Possibilities and Limitations for the Measurement of the Quality of Life in Urban Areas

Recently, quality of life has become a commonly used concept and is showing growing significance in economic and political terms. Additionally, quality of life issues have been recognized within the migration processes. In one view, quality of life relates to the degree to which the necessary conditions for satisfaction exists in a given society or region.It is argued that quality, as a measurable variable would refer to both the subject and the object of inquiry. In this sense, quality of life has two aspects, psychological and environmental ones. Nevertheless, this limitation constitutes a major problem since some researchers have totally neglected the perception of the people who live there, while another limitation is about the components, indices and indicators chosen in a certain analysis.In this paper, the aim is to test some measurement methods of the quality of life and to show the possibilities and limitations of a developing area in comparison to developed ones. In this way, some comparative analysis can be performed on the measurement methods of the quality of life levels with respect to regional variations.     

Occupational Social Class and Earnings Inequality in Europe: A Comparative Assessment

Social Indicators Research - While there is renewed interest in earnings differentials between social classes, the contribution of social class to overall earnings inequality across countries and...     

Siblings and the Coming-Out Process: A Comparative Case Study

Siblings play a key, supportive role in the lives of many lesbian and gay adults. Yet siblings are rarely considered in the literature regarding the coming-out process (D’Augelli et al., 1998; Hilton & Szymanski, 2011; LaSala, 2010; Savin-Williams & Dubé, 1998). To fill this gap in the research literature, we carried out a comparative case study in the country of Belgium between two sets of siblings—three Romani brothers with one sibling identifying as a gay male and three White sisters with one sibling identifying as a lesbian. These two cases were pulled from a larger qualitative study (Haxhe & D’Amore, 2014) of 102 native French-speaking Belgian participants. Findings of the present study revealed that siblings offered critical socio-emotional support in the coming out of their lesbian and gay sibling, particularly with disclosing to parents and with fostering self-acceptance.     

人际关系网络对农村劳动力转移的影响——基于工作搜寻模型的案例研究

杰克林·威波(JacklineWahba)和伊维斯·泽诺(YvesZenou)(以下简称为威波—泽诺)指出,求职者获得工作的成功率取决于他们所拥有的人际关系网络的规模和质量。本文利用威波—泽诺模型及河北省邯郸市11个县的基本数据,对人际关系网络与劳动力跨省输出的关系进行了回归分析,并在此基础上指出了这一模型的局限性。     

Young Adulthood as a Factor in Social Change in the United States

This essay compares family change during two periods of social and historical upheaval in the United States: the industrial revolution of the late nineteenth century and the more recent family changes of the late twentieth century. Despite the manifest social and demographic changes brought about by the industrial revolution, some aspects of family life remained unchanged. Almost all new families formed in the United States before and during the industrial revolution were same‐race heterosexual marriages. In the past half‐century, however, family diversity has become the new rule; interracial marriages and extramarital cohabitation have both risen sharply. A key to understanding the lack of family diversity in the past and the recent rise in diversity is the changing nature of young adulthood.     

苏南苏北农村生育文化的比较研究

研究和探讨苏南苏北农村生育文化的差异及其存在的社会经济背景,揭示苏南苏北农村生育文化在地区人口控制中的地位和作用,提出从苏南和苏北的实际出发,大力建设社会主义新型生育文化,推动江苏的人口控制工作不断再上新的台阶的新思路。     

我国南北中三城市农民工社会保障比较分析

近年来,由于我国政府的重视,我国农民工的社会保障取得了长足的发展。但各地区农民工的社会保障程度还存在很大的差异。分别从我国南、北、中部地区选择三个有代表性的城市——深圳、苏州、长春,根据问卷调查数据对其农民工社会保障状况进行比较分析。无论是农民工的社会保障程度,还是各地农民工关切的具体问题,都存在明显的地域差异。从政府的角度制订农民工政策不能全国"一刀切",应该区别对待并分类指导。政府应有重点、分层次地建立农民工社会保障制度,北方省份应该充分借鉴南方省份关于农民工的法律保障、养老和子女入学等方面的经验和对策。     

长三角新一线城市社会空间结构研究——以苏州市为例

长三角地区是中国最发达的地区之一,在全球化和市场化影响下城市空间结构发生巨变.以长三角新一线城市苏州为例,利用第六次人口普查数据,采用因子分析和聚类方法,对城市社会区类型进行划分.研究结果显示,影响苏州市社会区主因子有外来人口因子、知识分子因子、退休人员因子、城市住宅因子、农业人口因子、城市老城区贫困因子等六个因子.苏州城市社会区分成工薪阶层集中分布区、城郊农业人口聚集区、退休人口聚居的老城区、贫困人口聚集的城市中心区、外来人口集中分布区和高社会经济地位人口聚居区等六大社会区,社会空间整体上呈现"圈层+扇形"结构模式.     

欧盟社会标准化工程在社会保障制度改革中的意义

文章认为社会标准化可能涉及到社会保障研究的三大领域:(1)社会需求的合理确定;(2)社会行为主体的价值取向和利益平衡;(3)社会保障机制的正确选择。社会标准化挑战社会保障行为主体的行为方式,引起功能转换,从而在社会保障制度之间产生接轨现象和趋同现象,同时在传统的民族国家之上又产生了一个新的、不使用传统政策工具的社会行为主体。社会保障主体的角色转换和功能转换是社会保障制度改革的症结,欧洲联盟的社会标准化已经开始触动这个症结,并且给世界带来了值得思考的经验。     

Measuring Change Over Time in Socio-economic Deprivation and Health in an Urban Context: The Case Study of Genoa

Poverty and disability are interrelated, but data that can disentangle to what extent one causes the other and vice versa is not available. However, data from Vietnam allows us to examine this interrelationship in a way not done previously. Using small area estimation techniques, we uncover three findings not yet found in the literature. First, disability prevalence rates vary significantly within a country even at the district level. Second, the poverty gap between people with and without disabilities also varies at the district level. And most importantly, the size of that gap lessens based on district characteristics that can be affected by policy. Districts with better health care and infrastructure, such as road and health services, show less of a link between disability and poverty, supporting the hypothesis that improvements in infrastructure and rehabilitation service can lessen the impact of disability on families with disabled members.     

