The rise of living alone and loneliness in history

This article connects two current debates: the rise of single-person households or of ‘solitaries’, and the so-called ‘loneliness epidemic’. It raises questions about how these are associated, via social-science literature on loneliness as a social, contextual and subjective experience, and findings in that literature about the relevance of lone-person households. The article is concerned to explore the history of living alone as a form of family structure, via analysis of European, North American and Japanese pre-industrial and industrial listings of inhabitants, and the post-1851 British censuses to 2011. It also does this cartographically via British mapping of lone-person households in 1851, 1881, 1911 and 2011. It documents dramatic rise across many countries in single-person households during the twentieth century, notably since the 1960s. Many pre-industrial settlements had no single-person households, and the average was around 5 percent of households. The current western proportions of such households (e.g. 31 percent in the UK) are wholly unprecedented historically, even reaching to 60 percent or more of households in some modern European and North American cities. The discussion examines this trend – which has very wide ramifications – and raises issues about its relevance for modern problems of loneliness as a social and welfare concern.     

How I am Constructing Culture‐inclusive Theories of Social‐psychological Process in our Age of Globalization

Accepting Cole's the premise that, “cultural‐inclusive psychology has been … an elusive goal” (1996, pp. 7–8) but one worth striving to attain, I first set out to identify my domain of interest and competence as an intellectual. Deciding it to be social interaction between individuals, I then searched out theoretical approaches to this domain that encompassed as many approaches to this trans‐historical concern that have emerged from cultural traditions bequeathing us their legacies. Doing this search comprehensively required me to move outside my Judeo‐Christian, Greco‐Roman, Renaissance heritage and its international diffusion via the European Empires since the 1500's, embodied most recently the American dominance of intellectual discourse since the Second World War. In my case, this journey has taken me in to Chinese culture and psychology where I have worked towards integrating the Chinese worldview and its psychological measures into the discipline of social psychology. Striving for a more inclusive culture‐view, I am now using multi‐cultural data bases to transcend this two‐cultural focus and incorporate wider measures of cultural variation into our theorizing and empirical validation of universal models for social interaction. This paper describes my current procedures for such culture‐mapping.     

发扬成绩，总结经验，为繁荣发展哲学社会科学事业做出新贡献

在全国人民喜迎中华人民共和国60华诞之际，中国社会科学院举行学术报告会，隆重庆祝新中国成立60周年。1949年中华人民共和国的诞生，开辟了中国共产党领导全国人民建设新社会、创造新文明的伟大时代，也开启了中国哲学社会科学发展的新纪元。     

Poverty in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: An Exploratory Study of Poverty and Female‐headed Households in Jeddah City

This article reports an exploratory study in Jeddah City, Saudi Arabia, which assembled data and information from government and non‐governmental organizations about poverty and poverty alleviation policies. A list of poor families which were receiving benefits from the Social Security Department and charitable associations in Jeddah City was constructed, from which female‐headed households were identified and classified depending on the circumstances of the female head. The article describes the social, cultural and demographic characteristics of poor female‐headed households in Jeddah. The article also uses the results of interviews with 13 poor female heads of households to analyse aspects of their everyday lives. This evidence is used to discuss the ability of the Saudi state's income support system to address poverty as the country undergoes economic and social modernization.     

中国俄罗斯族形成发展历程探析

任何一个民族的形成,必然要经过一定的历史发展过程,作为中国少数民族之一的俄罗斯族就经历了一个艰难的发展过程才最终融入中华民族大家庭。中国俄罗斯族的形成和发展大致可以划分为四个时期:一是17世纪末至19世纪末的孕育期;二是19世纪末至俄国十月革命的快速成长期;三是俄国十月革命至20世纪70年代末的曲折徘徊期;四是20世纪70年代末至今的和谐发展繁荣期。对各阶段进行深入系统的分析,有利于更好地把握中国俄罗斯族形成的历史脉络,从而有利于在新时期发展我国民族关系、增强民族认同感,也有利于边境地区的稳定和扩大对外交往。     

Material hardship and depression among low‐income households in South Korea: Differences by household type

With the recent trend of growing poverty in South Korea, low‐income households, particularly elderly‐ and single‐headed households, are at high risk of experiencing material hardship and depression. However, less is known about the association between material hardship and depression by household type in Korea. Using data (N = 2,913) from the Korean Welfare Panel Study and employing several methodological approaches to address the omitted variables bias, this study examined: (i) the association between material hardship and depression among low‐income households, and (ii) whether the association differed by household type. We found that experiencing material hardship was associated with a higher likelihood of being depressed. In addition, we also found that the association between material hardship and depression differed by household type. The magnitude of the association was most pronounced in single‐ and elderly‐headed households. Policy implications to improve well‐being among low‐income households were discussed.     

