中国三大区域间收入不平等影响因素的实证研究:1952-2008

区域收入不平等的持续增大,对个人与群体的尊严、国家经济的可持续性发展形成严峻挑战。以往研究局限于经济学视角,只关心某一或某几种因素对收入不平等影响,过于碎片化。本文利用1952-2008年国家统计数据,基于结构主义视角,通过随机效应模型考察了区域间收入不平等背后的因果机制。研究发现:经济增长与区域间收入不平等存在微弱倒"U"关系;结构因素是构筑区域收入不平等的主要力量,解释比例达到69.7%。本文认为,"非均衡发展"是中国经济转型与发展过程中必然的路径选择,区域收入不平等不可避免,并将长期存在。     

In response to Gans: the culture–structure binary

Gans (2012 Gans, H. 2012. Against culture versus structure. Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power, 19(2): 125–134. [Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]; Against culture versus structure. Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power, 19 (2), 125–134) makes four assertions in his claim that ‘Contemporary sociology is saddled with a culture–structure binary but the fault for its existence lies mostly with cultural sociology … and the culture–structure binary should be abandoned’. I argue that (1) defining culture, while problematic, is insufficient reason for abandoning the concept. (2) Marx, among others, proffered a dialectical view of culture that is not structural only or interpretive only. (3) Gans ignores the social and political impact of cultural studies, specifically the Birmingham Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies. And (4) culturally oriented research has been used extensively to shape and analyse the varying approaches by public policy-makers to critical social issues.     

Labor after Neoliberalism: The Birth of the Insecure Class in South Korea

Abstract

This article examines the rise and fall of organized labor in post-democratization, neoliberal Korea and traces the process through which a new labor underclass has been created since the late 1990s. Under the sweeping implementation of neoliberal policies, Korean labor has become increasingly fragmented, stratified, and marginalized both in the market and political arena. In this polarizing process, an ‘insecure class’ was born, consisting of irregular workers and the low-income self-employed. These working people are characterized by precarious labor conditions, bare social protection coverage, and frail organizational–political representation. This study explicates such a drastic restructuration of the Korean working people from the interaction of chaebol-centered economic structure, labor unions' organizational narrowness, and unrepresentative political parties devoid of programmatic competition. The examination of the insecure class in Korea casts light on the significance of class issues in neoliberal political economy and the analytical importance of rethinking social class in contemporary capitalist societies.     

From ‘What the F#@% is a Facebook?’ to ‘Who Doesn’t Use Facebook?’: The role of criminal lifestyles in the adoption and use of the Internet

Concerns about a digital divide persist and recent calls have been made for understanding how lifestyles influence Internet adoption and use. Online criminal behaviors have drawn attention from law enforcement, but diffusion of innovation theory suggests higher propensities for crime, particularly street crime, reduces the likelihood of Internet use. Drawing from this theory and research on the role of street criminal lifestyles on technology adoption, this study examined patterns of Internet use among a sample of 585 individuals at-risk for and involved in street crime. Results from our logistic and negative binomial regression analyses lead to two general conclusions: (1) compared to research on the general population, similar predictors and lower rates of Internet participation and usage are observed, and (2) mixed evidence suggests participation in criminal lifestyles contributes to digital inequality. The results support a theory of technological diffusion to marginalized populations. We conclude by discussing the expansion of technology, digital inequality, and crime.     

开放宏观视角下的全球环境问题

在经济全球化背景下,国际贸易和投资自由化使得要素在全球范围内流动,环境问题也被赋予了全球化的内容。本文基于开放宏观的视角,对经济增长与环境、贸易与环境、全球气候变暖等重要的环境问题进行分析,发现在全球范围内,环境质量的改善在很大程度上只是污染发生了转移,而非真正意义上的污染减少,发达国家与发展中国家间存在着多维度的环境不平等问题。但是,由于环境问题的特殊性（外部性、公共物品）,任何一个国家或地区不可能独善其身,环境问题的最终解决必须通过国际合作才能实现。     

收入分配不平等对刑事犯罪的影响问题研究

我国当前收入分配的不平等所造成的不仅是收入群体之间的收入差距过大,更重要的是在这种社会条件下的收入差距过大所导致的刑事犯罪率的上升和犯罪程度的加剧,通过对造成收入分配的不平等原因的分析以及对收入分配不平等对刑事犯罪率和刑事犯罪程度的影响机理分析,提出减少收入分配不平等和缩小收入差距的对策,从而减少收入分配问题所可能引致的刑事犯罪。     

Concern about the rise of lazy welfare queens? An empirical explanation of the underdevelopment of the redistributive welfare system in South Korea

This study investigates why South Korea has maintained a minimalist welfare state with little redistribution of income. Inspired by the behavioral/attitudinal approach of Alesina and his colleagues, this study focuses on the perception that people who do not work become lazy. This belief is related to the anti-welfare sentiment that non-working benefits encourage laziness. This study shows that perceptions of work and laziness are associated with preferences for redistribution, not only among South Koreans, but also among individuals in Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) member countries. Further, such perceptions are also associated with the redistribution policies chosen in a country. This study provides evidence that societal beliefs about work and laziness, along with several other political and economic factors, such as pre-tax income inequality, political institutions, and union density, may explain the small-scale redistribution in South Korea.     

Dimensions of social inequality in the Third World

This cross-national assessment of the empirical determinants of income inequality and infant mortality employs policy-relevant variables suggested by the major macrosocial theories of development and stratification. Findings based on sample sizes ranging from 34 to 61 LDCs indicate that modernization and ecological-evolutionary theories provide more consistent explanations of social inequalities than either dependency/world-systems theory or urban bias theory. Our analyses point to economic growth and the development of rural infrastructure and social complexity as the most expedient methods for facilitating mortality reduction and income equalization. We conclude that simplistic policy-orientations stressing such phenomena as urban bias or population growth should be replaced by more complex perspectives that include an emphasis on rural social organization.     

Welfare Reform in Indiana: The Political Economy of Restricting Access to Education and Training

This article interrogates welfare reform policies that restrict welfare reliant mothers' access to education and training. It focuses on how these policies have been implemented through the Indiana Manpower Placement and Comprehensive Training Program (IMPACT), Indiana's work first response to women's growing experience of poverty. Using methods of inquiry inspired by Dorothy E. Smith's articulation of institutional ethnography, a case study is developed to investigate the critical disjuncture that arises when welfare reliant mothers attempt to navigate these policies in the context of Indiana's extended political economy. It is argued that through these restrictive policies, welfare reliant mothers are forced into Indiana's unrelenting low-wage labor market, increasing the pervasiveness of poverty and further perpetuating the reproduction of inequality.