Evaluating mission drift in microfinance: lessons for programs with social mission

The article contributes to a better understanding of implications of scaling up on the social mission of microfinance programs. It proposes a methodology to measure the extent, if any, to which a microfinance program with a poverty alleviation mission drifts away from its mission during rapid scaling up and presents findings from a field research using the proposed methodology at Activists for Social Alternatives (ASA), a microfinance organization that serves poor women in rural India. The findings indicate that mission drift is not a result of deliberate decisions by the management or board but rather is a result of the challenges posed by the scaling-up process. At times, changing trends in social outcomes were not obvious, and management was not aware of the changes indicated by the proposed measures of social performance.     

亚洲的HIV/AIDS水平将达到撒哈拉以南非洲的水平吗?

尽管对于任何一种致数百万人死亡的疾病都应竭尽所能地予以斗争,对本文标题所提出问题的简短回答却是:"不".我10年以前在<社会科学与医学>(Social Science and Medicine)杂志的社论中第一次阐述了这个问题,至今这一观点没有发生变化,它所依据的是近期的一些相关报告.     

瑞典的知识环境为未来做好准备了吗?

瑞典的知识环境为未来做好准备了吗?瑞典的大学如何与其他国家的大学竞争?未来的大学应该如何管理?这是目前瑞典教学与研究研究院(The Swedish Institute for Studies in Education and Research,SISTER)战略研究所的项目"明日的知识环境"(Uni-Know)正在研究的课题.该项研究已进行了一年有余.     

隐喻的主要理论及指称述评

1.现代隐喻研究的五大流派 亚里士多德开创了隐喻研究的时代.他阐释了不同概念域的两个事物之间的联系,为后来的对比论奠定了基础.顾名思义,对比论就是拿一种事物与另一种事物相比较.据此,"Man is a wolf"相当于明喻"Man is like a wolf",只不过这里的"like"被省略了.因此,隐喻是一个简缩的明喻.     

Widowhood,family size,and post-reproductive Mortality: a comparative Analysis of three populations in Nineteenth-Century Europe

Researchers from a number of disciplines have offered competing theories about the effects oJ childbearing on parents 'postreproductive longevity. The "disposable soma theory" argues that investments in somatic maintenance increase longevity but reduce childbearing. "Maternal depletion" models suggest that the rigors of childrearing increase mortality in later years. Other researchers consider continued childbearing a sign of healthy aging and a predictor of future longevity. Empirical studies have produced inconsistent and contradictory results. Our focus is on the experience of widowhood, which has been ignored in previous studies. We hypothesize that the death of a spouse is a stressful event with long-term consequences for health, especially for women with small children. Data are drawn from historical sources in Sweden, Belgium, and the Netherlands from 1766 to 1980. Postreproductive mortality was highest among young widows with larger families in all three samples. Age at last birth had little or no effect. We conclude that raising children under adverse circumstances can have long-lasting, harmful effects on a mother's health.     

Older women's fears of violence: the need for interventions that enable active ageing

Women's fear of violence can impact negatively on their active participation in life. An ageing survey conducted with 2,620 Australian respondents aged 50 to 90 years examined aspects of work, learning, social, spiritual and emotional status, health, vision, home, life events, demographics, and asked an open-ended question about what being actively engaged in life meant. Ordinal regression was carried out on two dependent variables: wanting and needing to learn to discourage violence. Analyses found that as women's age increased, those on lower incomes were more likely than others to say they needed to learn how to discourage violence against them. This paper investigates the variables associated with the findings-transport, finances, news media, home safety, and reduced social interactions. Results highlight the importance of understanding women's fear in the context of personal and social issues, and the need to provide learning opportunities to improve safety and social engagement.     

Rumour of angels and heavenly midwives: anthropology of transpersonal events and childbirth

Some contemporary women can experience non-ordinary states of consciousness when childbearing. The purpose of this paper is to bring a ‘transpersonal’ frame to these non-ordinary states of consciousness (hereafter: NOSC). Transpersonal psychology is an interdisciplinary movement in Western science that studies ‘religious’, ‘peak’ or ‘healing’ experiences in different cultures and social contexts. Between 2001 and 2006 in Auckland, New Zealand, while engaged in anthropological fieldwork, I collected stories from mothers, fathers, and midwives who had participated in transpersonal events during childbirth.I will compare the local women's NOSC with ethnographic accounts of spirit-possession and its relationship to indigenous midwifery then revisit and reconstruct the witch-hunts of Medieval Europe from this perspective. Midwives are encouraged to learn to identify and support women's NOSC during labour and birth as many women find strength and wisdom by passing through these states in labour. The subject is also critical to men, whether they are present with women and birth as fathers or health professionals. The hoped for result of this inquiry is to revalorise NOSC among birth-giving mothers, and to educate birth attendants in this field.     

是分析社会还是改造社会——哈贝马斯与卢曼之争

哈贝马斯与卢曼在 1971年的理论之争是德国学生运动的最后一次理论争论 ,它对整个一代人和德国社会科学界有重大影响。1.争论的出发点哈贝马斯和卢曼在 1971年时都知道 ,必须突破社会学理论和方法的长期停滞状态和不充分性。他们同时也知道这种突破面临一个困难 ,就是必须分析一个比过去更加复杂和更加无法一目了然的社会。哈贝马斯认为“批判理论”已经提供了分析这种社会的理论和方法 ,霍克海姆和阿多尔诺的《启蒙辩证法》(1974)就是“现代社会辩证发展理论”。他未能采纳在北美 (特别由帕森斯 )得到发展的系统论。卢曼 (NiclasL uhmann1…     

世界保险业

世界保险业市场的保险费已连续几年超过 2 0 0 0 0亿美元 ,1997年还曾达到 2 12 90亿美元 ,较之 1996年实际增长 4.5 %。投向人寿保险较之财产保险的增幅大 ,如 1991年 ,人寿保险的比例为 5 3% ,6年以后该比例增至 5 8%。财产保险增长缓慢 (1997年实际只为0 .2 % ) ,因而使其所占比例下降的关键原因是最主要市场的剧烈竞争和过度设备能力。在日本、北美和西欧 ,该项价目不可能脱离业务规模的相应增大 ,由于受经济增长率的限制 ,致使这些地区收入量降低。相反 ,东欧、拉美和东南亚因业务规模扩大而使利润增加。从每个国家看 ,1997年保险收入…     

人口流动对基督教全球传播的影响

基督教流动人口是基督教在全球传播过程中的关键因素。在基督教存在的前五个世纪,广泛的人口流动将基督教变成了全球化的信仰。广泛的人口流动在其它主要的世界宗教在世界各地的传播过程中也发挥了重要作用,但是,就基督教来说,流动可能是这种信仰固有的因素。基督教超越罗马帝国成为全球性信仰是个非常复杂的过程,包含许多不同类型的人口流动。跨国界的领袖们、俘虏、难民和流浪者、商人是人口流动的四种主要类型。虽然,东部教会传教的成功是短暂的,但是东部教会在第一个千年形成的移民传教模式无疑为21世纪的基督教提供了典范。基督教在过去的两三个世纪里再次全球化,基督信仰作为新的中心在非洲、拉丁美洲和亚洲的某些地区出现,表明"人口流动"在基督教全球传播过程中的作用比以前更加明显。当代基督教的全球化与早期基督教的全球化在发展道路上有很大不同,但有一点是不变的,即基督教的全球化仍将主要依靠流动者的行动和决策。