Socioeconomic Status and Mental Illness in Japan*

Abstract Since the pioneering work of Faris and Dunham (1938), a number of studies in the United States have documented an inverse association between socioeconomic status (SES) and mental illness both at the aggregate and the individual levels, and both for the treated and the general population. However, there are few studies of whether this relationship holds in other countries. This study examines socioeconomic characteristics and mental illness in Japan, which has a very different social stratification system from that of the United States. It was found that, at the aggregate level, the “inverse” association between socioeconomic characteristics and the rate of treated mental illness does not hold in Japan. Instead, the relationship is curvilinear: mental illness is higher in districts with large numbers of blue collar and upper white collar workers than in districts with large numbers of lower white collar workers. The effect of SES on mental illness operates through economic stress embedded in the macro social context. Because different social structures lead to different patterns of economic stress, the inverse relationship between socioeconomic status and mental health cannot be assumed to hold in all countries.     

What Do Movements Mean? The Value of Participant-Observation

Participant-observation can teach us much about the everyday meanings of doing social activism. I conceptualize these implicit meanings in relation to work in the sociology of culture, and social movement studies, and give examples from activists' everyday interaction. A participant-observer's forays into implicit meanings illuminate three dimensions of activists' experiences: the ways activists practice democratic citizenship in their groups, the ways they build group ties, and the ways they define the meaning of activism itself. By probing these implicit meanings, we can address questions that concern many social movement scholars. We increase our understanding of how movements grow, accomodate conflict, and build alliances, and we can specify which insights are useful in theories of contemporary or new social movements.     

De minimis and equity in risk

Indices and orderings are developed for evaluating alternative strategies in the management of risk. They reflect the goals of reducing individual and collective risks, of increasing equity, and of assigning priority to the reduction and to the equity of high risks. Individual risk is defined as the (random or non-random) level of exposure to a danger. In particular the role of a lower negligibility level is investigated. A class of indices is proposed which involves two parameters, a negligibility level and a parameter of inequality aversion, and several interpretations of the indices are discussed. We provide a set of eight axioms which are necessary and sufficient for this class of indices, and we present an approach to deal with partial information on the parameters.     

Re-Visioning Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

Constructionist notions have become commonplace in theoretical discussions of the self, but are seldom translated into consideration of specific social work practice concerns such as ADHD. Explorations of ADHD, on the other hand, typically emphasize a narrow, medically-oriented symptom picture that is devoid of the psychosocial context in which the so-called symptoms emerge. A transactional approach to the understanding of ADHD is advanced. This article promotes a link between constructionism and social work's psychosocial or person-in-environment perspective. Such a perspective supports approaches to the assessment of ADHD that illuminate larger cultural messages and their constraining influence on individual meaning-making. Intervention, conducted at multiple levels, must be geared to the establishment of more hopeful and affirming narratives.     

Worldviews or Social Groups as the Source of Moral Value Attitudes: Implications for the Culture Wars Thesis

Individual moral value attitudes are typically explained by reference to social experiences as indicated by social group variables. Contrary to this view, the emergent culture wars perspective claims that two worldviews that transcend social groups are ultimately and fundamentally responsible for moral value attitudes. Although this relationship has been claimed for the general population, it has not been investigated with national representative data. This paper contrasts the worldview and social group explanations by examining the relative importance of the worldviews implicated in the culture wars literature and the social groups found to be important in previous research. I find social groups to be more important than worldviews, but that worldviews also have explanatory power. I conclude with a discussion about possible clarifications of the culture wars thesis.     

The design of organizations and the right to act

Recent innovations in the structure of formal organizations suggest possible directions for the design of schools to bring about high achievement. The structure of output-driven in contrast to administratively-driven schools is described, and designs are described which address both the goal of high achievement and the goal of reduced inequality.An earlier version of this paper was presented as the author's Sorokin Lecture at the annual meeting of the Eastern Sociological Society, Boston, March 1993.     

FDI对我国三次产业影响作用的实证分析

利用自回归分布滞后(ADL)模型,结合我国1983到2006年的有关数据,对我国FDI对三次产业的影响作用作出实证分析,得出结论,FDI在短期内对我国经济增长起了较大的促进作用,但长期作用不显著.并结合我国经济现状分析了原因,提出要充分发挥其在经济增长中的作用,需调整FDI在三次产业之间以及产业内部的投资结构.     

论人的发展及其动力

人是不断发展的。人的发展主要是指作为"个人"和"人类"辩证统一的"人"的发展,包括个体特征的发展和社会特征的发展。人的个体特征的发展主要体现为身体的发展、实践活动的发展和精神活动的发展;人的社会特征的发展主要体现为人的社会素质的发展、人的需要的发展、人的社会关系的发展和人的个性的发展。人的发展是由多种动力推进的。人的需要的发展是引起人不断发展的自身内在的精神性动力,人的实践的发展是促使人不断发展的自身外在的物质性动力,社会环境的发展则是实现人不断发展的外部环境条件。在我国当前的社会主义建设中,贯彻科学发展观,坚持以人为本,就是为促进人的发展创造条件。     

数字素养是乡村生活数字化转型的驱动力吗?——基于山东省1 037位农村居民的调研数据

从数字技术应用素养、数字内容社交素养、数字媒体创新素养和数字安全保护素养4个维度构建农村居民数字素养评价指标体系,探讨数字素养对农村居民数字生活参与的影响效应和作用机制。研究发现,农村居民数字素养总体偏低。数字素养显著正向影响农村居民数字消费、数字文娱、数字出行、数字教育、数字医疗和数字生活参与度。社会网络、社会学习和自我效能感在上述影响中发挥部分中介作用,并且对不同领域数字生活的影响有较显著差异。进一步研究发现,数字素养通过强弱社会关系网络对农村居民各领域数字生活影响存在差异,尤其是弱关系网络对参与复杂数字生活有显著影响。据此提出建立健全数字教育培育体系,提高农村居民自我效能感,统筹协调强、弱社会网络,提升社会学习能力等对策建议。     

融合型治理:县域城镇化何以助推基层治理有效

基层治理有效是国家治理现代化的重要目标,有赖于对基层社会和民众的多元化需求的及时回应与满足。当前,基层治理大多聚焦于治理资源的整合,而对于治理资源如何转化为治理效能的过程和机理则关注不够,在实践层面也忽视了不同单元、类型和需求下基层治理的差异性和非均衡性。县域城镇化与基层治理在场域、过程和目标上具有耦合性,县域城镇化助推基层治理的关键在于,以要素整合为基础实现资源要素与治理需求有效对接,平衡治理场域内的供需关系,以实现治理资源向治理效能的转化。从供需关系的视角出发,重点关注治理资源向治理效能转化的过程与机制,构建“资源整合-供需平衡-治理有效”的融合型治理分析框架,探析县域城镇化助推基层治理有效的实践路径和运行逻辑。四川省邛崃市的实践表明,借助治理要素、治理单元、治理路径和治理效能的有机融合,融合型治理能推动“供需对接-供需适配-供需调节-供需平衡”的供需关系转换,力求实现基层均衡型善治,为县域内不同治理单元撬动城乡发展资源、促进城乡融合、助推基层治理提供支撑。为此,未来要进一步细化县域城镇化进程中基层单元的类型,挖掘基层治理资源与要素,拓展县域城镇化与基层治理的链接方式,不断推动县域城镇化与基层治理的契合和互促。