The challenge of inclusive coproduction: The importance of situated rituals and emotional inclusivity in the coproduction of health research projects

Previous studies highlight that coproduced research initiatives are influenced by how individuals interact together and that group inclusivity amongst diverse members is crucial. However, it is not fully understood how inclusivity is sustained over time, particularly through routine encounters. Our study examines how coproduction occurs through routine and ritualistic patterns of everyday practices, which have the potential to facilitate sustainable and inclusive research initiatives. Using ethnographic data with four applied health research projects, we explored how everyday rituals generate and sustain inclusivity. Informed by interactional ritual change theory, we identify two types of interlinked inclusivity: relational, individuals routinely engaging together; and emotional, the feeling of being included. The process of producing and maintaining both types requires ongoing reflexivity from members. Groups with sustained inclusivity build interpersonal momentum through situated practices that enable them to mitigate external pressures and internal disagreements. Where groups experience a breakdown in inclusivity, they also experience a loss of momentum that makes them vulnerable to disintegration and collapse. Building and sustaining inclusivity are worked out through everyday interactions and operate as a feedback loop that sustains the cohesiveness of the network and supports coproduction of knowledge.     

The Post-Funeral Ritual in Bereavement Counseling and Grief Work

While a great deal has been written about phenomena associated with assisting persons in coping with losses, and, more specifically, the meaning of funeral practices in grief work, little discussion has taken place regarding the importance of "ritual leave-taking" during the post-funeral period. In order to ascertain the potential of a significant relationship between active ritual leave-taking and grief adjustment, 50 widowed persons were interviewed regarding the rituals they practiced before, during and after the death of their spouse. The data collected reflect the number and type of rituals practiced and the potential for discovering a significant relationship between the practice of post-funeral rituals and grief adjustment. While preliminary in nature, the outcomes of the study illustrate a link between positive grief work and post-funeral rituals. Suggestions for those who regularly assist the bereaved in grief work are advised to give greater attention to the potential of focusing their bereavement counseling on post-funeral "ritual leave-taking."     

内地灾害救助的发展及与港、澳的比较思考

内地的灾害救助从灾害管理到灾害的统计、核定、评估,应急预案和响应,从生活救助到恢复重建,从资金物资储备到捐赠,已经形成了较具规模的主体框架,并在救灾实践中得到不断的完善和发展,当然也存在着一些局限。香港、澳门的灾害救助有着各自的特色,香港基金式管理方式和澳门部门联动与灾民中心,为内地灾害救助体系的发展提供了很多思考。     

社会表演理论：在仪式和策略之间建立文化语用学模型（下）

一直以来，对文化的社会研究不是被极端化为结构主义理论就是被极端化为实用主义理论，前者视意义为文本并注重探索提供相对自主性的模式，后者则将意义处理为由个人或集体行动之权变性的创发--即所谓的实践本身，并将文化模式作为权力和物质利益之反应加以分析。在本文中，我将阐述一个超越这种极化视野的文化语用学理论，以新的方式将意义结构、权变性、权力和物质性融为一体。我的论点是，实践的物质性可以由维度更多的表演概念所取代。通过对表演研究这一新领域的成果的吸收，文化语用学说明社会表演，无论个人还是集体的，是如何可能被系统地类推为剧场表演的。在定义了社会表演的要素之后，我认为，随着社会变得更加复杂，这些要素已经趋于“分解”（de fused）。只有在能够将这些日渐离析的要素“再融合”的情况下，表演才会成功。在融合化的表演中，观众认同演员，且文化剧本通过有效的舞台布景达到逼真的程度。而当诸要素重新连接的过程并不完美时,表演就会失败：表演要素仍处于分离状态，社会行动看上去不但不够本真（authentic），而且显得造作和难以令人信服。与此相对，再融合能使演员成功地传达其行动的意义并有效地实现他们的利益。     

社会表演理论——在仪式和策略之间建立文化语用学模型（上）

一直以来，对文化的社会研究不是被极端化为结构主义理论就是被极端化为实用主义理论，前者视意义为文本并注重探索提供相对自主性的模式，后者则将意义处理为由个人或集体行动之权变性的创发--即所谓的实践本身，并将文化模式作为权力和物质利益之反应加以分析。在本文中，我将阐述一个超越这种极化视野的文化语用学理论，以新的方式将意义结构、权变性、权力和实质性融为一体。我的论点是，实践的实质性可以由维度更多的表演概念所取代。通过对表演研究这一新领域的成果的吸收，文化语用学说明社会表演，无论个人还是集体的，是如何可能被系统地类推为剧场表演的。在定义了社会表演的要素之后，我认为，随着社会变得更加复杂，这些要素已经趋于“分解”（de fused）。只有在能够将这些日渐离析的要素“再融合”的情况下，表演才会成功。在融合化的表演中，观众认同演员，且文化剧本通过有效的舞台布景达到逼真的程度。而当诸要素重新连接的过程并不完美时,表演就会失败：表演要素仍处于分离状态，社会行动看上去不但不够本真（authentic），而且显得造作和难以令人信服。与此相对，再融合能使演员成功地传达其行动的意义并有效地实现他们的利益。     

