SPECIAL ISSUE： THE ORIGINS OF ANCIENT CHINESE CIVILIZATION AND STATES——＂Civilization＂ and ＂State＂： An Etymological Perspective

在西欧文字词源学的角度上,找不到将“文明”与“国家”被一些学者那样区别来看的理由,更找不到将“文明”区别为“文化”与“社会”两大部分的根据。“文明”就是“国家”,本义就是“国家”。将“文明”区别为“文化”与“社会”两大部分,正如将“文明”与“国家”解读为两个完全不同的概念,来解决文明起源问题,同样没有根据。因此,研究文明起源的重点只有一个,那就是社会及其管理结构的变化,也就是生活在一定地域范围之内的人与人之间的社会关系的变化。     

Numerus Clausus:An Economic Perspective

伴随中国物权法与民法典的制定,海峡两岸对物权法定原则质疑日渐增多,这促使我们重新审视物权法定的一些理论问题。本文运用经济分析方法,从信息成本外部化与挫折成本这两个方面探讨物权法定以及物权自由的成本—效益问题。由此得出结论:物权法定的挫折成本主要源自法律对物权、债权的不同救济方式,而物权自由的信息成本外部化则是局部性的。因此,在规范上,推翻物权法定不是降低挫折成本的唯一途径,而信息成本外部化也不必然要求否定物权自由。     

A Perspective on Genetic Modification: An Exploration from the Perspective of Social Anthropology

转基因技术既与人们的日常生活密切相关,又能从中透视社会制度、文化传统、全球化与地方化的演变过程与特性,理应成为社会人类学关注的对象。本文以转基因大豆为例,探讨了中国社会结构背景和主流话语下对转基因技术的本土反应和消费者处境。     

Do Public Officials Trust Citizens? A Welfare State Perspective

In this exploratory study, we investigate whether public sector officials and non‐public sector officials differ in the trust they have in members of society and whether this difference is associated with the welfare regime in which they work. Using survey data from the sixth round of the European Social Survey, we compare public sector officials' trust to that of non‐public sector officials in 13 countries with four different forms of welfare regimes. Our results demonstrate that public officials have a higher level of trust than non‐public officials do. Furthermore, trust among both public and non‐public sector officials is much higher in social‐democratic regimes, followed by corporatist countries, liberal regimes, Israel (as a unique case) and, lastly, southern European regimes. As expected, public officials' degree of trust reflects the general trends of their societies. Interestingly, in social‐democratic regimes, differences between trust among public and non‐public officials are the highest compared to the other regimes. In addition, an individual‐level analysis in five countries illustrative of each welfare regime indicates that while income, belonging to a minority group, and age are significant factors in explaining public officials' trust, socio‐demographic variables contribute little to the differences between public and non‐public officials. Given the critical role of trust in the functioning of the welfare state, our results imply that further awareness and mechanisms for increasing the degree of trust of citizens among public officials are warranted.     

From “State and Society” to “Institutions and Life”: A Shift in the Study of Social Change in China

Abstract

The term “institutions and life” is proposed as an alternative perspective to “state and society.” Here, “institutions” refers to formal institutions set up in the name of the state and supporting its agents at various levels and in different departments in the exercise of their functions. “Life” refers to the everyday activities of social beings, involving not only the interests, powers and rights-based claims of expedient production and life strategies and techniques, but also relatively routine popular mores and informal institutions. The purpose of constructing and applying this perspective is to probe the complex mechanism of the interaction between living subjects and the agents of formal institutions in institutional practice and thereby analyze the actual logic and changing direction of China’s formal institutions and explore the mechanisms behind changes in mores so as to grasp the main thread running through China’s modern nation building.     

A New Understanding of the Information Civilization “Key” to “Development”

The exploration of information civilization provides a new key to a new understanding of contemporary development. As a higher level of civilization based on material energy, information civilization represents the information development of human civilization, involving development from material energy to information, development of resources from individual portions to joint sharing, development of the relationship between humans and resources from ownership to use, and the development of humanity itself and its activities from material energy to information. The unfolding of information in human civilization presents the development of information civilization as a mode of human existence, as information ecology and as a dynamic mechanism of social development. Information civilization highlights the profound significance of the fact that in the final analysis, development is human development; the inherent mechanics of human development proceeding from external conditions to internal needs; and the basic manner in which social development proceeds from quantitative increases to qualitative progress. As a result, contemporary development presents a two-way cycle of accelerating human development and social progress, in which human development increasingly takes precedence; the renewal of the drivers of development and the development of human needs are more and more directly related; and the overall level of social progress becomes the key to development. In the course of leading the rise of information civilization, China not only has unique advantages, but also faces the key task of liberating creativity.     

