纬书政治神话与禹形象的演变

在先秦至汉初的典籍中,禹是一位造福于民的治水英雄和人间君王。在纬书中,禹由凡人转变成充满神奇怪异色彩的受命圣王,从受命治水到受天赐、受天书,再到受舜,禅都是出自天命。纬书中的禹形象对后世史著和小说产生了较大的影响,如《吴越春秋》中禹出生、得天书、遇九尾白狐等情节都源自纬书,《博物志》等志怪小说多采用纬书中的资料。     

中国古代诗歌为用的文体意义

本文在梳理古代学者对诗歌体用的几种主要认识之基础上,考察了诗歌在说唱文学与戏曲文学中的体用现象,首次探讨了说唱文学与戏曲文学中诗歌为用的文体意义,分析了诗歌为用对于构成一种新文体的独特功能和优势,即可歌可诵的韵文性质、丰富多样的体式及其自由灵活的配置方式、多重并用的表现手法、取之不尽的资源宝藏.     

道教存思法与《文心雕龙》神思论的生成

作为一种精神思维活动,道教"存思"法具有驰骋想象的特点,文学"神思论"的出现,与之密不可分.神思实际上就是把道教的存思方法运用到文学创作中,是文学中的存思.魏晋南北朝时文人化用存思方法进行创作的现象已很普遍,<文心雕龙·神思>篇的诞生,正是时代发展的必然结果.     

“弹性结构”与民国江西乡村改良运动的失效

在红军主力被迫长征、撤离江西后,为了争夺民心,巩固统治,国民党在江西发起了一场大规模的农村现代化改良运动.运动原定时限是1936年底,然而,此时江西农村依然贫穷落后,花了大量人力、物力、财力和精力的江西农村改良运动,却收效甚微,江西农村毫无复兴迹象.出现这种结局的根本原因,就在于传统乡村社会存在着不易改变的"弹性结构",这种结构就像一张巨型的"弹性之网",它可以在很大的程度上消减农村社会改良的绩效.     

东亚与拉美经济增长的动力机制比较——基于资本积累的视角

20世纪中叶,东亚和拉美基本处于同等发展水平.短短几十年过去了,一些东亚国家(地区)已跻身新兴工业化国家行列,被认为创造了"东亚奇迹";而多数拉美国家因债务危机而陷入困境.基于东亚和拉美在经济发展上的巨大差距,本文从资本积累的视角对东亚和拉美经济增长的动力机制进行比较,得到一些有益的结论供宏观决策者参考.     

中心与边缘互动中的文化认同——以羌族旅游为例

中心与边缘是一个相对概念,它体现了一个社会存在的政治、经济、文化发展的不平衡状态.本文以羌族旅游为研究个案,通过中心/现代性与边缘/传统性的语境分析,再现了在旅游过程中,羌族作为地方传统性的异族形象不断被来自中心的旅游者所强化和认同,另一方面羌族自身又在不断吸纳现代性的过程中有意识地强化传统性的异族形象的复杂过程,从而揭示出中心与边缘在推进现代性与保持传统性的矛盾过程中对羌族文化传承与发展所带来的双重影响.     

苗族婚姻制度变迁六十年——以贵州省施秉县夯巴寨为例

半个多世纪以来,苗族婚姻制度发生了诸多变迁。本文聚焦于游方、婚姻仪式、两性距离与婚姻限制等要素来揭示婚姻制度的变迁。这些变迁与国家意志、市场原则、大众媒体、社会时尚、科学知识与文化传统等因素相关。这些因素分别作用于婚姻制度的各个层面,并促使其发生牵连性的变迁。     

Can Likert Scales be Treated as Interval Scales?—A Simulation Study

The Likert scale is widely used in social work research, and is commonly constructed with four to seven points. It is usually treated as an interval scale, but strictly speaking it is an ordinal scale, where arithmetic operations cannot be conducted. There are pros and cons in using the Likert scale as an interval scale, but the controversy can be handled by increasing the number of points. Several researchers have suggested bringing the number up to eleven, on the basis of empirical data. In this article the authors explore this rational and share the same view, but simulate artificial data from both symmetrical normal and skewed distributions where the underlying metric is known in advance. Results show that more Likert scale points will result in a closer approach to the underlying distribution, and hence normality and interval scales. To increase generalizability social work practitioners are encouraged to use 11-point Likert scales from 0 to 10, a natural and easily comprehensible range.     

The Role of Parents in Introducing Children to Financial Services: Evidence from Ghana-YouthSave

Financial capability—financial knowledge, skills, and access to financial services—may help smooth transitions to adulthood for youth and is affected by socialization experiences with parents and other family members. Among a sample of youth and their parents enrolled in the YouthSave experiment in Ghana (n?=?4,065), this study examined whether physical access to financial services and/or visiting banks with parents or other family members was associated with youth’s perceptions and understanding of financial institutions. We found a statistically significant association between visiting the bank with a parent or other family member and youth’s attitudes (β?=?1.45, p?<?0.001) and understanding of financial services (β?=?2.96, p?<?0.001), controlling for other factors like household income and assets. Conversely, physical access (distance, travel time) was not associated with financial services attitudes or understanding. Parents may play an important role in introducing their children to financial services. Practitioners and policy makers should consider ways to include parents in efforts to promote financial capability among youth.     

Who is a volunteer? A cultural and temporal exploration of volunteerism

This study’s purpose was to develop a temporal and cultural definition of volunteering in China. Using a comparative mixed-methods approach, N₁ = 218 Chinese students in Hong Kong were surveyed about their perceptions of volunteering. These quantitative data were compared cross-culturally with a sample of adults in the United States who used the same instrument called Who is a Volunteer? Subsequently, N₂ = 40 of these same students voluntarily participated in a series of focus groups, to further explore more in-depth their opinions about volunteering. The main quantitative results revealed that at the extreme ends of the volunteer scale, both the U.S. and Chinese samples could readily distinguish what volunteering was or was not. The more nuanced empirical differences on the scale (24% of the 21 items) were explained either by unique cultural differences, or the longer and more prominent history that volunteering has had in North America versus China. Main qualitative findings revealed additional between-group cultural differences exemplified by (1) a more family-centric and collectivist Chinese culture versus a more individualistic American culture, (2) a role blurring about volunteer activities versus paid work activities, and (3) that both organizational and cultural context must be seriously considered when defining volunteerism. This study adds to the growing definitional literature on this transformational concept and represents the largest comparative empirical investigation on this subject from East Asia.