Mobility of ‘the defeated’: internal migration and social advancement in a post-civil war society

The article examines the relationship between the movement across space and social mobility by analyzing the conditions for internal migration in Spain during the years of the Franco regime. Specifically it reflects on the ways in which migration from the countryside into self-constructed shantytowns in the greater Madrid area was perceived by migrants themselves, and on the strategies that enabled migration to be carried through. By focusing on the challenges that internal migration posed to the spatial practices and mobility regimes of the dictatorship, the article also explores the relationship between spatial movement, social mobility and political repression within the context of a nationalist dictatorship.     

美国文艺作品中阶级位移主题模式的嬗变

美国文艺作品中的阶级位移主题是一个未被学术界重视的边缘话题,在当下的文化语境中研究其主题模式的嬗变为我们提供了一个洞悉此类美国文学作品的崭新视角.根据拉梅耳(R.J. Rummel)的观点,梳理了文艺学视域内的阶级概念,以此标准定义出阶级位移的主题并归纳总结出美国文学作品中"堕落"与"成功"两个主题模式.纵览19世纪中前期到当代的涉及阶级位移的美国主流文艺作品,在历史与文化语境中勾画出此类作品嬗变的轨迹和特点,并从历史的角度分析其成因,指出女性和少数族裔人民的觉醒是推动阶级位移主题模式发展变化的内因.     

当前中国阶层流动固化趋向与治理路径分析——基于集团分利视角

阶层流动以精英流动为主要实现方式,精英流动受阻意味着阶层固化,阶层固化是集团分利的后果之一,是“机构僵化症”的同义语.中国在市场转型过程中形成了各类精英集团,精英集团的分利行为造成资源的集团式垄断,而阶层流动又以资源占有为前提,精英便趋于集团内或集团间复制,阶层固化趋势加剧.实现公平分利以建立良性精英流动机制、适度硬政权建设以打破分利集团联盟及制度变革与创新以重构利益格局是消除阶层固化的路径选择.     

On square ordinal contingency tables: a comparison of social class and income mobility for the same individuals

Summary.  Square contingency tables with matching ordinal rows and columns arise in particular as empirical transition matrices and the paper considers these in the context of social class and income mobility tables. Such tables relate the socio-economic position of parents to the socio-economic position of their child in adulthood. The level of association between parental and child socio-economic position is taken as a measure of mobility. Several approaches to analysis are described and illustrated by UK data in which interest focuses on comparisons of social class and income mobility tables that are derived from the same individuals. Account is taken of the use of the same individuals in the two tables. Additionally comparisons over time are considered.     

Head Cocoons

ABSTRACT

Listening with the aid of headphones was at the heart of the early radio culture of the 1920s. After those years, however, earphones became the exception as loudspeakers became the norm. For quite some time thereafter, the wiring of hearing was limited to the use of monaural earbuds in situations where the use of loudspeakers would have disturbed others. In West Germany, the binaural headphone started to make a comeback in the late 1960s due to the growing fragmentation of family life along with the widening range of electronic leisure possibilities and the rise of hi-fi culture. It was only at the end of the twentieth century, however, that binaural headphone listening emerged as the dominant culture of listening and caught up with the burgeoning mobile urban life style.

Taking the case of West Germany, this article asks: What is the impact of ear-wiring on social life? And, what new kinds of perception result from headphone listening? It traces how the use of earphones turned from being a static “technique of listening” into a mobile “technique of acoustic privatization.” Ultimately, this article interprets today's portable headphones as “head cocoons” that enable mobile listeners to actively carve out sonic privacy while on the move.     

Disability and going green: a comparison of the environmental values and behaviours of persons with and without disability

Some studies have suggested that socially excluded groups exhibit different environmental values and behaviours from mainstream society. To consider this in the context of disability, a survey was implemented to investigate environmental values and ecological behaviour. A high percentage of participants considered themselves to have a disability, long‐standing illness or infirmity. Over half of the sample had restricted physical mobility. The study used the revised New Ecological Paradigm Scale, a widely used measure of pro‐environmental orientation, and the General Ecological Behaviour scale to assess ecological behaviours. No significant differences were found between respondents with/without disability for either their general environmental attitudes or their general ecological behaviour. However, a positive correlation was found between level of physical mobility and general ecological behaviour. The results also show significant differences in the ecological behaviours of those respondents living dependently and those living independently; respondents living in care scored lower on the ecological behaviour scale.     

The sociolinguistics of exogamy: Dialect acquisition in a Zhuang village

Adult dialect acquisition is typically studied in relatively idiosyncratic situations where adults happen to move to another community. But how does dialect acquisition play out in indigenous minority societies that have systemic adult migration due to exogamy? Do the in‐married spouses acquire the local variety? Why or why not? How much do they acquire? We investigated an indigenous Zhuang community in southern China. Sociophonetic analyses of in‐married women and local villagers show that the in‐married women acquired the local variety in most respects but not in aspirated consonants. To the limits of their phonological ability as adult learners, the wives followed the local sociolinguistic norm: they acquired the husbands’ variety. By contrast, in societies experiencing greater external cross‐cultural contact, exogamous women sometimes use their liminal status to challenge such gendered sociolinguistic expectations. Comparing the present study with outcomes in different societies, we lay the foundation for a typology of the sociolinguistics of exogamy. In this way, we help expand the study of language and gender toward new horizons and under‐represented social settings.     

Urban “slums” and social mobility

Informal urban settlements determine the wellbeing of a large section of global humanity. Yet there has been little research on their role in facilitating social mobility. In theory such settlements may foster human progress by linking rural–urban migrants to the services, contacts and livelihoods concentrated in cities. The article uses longitudinal data for South Africa to explore the magnitude of social progression among people living within informal settlements compared with rural areas and formal urban areas. It finds that there may be some advantage from living in an informal settlement compared with a rural area, but the effect is not strong. The impact may be larger in the more prosperous Gauteng city‐region than in other urban regions.     

Flows and Cohesion: Balancing Capabilities Across an Expanded Union1

Until recently the flow of skilled workers to established centres from more peripheral regions was seen as a ‘brain drain’, implying a one‐way and permanent loss of skilled labour. However, increasing mobility and connectivity permits more complex traffic between more and less advanced locations. With the emergence of a global economy dependent on flows of material and intellectual capital, the notion of ‘brain circulation’ has gained prominence. Understanding the potential benefits of migration to both donor and recipient economies must move beyond financial remittance to social remittance. As connectivity increases, both become capacity‐building resources. This article discusses the impact of a combination of greater physical mobility and electronic connectivity on the dual objectives of social cohesion and technical leadership being pursued through the policies of the European Commission.     

Sightseeing Buses: Cruising,Timing and the Montage of Attractions

Abstract

This article focuses on spatial performances, modes of vision and touring practices enabled by sightseeing bus‐tours. Thereby, three aspects of the process by which these buses transform urban space into destination space are discussed. First, bus‐tours delineate, as they move, a unique geography of routes and stops, which is based on structured improvisation. Second, guiding practices of tour guides are crucial for assembling together a destination and their success depends on timing. Third, tourist experiences enabled by sightseeing bus‐tours involve a ‘cruise‐ship‐like’ style of movement and a mode of vision reminiscent of the ‘montage of coming attractions’ characteristic of film‐trailers. The article concludes by stressing the multiple spatial displacements involved in bus‐tour production of destination space.