern critique and offers the means of confronting these challenges. Examples are based on teaching experiences in Israel and the US.     

The Potentials and Limitations of Civil Society Research: Getting Undone Science Done

The term "undone science" refers to absences of scientific research that social movement and other civil society organizations find when attempting to make epistemic claims in the political field. The existing literature has identified various pathways for addressing the knowledge needs of civil society organizations, including asking elected and appointed political leaders to shift funding priorities and directly seeking support and partnerships with scientists. Here, a third pathway is identified and explored: civil society organizations that have the resources to fund their own research. A sample of such "civil society research" from large, mainstream, U.S. environmental organizations demonstrates that although the large organizations do engage in such research, most of it is not published in peer-reviewed journals. The peer-reviewed research is found almost exclusively in large preservation and conservation organizations that have staffs of scientists. Most of the other research reports are oriented toward documenting environmental problems and providing policy and management solutions. The research is highly applied and does not represent fundamental contributions to large mainstream scientific fields. Comparisons with civil society research in the author's previous research projects on religion, health, and economic development are discussed to assess applicability of the concept for other sociological subfields.     

Promoting financial literacy among the elderly: Consequences on confidence

Financial literacy is a crucial skill for personal wealth management and economic well-being. Hence, it is important to evaluate the impact of interventions aimed at increasing financial knowledge and confidence in the most vulnerable groups of the society. We conduct an impact evaluation of a two-hour lecture targeting the elderly population. We find that the intervention does not have a significant impact on knowledge but has a significant effect on confidence and (partly) on overconfidence.     

The Impression Management Techniques of the Burlesque Comedian

This discussion is an in-depth study of burlesque comics. The basic argument is that burlesque comics, like other marginal members of society, manipulate their behaviour so as to present a more favourable self-image than the one in play in negative stereotypes. They have a detailed knowledge of the social sexual norms of the more conventional members of society and use this knowledge alternately to pass as respectable citizens and to play the role of comic in the burlesque performance.     

走向积极的社会管理

当前对社会管理问题的着力强调,源于社会问题、社会矛盾以及社会冲突的不断增加和由此所形成的对社会生活的冲击。与传统社会相比,我们身处其中的是一个更为复杂、更具风险、充满了不确定性的世界。在面临诸多压力和挑战的情况下,很容易形成对社会管理的误解,即将社会管理片面地理解为一种消极的、防范性的手段,误解为加强权力对社会的全面控制。社会管理的真正目的是改善人类的生存状况;而积极的社会管理则以主动的建设和变革为手段,以改善社会的状况、建设一个充满幸福感的、更好的社会为目标。公平正义是积极社会管理的实现途径。健全社会机制是积极社会管理的关键。     

市政建设的主体选择标准及其制度研究

城镇化对中国顺利实现小康社会和社会主义现代化具有重要的战略意义。城镇化的过程会有巨大的市政建设需求,在政府财政资金有限的情况下,政府应通过完善制度设计、激励机制充分发挥市场或社会在市政建设中的作用,以弥补市政建设财政资金的不足。在参与市政建设的过程中,政府通过引入竞争机制,对比市政建设参与主体的综合成本,选择市政建设的参与者,以解决公共产品垄断的低效率问题,提高市政建设的效率和质量。与此同时,政府应该完善相应的管理机制,以维护市政建设市场或社会参与的制度化、规范化运行。     

Objectivity and Narrative in Contemporary Reporting: A Formal Analysis

Traditionally, Americans have held the ideal that newspapers should transmit knowledge to readers by giving “objective” accounts of official events. This article argues that many news stories have extended objectivity through the use of narrative. Stories attempt to evoke feelings in the reader by drawing on a shared stock of knowledge held by members of society through the use of narrative storytelling techniques rather than attempting to transmit neutral information through the form of objectivity.     

Editorial

Abstract

The last century has been significant in terms of the development of the social sciences. Thus for instance, sociology, social psychology, politics, education and management have all taken their own pathways to reach some level of maturity. The relatively new addition to this group is, of course, management and its associated organisational theory that arose with Taylor at the turn of the nineteenth century. He pioneered the scientific movement and argued that management should be based on well-recognised, clearly defined and fixed principles, instead of depending on more or less hazy ideas. However, it seems that a management science has only in recent decades become substantive and rich enough to be able to think in the same terms as other branches of the social sciences. It has been enriched by the other social sciences through a process that I refer to as knowledge migration, a process in which knowledge that applies to one scientific area is migrated across to another in a way that validly transforms it to its new context. Thus, knowledge that takes a particular meaning in one of these sciences may end up with a quite different, though thematically related, meaning in another. Whenever a concept is shifted in a valid way from one paradigm that underpins a particular theory in one area of social science to another, the knowledge is migrated rather than transferred.     

Child protection: a survey of psychiatrists' knowledge and attitudes

The aim of the study was to examine psychiatrists' knowledge of the child protection process and their attitudes toward child protection training. An anonymous questionnaire survey was sent out to all psychiatric staff in a large psychiatric hospital. The response rate was 72 per cent. Fifty‐seven per cent of respondents had never attended child protection training and 16 per cent thought that it was of no relevance to their position. Significant differences in self‐rated knowledge were identified between those who had attended training and those who had not. Variations in the availability and quality of child protection training may result in psychiatrists not attaining the core knowledge required in order to work effectively as part of the child protection process. Hospital management should work towards prioritising and disseminating local child protection policies and procedures more effectively and consider routine child protection training as part of any new staff induction. The Royal College of Psychiatrists should consider inclusion of child protection in junior staff education programmes and as part of the MRCPsych examination curriculum. Likewise, consideration should be given to enhancing the status of child protection training in continuing professional development programmes for career‐grade psychiatric staff. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

What do we really teach in introductory sociology textbooks? three underlying messages and their instructional implications

In considering mainstream introductory-sociology textbooks published between 1975–1989, three underlying messages and their instructional implications/remedies are identified and treated. First, society was portrayed as overstructured, organized, and impersonal. The need, therefore, is to stress instructionally its more individual/interactional, unorganized, and personal/emotional aspects. Second, society was overinterpreted primarily in ideologically liberal ways and also in a more radical fashion. The resulting instructional need introduces more conservative analyses. Third, sociological knowledge was overpresented as the most authoritative “highest knowledge” about society. Thus, the teaching imperative is to show the inadequacies and weaknesses of sociological knowledge thereby encouraging more student discussion and expression of contrary views.     