The Chinese Model of Development： An International Perspective

随着中国改革开放事业的成功,国内外关于中国模式的研究日渐增多。然而,大多数学者尤其是西方学者在研究中国模式时,往往会回避中国的政治模式,仅仅把中国模式局限于中国在经济上的成功。但实际上,如果不讨论中国的政治模式,就很难理解中国的经济模式,因为到目前为止,中国的经济模式正是中国的政治模式促成的。对很多发展中国家而言,如何建立稳定的政治社会秩序是其面I艋的艰巨挑战,对此,中国模式的政治和经济内涵都非常具有借鉴意义。     

Party,State and Society:the Relationship among the Three

There are cases in village self-government where the head of the villagers' committee and the secretary of the Party branch in the village are one and the same person. Under such conditions the relationship between township/town and village is simplified. Although the relationship of guidance between the township government, the guide, and the villagers' committee, the guided, and the relationship of direct control between the township/town Party committee, the controller, and the village Party branch, the controlled, are theoretically distinguishable as laid down in legal texts, it is difficult to differentiate between     

The Market Economy and State Regulation

Themarketeconomyhasthreebasicfunctions;rationalallocation,stimulatingsocio-economicandtechnicalprogress,andguaranteeingefficientdistributionaccordingtomarketindicators.Inanationaleconomywithasocialdivisionoflaborandinwhichtheeconomyitselfindependentlydisperseseconomicadvantages,themarketeconomybecomesthefundamentaleconomicregulatorymechanism.However,themarketeconomy,asameansofallocatingresourcesandregulatingandcontrollingtheeconomy,canneverautomaticallyoronitsownfulfilltheentireoperationalaims…     

Reagan and rhetoric: An oval office aesop?

The cliché identifying President Reagan as a “Great Communicator” reflects a conceptual confusion regarding the function of political rhetoric in a democracy. This confusion is not merely conceptual, but has important political consequences. For our political and moral concepts are partially constitutive of our political and moral practices. Thus our declining standards in political rhetoric suggest a corrosion in the practice of democratic politics. We might heed Orwell's advice and attempt to reinvigorate our democratic politics by demanding rhetorical excellence from political communicators.     

Balance between Punishment and Protection:Theory and Practice of State Exoneration from Criminal Compensation

在实现法治的过程中,国家权力与个人权利并非总是和谐一致,而往往处于冲突之中,这一冲突在刑事司法领域表现尤为突出。如何合理界定冲突的平衡点?刑事赔偿国家免责的理论与实践为解决这一冲突模式,特别是在中国现实司法语境中合理界定二者之间的边界,提供了一个有益的进路。在法治社会中,刑事赔偿国家免责条款所界定的国家权力与个人权利的平衡点,绝不是中间点,而应当向保护公民权利倾斜,即在国家权力与个人权利发生冲突的情况下,应该优先保护个人权利。     

Of Practicalities and Perspective: What Is Fair in Group Decision Making?

Establishing fair procedures to regulate intragroup disagreements should engender cooperation while inhibiting conflict . Yet what is a "fair" procedure might vary for members of different factions . To understand perceptions of fairness in group decision making , the present research developed and utilized the Fair Group Procedures Scale (FGPS). Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses revealed a four-factor structure along two dimensions: the means of distributing decision-making power (proportionality to equality) and the normative value of the approach (desirable to undesirable) . Data suggest that deeming a particular decision-making procedure "fair" is predicted by one's majority/minority position within a group . Furthermore , experimental data suggest that social change (i . e ., reversals of majority/minority positions) reduces the discrepancies between factions . Results support the socially constructed nature of fairness and its potential role in intragroup conflict .     

An Intrinsic Perspective on the Rule of Law: Observations on the Movement to Modernize Chinese Law

本文作者将法治理论置于特定的历史、文化和社会情景中加以反思,提出了法治的"内在视角"。这一视角至少包含三重含义:首先它要求我们从一个社会的内部看问题,了解这个社会的发展脉络及其种种问题,探索这些问题与法治诉求之间的联系;其次,因为强调社会发展内在脉络的重要性,就不可避免地要审视传统与现代的内在关系,既不简单地将传统视为现代的对立物而抛弃,也不把名为现代化的事业都视为对传统观念、制度的全面剔除和取代;最后,这一视角还要求我们改变习惯的自上而下看问题的方式,尝试着自下而上地了解和看待这个世界。     

The State and Farmers: Definition of Roles and Functions in the Supply of Public Goods

