Should we talk of “extinction society”? A socio-cultural reading

In this work, we intend to present a reading of current society as the extinction society. Extinction society here means the characterization, both social and individual, of a highly developed reality, especially in terms of personal freedom, unable to face global collective threats, first of all the climate disaster. This involves the risk, within a few generations, of the extinction of both the type of society that at least in the West we have been accustomed to for a few hundred years, and in the apocalyptic perspective of the species. The attempt to represent this question is addressed here by referring to some recent authors of cultural studies and sociology, to try and understand the principles of this extinction process. Following the analysis of what is in fact a process of individual liberation, that is, of increasingly advanced individualization, we proceed by looking at the macro-themes of consumption, politics and psyche. This is in order to understand the possible outcomes of this process and the overall sense of an extinction of the current society if not of the species.     

Moving from ‘what we know works’ to ‘what we do in practice’: An evidence overview of implementation and diffusion of innovation in transition to adulthood for care experienced young people

Global research has shown that most young people who are care experienced are not prepared to transition to independent living at 18 years of age and require support into early adulthood. We used rigorous systematic methods to identify English-based peer reviewed and grey literature describing innovations relevant to care experienced young people as they transition into adulthood, with a focus upon lessons for their implementation and diffusion. We synthesised the evidence narratively and organise data linked to seven key areas important to the transition to adulthood: (1) Health and well-being; (2) relationships; (3) education and training; (4) employment; (5) participation in society; (6) accommodation; (7) other. Twenty-five papers met our inclusion criteria. This review has found that, whilst there are a broad spectrum of innovations taking place within the social care environment for care experienced young people to support their transition into adulthood, there exists limited insight into how best to support implementation and diffusion of evidence-based innovation. We drew upon the ‘Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research’, developed in the setting of clinical service delivery, to highlight challenges in implementing and diffusing evidence-based innovation for care experienced young people transitioning into adulthood.     

Your position in society matters for how happy you are

This article shows that people's perception of their position in society is strongly correlated with their level of happiness, and thus that differences in happiness levels among countries in different welfare state clusters are influenced by people's perceptions of their relative position in society (subjective position). The study drew on data from the European Social Survey. Two important findings emerged from the analysis. First, an individual's subjective position in society is a more important predictor of happiness than objective measures such as income, education and labour market position. Second, the link between individuals’ perceived position in society and their level of happiness is moderated by the welfare state. In the Nordic countries, people's perceptions of their position in society have less influence on happiness whereas in Eastern European countries we found a strong connection between subjective position and happiness.     

Transnational ethnic networks and the creation of immigrant social capital: A multilevel analysis

This study examines the network determinants of post-migration social capital among a group of foreign wives living in Korea. Based on a newly collected dataset, which consists of representative samples of Chinese, Japanese, and Vietnamese women, it analyzes how and to what extent the survey respondents’ preexisting transnational ties to prior co-ethnic migrants in Korea influence their differential access to social capital. Two measures of social capital are used: the size of friendship network with native Koreans and the prestige score of occupational categories of the network contacts. Multilevel analysis reveals that while controlling for a host of individual- and contextual-level factors, ethnicity-based networks are significant in allowing foreign wives to build social capital in the host society. However, not all network relations have a uniform causal impact. Rather, they have a contingent role in the formation of post-migration social capital.     

Syncretism in rituals and performance in a culturally pluralistic society in the Philippines

Preserving indigenous culture and practices remains a great challenge for indigenous groups living in a pluralistic, westernized, modernized/post-modernized, and globalized society. With the different elements of social change interacting with the traditional knowledge, systems and practices, it is imperative to look at the risks and changes experienced by indigenous groups in relation to its culture. This paper narrates the presence of syncretism of traditional and contemporary practices in the rituals and music of the Ibaloi community and tries to present the possibility of harmonious interface between the modern quotidian and indigenous life in an attempt to pose minimal risks in the relationship. Rituals in the culturally pluralistic society in the Philippines – Loakan, Baguio City – are still executed and observed at present but the elements of which and other preparations are being lessened because of practicality and shift in beliefs. Nonetheless, these systems and practices still exist because of the meanings attached by the people and their socio-cultural function – as social structures and institutions of social coherence and solidarity – and their outlook about the changes and preservation of performances and rituals in the Ibaloi society.     

The views of hearing-impaired Finns on society: knowledge, satisfaction, activity, values and attitudes

The main goal of this study was to determine how hard-of-hearing (defined as seriously impaired hearing) adults view society. Hard-of-hearing people were asked what they know about Finnish society and how active and satisfied they are as members of society. Sixty-eight adult hard-of-hearing volunteers participated by answering questionnaires mailed to them. Elements of the study were taken from the curriculum of social studies for the last year of compulsory school. The subjects had good general knowledge. They were fairly satisfied with Finnish society, except for its services for hard-of-hearing people. They were active in various association and in the life of the religious community, but not in politics. They reserved their most positive ratings for hearing-impaired people. Although their hearing loss was irritating, they had not developed their own distinct culture: they wanted to be part of the broader Finnish society, with the help of some extra services (such as the induction loop system).     

