政治的再国家化与国家的再政治化——新自由主义、经济需要与竞争国家的兴起

切尼和雅索普分别把20世纪70年代以来发达资本主义经济体中的民族-国家的当代发展,描述为竞争国家的兴起和熊彼特式的工作福利国家的凸显.虽然这两种说明使用了部分相同术语,但它们却是根本不同的,需要对它们很好地描述但没有充分解释的国家转型过程进行再政治化思考.     

Attitudes of Botswana Citizens toward Immigrants: Signs of Xenophobia?

This study is borne out of observations over the past decade that citizens of Botswana were increasingly feeling resentful of labour immigrants in the country. A survey questionnaire was administered to a sample of 781 male and female Batswana (citizens of Botswana) in three urban centres in Botswana. The purpose was to obtain opinions of Batswana about immigrants. The paper begins by examining the meaning of xenophobia. The results indicate that Batswana are xenophobic; it appears that this attitude is influenced by a combination of nationalism and economic factors. There is a strong desire to preserve the “fruits” of economic prosperity for citizens alone. Europeans and North Americans are most preferred in terms of being accepted as part of the Botswana society and among those who may apply to become citizens of Botswana. The second most preferred are Africans. Asians, especially Indians, are the least preferred. Indeed, Botswana citizens of Indian descent are viewed with considerable suspicion and dislike by other citizens of the country. Primarily for this reason, Asians seem to be the worst victims of xenophobia in Botswana. Short‐ and specific‐term residences by immigrants are preferred over permanent residence. Some citizens are prepared to take every possible action to discourage immigrants from staying in the country; few would employ violent methods to achieve this goal.     

Disabled People, Service Users, User Involvement and Representation

The issue of representation and representativeness has become central in debates about user involvement, disabled people and users of social care services. This article examines the emphasis of service agencies on the 'unrepresentativeness' of disabled people and service users; looks at how this is experienced by the latter and considers why the issue has gained such importance. It examines the different meanings attached to representation by recipients and providers of services. As well as looking at how the issue of representativeness is used to devalue, exclude and disempower disabled people and service users, the article explores its relation with the competing participatory and representative models and practices of democracy employed by disabled people and service providers.     

What Can We Afford For the National Health Service?

The annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is here used as a standard measure against which to compare expenditure on Health & Welfare and Defence budgets, between Conservative and Labour governments and the four largest EC countries 1973/4-1993/4. An analysis of Mrs Thatcher's governments’ expenditure shows that proportionately less GDP went to General Government Expenditure (GGE) than all the other European Community countries. Mrs Thatcher's first government maintained the unprecedented level of GDP devoted to Health reached in 1978/79, but successive administrations began to reduce, and, plan further reductions of GDP for the NHS. Relative decreases of GDP were also found in relation to expenditure on Social Security, Housing, and Personal Social Services and Defence. The governments of France, Germany and Italy provided more of their GDP to health than Britain, whilst at the same time we spent more on Defence and Law & Order & Public Safety. This raises the question: what can we afford for the NHS? A review of demographic changes shows that the British infant and elderly population, who are associated with demands for health, were proportionately more numerous than in France, Germany and Italy. This suggests the need for more UK health expenditure if Britain is to meet current and future needs.     

The anatomy of a deception: Fraud and finesse in the Mock Auction sales ‘con’

In this paper we analyze recordings of the Mock Auction sales con and describe the various rhetorical and performative strategies employed by the seller/deceiver to accomplish sales success. Two features that distinguish this con from others are that sales are obtained from a crowd of shoppers and that the victims rarely complain after they have been deceived. We outline the principal skills that are brought into play by these salespeople to obtain sales and to manage the audiences' quietude. We show that the Mock Auction is, fundamentally, a social and interactional accomplishment.     

Psychological Determinants of Willingness to Taste and Purchase Genetically Modified Food

Decreasing acceptance of biotechnologies over time has been reported in Europe. Studies claim that attitudes are negative, even hostile, and that people are very worried about genetic engineering in food and medicine. However, such studies are mostly based on surveys and these have significant methodological problems, such as low response rates, which may indicate that only those with strong views respond, thus biasing the sample. Here an alternative method, involving "topic-blind" recruitment of participants and a behavioral measure (food tasting), was used. We show that in a topic-blind sample of 100 individuals, 93% willingly tasted and ate what they believed to be genetically modified (GM) food in an experimental setting, and 48% said they would buy GM food in the future, results that are surprising in the context of other reports about attitudes and intentions toward GM food. Purchasers and nonpurchasers differed in their attitudes toward GM food on key risk-related scales (particularly on a dread-not dread scale--a measure of integral affect--and an ethical-unethical scale). Despite these differences, however, and despite their negative attitude, most nonpurchasers (85.7%) still tasted the GM apple. Incidental affect (state stress and trait worry) was not found to influence risk-related judgments about GM food. Integral affect (dread of GM plants and animals used for food) and concerns about the future risks of GM animals in food were found to be key predictors of willingness to purchase GM food.     

Female competition: causes, constraints, content, and contexts

Monogamy tends to equalise mate competition between the sexes. However, women show greater restraint in their use of direct intrasexual aggression, which, I argue, is a result of their higher parental investment and the consequently greater reproductive cost of injury or death. Women usually compete for mates by advertising qualities valued by men (beauty and sexual exclusiveness) and by using indirect means of denigrating rivals (through gossip and stigmatisation). However, where well-resourced men are in short supply, women must find alternative sources of support or escalate their competition for male partners to physical levels. Data from criminology, psychology, evolutionary biology, and anthropology are used to support these proposals.