文化与社会结构——文化概念解读之二(上)

在如何看待文化与社会结构的关系上存在着种种不同的观点和分歧，但是从根本上讲，这些分歧的产生是由于不同的哲学立场所致。强调社会结构的观点显然是站在实证主义的立场上来看待社会与文化，强调文化的观点则是站在符号论的或观念论的立场上来看待社会与文化。这种哲学立场或文化观的对立在当代已开始走向趋同，越来越强调文化与社会的互为构成和相互作用     

论社会创新

社会创新是当代以知识为基础的全球社会发展和我国新型社会转型时期社会变迁的主导形式 ,它同技术创新相互结合 ,共同满足着当代社会发展的全面需要和构成社会可持续发展的综合动力基础。社会创新研究是对于中国现代化具有重大理论与现实意义的前沿型课题 ,应纳入多学科的研究视野 ,并在探索中使之学科化和使学科创新化     

网络社会社会分层的结构转型

社会分层研究是社会学传统研究领域之一。在信息技术得以广泛发展的今天,社会结构已经发生了深刻的变革,社会生活的各个方面都发生了改变。网络社会改变着社会分层结构,加速了社会流动,改变着社会生活和生产方式,重塑着社会认同感。在这些因素的影响下,当代社会分层呈现新的特点:经济和社会权力分配出现变化;社会不平等的内容有所改变;认同感呈现多元化发展。社会分层正在从金字塔结构向"空中花园"转变,这些网络社会中社会分层的新特征正在影响并消解着原本的由上而下的权力结构。     

对社会建构主义心理学的初步探讨

社会建构主义对现代心理学的认识论和方法论等方面进行了解构与重构,主旨在于对现代心理学形成一种“突破”。这种思潮就是社会建构主义心理学,它特别强调社会互动和话语对心理的建构功能。在社会建构主义心理学对现代心理学批判的同时,围绕对社会建构主义心理学的划界问题,引发了一系列争议。     

社会资本理论视阈下的社会稳定问题研究

转型期的中国正处于矛盾多发期,对稳定社会秩序的追求已成为人们最大的利益。社会资本所蕴涵的诚信、规范有序和公民密集的参与网络,直接影响着社会稳定与和谐。当前,我国社会资本还存在着严重缺失和不均衡现象,制约着社会的良性运行和协调发展,对我国社会稳定的维护产生了极大地影响。因此,培育社会资本应当成为维护、增进社会稳定的一个重要视角。     

结构性风险与知识社会的建构

当今社会作为一种知识社会,存在着结构性风险,而科学技术已经成为这种结构性风险的重要来源,因此今天人们在理论和实践上建构知识社会(特别是科学技术本身)时应该充分估计风险因素或者未来的不确定性因素。     

风险社会理论视域下的中国社会工作发展

近年来,中国社会工作发展迅速,取得了很大成就,但也遇到了不少问题,需要我们进行重新审视。回顾中国社会工作的发展历程,恰恰与转型期中国逐步进入风险社会是一致的。不过,看似没有关系的风险社会研究与社会工作发展研究实际上有着很强的相互作用性。在风险社会理论看来,中国社会工作发展是应对风险社会来临的专门制度设计,但它基于现代性框架下的制度安排与实务开展,让其本身包含着诸多风险和有可能制造新的风险。传统的以平等、公平、正义为基本价值理念的社会工作发展政策和相关制度已难以有效应对。因此,迫切需要引入一种以风险责任为基本价值理念,即以风险责任的承担作为维持和获得权力（权利）的基本原则,以风险分配机制为核心的新的社会工作发展政策。     

从实证研究看基督教与当代中国社会

宗教与社会的关系不仅体现在宗教的产生方面,也体现在宗教不断地适应社会发展需要,不断调整自身的过程方面,同时,还体现在宗教对社会的影响方面。对于中国社会而言,基督教是一种舶来品,它与中国社会的关系,自然另有一番特色。而且,由于中国社会自身的各种因素与之相互作用的方式不同,这样一种特色就越加突出。本文试从实证研究的三个方面,即北京基督教不同形式的教会组织、中国基督徒的身份认同以及基督教在中国社会道德重建方面的影响出发,来探讨基督教①与现代中国社会的关系。     

