Crowdfunding digital platforms: Backer networks and their impact on project outcomes

Crowdfunding platforms serve to connect project creators and backers. Previous research has explored several project and platform determinants that impact crowdfunding outcomes. However, there has been limited research on these determinants at an individual level. Our paper addresses how backers may influence the outcomes of projects in crowdfunding platforms. We explore several methods commonly used in the industry to identify influence and show that centrality measures through a backer affiliation network best exemplifies influence. Using data from Kickstarter, we construct a weighted backer network based on 52,678 common projects backed by 11,134 backers. Controlling for digital media mentions and project quality, we find evidence that backers in central positions within the network have a positive impact on multiple project outcomes such as the project success rates, amount of funds raised, speed of reaching the crowdfunding goal as well as the number of backers contributing to the project. These findings are replicated and reinforced by using data from a different crowdfunding platform using the entire backer network based on 1095 projects backed by 87,896 backers. Several robustness tests are used to validate these results.     

The role of social capital in the job-related regional mobility decisions of unemployed individuals

Social capital is an important factor in interregional mobility. Although most prior research has focused on its role in the job-finding process, this study investigates the function of social networks and the social capital embedded therein after an interregional job offer has been received. This subject is particularly important for the unemployed, who should be able to exploit a mobility strategy to re-enter the labour market. Unemployed persons rely on their social networks to cope with joblessness, but there is evidence that social contexts can also act as mobility traps for this group (Windzio, 2004). We examine whether the unemployed weight social capital in a unique manner when making decisions regarding mobility.To investigate these issues, we combine a factorial survey module (FSM) with data from the German “Labour market and social security” (PASS) panel study to generate representative samples of both unemployed and employed persons with a randomised mobility stimulus in the form of hypothetical interregional job offers. Our results reveal the mobilising effects of exposure to conflict-laden relationships with the social network and the household. These are particularly pronounced for unemployed persons, highlighting the importance of factors that influence decision making about mobility beyond simple economic considerations.     

后现代主义视角下对社会工作谋求专业合法性的思考

在政策的推广下,社工的合法性建设在中国如火如荼地开展。本文将合法性建设置于场域—惯习理论下进行检视,并从后现代女性主义理论视角出发,认为合法性惯习可追溯到男权制文化的建构,实际上是社会场域中的"男性资本"的要求。社会工作的发展在受到场域的男性规则阻碍的同时,又在利用其改变自己在场域中的利益位置。笔者在文章中论述了攀附男性资本的发展只是自缚手脚,并提出建立"社会工作气质"。     

小组工作介入聋儿社会资本的重构

社会资本在聋儿成长中具有非常重要的作用。重构聋儿社会资本成为社会康复的核心内容。在聋儿听力康复过程中,由于聋儿游戏群体的缺失、家长的认识偏误以及家长社会资本的不足等原因,导致聋儿社会资本不足的问题非常突出。文章从小组工作视角出发,提出通过组建聋儿游戏群体,增进聋儿家长社会资本,重构聋儿社会资本的建议。     

On Cultural Identity of Youth in Modem China

当代中国青年的文化认同问题，可以从历史的、社会的、心理的等多维视野和知识学架构来把握。青年事实性文化认同中的差异和矛盾以及建构性认同中的关系性特征是当前青年文化的重要议题，当代中国的青年文化认同是多层次、多维度的，并不存在各种青年群体共有的、贯穿诸领域的实质性认同。     

The Love Ethic: A Radical Theory for Social Work Practice

Love is marginalised in professional social work codes of ethics in Australia and internationally. Yet, reflecting the emancipatory imperative of social work, feminist bell hooks promotes love as a political process to transform systems of injustice such as capitalism, patriarchy, and racism. Analysing the works of hooks and other relevant literature, this article discusses “the love ethic”, a model of relationship-oriented activism encompassing dialogue, nonviolence, interconnectedness between people and between people and nature, reflexivity, shared power, and solidarity. It provides some practical suggestions for love-based social work practice, such as self-forgiveness, pursuing gender-equal relationships, upholding fair workplace conditions, honouring Indigenous peoples, supporting oppressed people to assert their rights, connecting local and global action, nurturing symbiotic relationships with nature, and supporting empowering spiritualities. The love ethic supports radical social workers to engage in activism, and necessitates further exploration within academia and practice.     

多元的群体 偏离的印象——对中国“90后”社会特征的解析

"90后"群体是当前社会关注的焦点。以中国社会发展进程为纵线,以影响"90后"群体的主要心理因素为横线,从社会化进程、教育化选择、网络化生活以及同一性承诺等四个方面对"90后"群体的多元可能和形成过程进行解析发现:"90后"的天生多元促成了其群体多元的真正实现:"90后"教育选择的多样性加剧了其多元的可能性;"90后"的网络化生存(工作)能力提供了其多元的现实工具;"90后"的自我意识中心反映了其较早的自我觉醒。因此,面对社会给予"90后"的诸多负面评价与"90后"良好自我认同的差异与偏离,我们需要聆听他们对世界的认知。     

Mobility and Professional Networks in Academia: An Exploration of the Obligations of Presence

This article explores the obligations of presence behind work-related mobility for academics in internationalizing higher education systems. By further developing John Urry’s concept of ‘meetingness’, the article reveals how academics depend on corporeal and virtual mobility to create and maintain a networked professional life outside their own institution, which is crucial in the context of changing work conditions. Our insights are drawn from original qualitative research (42 interviews) in a Flemish and Danish context. The data reveal obligations of presence associated with an interrelated mix of functionality, and the construction of dense and sparse social networks that together support career success and work at the frontiers of academic knowledge. Despite the now well-recognized costs of corporeal mobility, obligations of presence result in virtual and corporeal mobility coexisting, rather than the former substituting for the latter. Virtual mobility is mainly used when conflicting obligations of presence exist, and as a means of sustaining networks over time given the processual nature of meetingness, rather than as a means to reduce levels of corporeal mobility.     

现代社会转型与法治政府的变革路径

伴随着中国改革开放的进程,转型成为社会变迁的主题和基本特征。与此相应的却是,改革日益呈现出一种“锁定”的状态。在社会转型时期出现的诸多根本性问题,并不能用过渡性的办法来解决。在国家和法律的现代化进程中,特别是构建法治政府的进程中,政府不能再像过去那样,一味运用相机决策和政策调整来处理社会利益矛盾,不能再对不同群体在基本权利上区别对待。同样,在工农、城乡、区域乃至人与自然生态之间,要实现统筹协调发展的目标,更需要加强普遍性的努力,这种普遍性努力以法治和体现法治精神的整体性政策为特征。     

The Political Economy of Social Insurance: Towards a Fiscal‐Centred Framework

This article draws attention to social insurance (SI) as a revenue raising institution, and explores the potential merits of drawing on new fiscal sociology for studying the development of SI systems. This is done by revisiting previous research conducted in Germany, the USA, Finland and Israel and by offering a new reading of their findings. The reviewed cases support two interlocking claims drawn from new fiscal sociology to the study of SI. The first is that state actors may perceive SI as an extraction instrument and employ it to advance fiscal and/or economic interests other than covering the costs of SI schemes. The second is that the design and management of contribution policies for such purposes may have substantial ramifications for the development of SI schemes. In addition, while current understandings tend to associate fiscal concerns with welfare state retrenchment, this article shows that they can also play a major role in driving welfare state expansion.