New masculinities in universities? Discourses,ambivalence and potential change

In this article, we explore forms and possible implications of new masculinities in universities, and elucidate how they relate to hegemonic masculinity. ‘New masculinities’ coins a particular tradition of naming in Nordic masculinity studies. In the Nordic context, gendered social relations are shaped by State policies and equality discourses, which are increasingly embracing father‐friendly initiatives. New masculinities refers to the increased involvement of men in caring practices and especially in fathering. Our empirical study comprises in‐depth interviews with young male academics in a Finnish business school. We elucidate, first, the ambivalence and struggles between masculinities in the discourses of these men and, second, how the construction of masculinities is specific to societal, sociocultural and local contexts. Relations of class, and middle‐class notions of the ‘good life’ in particular, emerge as central for understanding the experiences of these men. Beyond the Nordic countries, we argue that while the change potential of caring masculinity stems from particular contexts, the concept of new masculinities is helpful in capturing the ambivalence and struggles between hegemonic and caring masculinities rather than dismissing the latter as subordinate to the former.     

Interlopers in class: A duoethnography of working‐class women academics

This article introduces the concept of the interloper for examining classed and gendered dislocation. Focusing on academia, which we view as a classed and gendered field, we draw on Bourdieu and feminist standpoint theory to account for how we, as women of working‐class origin, have experienced ‘breaches' through which we have come to understand ourselves in classed and gendered terms. Coming from different cultural backgrounds, we also reflect on how understandings of class are context‐specific. We employ a duoethnographic method which emphasizes the value of subjective experiences for organizational and social analyses. The article shows how the concept of the interloper may shed light on the dynamic, relational character of constructions of class and gender; the maintenance work that is performed; and how a sense of permanent inbetweenness characterizes our ongoing movement between the fields of the family and academia.     

‘Car Talk’: automobility and Chinese international students in Michigan

The apparent conspicuous consumption of luxury vehicles by Chinese international students attending a public Michigan University provides an opportunity to examine the convergence of different ideas about automobility. Upwardly mobile Chinese families send their children to Michigan, a state with a tradition of auto-production, for educational opportunities not available in China. The resulting ‘car talk’ of local residents about Chinese students and their cars speaks to broader anxieties about Michigan’s shifting relationship to the global economy. However, the paper focuses on the meanings of auto-owning created by Chinese students who make decisions about the purchase and use of their autos within a social world oriented primarily to other Chinese students and societal ideas about auto-owning circulating among friends, family and society in China. For Chinese students, car owning encompasses meanings of status, safety and sociability that are created within the context of study abroad.     

Celebrating Joan Acker: Sociologist,fearless feminist,friend

Joan Acker's life reflects a time when middle‐class women were expected to be satisfied with maintaining the home front, serving husbands and children, not having paid‐work careers. After living “the ideal” for 37 years, Acker took a new path by earning a Ph. D. and producing path‐breaking scholarship that challenged taken‐for‐granted beliefs about gender, family, work, and organizations. Acker spoke “truth to power” and was an academic heroine in posing feminist challenges to injustices involving gender, social class, and race/ethnicity, particularly (but not solely) related to the workplace. This overview lets Joan tell her story and offers reflections on her milestone publications as seen by Pat Martin.     

Family size and educational attainment in England and Wales

In this paper, we use linked census data from England and Wales to investigate whether having a large number of siblings leads to lower educational attainment. There is a large literature suggesting that with large sibship size, parental resources will be diluted and this, in turn, will lead to lower educational attainment. Using twin births and the sex composition of the sibling group as instrumental variables, we find that the evidence of a family size effect on educational attainment is rather uncertain. Similar results are obtained when we use occupational attainment as the dependent variable. We also demonstrate the confounding of birth order and family size effects, and show that an adjusted birth order index proposed by Booth and Kee provides an effective solution to this estimation problem.     

Effects of Firm-specific and Country-specific Advantages on Relative Acquisition Size in Service Sector Cross-Border Acquisitions: An Empirical Examination

Using a sample of 348 service sector cross-border acquisitions by U.S. firms in 44 countries during 1990–2006, our study seeks to identify factors that influence relative acquisition size (acquisition transaction value as a percentage of acquiring firm's asset value). Our findings indicate that firm-specific advantages (FSAs) in the form of available financial slack and target industry knowledge were positively associated with relative acquisition size. However, contrary to expectations, we observed a negative relationship between cross-border acquisition experience and relative acquisition size. In addition, our results suggest that country-specific advantages (CSAs) associated with higher market potential, lower political risk, and greater cultural similarity contributed to increased relative acquisition size in service industry cross-border acquisitions. Finally, our analysis reveals that the relationship between available financial slack and relative acquisition size is contingent on cultural similarity with the relationship being more pronounced when cultural similarity is high.     

英语口译课堂教学方法探究

英语口译课是高校英语专业的一门必修课,如何有效地开展口译课堂教学是一个重要课题。本文结合实践教学情况,以现阶段主要的口译训练模式为基础,系统地提出了一些口译课堂教学和训练的新建议和方法。     

秦皇岛开埠与发展的三大特征

一个城市早期的规划和发展在一定程度上决定着这个城市的前途和命运。在秦皇岛城市近代化的发展过程中,表现出三个明显的特征:一是分散的城市空间架构的互补共生;二是近代社团在城市发展过程中的重要作用;三是港城发展的严重失衡。     

医学人文教育与高等中医药人才培养

高等中医药人才培养必须坚持医学科学精神与医学人文精神的统一,实现医学人才医学技术与人文关怀的协调发展。中医人文教育既是医学模式发展的根本要求,也是增进医患互信、构建和谐医患关系的需要。中医人文教育必须以培养高等中医人才为核心,遵循中医人才成长规律,体现人文教育与政治教育、人文精神与科学精神、文化传承与借鉴创新的高度统一,全面提升中医大学生的人文素养。     

"唐长孺、胡如雷先生与隋唐史研究"学术研讨会综述

朱雷通过回顾唐长孺领导敦煌吐鲁番文书整理出版的整个过程,介绍了古代文献资料整理的特点和规律。张国刚认为,在中国20世纪学术发展的宏观走向上,出现了一个从否定传统到呼唤回归本土化的历史演变过程,而在这一变化过程中,陈寅恪、唐长孺、胡如雷都做出了各自的探索。冻国栋从社会经济史的角度,探讨了唐长孺在中古史研究方面的取得的突出成就,对唐长孺的治学理路和特点作出了准确概括。宁志新和黄正建侧重分析了胡如雷在历史研究中所运用的阶级与阶层分析方法,并对这一治学方法做出了客观和科学的评价。孙继民在20世纪学术史的背景下,从20 世纪中国史学发展的四个阶段分析和确认了陈寅恪、唐长孺、胡如雷史学研究成就和他们在中国学术史上的地位。认为陈寅恪的特点是承旧启新,文化史观中国化;唐长孺是转旧趋新,唯物史观学术化;胡如雷是弃旧开新,古史形态理论化。