MYTHS AND MEANINGS OF IMMIGRATION AND THE METROPOLIS

A number of trends in recent immigration to Canada are discussed: the scale of contemporary movement; the transformation of national origins over the past generation; the diversity of entry classes and the lack of any singular immigrant condition; the remarkable contraction of immigrant destinations to a few large cities; the contribution of immigration to population growth and housing demand in these metropolitan areas; and the distinctive geography of the various entry classes, with higher-status arrivals disproportionately located in Vancouver. The remainder of the paper considers and rejects two common myths in the discussion of immigration: first, the myth of an immigrant underclass, and second, the myth of an immigrant overclass. Using research from Vancouver associated with the Metropolis Project, the first myth is challenged from an analysis of Census data that emphasizes the social context of immigrant life and upward mobility; the second myth is shaken by a qualitative methodology that reveals the unexpectedly fragile experience of a number of business immigrants. Certaines tendances relatives à l'immigration récente au Canada sont examinées: l'envergure des déplacements actuels, les changements dans l'origine nationale des immigrants au cours de la dernière génération, la diversité des catégories d'immigrants admis et, par conséquent, l'absence d'une seule condition pour tous, le fait que les immigrants choisissent essentiellement de s'établir dans quelques grandes villes, la croissance de la population et la demande en logement attribuables aux immigrants dans ces régions métropolitaines, et les choix géographiques distincts des immigrants selon leur catégorie à l'admission, comme c'est le cas de Vancouver, qui accueille un nombre disproportionné d'arrivants de statut élevé. Dans le reste de l'article, les résultats d'études effectuées dans le cadre du Projet Métropole permettent d'examiner puis de réfuter deux mythes communément associés à l'immigration au Canada: l'existence d'un sous-prolétariat et celle d'une classe dominante d'immigrants urbains. D'abord, l'existence d'un sous-prolétariat est rejetée suite à l'analyse de données tirées du recensement concernant le contexte social entourant les immigrants et la mobilité sociale ascendante de la plupart des nouveaux arrivants. Ensuite, une méthode qualitative met en lumière une découverte surprenante: la fragilité de l'expérience de la prétendue classe dominante – les immigrants qui travaillent dans le monde des affaires.     

TEXTS AND TRADITIONS IN CHINESE AND COMPARATIVE PHILOSOPHY

This article considers Quentin Skinner's critique and methodology in his seminal essay “Meaning and Understanding in the History of Ideas” vis-à-vis the current methodological debates in Chinese and comparative philosophy. It surveys the different ways in which philosophers who work with ancient Chinese texts in those related fields deal with the tension between textual contexts and autonomy and how some of the errors criticized by Skinner under the mythology of coherence, mythology of doctrines, mythology of parochialism, and mythology of prolepsis might apply to those fields. It argues that Skinner's insistence that understanding a text requires recovering its author's intended meaning by studying its linguistic context has limited application to Chinese and comparative philosophy because those fields’ most important texts are not best understood as means of communication by specific historical authors with intended messages to convey to readers. These texts are instead the means by which Chinese traditions perpetuate their respective beliefs and practices. Instead of being circumscribed by authorial intent, the meanings of traditional texts are dynamic and co-created in the process of producing, reproducing, and consuming texts as well as in the evolution of practices that also constitute each tradition. The meanings received by the audience are never exactly what authors or transmitters intended but have been transformed by each audience's own concerns and interests, even if the audience attempts to grasp what the former intended. Using the Five Classics and the Analects as examples, this article illustrates how such texts’ purposes to teach and perpetuate the practices that constitute a way of life determine their meanings. Understanding is not merely cognitive but practical as well. The meanings of such texts are not static but dynamic as traditions evolve. The debates about methods of reading and interpreting ancient Chinese texts are also debates about the nature of Chinese traditions and struggles over their futures.     

UNCERTAIN INCOME AND HOUSING PRICE AND LOCATION CHOICE*

ABSTRACT. In this paper, we adapt recent developments in uncertainty modeling to the location choice paradigm. In particular, we analyze the impact of income and housing price uncertainty on housing demand and location demand characteristics in a partial equilibrium framework. We begin by recognizing that housing consumption cannot readily be altered in response to changes in income and price. We find that income and house price risk affect housing and location demands in different ways. Additionally, the spatial characteristics of price risk also affect consumer housing and location demands. For example, if housing price risk is lower farther from the central city, housing demand can be greater in those locations even with the higher transportation cost. Thus, over some locations, the expected price gradient could be positive.     

REGIONAL INDUSTRIAL STRUCTURE AND ECONOMIC GROWTH AND INSTABILITY*

ABSTRACT. National and regional employment patterns are subject to growth-instability tradeoffs. This paper applies the portfolio selection model to detailed employment data for the U.S. economy and selected states. Empirical results indicate that growth-instability trade-offs exist in a form not previously understood. The paper also identifies growth and stabilization potential by identifying stabilizing sectors.     

