Collective and Elective Ethnicity: Caste Among Urban Muslims in India

This article explores how the significance of ethnic identity can vary within a stable population, using caste among Muslims in Hyderabad, India as a case study. While some Hyderabadi Muslims are still embedded in ethnic networks, most now experience ethnicity as elective and do not rely on a corporate caste group for their social connections. This reflects a decline in the value of caste identities, which no longer provide economic or political resources. Increasingly, Muslims seek status through education, profession, or income. Thus, most Muslims in Hyderabad experience caste membership, identity, and networks in a weakened or attenuated way.     

Women's employment decisions in Malaysia: Does religion matter?

Religion may influence female employment decisions because different religions specify different life styles. This study investigates whether religion is a significant determinant of married and single women's paid-work and full-time employment in Malaysia. Using the Second Malaysian Family Life Survey and a sequential logit approach, this paper finds that religion is less influential in urban areas than in rural areas.     

Children and well-being: A comparison of employed and non-employed women

While employment improves health, having children at home does not. Indeed, the most likely work-family conflict for women is having children at home. In this study the effect of children on well-being was predicted to differ for employed and non-employed women. In addition, only amongst the employed women was locus of control hypothcsized to moderate this relationship. In a sample of women with partners (n = 116), using multiple-regression analysis, the results indicated that the number of children living at home, rather than the presence of young children, was associated with increased happiness in women. Employment was not predictive of women's well-being. However, it moderated the effect of number of children on their levels of happiness. In addition, non-employed women showed a U-shaped relationship between number of children and psychological distress. Finally, contrary to prediction, locus of control did not moderate the relationship between number of children and women's well-being. The findings are discussed in terms of the role expansion hypothesis.     

试论印度穆斯林的分离主义——以赛义德、伊克巴尔、真纳为例

本文赛义德、伊克巴尔、真纳为例,论述印度穆斯林的分离主义。穆斯林分离主义源于赛义德;伊克巴尔第一次喊出了穆斯林单独建国的口号;真纳是穆斯林分离主义理论的集大成者和实行者。穆斯林的分离主义对印度次大陆的政治发展产生了巨大的影响,成为印度次大陆分裂的主要因素。     

Border Crossings and Diasporic Identities: Media Use and Leisure Practices of an Ethnic Minority

The diaspora of peoples whose origins were in the Indian subcontinent (South Asia) and who are now living in Western countries (especially the U.S. and UK) provides an interesting example of processes of negotiation of new hybrid cultures and identities, using new technologies, such as the Internet, and older technologies like the video player, cable or satellite television, radio, and telephone. These developments may require a revision of the classic sociological picture of assimilation as a zero sum model of acculturation, in which the acculturation of immigrants and their children involves the gradual replacement of their ethnic culture by that of the culture of the host nation. The electronic media, in the context of policies of multiculturalism, may lead to an accentuation of religio-ethnic differences. Contrary to previous assumptions, middle-class immigrants may be more inclined to resist cultural assimilation than their lower-class counterparts.     

Why do French women have more children than German women? Family policies and attitudes towards child care outside the home

