What does wellbeing do? An approach to defamiliarize keywords in youth studies

Wellbeing has become a keyword in youth and social policy, a construct deployed as a measure of a good life. Often associated with physical and mental health, wellbeing encompasses numerous indicators, from subjective experiences of happiness and satisfaction to markers of economic prosperity and basic human needs of security. This article examines wellbeing as an organizing concept in discourses on young people and argues for defamiliarizing its truth claims and cultural authority by investigating what wellbeing does. We begin by examining the rise of wellbeing, drawing attention to its conceptual muddiness and ambiguity. Framed by the Foucauldian notion of problematization, the analysis proceeds along two routes: first, through an historical consideration of wellbeing as a relational concept with antecedents, focusing on ‘self-esteem’; and second, through a reading of wellbeing in contemporary educational policy. Informed by Somers' historical sociology of concept formation and Bacchi's critical policy analysis, we illuminate the mixed dimensions of wellbeing's reach, placing it within longer traditions of youth studies and psy-knowledges and showing its transformative promise as well as its individualizing effects. In doing so, we elaborate a methodological approach that can be adapted to examine other keywords in youth studies and social policy discourse.     

论《弗朗西斯·麦康伯短暂的幸福生活》的叙述与描写

在海明威的短篇小说中,《弗朗西斯·麦康伯短暂的幸福生活》的叙述艺术别具一格,具有极大的艺术魅力。就其叙述方式说,横断面写法、围绕主题选择时间切点、张弛有致的节奏、悬念丛生的结局,显示了海明威构思的精巧。就其描写方式说,神态描写、语言描写,特别是肖像描写、心理描写,显示了海明威描写的传神。这些精巧的构思与传神的描写构成了小说的结构艺术特色。     

“I Really Belong Here”: Civic Capacity-Building among Returning Citizens

This article focuses on unlikely movement actors whose civic engagement has been understudied: people with criminal records (“returning citizens”). We present findings from 18 months of ethnographic research with members (leaders) of Fighting to Overcome Records and Create Equality (FORCE), a civic group led by returning citizens. FORCE leaders received institutional support from Community Renewal Society (CRS), a larger faith and community-based organization, to lead a rights reform movement in Chicago. Findings suggest that FORCE leaders constructed notions of kinship, recognition, and power through civic capacity-building efforts—and that social belonging was core to such capacity-building efforts. While bonding social belonging occurred as FORCE leaders formed kinship with people facing similar social and economic marginality, bridging social belonging emerged as leaders felt recognized by CRS staff organizers, affiliates, and elected officials. Bonding and bridging social belonging enabled FORCE leaders, who faced constant social exclusion in society, to experience much needed kinship, recognition, and power. Future studies should continue to uncover how local capacity-building processes have life-changing relational effects on movement participants from socially and economically marginalized groups.     

场域转换与文化反哺:青年群体与变迁社会的信息互动

以布迪厄场域理论来考察不同社会形态下青年与社会的信息互动实践,发现青年与社会的信息互动在具有“位置-权力”关系的场域中展开,“位置-权力”关系通过信息资本的占有而建构。社会形态随技术变革更迭,青年与社会信息互动的场域逻辑与运行机制发生相应转变。从农耕社会到工业社会再到信息社会,青年与社会的互动场域变得多样,并且发生着从家庭向学校再向网络空间的偏向性转换,场域运行的推动力量也从时间权威向结构权威再向认同权威转换。可以说,青年与社会信息互动场域的转换,正是人类在不同社会形态下对“用时间消灭空间”的信息传播时空观的生产实践与社会表征。     

School–work systems in postindustrial societies: Evidence from Japan

The Japanese system of school–work has been widely admired for the strong communication and recruitment relationships that exist between high schools and employers. We develop a framework for understanding the macro-level conditions that fostered the effectiveness of the system up until the early 1990s. These conditions included a stratified secondary educational system, a large supply of high-quality high school graduates, and high demand for young workers to fill entry-level positions in the internal labor markets of large firms. We use original data from a sample of urban high schools to analyze how Japanese employers’ recruitment patterns changed in the 1990s and beyond. The results of that analysis and a counterfactual analysis suggest that recent changes, especially in Japanese employment institutions, have significantly weakened high school–employer relationships. We suggest implications of the Japanese case for school–work processes in other postindustrial societies.     

