Italian Americans in the ‘Bocce Belt’: ‘Old World’ memories and ‘New World’ identities

This essay examines the development of an ethnically and racially segregated resort landscape in the Catskill Mountains of upstate New York in the twentieth century. Focusing on the history of Italian American resorts clustered primarily in Greene County, New York, it demonstrates that ethnicity continued to shape the social and cultural lives of many European immigrant New Yorkers and their families well after World War II. Ethnic resorts provided vacationers with an insulated recreational environment in which group identity and transatlantic ties – both real and imagined – could be fostered and sustained. However, the flexibility of these ethnic identities and the pervasive discrimination against African Americans at ethnic resorts in the 1940s and 1950s reveals the extent to which European Americans had largely internalized a sense of white ethnic identity by the postwar decades. The history of ethnic resorts in the Catskills sheds light on the process by which generations of European Americans in New York City negotiated these multiple ethnic, national, and racial identities.     

Transnational highly skilled Finnish migrants in Europe: Choosing one's identity

When transnational migration begins to resemble internal mobility, as is the case in the European Union, is there any need for integration into the country of destination, or do intra-European migrants adopt a European identity? This article is based on data collected about highly skilled Finns who have moved within the EU. Most of them continued to form their identity around their country of origin. Nearly 60% of the migrants of the study also identified with Europe, while only one-third identified with their country of residence. The article argues that, for such privileged migrants, the possibility of choice is central to identity formation. Neither the national identity of the new home country nor a European identity per se can substitute the former, more important identity received through socialization. However, moving abroad does have an impact on the ways these migrants ‘do identity’. Adding a dimension of Europeanness to their existing national identity is a way of belonging to a greater collective when the localized identification with the country of residence is not required.     

Subjective Quality of Life of Young Europeans. Feeling Happy but who Knows why?

Latest developments in modern societies have altered living circumstances. Upcoming insecurities concerning employment and family relationships make life more and more incalculable. Especially young adults throughout the modern world are forced to rethink their life concepts and to desist from the lives of former generations. As difficulties to achieve a successful life increase, one could assume that the young are confronted with the impossibility of feeling happy and satisfied with their lives anymore. Yet, latest social surveys prove wrong. Although increasing unemployment, lower net income and single parenthood make life more difficult for the young, they still enjoy very high subjective quality of life in comparison to the older population. Throughout the paper I argue that it is not the objective conditions that make young adults (15–29 years old) feel overwhelmingly happy. Looking for other sources of explanation of high quality of life among people aged 29 or below, I argue for indicators of social embeddedness as being influential on their assessment of life. But again, the proportion of explained variance is smaller compared to older people. With the help of empirical data taken from the European Social Survey I highlight the differences in life circumstances between the young and the total population. Concerning occupation, habitation (kind of inhabited household) and financial situation, most of the young live under different situations compared to the adult world. But surprisingly, the rates of perceived high quality of life among the young do not vary to such a large extent as among the adults. I show that young adults, often damned to fail social demands because of their withdrawal from social life, are still the most happy in modern (more and more individualizing?) societies. But it gets more difficult to account for the reasons of their happiness.     

略论欧盟的文化政策及文化创意产业的发展

文化事业离不开文化创意产业的发展,因为后者的产品渗透着并体现着一个国家或一个地区文化和文明的精髓。欧盟文化软实力的提升必须要有文化创意产业的硬实力作为基础。为此,欧盟在促进域内文化和文化创意产业发展方面制订了较为明确的政策。欧盟试图将各成员国的文化政策统一置于同一平台之上,并注重文化项目的连续性和多样性。欧盟在发展文化创意产业时既注重其经济效果,也注重其社会效果,并特别强调文化创意产业应定位于内容的独特性和不可复制性。     

印度新闻委员会职能的历史考察

作为独立于政府的新闻咨询机构,印度新闻委员会是政府与媒体相互妥协的产物。新闻委员会的人员组成有广泛的代表性,其职责是调查新闻业发展状况,为政府提供政策咨询,向议会提交立法与修改法律的建议。实践证明,印度新闻委员会在维护媒体独立和新闻自由方面发挥着重要作用,是协调政府与媒体的关系的第三方机构,有很大的借鉴与参考价值。     

西欧封建社会的多元结构及其开放性

西欧封建社会结构的多元性表现在:政治上,天主教会、封建领主与自治城市的鼎立;经济上,农奴经济、小农经济与商品经济的并存;文化上,天主教神学、日耳曼文化、希腊罗马文化、民族国家文化以及人文精神的共处。这种社会结构中政治、经济与文化各要素内部以及相互间的异质性产生了特殊的开放性,最终促进了西欧资本主义的产生。     

欧盟-地中海伙伴关系发展研究——基于欧盟周边治理的视角

欧盟对地中海区域的治理,长期以来一直秉持着价值观和制度输出理念,经济援助、贸易优惠等都与政治改革进程相联系.但是从巴塞罗那进程到欧洲睦邻政策和地中海联盟,欧盟多次变换治理手段都不能全面落实既有的治理目标.对地中海区域国家来说,他们希望利用欧盟推进欧盟地中海伙伴关系所带来的机遇,探索自身的发展道路,但排斥欧盟所谓共享价值观的政策前提.里斯本条约后,欧盟努力协调内部对此区域外交的分歧立场,并继续推进与这一地区国家建立大自由贸易区的进程.但欧盟期望中的政治改革、民主进程等既有治理目标仍难以推进.     

Regulations,policies and practices concerning work stress in five European countries

Abstract

A comparative inventory of regulations, policies and practices in The Netherlands, Sweden, UK, Germany and France with regard to the prevention of work stress was carried out. In each country data were collected by means of interviews with key informants and through exploring relevant documents and literature. It was found that Sweden, The Netherlands and the UK—those countries with framework legislation in the field of health and safety—recognize stress as an important health and safety topic, whereas Germany and France do not yet recognize stress as an important policy issue. However, even in the first group of countries less attention is being paid towards psychosocial work characteristics when compared with traditional health and safety issues, such as noise, machine safety and toxic agents. There is a clear lack of well-documented (national) ‘examples of good preventive practice’, even in Sweden and The Netherlands. Recommendations are being formulated concerning type of legislation, guidance and information, monitoring and risk assessment, costs and benefits, examples of good practice and European networking.     

“德国问题”与早期欧洲一体化——第二次世界大战后欧洲为什么走上联合道路

在欧洲历史上,欧洲联合的思想由来已久,但在第二次世界大战前欧洲却没有走上联合之路,这是因为德法两国没有实现和解。二战后,美国为了复兴西欧,为了解决＂德国问题＂,才有了＂舒曼计划＂,德法才逐渐实现了和解,才有了早期欧洲一体化。