Widowhood practices in West Africa: the silent victims

This article discusses the plight and suffering of widows in terms of their social, economic, psychological and human rights violations in three West African societies. The article describes the situation of the widows as silent victims who suffer cruel and dehumanising cultural and ritual practices as a mourning process for their dead spouses. The article also examines the gender inequalities suffered by the widows and makes some recommendations as to how these practices could be minimised or eliminated from those societies.     

Human rights and the allocation of foreign aid: A cross-national analysis of the last years of the Cold War, 1980–1989

Studies of conflict behavior show that states act differently based on changes in the global system. However, studies of other types of foreign policy behavior, such as aid allocation, have neglected to focus on similar system effects. This study is among the first to look at the impact of the cold war system on the relationship between recipient human rights practices and foreign aid disbursements for eight major aid donors, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Through an analysis of aid allocations to a sample of 72 recipients from 1980 to 1989 (the only Cold War years for which reliable and valid human rights data are available) this paper reveals striking and unique findings. Contrary to previous studies, it appears that recipient human rights are a significant factor in whether or not a recipient gets any aid, the so-called gatekeeping stage, but are not a significant factor in how much aid a country receives in the level stage. This paper makes three major contributions to the field. It is the first direct test of the effect of the Cold War system on the relationship between recipient country human rights and aid. It also extends this analysis to donors other than the United States. Finally, the results serve as a baseline for assessing the relationship between human rights and aid during the post-Cold War period (1990–2001) and the so-called “age of terror” (2002 onwards).     

The welfare state as an institutional process

The main objective of this paper is to argue that the origins and formation of the welfare state should be reconsidered as an institutional process embedded in dialectical relations between given historical contingencies and institutional adaptations in response to welfare demands. Such relational processes can be categorized by the three isomorphic convergences of institutional adaptations to the welfare demands: national emergencies, economic challenges and political transitions. Existing accounts for the emergence of the welfare state – universalism, selectivity, and Marxism – are bracketed under a single heading of social control theory for two reasons: first, those three explanations commonly err in believing that an ideological intent is given as predetermined before actual analyses of social policy-making, thereby neglecting the process of institutional reforms; and second, the underlying implication of all three accounts ends in a common target of social policy – how to control welfare demands, and safeguard social stability. By comparing institutional adaptations with social control theory, the paper aims to explain and emphasize the methodological utilities and practical applicability of the institutional process approach in the studies of welfare development.     

Wittgenstein,Durkheim, Garfinkel and Winch: Constitutive Orders of Sensemaking

This paper proposes an approach to the question of meaning and understanding based on the idea of constitutive rules and their relationship to the social objects they are used to create. This approach implicates mutual attention as an essential aspect of the social processes constitutive of social objects and mutual intelligibility. Social objects as such include the meaning, perception and coherence of things, identities and talk, etc. There is a relatively unexplored but important line of argument in sociology that has, from the beginning, explained the coherence and mutual intelligibility of social objects and associations in terms of constitutive practices and social facts. This line of argument begins with Emile Durkheim (1893) and carries through the work of Harold Garfinkel to current studies of work and interaction, human computer interaction and talk. The argument is that we use constitutive practices (Constitutive rules or constitutive background expectancies) to create social objects and make coherent and shared meanings. To act is in this sense for Garfinkel ([1948]2006) to “mean”. Explaining the consistency of social objects and orders in terms of constitutive orders, rules, or practices is an approach that meets the challenges posed to social science and philosophy by Ludwig Wittgenstein (1953 ), Peter Winch (1958 ) and Paul Grice (1989 ).     

