Knowing ‘how to go on’: structuration theory as an analytical prism in studies of intercultural engagement

Accelerated rates of global migration over the past 20 years have seen dramatic increases in demographic, cultural and social diversity in the world's most developed countries. Scholars of migration are faced with the challenge of understanding a society that consists of countless socio-cultural frontiers, along which the contrasting and often conflicting practices and values of diverse populations collide. These circumstances require the development of a theoretical framework that elucidates the practices through which these cultural collisions and conflicts are actualised and addressed, illuminating the day to day challenges of living with difference. This article proposes structuration theory as an insightful analytical prism that can afford new in-depth perspectives into intercultural engagements. By exploring the confluence between structural factors and the actions of individual agents, structuration theory illuminates the choices made by members of migrant groups regarding socio-cultural affiliations, as well as highlighting the strategic processes and behaviours through which these choices are actualised. A discussion of empirical research with Muslim youth in the west of Ireland illustrates the analytical clarity that structuration theory can offer to debates on integration and interculturalism.     

我国人口迁移大势和胡焕庸线思考

本文对2005－2010年间我国东中西部地区的人口净迁移流量作了两种推算：一是根据“六普”资料直接推算,二是按地区人口增量扣除自然增长量的方法间接推算,发现两种推算结果有较大出入。推算结果还显示：5岁以下儿童的净迁移流向正好与“一江春水向东流”的大势相反。笔者认为：胡焕庸线破与不破两难,主要难在人口东迁难以突破性逆转。人口均衡分布之义,在于“均而不衡,衡而不均”,过份追求均匀分布,只会加剧人口与经济社会、资源环境的不平衡。区域人口与经济－资源承载力的相对平衡,应着力寻求区域内平衡和跨区域平衡之间的最佳平衡点。     

土地权益在农民工城乡迁移意愿影响中的作用显化——基于推拉理论的分析

农民工城乡迁移,是影响中国农业转型、城乡经济社会发展一体化的重要变量.借鉴推拉理论梳理影响中国农民工城乡迁移意愿的因素,区分并显化土地权益在其中的作用,提出城乡收入、就业环境、土地权益三个假说.并利用南京市的农民工1062份样本调查数据,以农民工流动方向为参照确定留在城市与返回农村作为各自对照组,通过多项分类logit回归分析计量各因素对不同迁移方向意愿的推拉作用.研究发现,城乡收入差距成为农民工城乡迁移的巨大动力;城市就业环境的好坏虽直接影响到农民工的经济权益,但在家庭总收入最大化的目标下他们对恶劣就业环境有较强的耐受力;土地权益则在农民工城乡迁移中起到了社会保障的作用.总之,规避风险并寻求家庭总收入最大化成为农民工城乡迁移行为决策的逻辑基础,今后土地制度改革和政策设计必须重视土地为农民工所提供的退路保障.     

论公民迁徙自由权的法律保护

迁徙自由作为人身自由的重要组成部分,是各国宪法着力保护的公民的基本人权之一。改革户籍制度,从法律上确认和保护迁徙自由,破除城乡隔绝的"二元模式"建立统一的人力资源市场和以平等、人权、为基本价值诉求的户籍改革,迫在眉睫。中国公民享有迁徙自由权,不论国家以何种方式取消或严格限制,都无法理依据。     

人口迁移与城镇体系规模结构

工业化和城市化将成为主导中国未来经济发展的两大最主要的趋势,而城市化最直接、最明显的表现就是人口在不同空间区位上的重新聚集和分布,即城镇体系中规模结构的变化。分析人口迁移对城市规模结构和区域社会经济发展的影响可以看出,城镇体系的规模结构只是城市与区域社会经济发展的反映,要实现大、中、小城市协调发展的关键是优化城镇体系的职能组合结构。     

Evaluating the local impacts of recent immigration to California: Realism versus racism

Although past migration was often viewed with suspicion the implicit assumption was that new migrants would fill the jobs in the growing cities and contribute to the national wealth. There are those who still subscribe to the view that continuing migration will increase national wealth, indeed that new migrants are the work horses of prosperity. There is another view however, which focuses on the local impacts of migration. This view suggests that the migrations of the late twentieth century are in a different context and create substantial burdens on local communities and states. It may be too, that the mass migrations of the late twentieth century will lead to a new pattern of social exclusion, polarization and a new ethnic under-class. The analysis of recent migration in California documents the extent to which that migration is made up of very low skill, low income, and dependent groups and has the potential to create significant local dependency burdens.     

INFORMATION, CAPITALISM AND UNCERTAINTY

This article argues that the changes characterized by many commentators as announcing the 'information age' are better seen, not as heralding a new type of society, but as the continuation, consolidation and extension of capitalism - something which is accompanied by constant upheaval and innovation. The shift from conceiving the 'information society' as a result of technological breakthroughs to one which lays emphasis on the primacy of 'information' itself is observed. The importance especially of informational labour's 'flexibility' is regarded, not as indicative of a new age but of the requirements of globalized capitalism which engenders change the better to consolidate its practices. The instability of life today is ascribed, not to the upheavals resulting from the 'information revolution', but rather to the insatiable dynamic that has long been a distinguishing feature of capitalist enterprise. These processes are examined in terms of the shift from public to private provision of information and in the heightened uncertainty of existence today.     

Free trade,food-processing,and migration: An analysis of Mexican immigration in the U.S. Great Plains Region

This paper empirically identifies the factors driving Mexican immigration into the U.S. Great Plains region, focusing especially on the role of work in the Mexican and U.S. food-processing sectors, which in the context of NAFTA-induced foreign direct investments, opens up paths for migration along occupational lines into the U.S. from Mexico. Using a unique dataset on Mexican migration, the study addresses three related questions in a series of multivariate logistic regression analyses. First, is employment in the U.S. food-processing sector associated with Mexican migration into the Great Plains region? Second, does employment in the Mexican food-processing sector predict employment in the Great Plains food-processing sector? Finally, is the political–economic context linking Mexico and the U.S. related to the formation of occupational channels linking the food-processing sectors in Mexico and the U.S.? The findings demonstrate that the U.S. food-processing sector is a strong predictor of Mexican migration to the Great Plains region; Mexican migration is strongly channeled along occupational lines from Mexico to the U.S.; and the implementation of NAFTA, a period of intensive political–economic integration, strengthens the occupational channel between the food-processing sectors.     

关于打工妹婚姻逆迁移的调查

由于制度与自身的原因 ,很多在城相恋的农民工婚后回到了农村 ,文章根据打工妹的婚后生活状况把打工妹的婚姻逆迁移分为四种类型 :安居乐业型、外出型、女方外逃型、女方自杀型。通过对这四种类型的描述从宏观和微观两个层面对婚姻逆迁移进行理论探讨。从宏观上看 ,城市化、工业化是不可逆的现代化趋势 ,在此背景下 ,与城市化、工业化相悖的婚姻逆迁移必然整体上充满被动和凄凉。从微观的角度来看 ,男女双方婚前信息交换的完全性、婚姻迁移和社区迁移的同步性也是影响这些婚姻迁移者婚姻质量的关键变项。     

中国的返迁人口:基于五普数据的分析

本文利用我国2000年第五次人口普查的数据,估计返迁人口的规模并描述返迁人口的人口社会特征及其与现在的迁移人口与非迁移常住人口的差异,从个人因素、居住地类型以及家庭户特征三个方面分别讨论了返迁的决定因素。并讨论了本文的一些缺陷及今后的研究方向。