One of the major contradictions con- fronting Chinese rural areas today is the con- stant increase in farmers' individual needs and the equally rapid growth in their public needs on the one hand, and on the other the double shortage of private and public goods. As a low-income group, individual farmers bear too much of the burden of supplying public goods and have to put their limited funds into the production of public goods. As a result, not only have they not solved the problem of shortage of public goods,     

“The only equality is the pain”: An exploration of the Irish policy sphere's approach to “access” and “entitlement” in health care

This paper critically analyses how overarching policy goals and practices surrounding access and entitlement to health care (HC) have been dominated by a conflicting system of libertarian and equity-based principles. We examine how this mixed-motives system originated and the importance of policy legacies inherited from the Poor Laws era in shaping modern conceptions of access and entitlement to HC. We also considered how these determined the scope of state intervention in this policy domain. Drawing on empirical evidence and interviews with key stakeholders in Irish health policy, we explored the appetite to engage in meaningful HC reforms that address the growing gaps of inequity between higher and lower socio-economic groups in society. Rather than emulating European counterpartsapos; emphasis on universal coverage within an egalitarian paradigm, Irish policy actors have sought to instill a spirit of fairness in HC delivery. Under the guise of equality of opportunity and equity, the policy focus has centred on directing publicly funded HC towards lower-income groups and the most vulnerable in Irish society. However, we argue that the operation of the mixed-motives structure has also created conflict and policy ambiguity surrounding overarching goals which frame the governance and consumption of HC in Ireland. This is evidenced by the dysfunction and complexity of the two-tier system of public-versus-private access to HC services. Ultimately, we argue that the policy aspirations of equality that underpin the HC structures surrounding access and entitlement should be revisited to achieve greater health outcomes and create a more equal society.     

Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans: What Might a Sociological Embeddedness Perspective Offer Disaster Research and Planning?

The Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans situation was commonly called a "natural disaster"—an anomalous "event" that disrupted lives, spaces, and organizations. Research and planning attention then focused on particular aspects of the event and on restoring order. In contrast, sociologists and similar-thinking scholars have increasingly viewed disaster situations from multiple locations and histories, often using systems theory. Here, reanalysis of empirical material from ethnographic research in New Orleans pre- and post-Katrina suggests that a sociological embeddedness perspective illustrates the dynamic seamlessness of past, present, and future economic contexts and social actions. The perspective's constitutive concepts of weak, strong, and differentiated ties highlight the role of local knowledge, intermediary-led workforce networks, and sustained participatory planning in creating a robust economic environment. Toward this end, disaster research, planning, and theory building could incorporate network tie assessments into social vulnerability protocols, compare embeddedness with other perspectives, and learn from related international experiences.     

Linong in Shanghai: Political Grassroots Mobilization and State and Social Integration (1950-1955)

1950年代前半期,上海居民委员会在一系列政治动员中扮演了国家和社会的双重角色,这种独特的作用源自于阶级错杂、行动取向多元的近代上海社会特质。通过基层社会的整顿和社会生活计划供应的实施,中国共产党有效地利用并成功地改造了居民委员会的这些特性,使之踏上新政权设定的体制轨道,强化了它们的国家属性。上海基层社会大量的无组织的"非单位人"由此而成为国家可以调控的政治力量,国家统合社会之路开始畅通。     

The Institutional Environment of “Mutual Interpenetration of Scholars and Merchants” after the Mid-Ming:From the Perspective of Changes in Government Policy

The “mutual interpenetration of scholars and merchants” was a noticeable social phenomenon after the mid Ming. The appearance of this phenomenon had complex and deep-rooted social causes, among which institutional factors deserve attention, specifically, changes and adjustments in government policy     

State–business relations,foreign aid,and development: a comparative study of Ghana and South Korea

This study examines aid, state–business relations, and development in Ghana and South Korea. In 1957, when Ghana achieved independence, Ghana and South Korea shared approximately similar levels of GDP per capita. However, while South Korea has successfully transformed itself from a major recipient to a donor country and enjoys advanced economic growth and a high standard of living, Ghana—despite visible growth in recent decades—remains a low-income and aid-dependent country. In this study, focusing on policies that guide state–business relations and their impact on economic development, we examine the extent to which foreign aid played a role in shaping state–business relations and building (or failing to build) public–private development partnerships in South Korea and Ghana. More specifically, we argue that fundamentally in South Korea, through enabling national development policies, state and business worked together to achieve economic development; for Ghana, the local business sector was inadequately integrated as an economic development partner with the state, which explains the less than outstanding performance of various state-led development projects in Ghana in much of the last 50 years. In addition, we argue that in the case of South Korea, aid was used effectively to support and build local business groups, while in Ghana aid has largely failed to boost the private sector, a key factor explaining the divergent paths of aid and development outcomes between the two countries.