Class and comparison: subjective social location and lay experiences of constraint and mobility

Lay perceptions and experiences of social location have been commonly framed with reference to social class. However, complex responses to, and ambivalence over, class categories have raised interesting analytic questions relating to how sociological concepts are operationalized in empirical research. For example, prior researchers have argued that processes of class dis‐identification signify moral unease with the nature of classed inequalities, yet dis‐identification may also in part reflect a poor fit between ‘social class’ as a category and the ways in which people accord meaning to, and evaluate, their related experiences of socio‐economic inequality. Differently framed questions about social comparison, aligned more closely with people's own terms of reference, offer an interesting alternative avenue for exploring subjective experiences of inequality. This paper explores some of these questions through an analysis of new empirical data, generated in the context of recession. In the analysis reported here, class identification was common. Nevertheless, whether or not people self identified in class terms, class relevant issues were perceived and described in highly diverse ways, and lay views on class revealed it to be a very aggregated as well as multifaceted construct. It is argued that it enables a particular, not general, perspective on social comparison. The paper therefore goes on to examine how study participants compared themselves with familiar others, identified by themselves. The evidence illuminates social positioning in terms of constraint, agency and (for some) movement, and offers insight into very diverse experiences of inequality, through the comparisons that people made. Their comparisons are situated, and pragmatic, accounts of the material contexts in which people live their lives. Linked evaluations are circumscribed and strongly tied to these proximate material contexts.The paper draws out implications for theorizing lay perspectives on class, and subjective experiences of inequality.     

Mastery-approach and mastery-avoidance goals and their relation with exhaustion and engagement at work: The roles of emotional and instrumental support

The results of two cross-sectional studies (N = 220 and N = 258) indicate that employees' work-related mastery-approach goals (i.e. the striving to improve one's performance at work) were positively associated with work engagement. Further, this relationship is explained by high levels of instrumental support. In contrast, employees' work-related mastery-avoidance goals (i.e. the striving to avoid performing worse than one aspires to) are positive predictors of job detachment and fatigue. The relationships between mastery-avoidance goals and these detrimental work outcomes are explained by low levels of perceived emotional support. Altogether, these results suggest that workers with mastery-approach goals tend to invest in their social work environment by establishing instrumental exchange relationships. Such relationships are considered functional for task performance and explain the positive relationship with work engagement. Employees who hold mastery-avoidance goals, on the other hand, tend to withdraw from the social structure of the workplace which explains the negative relationship with emotional support. In turn, given the lack of emotional support, psychological detachment and fatigue may emerge. These results are discussed in relation to the surging interest in the social mechanisms that result from the pursuit of achievement goals.     

Skill utilization and well-being: a cross-level story of day-to-day fluctuations and personal intrinsic values

The opportunity to use one's skills at work is an important prerequisite for employee well-being. Drawing on self-determination and person-environment fit theory, this diary study aims to add to our understanding of this important phenomenon in two ways. Firstly, we examine the associations of within-subject daily variations in skill utilization with well-being. Secondly, we model work value orientation as a between-subject factor that moderates this within-subject relationship. Specifically, we advocate that daily skill utilization is more beneficial (in terms of more daily work engagement and less daily emotional exhaustion) for employees holding predominantly intrinsic (i.e. self-development, community contribution) as opposed to extrinsic (i.e. financial success, status) values. Results of multilevel modelling using diary data from 99 service workers over five working days, supported the assumption that daily skill utilization was positively related to daily work engagement, particularly among employees holding a predominantly intrinsic work value orientation. Contrary to our expectations, daily skill utilization was unrelated to daily exhaustion, both for employees holding high and low intrinsic values. The discussion highlights the importance of, and employees’ receptiveness to, variations in beneficial working conditions.     

Building aid workers’ resilience: why a gendered approach is needed

The concept of resilience is increasingly earning attention in development and humanitarian literature. Agencies and organisations are interested to learn about resilient communities, and keen to support the goal of ‘building resilience’ in developing countries. However, there is comparatively little interest in the resilience of aid workers themselves. This article will discuss the need to support aid workers to build resilience, for their own well-being and also for the effectiveness and sustainability of the essential humanitarian and development work they do. It will advocate for the need of embracing a gender-focused approach in the study of aid workers’ resilience, and more generally, in the study and promotion of aid workers’ well-being. The article draws on a qualitative study which found international women aid workers face specific stressors within the organisations they work for, in working relationships with national staff, and in their personal life. Humanitarian and development organisations need to adopt a gender-focused approach to resilience in the provision of psychosocial support for staff working in development, and emergency relief/humanitarian aid.     

