Rural Azerbaijan through Quantitative and Qualitative Research Lenses: Debating the Transition to Small Farm Capitalism

This article examines agrarian relations in post‐Soviet Azerbaijan after redistributive land reforms. We argue that the reforms failed to establish small‐farm capitalism on former collective and state farm land. Commodity production in rural Azerbaijan is characterized by increasing concentration of land and capital, and the recipients of the privatized land shares procure livelihoods not through commercial farming, but through a combination of strategies—including wages, remittances from migrant relatives, and subsistence agriculture. This study is based on the combination of state statistics, government reports, and local ethnography—in‐depth interviews with land reform administrators and with rural residents in six diverse villages from two distinct regions of Azerbaijan. Previous studies of post‐Soviet transition in rural Azerbaijan reported different results of the land reforms. A quantitative account based on the state statistics reported a postreform countryside where small farmers, former collective and state laborers, live off their privatized land shares and increase agricultural productivity. A qualitative account based on local ethnography suggested that the privatized land shares play a marginal role in the livelihoods of local residents. We show how the discrepancy is illusory and stems from an erroneous, legal definition of “small farms” used in the state statistics, which conflates socially distinct categories of land use. When the statistical terms are put into their social context, the quantitative data confirm the qualitative findings.     

The Drift Toward Problem Behavior During the Transition to Adolescence: The Contributions of Youth Disclosure,Parenting, and Older Siblings

Prospective associations of mothers’ parenting processes, youth disclosure, and youth problem behavior were examined in a longitudinal design following 244 adolescent sibling dyads over a 3‐year period. For both siblings, authoritative parenting was positively associated with youth disclosure and was negatively related to problem behavior, and coercive parenting was negatively associated with youth disclosure and was positively related to problem behavior. When the influence of older sibling problem behavior on younger sibling problem behavior was modeled, younger sibling disclosure accounted for the relationship of maternal parenting processes to problem behavior. Findings indicate the important role of sibling influence in the development of problem behavior, contextualizing the relative roles of maternal parenting and youth disclosure in the transmission of risk.     

Understanding the Roles and Contributions of Neighborhood Organizations in Civic Governance

VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations - An area of ongoing debate is whether neighborhood organizations contribute to civic governance by enabling citizen...     

中国城市转型研究的新动态——兼评《转型与重构:中国城市发展多维透视》

20世纪后期以来,许多发达国家与发展中国家都在经历巨大的政治、经济转型,其中中国从计划体制向市场体制的成功转型引起国内外众多学者的广泛关注,“中国城市研究网络（UCRN）”针对中国城市转型开展了较为系统的理论与实证研究,在国内外产生较大的影响。本文着重基于UCRN核心成员的转型研究,并综合参考其他学者的相关研究,对中国城市转型研究的新动态进行初步的透视与解读,并对UCIKN的集成之作《转型与重构：中国城市发展多维透视》进行简要评介。     

Work,Performance, and the Social Ethic of Global Capitalism: Understanding Religious Practice in Contemporary India

This ethnographic essay focuses on the relationship between religious performances and the “strong discourse” of contemporary global capitalism. It explores the subjective meaning and social significance of religious practice in the context of a rapidly expanding mass religious phenomenon in India. The narrative draws on Weber's insights on the intersections between religion and economy, phenomenological theory, performance studies, and Indian philosophy and popular culture. It shows that religion here is primarily a means of performing to and preparing for an informal economy. It gives the chance to live meaningful social lives while challenging the inequities and symbolic violence of an imposing global capitalist social ethic. Unlike exclusive formal institutions that are increasingly governed by neoliberal rationalities, the religious event provides an open and freely accessible yet challenging stage for participants to practice and prove their resolve, gifts, and sincerity. In contrast to the focus on social anomie and the reactionary characterization of contemporary religion in identity‐based arguments, this essay demonstrates that religious practice here is simultaneously a way of performing to and performing against a totalizing capitalist social order.     

The Social Economy in Bolivia: Indigeneity,Solidarity, and Alternatives to Capitalism

The social economy (SE) is alternatively conceptualized as a third sector (between the private and public sector); or by a typology of the organizations involved (such as cooperatives, non-profit organizations and social enterprises); or by the principles and values driving such activities (such as cooperation, mutual benefit, and democracy). One important consideration is often overlooked, namely that the SE emerges in different forms and with varied emphases depending on location. The SE is ‘place-based’—rooted in specific geographic, historical, cultural, and socioeconomic settings. This article explores the conceptualization of the SE in the Bolivian context from the perspective of government and civil society actors. The research took place after the country recognized the importance of the social, cooperative and community economy in their new constitution and found that the understanding of the SE in Bolivia relates strongly to the country’s indigenous and colonial heritage.     