天人感应的灾异谴告说与谏议——以顺治朝为例

董仲舒在论证君权神授,以确保帝王权力至高无上的同时,为避免皇权的过分膨胀阻碍国家机器的正常运转,还提出了限制王权的灾异谴告说。天人感应理论把上天发生灾异现象与人君有过失行为联系起来,通过灾异示警,迫使统治者省察自身、广开言路;而臣子也会借此对皇帝的某些不当行为,以及当时亟待解决却一直悬而未决的一些具体问题提出谏言。通过顺治朝灾异发生时君臣的举动,就可以看出帝王因灾异下诏求言和臣工因灾异进言已成为谏议制度的内容之一。     

Fiscal stringency and fiscal sustainability: Panel evidence from the American state and local governments

Most state (and local) governments in the U.S. operate under formal fiscal rules which limit their ability to run budget deficits and resort to debt financing. A priori, one would expect to find evidence in favor of an intertemporally balanced budget, or fiscal sustainability, for these states, especially those characterized by a relatively high degree of fiscal stringency. We test this hypothesis for a panel of 47 state–local government units (1961–2006) using four budget balance definitions and several subsamples defined based on regional classifications, or presence of certain balanced budget requirements (BBRs). Our results, obtained from panel estimation techniques that allow for general forms of serial and cross-sectional dependence, suggest that a sufficient condition for “strong” sustainability is consistently satisfied for the full sample and all subsamples in relation to balances that include special funds and/or federal grants. However, we find evidence consistent with the “weak” version of sustainability for the full sample and some regional subsamples (particularly Far West dominated by California) in at least one of the two balances that exclude these items. Finally, the BBRs seem to matter only in relation to the sustainability of the more narrowly defined balances. We discuss the implications of these findings for the role of fiscal rules and federal grant policies.     

The Influence of Community Upon the Development of Self: An Exploratory Study

Abstract

Ritual, a universal human mode of action that serves multiple functions in every culture, is also a powerful source of psychological healing. In recent years therapists have drawn upon the power and creativity of ritual and the rite of passage to help people bring order and definition into their lives and to master various life transitions. This paper describes how adult incest survivors, in published autobiographical accounts, have incorporated the use of ritual into their self‐healing processes. Implications for clinical work are drawn.     

Food subsidy,income transfer and the poor: A comparative analysis of the public distribution system in India's states

The Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) – the largest food subsidy program in India – has been a dismal failure in targeting the poor. The present paper examines its performance in three Indian states – Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan, based on primary data collected for this study. As real income transfers through food price subsidies are a tiny fraction of expenditure per person under this scheme, a contribution of the present study is to model determinants of real income transfers through subsidised wheat, rice and sugar. The analysis throws new light on how income transfers vary with economic status of a household, inequality in the distribution of land in a village, amount of food price subsidy, transaction costs of buying from ‘fair price shops’ (FPS), and supply shortages. The policy implications of these results are profound. Desperate measures such as a universal food subsidy enshrined in a proposed National Food Security Act are rejected on the grounds that the enormous leakages and wastage under the present TPDS would only get worse. Assertions that a universal food subsidy is the only option consistent with the right to food are rejected as mistaken. Instead, it is worthwhile to overhaul the PDS within the existing outlay.     

Female circumcision from Africa to the Americas: Slavery to the present

This paper traces the introduction of female circumcision into the Americas from Africa, from the time of the Atlantic slave trade to the present. It provides a review of the literature on the subjects of slavery, slave fertility and sexuality, slave medicine, as well as a review of current laws passed in the United States related to female circumcision. Interview material with a recent African immigrant to the United States who brings her ritual practice with her, documents an example of present-day circumcision practices in the United States. Various factors leading to the continuation or discontinuation of traditional African practices will be discussed. The desire for cultural and ethnic continuation of this practice exists among some individuals and groups amidst the controversy within the United States concerning “genital mutilation” and “genital cutting.” Medical, legal, sexological, historical, anthropological, and traditional African tribal consultation was provided for this research, adding a cross-disciplinary perspective to this topic of current interest. Graphs, maps, and anatomical illustrations provide pictorial support.     

Darwin Cyclone: An Exploration of Disaster Behaviour

Events associated with the Cyclone Tracy strike at Darwin on 25 December 1974 are described. With the loss of 49 lives, a further 16 persons missing and presumed dead, and hundreds injured, this became Australia's greatest national disaster to date. A total breakdown in facilities occurred. The responses of people before, during and after the cyclone are examined. Problems associated with social breakdown, spontaneous community efforts to deal with this and individual emotional problems are highlighted. A distinction between the trauma of the cyclone and that of the evacuation is made. The apparent inability of Australians to concede that disasters have emotional as well as social and physical consequences is looked at.     

