Working-class ecology and union politics: a conceptual topology

ABSTRACT

This paper argues that Environmental Labour Studies may benefit from incorporating the perspective of environmental justice. We offer a theorization of working-class ecology as the place where working-class communities live and work, being typically affected by environmental injustice, and of working-class environmentalism as those forms of activism that link labour and environmental struggles around the primacy of reproduction. The paper’s theoretical section draws on a social ethnography of working-class ecology in the case of Taranto, a mono-industrial town in southern Italy, which is experiencing a severe environmental and public-health crisis. We show how environmental justice activism since the early 2000s has allowed the re-framing of union politics along new ways of politicizing the local economy. We conclude by offering a conceptual topology of working-class ecology, which situates different labour organizations (confederal, social/community, and rank-and-file unions) according to their positioning in respect to environmental justice.     

Intergenerational relationships in Chinese transnational families: A typology study

ABSTRACT

Using latent class analysis, this study examined the overall patterns of multifaceted intergenerational relationships of 604 parent-child dyads in 292 transnational families in Beijing, China. Three family relation types emerged: local obligatory (27%, with reciprocal support and ambivalent feelings), distant discordant (27%, with weak associations and high conflict), and distant intimate (46%, with highest filial ratings and emotional quality). Parents’ health and children’s marital status, socioeconomic status, childcare responsibilities, and sibling numbers were associated with different relation types. The findings are helpful for social workers to identify subgroups of older adults in transnational families who are at risk of having inadequate support.     

The Progression of Sexual Relationships

The authors examine factors associated with the advancement or dissolution of newly formed sexual relationships. Data from the 2006–2010 National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG) was used to examine women and men aged 18–39 (n = 2,774) whose most recent sexual relationship began within the 12 months before their interview. Results indicate that newly formed sexual relationships are often transitory. By 12 months, only 23% of respondents remained in nonresidential sexual relationships, another 27% were cohabiting with that partner, and half had ended their relationships. Sexual relationships formed before age 25 are significantly more likely to break up than to transition into cohabitation. Indicators of social class disadvantage, such as living with a stepparent, expedited cohabitation, whereas measures of advantage, such as having a college‐educated mother, deterred transitions into shared living. Racial differences also emerge: Blacks were less likely than Whites to transition rapidly into shared living.     

Managers in the Global Economy: A Multilevel Analysis

We examine individual‐ and country‐level determinants of managerial employment, using data from the 1989 to 2009 waves of the World Values and European Values Surveys (n = 89,336 employed adults in 59 countries). Reflecting the rise of the transnational capitalist class, we find that factors related to globalization and international political institutions are most strongly associated with opportunities to join the managerial class relative to factors related to the business‐cycle or development. Additionally, in a subset of countries with detailed occupational information, we find that global trade has a particularly strong, positive association with the odds of being a corporate manager in a large firm.     

Palestinian-Israeli single mothers accord motherhood a new meaning ‘I would like to teach my children a new way of life … I'm responsible for them now’

Over the last three decades, Palestinian society in Israel has undergone numerous changes, reflected in the rising numbers of families headed by single mothers. This article is based on a study conducted between 2007 and 2011 among 24 divorced, separated, and widowed Palestinian single mothers in Israel. I analyze this emerging family configuration, focusing on these women’s experiences as mothers and on how they accord new meaning to motherhood. My analysis will deal with the diverse ways these women ‘do motherhood’ and negotiate with different familial players. It will extend beyond the discourse on motherhood to shed light on the current changes in power and gender relations taking place in Palestinian-Israeli society.     

Kindergartners’ Development of Privileged Subjectivities within an Elite School

This case study investigates how kindergarten children thought and talked about their school in three socially stratified school settings: public, charter and private, and the extent to which they grasped sociocultural understandings related to social class. Data included field notes, interviews with the children and teachers, and parent surveys. A Bourdieuian lens illuminated emergent themes. Results indicate that children in the elite setting had developed sophisticated understandings of their privileged social locations and understood their position as distinct from other children.     

都市类报纸与"公共新闻"实践探索——以《楚天都市报》、《武汉晚报》为分析对象

“公共新闻”运动是20世纪90年代美国新闻界发起的一场声势浩大的新闻改革运动。“公共新闻”倡导媒体关注公共领域建设,鼓励民众参与公共事务,积极寻求与公众、政府间的沟通与交流,以探寻公共问题的解决之道。近两年国内也掀起了一股“公共新闻”热潮,其中都市类报纸的“公共新闻”实践具有一定的代表性,不仅秉承了“公共新闻”的核心理念和基本原理,同时也具有自身特色,对新闻媒体探索如何在当前新的社会形势下发挥信息沟通和舆论导向作用具有积极的示范效应。     

基于系统学理论的大学生班集体建设规律探析

加强班集体建设,尤其是一年级的班风、学风建设非常重要,是使大学生更好的成长、成才的一项重要的基础性工作。为此,在长期工作实践的基础上,从理论上探讨大学班集体建设的规律,将班集体作为一个系统来研究,提出一套行之有效的办法来加强班集体建设。对班集体建设由浅入深地研究的过程,也是对大学生思想政治教育工作由浅入深理解和实践的过程,是由感性到理性,由实践到理论,再由理论指导实践的过程,是不懈追求、不断创新的过程。     

科举制度对中国传统礼俗的影响及启示

科举制度作为古代一项重要的选官制度,不仅对帝制中国隋唐以后的政治制度、士习民风、文化教育产生了广泛影响,而且还对在人们社会生活中发挥着极其重要功能的社会礼俗产生了深刻影响。其影响体现在：礼俗内容纳入科考范围,使得社会礼俗得到广泛宣传与普及;遵循能力本位,促使礼制下移;造就数目庞大的士绅阶层,担当传统礼俗的实践者与传播者;衍生出了众多富有科举色彩的传统礼俗。     

公司高级管理人员解雇保护问题研究——以《劳动合同法》第48条为视角

在我国,由于劳动法和公司法内容的冲突以及公司高级管理人员在现有劳动法语境下身份的特殊性,导致了不同法院对于劳动合同违法解除后劳动合同继续履行与否的判决并不一致。高级管理人员并不完全具有劳动法上劳动者人格和经济上的从属性,因而其不应该获得完全的与普通劳动者相同的倾斜保护。而且,高级管理人员被解聘后,因为岗位的重要性,公司往往会迅速找人代替;由于岗位数量稀缺性和要求的专业性,高级管理人员要求恢复原岗位的要求在实践中难以满足。因此,法院在适用《劳动合同法》第48条时,不应支持被解除职务的高管的复职请求,而应采用其他救济方式。