市民社会演变中的社会治理变革

在从中世纪向近代社会转变的过程中,形成市民社会观念的同时,也宣告了社会治理的"国家主义"时代的来临.在反抗绝对国家的过程中,市民社会开始与国家相分离,市民社会的形象经历了从政治社会到"需要的体系"的演变,并最终沿着特殊性与普遍性的边界确立起了自己与国家的界线.19世纪晚期以后,市民社会与国家分离的趋势发生了变化,国家一步步地侵入社会,并最终形成了一种政府与社会相重叠的"行政国家",它标志着国家主义发展到了顶峰.20世纪80年代开始,随着后工业社会的来临,社会结构出现了重组的趋势,正在形成一种"新市民社会".这种新市民社会必将终结国家主义的历史,使社会治理迈入"后国家主义"时代.     

暴力文化的社会危害性

文化是一个民族最核心最牢固的特质,它反映了社会大多数成员的价值观和行为方式。文化以各种方式渗透到社会生活的各个领域,对个体的生活及整个社会的运行产生着极大的影响。暴力文化背离了主文化方向成为违法犯罪的诱因。它对人们行为的影响特别是它与暴力型犯罪的相关性引起的社会危害受到了人们的关注。我们要正确认识暴力文化的社会危害性,提高广大群众认识和利用媒体的能力。加强优秀传统文化教育,加强文化市场管理。     

Aggressive Behaviors in Social Interaction and Developmental Adaptation: A Narrative Analysis of Interpersonal Conflicts During Early Adolescence

Using conflict narratives reported by adolescents in grade 7 (mean age = 13.4 years), this study investigated the interactional properties and developmental functions of four types of aggressive behaviors: social aggression, direct relational aggression, physical aggression, and verbal aggression. A total of 475 participants from the Carolina Longitudinal Study ( Cairns & Cairns, 1994 ) were included. Results showed that the majority of conflict interactions involved more than a dyad. The use of social aggression (e.g., concealed social attack) was associated with more individuals involved in the conflict. Social aggression was primarily reported as an initiating behavior for interpersonal conflicts, while direct relational aggression was a responding behavior. Medium to high levels of reciprocity were found for physical, verbal, and direct relational aggression, whereas a low level of reciprocity was reported for social aggression. School authorities were most likely to intervene in physical aggression. The use of social aggression was associated with higher network centrality among adolescents. Developmental maladjustment in late adolescence and early adulthood was primarily predicted by physical aggression.     

Effectiveness of Local Governance: Interactions Between Social Capital and Institutional Structures

This paper critically evaluates the debate on what makes local governments more effective, higher social capital (such as trust, reciprocity, and informal social networks) or stronger institutional structures (such as democratic processes, ombudsman, and social audits). Empirical analysis of a decentralized welfare scheme in India, the Andhra Pradesh Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (APREGS), using the latent variable path analysis modeling approach reveals that creation of formal democratic institutional channels in itself does not impact governance performance. Rather, it is mediated by complex institutional and social capital issues. For example, formal information dissemination activates social capital, leading to effective local governance. However, this (higher social capital and better institutions) does not automatically lead to empowerment or trust in the local government. The influence of the economically and politically powerful mediates this relationship. These and other results, cumulatively, highlight the complexity involved in the effectiveness of government empowerment initiatives. The paper calls for a fresh and wider debate on decision‐making dynamics in rural India, especially the interaction between government institutions, social capital, and the historical societal dynamics.     

Gender differences in the effect of social resources and social status on the retirement satisfaction and health of retirees

This study explores the effect of positive and negative social support, social reciprocity, and subjective social status on the retirement satisfaction and health of retirees and gender differences therein. Using cross-sectional data from the 2010 and 2012 waves of the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), we found that social support seems to matter more for the retirement satisfaction and health of women, while social reciprocity matters more for the health of men and subjective social status for the retirement satisfaction of men. Implications for the development of social programs and policies over the life course are discussed.     

From Social Insurance to Social Assistance

In attempting to establish a social security system that would function to smooth the transition from a planned to market economy, the government of China has, for most of the time in the past decades, focused its efforts on setting up social insurance programs in the urban areas. Along with the emergence of urban poverty since the mid 1990s, the emphasis of the government has shifted to means-tested social assistance programs as the major means to combat poverty and maintain social stability. However, with the absence of more equitable social and economic policies that can protect people against the many risks associated with a market economy, the role of social assistance is very limited.     