Partisan Cross‐Pressure and Voter Turnout: The Influence of Micro and Macro Environments*

Objectives. This article explores the impact of the partisan homogeneity/heterogeneity of a variety of group environments on patterns of voter turnout for recent presidential elections in Erie County, New York. Methods. Using multilevel methods (HLM) with data drawn from voter registration files and Census sources, we simultaneously estimate the independent and joint effects on turnout of a variety of the nested contexts inhabited by individuals. Results. Our analysis uncovers strong evidence that politically homogeneous households reinforce participatory behaviors, but that this effect is also conditioned by the partisan complexion of their district environment. Conclusions. We also demonstrate that contextual influences from both households and neighborhoods are stronger for members of the partisan minority.     

文化因素对人口流动的长期影响：基于中国历史经验的实证分析

文化差异作为解释移民活动的决定因素已不是一个新的视角，然而截至目前,学界尚未对两者之间的量化因果关系进行过讨论。本文利用中国历史上的移民数据，采用新的文化差异度量指标（姓氏基因距离）来揭示地区间文化差异对移民活动的因果影响。研究发现：采用姓氏基因距离度量的地区间文化差异对移民行为具有较强的负向影响，即移民数量随着文化差异的缩小而增加，并且即使控制其他经济、地理等因素以及采用工具变量法进行两阶段回归，该结果依然稳健。本文不仅为理解文化差异与移民行为之间的关系提供了扎实的实证证据，同时也对理解中国自10世纪以来的移民特征及其决定因素有所贡献。     

北京历史地图的数字化

电子数字地图是 2 0世纪后期发展起来的新型地图 ,它在信息量的包含、深层空间关系揭示、动态过程表现等方面 ,大大优于传统纸面地图。数字化技术在历史地图方面也在迅速发展。北京历史地图的数字化工作已经开始 ,新型数字化地图将在北京历史地理研究、旧城改造、环境管理、文化建设、宣传北京等方面 ,成为得力工具     

Regulating the delivery of cash‐for‐care payments across Europe

The article aims to understand how governments across Europe have modified the regulation of the delivery of cash‐for‐care schemes (CfCs) to dependent older people since the beginning of the century. In our terminology, the regulation of the CfCs delivery defines the norms, rules, and practices that public actors adopt to manage how beneficiaries can use the benefits. To discuss the regulation of CfCs delivery, we employ an original framework that take three analytical dimensions into account: the degrees of freedom in benefits' utilization (“CfCs utilization” dimension), the provision of information/orientation/advices/counselling to older people and families (“professional support” dimension), and the relationship between the delivery of CfCs and the delivery of the other publicly funded long‐term care inputs (“care system” dimension). The analysis adopts a comparative perspective, looking at six countries—Italy, Austria, the Netherlands, France, Germany, and England. Among various findings, the main one consists in showing that there has been a shared and increased interest in consolidating the regulation of CfCs delivery. This trend has been mostly directed towards the new policy aim of strengthening the professional support, a goal underestimated in the past, when this dimension was not a major topic of both debate and practice concerning CfCs across Europe.     

