资本主义的政治社会学--以意大利为例

意大利南北地区的经济成就、地方政府所执行的效率、市民生活的特点都有明显的差异.从北部地区的状况看,社会和政治效率发挥得非常好,市民之间的信任和参与网络也非常发达;而南部地区则不是这样.南部与北部之间如此明显的差距主要根源于中世纪以来传承下来的两种体制:北部具有共同体性格的共和国传统,而南部则具有君主制传统.正是这两种传统导致了市民参与和人际纽带方面的重大差异.如今,在经济上取得优异的成就而且保持良好的集体生活的地区都是那些在市民参与、合作团体、相互帮助等方面拥有优良传统的地区.这就意味着,社会资本是决定经济发展和政府能力的主要因素.     

Approximate Inference for the Factor Loading of a Simple Factor Analysis Model

We study a factor analysis model with two normally distributed observations and one factor. Two approximate conditional inference procedures for the factor loading are developed. The first proposal is a very simple procedure but it is not very accurate. The second proposal gives extremely accurate results even for very small sample size. Moreover, the calculations require only the signed log-likelihood ratio statistic and a measure of the standardized maximum likelihood departure. Simulations are used to study the accuracy of the proposed procedures.     

Poverty and quality of life of Chinese children: From the perspective of deprivation

Using data from the Family and Children Survey of Beijing 2011, the authors constructed a child poverty measure – Child Deprivation Indicators (CDIs) – and explored the relationship between poverty and children's quality of life. The CDIs were found to be a more valid child poverty measure than the conventional measure which is based mainly on individuals' social assistance status. The findings show that deprived children are worse off in terms of living conditions. Furthermore, deprived boys and girls are disadvantaged differently; boys in self‐efficacy and girls in physical development. The findings have four important implications: (i) policy makers should look beyond those on social assistance; (ii) more public funding should be invested in deprived children's informal education and social interaction; (iii) dealing with structural problems relating to parents' socioeconomic status (SES) would be helpful to alleviate child deprivation; (iv) different types of support should be provided to deprived boys and girls for their disadvantages are not identical.     

Impact of enforcing a statutory minimum wage on work and quality of life of vulnerable groups in Hong Kong

The statutory minimum wage (SMW) law was enforced in Hong Kong on 1 May 2011. To examine its impact, this longitudinal study measured the quality of life, job and pay satisfaction, monthly income, hourly rate and working hours of vulnerable groups (n = 253) before and after the legislation. The findings confirmed that the enforcement of the SMW induced a positive impact as intended. The introduction of the SMW induced a positive wage and employment effect on the vulnerable groups in Hong Kong without harming their employment rate. Job and pay satisfaction, as well as most domains of the quality of life (i.e., physical and psychological health, and environment), increased significantly. In general, the positive impact of the SMW was more prominent for employees who previously worked less than 18 hours a week and who had hourly rates less than 28 HKD. The implications of the findings are discussed in the social context of Hong Kong. Key Practitioner Message: ● Enforcing minimum wage induced a positive impact on quality of life, job and pay satisfaction, and a monthly income of vulnerable groups. ● The social relations (quality of life) decreased after implementing minimum wage for workers working longer than 18 hours a week. ● Longer working hours is a key factor for the increase of a monthly income among the vulnerable groups.     

Long-term Care in China: Issues and Prospects

One of the major socioeconomic challenges China faces is the rapid aging of its population. China is now an aging society, even though it is still regarded as a middle-income economy. Coupled with the market-driven reform of social services and rapid erosion of family support, the provision of affordable and accessible social care services to older people has already become an urgent issue for the government to address. Looking into the future, the formulation of a sustainable position on long-term care (LTC) will increasingly become the major focus of social policy. This article sets out the background to the demographic shifts resulting in the emerging need for LTC in China. It analyzes the issues facing LTC services and reviews their prospects, including the structure, operation, financing, and interfacing of residential and community-based home care services.     

