Young people,social media and connective action: from organisational maintenance to everyday political talk

Social media is pervasive in the lives of young people, and this paper critically analyses how politically engaged young people integrate social media use into their existing organisations and political communications. This qualitative research project studied how young people from a broad range of existing political and civic groups use social media for sharing information, mobilisation and, increasingly, as a means to redefine political action and political spaces. Twelve in-person focus groups were conducted in Australia, the USA and the UK with matched affinity groups based on university campuses. The groups were of four types: party political group, issue-based group, identity-based group and social group. Our focus group findings suggest that this in-depth approach to understanding young people's political engagement reveals important group-based differences emerging in young people's citizenship norms: between the dutiful allegiance to formal politics and a more personalised, self-actualising preference for online, discursive forms of political engagement and organising. The ways in which political information is broadcast, shared and talked about on social media by engaged young people demonstrate the importance of communicative forms of action for the future of political engagement and connective action.     

Humor and satire in politics: Introducing cultural sociology to the field

The landscape of political humor and satire is changing rapidly, and it is becoming an increasingly relevant aspect of our culture. Although scholars have been actively trying to capture this change, majority of the existing frameworks for understanding humor and satire in politics still reduce these phenomena to mere genres or rhetoric tools. In addition, they provide insufficient accounts concerning the reception of humor and satire, and neglect to interpret and explain what they communicate. In the article, a general understanding of humor and satire outside of a political context, followed by an overview of studies discussing humor and satire in politics through their applications in social movements, as leadership tools, and through their manifestations in mass media has been presented. Lastly, a cultural sociological perspective to the field has been introduced. It has been argued that approaching humor and satire in politics through a structural hermeneutic method of the Strong Program will enable us to recognize and treat political humor and satire as autonomous and complex cultural systems which carry an internal power to move people.     

Institutional evolution and abrupt change: Reforming the administration of social assistance in Finland

Historical institutionalist studies have explained institutional change as resulting from critical junctures that interrupt long periods of stability or from endogenous, incremental evolution. Building on these theories, discursive institutionalists have focused on the roles of agency, ideas and discourse as explainers of change. Combining these approaches, this article analyses Finland’s decision in 2014 to transfer the administration of basic social assistance from municipalities to the central government. This study demonstrates that institutional change can be both abrupt and evolutionary. Due to sudden, exceptional political circumstances, the decision in question was made quickly and under pressure, circumventing possible veto players. However, it was possible only because of the incremental, endogenous change that had occurred in the way in which social assistance was administered at the municipal level. It enabled a change in political discourse, which eroded the credibility of the ideational frames that policy actors had previously utilised to reject the centralised model.     

Middle School Children's Perceptions on Welfare and Poverty: An Exploratory, Qualitative Study

This study was undertaken to determine how middle school children assess the effects of welfare reform on their daily lives. The study consisted of thirty interviews with children and their mothers recruited from a middle school in a large, metropolitan area. From the children's perspective, multiple jobs and evening/night hours interfered with the child-parent relationship. Other consequences included grades going down and not getting to school on time. All the children stated that mothers should work, but most children felt mothers should only work when their children are in school. Welfare and poverty were issues about which children were teased at school.     

Open Road or Blind Alley? Welfare Reform, Mothers, and Children with Disabilities

Welfare reform was examined for 39 Michigan families whose children have significant health or intellectual and behavioral disabilities. As a group, these families received little specialized assistance or services to address their unique needs. Family-cited barriers to self-sufficiency included poorly trained welfare caseworkers, limited public transportation, and inadequate child care. Having an older child was the only discriminating variable between working and non-working mothers. However, working mothers only had temporary positions with no benefits and low pay. All families, whether employed or not, lived below the poverty line.     

对林业税费的经济学分析

该文运用经济学的基本工具———供给和需求曲线 ,以商品林为研究对象 ,探讨了林业税费的作用机理和内涵。该文认为商品林生产具有正的外部性 ,市场失灵使生产者将不能提供社会真正所需要的商品林数量。在封闭的市场条件下 ,林业税费会直接成为价格的一部分 ,商品林生产者应当能够获得正常利润 ,与税费高低无关 ,但会使一部分林地退出生产。林业补贴是一种负的林业税收。在开放市场经济条件下 ,国内商品林供应量低于没有林业税收时的商品林供应量 ,更低于考虑社会生态需求时的商品林供应量 ,造成巨大的社会福利损失 ,应减免林业税费、增加林业扶持、取消价格管制。该文进一步研究了与林业税费密切相关的森林采伐限额政策 ,认为对商品林应该完全取消采伐限额政策     

公民·公民教育·思想政治教育

公民概念在西方由来已久 ,它直接与国家相连并被认为是政治民主的一个关键因素。西方公民教育的核心 ,就是通过政治社会化形成公民意识。我国传统上只有臣民而无公民和公民教育 ,民国建立后所实施的公民教育也不成体系。真正将公民教育单独提出并加以强调 ,是在我国社会的转型时期。在社会主义市场经济条件下 ,立足于公民的塑造 ,培养公民的意识、观念与精神 ,是思想政治教育与时俱进、顺应时代发展的客观要求     

论美国宪法政治形成发展的基础

美国宪法政治形成和发展的原因 ,在于有英国立宪政治的深厚文化与思想做基础 ,在于社会各群体有在法治状态下生活的习惯和传统。济济的法律人才在国家政治制度的设计上起了主导作用 ;社会经济制度为美国的宪法政治确立与发展奠定了坚固的基础 ;国家不豢养和保存大规模的常备军 ,人民的代议机关能牢牢控制国家武装力量 ,尤其能控制国家武装力量的经济命脉。另外 ,北美独立运动不是一场专制王权与民主力量之间的冲突与斗争 ,而是一场殖民地力量壮大以后争取分离的运动     

童音与苍狼——从政治学视角解读史诗《江格尔》

作为一部恢宏博大的英雄史诗，《江格尔》是世界上少有的活态史诗之一，它塑造了众多的英雄形象，有着丰富的政治学研究意义。洪古尔是《江格尔》中最光彩夺目的英雄，具有超强的战斗技能和英勇无匹的气概，他对江格尔可汗忠心耿耿的赤诚之外也有“不赤诚”的表现，是一个有情有义、可爱可敬的“童音与苍狼式”的英雄。     

论思想政治课的研究性学习

研究性学习是与接受式学习相对的一种新的学习方式。本文认为,由思想政治课的学科特点所决定,学生更适合于采用研究性学习的方式进行学习。为此本文就思想政治课研究性学习的可行性、基本内涵、自身特点、目标定位、实现条件、操作程序等问题,进行了广泛而深入的探讨。