BLOCK GRANTS AND URBAN POLICIES: IMPLETATION AND IMPACT

In the 1970's, the federal government has made greater use of block grants to encourage subnational units to pursue national goals. Using two jurisdictions—St. Louis City and St. Louis County—and two block grant programs—Community Development and Comprehensive Employment and Training—as case studies, this essay describes how differences in local polities affects policy implementation and policy impact. The tentative conclusion is that maintaining local autonomy and achieving national goals are far from mutually compatible.     

MARRIAGE-RELATED DECISION-MAKING AND YOUNG WOMEN'S MARITAL RELATIONS AND AGENCY

There is little research that has explored how marriage arrangements, i.e., family-arranged, semi-arranged marriages with some say in spouse selection and self-arranged marriages, affect young women's married life in settings traditionally characterised by arranged marriage. Using data from 13,912 married young women aged 15–24 in India, we explore associations between marriage arrangements and young women's marital relations and agency. Logistic regression analysis shows that women experiencing semi- and self-arranged marriages were more likely than those in family-arranged marriages to communicate and interact with their husband (OR, 1.3–2.8), and exhibit agency in their life (OR, 1.2–2.3); those in semi-arranged marriages were less likely to experience marital violence. These associations were, however, stronger and more consistent among women from southern and western states than in northern and eastern states. Findings call for expanding the discourse on marriage to ensure young people's right to free and full consent in spouse selection.     

HISTORIOMETRICS,HISTORICAL AND CARTOGRAPHIC INFORMATION,AND COMPUTERS

Abstract

Accessibility is frequently used in transportation planning to measure the efficiency of new infrastructure in terms of travel time and population served. In this article, the authors apply accessibility concepts based on the geo-historical angle. The aim of this study is to investigate the relationships between population dynamics and the railway expansion from 1830 to 1930. Their approach considers a local scale composed of some 36,000 French communes for the demographic data and more than 28,000 kilometers for the railway network. The methodological framework of this database is based on historical geographic information systems completed by anamorphosis analysis. In this way, they are able to map the changing contours of accessibility from the local to the regional and national scales for historical time.     

RAVENS AND CROWS IN IRON AGE AND ROMAN BRITAIN

The raven and crow skeletons from Danebury are re‐examined, taking into account their taphonomy, their context and the associated finds. Raven and crow burials from other Iron Age and Roman sites are surveyed, again with a discussion of their context and associated finds where these could be ascertained. Taken together, the evidence makes it clear that most if not all were deliberate burials, often at the base of pits. We demonstrate how interpretations of such burials have changed, with zooarchaeologists initially proposing functional explanations and archaeologists readier to accept that the burials were deliberate. We go on to argue that the unique character of ravens and crows, including their tolerance of humans, their scavenging habits, and their voice, led to their playing an important role in Iron Age and Roman rites and beliefs.     

SOCIAL AND SPATIAL PATTERNS UNDER FORDISM AND FLEXIBLE ACCUMULATION

Current debate surrounding Fordism and flexible accumulation centers on explaining their transition and the implications for capital and labor. This article disagrees with the argument that technology and capital competition are the basis for transition and focuses instead on the labor process. Using a case study of the French automobile industry since the Second World War, the analysis examines the transition in production and the link between spatial organization and the labor process. Contradictions in the current phase of capitalist production are apparent in the divergent trends towards international dispersal and regional integration of automobile production, and the deepening social divisions of labor.     

对中国当代金银币的统计与分析

自1979年中国发行当代第一套金币——纪念中华人民共和国成立30周年纪念币开始,至2005年为止,当代金银币已发行了27年。中国当代金银币的发行丰富了中国货币的品种,通过这些货币展示、宣传了我国的政治事件、历史人物、艺术文化、科学技术、自然风光、民俗民风等。当代金银币作为中华人民共和国货币的组成部分,作为向国内外公开发行的重要货币品种,作为受到人们重视的收藏、投资门类,金银币的设计、生产、发行受到社会很大的关注。     

城镇化与工业化及经济社会发展的协调性评价及规律性探讨

城镇化与区域发展的关系是广受关注且争议较大的研究议题.在尊重城镇化模式多样性与尺度适宜性的原则下,本文构建了一套表征城镇化与工业化、经济发展、社会发展及区域总体发展水平相对协调关系的指标体系.对浙江省和四川省的实证研究表明.在区域快速发展阶段,各维度的发展并不匹配,整体协调性并非逐步提高,反而有所下降,协调模武多元化;受自然条件、区位、行政区类型和人口迁移影响,协调性表现出显著的空间差异.基于综合指标体系的评价效果显著优于单一指标,尤其对发达地区,采用综合指标来分析更合适.     

REGIONAL INEQUITY AND SOVIET CONCERN FOR RURAL AND SMALL-TOWN INDUSTRALIZATION

Regional inequity has been an important national issue in most industrial societies. Measures to reduce inequity usually include the location of more industries in rural and small-town areas. The USSR has always possessed a strong ideologically based concern for regional inequity, but it was not until the 1960's that the matter was given serious attention. The last three five-year plans have called for more industry in small towns and rural villages. Life in these areas is to be made more attractive, labor resources more fully utilized, local economies improved, and the out- migration of people reduced. However, there are obvious barriers to industrialization in rural and small-town areas, and as in most industrial nations, the reduction of regional inequity is a slow and difficult process.