Group Decision by Consensus: Reaching Unity in the Society of Friends1

For over 300 years the members of the Society of Friends (Quakers) have been making group decisions without voting. Their method is to find a ”sense of the meeting’which represents a consensus of those involved. Ideally this consensus is not simply “unanimity,” or an opinion on which all members happen to agree, but a “unity”: a higher truth which grows from the consideration of divergent opinions and unites them all. Friends can “unite” in support of action which shows due consideration to the individuality of each member and to their corporate concerns. As an illustration of this method, we will analyze in some detail the group process of a Quaker committee as it worked with a difficult social problem over a period of one year. Before beginning the analysis, we will summarize some of the main points in the process of reaching the “sense of the meeting” as it has been described by Friends and others. Also we will review the functional theory of social interaction which will provide the basis for theoretical analysis.     

Unauthorized Status and Youth Development in the United States: Consensus Statement of the Society for Research on Adolescence

In the United States, 5.3 million children and adolescents are growing up either with unauthorized status or with at least one parent who has that status. Until recently, little in the way of research has informed federal, state, and local policy debates related to unauthorized status (e.g., border enforcement, deportation, and a pathway to citizenship) although these issues have important implications for youth development. This statement is a brief summary of the research evidence on multiple domains of development that may be affected by the child or parent's unauthorized status. We also describe the contextual and psychological mechanisms that may link this status to developmental outcomes. We summarize a range of policies and practices that could reduce the developmental harm to children, youth, and their families stemming from this status. Finally, we conclude with recommendations for policy, practice, and research that are based on the evidence reviewed.     

凝聚共识与携手行动:美国智库“公共议题”社区参与及其行动研究

智库是一种专门为公共政策和公共决策服务,开展公共政策和公共决策研究和咨询的社会组织,是国家软实力的重要组成部分,是影响政府决策和推动社会发展的重要力量。本研究从组织理念、研究方法、社区实践等方面全面介绍了美国公民社会研究智库——公共议题(Public Agenda)及其在推动美国社区参与实践和公共精神培育中的作用。     

年轻"混混"与乡村社会灰色化——以湘北红镇"混混"为实证分析对象

自20世纪80年代以后，乡村“混混”这一曾经销声或隐匿存在的特殊群体在乡土生活中重新活跃。本文通过对湘北红镇的乡村“混混”群体的实证调查发现，与城市“混混”的边缘地位相反，乡村“混混”在乡土社会秩序、社会结构和生活结构中占主导地位．是乡村生活举足轻重的角色，呈现出年轻化、暴力化的特征，并且与国家治理转型后强制性权力与常规性权力同步弱化的治理特征结合，直接对乡村社会的灰色化变迁产生影响。     

解析"街角灰色社会"--以湖南长沙某区"街角DY帮派"为分析对象

"街角青年"是典型的城市边缘青年群落,由这个"灰色群体"所组成的亚文化社会已经成为对抗主流社会的"灰色社会".本文通过对长沙市某区一街角帮派的实证调查,解构街角帮派的结构权威,解读街角青年的身份忠诚,解析街角社会的隐性社会基础.     

Structural Reforms and Fiscal Discipline in Europe

In this paper we provide an overview on recent contributions on the effectiveness of the institutional framework operating in Europe to fulfil the objectives declared in the Lisbon Agenda under the fiscal constraints established in the Stability and Growth Pact. After a review of the Stability and Growth Pact as well as the Lisbon Strategy and the Sapir Report, we discuss the relations between fiscal policy and structural reform. Finally, we focus on 2D points in the EU debate on institutional reforms: government short-sightedness and the coordination of national fiscal policies at the European level.      

