Some Notes on Workplace Equality Renewal in the Swedish Labour Market

In 2001, Swedish authorities imposed a new obligation upon all firms with ten or more employees to undertake annual wage surveys, ‘workplace equality audits’ in which it is possible to ascertain, remedy and prevent unwarranted wage differentials and other unfair employment terms between men and women. An important implication of the new system, called ‘workplace equality renewal’ (självsanering), is that, at the level of the firm all Swedish employers must explain what they mean by work of ‘equal value’ as opposed to ‘different value’. This article discusses the practical pros and cons of the new system, and considers how the surveys can be used in research into the present state of gendered work division. A main finding is that the introduction of this new legislation in the long run might change the Swedish industrial relations system as well as the preconditions for many companies’ human resource management policies. Yet, neither the governmental agencies involved nor the parties’ confederate organizations have been able to clarify what the issue is really about to the single, small business employer or to the local trade union branches. Many employers find any interference, whatever it may be, threatening and trade unions have not realized the potentialities of the system from an employee perspective, potentialities connected to the fact that companies are now more or less forced to make transparent their wage policies at large.     

辽朝汉族文人心态透视

辽朝的汉族文人是辽境内高水平文化的负载者,其生存状态和心理状态对本朝文学的影响十分显著。对他们的社会心理进行研究有着重要的学术意义。辽朝汉族文人的政治态度在前期呈离心趋势,至中期则表现为向心趋势,辽亡前后则以灵活性、变通性为主要特征。民族关系的变动是影响汉族文人心态的最基本的因素。     

语篇中的语气分析及研究

语言是一种交际工具,作为人际意义的语气在交际过程中起非常重要的作用,使用不同的语气可能会产生截然不同的效果。文章从语境暗示、人际关系、连贯性和交际目的等方面阐述了语篇中语气的选择。第一部分阐述语气和语境的关系;第二部分阐述语气如何体现人际关系;第三部分阐述语气如何达到语篇中的连贯性;第四部分阐述语气的选择与交际的目的。其目的在于阐明选择恰当的语气,能实现有效的交际。     

日本国民心理对中日关系影响的分析及对策

日本人心理的二重性和不确定性,是近年来中日关系亲和度不断降低的重要原因,它直接影响中日关系的正常发展。对待中日关系我们除了要坚持原则、据理力争,维护国家和人民的利益,还要采取理性的态度,从大局出发,把国家利益奉为最高原则,正确对待历史认识问题。地缘的安全稳定及经济的互利合作等多方面因素,要求两国国民必须端正心态,正视彼此已变化了的现实,加强沟通,增进理解,谋求双赢。     

清末民初桂西北壮汉瑶三族群际接触的 作用机制及当代启示 ——基于高甲布努瑶歌文本的研究

高甲布努瑶歌文本是瑶族用壮族古壮字传抄并以北部壮语方言为主要演述语言的民间口承文献。桂西北壮汉瑶三族交错杂居的分布特征为群际接触提供重要场域,也为民族交往交流交融奠定空间基础。受接触场景中政治、交通、经济与教育等各种因素的影响,清末民初桂西北壮汉瑶三族的群际接触分为积极与消极两种接触情况,其群际接触的中介变量包括群体间的依存关系、群际互动、群际情绪和认知因素等,这些中介变量所凝练出的历史经验对当前推动民族交流交融仍具有重要的启示意义。     

Assimilation vs. multiculturalism: Views from a community in France

A recent American survey of attitudes toward societal multiculturalism vs. assimilation has found surprisingly widespread support for maintaining heritage cultures not only among immigrant minority groups but also among most subsamples of majority host groups, black and white. Working-class whites are the one exception. This pilot study explores the same attitude domain in a contrasting European setting. Randomly selected samples of middle- and working-class families (a mother, father, and teenage son or daughter) from a small city in France were interviewed. As a group, they were neutral to slightly favorable to immigrants maintaining heritage cultures and languages rather than losing them through assimilation. On measures of attitudes toward specific immigrant groups, there were marked intergroup dyfferunces with Maghrebian Arabs rated leist favorably and Southeast Asians, the model immigrants, most favorably. Comparisons of subgroups of respondents who varied in terms of (a) political left-right orientation, (b) social class standing, (c) degree of religiosity, and (d) generational level provide the base for a more general discussion of cultural assimilation and multiculturalism.     

What's wrong with sociology? Its public image

In response to editor Stephen Cole's question—"What's wrong with sociology?"—the answer is nothing that cannot be overcome by clearer communications and better public relations. The problem is that the field is not held in high esteem by college administrators, legislators, and the public. Many see us as rebels of the 1960s, political liberals, and impractical thinkers with a penchant for jargon. Even our research is derided by some as a waste of money. The solution consists of strategies for overcoming our poor public image. Seven strategies for doing so are discussed: (1) Write clearly. (2) Write for a mass audience. (3) Seek board positions. (4) Strengthen our identity. (5) Teach sociology in high school. (6) Develop academic partnerships. (7) Emphasize outcomes: increase in tolerance and research skills.     

Three Object Relations Models of Couple Treatment

This article describes three different approaches to the treatment of couples, all based on different versions of object relations theories. Object relations as a term has various meanings embodying different theoretical assumptions. It is used differentially to highlight certain aspects of clinical phenomena, to connote certain developmental paradigms, and to signal the importance of real, interactional aspects of human behavior. The three therapeutic approaches to work with couples illustrate some of the ways that the greater conceptual complexity of object relations theories affects how love is explained, couple conflicts defined, and what makes for change in couples treatment. Understanding the basic assumptions of a given theory will enable us to increase our informed consent to the use of theory in our practices.     

Adaptive Build-up and Breakdown of Trust: An Agent Based Computational Approach

This article employs Agent-Based Computational Economics (ACE) to investigate whether, and under what conditions, trust is viable in markets. The emergence and breakdown of trust is modeled in a context of multiple buyers and suppliers. Agents develop trust in a partner as a function of observed loyalty. They select partners on the basis of their trust in the partner and potential profit, with adaptive weights. On the basis of realized profits, they adapt the weight they attach to trust relative to profitability, and their own trustworthiness, modeled as a threshold of defection. Trust and loyalty turn out to be viable under fairly general conditions.     

The Structure of Legal Relations in Online Transactions*

As the civil law expression of internet plus transactions, the legal relations in online trading platform transactions constitute a complex aggregate of legal relationships composed of groups of legal relations. Specifically, they consist of three basic interlinked legal relationships: Contract relations for online trading platform services between the platform provider and the seller or service provider, and between the platform provider and the consumer. This includes the sales or service contract relations between the triad of the seller, the service provider and the consumer. These relations contain five kinds of major content, viz., the provision of transaction space, the publishing of transaction information, price escrow payment, distribution and delivery of the commodity, and transaction credit evaluation. They involve three forms of supplementary legal relations: the supplementary contract relationship between the platform provider and a third party payment institution; between the seller and third party credit reporting agency; and between the seller and a logistics enterprise. The three forms of supplementary contractual legal relations are set up to act on the major contents of the basic legal relationships in online transactions. On the basis of the online trading platform service contract relationships between the platform provider and the triad of the seller, the service provider and the consumer, the flow of the above- mentioned legal relations centers on the contract of sales or service set up between the seller, the service provider and the consumer to accomplish the aim of the online transaction, meet social needs and boost economic development.