Joseph Lancaster in America

Applying a consistent historical theme throughout a social studies course is an effective long-term planning strategy that can promote student engagement, retention of information, and contextualized knowledge of history's continuity and change. This article demonstrates how one such theme, power and liberty, might be incorporated into a secondary American history course. Teachers should introduce the theme early in the course using questions designed to help the students define and understand the parameters of power and liberty as a lens through which the past might be viewed. A subsequent and repeated application of consistent scaffolding questions to events in American history promotes the analysis of how those events changed the balance of power and liberty for individuals and various groups in society. Armed with this contextualized knowledge, students can then apply the theme of power and liberty as another approach to the examination of current events in American society.     

社会青年化的趋势与现实解读

社会青年化既是对青年已经成为社会发展的推动者,甚至引领者这一现实的一种归纳和描述,也是对社会发展趋势的一种展望。但对青年在当今社会群体结构中的比重、青年群体的“社会功能”、青年对社会精神文化的影响力等方面的考察却显示出在当今中国社会中“社会青年化”的趋势远远没有充分展开,“社会青年化”的现实不容乐观。促进“社会青年化”,需要贴近青年,转变观念;需要完善政策,强化保障。     

Ideology,Practice, and Process? A Review of the Concept of Managerialism in Civil Society Studies

Managerialism is today a frequently applied concept in studies of how ideas and practices related to corporate management are diffused in society. Some assert that managerialism even is what mostly affects the development of contemporary civil society organizations. It is, however, far from clear how the concept of managerialism is used and defined across interest fields. The main conclusion in the present review, involving 105 peer-reviewed articles in civil society studies published between 1990 and 2014, is that the concept of managerialism is so broadly defined that it runs the risk of losing its analytical powers. To avoid this, the paper argues for a more precise conceptual use and suggests that the concept of managerialism should be applied to denote an ideology, the concept of management to capture managerial practices, and the concept of managerialization to describe an organizational change process.     

Practice Learning and the Development of Professional Practice

The development of professional practice is based on practice learning, yet there is no consensus about its definition. The currently evolving use of the term ‘practice learning’ provides us with an opportunity to consider the nature of learning for professional practice at initial entry through to post qualifying stages of development. A number of streams of thought are influencing the understanding of practice learning and we aim to consider some of these and how they inform those involved in supporting and guiding practice learners at different stages of their professional development.

In presenting our conceptualisation of practice learning we argue against oversimplified dualities of classroom‐based academic learning concerned with theory and workplace‐based practice learning concerned with practice. Additionally we make explicit the career‐long nature of practice learning which is as embedded in continuing professional development as it is in the requirements for qualifying programmes.

Having established what we mean by ‘practice learning’ we consider the impact of organisational learning theory on the management of practice learning. The consideration of the characteristics of organisations which learn leads to a brief examination of approaches to teaching and learning which promote knowledge creation in a way which is meaningful to practitioners. We will argue that the development of understandings of organisational learning and knowledge creation should become part of the knowledge base for those supporting and guiding practice learners, in addition to the traditional knowledge base of adult learning theory.

Before exploring the nature of practice learning it would be helpful to consider briefly what we mean by professional practice for which practice learning is preparing people.

Professional practice in social work is a complex set of activities which involve direct work with service users, and their families, as well as work with other professionals and agencies. A range of knowledge and skills are used with a firm value base which recognises diversity and oppression as key elements in UK society.

Such professional practice is learned and developed in a range of ways over time through training, practice, understanding, analysis and reflection. However, the nature of just what practice learning is and where it occurs has become a focus of debate in the UK as a result of recent developments in initial professional education and training for social work.     

Re-forming the SSSP: Questions of “praxis”

The Society for the Study of Social Problems (SSSP) emerged from a social movement of sociologists who wanted to apply their social science knowledge to a society riddled by cruel inequities. Recently the distinctive mission of SSSP has come under scrutiny. The organization must make some structural innovations to generate fresh and critical approaches to contemporary social problems. These innovations would include: restructuring annual meetings to reflect the urgency of social problems; being reflexive about forms of knowledge; increasing the interdisciplinary emphasis of research; promoting activism within society and the social sciences; experimenting with alternative formats of meetings.     

Images and Strategic Corporate and Marketing Planning

This article reviews the concept of images in marketing. The marketing literature identifies two levels of images: brand images and corporate images. At the brand level, corporations address the extent to which each marketing instrument contributes to the brand image and the extent to which that image enhances desired economic behavior of markets. Corporate images include brand images, but they also consist of factors such as the quality of management, corporate leadership, and employee orientation. Corporations must harmonize their brand and corporate images. They also must bring their perceived self-images into harmony with those of all relevant publics. To harmonize these images, the planning of marketing and public relations should be integrated at the level of strategic management. Corporate leadership can detect the overlapping requirements of the market and society only by combining marketing and public relations under the common roof of strategic corporate planning and by making them equal instruments of management.