Ordering competition: the interactional accomplishment of the sale of art and antiques at auction

Auctions provide an institutional solution to a social problem; they enable the legitimate pricing and exchange of goods where those goods are of uncertain value. In turn, auctions raise a number of social and organizational issues that are resolved within the interaction that arise in sales by auction. In this paper, we examine sales of fine art, antiques and objets d'art and explore the ways in which auctioneers mediate competition between buyers and establish a value for goods. In particular, we explore how bids are elicited, co-ordinated and revealed so as to rapidly escalate the price of goods in a transparent manner that enables the legitimate valuation and exchange of goods. In directing attention towards the significance of the social interaction, including talk, visual and material conduct, the paper contributes to the growing corpus of ethnographic studies of markets. It suggests that to understand the operation of markets and their outcomes, and to unpack issues of agency, trust and practice, we need to place the 'interaction order' at the heart of analytic agenda.     

The changing practice of eating: evidence from UK time diaries, 1975 and 2000

This paper examines some central themes about change in consumption behaviour through an empirical investigation of the practice of eating. It analyses patterns of food consumption in the UK using time diary data from 1975 and 2000. The practice of eating is decomposed into four component activities which are used to explore systematically the inter-relationships between social processes - such as commodification and temporal fragmentation - and ways of providing and consuming food. It charts the expansion of eating out, the degree to which it substitutes for other eating activities, and the implications of its development for social relations and the temporal organization of daily life. Analysis reveals that food consumption continues to be differentiated along established lines of social division, although the content of those divisions has changed and varies across components of the practice. Increasing commodification of the food chain is documented, but without appearing to have a corrosive impact on household organization or social relationships. While tendencies indicative of temporal fragmentation are revealed, counter-tendencies exist which suggest that the practice of eating is resilient to many forms of external pressure. Finally, the application of a practice-based analytical approach permits critical evaluation of theories of social transformation.     

浅谈音乐表演专业课程合理设置的构想

随着现代化教育改革的不断深化,高等学校对音乐文化教育和音乐专业的课程设置都进行了改革和创新:本文在借鉴以往音乐专业人才培养模式的基础上,行了大胆的改革和创新:一是重视专业基础和技能的培养;二是增加实践环节,提高动手能力;三是提高文化素养,培养综合素质较高的复合型人才。     

The Media Abuse of Children. Jake's Progress from Demonic Icon to Restored Childhood Innocent

While scholarly analysis of child protection and the media has grown substantially during the 1990s (Aldridge, 1994; Franklin and Parton, 1991; Kitzinger and Skidmore, 1995), studies have ignored a crucial dimension which forms the focus for discussion here. We wish to suggest that media reporting of children and child abuse may itself constitute an abusive activity. Media presentations of children and childhood, since press coverage of the Bulger case in 1993, have assumed a distinctive and sinister guise which, we argue, fundamentally revises the previously held perception of children and childhood. We suggest that this new understanding of childhood is damaging to children and, because of the impact of such media presentations on the public mood and policy climate, harms their interests. The discussion is in three parts. First, newspaper reporting of the Bulger case is analysed to reveal how coverage challenged the idea of childhood as a period of innocence and replaced it with a perception of childhood as essentially ‘evil’. Second, the characterization of Jake, the central figure in Alan Bleasdale's recent television dramaJake's Progress, is analysed to serve as an illustrative exemplar of this new construction of childhood. Finally, we consider the possible messages conveyed by such presentations to perpetrators and victims of abuse.     

数控技术课程教学浅探

通过对当前机械制造业发展状况的分析,说明机械类专业开设数控技术课程教学的必要性。同时针对我院数控技术课程教学过程中存在的问题,提出新形势下提高数控技术课程教学质量的途径和方法。     

对新时期大学生社会实践活动的思考

大学生社会实践活动到现在已经开展二十一年了,期间取得了辉煌的战果,引起了社会强烈的反响,同时也积累了许多问题。现在应该到了理性思考、解决问题,使社会实践整体推进的时候了。社会实践不是可有可无,而是要加强建设。     

探究性学习在化学教学中的实践和体会

化学中的探究式学习方式涉及提出问题、猜想与假设、制定计划、进行实验、收集证据、解释与结论、反思与评价、表达与交流等要素。探究式教学对学生起到了唤醒、激励、体验和感召的作用,使课堂教学焕发出勃勃生机。     

论马克思的实践观念对传统哲学的超越

马克思在批判性地继承了传统哲学中合理的实践观念的基础上,创立了哲学史上第一个真正的实践哲学形态,实现了哲学史上的伟大变革。马克思完成了由传统哲学主客分离的思维方式到实践思维方式的转变,哲学的目的也由解释世界转向变革世界,这两方面构成了马克思实践哲学体系的本质特征。     

亲子关系促进工作坊--家庭社会工作的示范

和谐家庭是构建和谐社会的基础。利用团体辅导技术,专业的社会工作在微观层面帮助改善家庭亲子关系,帮助父母提高与孩子沟通技巧,实现社会工作助人自助的宗旨和目的。在校园社会内部,教职工也面临家庭亲子关系这一家庭与社会问题。本文以一个校园亲子关系促进工作坊案例,解释亲子工作坊实务工作的理论依据与相关研究,表明了社会工作专业参与建设和谐社会的价值和潜力。     

以"四个一工程"活动为有效载体建立保持共产党员先进性长效机制

创新主题实践活动载体是推进党建工作的有效抓手,建立永葆党员先进性的长效机制是提高党的执政能力的内在要求,是加强党的先进性建设的关键环节。建立健全一套稳定持久有效的规章制度和工作机制规范约束广大党员,保证广大党员坚定理想信念,坚持党的宗旨,发挥模范作用,才能切实提高党的执政能力,巩固党的执政地位。