French mothers are still more often economically active than their German counterparts and birth rates in France remain higher than in West Germany. By comparing two countries with many similarities in their family policies, I try to demonstrate that the differences between state policies per se should not be overestimated in explaining the persistent gap in their fertility level. As far as women's attitudes towards child care outside of the home are concerned, there is a strong divide between France and West Germany. In the Old Länder in Germany there is some congruence between attitudes and beliefs towards child care and the shortage of child care provision, especially for toddlers. As a product of the interaction between shortage of child care provision, women's attitudes regarding child care and mothers' low labour force participation rate, German family policy reinforces these attitudes. Conversely, there is slow impetus for policy makers to really develop a comprehensive public child care system. Against this cultural and institutional background, an increasing number of women give priority to their job or to their career. In France, by contrast, norms in respect of education of toddlers and young children have evolved in tandem with the change in attitudes of women towards employment. A majority of French women feel legitimised to be in employment on a full-time basis and to have their children cared for outside the home. Their attitudes are in tune with the premises of family policy which has integrated the model of 'the employed mother'. Les Francaises continuent àavoir plus d'enfants que les Allemandes de l'Ouest alors que les différences entre les taux d'activité des mères se sont progressivement atténuées. La proportion de femmes qui n'ont pas d'enfants, en particulier, est beaucoup plus importante en Allemagne de l'Ouest. En comparant deux pays dont les politiques sociales et familiales présentent des similarités, on se propose d'aller au delà des explications les plus couramment admises. En France, contrairement à l'Allemagne de l'Ouest, les normes régissant l'éducation des jeunes enfants ont évolué en phase avec les changements qui ont affectéles comportements des femmes sur le marché du travail. Il est devenu légitime socialement pour les Francaises de travailler à plein temps tout en faisant garder son enfant à l'extérieur du domicile. Les Allemandes de l'Ouest, par contre, intériorisent toujours fortement la norme selon laquelle l'éducation d'un jeune enfant nécessite la présence permanente de sa mère. Mais de plus en plus éduquées, elles sont amenées à accorder la priorité à leur maintien dans l'emploi et à renoncer à la maternité. Pour mieux comprendre les différences de fácondité entre les deux pays, il semble donc fructueux de se focaliser sur les interactions à l'aeuvre entre leurs politiques familiales, les valeurs auxquelles adhèrent la majorité des couples concernant l'éducation des jeunes enfants et les attitudes des femmes face au travail rémunéré.     

女性闲暇生活状况——以福建省为例

利用福建省第二期中国妇女社会地位抽样调查资料,从福建女性拥有的闲暇时间的多寡、闲暇活动的丰富程度以及闲暇活动的内容方面来考察福建女性的闲暇生活状况.并根据数据分析女性闲暇生活各个方面的影响因素.最后根据福建省女性闲暇生活的特点及其影响因素提出进一步改善女性闲暇生活的几点建议.     

Leaving Home Early: Passing from Girlhood to Womanhood

This paper presents a case study of a young woman’s narrative of leaving home and her transition to adulthood. The case study is part of a larger research project about young women with an experience of an early break-up from home, through running away or being thrown out. Empirical material underlying this paper consists of a qualitative study of 12 young women that have been interviewed. The aim of the study is to understand how events like running away/being thrown out of home influences their transition to adulthood. The particular narrative demonstrates how a young woman presents and accounts for such a dramatic event as running away or being thrown out from home, and how that is understood in relation to her adulthood. A further aim is to illustrate how social services efforts are reflected in her narrative.     

古代雅典男子对妇女两面态度的成因

古代雅典男子对妇女存在着既尊重爱戴又厌恶的两面态度。这种矛盾妇女观的产生与当时的家庭和社会分工、经济原因、一夫一妻制家庭的不稳定性以及古代雅典人性观念的不成熟有很大关系。探讨清楚这种矛盾的妇女观对于研究古希腊妇女的地位问题至关重要。     

Essentialism and Islamic Theology of Homosexuality: A Critical Reflection on an Essentialist Epistemology toward Same-Sex Desires and Acts in Islam

Although most traditional Muslim scholars condemn same-sex desires and acts, revisionist Muslim scholars have offered a more tolerant approach on this issue over the last two decades. Building on an essentialist approach to same-sex desires and acts, these scholars have argued that Islam accepts difference and diversity, including sexual diversity, as part of God’s creation. Homosexuality, which in their view is an innate disposition to the same sex, is an alternative sexuality and, thus, accepted by the Qur’an and Islam. This article argues that an essentialist approach is not suitable to defend all manifestations of same-sex desires and acts, not only because it is narrow (as it excludes both bisexual Muslims and homosexual Muslims who believe that their sexual orientation is socially constructed), but also because it cannot even argue the case for the view of homosexuality as inborn. This article proposes to open up the debate beyond essentialism and constructivism, which both have their limitations, to accommodate a more inclusive and tolerant Islamic approach to same-sex desires and acts.