Strength matters: Tie strength as a causal driver of networks’ information benefits

Studies of social networks have often taken the existence of a social tie as a proxy for the transmission of information. However, other studies of social networks in the labor market propose that the likelihood of information transmission might depend on strength of the tie; and that tie strength is a potentially important source of the tie's value. After all, even if job seekers have social ties to those who have valuable job information, the seekers will gain little information benefit when the ties do not actually transmit the information. This paper clarifies the conditions under which social ties might provide information benefits. We use a survey vignette experiment and ask MBA students about their likelihood of relaying job information via strong ties (to friends) or weak ties (to acquaintances), holding constant the structural locations spanned by the tie and job seekers' fit with the job. The results support the claim that strength of tie has a causal effect on the chances of information transmission: potential referrers are more likely to relay job information to their friends than to acquaintances. The larger implication of these findings is that whatever benefits there might be to using weak ties to reach distant non-redundant information during job search, these benefits need to be considered against the likely fact that people connected via weak ties are less likely to actually share information about job opportunities than are people to whom the job seeker is strongly tied.     

Reinforcement and erosion of traditional gender roles among young people in a poor metropolitan area of Turkey

This paper aims to contribute to the existing studies on the young women’s transition to adulthood in the case of Turkish women’s exclusion from the labour market. The issue is discussed largely within the boundaries of traditional gender restrictions that keep women out of employment. Herein, we argue that the gender-based control of young women, perceived as the reason for their exclusion from the labour market, may be used by disadvantaged women as a way of avoiding difficult and unfavourable employment situations. Similarly, the gender roles imposed on men could also not be fulfilled due to the same restrictive labour market conditions. Furthermore, we suggest that the poverty simultaneously strengthens and erodes the very base of the traditional gender structure for both young women and young men, while forcing the young women out of employment and the young men to the unstable working conditions. This argument is based on a study conducted in Alt?nda?, Ankara with a sample of 279 females and 340 males aged between 15 and 24. A mixed methodology, comprising a survey questionnaire followed by 60 in-depth interviews and 4 focus group discussions, was employed for this study.     

There is an app for that? The impact of community knowledge workers in Uganda

Rapidly expanding mobile network coverage in developing countries offers new ways to reach poor farmers in isolated places. This article explores the potential for Information and Communication Technology to provide agricultural information and extension services to smallholder farmers, and links this to empirical insights of an intervention in Uganda, where community knowledge workers rely on mobile devices to deliver context- and time-sensitive data to farmers. Consistent with theoretical insights related to information inefficiencies, we find that the intervention leads farmers to move away from low-risk low-return crops toward more commercially oriented commodities. Our analysis also suggests that, for the case of maize, the intervention causes farmers to sell less on the market, but at significantly higher prices.     

Blood ties and strong ties: a two-way linkage? Some non-trivial implications of the care workers market in a Mediterranean region

Taking their cue from a seeming dissonance between the theory of commodification and exploitation of migrant care workers and the case study of the outsourced self proposed by Hochschild, the author speculates whether or not the family–caregiver relationship may be equal and inclusive. The argument is unraveled by posing another question en route: what specific ‘catalysts’ can trigger ‘high-intensity affective relationships’? Elster defines 'essentially byproduct' the result of a process lacking any direct and conscious link between outcome and intention, and requiring the relaxation of the control of reason in order to be fulfilled. The author mixes significant theoretical results coming both from the relational Palo Alto School and from history of families studies, concluding that an equal and inclusive relationship may be like an Elster’s ‘essentially byproduct’ of a market relationship , when a high-intensity affective relation acts as a ‘catalyst’. The frame suggested in this article seems consistent with recent constructionist reinterpretations of the idea of kinship, which take shape and evolve through ‘everyday experiences’. Kinship thus shifts towards a more complex undefined category, that of Karsten’s relatedness. Speaking of which, the author argues some logical reasons suggesting a generalized adoption of the term only with great care and caution.     

高校金融学研究中的问题探讨

本文针对中国高等学校金融学理论研究存在与市场脱节的问题 ,呼请我国金融学术界 ,首先需要完成研究范畴的国际接轨和研究方法的规范化历程 ;然后对现代金融理论的体系架构、模型构造和参数设定进行认真思考、仔细研究 ,从而对中国资本市场的发展和运行进行深入分析 ,实现金融学研究的本土化和国际化。     

WTO农业谈判的僵局及其原因

多哈回合贸易谈判的主要问题是农产品的贸易自由化。由于谈判各方利益冲突严重,至今仍未取得满意的结局。对9年来多哈回合历次谈判进行总结,分析谈判破裂的原因,以期对未来农业谈判的前景判断有所帮助。     

论我国社会主义市民社会的培育

摘要：市民社会理论虽源于西方,但是随着中国社会经济的发展,市民社会主体的形成等因素的出现,社会主义市民社会在中国的发展已经成为必然。我国的传统制度和文化排斥市民社会的发展,因而培育我国社会主义市民社会就要破除社会主义市民社会发展的阻碍因素。在发展经济和稳定的政治条件下,培育社会主义市民社会要从市场经济、民主政治、公民的市民社会意识以及文化系统等方面努力。     

基于集体行动视角的劳资议价能力探讨

立足当前存在的劳资分配关系问题,从集体行动的视角,应用奥尔森等人的集体行动理论,剖析了企业利益集团形成的机理,探讨了工人集体议价制度缺失的诱因,并考察了发达国家的相关历史情况,指出利益集团的非＂共容性＂会增加社会协调成本和交易成本而使经济发展进入僵化阶段,并引致劳动报酬比重持续走低。因此有必要从建立开放的市场准入秩序、完善要素谈判制度、构建＂共容性＂利益集团等三方面着手,提高工人报酬比重,保持经济持续增长。     

论社会主义市场经济条件下的按生产要素分配原则

建立社会主义市场经济体制的重要举措之一就是分配制度的改革。党的十五大提出的将按劳分配与按生产要素分配结合起来 ,坚持按劳分配为主体 ,多种分配方式并存的制度 ,这是对马克思主义分配理论的具体运用和创造性发展。社会主义按要素分配的内涵与资本主义按要素分配的内涵有着本质的区别。它与社会主义按劳分配的原则有着密切关系 ,是对社会主义市场经济条件下分配形式的补充     

以市场为导向的高职院校家政专业发展研究

市场经济下社会发展为家政行业的发展带来了巨大的潜力空间,但高职业素养的家政从业人员缺乏逐渐成为行业发展的瓶颈。以市场为导向设置专业是高职院校的重要法则,但因受师资、生源、就业等问题的制约,高职院校家政专业发展出现了诸多问题。可采取以下措施促进高职院校的家政专业良性发展:依据市场导向,立足自身特色,精准定位培养；以家政专业内涵发展及就业前景为宣传突破口破解招生难题；积极“引才”、“育才”构建专业化的师资队伍；推进产学研深度融合助推学生就业等。