Publicizing the Law of the P.R.C.on the Protection of Rights and Interests of Women

More than 50,000 women in Qianxi County have learned about the law.     

Respect and Protection:A Review of the Implementation of the Law of the P.R.C. on the Protection of Rights and Interests of Women

JIANG Zemin, President of the People's Republic of China, once said: "Respecting women and protecting women is an important sign of social progress. It should become a civilized society's legal provision and moral concept." On October 1, 1992 the Law of the P.R.C. on the Protection of Rights and Interests of Women was put into effect, which was considered a major accomplishment for China and Chinese women. More than two years have passed since the implementation of the law. How well has the law been     

Απόλιδας: an analysis of the international legal framework in the field of statelessness and the U.N.H.C.R.’s communication campaign

In her The Origins of Totalitarianism, Hannah Arendt described the condition of apolidia (statelessness) – through words that still resonate today – as that of persons who have lost their rights because they have fled their homeland. According to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (U.N.H.C.R.), there are about 10 million stateless persons worldwide, 600,000 of whom live in the European Union (E.U.). It seems impossible to imagine the concept of statelessness, which although it has a very specific definition in international law, remains a vague notion for the intellect and common sense. This paper will firstly focus on the historical evolution of the concept of nationality under international law. Secondly, it will deal with the international legal framework, and in particular the 1954 and 1961 Conventions on the improvement of the conditions of stateless persons and the prevention of statelessness. It will then turn to the U.N.H.C.R.’s mandate in relation to statelessness, and how this organization contributes to the promotion of an effective right to nationality. Finally, U.N.H.C.R.'s communication campaigns to end statelessness will be analyzed, in order to stress the positive impact of an effective communication strategy.     

A Review of: “Handbook of the Evolution of Human Sexuality. Edited by Michael Kauth.”

This study explores the role of the hostess club culture in the creation and maintenance of masculinity in Taiwan. The article focuses on flower drinking (the consumption of alcohol in bars, often integrated with prostitution), which is a common practice in Taiwan. Data were obtained from 58 in-depth interviews with men from a variety of occupations and social backgrounds (mean age = 38.50, SD = 11.00) and 73 questionnaires administered to soldiers (mean age = 21.00, SD = 1.10). Findings indicated that demonstration of skill at flower drinking and facility with the related social etiquette are important channels for male bonding that were central to the mid- to upper-class participants' professional development. Flower drinking also provided a method of discriminating men from other men through their choices of why and where to go and how to behave while there. Specific ways that Taiwanese masculinity differs from Western and from Japanese masculinity, and support for the continuing relevance of the traditional Confucian ideal of masculinity, wen-wu, are discussed.     

… Do as the Romans do. A model of conformity with the endogenous formation of preferences

This note is an answer to a previous model on conformity in public goods contributions developed by Carpenter (2004), where a population evolution is allowed according to the standard replicator dynamic (Taylor and Jonker, 1978, Maynard Smith, 1982). To confirm his theoretical prediction, Carpenter developed an experiment showing that free riding actually grows faster when agents have the information necessary to conform. The model and the experiment are, however, inherently different, for the time scales of the model are not able to capture the short run convergence of behavior in the experimental laboratory.We here present a model of conformity which offers the same laboratory results as Carpenter without resorting to evolutionary models, and also gives agents the chance to adopt different strategies implying various levels of cooperation.     

Testing the reactance vs. the reciprocity of politeness explanations for the effectiveness of the “but you are free” compliance-gaining technique

Two studies were conducted to assess whether reactance or politeness offers a better explanation of the effectiveness of the “but you are free” (BYAF) technique of gaining compliance. The first was conducted with an online survey in the US (N = 131) and found that the BYAF was associated with lower perceived freedom threat than a control or polite request. The second was a field study and collected data in France (N = 372), Norway (N = 360), and the US (N = 108) to test a 3 (direct request, polite request, or BYAF) × 2 (requester benefits or 3rd party group benefits) design. The BYAF was associated with higher compliance than the other two messages.     

F.A.D.E. A.W.A.Y.-The Financial Affairs of Dementing Elders and Who Is the Attorney?

The financial affairs of twenty-five community dwelling elders with dementia who had lost financial competence were studied by a semi-structured interview with the main carer. Many elders had no access to their own money. Inappropriate management was revealed in twenty-four cases although professionals had been consulted previously in most instances. Legal advice was sought in six cases and resulted in four procedures which were rendered invalid by confusion. In six cases pensions were collected by local authority employees without appropriate authority. Most financial institutions when contacted had no written policy for controlling the resources of those who have lost financial competence.     