唐宋诗的文本差异及其文化原因

唐宋诗的差异是人所共知的事情,但这种差异在具体文本上的表现却少有细致分析.堪称唐诗代表的是李杜,堪称宋诗代表的是苏黄.将李白与苏轼、杜甫与黄庭坚的几首题材相近、体裁相同的诗作进行比较分析就可以看出他们或重生命体验的完整性,或重艺术构思的精妙深微的两种不同的创作倾向.而在这种不同的创作倾向背后则隐含着以消解生存焦虑为目的和以实现主体意识为目的的两种不同的文化价值取向,诗歌文本差异不过是文化价值取向差异的表征而已.     

Wealth accumulation among U.S. immigrants: A study of assimilation and differentials

Data from the New Immigrant Survey are used to study wealth differentials among U.S. legal permanent residents. This study is unique in its ability to account for wealth held in the U.S. and that held abroad and yields several key findings. First, relative to immigrants from Western Europe, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand (who have median wealth similar to native born non-Hispanic whites), other immigrant groups have lower levels of total wealth even after accounting for permanent income and life course characteristics. Second, time in the U.S. is positively associated with the wealth of married immigrants, yet this relationship is not statistically significant for single immigrants. Third, differences in the means of measured characteristics between Western European immigrants and those from most other origin regions account for more than 75 percent of observed wealth disparities. However, for immigrants from Asia and from the Indian subcontinent, much of the wealth differential remains unexplained by these factors.     

Is there an optimum number of night shifts? Relationship between sleep,health and well-being

Abstract

By concentrating on the impact of a specific shift-system feature on the well-being of those concerned, rather than on the impact of the shift system as a whole, one might be able to offer more meaningful suggestions as to what constitutes a better form of shift system. The present study focused on the impact of the number of consecutive night shifts worked on the health and well-being of two groups of nurses (permanent night and rotating shift). All nurses completed a copy of the Standard Shiftwork Index, which is a set of questionnaires designed for comparing the effects of different types of shift system on large groups of workers. It includes measurements of psychological ill-health, physical ill-health, chronic fatigue, social and domestic disruption, attitudes towards shiftwork, sleep quality and sleep habits. Results showed clearly the impact of the number of consecutive nights worked on health and well-being, not directly, but indirectly through the impact on sleep duration and sleep quality. Sleep duration was shown to increase with more consecutive nights worked. This in turn was found to predict sleep quality, which in turn was found to be the stronger direct predictor of psychological and physical ill-health: i.e. better health was associated with longer and better quality sleeps. Explanations in terms of circadian adaptation are discussed.     

Trust and Subjective Well‐being after the Great East Japan Earthquake,Tsunami and Nuclear Meltdown: Preliminary Results

This paper presents preliminary results of an analysis of trust in governmental institutions and social networks after the disaster of 11 March 2011, as well as an investigation of the implication of such trust resources for subjective well‐being. Using data from a postal survey carried out in the Tōhoku and Kanto region in September 2011, differences in trust resources are explored by regional proximity to the disaster area as well as by personal affliction. Levels of social trust prove to be generally high, whilst trust in governmental institutions is low, especially when personally affected by the disaster. Trust resources are shown to contribute positively to subjective well‐being and thus to constitute an important asset in the process of coping with disaster.     

中国古代美学对山水美的主体条件的分析

中国古代美学将山水美生成的条件重点审美主体上,认为主体具有四个条件就可以实现对自然山水的审美欣赏。这四个条件是:虚静之心、执著之观、亲近之情、飞动之思。     

马克思经济学批判的主体性原则

马克思对资本主义的经济学进行批判的时候,是从主体性原则出发的。从主体性原则出发也就是从“人”出发。这种主体性原则首先表现为经济学批判所具有的“哲学本性”。其次,马克思的经济学批判主要体现在以下几个方面,即对异化劳动、私有财产以及商品拜物教的经济学批判。在这些经济学批判当中都贯穿着主体性原则。