Asian Women,Job Training and the Social Organization of Immigrant Labor Markets

This paper examines the entry of Asian immigrant women into a gendered labor market via government-funded job training programs. The focus is on the intake processing of clients into an employment training program operated by a community based organization. The study reveals that women's family responsibilities and the cultural capital they bring function to screen them into or out of training programs and ultimately shape their location in the workforce. The study thus draws attention to how race, class, and gender enter into the organization of Asian immigrant women into the labor market. This investigation is based in institutional ethnography (Smith 1987), a research strategy which displays how activities in a particular setting are coordinated with more extended forms of social organization. The study shows that the overriding concern with successful placement in a job as mandated by government regulations is a critical factor in selecting the women for these programs.     

The majority legal status of women in southern Africa: implications for women and families

Women in many countries of southern Africa do not have majority status or have only recently gained this right. Majority status grants individuals adult legal status and the right to bring matters to court, own and administer property, have legal custody of children, and contract for marriage. This article summarizes the legal status of women in Botswana, Lesotho, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Lack of majority status contributes to the ongoing risk of poverty for women and makes them overly dependent on men. Compounding the situation in these countries is the presence of a dual legal system. Improving the situation of women and their families involves targeting changes in the legal system, influencing implementation of laws, educating women about their rights, and giving women needed support to seek their legal rights. The legal status of women must be viewed in the context of historical changes in the economic, educational, political, and cultural developments of society.The research for this paper was conducted during her previous faculty affiliation with the University of Michigan, School of Social Work. Her research interests include the impact of social change on women and families, rural mental health services, and health and mental health linkages. She received her Ph.D. from Rutgers University and her M.S.W. from the Columbia University School of Social Work.Her research interests are gender, work and family, culture and power, social transformations in rural and peri-urban communities, critical education, women and community politics, history of women, family and kinship issues, and community-based program development and evaluation. She received her M.S.W. from Dalhousie University, Halifax.     

永恒的轮回——传统“警世”文学母题的人生观与价值观

传统“警世”文学里,作家在表现人的基本需求时往往流露出既向往又恐惧的心态。这种向往与恐惧心态的交替或反复出现,反映出作家对于喜与悲、幸与不幸,对于历史、社会、人生的倏忽变幻的循环感,这使中国古典作家轻易地接受佛教的轮回观念。这种对于生命存在的不确定性的感受与表达,显示了传统“警世”文学的深刻与凝重。     

Homework and domestic work

This study assesses two competing theories about the extent to which homework—paid work in the home—helps integrate work and domestic roles for men and women. Contrasting male and female homeworkers with their counterparts working outside the home, it supports some aspects of both the resource and role overload theories, but predominantly the role overload perspective. Homeworkers, especially in the working class, experience less interference between job and family life, but perform more housework and child care. They have no more leisure time nor greater marital satisfaction than those working outside the home, but receive more family assistance with their paid jobs, suggesting that they combine tasks from their first and second shifts. Working at home does not break down gender roles in domestic life. Despite time saved from commuting, male homeworkers perform no more housework than comparable men working outside the home. Thus, the gender division of unpaid household labor is not simply a matter of resources or spatial logistics.An earlier version was presented at the meetings of the Eastern Sociological Society, Providence, Rhode Island, April 1991.     

新《课程要求》下大学英语写作教学的反思

英语写作是非英语专业大学生最薄弱的环节之一,也是教学难点之一。从教育部最新下达的《大学英语课程教学要求》(试行)的写作标准出发,分析了影响英语写作水平的主、客观因素,提出了一系列的解决对策,旨在探讨写作的教学方法和提高学生的写作能力。     

从新乡土诗到《原野》：书生写作的回归与突破

吴昕孺是一位实力派诗人,也是“好诗主义”的提倡者、践行者之一。他的长诗《原野》堪称长篇巨制,既走出了新乡土诗派的阴影,又避免了掉入当前粗陋化写作的陷阱,且能别开生面,以现代性突进作为书写技法和叙述方向。吴昕孺以自己独立、清醒的价值观和文学观,以自己的探索和坚守,形成了一种颇具个性化的“书生写作”现象。     

论土家族作家孙健忠小说的巫性书写

土家族作家孙健忠,后期创作了一系列具有神秘巫性色彩的小说,其致力于原始信仰的诗意表达和自然生命力的彰显,人神合一、人与动物神秘互渗、野性生命、本真人性、生殖崇拜等种种土家族巫文化元素渗透于作品之中,其巫性思维下的叙事方法则带给读者神秘的阅读体验。     

网络拟古世情小说对当下意识形态的民间再构

近年来,在网络通俗小说创作中涌现出大量的拟古世情小说。这类小说往往以宏大的故事布局和对优秀女主人公的塑造,吸引了众多阅读者的目光。这些女主人公群像,不仅反映出汉民族文化传统的审美眼光,也寄托了根源于以家族、财富为中心的社会价值期待,还与当下价值评判体系中的女性群体的自我期许相吻合。这些拟古世情小说在完成言情小说的爱情故事构形和实现娱情的休闲功能以外,也因为广大阅读群体逐渐步入或即将步入中产阶层而发生相应的变化,重新赋予女性作为稳定家庭、增长财富、养育子女、传承家风的核心力量的社会意义,她们洁身自好,对爱情专一,勇于面对困难,乐于奉献,担当责任,胸怀宽广。这些新型的“高大全”形象,表达出女性主义的新倾向：女性的成长和幸福的获得,更重要的在于女性内在的精神力量,与传统的气节、操守有关的人格因素,以及家教和门风。这使得网络平台的民间话语表达,具有更为包容传统以及融合其合理因素的价值取向,也与当下主流意识形态遥相呼应。     

中国单身女性的困境: 多元交叉的社会压力和歧视

随着中国单身人口比例的上升,单身人群特别是单身女性群体受到了社会各个层面的关注。目前国内对单身女性的研究主要通过深度访谈来探讨单身未婚女性的身心和生活状态,缺乏系统的理论观照,且访谈样本又大都局限于大城市的中产阶层单身未婚女性,因而限制了研究成果的代表性。从交叉性理论出发,分析中国单身女性面临的宏观(儒家文化和人口调控压力)、中观(媒体的形象控制和代际压力)和微观(性别歧视、年龄歧视和单身歧视)的多元交叉压力和歧视,厘清目前单身女性所受到的压力和歧视,从不同阶层单身女性的需求出发,才能为她们提供切实有效的帮助,并有助于解决目前我国单身人口比例上升的问题,缓解人口老龄化的压力。