The mobility problem in Britain: new findings from the analysis of birth cohort data

Social mobility is now a matter of greater political concern in Britain than at any time previously. However, the data available for the determination of mobility trends are less adequate today than two or three decades ago. It is widely believed in political and in media circles that social mobility is in decline. But the evidence so far available from sociological research, focused on intergenerational class mobility, is not supportive of this view. We present results based on a newly‐constructed dataset covering four birth cohorts that provides improved data for the study of trends in class mobility and that also allows analyses to move from the twentieth into the twenty‐first century. These results confirm that there has been no decline in mobility, whether considered in absolute or relative terms. In the case of women, there is in fact evidence of mobility increasing. However, the better quality and extended range of our data enable us to identify other ‘mobility problems’ than the supposed decline. Among the members of successive cohorts, the experience of absolute upward mobility is becoming less common and that of absolute downward mobility more common; and class‐linked inequalities in relative chances of mobility and immobility appear wider than previously thought.     

社会流动机制的转变对农村生育率的影响

随着我国由计划经济向市场经济转型、从传统社会向现代社会转变,农民的社会流动机制发生了变迁。社会流动机制的转变必然导致经济、社会诸多变量的变动,而经济和社会变量的变化又影响着生育行为。本文从宏观层面探讨了社会流动机制的变迁对农村生育率的影响。     

‘When and where does being Welsh matter to me?’ The influence of cross-border mobilities on constructions of sub-national belonging in the lives of Welsh Muslims*

This article will discuss how Welsh Muslims construct what a sense of place means to them through their cross-border mobility between England and Wales, and how this contributes to the ongoing re-construction of a plural understanding of nationhood in an era of diversity. To understand when and where being Welsh matters to Welsh Muslims, it will explore how mobility rather than being the antithesis of belonging, can be used as an essential tool in highlighting how perceptions of the nation, sub-state nation, home and place are influenced and understood.     

White Zimbabwean farmers’ unstable mobilities,identity and history in Douglas Rogers’ The last resort: a memoir of Zimbabwe

White displacement as a consequence of Zimbabwe's land reform programme resulted in white economic and social mobilities and the need to reconfigure identities and preserve white Zimbabwean farmers’ history and memory as reflected in Douglas Rogers’ The last resort: A memoir of Zimbabwe (2009). This dislocation provokes a fear of loss of memory and history in the white Zimbabwean community and therefore triggers a desire to preserve history and memory, which are central in identity formation. In addition, the preservation of history and memory acts as an important site for the contestation of the land reform programme, identity and belonging.     

Im/mobile highly skilled migrants in Qatar*

Most studies on the mobility of highly skilled migrants have been examined with a framework of global talent mobility and under conditions of neoliberal governance and economic globalization. In this study we challenge the notion of the hypermobile knowledge worker. Utilizing mixed methods, we examine the factors that attracted highly skilled migrants to Qatar and the conditions under which they might leave in the future. Rather than finding a group of footloose migrants attracted primarily to high-wage jobs, a lack of taxation or amenities, and with multiple alternative locations of residence, we find that highly skilled migrants exist on a spectrum of immobility. More significantly, this immobility depends on the migrant’s region of origin. For Asian and Western migrants immobility is attributed to the Kafala system or employer sponsorship, which hinders occupational and spatial mobility and ties workers to their sponsors. Arab highly skilled migrants are especially affected by lack of security and stability in their home countries, which makes these workers involuntarily immobile. The former group seem to be willing to accept a reduced level of agency and mobility for high income, whereas for the latter security and stability are more fundamental to their decision to come to Qatar.     

欧洲学分转换系统对我国成人教育发展的借鉴和思考

2013年12月,首个\     

Exploring the motivation and willingness of self-initiated expatriates,in the civil engineering industry,when considering employment opportunities in Qatar

This paper provides empirical and contextual insight into the complexity of Self-Initiated Expatriates’ (SIEs) experiences in a unique setting. Factors that influence SIEs in the civil engineering industry, when considering overseas employment in Qatar, are identified and considered. Drawing comparison to organizational expatriates (OEs), this paper uses semi-structured interviews conducted with professionals from the civil engineering and construction industries. The research surfaced that different factors interconnect to affect individuals’ decisions about overseas employment. Three factors, specifically; location appeal, host country as an employment setting and effect of expatriation on the family, appear to be more influential to participants when the proposed destination is Qatar.     

新疆兵团的人口迁移和人口流动现状研究——以兵团农八师石河子为例

新疆生产建设兵团以屯垦戍边为职责,集党、政、军、企为一体,在国家实行计划单列。由于兵团体制和社会经济发展状况的特殊性,兵团的迁移人口状况、流动人口状况也呈现出了很强的独特性。本文以兵团农八师石河子为样本,对其迁移人口和流动人口的现状进行了较为深入、全面的分析。     

多状态生命表模型在人力资源规划中的应用研究

本文针对企业人力资源变动的结构性特征,将人口统计分析中的多状态生命表模型应用于企业人力资源规划中,并应用此模型对某一企业人力资源状况进行详细的分析研究,验证这一模型在人力资源规划中的可行性,揭示我国企业人力资源流动现状。     

The translocal villagers. Mining,mobility and stratification in post-apartheid South Africa

Internal labour migration from rural areas to urban centres has been and remains one of the dominant patterns of migration in South Africa. Based on data from ethnographic field research, this paper explores the mobility patterns and translocal relations of miners in the Northern Cape province of South Africa. By considering the tension between mobility and locality in a historical and political perspective, the concept of translocality helps to explain why miners try to expand their action space and, at the same time, why they are embedded in certain places. Thus, a translocal perspective enhances the interpretation of the spatio-temporal transformations in South Africa’s mining communities and beyond, as it sheds light on the agency of mine workers, superseding merely structuralist explanations.