THE POLITICAL FOUNDATIONS OF AUSTRALIA'S PLURALIST SOCIETY

This article examines the political foundations of Australia as a multicultural nation in the context of the republican debate and the prospect of constitutional reform. In establishing a constitutional basis for the pluralism inherent in Australian society as it has evolved over lime demographically and normatively, there are symbolic and functional considerations which need to be addressed. It is argued that the key to restructuring the political foundations lies in a postmodern concept of citizenship based on a rights-based society which gives formal recognition to differences within a liberal democratic framework.     

与祖辈同住:当前中国家庭的三代居住安排与青少年的学业表现

通过分析具有全国代表性的初中学生样本数据，本研究考察了影响当前中国家庭三代共同居住的决定因素、三代居住安排与青少年学业表现之间的关系及其中间机制。首先，家庭社会经济地位较低、母亲在职或单亲家庭的青少年更可能与祖辈同住。其次，代际居住安排会显著影响青少年的学业表现，控制了其他因素之后，三代共同居住（与祖辈同住）家庭的学生的学业表现要优于两代核心家庭的学生。第三，与祖辈同住的效应受到家庭社会经济地位和家庭结构的调节，来自较低阶层或非双亲家庭的学生从与祖辈同住中获益更多。最后，与祖辈同住在一定程度上通过加强亲子间的家庭社会资本这一机制作用于学生的学业表现。本文表明，在现代社会，家庭亲属网络仍然对个体的地位获得或社会流动具有十分重要的作用。     

Discourse and Resistance in Care Assessment: Integrated Living and Community Care

Correspondence to Mark Priestley, Disability Research Unit, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK Summary This paper illustrates how value conflicts between the competingphilosophies of community care and integrated living are playedout at a micro level. The experiences of service users in Derbyshireshow how the process of care assessment can perpetuate traditionaldiscourses of disability based on dependency, individualizationand segregation. By contrast, self-assessment within an integratedliving approach opens up new possibilities for resistance throughthe supported self-empowerment of service users. Moreover, theparticipation of disabled people in managing their own affairschallenges established cultural values about the role of disabledpeople in society.     

先验主体的终结与历史主体的可能

传统主体观自从被笛卡尔等近代哲学家确立以来 ,在哲学史上发挥了重要的作用。但是 ,作为抽象理性主义的主要形式 ,传统主体观也导致了一系列自身难以克服的理论困难和不良后果。 1 9世纪末 ,尼采在批判传统主体观的基础上 ,建构了一种多元的流动的主体观 ,它极大地影响到 2 0世纪后现代思想家对主体的理解。但是 ,这种后现代主义主体观无法引领我们走出传统主体观的理论困境。我们认为 ,主体是一个在实践中不断迈向未来的开放性的生成过程。     

Modernity, Postmodernity and Social Work

Correspondence to Prof. David Howe, School of Social Work, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ. Summary For so long in search of a common base, there are early signsthat social work's intellectual outlook is fragmenting. Theunity that was once sought in both theory and practice as wellas policy and organziation is being abandoned. A child of modernity,social work now finds itself in a postmodern world, uncertainwhether or not there are any deep and unwavering principleswhich define the essence of its character and hold it togertheras a cohernt enterprise. The article outlines some of the characteristics of modernityand postmodernity, relating them to the rise of social work,its formation within modern society, and its current conditionin what many observers believe is a postmodern world. Thereare three ‘visions’ within which people look toleam the ’truth‘ of things, including matters offact and matters of value: those centred in God's word (revelation);those centred in the minds of men and women (reason); and thosede-centred and dispersed withing language, meaning and culture(relativism).     

How does socio-economic environment influence the distribution of altruism?

This paper analyzes how socio-economic environment affects the extent of individual altruism and its distribution within a society. We show that if the socio-economic institution that structures interactions between individuals can be represented by a supermodular game, individuals tend to become more homogeneous in terms of altruism as spillover effects increase. This implies that people living close to one another and engaging in joint production, such as irrigation agriculture in a rural village, are more likely to exhibit similar levels of altruism than those living apart and engaging in more or less independent work.     

A lonely society? Loneliness and liquid modernity in Australia

This paper reviews recent studies of loneliness in order to assess whether it is becoming endemic in Australian society. It develops the idea that loneliness is an embedded social structural feature of contemporary Australian life likely to affect people through the life course, creating psychological stress, ill health and social dysfunction. Zygmunt Bauman's writing on liquid modernity is used to trace a sequence of less binding social bonds from the community the workplace, intimate relationships, friendship and kinship that may account for a more generalised distribution of loneliness. Empirical evidence from recent national surveys in Australia demonstrates how Bauman's gloomy prognosis is particularly applicable in Australia. The paper argues that it has been invisible as a social issue until recently, but that its scope and scale have grown such that robust policy initiatives are now warranted. It argues that Australia's gendered pattern of loneliness indicates that Bauman's broad theory of liquid modernity must be mediated by several factors relating to national cultures, historic patterns of family formation, and the gender role distribution in the creation and maintenance of social bonds.     

