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.     

Efe fathers: one among many? A comparison of forager children's involvement with fathers and other males

The study reported describes Efe (pygmy) forager one-, two-, and three-year-olds' involvement with males. The Efe of northeastern Zaïre were chosen because their social organization allows us to examine hypotheses based on studies in Western, technologically complex societies about the distinctive role fathers play in the lives of their young children. Behavioral observations of Efe children's day-to-day activities with fathers, men and boys were recorded using a focal subject sampling technique (Altmann, 1974). Two behavioral measures were created to capture the extent to which males were involved with children: Social engagement describes males' involvement with children and social attention describes eavesdropping by children on males' everyday activities. Eight one-year-olds, 7 two-year-olds and 8 three-year-olds were each observed for six, one-hour observation sessions that were distributed evenly over the daylight hours. Data were analyzed using the traditional measure of involvement (e.g., adult males) and using a newly developed measure of the involvement of the average individual (e.g., average adult mate). Comparisons at each of the ages showed that fathers were consistently like other men in the extent to which children participated in social activities with them and watched their activities. Only fathers' level of social engagement declined significantly as children grew older. Boys' role relative to other males became increasingly distinctive as children aged. The findings suggest that Efe fathers may not be unique in the same sense assumed by Western study ideals, and raise questions about the special status given to fathers in Western theory and data. The patterning of mate involvement with children is discussed in terms of Efe community life, and in terms of Efe children's developing understanding of their relationship with fathers and other males.     

Children's gender- and age-based categorization in similarity and induction tasks

The present studies examined children's and adults' preferences for gender- or age-based categorization using similarity and inductive inference tasks. Four-year-olds, 6-year-olds, and adults looked at pictures of people and decided which of two was more like a target (similarity condition) or which shared a novel age- or gender-related property with the target (inference condition). Age or gender-based matches were possible. The results are consistent with previous findings that gender-based classification decreases with age. However, they also demonstrate that children use gender more for judging similarity than for making inferences about novel properties. Distinct patterns emerge from the two tasks: 6-year-olds and adults in both conditions categorize more by age than gender; 4-year-olds categorize by gender more than age in the similarity task, but by age more in the induction task. Only adults differentiated by property in the inference condition. These findings suggest that the salience of gender categories cannot entirely be attributed to their inductive potential. Gender has a salience beyond what would be predicted by its power for directing novel generalizations.     

Book Reviews

Books reviewed:
Barbara A. Fennell, A History of English: A Sociolinguistic Approach
Kevin McCafferty, Ethnicity and Language Change: English in (London)Derry, Northern Ireland
Pieter Muysken, Bilingual Speech: A Typology of Code-Mixing.
Ulrich Ammon (ed.), The Dominance of English as a Language of Science: Effects on Other Languages and Language Communities
Andrew Goatly, Critical Reading and Writing. An Introductory Coursebook
Ana Roca (ed.), Research on Spanish in the United States. Linguistic Issues and Challenges
Ishtla Singh, Pidgins and Creoles: An Introduction     

An Existential Approach to Risk Perception

Existential, or existential-phenomenological philosophical approaches to the social psychology of risk perception provide a novel framework for understanding issues that are common to all humanity, such as fear of death, freedom and responsibility, isolation and meaninglessness, as these anxieties are a function of existing, or being-in-the-world. These fundamental anxieties can be related theoretically to the ways people perceive risks within social and cultural milieus, and can also be used practically within case studies, as demonstrated in the three examples presented, which examine perceptions of climate change, food-related risks, and environmental awareness via a mixture of quantitative and qualitative techniques. The discussion focuses on the possible insights that can be gained from taking an existential perspective on risk perception, and relates notions of contemporary technologically-oriented societies to the existential challenges faced by individuals and societies in the contemporary world.     

Racial differences in urban neighboring

Despite mixed expectations generated by existing theories and evidence, this analysis documents clear racial differences in urban neighboring behavior. Using data from a survey of Nashville, Tennessee, residents, we show that blacks interact with their neighbors more often than whites do, and in a greater variety of ways. The only noteworthy similarity between the two groups is the positive impact of neighboring on feelings of community affect. Overall, our results support the view that neighbor relations — like other kinds of informal participation — have helped blacks cope with constrained social opportunities and provided them with access to resources unavailable through formal institutional channels.Revised version of a paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association, San Francisco, August 1989.     

冗员失业、社会负担与国有企业效率

影响国有企业效率的因素有很多,其中制度因素最为重要。而在传统的国有企业制度下,冗员失业和社会负担又是制约企业效率提高的关键。时至今日,这个问题仍是国有企业进行减员增效改革、实施战略性重组的最大障碍。从理论上研究冗员失业对企业效率的影响,并结合我国实际情况分析社会负担给国有企业造成的压力,以强化社会保障为突破口,提出解决冗员失业和社会负担问题、提高国有企业效率的具体对策。     

Social Stratification and the Division of Household Labor in Japan: The Effect of Wives' Work on the Division of Labor among Dual-earner Families

Abstract:  This article explores the relationship between social stratification and the division of household labor by examining how the contribution to housework by husbands in dual-earner families varies across the Japanese social stratification structure. First, I review previous studies concerning the determinants of husbands' participation in housework and construct four hypotheses regarding the relative resources explanation, the time constraints explanation, the ideology/sex role explanation, and the alternative manpower explanation. Second, I examine the empirical support for these hypotheses in dual-earner couples and the effect of social stratification on husband's participation in housework, which has not been studied thus far. Third, I investigate the effect of social stratification in more detail. According to the results of TOBIT regressions and other supplementary analyses, the principal findings are as follows:

• 1) 

  the relative resources explanation is not supported;

       

《中华人民共和国会计法》英译文简评

评述了我国会计法英译文中突出存在的词汇和句法两个方面的主要错误 ,指出在翻译中国法律文件时要做到的一点是遵循一定的法律文件英译规律 ,如突出法律行为的主体、不滥用被动句、遵守原文的句型等 ,并且要吃透原文而加以忠实翻译 ,呼吁提高国家级的法律文件英译文的质量 ,尽快开展省级涉外法规的英译及其规范化工作     

Can we remember differently? A case study of the new culture of memory in voluntary organisations

This article analyses the positive contribution that Slovenian voluntary, non–governmental organisations, users' organisations and community–based services in the field of mental health have made to the 'new culture of memory' of helpers and users. The conceptual differences between Slovenian psychiatric (institutional) treatment and voluntary community care are presented through the case study of Clare, a young woman who was diagnosed as a chronic schizophrenic. This example shows the importance of community care in voluntary organisations for the reduction of disability associated with mental disorders. The development of the new culture of memory in voluntary organisations and community–based services is not only the 'narrative turn' within social welfare, but also symbolises the 'implicit turn' in the relationship between the helper and the user. The real challenge of the new culture of memory in the process of help to disabled people (in respect of individuals working through traumatic memories) is that the helper can bear and support the user on a daily basis. During the process of their relationship, the deep implicit relational memories of both become activated and influence the change within the user as well as the helper.