Aged women,witchcraft, and social relations among the Igbo in South-Eastern Nigeria

Belief in the existence of witchcraft has remained a social phenomenon in Igbo society, especially with aged women who are often labeled witches. This study is exploratory and explains the implication of labeling an aged woman a witch and social relations in Igbo society in South-Eastern Nigeria. Twenty interviews were conducted with aged women who are victims of the witchcraft label and their relatives using qualitative methods of data collection, key informant interviews, and in-depth interviews. Data collected were analyzed using ethnographic content analysis. Findings reveal different social views attached to witchcraft and how it relates to aged women.     

“But we still try”: affective labor in the corporate mommy blog

This article studies three “mommy blogs,” online platforms catering to (in these cases) American mothers of various sub-demographics, through an affective labor framework. Using digital labor and Althusserian subject formation to inform my reading of the common rhetorical gestures made in these blogs, I ask how they conceive of their readership and contributors. I argue that mommy blogs should be understood as sites of digital labor because of the ways in which their publishing conditions and rhetorics establish labored expectations of the “mommy” subject. Contestations of the nature of affective labor in motherhood are reflected by anxieties around digital labor, which play out via ideological conflicts that manifest rhetorically in the blogs under discussion. This analysis is informed by affect theory, Althusser and Butler’s work on subject formation, and the existing feminist literature on digital labor and the mommy blog.     

Bad News Has Wings: Dread Risk Mediates Social Amplification in Risk Communication

Social diffusion of information amplifies risk through processes of birth, death, and distortion of message content. Dread risk—involving uncontrollable, fatal, involuntary, and catastrophic outcomes (e.g., terrorist attacks and nuclear accidents)—may be particularly susceptible to amplification because of the psychological biases inherent in dread risk avoidance. To test this, initially balanced information about high or low dread topics was given to a set of individuals who then communicated this information through diffusion chains, each person passing a message to the next. A subset of these chains were also reexposed to the original information. We measured prior knowledge, perceived risk before and after transmission, and, at each link, number of positive and negative statements. Results showed that the more a message was transmitted the more negative statements it contained. This was highest for the high dread topic. Increased perceived risk and production of negative messages was closely related to the amount of negative information that was received, with domain knowledge mitigating this effect. Reexposure to the initial information was ineffectual in reducing bias, demonstrating the enhanced danger of socially transmitted information.     

民族历史构建与现实社会因素(续)

保安族在50年代被正式识别为一个民族,对其族源曾有多种观点。但是在建国50年后,保安族的历史和族源观被再次重构,这个过程既反映了现实民族关系对历史书写的映射,也反映了民族精英在历史重构中的能动性。对保安族的这个实例的分析可以帮助我们更深刻地认识现实社会因素能够如何影响民族历史的构建,这个案例所反映出来的族群历史建构模式对于研究我国的"民族历史建构和族群群体的认同结构也颇具启发意义。     

农村留守儿童问题的社会支持网分析

本文首先对农村留守儿童存在的问题进行了探讨,接着分析了留守儿童教育中所需要的社会支持网严重缺乏,认为政府、学校、家庭和社会应该共同努力,构建一个强有力的社会支持网络,促进留守儿童健康成长。     

亚细亚生产方式理论对马克思唯物史观的发展和完善

马克思在对东方社会理论的研究和对亚细亚生产方式基本特征的揭示过程中 ,丰富和发展了唯物史观思想。认为社会历史发展道路 ,既是统一的 ,又是多样的 ,马克思提出跨越资本主义“卡夫丁峡谷”的设想 ,不仅指出了俄国革命道路 ,更为人们提供了一种方法论。关于社会历史进程问题和社会历史尺度问题 ,马克思亦做了辩证的阐述。     

以人为本与推进科学发展、社会和谐

党的十七大提出"推动科学发展、促进社会和谐"的重要战略目标。人的全面发展是实现这一战略目标的最高原则,共同幸福是实现这一战略目标的根本目的,尊重保障人权是实现这一战略目标的基本要求,诚实友爱的人际环境是实现这一战略目标的重要条件。     

居住分异与社会距离

通过对一个新建社区的形成过程和居住现状的考察,分析了国内"居住分异"的社会分化现象。通过数据分析发现,居住分异以后,群体分化程度被强化了,它使居民之间的社会距离扩大、疏离感增强。这种状况不利于社会团结与和谐社会的建设。我国正处在城市化高速发展的进程中,如果没有明确的政策干预,任由房地产市场按照这样的情况发展下去,居住分异与社会距离问题会变得更加严重。     

引入“发展”维度 完善农村社会救助——基于资产建设的视角

当前农村减贫效果有限,原因之一在于农村社会救助以收入维持为主要目标,缺乏"发展"维度。救助对象局限在绝对贫困人口,未能满足边缘贫困人群和有劳动力贫困人口的"发展"需求。资产社会政策主张减贫策略并非简单地直接增加穷人的收入,而是要帮助穷人进行资产积累与投资。通过资产建设,可为穷人提供可持续生计,提升其人力资本和社会资本,降低其脆弱性,增强抵御风险和发展的能力。因此,帮助穷人建立、积累个人资产和社区资产,可促进个人、家庭和社区发展,推动农村社会救助的完善。     

中国社会保障公共支出省际比较研究

在借鉴社会保障制度比较研究的经典理论和模型的基础上,本文依据中国31个省份的年度截面数据对影响各省社会保障公共支出水平的因素进行了统计分析和模型检验。研究结果发现,中国各省级政府的社会保障公共支出水平存在着巨大的差异。政府力量是造成各省社会保障公共支出水平差异的首要因素,其次是单位体制因素,再次是经济发展水平因素。