Biosocial Influences on the Family: A Decade Review

The past decade brought a remarkable increase in the number and quality of biosocial studies of family processes. The current review summarizes recent advances in biosocial family research by providing key exemplars of emerging research paradigms. Research in the past decade has substantiated the claim in the previous Decade Review ( Booth, Carver, & Granger, 2000 ) that bidirectional influences between all levels of analysis are paramount. There is an emerging consensus that integrating factors at multiple biological and social levels is highly informative. Because ignoring biological factors often will underestimate mediating or moderating mechanisms, the review provides recommendations for biosocial family research. We also highlight the need for researchers who understand complex family environments to lend their expertise to biosocial studies.     

Social relationships and shifting languages in Northern Thailand1

This paper explores how speakers’ understandings of the conduct of social relationships mediate changing and socially distinctive syncretic language practices in a Northern Thai community. Although a shift away from vernacular (Kam Muang) speech styles to Standard Thai was emblematically tied to young and urban speakers in nostalgic discourses, syncretic speech styles and metalinguistic discourses also reflected local and socially positioned understandings of institutional roles and social relationships. I argue that scholars of language change and shift should foreground the mediating role of social relationships in speakers’ uses and understandings of their communicative repertoires across multiple timescales.     

‘It's a magnifying glass for your relationship’: a thematic analysis of motivations,benefits, and challenges in consensually non-monogamous relationships

The last decade has seen an increase in public and academic interest in consensual non-monogamy (CNM). CNM involves sexual and/or romantic relationships between multiple partners, with the consent of all individuals involved. Engagement in CNM is estimated at 5% of the general population, although due to stigma with the strong idealisation of monogamy in many cultures, it is a hidden population. This qualitative study explores the motivations, benefits, and challenges experienced in CNM relationships, an area that has been understudied despite the resurgence of interest in it. While previous research has mainly focused on comparisons between CNM and monogamy or individual types of CNM such as polyamory, this study seeks to provide a broader understanding of CNM relationships. We employ a critical realist framework and thematically analyse semi-structured interviews with eight participants. The results identify three overarching themes: mononormativity and cultural norms; growth and responsibility; and diversity and complexity; each has several subthemes. These findings suggest that CNM provides opportunities for greater diversification of needs and increased community and individual growth. The study also highlights the challenges experienced in CNM relationships and the strategies used to manage them, such as personal responsibility for managing difficult emotions and temporarily closing a relationship at times for relationship security. A novel finding in this study is that some individuals involved in CNM have internalised cultural norms and the idealisation of monogamy and need to unlearn these norms. This study adds to the existing knowledge on CNM and is expected to be of interest to clinicians and researchers seeking to understand its motivations, benefits, and challenges. Relationship therapists will benefit from increased knowledge of how to work with clients interested or engaged in CNM relationships. Overall, this study supports previous findings that CNM is a viable, enjoyable, yet sometimes challenging type of relationship.     

略论清代武汉公共事务建设管理中的官民关系

在我国加速城市化发展的今天,城市公共管理及其研究的重要性与日俱增,讨论城市公共管理中官方与民间社会的关系,不仅具有理论价值,而且具有十分重要的应用价值。通过探讨清代武汉城市公共领域中的官民关系的形成和在公共事务建设管理活动中的具体体现,以期对当今武汉市的公共事务建设和管理提供历史借鉴。     

构建和谐党群关系的要素分析——以延安时期党群关系建设为例

中国共产党在延安时期建立起的党群关系是我党党群关系发展史上的良好典型。通过对延安时期党群关系的状况和根源进行系统分析和总结,归纳出构建和谐党群关系的四个基本要素:执政理念、执政能力、自身素质和政治参与。以期对当今的党群关系建设起到借鉴作用。     

我国现阶段不宜提“促进民族融合”

遵循民族发展的客观规律,我国现阶段不可能＂促进民族融合＂;尊重中国历史发展的客观事实,历史上不可能有＂民族融合＂;尊重社会主义初级阶段民族发展和民族关系的现状,我国现阶段不宜提＂促进民族融合＂。     

以人为本的社会属性与实现途径

中国共产党创立的科学发展观,强调核心是以人为本,其中的“人”是全体人、多需人、多代人。社会主义制度从根本上铲除了人的劳动成果异化为奴役人的工具的社会基础,人民群众成为社会的真正主人,中国共产党除了人民群众根本利益以外,没有任何特殊利益,这就为人的自由全面发展开辟出广阔的实现途径。     

集体谈判的内部国家机制：以温岭羊毛衫行业工价集体谈判为例

集体谈判作为西方社会劳资冲突制度化的社会发明,不但得到工人和工会的拥护,同时也引起了雇主的兴趣。通过协商的程序、承诺的遵守以及共同利益的形成,可以构筑消解工人集体怨恨、制造工人认同的内部国家机制。在中国,工会受组合主义限制,尚不能成为集体谈判的有效发起者,愈演愈烈的劳资冲突却有可能使雇主成为实际的“发动引擎”。本文通过对温岭羊毛衫行业工价集体谈判过程的描述,探讨在竞争和斗争的背景下,雇主和工人在集体谈判过程中的互动,以及在以生存伦理为基础的工人群体中逐步形成从“无序抗争”到“有序遵守”的内部国家机制。     

Depressive symptoms and help‐seeking behaviors among Korean Americans

Cheung M, Leung P, Cheung A. Depressive symptoms and help‐seeking behaviors among Korean Americans Int J Soc Welfare 2011: 20: 421–429 © 2010 The Author(s), International Journal of Social Welfare © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and the International Journal of Social Welfare. Korean Americans represent the fifth largest group of Asian Americans in the USA. This exploratory survey of 205 Korean Americans (92.2 percent foreign born) found that those with depressive symptoms tend to be younger, have lower incomes, and are more concerned about their basic needs, community/social needs, family relationship issues, and healthcare issues than those without depressive symptoms. Income, healthcare concerns, and anxiety were significant predictors of depression. The likelihood of having depressive symptoms among Korean Americans with anxiety was 240 times higher than among those without anxiety, but acculturation was not a significant contributing factor. Most respondents tended to seek advice about their mental health problems from physicians and non‐mental health professionals (friends and religious healers). Implications for social work education, research, practice, and policy are discussed in relation to the need to use evidence‐based practice data to plan culturally relevant services for ethnic minorities.