Jamming the jamming: Brazilian protests as an illustration of a new politics of consumption

ABSTRACT

Based on a reflexive and critical analysis of the citizen protests that pervaded Brazilian cities in June 2013, in this article we argue that a significant part of the demonstrators’ dissatisfaction took the form of a new politics of consumption with particular characteristics, including the subversion of the culture jamming concept by citizens and by corporations. Our main contribution is to provide the Brazilian protests as an illustration of a new politics of consumption, where ‘citizen-consumers’ direct their dissatisfaction toward the government using tactics that, historically, were considered counter-hegemonic and directed to the market, as is the case of the culture jamming. Likewise, the corporations present themselves as partners of those citizen-consumers. Mobilizing a dialectical reasoning, our results invite readers to reflect on the ambiguities among politics of consumption and culture jamming, and the challenges they bring to organizations and society.     

Gaps in social protection for health care and long‐term care in Europe: Are the elderly faced with financial ruin?

While public expenditure on health care and long‐term care (LTC) has been monitored for many years in European countries, far less attention has been paid to the financial consequences for older people of private out‐of‐pocket (OOP) expenditure necessary to access such care. Employing representative cross‐sectional data on the elderly populations of 11 European countries in 2004 from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), we find that OOP payments for health care and LTC are very common among the elderly across European countries and such expenditures impact significantly on disposable income: up to 95 per cent of the elderly make OOP payments for health care and 5 per cent for LTC, resulting in income reductions of between 5 and 10 per cent, respectively. Failure to prevent financial ruin, as a consequence of excessive OOP payments, is evident in 0.7 per cent of elderly households utilizing health care and 0.5 per cent of elderly households utilizing LTC. Those particularly concerned are the poor, women and the very old.     

论消费在国际传媒生产总过程中的地位

在国际传媒生产贸易中，传媒产品消费的本质就是价值认可式的精神性消费，在自愿获得消费物的消费中，得到精神与心灵上的满足，实现对一国传媒产品的最优化接受。由此本质出发，总结了消费的六种类型，在分析梳理其逻辑关系的基础上，论证了消费在国际传媒生产总过程中的主导地位。     

德莱塞笔下的新女性形象——嘉莉妹妹的个性分析

在美国文学史上,德莱塞塑造的嘉莉妹妹一直是个有争议的人物形象.本文从19世纪末20世纪初美国新兴消费文化和新女性崛起这一特定社会历史背景出发,从自我实现、自主选择、自我塑造三个方面尝试解读嘉莉妹妹这一形象在个性上表现出的新女性内涵.     

消费文化转型的激励机制与“两型社会”的构建

消费文化具有引导、凝聚和激励的社会效应,实现消费文化由传统向现代的转型,对于"资源节约型、环境友好型"社会的构建有着不可或缺的作用.因此,有必要在明确"两型社会"消费文化转型取向的基础上,探求消费文化转型的激励机制,以期对推动"两型社会"的构建进程有所裨益.     

Shadow Insurance

Life insurers use reinsurance to move liabilities from regulated and rated companies that sell policies to shadow reinsurers, which are less regulated and unrated off‐balance‐sheet entities within the same insurance group. U.S. life insurance and annuity liabilities ceded to shadow reinsurers grew from $11 billion in 2002 to $364 billion in 2012. Life insurers using shadow insurance, which capture half of the market share, ceded 25 cents of every dollar insured to shadow reinsurers in 2012, up from 2 cents in 2002. By relaxing capital requirements, shadow insurance could reduce the marginal cost of issuing policies and thereby improve retail market efficiency. However, shadow insurance could also reduce risk‐based capital and increase expected loss for the industry. We model and quantify these effects based on publicly available data and plausible assumptions.     

农村居民大病保险经济补偿能力及效果

经济补偿是农村居民大病保险的基本职责,经济补偿能力是履行该职责的前提和基础,经济补偿效果是履行该职责的具体体现。利用江苏省5个样本地区的实地调研数据,从横向和纵向两个维度评估了各地大病保险的经济补偿能力,从大病保险的受益面、患者个人自付比例、大病保险基金使用率等指标综合衡量各地大病保险的经济补偿效果。研究发现,医疗费用、筹资机制、政策设计等多种主客观因素共同约束着大病保险经济补偿能力和补偿效果的发挥,亟需从补偿主体的衔接、大病费用的控制、筹资机制的建设、大病保险的服务等方面进行改进。     

企业无力清偿欠薪的法律应对:基于香港的经验

1980-1982年经济危机爆发后,香港因大量企业倒闭引发欠薪浪潮,欠薪优先权机制出现失灵.以国外经验为模本,香港构设了欠薪保障基金制度.该制度依托完善的法律程序将欠薪纳入专门基金予以垫付,并逐渐提高垫付标准.这种法律设计特点鲜明,实际运行数据也证明比较成功.这为解决当前农民工极端讨薪事件频发、欠薪问题季节性爆发的顽疾,提供了极具参考价值的制度化思路.我国应当鼓励地方探索和构建企业欠薪保障制度.     

基于人体膳食均衡视角下的我国果蔬消费趋势预测与结构优化

水果和蔬菜是为人体提供矿物质、维生素、膳食纤维等营养元素的重要农产品,我国居民饮食中普遍存在着能量相对过剩、果蔬摄入量不足的问题。以人体膳食均衡为研究视角,研究我国果蔬消费趋势和结构优化问题,结果表明：按照当前的消费趋势发展,我国居民营养摄入不足与过剩同在的问题依然无法得到解决;我国政府在制定水果和蔬菜战略布局的决策中,应综合考虑人体的膳食营养均衡和未来市场营养需求,以实现我国果蔬产业布局优化;消费者在进行水果和蔬菜消费购买行为时,应在营养膳食均衡的基础上进行合理消费。     

顾客非理性消费行为机理探析

非理性消费已经成为零售企业利润的重要来源,得到学术界的普遍关注。认为顾客非理性消费行为是受到内在的、最本质的特殊顾客需要驱使而产生的不合理行为,揭示了驱动顾客非理性消费行为的顾客需要,并探讨了情绪状态因素调节顾客需要与顾客非理性消费行为关系的作用机理。基于416份问卷的调查结果,社交需要、释压需要和求廉需要是驱使顾客产生非理性消费行为的主要内在动因,情绪对特殊的顾客需要具有不同的调节作用。旨在丰富顾客非理性消费行为的知识,为商家实施目标营销、新服务开发提供重要理论支持。