Editorial—On the role of the humanities in urban ecology: The case of St. Petersburg

Urban ecology is increasingly interdisciplinary, with biophysical and social scientists joining forces to study how human and built environments and processes interact with non-human nature. Humanistic disciplines that study high culture and intellectual currents also bear upon urban ecology, since cities are not simply aggregates of human and non-human factors but seats of civilization and loci of concentrated creative energy. The Russian city of St. Petersburg, which Dostoevsky called the most abstract and intentional city in the world, offers an example of the way individual acts of intellectual and artistic creation affect the energy balance of a city and its interaction with ecological forces. Such concentrated creative energy may be a key to making cities sustainable, and it should not remain outside the calculus of urban ecology.     

Some Trends in the Prestige of U.S. Ph.D. Programs in Sociology, 1976–2011

The prestige ranks of 110 U.S. Ph.D. programs in Sociology are examined at seven times between 1976 and 2011. Linear latent growth curve models are fitted to test differences between public and private institutions, institutions located in the four major census regions, and between three historically strong communities (the Ivy League, Big-10, and Pac-10) and others. The relative prestige ranks display considerable stability, totaling 90 % of the variance between, and 10 % of the variance within programs. Differences between the three historically high-prestige communities and others are more important than geographic or public/private distinctions. The Big-10 institutions have declined markedly in relative prestige, as has the mean prestige rank of institutions in the Midwest generally. Ivy and other Eastern schools have gained modestly; Western, but not Pac-10, schools have also gained, while schools in the South are little changed. Overall, public institutions have shown gains relative to private during the period.     

An evaluation of analysis options for the one-group-per-condition design. Can any of the alternatives overcome the problems inherent in this design?

This article addresses the analytic problems associated with a design in which one identifiable group is allocated to each treatment condition and members of those groups are measured to assess the intervention. Such designs are often called quasi-experiments if the groups are not randomized to conditions and group-randomized trials if the groups are randomized. They present special problems, and previous reports have argued against their use in efficacy or effectiveness trials. Even so, this design still appears with surprising frequency. This article presents the results from a new simulation study that underscores the analytic problems associated with this design.     

‘Eternal grumblers’: V.S. Naipaul and the uses of South Africa

The essay studies the uses of South African characters and motifs in V.S. Naipaul's fiction and non fiction.     

No.2 Vault of Qin Terra-Cotta Figures Open to the Public

In October 1994, another excavation site of the Qin terra-cotta figures of warriors and horses near Qin Shi Huang's Tomb at the foot of Lishan, Lintong, Shaanxi Province was formally open to the public. This is the third vault that was excavated from March 1994 after the excavation of the No.1 and No.2 vaults 20 years ago.     

Russian refugees. A tragedy or the costs of imperial consciousness?

The author attempts to estimate migration of Russians from other republics of the former Soviet Union back to Russia, and factors causing this migration. The encouragement by many local authorities of anti-Russian feeling for political purposes is identified as a major cause of such re-migration. This is a translation of the Russian article in Sotsiologicheskie Issledovaniia (Moscow, Russia), No. 9, 1992, pp. 59-64.     

Historical writing on migration into the commonwealth Caribbean: A bibliographical review of the period c.1838‐c.1938

For almost a century after slave emancipation in the Commonwealth Caribbean a steady stream of immigrants entered the colonies, from such diverse places as India, Africa, Europe, China, North America, Syria and Lebanon. Historical scholarship on these migrants has concentrated heavily on the Indians, while almost completely neglecting the Syrian/Lebanese. Moreover, the main emphasis has been on the economic roles of the migrants within the dominant plantation sector. Recently, however, increasing attention has been focused on the non‐plantation sectors, while interesting and scholarly work is also emerging on the socio‐cultural aspects of immigrant society. Much research still needs to be done on migrants into the smaller Caribbean islands. Although small in number by comparison with those migrating to Guyana and Trinidad, a knowledge of their roles in and adaptation to their host societies will help us to understand more fully the impact of post‐emancipation migration on the Commonwealth Caribbean.     

"Speaking of mothers. . ."How does the literature portray mothers who have a history of child sexual abuse?

The tendency to cast mothers in a negative light has featured in much of the literature researching child sexual abuse. More recently however, this trend has become increasingly evident in any number of empirical discussions focusing on mothers who themselves have a history of child sexual abuse. This article presents a detailed thematic analysis of the ways in which the literature presents these mothers, particularly concentrating on research examining their parenting post disclosure of their child's sexual abuse. A critical reading of the literature supports commentary on methodological problems in research design as well as assumptions made about mothering, the nature of support, and the focus on the effects of childhood sexual abuse to the exclusion of the influence of other childhood experiences and difficulties.