人口数量与消费水平对资源环境的影响研究

文章用单位人和概念模型研究1957～2005年中国人口数量增长与消费水平提高对资源环境影响的相对状况.结果表明,2005年1个人对资源环境的压力相当于20世纪50年代6～7个人的影响;1980年以前人口数量增长是影响资源环境的主导因素,1980年以来则是消费水平提高;消费水平提高对资源环境压力的贡献率先降后升,且1980年以后稳定在45%左右;人口数量增长对资源环境压力的贡献率先升后降,并一直减至2005年的8.22%.     

试析上海市人口老化过程中劳动适龄人口变动的社会经济影响

伴随上海市人口老龄化的逐步发展 ,会引起劳动适龄人口规模和人口年龄结构的变化。从而对社会经济发展构成直接影响。随着人口老龄化过程的推进 ,劳动适龄人口规模趋于缩小 ,其年龄结构趋于老化 ,由此造成劳动力短缺问题、劳动力负担沉重问题、劳动力老化问题。对政府储蓄总量 ,近期会增加 ,远期则会削弱其增长趋势 ,对个人储蓄 ,近期和远期都将增加     

Monitoring the Impact of Land Reform on Quality of Life: A South African Case Study

This paper outlines the approach that isutilized by the Monitoring and Evaluationdirectorate of the Department of Land Affairs (DLA) in South Africa in assessing the qualityof life for the land Reform beneficiaries. Thepaper begins with an overview of the three LandReform programs in South Africa. The paper thenmoves on to outline the original design formonitoring and evaluating the quality of lifefor land reform beneficiaries. It then proceedsto detail the current Monitoring and Evaluationdesign being utilized, highlighting itsstrengths and weaknesses. The last sectiondiscusses some of the findings of the qualityof life study undertaken in 1999.     

Social Services for Children At Risk: The Impact on the Quality of Life

Social Indicators Research -     

影响流动女性自身发展能力因素的个案研究

影响流动女性自身发展的因素是一个十分复杂并需要加以深入探讨的问题。本文首先提出了分析影响因素的整体框架和思路，在此基础上，利用对福州市浦上工业区某服装厂的流动女性人口调查的数据对此分析框架进行了验证。结果表明，流动经历、个人特征及社会文化和体制是影响她仉自身发展的重要因素，其中流动经历、受教育程度有利于农村流动女性的自身发展，而流动女性的年龄、传统的社会文化观念及户口制度，则会对流动女性自身发展产生一定的束缚作用。在此基础上就如何促进女性自身发展水平的提高提出了建议。     

Quality of Life as a Social Representation in China: A Qualitative Study

This study explores the meaning of quality of life (QOL) in China from the perspective of social representations. The data were collected by open-ended individual interviews with 16 ordinary Chinese people. The study shows that social thinking about QOL in Chinese society is activated in five critical domains of life: health, family, work, social relations and the natural environment. Meanwhile, “having” and “being”, the two antinomic, yet dialogical interdependent, interpretive repertoires, have an overarching generative and normative power over the discourse about QOL. They permeate and underpin the different domains of life. Dominated by an “economic logic”, the “having” repertoire constructs these life domains through a set of economic consequences and posits them as resources leading to material possessions. While dominated by an “existential logic”, the “being” repertoire confesses existential meanings to the same life domains, and emphasises the joy derived from them. Thereby, it infers that QOL as a social representation is generated from, and organised around, a central thema of “having” and “being”.     

Ethnic Diversity,Social Exclusion and Economic Determinants of Crimes: A Case Study of Pakistan

The eventual objective of social disciplines is to ensure the existence of peaceful and prosperous societies through the provision and protection of property rights for all segments of society. The deprived and socially excluded persons attempt to violate the formal rules and informal norms of the society. Developing countries have been facing rapidly increased number of violators of rules and norms, causing to higher crime rate which confronts multifarious ethnic problems, religion, multi-lingual problems. The case of Pakistan dose not varies when our study consider socioeconomic causes of crimes i.e. ethnic diversity and social exclusion. Present study is a contribution in this blistering issue, particularly in case of Pakistan. Therefore, our study explores the socioeconomic determinants of crime rate in Pakistan, by using bound testing and auto regressive distributive lag technique for the data period of 1970–2015. The estimated results reveal that ethnic diversity, social exclusion and deterrence have positive and significant impact on property, violence crime rates, and on overall crimes in Pakistan. While per capita income and population density, both have negative and significant impact on property and violence crimes.     

农村劳动力流动及其对收入的影响——来自内蒙古赤峰市农村地区的证据

大量闲置的剩余劳动力从农村中流动出来 ,显著地提高了农村居民的收入。其影响机制是 :　　虽然外出劳动力户的家庭总收入低于非外出劳动力户 ,然而 ,外出劳动力对家庭收入的贡献 ,却要大于非外出劳动力。在影响劳动力外出决定的因素中 ,交通条件的影响并不大 ,而那些信息基础设施条件比较好的地区和教育程度高的劳动力 ,更容易外出打工