Adoption of Mobile Telephony in Rural India: An Empirical Study

Mobile telephony has become one of the major factors driving the social and economic development of a country. The objective of this article is to identify factors affecting the adoption of mobile telephony in rural India and examine their impact on its adoption. An explanatory empirical methodology with sequential design was used for this purpose, and new factors that affect users’ decisions to adopt mobile telephony in rural India were identified. We extended the technology acceptance model by integrating new factors for a developing nation. This study found that ensuring service transparency and identifying opinion leaders in the local community are key requirements for increasing the speed of adoption in the rural India. The findings of this study will provide insights for service providers and policy makers to develop strategies and policies that will enhance mobile telephony adoption in rural India.     

Revisiting the model of creative destruction: St. Jacobs,Ontario, a decade later

Ten years ago, the model of creative destruction was developed to predict the fate of communities that base their development on the commodification of rural heritage (Mitchell, C.J.A., 1998. Entrepreneurialism, commodification and creative destruction: a model of post-modern community development. Journal of Rural Studies 14, 273–286). Its application to the village of St. Jacobs, Canada, demonstrated that entrepreneurial investment had fostered the creation of a setting for aestheticized consumption. In this paper we demonstrate that creative destruction has continued to unfold in the village over the course of the past decade. The evolutionary path taken is assessed in light of current literature on rural space. It is concluded that to fully understand the transformative process, one must integrate the demands of myriad sub-cultures, whose social relations, ideologies and actions will contribute to the development of a contested landscape of consumption. This finding necessitates that modifications be made to the model and its various stages. The most significant is recognition that the “heritage-scape” is an interim state of landscape change; one that displaces the productivist landscape of the industrial period, and precedes the creation of the “neo-productivist” leisure-scape of post-industrialism. Whether or not such a “final” state is achieved is dictated by the power struggle that inevitably arises amongst sub-cultures engaged in the transformation of rural space.     

Influence of urban landscape structure on bird fauna: a case study across seasons in the city of Valencia (Spain)

Studies on bird fauna of urban environments have had a long history, but the potential of studies mapping the distribution of birds in cities probably has not fully developed. The bird fauna of the municipality of Valencia (Spain) was studied to determine the influence of urbanization on bird species richness and abundance. Birds were censused during winter and the breeding season of years 1997–1998 in 197 squares measuring 49 ha each from a rural and an urbanized area. Across seasons the number of species decreased around 40% in the city compared with the rural landscape surrounding it. Such pattern could be attributed to the low number of farmland species capable to use the habitats inside the city, and the limited ability of urban parks in attracting woodland species. In the urban landscape, the influence of the dimensions and spatial arrangement of habitat patches was outweighed by the amount of each habitat per square. Bird richness and the abundance of most species were negatively related with the amount of built-up habitat per square and positively with the amount of urban parks, and of habitat diversity. Conversely, bird fauna was largely independent of mean park size per square especially during winter, indicating that at the landscape scale even small patches of habitat could play an ecological role. Conservation of urban bird diversity could benefit of two complementary strategies: (i) the protection of the surrounding rural landscape from urban development; (ii) habitat enhancement within the city. Particularly, a proper design and habitat management of urban parks could improve their suitability for urban bird fauna.     

我国农村居民生育意愿转变分析

农村居民生育意愿真正开始转变是在全国推行计划生育以后,目前已发生了极大的转变,主要特征是:以期望生育两个孩子且一男一女为主流意识,还有相当比例自愿只生一个,"多子多福"观念基本没有市场,对孩子质量的追求正在替代对数量的追求。生育意愿转变的标准不应是生育政策,而应以符合可持续发展理念的要求为标准。     

经济行动与社会关系——对浙江省义乌市H村的调查分析

本文认为H村的传统副业形成原因主要是其与农业的内在联系及其改善生活状况的功能;经济行动嵌于社会关系之中;经济行动改变或扩大原有的社会关系;该村的"两委"同时拥有"同意权力"、"时势权力"、"教化性权力",从而有效地改善经商办厂的环境条件,同时促使村民传承勤劳致富的传统,不断推动非农经济的发展.     

乡村振兴战略下的乡村文化产业研究

党的十九大报告中,首次提出"实施乡村振兴战略",坚持农业农村优先发展。这为新时代农业农村发展指明了方向、明确了重点。乡村振兴需要迎合人们回归热土的意愿,要发展更离不开好的政策来扶持。现阶段,乡村基础设施落后,生态资源遭到破坏,人才流失严重,这些问题严重阻碍了乡村振兴的道路。文化产业是新兴的产业,其前景广阔,受到社会各界的高度关注。乡村振兴战略和乡村文化产业相结合是新时代发展的必然结果。乡村文化产业依托区域和民族地区的文化资源,将文化遗产保护、文化传承、产业开发和创业就业融为一体,将美丽乡村、风俗文化、历史文化等特色资源有效的整合在一起,增加乡村发展动力,与乡村振兴战略高度契合,是乡村实现振兴的重要途径之一。     

西部新农合筹资适度性分析

新型农村合作医疗制度（以下简称新农合）是由政府组织引导支持,农民自愿参加,个人、集体和政府多方筹资,以大病统筹为主的农民医疗互助共济制度。实现这项制度的可持续发展,既是一项政治任务,同时也是一项经济活动。本文结合我国西部地区近几年新农合的运行情况对筹资的适度性进行分析并提出意见建议,以实现这项制度的可持续发展。     

子代情感支持选择对农村老年妇女主观幸福感的影响——基于安徽省的问卷调查分析

根据2011年“安徽省老年妇女养老问题农村地区调查”数据,应用Logistic回归方法,对农村地区老年妇女在情感支持方面不同子代角色的选择对其主观幸福感的影响进行了分析研究.研究结果显示:在情感支持方面选择儿媳和女儿的农村老年妇女主观幸福感发生比较高,选择儿子和女婿的则对其主观幸福感有负面影响.     

中国农村社会学研究现状与前景展望——“第七届农村社会学论坛”观点综述

“第七届农村社会学论坛”于2016年5月21－22日在西北农林科技大学成功举办。这次论坛主要围绕现代乡村文化建设与公共空间重建、乡村的现代命运及其未来发展趋势、国家治理下的基层社会治理困境与逻辑、农村公共事务治理及社区发展转型、农村社会发展和社会治理等议题展开讨论交流。     

西部地区农民新农保参与意愿研究

本文基于农民微观调查数据．利用Logistic模型对西部地区农民参与新型农村社会养老保险的意愿及影响因素进行了系统分析。研究发现：西部地区农民对新型农村社会养老保险有较强的参与意愿。年龄、健康状况、个人年收入、家庭劳动力数、家庭男孩数、家庭女孩数、家庭承包土地数及是否了解新农保等变量对农民参保意愿影响显著;性剐、婚姻状况、文化程度、从事职业、家庭人口数等变量对农民参保意愿并无显著影响。与已有对东部地区农民旧农保参与意愿的研究结论相比。西部地区农民参与新农保的意愿有其自身的特征。政府部门应针对当地农民的参保意愿及其影响因素,积极探索并总结行之有效的措施来实现预期的全覆盖目标。