中世纪阿拉伯人对哲学和科学的贡献

中世纪的阿拉伯人重视理性，掀起了规模宏大的百年翻译运动，使阿拉伯思想家的理性思维水平有了很大提高。阿拉伯世界的理性主义传统导致了中世纪伊斯兰教世界科学和哲学的繁荣，阿拉伯思想唤醒了沉睡的欧洲思想界，导致了欧洲文艺复兴的到来。伊斯兰教由尊重理性而尊重科学，对世界科学的繁荣和发展做出了自己的贡献。     

中世纪阿拉伯人对哲学和科学的贡献

中世纪的阿拉伯人重视理性，掀起了规模宏大的百年翻译运动，使阿拉伯思想家的理性思维水平有了很大提高。阿拉伯世界的理性主义传统导致了中世纪伊斯兰教世界科学和哲学的繁荣，阿拉伯思想唤醒了沉睡的欧洲思想界，导致了欧洲文艺复兴的到来。伊斯兰教由尊重理性而尊重科学，对世界科学的繁荣和发展做出了自己的贡献。     

The Introduction of Capitalism in Russian Agriculture: Popular Response to Neo-Liberal Reforms1

Abstract This work analyzes the reactions of rural residents to the introduction of market-oriented economic reforms in the Russian agricultural sector. Employing primary data collected in a 1995 survey of three villages in the Russian Republic, we argue that strong resistance to the introduction of Neo-liberal market-oriented reforms exists, often based on the respondents' awareness of the importance of social interdependence. Rural residents feel harmed by government reforms, reject further reforms in agriculture, and would prefer a return to pre-1991 conditions. Although most have experienced a decline in village solidarity, they also believe that some forms of collective life will persist in rural communities. Respondents also question the fairness of economic markets given their observation that many have gotten ahead by illegal activities. In general, those with more resources are slightly less negative in their responses. Still, we argue that these results do not necessarily indicate that rural Russians totally reject the move toward a market-based economy. Rather, the results taken together suggest that points of strain and resistance emerge from the rapid introduction of market-oriented reforms, with little protection from unwanted consequences and the uncertainties of capitalism, in a context characterized by a long tradition of collective social relations.     

Structure, Agency, and Context: The Contributions of Geography to World-Systems Analysis

The interaction of geography and world-systems theory has created two groups of work. The first body of work uses world-systems theory as its theoretical framework with minor levels of critique or change. The second body of work attempts to inform world- systems theory by explicitly including a geographical perspective. Human geographers attracted to world-systems theory provide a perspective that highlights the role of agency in what is widely perceived to be a rigid structuralist approach. Key geographical concepts of region and place are viewed as social constructs created within an overarching context of structural imperatives. By conceptualizing places, states, and the macroregions of core, semiperiphery, and periphery as geographical scales, the role of agency in creating and maintaining the important structures and institutions of the capitalist world-economy, such as hegemony, is illustrated. The geographer's interest in the creation of geographical scales results in analysis of the dynamism of the contemporary world-system.     

Structure, Agency, and Context: The Contributions of Geography to World-Systems Analysis

The interaction of geography and world-systems theory has created two groups of work. The first body of work uses world-systems theory as its theoretical framework with minor levels of critique or change. The second body of work attempts to inform world- systems theory by explicitly including a geographical perspective. Human geographers attracted to world-systems theory provide a perspective that highlights the role of agency in what is widely perceived to be a rigid structuralist approach. Key geographical concepts of region and place are viewed as social constructs created within an overarching context of structural imperatives. By conceptualizing places, states, and the macroregions of core, semiperiphery, and periphery as geographical scales, the role of agency in creating and maintaining the important structures and institutions of the capitalist world-economy, such as hegemony, is illustrated. The geographer's interest in the creation of geographical scales results in analysis of the dynamism of the contemporary world-system.     

Financial Resources and Product Market Development: Strategic Choice and Institutional Processes During China's Transition

During an economic transition from socialism, market exchange replaces redistribution. We study firm decisions to enter product markets to understand the factors that influence this process. Managers in Chinese State Owned Enterprises operated within institutional constraints to make strategic decisions, and state intervention shaped which factors were salient. Firms financed through central government and bond issues relied less on markets. Firms funded through local government moved into markets faster; firms funded by banks were initially faster to markets but slower to markets after bank reform shifted lending policies. Thus, the accessibility, flexibility, and stability of financing shaped decisions about market entrance.