“深耕者”与“鼓动家”:论共产党早期乡村革命中的“农运派”

“查阶级”是中国共产党革命中重要的组织动员技术,它同时蕴含着强调经济标准的“算阶级”和强调情绪鼓动与暴力斗争的“闹革命”两种面相。既往的学术研究将“闹革命”理解为革命实践中的过火与偏差而未追溯其渊源。本文尝试对“闹革命”这一传统进行发生学意义上的再考察。研究发现,“闹革命”主要来自“大革命”时期国民党中央农民部设立的农民运动讲习所,以彭湃为代表的农运干部构成了其具体“担纲者”。本文综合运用多种史料,通过对农讲所以及农运派干部具体实践的考察,呈现其作为革命的“深耕者”与群众的“鼓动家”的精神气质,进而在具体的历史处境中理解“闹革命”这一具体的组织动员形态,更为深入地理解早期乡村革命的复杂历史面貌。     

基于权变理论的海洋灾害应急管理研究

海洋经济的蓬勃发展历来与海洋灾害的频繁发生紧密联系在一起,随着国家海洋强国战略的提出,对海洋灾害应急管理的研究也日显必要。本文以管理学中的权变理论为理论基础,分析了海洋灾害应急管理中的各种要素,构建了海洋灾害应急管理的权变模型,进而辩晰了权变理论视角下海洋灾害应急管理中需要注意的问题。     

Frame evolution: A new approach to understanding changes in diversity reforms at public universities in the United States

University diversity policy in the past two decades has shifted from rationales that focused on social justice to ones that emphasize educational excellence [Lipson, D. (2007, Fall). Embracing diversity: The institutionalization of affirmative action as diversity management at UC-Berkeley, UT-Austin, and UW-Madison. Law & Social Inquiry, 32(4), 985–1026; Moreno, J. F., Smith, D. G., Parker, S., Clayton-Pedersen, A. R., & Teraguchi, D. H. (2006). Using multiple lenses: An examination of the economic and racial/ethnic diversity of college students. Report from the James Irvine Foundation Campus Diversity Initiative; Moses, M. S., & Chang, M. J. (2006). Toward a deeper understanding of the diversity rationale. Educational Researcher, 35(1), 6–11; Skrenty, J. D. (2002). The minority rights revolution. Princeton University Press]. The consensus among diversity scholars is that this shift has taken place as a result of Federal court decisions restricting the use of affirmative action in admissions. This paper sheds new light on these shifts in rationale by proposing a new theory of frame evolution. I developed this, an extension to Snow et al.’s [Snow, D. A., et al. (1986). Frame alignment processes, micromobilization, and movement participation. American Sociological Review, 51(4), 464–481] theory of frame alignment, as a way to show how policy discourses evolve to accommodate changing demands. I argue that policy frames tend to evolve in a sequential pattern of accommodation, consolidation, and bridging. In-depth interview data with 41 diversity advocates at four public universities in the United States reveal three stages in the frame evolution process: the first motivated by a need to accommodate existing institutional norms, the second motivated by a need to build a core constituency of supporters, and the third with the aim of converting those “on the fence” into policy supporters. In the case of higher education diversity policy, the three stages equate to a maintenance frame, a social justice frame, and an excellence frame.     

The IPO phenomenon in the 1990s

Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) were the most prevalent form of securities issued to raise capital by firms wanting to go public during the last decade (1990–2000) in the United States. The IPO phenomenon got a tremendous boost during the late 1990s by the popularity of the Internet stocks. In the so-called ‘bubble period’ of 1998–1999, hardly a week went by when one or two IPOs, particularly of the Internet variety, did not appear in the capital market. In this paper we have analyzed the IPO phenomenon during 1990–1995 and during 1996–1999. We have also focused on Internet bubble during 1998–1999, and the IPO meltdown after March 2002. We have found that not all IPOs performed well in 1999, the majority of the 25 IPOs that had the highest first-day gains over 200% in 1999 had also a poor performance record during 2001–2002. As the IPOs issued now are few in number, we may not see the kind of ‘irrational exuberance’ as we witnessed in the late 1990s, for the foreseeable future in the United States.     

孔子天命观与儒士的个体解脱之道

孔子几乎继承了殷周时期对“天”理解的全部意义，但他对于天的理解并非含混或者矛盾的。孔子生活于上层贵族无力维护礼乐文明的社会环境中，卿大夫势力集团的衰退和士人阶层的兴起同步展开。孔子对天命的改造不是就“天”和“命”的内容展开，而是就其对儒士阶层体仁实践相关联的意义而进行。孔子对天命观的改造集中在两方面：一方面将天命进一步下落，落实到个体知识分子身上；另一方面强调知识分子本身对天命的自觉体认和担当。对儒家知识分子而言，孔子的天命观赋予他们以自我觉醒的类似于宗教情感的神圣意味，同时认识自我完成的有待性，从而在世事困窘中获得超脱的生命态度。这两点成为后来儒士个体自觉与个体解脱的基本依托。