“But we still try”: affective labor in the corporate mommy blog

This article studies three “mommy blogs,” online platforms catering to (in these cases) American mothers of various sub-demographics, through an affective labor framework. Using digital labor and Althusserian subject formation to inform my reading of the common rhetorical gestures made in these blogs, I ask how they conceive of their readership and contributors. I argue that mommy blogs should be understood as sites of digital labor because of the ways in which their publishing conditions and rhetorics establish labored expectations of the “mommy” subject. Contestations of the nature of affective labor in motherhood are reflected by anxieties around digital labor, which play out via ideological conflicts that manifest rhetorically in the blogs under discussion. This analysis is informed by affect theory, Althusser and Butler’s work on subject formation, and the existing feminist literature on digital labor and the mommy blog.     

Toward a model of school inspections in a polycentric system

Many education systems are developing towards more lateral structures where schools collaborate in networks to improve and provide (inclusive) education. These structures call for bottom-up models of network evaluation and accountability instead of the current hierarchical arrangements where single schools are evaluated by a central agency. This paper builds on available research about network effectiveness to present evolving models of network evaluation. Network effectiveness can be defined as the achievement of positive network level outcomes that cannot be attained by individual organizational participants acting alone. Models of network evaluation need to take into account the relations between network members, the structure of the network, its processes and its internal mechanism to enforce norms in order to understand the achievement and outcomes of the network and how these may evolve over time. A range of suitable evaluation models are presented in this paper, as well as a tentative school inspection framework which is inspired by these models. The final section will present examples from Inspectorates of Education in Northern Ireland and Scotland who have developed newer inspection models to evaluate the effectiveness of a range of different networks.     

Tomorrow's Leaders and Today's Agents of Change? Children,Sustainability Education and Environmental Governance

Children are central to the rhetoric supporting global climate agreements, yet they are also envisaged to play a strategic role in materialising such agreements. Along with other household actors, children are implicated in localised efforts to manage global resource sustainability. As learners in educational systems that are being redesigned to encompass messages of sustainability, children are moreover positioned as ‘agents of change’ through sustainability education. Drawing on theoretical work on children's agency and interdependence, this review calls for greater attention to the structural and relational dimensions of environmental knowledge transmission to inform sustainability education. This is presented as one move towards constructing what Middlemiss (2014) terms a more ‘socially sensitive’ model of sustainable development.     

探析“隧道效应”在社会治理中的应用

当前在我国经济社会发展不平衡的背景下,社会治理已经并将长期面临新的形势和新的挑战。在这些挑战和问题面前,我们如何通过对我国社会治理状况的深入分析,深化对社会管理规律和特点的认识,不断地进行理论创新,找到建设中国特色社会治理体系应遵循的基本原则,探索适合我国国情的社会治理体制机制,提高社会治理的能力和水平。本文从一个经济学的概念——"隧道效应"出发,将其引入到社会治理的研究中来,分析"隧道效应"发生背后的文化逻辑,并从社会的角度来分析这种正的隧道效应是否可以持续及其政策建议。     

Managing C-suite conflict: The unique impact of internal and external governance interfaces on top management team reflexivity

The ability of Top Management Teams (TMTs) to reflect critically on their own actions represents an important element of effective TMT decision making and governance effectiveness. This paper therefore examines how the TMT-board interface internal to the organization, as well as the TMT interface with the external supervisory authority, shape TMT reflexivity. Drawing from governance and psychological theories, we posit that cognitive conflict at the TMT-board interface can escalate by increasing levels of affective TMT-board conflict, and hereby, harm TMT reflexivity if not managed well. This proposition was tested in a multisource team-level data set collected in the field among TMTs (N = 111 TMT members) and their supervisory boards (N = 152 board members) of 56 Dutch insurance companies. The findings demonstrate that the link between cognitive and affective TMT-board conflict is mitigated by board membership influx. Yet in cases where conflict escalation does occur, its subsequent impact on TMT reflexivity hinges on the degree to which an external supervisory authority monitored TMT actions. The results illustrate that TMT decision making processes can be effectively influenced by internal and external TMT-governance interfaces, yet at different conflict stages, and through different governance actions.     