The Pro‐Elderly Bias of Social Policies in Israel: A Historical‐Institutional Account

Accelerated population ageing and high voting turnout rates among elderly voters in recent decades have led many social scientists to predict increasing pro‐elderly biases in the social policies of mature welfare states. This article investigates and empirically estimates the evolving age orientation of social policies in Israel, which is a comparatively young society that has nevertheless aged significantly since independence in 1948. We present a historical and qualitative overview of the development of policy efforts towards different age groups and develop an Elderly/Non‐elderly Spending Ratio at four points in time between 1975 and 2005. We argue that in its first five decades, the Israeli welfare state uniquely combined a broadly universalistic and citizenship‐based outlook with a number of significant particularistic spending biases towards specific subgroups. But from the second half of the 1990s onwards, the pro‐elderly policy bias of the Israeli welfare state has strongly increased. These findings support Lynch's thesis for 21 OECD countries, which posits that a shift from a universal to a more occupationally based institutional model of welfare will result in a higher pro‐elderly bias of social spending.     

The Revenge of History – The Institutional Roots of Post‐Communist Family Policy in the Czech Republic,Hungary and Poland

The authors combine historical and sociological institutional analysis to show that despite the political and socio‐economic transformation in 1990s, the institutional development during and before the communist era provides the best explanation for current childcare policies in Central Europe. While most authors have concentrated on policy changes that have taken place in the region since 1989, this article concentrates on the historical roots of these policies and shows that today's policies are highly influenced by a certain dynamics that had already emerged under communist rule. It shows that a historical institutional approach, which analyses the ‘gendered logic of appropriateness’ and policy legacies at various critical junctures, can explain why family policies in Central Europe had already begun to differ during the communist era, why these main differences continue and why even the changes that have taken place follow logically from historical‐institutional developments.     

Public assistance in urban and rural China: A tale of two stories

China's public assistance system has been urban–rural divided ever since its implementation in the 1990s. Despite the intention in recent years to promote an integrated public assistance system, there has been little empirical research that has systematically examined the differences between urban and rural areas. Moreover, research has focused mostly on the Minimum Living Assurance system (“Dibao”), paying little attention to other types of public assistance. This study contributes to filling this gap by analyzing a recent data set collected primarily from two Chinese provinces. The findings show substantial differences in the amount of public assistance received by urban and rural low‐income households, even after controlling for demographic and socioeconomic factors. Compared with urban recipient households, rural recipient households have disproportionally lower public assistance benefits and higher medical costs relative to their household expenditure, which suggests that assistance inadequacy is especially prominent among rural households. Policy implications are discussed.     

Social integration and suicide: Denmark, 1906–2006

Research on the relationship between social integration and suicide rates has neglected a historical perspective. Analyses are often based on relatively short time periods where there may not be enough variation in integration to affect the national suicide rate, or where overall integration levels are not low enough to buttress a link between a specific index of low integration, such as divorce, and suicide. The present investigation contributes to the literature by testing a hypothesis on domestic integration and suicide over a century, the longest period studied to date, encompassing periods of low and high overall social integration, and emergent risk and protective factors. Data are available for core variables for Denmark, 1906–2006. Annual data include those on suicide, and indicators of integration (divorces, births, marriages), as well as for economic strain (unemployment) and time trends. A log linear Poisson model is estimated, which explores the central divorce–suicide relationship under controls for confounders. Controlling for confounders, a one percent increase in divorce increases male suicides by 0.52% and female suicides by 1.12%. As anticipated, marriages decrease suicide: a one percent increase in marriages reduces suicide by 0.77% for men and by 0.63% for women. The trend in divorce, in particular, offers accurate predictions of suicide throughout the century. The relationship between divorce and suicide over a century is robust. The results offer the strongest support to date in support of a social integration model based on long term historical data on suicide and divorce.     

The impact of the hope growing account program on participants’ economic well‐being in South Korea

In 2010, the Korean government introduced the Hope Growing Account (Hope) program. The Hope program combines elements of a social assistance scheme (monthly income grants) with matched funds for savings to encourage the working poor to increase income and build assets. This longitudinal study estimated changes in household economic well‐being among 895 low‐income households who participated in Hope between 2010 and 2012. Economic well‐being was measured by changes in household monthly income and income‐to‐needs ratio. The adjusted difference‐in‐differences estimation revealed that the impact of Hope varied over household income distributions: lower income households were more likely to increase their monthly earned income and income‐to‐needs ratio compared to demographically similar non‐participants, while higher income households were less likely to increase their income and income‐to‐needs ratio. We describe how future research is needed to better understand how the Hope program impacts household assets and behavioral changes in the long run.     

