A survey of the family planning work done in Dongguan County

The total fertility rate of women of childbearing age of Dongguan County in China has been decreasing gradually from 5.9 during the period following the liberation in 1949 to 2.05 in 1982. In order to encourage young couples to implement the policy of family planning consciously, the people's government of Dongguan county decided in July 1980 that all cadres and employees in county towns who received 1-child certificates would be exempted from house rent of 45 square meters from the time they get their certificates and would be allocated a living space of a 2-children family until their children reached age 16. It also stipulated that every couple could enjoy 1 month's holiday every year for 3 years and during the holiday, their salary, bonus and rate of attendance would not be affected. Because women bear less children today, they are relieved from heavy household chores and become the main working force in collective production. As a result, the development of town-run enterprises was stimulated and the total industrial output value of these enterprises increased. The average monthly salary of each female worker is about 100 yuan. In 1984, the average income per capita of the country rose to 649.2 yuan. The implementation of family planning work has eased the tension in the education field. Previously, because of the large number of school-age children in rural areas, teachers had to teach 2 classes. In the past 4 years, great emphasis was laid on intellectual investment. During this period, 2351 schools were built and several fundraising projects were implemented. Since 1981, more than 200 new running water projects were built, and new public services have been developed, including old age homes.     

Late fertility decline in the Netherlands: The influence of religious denomination,socioeconomic group and region

Both published results from the 1930, 1947, 1960 and 1971 censuses and unpublished ones are used to examine the influence that religious denomination, socio-economic group and region exerted on the fertility of marriages contracted between 1876 and 1959. A theory formulated by Lesthaeghe and Wilson on the relation between modes of production and secularization and the pace of fertility decline in Western Europe offers — in combination with van Heek's views on the special position of Dutch Roman Catholicism — a starting point for an explanation of why the fertility decline of Roman Catholics, self-employed and agricultural labourers lagged behind.     

EXPERIMENTS WITH THE MIDDLE RESPONSE ALTERNATIVE IN SURVEY QUESTIONS

A series of experiments shows (1) that people are significantlymore likely to select the middle response alternative on anissue when it is explicitly offered to them as part of the questionthan when it is omitted; (2) that merely mentioning that thereis a middle alternative, in the preface to the question, makesit more likely that respondents will select it, even thoughit is not offered to them as an explicit choice; (3) that theorder in which the middle alternative is presented in the question—inthe middle or last position—can make a significant differencein the results, but that a "recency bias" does not occur invariably,or consistently; and (4) that people who select a middle responsealternative when it is offered would not necessarily answerthe question in the same way as other respondents if forcedto choose sides on the issue.     

Voting cycles and the structure of individual preferences

Empirical studies have shown that cyclical preferences are infrequent, but they have been less clear about why. Using thermometer ratings from nationally-representative samples of the U.S., we examine preferences for presidential candidates in order to determine what it is about them that leads to few cycles. Single-peaked preferences as usually construed (meaning that all of a set of preferences satisfy single-peakedness criteria) are, of course, rare. Yet we find a high degree of unidimensionality in the sense that for any given set of preferences, a relatively high proportion of the preference orders are consistent with single-peakedness. We also find that the highest amounts of unidimensionality often do not occur along partisan or left/right lines. Strong feelings for or against candidates, often not derived from an issue base, form the basis for the dimensionality discovered.We would like to thank Daniel Severance for programming the random model calculations and three anonymous referees, whose comments were very helpful in clarifying the presentation in this paper.     

Irregular migration: a rising issue in developing countries

The growing concern with illegal, or undocumented, migration in developing countries is described. The author notes that although such migration occurred in the past without causing concern, changing economic, political, and social factors since the 1970s have caused governments to attempt to control such flows. A review of regional trends is included, and the consequences of illegal migration for both countries of origin and destination are examined. (SUMMARY IN FRE AND SPA)     

Job transfers: a neglected aspect of migration in Malaysia

"This article examines the incidence of [job-related] transfers in Malaysia. The retrospective migration data from the Malaysia Family Life Survey [conducted in 1976-1977] are used to demonstrate that transfers comprise 18 percent of all migration in the country and that there has been a rise in the incidence of transfers over a 35 year period. Factors underlying this trend are outlined. Furthermore, significant differences in age, educational attainment and other characteristics between transferees and other types of migrants are identified and their implications discussed."     

Chaos and transformation: implications of nonequilibrium theory for social science and society

This article deals with all levels of both living (biological, psychological, sociological, and cultural) and nonliving (physical, chemical, and mathematical) systems. The idea of applying the natural scientific self-organizing, evolutionary, and non-equilibrium or "chaos" theory associated with the names of Prigogine and others to world problems of impending social, political, economic, and ecological "chaos" is gaining ground. The leap from natural science to social action, however, is impossible without considerable attention to the main intervening step: the development of "chaos"-equivalent, evolution-, systems-, and action-oriented social theory. Construction of such theory requires understanding by social scientists of natural scientific "chaos" theory as well as their own "chaos" theoretical heritage, of natural scientists of the now seemingly far distant social problem-solving potential of their nonequilibrium and self-organizing theories, and of both natural and social scientists of how advancement at both levels could help gain a peaceful as well as humanistic "order out of chaos" in this troubled world of ours. This paper surveys relevant concepts, problems, theorists, research, and works in progress within a perspective of the challenge of survival at a critical juncture in the evolution of our species.     

Average life expectancy of the population of the USSR

Mortality trends in the USSR from the middle of the nineteenth century to the present day are analyzed, with a focus on changes in life expectancy. The authors note that life expectancy increased up to 1964-1965, declined subsequently, and stabilized during the 1980s. Life expectancy has again started to rise since 1985. More detailed analyses of mortality differentials by sex and age and for the rural and urban populations are included. (SUMMARY IN ENG)