应用型高校与企业共建产业学院的优势与困惑

产业学院是应用型高校为服务地方社会经济的发展而与企业深度合作形成的新型办学机构，由高校和企业共同投资，实行理事会领导、院长负责的管理体制，校企协同育人，重视实践教学，组织特征鲜明，办学优势突出。但是，产业学院在发展过程中面临诸多不足：独立法人地位尚未确立，进一步发展缺乏法律保障和依据；现代治理方式和结构尚未建立，具体工作受高校干扰较多，行政化色彩浓厚；运行成本大，缺乏市场化运行机制。为了促进产业学院发展，国家应确立其独立的法律地位，营造发展的政策环境和建立现代化的治理方式与结构；产业学院应建立市场化运行机制，激发面对市场的应变能力，最大限度地发挥自身优势，化解发展过程中的短板。     

政策边缘人：理解基层政策执行难的一个视角——以精准扶贫中的“争贫”为例

当公共政策只针对部分社会群体的时候，靠近政策分界线但又没有享受到政策利益的群体就会成为政策边缘人，政策边缘人属于利益外群体，但其结构性位置却又让其最接近分享政策利益，属于潜在受益者。在社会分化和竞争的背景下，政策边缘人与其他条件差不多的群体对比会产生相对剥夺感。政策边缘人会认为享有政策利益本应是他们的权利，于是他们基于维权的想法会通过各种方式谋取政策利益，在此过程中就会影响到基层公共政策的执行。因此，建议通过提高基层治理的法治化、科学化、精细化水平和组织化程度等方式减少政策边缘人对政策执行和基层治理带来的消极影响。     

Resistance to metropolitan institutionality and planning in Chile

In this article, the authors review and analyse two key processes conducted by the Chilean state over the past 50 years. The first process consists of the development of specific planning instruments for the particular realities of metropolitan areas. The second process consists of the successive legislative attempts to work towards a definition of a new form of institutionality for cities with metropolitan profiles. These attempts have either failed or solely become bills of law. Both processes suggest a political and technical resistance throughout history, to substantially modify institutionality, as well as planning instruments, in order to make them more appropriate and consistent with the needs of growing metropolitan areas in Chile.     

依赖中的资源争夺:中小学生减负的困境及出路

中小学生减负问题是新中国成立以来，我国教育发展过程中力图解决但却难以根治的历史性问题。依赖中的资源争夺所引发的校际与校内关系的复杂存在，影响了减负工作的深入推进，成为中小学生减负路上的主要拦路虎。突破减负困境，可通过推动基础教育从传统静态、集中走向现代动态、均衡发展，确保义务教育阶段公办教育的公共服务能力，重新思考民办与公办教育的关系及功能定位，形成多元主体参与和共建共享的现代教育治理体系，构建低竞争、低控制、真评价的教育生态环境等举措合力助推。希望以此为我国中小学生减负工作的有效开展提供行动借鉴和理论参考。     

应急管理中缘何出现“信息悖论”现象?——基于中国国家治理视角的考察

信息是国家治理的重要依据。中国国家治理常规机制与运动式治理机制间的矛盾深刻地体现在了日常管理与应急管理的差异之中。当下的治理逻辑必然地要求日常管理采取科层制的非人格化管理模式，对直接上级的负责制形塑了信息沿纵向逐级向上衰减的常规信息传递机制。但在应急管理机制之下，上级应对突发事件的精准决策却有赖于对真实信息的掌握，而常规机制所带来的表象性避责策略则会削弱上级的决策准确性，由此这一张力进一步形塑了中国国家治理在应急管理机制中的“信息悖论”现象。