Impact of Community on Personal Well-Being in Urban China

ABSTRACT

As the work-unit system fell after economic reform in China, neighborhoods replaced work units as the primary provider of vital social services for the urban population and became a new social space for enhancing the quality of people's well-being. This study examined the neighborhood characteristics that influenced personal well-being of residents. Drawn by multistage sampling and administered by face-to-face interviews, the survey included a sample of 976 participants from 31 neighborhoods in urban Shanghai. Results indicate that neighboring behaviors enhanced subjective well-being of the young and middle-aged residents but had no impact on older people. Sense of community, on the other hand, was found to contribute to well-being of all age groups and was particularly strong among older people in more deprived neighborhoods. Findings inform development of community practice strategies for vitalizing community efficacy and fostering individual well-being in urban China. Recommendations for future research are made using the results of this study.     

Understanding the cultural adaptation of foreign wives of South Korean men

‘International marriage’ has increased within rural areas in South Korea. As an increasing number of rural women move to urban areas, men are left facing the challenges of finding appropriate spouses. This issue stimulated support for ‘international marriages’ by the Korean government. A review was carried out of the literature of foreign wives' cultural adaptation in South Korea using the ecological systems. While foreign wives have escaped the hardships of lower economic status in their home country, they often face new challenges in South Korea. The article recommends that one-stop multicultural services are needed to address the cultural issues facing non-Korean women.     

马王堆帛书《易传》的政治思想——以《缪和》《昭力》二篇之义为中心

帛书《易传》的政治思想,以"君道"为核心,发挥孔子解《易》的思想,强调变化转化的历史观,提倡忧患意识,注重反骄守谦之道;同时主张以德治国,正确处理君臣关系,重视以赏赐劝励臣下。其中包含了比较全面的君道思想,也反映了战国中后期儒家在诸侯国政治实践的主张。     

和谐语境下农村小产权房规制问题研究 —以民生利益为探究视角

在农村小产权房热销的同时,建设部作出了关于购买新建商品房的风险提示,国务院常务会议上也明确叫停小产权房的销售,农村小产权房争议再度升温,对于农村小产权房的合法化问题说法不一.文章基于风险与利益的博弈对农村小产权房的内质予以厘定,从利益驱动角度探究农村小产权房的成因,并通过农村小产权房的弊病分析得出其存在的风险,进而以民生利益为探究视角对农村小产权房的合法化进行检讨,最终在和谐语境下,从防治结合的探索进路提出分类规制的解决思路.     

Container Scheduling: Complexity and Algorithms

We consider the transport of containers through a fleet of ships. Each ship has a capacity constraint limiting the total number of containers it can carry and each ship visits a given set of ports following a predetermined route. Each container has a release date at its origination port, and a due date at its destination port. A container has a size 1 or size 2; size 1 represents a 1 TEU (20‐foot equivalent unit) and size 2 represents 2 TEUs. The delivery time of a container is defined as the time when the ship that carries the container arrives at its destination port. We consider the problem of minimizing the maximum tardiness over all containers. We consider three scenarios with regard to the routes of the ships, namely, the ships having (i) identical, (ii) nested, and (iii) arbitrary routes. For each scenario, we consider different settings for origination ports, release dates, sizes of containers, and number of ports; we determine the computational complexity of various cases. We also provide a simple heuristic for some cases, with its worst case analysis. Finally, we discuss the relationship of our problems with other scheduling problems that are known to be open.     

Will sex selection reduce fertility?

This paper investigates both theoretically and numerically the impact of sex selection on fertility. A static quantity-quality model of fertility is employed to compare fertility choices in two regimes: one in which parents cannot choose the gender of children and another in which parents can fully choose the gender of children. The static theory shows that whether sex selection reduces fertility depends on the second and third derivatives of the utility function and the child expenditure function. A numerical dynamic analysis is also presented. Using empirical dynamic models of fertility and Monte Carlo integration technique, the simulation shows that sex selection on the firstborn child among the Chinese in Malaysia could reduce fertility by about 3%.I thank the referees for their comments. I am indebted to James Heckman for providing generous computing support. Computational facilities were funded by NICHD Grant HD-19226 and NSF Grant SES-84-11242 to the Economics Research Center, NORC.     

Relating social welfare to life satisfaction in the postmodern era of Hong Kong

Social welfare is supposedly beneficial not only to the needy receiving it but to citizens in general who expect social welfare to help the needy. Whereas direct benefits to the needy represent the gratification of material needs, the fulfillment of citizens–expectation registers an idealistic path to life satisfaction. These materialistic and idealistic paths may also be useful for explaining citizens–perception about the adequacy of social welfare. The reciprocal relationships between adequacy perception and life satisfaction are subject to an empirical study based on panel survey data obtained from Hong Kong, China. Results lend more support to the idealistic explanation than to the materialistic explanation in that the citizen’s postmodern orientation appeared to moderate the reciprocal relationships in some ways, whereas most of the citizen’s material conditions did not manifest moderating effects. Accordingly, the needy did not benefit from the perceived adequacy of social welfare and their life satisfaction did not have pervasive effects on the perceived adequacy in return. Results support the view that postmodernization would erode citizens–support for social welfare.     

我国出生人口素质偏低对发展的影响及其对策建议

中国是世界第一人口大国,也是出生缺陷高发国家。在庞大的人口数量压力还未减轻的同时,又面临着出生人口素质偏低的客观现实,严重制约了我国整体人口素质的提高。本文分析了我国出生人口素质偏低的原因,重点探讨了出生人口素质偏低对社会经济、家庭和个体发展的影响,在其基础上提出了有针对性的对策措施。     

辩证法研究的两种出发点

康德和黑格尔各自代表着辩证法研究中两种有着重大区别的出发点。康德把理论理性层面的辩证法称为幻象逻辑并对此进行了深入的批判,提示了辩证法超越理论哲学视野并走向实践哲学的理路。黑格尔没有认真对待、理解与吸收上述康德哲学中深具启发性的思想内涵,以一种纯粹思辨的、理论哲学的眼光,使辩证法重新回到了康德试图避免和禁止的思辨理性的立场上。马克思辩证法是实践理性层面上的、实践哲学视野中的辩证法。以往我们强调马克思辩证法与黑格尔思辨辩证法的学理渊源,更多地在理论理性的层面上阐释马克思哲学的辩证法,使马克思哲学辩证法所独具的实践理性意蕴被深深掩蔽起来。今天重新思考康德对辩证法作为幻象逻辑的批判,并从他所提示的实践哲学的出发点来深入理解马克思哲学的辩证法,具有十分重要的意义。     

筚路蓝缕 六十征程——西南民族大学“民族理论与民族政策”学科发展综述

＂民族理论与民族政策＂先后经历了从课程到学科的发展历程,伴随着西南民族大学的成长并一路走来,在六十年的岁月中刻下了从初创到遭遇挫折,从拓展再到基本成熟的发展轨迹。随着其研究对象的明确化和招收专门的硕士、博士研究生,其学科体系基本形成。在新的时代条件下民族理论本身需要发展与创新、民族政策需要进行适应、调整,民族工作需要进行经验和教训的总结,科学的民族观需要在全国范围内得到有效宣传和教育。因此,我校的＂民族理论与民族政策＂学科在学术研究、人才培养、为社会服务等方面也将与时俱进地获得新的发展。