The social impact of the global financial crisis in Australia

The Australian economy has weathered the storm that followed the global financial crisis (GFC) better than most other OECD countries. The reasons for this are complex, although the fiscal stimulus measures introduced by the federal government in 2008 and 2009 boosted domestic consumption and investment and helped to sustain economic growth. However, even with these measures, concerns have been raised over the social impact of the financial crisis, with a number of studies suggesting that those with lowest incomes and/or reliant on welfare services for support were most adversely affected. This paper presents new estimates of the social impact of the GFC using data from two national surveys, conducted in 2006 and 2010 – before and after the crisis hit Australia. The impact is assessed using a range of different approaches, including people's own perceptions of the impact, changes in their subjective wellbeing, reported changes in financial stress and changes in deprivation and economic exclusion. The results suggest that the social impact of the crisis has been small, although some evidence suggests that those already facing the most severe levels of social disadvantage were most adversely affected. In this sense, the GFC may have led to greater inequality in living standards, at least in some dimensions.     

The Efficacy of a Community-Based Project in a Chinese Context

In this paper, the authors report the results of an exploratory study which assessed the service efficacy of a collaborative service initiative developed by a university academic department and a community-based social service agency in a socially deprived and remote community in Hong Kong. The project aimed to foster mutual help and self-help of low-income families and deepen their social connection with the community. Service efficacy was assessed using a structured questionnaire and a focus group interview. After participating in the service project, the well-being of the participants has become better and their family relationships have improved. They have developed a stronger sense of belonging toward the community. The preliminary findings support the importance of creating social network in social work practice for low-income families residing in a deprived and remote neighborhood.     

Social assistance in Shanghai: Dynamics between social protection and informal employment

China's social assistance programme (dibao 低保) was introduced in Shanghai in 1993 and gradually extended to cover all urban areas by 1998. Due to massive economic restructuring, starting in the early 1990s, many urban dibao recipients were laid‐off, that is, state‐owned enterprise (SOE) employees. Shanghai was the epicentre of SOE reform, and the dibao system was primarily introduced to provide a safety net for laid‐off workers. In 2010, approximately 3 per cent of urban, permanent residents were on dibao, and 72 per cent of its recipients were working‐age adults. We conducted longitudinal qualitative interviews five times over 2 years with 40 dibao families that contained adults of working age in a Shanghai district. The current study demonstrates how they managed their employment, income and the dibao system. Findings suggested that, for various reasons, there was insufficient motivation for recipients to gain reemployment and leave dibao. Furthermore, local cadres, which were responsible for assessing and recommending dibao applicants to the district government, likely just assumed the incomes of adults with working capabilities.     

A critical review of mental health and mental health‐related policies in China: More actions required

In China, there are over 170 million people suffering from mental illness. However, there is a lack of a critical review of the policies governing the provision of mental health services. Drawing on the framework of mental health policy developed by the WHO, this article critically examines mental health policies regarding legislation, financing, model of care and delivery, as well as manpower and the training of mental health professionals in China. This analysis raises a number of policy‐related questions concerning the lack of community‐based psychiatric services, inadequate coverage of mental health services in the rural areas, poor standard of education and an insufficient number of trained mental health professionals, and insufficient protection of the human rights of people with mental illness. The article ends by urging the various levels of governments to make a firm commitment to improve mental health care for people with mental illness in China.     

Adolescent Filial Piety as a Moderator between Perceived Maternal Control and Mother–Adolescent Relationship Quality in Hong Kong

This study examined the perceived parental styles of maternal warmth and control, as well as adolescent filial piety, in relation to parent–child relationship quality, in 308 Hong Kong Chinese adolescents. The three mother–child relationship qualities measured were perceived maternal support, conflicts, and relationship depth. Adolescents' attitudes toward filial piety explained unique variance in all three of these parent–child relational qualities, over the constructs of maternal warmth and control. In addition, the interaction of filial piety with maternal control explained unique variance in perceived maternal support and mother–child conflicts, but not relationship depth. Results established the potential unique importance of adolescent filial piety and confirmed our hypothesis that the more adolescents emphasize filial piety, the more parental control exerts a positive effect on mother–child relationship quality in Hong Kong families.