The contemporary significance of Schmalenbach's concept of the Bund

This paper will look at a form of sociation known as the Bund, conceptualized by Schmalenbach in the 1920's. I shall argue that this long ignored concept, dealing with affectual form of solidarity in small groups, is of considerable relevance to contemporary issues concerning individuality and lifestyle, particularly in relation to debates surrounding their significance in modernity and postmodernity. After looking at the historical origins of the German word Bund and its usage by various groups from the Bundschuh to the Wandervogel, I shall consider its significance in the sociology of Herman Schmalenbach, particularly in relation to his critiques of Tönnies's Gemeinschaft/Gesellschaft dualism and Weber's typology of social action. A comparison of the Bund will then be made with Victor Turner's concept of communitas and Maffesoli's concept of the neo-tribe. The paper will conclude by looking at some contemporary examples of Bund-like sociations using a diverse range of examples including: the womens' peace camp at Greenham Common; soccer crews and Tom Peter's notion of the workplace based ‘self-managing team’. My central argument shall be that an understanding of the Bund is of use in explaining the significance and dynamics of all manner of elective groups and lifestyles     

A Behavioral Group Treatment Program for Sexually Dysfunctional Couples*

A behavioral treatment program, previously effective with individual couples, was designed for a group setting. Four couples were treated in a group format for primary inorgasmic dysfunctions and premature ejaculation. Results indicated a high degree of success. This preliminary study, then, suggests that group treatment for sexually dysfunctional couples can be an effective treatment mode with specific advantages over individual therapy. Several possible problems with this treatment mode were discussed, including the possibility that the overall reinforcement value of the group process was underestimated. This variable should be carefully examined by other therapists utilizing group treatment procedures for couples with sexual dysfunctional problems, along with continuing efforts to reduce treatment time.     

Unions,firms, and the return to seniority

Wages generally rise more slowly with experience in union than in nonunion settings. It has been argued that the lower slope of the earnings profiles reflects the preferences of the median worker. It is shown in this paper that the median worker model (assuming a median worker exists) does not lead to a uniformly less steeply sloped earnings profile. Instead, the lower return to seniority reflects the firm’s rational response to the union’s monopoly power. Thus, the lower slope in unionized firms reflects the objectives of firms, not unions, in the bargaining process. I would like to thank Bill Dickens, Bernie Grofman, Shu Kahn, and Donald Martin for useful comments and suggestions.     

提升公共服务 迎接未来挑战

讴歌了澳大利亚联邦政府体制的开拓者罗伯特·加兰爵士留给澳大利亚公共服务的宝贵遗产,认为他高瞻远瞩的理想,献身公共服务的精神,以及秉承公正、诚信的议会政治传统的承诺,是当今澳大利亚公共服务弥足珍贵的不朽价值观。认为澳大利亚公共服务要想成为世界最佳,就必须将其绩效与世界一流国家进行比较。结合最新的一份咨询报告,从价值观与文化、提供政策建议的能力、提供公共服务的能力、随需而变的能力、组织运行效率和效果、人力资源开发等六个方面,将澳大利亚公共服务同美、英等八国进行比较,明确了澳大利亚公共服务的优势和差距。在此基础上,指出澳大利亚公共服务有待进一步提高公共服务质量,为政府提供更高质量的政策建议,并吸引和留住最优秀的公共服务人才。     

人口结构变迁背景下的中国经济增长——基于动态可计算一般均衡模型的模拟

人口老龄化和民工荒现象暗示着中国劳动力低成本的优势将消失,并会对中国未来的经济增长产生负面影响。采用可计算一般均衡模型,利用联合国最新的人口预测,模拟分析中国2010-2030年人口结构变化及其相关的人口措施产生的经济效应后发现,由于人口老龄化导致的劳动力人口的下降,中国经济增长呈现逐步放缓的趋势,2025-2030年中国的经济增速将下降到5513%。而相关的人口措施可以缓解人口老龄化对经济带来的负面效应。其中,提高教育水平、促进人力资本积累对经济的拉动作用最为明显。     

Adapting the Own Children Method to allow comparison of fertility between populations with different marriage regimes

The Own Children Method (OCM) is an indirect procedure for deriving age-specific fertility rates and total fertility from children living with their mothers at a census or survey. The method was designed primarily for the calculation of overall fertility, although there are variants that allow the calculation of marital fertility. In this paper we argue that the standard variants for calculating marital fertility can produce misleading results and require strong assumptions, particularly when applied to social or spatial subgroups. We present two new variants of the method for calculating marital fertility: the first of these allows for the presence of non-marital fertility and the second also permits the more robust calculation of rates for social subgroups of the population. We illustrate and test these using full-count census data for England and Wales in 1911.