The disorganized family: institutions,practices and normativity

This paper considers the value of a normative account of the relationship between agents and institutions for contemporary efforts to explain ever more complex and disorganized forms of social life. The character of social institutions, as they relate to practices, agents and norms, is explored through an engagement with the common claim that family life has been de‐institutionalized. The paper argues that a normative rather than empirical definition of institutions avoids a false distinction between institutions and practices. Drawing on ideas of social freedom and creative action from critical theory, the changes in family life are explained not as an effect of de‐institutionalization, but as a shift from an organized to a disorganized institutional type. This is understood as a response to changes in the wider normative structure, as a norm of individual freedom has undermined the legitimacy of the organized patriarchal nuclear family, with gender ascribed roles and associated duties. Contemporary motherhood is drawn on to illustrate the value of analysing the dynamic interactions between institutions, roles and practices for capturing both the complexity and the patterned quality of social experience.     

The concept of family: Perspectives of Spanish young people in foster care

This article employs concepts from family sociology to explore how ‘family’ is conceptualised in 14 life narratives of young people in foster care in Spain. The article draws on a multi-method approach with young people who are in long-term non-kinship foster care. Seven girls and seven boys aged 10 to 22 took part in the study. The empirical material reveals an interplay between biological preference and foster family affective practices in young people's narratives, illuminating a struggle to make sense of the concept of family in foster care. Most of the participants understand family as shared affective practices sustained through love, commitment, consistent care and reciprocity rather than blood ties. Some show a preference for biological connectivity, while others describe family as determined by rituals and family displays. The key practice implications highlight the importance helping young people positioning themselves in birth family relationships, and supporting their sense of family belonging.     

Environmental practices and firm performance in emerging markets: the mediating role of product quality

Environmental practices have not received as much research attention in emerging market contexts as traditional topics like quality. However, the importance of environmental practices for a firm’s production strategy has been increasing at an unprecedented level across the globe. Our research objective is, therefore, to investigate the interplay between environmental practices and quality in the pursuit of firm performance. Relying on 492 responses from Turkish manufacturers to test our hypotheses, we show that environmental practices directly improve the quality of products over and above the effect of quality management practices in emerging markets. Product quality, in turn, is important for increasing firm performance, acting as a mediator for the positive effects of environmental practices on performance. Thus, we reveal that product quality functions as an instrumental conduit between environmental practices and firm performance in emerging markets like Turkey where stakeholder pressures are weak, and regulations are often not properly enforced.     

外语课堂互动中的修正性反馈：教师信念与课堂教学行为关系研究

运用个案研究法,聚焦于三位英语专业精读课教师的修正性反馈教学信念和课堂行为,结果发现：不同教师所持的教学信念互不相同。他们的课堂教学行为也存在巨大差异;同一教师持有内部相矛盾的信念;由于教学环境和教师所调用的知识类型的不同。同一教师的教学信念和教学行为之间虽具有一定的联系,但二者差异很大。     

大学英语听力网络自主学习环境中教师的角色定位——基于学生期望与教师实际课堂教学行为差异比较

通过对基于网络的大学英语自主学习环境中教师角色定位的实证研究,结果发现：在网络自主学习中,学生希望自己的老师担任“倡导者、指导者、监控者、评估者和心理协调者”的角色.虽然教师和学生的信念一致,但学生的期望和教师的实际课堂教学行为之间存在显著性差异.造成差异的主要原因在于传统的教学观念、模式、方法、评估方式以及教师的素质.有鉴于此,从树立信念、提高素质、传授策略、监控和评估过程、重视学生心理情感因素等5个方面,对学校和教师提出了建议.     

企业管理实践课程的结构与方法

本文探讨了企业管理模拟实践课的界定、结构和教学方法等问题。本文认为,设置这类课程的目的是使学生在较短的时间内学会整合运用所学知识,体验企业运营全程,掌握发现问题和系统地解决问题的基本思路与方法。     

Motivating talents in Thai and Malaysian service firms

Talent development in Thailand and Malaysian service firms has become a prioritized human resource management practice as these societies move toward knowledge-based economies. This paper discusses talent management in the social, organizational and managerial context of firms in Thailand and Malaysia, and argues that such structures often counterbalance investments made in talent development. The paper concludes that new human resource management practices do not produce a difference per se. It is the mindset and attitude of various managers that makes the difference. The learning for practitioners is that they need to adapt existing social and organizational structures to their new human resource management practices. The paper is based mainly on qualitative interviews with human resource managers from Thai and Malaysian service firms.     

The contingent nature of best practices in national competitiveness: The case of American and Japanese innovation processes

We propose that the differences in competitiveness of companies from different countries is not just a question of the adoption of ‘better’ management models, as conventional wisdom would have us believe; rather, we contend that national competitiveness can change radically over time without significant changes in management practices. Contrary to much of the management literature we hold that changes in the global business environment often determine to a large degree the competitiveness of companies. Based on our assumptions we offer four specific lessons of how companies can increase their competitiveness within the constraints of the socio-cultural context in which they operate.     

《关于正确处理人民内部矛盾的问题》与马克思主义中国化

以历史与逻辑相统一的方法，科学地分析了《关于正确处理人民内部矛盾的问题》在发展马克思主义关于社会主义的矛盾学说中的重大贡献和历史局限。邓小平继承了《关于正确处理人民内部矛盾的问题》的正确思想并加以发展。通过分析认为，在关于社会主义社会矛盾的理论与实践中，毛泽东、邓小平分别做出了不同的贡献。     

Xinjiang’s geographies in motion

Starting from the idea that places are socially constructed, this essay explores how a place is established and lived in Xinjiang by the members of the area’s two largest ethnicities, the Uyghur and the Han. This article demonstrates that there are differences in the ways Han and Uyghur imagine and ‘live’ Xinjiang.¹1. Xinjiang is not a very fortunate toponym to use here because it is a Han-language term (meaning ‘New Frontier’) that was imposed during the colonization of the region by the Qing Dynasty (1644–1911). However, since there is no other term that comprises both regions of Tarim Basin and Dzungaria and also eastern Xinjiang, I am compelled to use it. For a discussion of the complex question of toponym-usage in this region see Millward, Eurasian Crossroads.View all notes At the same time it asserts that Uyghur and Han do not establish distinct spatial relationships just because of their ethnicity, but also to enhance ethnic solidarity and boundaries vis-à-vis the other. This essay also demonstrates that places are historically contingent, and discusses the ways in which the influx of temporary Han migrants and settlers – and Han capital – has generated new layers of spatial meaning and new power differentials.