马盂山下老哈河——问水辽河源之一

不知多少次经过辽河,几乎每一次我都会停车驻足在它的岸边。史前的句骊河,汉时的大辽河,清代的巨流河,与黄河长江并列的华夏母亲河,苍茫一水,莽汤两岸。辽海大川的浩瀚,令人心神鼓荡,思绪飞扬。尤其是站在清初康熙年间修建在河边的巨流河古城遗址,迎水伫望时,我就会产生一连串的问号:辽河水来自哪里,源头在哪座山上,哪棵树下,哪粒沙中,并由此产     

THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL DIMENSIONS OF THE NEW ECONOMY

The concept of the ‘new economy’, though increasingly used by the media, policy makers and scholars, remains elusive. Two main definitions (the popular and specialised) may be identified; and the dimensions of the ensuing debate clarified in terms of three key questions: Is there is something qualitatively different about recent trends in the economy? What are the main economic consequences said to result from this new economy? What are the main social consequences? Of particular importance for social policy is that most models of the new economy suggest that it has led to an increase in inequality and social exclusion for those not positioned to take advantage of its supposed benefits. With most discussion focussed on a narrow use of the term — to do with communications technology — greater attention should be given to a broader definition which examines its consequences for the disadvantaged.     

THE IMAGINED COMMUNITY OF ACCESS AND EQUITY

Access and Equity programs are framed within the discourse of citizenship and organised around the notion of individual rights. This marks a shift in orientation away from the individual liberation strategies of the 1960s and 1970s, which utilised the notion of ‘community’ as the major site of struggle. Nevertheless, Access and Equity programs must engage with the multiple and contradictory meanings that were infused into the notion of community during these earlier struggles. They must also engage with the ‘communities’ that were politically constituted during this era and utilise the community-based services that are now a fundamental part of the welfare system. It is argued that governments are able to utilise this legacy to resolve the contradictions inherent in Access and Equity programs, in particular the tension between ‘sameness’ and ‘difference’, universal citizenship and substantive equality. As this tension become more acute with government stringency measures, the limitations of reform strategies based on the notion of citizenship become more apparent.     

POWER AND ADDICTION: THE MAKING OF THE MODERN ADDICT

This article provides a genealogical analysis of the ‘discovery’ of the modern phenomenon of addiction. It considers how the emergence of a bio-politics of the population in the industrialising West facilitated the invention of addiction and supported an argument for the regulation of opiate use. As a result of regulation, particular patterns of opiate use became increasingly visible. In response the medical profession, in the late nineteenth century, through the use of power-knowledge strategies transformed opiate use from a diverse set of social valuations to a unified pathology associated with madness, or unreason. This constitution of addiction as a negative category has been developed and appropriated by other discourses to provide the foundation for disciplinary interventions directed towards the regulation of undesirable patterns of consumption.