Performative family: homosexuality,marriage and intergenerational dynamics in China

Using in‐depth interview data on nominal marriages – legal marriages between a gay man and a lesbian to give the appearance of heterosexuality – this paper develops the concept of performative family to explain the processes through which parents and their adult children negotiate and resolve disagreements in relation to marriage decisions in post‐socialist China. We identify three mechanisms – network pressure, a revised discourse of filial piety and resource leverage – through which parents influence their gay offspring's decision to turn to nominal marriage. We also delineate six strategies, namely minimizing network participation, changing expectations, making partial concessions, drawing the line, delaying decisions and ending the marriage, by which gay people in nominal marriages attempt to meet parental expectations while simultaneously retaining a degree of autonomy. Through these interactions, we argue that Chinese parents and their gay adult children implicitly and explicitly collaborate to perform family, emphasizing the importance of formally meeting society's expectations about marriage rather than substantively yielding to its demands. We also argue that the performative family is a pragmatic response to the tension between the persistent centrality of family and marriage and the rising tide of individualism in post‐socialist China. We believe that our findings highlight the specific predicament of homosexual people. They also shed light on the more general dynamics of intergenerational negotiation because there is evidence that the mechanisms used by parents to exert influence may well be similar between gay and non‐gay people.     

我国城市休闲化发展质量的评价研究

城市休闲化是当代城市发展中的一个新课题。本文结合我国城市休闲化发展的实际状况,通过构建由公共基础、消费能力、产业能力和特色资源等4方面指标组成的城市休闲化质量测评体系,对我国27个省会城市、4个直辖市和5个计划单列市的发展质量进行比较全面和客观的质量测度与数据分析。研究表明,我国城市休闲化质量在整体上处于较低的发展程度。     

The Revenge of History – The Institutional Roots of Post‐Communist Family Policy in the Czech Republic,Hungary and Poland

The authors combine historical and sociological institutional analysis to show that despite the political and socio‐economic transformation in 1990s, the institutional development during and before the communist era provides the best explanation for current childcare policies in Central Europe. While most authors have concentrated on policy changes that have taken place in the region since 1989, this article concentrates on the historical roots of these policies and shows that today's policies are highly influenced by a certain dynamics that had already emerged under communist rule. It shows that a historical institutional approach, which analyses the ‘gendered logic of appropriateness’ and policy legacies at various critical junctures, can explain why family policies in Central Europe had already begun to differ during the communist era, why these main differences continue and why even the changes that have taken place follow logically from historical‐institutional developments.     

Family identification facilitates coping with financial stress: A social identity approach to family financial resilience

Family financial stress research has typically examined negative effects of deprivation on mental health, which in turn erode financial coping. While this work acknowledges family support’s role in buffering these effects, it has typically overlooked how family identification can act to structure the experience of, and response to, economic challenge. We adopt a Social Identity approach, arguing that family identification predicts increased social support and improved well-being, which predicts more effective coping with financial problems. We explore this in two community surveys (N = 369; N = 187). In the first we show that stronger family identification and support predict better well-being, which predicts better evaluation of economic coping. In the second we replicate these findings, and also show that the relationship between well-being and financial distress is fully mediated by perceptions of ‘Collective Family Financial Efficacy’. These findings point to a more positive understanding of how family cohesion can promote mental well-being/resilience.     

Countervailing institutional forces: corporate governance in Turkish family business groups

This longitudinal study investigates the impact of national and international pressures to improve corporate governance in an emerging economy from an institutional theory perspective. Recently, family business groups (FBGs), the dominant form of organizing in emerging economies, have been criticized by policy makers for their poor governance structures. A common recommendation to FBGs has been increasing the number of independent, outsider directors on their boards. Thus, change in the board compositions of the quoted subsidiaries of the six biggest FBGs is analyzed over 2002–2006. One-way-ANOVA and t-tests were used as statistical tools. Findings reveal that there has not been a statistically significant change in board compositions over the research period. FBGs were found to resist institutional pressures through ‘avoidance’, ‘defiance’ and “manipulation” strategies due to the absence of coercive pressures and multiple forms of ‘institutional work’ for change.     

The role of parenthood in shaping the gender wage gap – A comparative analysis of 26 European countries

We use cross-national data on 26 EU countries to estimate how parenthood contributes to the gender wage gap, and assess how institutional elements affect this relationship. We find that irrespective of cultural norms and policies, fathers receive a wage premium, which increases the gender gap. Motherhood gaps vary across countries. The highest gaps are seen in Eastern European countries, where policies and norms lead to long absences from work. Moderate to small penalties are found in Continental Europe, Anglo-Saxon and Nordic countries, alongside higher maternal employment. No motherhood penalties are found for Southern EU countries, where mothers return to work quickly or exit the labor market indefinitely.     

新媒体环境下的大学生休闲观研究

随着新媒体设备和技术在大学生群体中的广泛应用,当代大学生的休闲生活方式已发生了很大的变化。一些大学生深度依赖新媒体,课余休闲生活日益网络化和娱乐化,休闲观念也日趋消极化。因此,高校要加强引导大学生树立科学的休闲观念,帮助他们提高休闲能力,促进他们身心健康发展,营造良好的育人氛围。     

南京市流动儿童家庭环境与学习状况研究

基于南京市4所学校的问卷调查数据,以本地学生为对照组,对流动儿童的家庭环境与学习状况进行研究。结果表明:流动儿童家庭环境较差,74.6%租房居住,家长能提供的学习帮助和情感交流较少;流动儿童缴纳借读费/赞助费的比例及上学路途花费时间均显著高于本地学生;流动儿童对班级学习氛围和教师教学管理的评价较高,但自我学习成绩评价和未来学习预期较低。据此,从政府、社会、学校和家庭等不同层面提出相应的对策建议。     

计生优质服务评估指标体系教学之我见

通过几年的教学实践,对国家人口计生委建立的“全国创建计划生育优质服务先进县(市、区)活动”评估指标体系在教学内容和教学方法上进行研究,认为在教学中应着重强调几个方面,即:评估的内容是一个完整科学的体系;评估的指标中既有定量指标也有定性指标,两者各有侧重但又有机结合;评估方法包括定量和定性两种评估方法,其中定性评估方法是应该重点讲授的内容。在教学方法上应注意增加案例教学、注重现场观察等。     

满族家庭生活教育概说

满族家庭生活教育内容主要包括:遵循家法、注意饮食、规律起居、重视医疗与养生、加强运动、保持节俭等积极方面的规范,以及对酗酒、吸咽、经商等不良行为的禁忌.这些教育提高了满族的生活素质,增强了其身体素质,同时也提高了民族的整体素质.