The disembedded digital economy: Social protection for new economy employment in China

This research focuses upon employment in the new economy, exploring labour protection and social protection in the digital age in China. Through an empirical survey conducted in three Chinese cities, social insurance and the labour rights of employees in the digital economic sector, such as gig employment, e-commerce, and various other forms of online employment, have been examined in-depth. This study reveals new regulatory loopholes in the digital labour market, which have substantially eroded the basis of social policy arrangements in China, “softening” participation in social insurance branches and compliance with labour regulations remarkably. Drawing upon the theoretical concepts of Polanyi on embeddedness and disembeddedness, we argue that the digital employment sector in China has been increasingly disembedded from social institutions and social control. The new configuration in the digital field of social policy requires novel conceptual models and institutional settings to cope with increasing social risks in virtual spaces.     

Childbearing and Marriage: Investigating the Importance of Context for Meaning-Making of First-Time Marriage

Previous research reveals that the temporal ordering of childbearing and marriage can have an impact on the meaning of first-time marriage. This article aims to obtain a deeper understanding of meaning-making of first-time marriage in relation to childbearing. Narrative interviews with 16 brides and grooms in 8 couples in Sweden were conducted. The material was analyzed in relation to the temporal ordering of childbearing and marriage. The study reveals that the construction of meaning of marriage does not only relate to the temporal context. Social factors such as social class or family formation might also be relevant for how meaning is constructed. This article contributes to a deeper understanding of meaning-making as a relational process constructed within particular contexts.     

Institutional evolution and abrupt change: Reforming the administration of social assistance in Finland

Historical institutionalist studies have explained institutional change as resulting from critical junctures that interrupt long periods of stability or from endogenous, incremental evolution. Building on these theories, discursive institutionalists have focused on the roles of agency, ideas and discourse as explainers of change. Combining these approaches, this article analyses Finland’s decision in 2014 to transfer the administration of basic social assistance from municipalities to the central government. This study demonstrates that institutional change can be both abrupt and evolutionary. Due to sudden, exceptional political circumstances, the decision in question was made quickly and under pressure, circumventing possible veto players. However, it was possible only because of the incremental, endogenous change that had occurred in the way in which social assistance was administered at the municipal level. It enabled a change in political discourse, which eroded the credibility of the ideational frames that policy actors had previously utilised to reject the centralised model.     

“Who generates this city”? Socialist strategy in contemporary London

This essay, based on a “militant ethnography” of the attempts of the small radical grassroots activist group, Our London (a pseudonym), to mobilize a collective oppositional politics through activities around an election campaign, engages critically with E. Laclau and C. Mouffe's arguments on discourse and collectivity in Hegemony and Socialist Strategy (London: Verso, 1985). I argue, on the basis of my findings, that while their model does provide insights that help describe the process of building collectivity from among disparate perspectives and identities, we need to go beyond a focus on discourse alone and consider the ways politics is shaped by material contexts. This is necessary if we are to understand the continued appeal of class politics as well as the difficulties in mobilizing collectivity in highly unequal and fragmented cities. From an activist perspective, the essay also highlights how developing a conception of collective interests and a critique of overarching systems of exploitation can be important in building political unity.     

The University: An Agent of Social Change?

Can universities be agents of progressive social change? How would we know if a university was acting as an agent of social change? Drawing on four case studies, I raise a number of questions to problematize our understanding of the university as an agent of social change. I outline a number of contributing factors that appear to explain successful cases. I conclude by arguing the relevancy of these cases for larger, and more traditional, sociological projects.     

The Existential Side of Kohut's Tragic Man

This article explores the way in which Kohut's concept of Tragic Man functions as a response to criticisms of self psychology as proffering a partial, utopian, strife-denying theory of human development. After citing several representative critiques in this respect, I review the concept of Tragic Man as defined by Kohut, and then seek to deepen the clinical usefulness of this concept through a discussion of affects, empathy, and free association. A clinical vignette concludes the paper, through which some of these ideas find illustration.     

恩施州经济社会发展战略回顾与构想

区域经济社会发展战略,是国家整个宏观经济社会发展战略的重要组成部分。随着时代的变迁,恩施州在不同的历史时代制定了不同的经济社会发展战略。在今天的西部大开发中,恩施州应该坚持“举西部旗、打民族牌、唱特色戏、建生态州”四位一体的经济社会发展战略重点,这是根据国家宏观经济社会发展战略的恩施州的宏观实际所作出的必然的战略选择。     

唐人马嵬情结的审美心理阐释

马嵬情结是指唐代诗人对马嵬事变及事变中唐玄宗与杨玉环爱情结局的一种异乎寻常的强烈而持久的关注和评判。这种关注有着深刻的社会审美心理成因。它还兆示了中晚唐世俗化的社会审美倾向的滋生、因藩镇跋扈宦官擅权而导致的皇权削弱和帝王权威在士人心目中的下降以及唐代文禁的松驰。     

社会性别与深层道德结构--择偶、性的道德模式

在男权文化占主导地位的社会环境中,男女在择偶和性的道德模式上存在着完全不对等的规范,男女占有不同的社会资源,这些被长久地视为自然而然、合情合理的现象。文章试图从社会性别视角来探究隐藏在择偶和性风俗习惯背后的不平等的道德模式。     

民族文化、阶级和性别的阅读--中国大陆彝族女商业性性服务者个案研究

文章通过对一位彝族妇女的个案分析,揭示了文化、阶级、性别是如何纠合在一起,作为一种强大的推拉力,迫使一些妇女进入和滞留于商业性性交易中的。