当代社会思潮对青年的影响——基于对近十年相关研究的述评

研究社会思潮对青年的影响对于新形势下使青年树立和践行社会主义核心价值观具有重要意义。分析近10年的相关文献后发现,当代中国社会对青年有较大影响的思潮主要有新儒家思潮或文化保守主义思潮、实用主义思潮、自由主义思潮、历史主义思潮、新左派思潮、民族主义思潮、民主社会主义思潮和民粹主义思潮。此外还存在诸如后现代主义思潮、女权主义思潮、反全球化思潮、消费主义思潮等对青年影响力稍小但绝不容忽视的思潮。当代社会思潮深刻地影响了青年的信仰和价值观,导致青年政治意识表达方式变迁,影响青年文化体系的形成和变迁,而在这些过程中青年接受社会思潮影响的方式也在发生着变化。社会思潮影响下的青年思想引领主要有思想绝缘法、对象研究法、武器强化法和能力培养法。现有关于社会思潮对青年影响的研究存在着过分侧重定性研究和消极影响、到底如何影响是"黑箱"、研究成果呈现结构失衡等缺陷,需要针对这些缺陷寻找相应的研究进路。     

浅析《爱弥儿》中的青年社会交往观

卢梭在《爱弥儿》一书中,通过对青年爱弥儿的道德教育的论述表达了他关于青年社会交往的观点。《爱弥儿》中的青年交往观主要包括青年社会交往的必要性、青年社会交往的基本原则以及青年在社会交往中的具体行为表现等内容。卢梭的青年社会交往观以自然主义教育思想为基础,虽然带有一定的空想性,且主要针对的是18世纪的法国社会现实,有其时代局限性,但对于现代青年社会交往仍具有重要启示意义,特别是青年参与社会交往必须遵循一定的原则,青年社会交往应讲求一定的艺术和方法等观点值得加以借鉴和参考,使其对现代青年社会交往发挥指导作用。     

网络青年文化的“自我空间”论

后现代的网络社会既给青年人寻找自我、建构身份搭建了广阔的新舞台,也为青年人提供了一个空间自由、文化自主的新天地——青年文化的"自我空间"。在这样一个以"自我"为中心和遵循"快乐至上"原则的空间里,青年人主动将自我符号化,充分运用网络媒介的自主权,通过创建微电影、微小说等微美学文本,把自己的内心世界投射到网络社会并最大限度地释放与表现、宣泄与满足。他们在"自我空间"里呈现自我、形塑自我的同时,也进行着青年亚文化的传播与实践。     

“中国梦”语境下青年价值观的整合

中国正处于社会发展与转型的快速时期,青年价值观呈现出前所未有的多元化态势。青年价值观的整合,需要多维的视角,而"中国梦"的提出,则为青年价值观的整合提供了现实的途径。作为主导价值观的表现,"中国梦"可以引导青年自觉地将个人发展与国家富强、民族复兴结合起来,从而达到青年价值观整合的目的。青年应在"中国梦"的引领下,成为身负责任感和使命感的社会发展的中坚力量。     

中国青年政治意识的未来发展

青年政治意识作为社会政治现象中的一个特殊方面,对中国、中国特色社会主义乃至中国特色社会主义政治的长远发展都具有重要的现实意义。以社会主义公共意识为基础,以主体性、发展性为一般属性,以政治性、积极性和行动性为特殊属性的政治行动意识作为主体政治心理走向政治人格的重要中介,是中国青年政治意识发展的未来取向,以政治参与意识为中心的青年政治行动意识培养是中国青年政治意识未来发展的重要路径。