Contracts in Social Work Practice

Summary This article explores the paradigm of Contract Law to identifyproblems and advantages of introducing a contractual model intosocial work practice. Recent social work literature on the useof contracts is reviewed and a social worker's record of howa contract was negotiated is analysed. The author argues thatthe value-base of a contract model must be founded on reciprocity.     

Social Exclusion, Inequality and Social Work

This paper sets out the environment of inequality in which social work and the poor have recently operated. It explores pragmatic and idealist arguments concerning whether or not the poor need social work. Finally, policy solutions developed in consultation with social service users and carers are suggested in relation to poverty and social exclusion. Social exclusion can be linked to relative poverty as exclusion from economic and social norms. However, there is a wider brief in our own government’s publications and those of Europe, of examining how people are excluded from actions and policies of agencies who are there to support them. This paper will retain the concepts of poverty as lack of material income, and inequality as the gap between the rich and the poor, while being aware of the policy implications for social service users and carers of the more comprehensive process of being shut out partially or fully from social, economic, political and cultural systems. The debates around social work, social exclusion and inequality that follow establish: that some of the poor do need social work; that the poverty of social service users is related to policies that have restructured welfare in Britain; that the reason for individuals approaching or being referred to social services are complex but are likely to include financial deprivation as a key contributory factor; that if the poor do need social work, advocacy is essential rather than social work being seen as concerned only with social control—taking children into care, mentally ill people into hospitals, and advising the DSS on the suitability of claimants for benefits. Finally, the discussion turns to new policy agendas on social exclusion instigated by the Labour government. What positive difference can such policies make for social service users, their carers and social workers?.     

Social Work Practice for Social Development in Bangladesh: Issues and Challenges

Social work addresses social issues that constrain the betterment of a community. However, social work practice is struggling to deal effectively with the development challenges of Bangladesh. Based on a literature review and the experiences of the authors, this paper explores the emerging issues where social work practice is anticipated as a promising alternative for bringing sustainable social development in Bangladesh. Simultaneously, the paper discovers the limitation of social work practice in Bangladesh addressing these challenges.     

The role of family centres in reducing social isolation in deprived communities

Social exclusion and isolation are worldwide social and health concerns with negative effects becoming exacerbated in deprived communities. There is limited understanding related to the role of community‐based centres in reducing social exclusion and isolation, so the aim of this research was to explore the role one family centre had in improving social inclusion in a deprived community in Glasgow, Scotland. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was utilized to analyse interviews from 10 parents to explore their lived experiences of creating and developing social networks through family centre attendance. Findings indicate that attending the family centre positively impacted on social inclusion and social support for all parents interviewed. Relationships created in the centre were proposed as being meaningful, non‐judgemental and produced social capital—rooted in reciprocity and trust. Findings can inform services that aim to reduce social isolation in deprived communities.     

Embedding Social Justice within Micro Social Work Curricula

Social work struggles with the dichotomy between social and economic justice and micro practice. A large percentage of United States social workers (65%) practice in micro practice settings, yet the profession is challenged to commit to its social justice roots. This article reviews the history of social and economic justice within the social work profession, examines the role of distributive justice, and outlines strategies to integrate social and economic justice into micro social work courses. The article details implications for strengthening a social and economic justice perspective in micro curricula.     

Piaget's Social Psychology

Piaget's social psychology is not widely discussed among psychologists, partly because much of it is still contained in untranslated French works. In this article I summarize the main lines of Piaget's social psychology and briefly indicate its relation to current theories in social psychology. Rejecting both Durkheim's sociological holism and Tarde's individualism, Piaget advances a sociological relativism (relationalism) in which all social facts are reducible to social relations and these, in turn, are reducible to rules, values and signs. Piaget's theory of social values takes the form of a social exchange theory characterized in an abstract logical way. Piaget claims social exchange requires normative principles of reciprocity and that individual social development results in such an equilibrium because rationality itself is social and based upon social cooperation. These views, in turn, derive from Piaget's orthogenetic views concerning the course of evolution: development can be characterized as an increase in equilibrium manifested both in individual action and in social interaction.