Negotiating Role Definitions and the Working Consensus in Self-Work*

Definitions of social roles and the maintenance of a working consensus are two kinds of background expectations which are important for actors’accomplishment of self-work. Interactionists have traditionally assumed that these background expectations are unambiguously available to social actors as they negotiate situated meanings of selves and situations. Using data from dyadic role-play conversations, this study examines instances where interactants reference these expectations as ambiguous or problematic. The findings show that the situated meanings of role definitions and the working consensus are continually subject to potential negotiation. The implications of these findings for future research and theory on self-work in social interaction are discussed.     

Consensus,cohesion and connectivity

Social life clusters into groups held together by ties that also transmit information. When collective problems occur, group members use their ties to discuss what to do and to establish an agreement, to be reached quick enough to prevent discounting the value of the group decision. The speed at which a group reaches consensus can be predicted by the algebraic connectivity of the network, which also imposes a lower bound on the group's cohesion. This specific measure of connectivity is put to the test by re-using experimental data, which confirm the prediction.     

阿拉伯国家政治制度变革的动因与挑战

阿拉伯国家政制变革的根本原因包括阿拉伯国家的开明领导、国民和妇女的变革要求等。为适应阿拉伯国家政治现代化进程的需要，阿拉伯国家的开明领导早在20世纪90年代初便开始致力于政制变革，如适度扩大公民政治参与、扩大公民自由、提高妇女地位等。但由于历史、宗教、文化等原因，阿拉伯国家的政制变革进展缓慢，在新的历史时期，阿拉伯国家的政制变革进程仍然面临严峻挑战。     

Tax and Structural Reforms in the Transition from Command to Market Economy

The purpose of this paper is to verify the validity of a pessimistic view (Blanchard in The economics of transition in Eastern Europe, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1997) on the role played by public finance in meeting and distributing the costs of transition from command to market economy. In conclusion, we may say that, even though referring to the specific case of Albania, the model of the structural reform index allows us to discuss alternative views on the nature and causes of the impact of the fiscal phenomena on the transition process. The findings were confirmed, using the Bagnai method, by the real evolution of the Albanian economy, and by the valuations of the World Bank and the IMF, both recognizing the importance of the fiscal factor.     

阿拉伯国家政治制度变革的动因与挑战

阿拉伯国家政制变革的根本原因包括阿拉伯国家的开明领导、国民和妇女的变革要求等.为适应阿拉伯国家政治现代化进程的需要,阿拉伯国家的开明领导早在20世纪90年代初便开始致力于政制变革,如适度扩大公民政治参与、扩大公民自由、提高妇女地位等.但由于历史、宗教、文化等原因,阿拉伯国家的政制变革进展缓慢,在新的历史时期,阿拉伯国家的政制变革进程仍然面临严峻挑战.     

市场化改革与社会网络资本的收入效应

社会网络资本是影响收入分配的重要机制。本文将社会网络资本区分为潜在的和动员的两种形式,发现:随着两类社会网络资本的递增,人们的收入回报增加,但回报率递减;随着市场化程度的提高,潜在性社会网络资本的收入回报率递减,但动员性社会网络资本的收入回报率递增,而递增速度随之衰减。本文从资源多元配置方式的相互作用的视角,探讨了社会网络资本收入效应的变化逻辑。     

Reforms of Tax Systems in Transition Countries

In the 15 years since the beginning of their transformation reforms, nearly all 27 post-socialist countries have adopted the three main taxes typical for a market economy, namely, personal income tax, corporate income tax, and value-added tax. However, there is great diversity in the detailed solutions, rates, deductions, allowances, and tax bases applied to taxes in these countries. Nevertheless, the basic prerequisite for the further enhancement of these systems has been met. In recent years, it has been possible to observe a clear tendency to broaden tax bases and reduce the top income tax rates. In spite of this, serious problems persist, as regards further improvement of the functioning of the system, increasing its transparency and homogeneity, and limiting implementation problems. For some countries, this is a very serious problem, particularly in connection with the so-called quasi-tax activity in the area of energy resources and the size of the informal economy. The paper also provides a short comparative analysis of the size of public revenues in a historical context – from the beginning of the transformation process to the beginning of the current millennium.