Conceptualizing Cultural Politics in Subcultural and Social Movement Studies

In this article it is argued that combining theories of social movements and subcultures provides a way of 'conceptualizing cultural politics'. The focus is on debates that have taken place over the conceptualization of subcultures and social movements as well as the status and viability of cultural politics. Contemporary subcultural theorists are critical of the rigid concepts used by the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies (CCCS) but, it is argued, they provide few feasible alternatives. They also have little to say about the supposed contemporary significance of cultural politics. New social movement (NSM) theorists, on the other hand, have generated conceptual frameworks that recognize the complexity of collective phenomena and have developed an approach which enables us to engage with the controversy over cultural politics. However, they concentrate too narrowly on struggles waged at the level of lifestyle, culture and civil society. The article shows how, like the CCCS, critics of NSM theory rightly question the potency of symbolic challenges and stress the persistent role of material issues and the continued part that conventional political actors, such as the state, play in contemporary social conflicts. Finally, the case of New Age Travellers is used to illuminate these debates in subcultural and social movement studies and to show how elements of each approach can be employed fruitfully in empirical research.     

Special issue: Training and Education for Residential Child Care

This paper begins by locating the (controversial) removal of the ‘minimum age at qualification’ regulation in 2003 within the context of wider changes occurring within social work education and the social work profession. This is followed by a report of a small scale exploratory study designed to gather data regarding the experiences of younger students within one undergraduate qualifying programme. The data are then discussed in relation to literature from within social work and allied disciplines in order to consider themes such as ‘identity’, ‘othering’ and ‘recognition’. It is suggested from data gathered during this project that although the gates to social work education have now been opened more widely to school leaving students, they have in effect become social work's new ‘non-traditional’ students and in some cases, inclusion is experienced as partial rather than complete. A discussion of the implications for further research as well as teaching, learning and group process issues on professional programmes concludes this paper.

The initial phase of the research for this paper was funded by an HEA SWAP ‘small projects’ grant.     

Explaining age differences in women’s emotional well-being: The role of subjective experiences of aging

ABSTRACT

Our study examines explanations for the “paradox” of older women’s better emotional well-being compared with younger women. We consider the role of subjective experiences of aging in a society that devalues older women. Using a sample of women (n = 872) from the National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States (1995–1996 and 2004–2006), we examine the role of five components of the subjective experience of aging in explaining older women’s better emotional well-being compared with younger women: age identity, conceptions of the timing of middle age, aging attitudes, aging anxieties, and self-assessed physiological changes. We find that, compared with women 50–54 years old, those 35–39 years old report lower positive affect, and those 25–49 report higher negative affect. These patterns are partially explained by younger women’s greater anxiety about declines in health and attractiveness and older women’s more youthful identities. Our study underscores the value of considering the implications of our ageist and sexist society for women’s emotional well-being across adulthood.     

年龄分层视角下的中国劳动力

在全社会关于“延迟退休”的热议之下,本文利用2012年中国劳动力动态调查,分析了不同年龄层劳动力的特征,调查结果显示,我国高龄劳动力素质低、收入低,全职就业及劳动合同签订比例皆低,同时,他们更看重工作的谋生价值.基于不同年龄层劳动力状态的对比,本文为提高领取养老金年龄、延迟退休年龄的渐进实现问题提出一些建议.     

中国育龄妇女孩次递进比分析

通过孩次递进比计算方法的比较选择,本文运用第五次全国人口普查1%.抽样数据分别计算中国2000年育龄妇女的各年龄别孩次递进比、城乡孩次递进比、区域孩次递进比,揭示中国育龄妇女生育水平的分布状况.     

A preliminary evaluation: Demographic and clinical profiles and changes in functioning in children receiving psychosocial rehabilitation

The present study is the first to examine the demographic and clinical profiles at intake of children, ages 4 to 18 years, who received Child Psychosocial Rehabilitation (CSPR), a relatively new community-based treatment model for children with emotional disturbance. In addition, the relationship between the relative change in psychosocial, emotional, and behavioral functioning as measured by CAFAS (Hodges, 1989, 1994, 2000) and PECFAS (1994, 2000) scores and the children's age, gender, ethnicity, current living arrangement, internalizing and externalizing behaviors, and severity of impairment at intake were evaluated. Fifty-three children received CPSR for a minimum of six months from a for-profit outpatient child and adolescent mental health clinic located in southwestern Idaho. Significant improvement in the children's overall functioning was found after six months of treatment. Middle or high school age children demonstrated significantly more impairment at intake compared with their younger counterparts. No significant differences in overall functioning were revealed considering the characteristic of gender, living arrangement and clinical profiles at intake.     

困境与出路：提高上海市老年人口生活质量的思考

上海是我国人口老龄化程度最高的地区。在梳理老年人口生活质量的概念、内涵基础上,利用现有的上海市老年人口状况数据,分析上海在提高老年人1：7生活质量方面存在的问题,并重点探讨进一步提高老年人口生活质量的对策建议。     

红水河流域壮族蛙神崇拜的美学阐释

红水河流域一带流传着许多关于青蛙的故事传说和舞蹈等艺术形式,说明青蛙对壮族先民曾经有过的心理价值和审美价值比其实用价值更大。红水河乃至整个壮族地区对蛙的崇拜其实是壮民族生存文化的具象性思维,而舞蹈、铜鼓艺术形式则是壮民族对生存文化的审美体现。     

Status and competitive choice

In this paper, we extend the logic of existing sociological theory on status to explain how status processes can inform selection in competitive choice situations. We argue that in the absence of knowledge about the specific abilities of others and assuming a desire to win, when given the opportunity to “pick their battles,” people will draw on overt status differences as a basis for selecting a competitor from a pool of possible competitors. Results from three studies indicate that, as predicted, status differences affect competitor selection, with individuals choosing to compete against those who are relatively lower status based on diffuse characteristics. Moreover, consistent with expectation state theories, results from two studies show that the expectations that people form for their potential competitors based on status differences mediate this relationship. We conclude by discussing the implications of this research.     

人口年龄结构、经济增长与中国居民消费

本文以生命周期假说为理论基础,运用中国2002-2008年的省级面板数据分析了人口年龄结构变化和经济增长对中国居民消费率的影响.实证研究发现:人口结构因素和收入增长率对居民消费有着显著的影响.其中,消费率与少儿抚养比、老年抚养比间分别存在正相关关系和负相关关系,与经济增长率之间存在负相关关系.然而,在分别对东、中、西部地区的研究中却发现,消费率与抚养比以及经济增长率的关系并不与全国保持一致,这些差别反映了区域间经济社会发展差距以及不同地区老龄化程度的差异.