中国世界史学者的社会责任——《中国社会科学》和新时期的世界历史研究(英文)

近代中国世界史研究的萌生,始于19世纪中叶,这和中国“救亡图存”的时代主题联系在一起。中国世界史研究的特点是与时代的脉搏同时跳动,在各个历史时期,它研究方向的主流,从不曾脱离时代的主题,表现出一种强烈的社会责任。在改革开放新的历史条件下,中国世界史研究的社会责任,从根本上要在坚持为人民服务、为社会主义服务的方向上体现出来。     

Impacts of off‐farm employment on welfare,food security and poverty: Evidence from rural Vietnam

How off‐farm employment can enhance welfare in terms of food consumption and poverty alleviation is a critical question facing many developing countries. This study addressed that question by pursuing two objectives: (i) to quantify the impact of off‐farm employment on rural households’ welfare, food security and poverty; and (ii) to examine the factors that affect their decision to work off‐farm. Using panel data, we estimated a difference‐in‐difference combined with a propensity score matching model. The findings show that off‐farm employment improves income, ensures food security and contributes to poverty alleviation. The results also show that age, marital status, education, labour, financial capital, land, location, market access and losses from natural disasters are significant contributing factors to the decision to participate in off‐farm employment. The findings suggest that to improve the welfare of rural households, the Vietnamese government should proceed with policies that enhance their opportunities for participation in off‐farm employment.     

Intra‐Household Specialization in Housework in the United States and Denmark*

Objective. Focusing on housework activities, we hypothesize that the degree of specialization is influenced by economic notions of efficiency, as well as by time constraints and egalitarian values. Methods. Employing time‐use data on U.S. and Danish couples, we construct a composite index measure of intra‐household specialization. We analyze the comparability of reported time use and our specialization index using different types of data, and then model specialization using a multivariate two‐limit Tobit. Results. We find evidence that Danish households specialize less than U.S. households and that children, particularly preschool‐aged children, are associated with significantly increased specialization in the United States but not in Denmark. Conclusions. We postulate that the more egalitarian social structure in Scandinavia is a driving force behind the lower rate of specialization observed in Denmark. Further, we believe the subsidized child‐care services provided by the Danish welfare system reduce the impact children have on specialization in ordinary housework tasks.     

Ageing in “Poor Household” or Ageing into Poverty? Tackling the Policy Dilemma of Redistribution

The policy issue of how to target poor households rather than provide universal coverage takes the primary place in the question of redistribution where resources are limited. The Government of India's social protection programs, particularly the old age pension for the informal sector of the economy, has taken a targeting approach. In this article we show that there is a case for universal coverage since ageing households experience greater exclusion from market-based protection as well as from informal (household-based) protection. We make the argument for universal coverage on two grounds: first, a targeted approach has resulted in leakage, indicating that non-poor elderly individuals in the unorganized sector also require some sort of support. Though they are valid, we do not resort to traditional arguments against targeting, such as that it creates institutional lock-in mechanisms and stigmatizes the recipients. Second, the loss of income on age-related matters (e.g. hospitalization) or the ability of elderly individuals to gain credit is not particularly class-specific, although the targeting policy implies it is. The article is based on the secondary data source of the National Sample Survey, primary data sources, particularly those conducted by the authors in Kerala and Maharashtra and specifically designed for the ageing population, and ethnographic observations from fieldwork.     

Latin America: a new developmental welfare state model in the making?1

Latin America is emerging from a century of transformation – from a traditional agrarian to an urban industrial economy – where countries have taken diverse historical paths. Some have almost completed this transformation, others are taking early steps, and most are living through it. State‐led transition has followed two successive development strategies. From the 1920s to the 1980s, state developmentalism, for the most part, successfully assumed the twin challenges of economic and social progress. In the final decades of the century, Latin American states adopted the policies of the Washington consensus, which emphasized the importance of business in the framework of globalization, benefiting the affluent few. However, an unambiguous shift in direction has been taking place in Latin America since the 1997 economic crisis. This article suggests that a new developmental welfare state model is in the making. How will it evolve over the wider space of an increasingly integrated Latin America?