Processes of conservation and change in Arab society in Israel: Implications for the health and welfare of the Arab population

Azaiza F. Processes of conservation and change in Arab society in Israel: Implications for the health and welfare of the Arab population This article reports on a study that examined how modernisation processes affect the Arab citizens of Israel on various levels and how the processes are reconciled with traditional ideals. Modernisation affects formal and informal support systems, affects family lifestyles, has resulted in changes in the treatment of elderly people and has seen modern ideas of health and wellness incorporated with traditional values and ideals. For the Arab citizens of Israel, the conflict of tradition versus modernisation is evident throughout society. Studying the processes of both modernisation and preservation and their implications allows us to better understand and address the needs of the Arab population in Israel. Based on the research presented in this review, processes of modernisation and conservation are conceptualised as a continuum along four dimensions: perceptions of self, sources of social support, health roles and gender roles. The implications of these changes are explored as they relate to various phenomena.     

社会理论的空间转向

社会理论的空间转向是社会理论的当代进展的一个重要组成部分,它沿着两条路径展开：一方面,吉登斯、布迪厄等社会理论大师在现代性架构下检视空间与社会的交互关系对于研究社会结构与社会过程的重要性;另一方面,后现代社会理论家采用一系列的地理学概念和隐喻来探索日益复杂和分化的社会世界。本文旨在系统地呈现这一转向的基本脉络。     

Poverty and experiences of insecurity. A qualitative interview study of 25 long-standing recipients of social security

The purpose of this study is to explore experiences of insecurity among people living in relative poverty in an affluent welfare society. Twenty-five long-standing recipients of social security were interviewed. The study finds that poverty and related factors give rise to a sense of insecurity to which respondents react affectively with apprehension and anxiety. Respondents, all of whom live in the same Norwegian town, report multiple causes of their emotions, and adopt numerous psychological methods to address their sense of insecurity. The study's findings are discussed in light of theories of needs and emotions and contextual and methodological factors.     

Economic and political conditions and modern and postmodern value orientations of Hong Kong citizens

There is no research evidence concerning relationships between individuals’ modern and postmodern value orientations and their perceptions of modern and postmodern economic and political conditions. To examine the relationship, the present study surveyed 1,008 Chinese adult citizens in Hong Kong, 2000. Results of structural equation modeling indicate that citizens’ perceptions of modern (postmodern) economic and political conditions had significant positive effects on their modern (postmodern) value orientations. These effects may reflect people’s conformity to perceived societal norms about modern or postmodern conditions. Meanwhile, they reveal that there were weak effects of modern (postmodern) value orientations on perceptions of modern (postmodern) conditions.     

Three stories,two visions: the West and the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway in Canadian culture

Many now think the Canadian nation-state is entering a phase in its development that can be described as “postmodern” (Porter, 1995, pp. 91–106). Throughout the 1990s we have heard much talk of “asymmetrical federalism,” “bilateral federalism,” “successor states” and Quebec/ROC (Rest of Canada) polarities (Watts, 1991, pp. 1–7). In this time of constitutional and political ferment, commentators postulated the existence of as many as “seven incipient nations” within the borders of the present Canadian polity (Mahler and March, 1991, p. 16). There are resonances here within the field of literary criticism. Linda Hutcheon and Marion Richmond’s Other Solitudes: Canadian Multicultural Fictions (1990) highlight factors of paradox, contradiction, and extreme irony in the Canadian situation, factors they see as central to the postmodern world view. This paper examines two works of Canadian popular culture analyzed against E. J. Pratt’s Towards the Last Spike (1952) in an effort to suggest that a postmodern style may have something to offer our sociopolitical debate. The television dramatization of Pierre Berton’s two-volume work on the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway, The National Dream (1974), and the Canada Day Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) special “Murray McLauchlan’s Floating Over Canada” represent, with Pratt, two differing visions of Canada. The McLauchlan effort, I hope to show, when set against Berton and Pratt, represents an implied postmodern critique of modernism’s romantic faith in technological efficiency and cultural tradition. McLaughlan’s antiintentionalism and playfulness, I argue, offer a useful way to represent some of our present dilemmas and may even provide reasons for optimism about problems that have plagued Canadians for years.     

合肥市低保家庭的主观幸福感与低保政策支持关系研究

城市居民最低生活保障制度的确立保障了城镇贫困家庭的基本生活,同时也催生了低保家庭这一特殊的弱势群体。本研究通过自编的幸福感问卷对合肥城市低保家庭进行幸福感调查,反映了当前合肥市低保家庭的幸福感总体特征、影响因素以及低保政策与其之间的关系。     

合肥市低保家庭的主观幸福感与低保政策支持关系研究

城市居民最低生活保障制度的确立保障了城镇贫困家庭的基本生活,同时也催生了低保家庭这一特殊的弱势群体。本研究通过自编的幸福感问卷对合肥城市低保家庭进行幸福感调查,反映了当前合肥市低保家庭的幸福感总体特征、影响因素以及低保政策与其之间的关系。