Imperial power, gentry power and clan power: Western and Chinese cultural traditions in a comparative perspective

The differences between China and Western countries in human and physical environment has brought about two distinctive models of state. In the Chinese-style state of quasi-consanguinity, in which family and state have a similar structure, imperial power, gentry power, and clan power are the product of common ownership of consanguineous groups. The similarity in the structures of these three kinds of power derives from the fact that they are all restricted by the power of lineage generated from the self-sufficient small farmer economy, and must obey the conventions of ancestors which hold the benefits of the group as supreme. The relationship between these three kinds of power, is definitely not the one that is based on the division of power that is founded on individual private ownership in Western countries, where ‘public power’ and ‘individual private ownership’ are antithetic, but are three aspects of the patriarchal dictatorship that complement each other. Therefore, village rule in China and autonomy in the West are two totally different concepts, and gentry power is also not the ‘authorized power’ from the state. __________ Translated from the Journal of Tianjin Normal University, 2004: 1     

试析马来西亚华人母语的转移现象

根据在马来西亚进行的实地调查所得到的数据和实例，以马来西亚五大方言群体为基础，逐一分析福建、广东、客家、潮州和海南方言群体中，相同家庭里祖子孙三代的母语种类和数量变化。研究证实，马来西亚华人的母语从方言逐渐转向英语和华语，开始摆脱原有籍贯的方言痕迹。     

城市化进程中交通公平的研究进展

在系统分析城市化进程中交通公平内涵的基础上,从弱势群体与社会排斥、交通公平评估与改善策略等方面,梳理交通公平的相关研究成果。结果表明,当前城市交通公平性研究还需从以下几个方面进行完善:交通公平内涵应更加注重改善快速城市化地区居民群体的出行环境;系统分析快速城市化进程中交通公平的演化模式,改善交通公平的基本测度方法;构建交通公平评估的空间分析方法,从经济成本可达性角度剖析交通公平性;关注快速城市化地区交通公平的改善策略,提出可操作性的交通公平优化方法。     

雇主团体与劳资关系——近代工商同业公会与劳资纠纷的处理

近代工商同业公会与工会都是劳资分立的产物,二者在组建之后均加强了各自阶级的组织整合,也使劳资关系更具有阶级政治的特点.不过,工商同业公会作为行业性的雇主组织,并非如一般所认为的与工人及其工会处于完全对立的位置,在政府的劳资处理机制、劳资合作之中也占有重要地位.     

Children's perceptions of and attitudes towards,transport modes: why a vehicle for change is long overdue

Overreliance on car transportation impacts negatively on children's health, safety and well-being. This paper presents research that investigated children's perceptions of, and attitudes towards, transport modes. Primary children completed a pictorial questionnaire (n?=?486), 119 participated in focus groups (n?=?27). The findings suggest that children learn about transport modes from different interacting sources, both through experiential and vicarious mediums. The author concludes that the social emphasis on cars can have an intellectual impact that is detectable in the perceptions and attitudes of many children. It is argued that current policy for reducing car use in the UK has a narrow focus and does not address the role of social and cultural factors in car usage and dependency. Suggestions for new initiatives aimed at the family and the media are described.     

Private Conflict and Policy Passage: Interest-Group Conflict and State Medical Malpractice Reform

James Madison argued in Federalist 10 that "rival political factions" work against the public good. In contrast to Madison's pessimistic account, I suggest that factional conflict can lead to more representative public policy, and thus further the will of the people. I theorize that elected officials often seek a safe political position—one that corresponds to the preferences of the public at large—during periods of high conflict. I assess this theory in one, salient policy area, medical malpractice. I measure conflict with contributions for state candidates given by (i) the health and insurance industries, which generally support malpractice laws, and (ii) lawyers, who frequently oppose the laws. I find that group conflict matters to policy outcomes. I also find evidence that, under conditions of elevated conflict, adopted policies are more likely to move toward the general ideological preferences of the public at large. These results suggest that group conflict affects both the quantity and character of policy in the American states.     

Undergraduate student perceptions of assessment and feedback practice: fostering agency and dialogue

ABSTRACT

Assessment and feedback practices sit at the heart of education and the student experience. This paper reports on undergraduate perceptions of assessment and feedback in the Department of Geography at King’s College London, UK. Twenty-eight first and second-year students across six focus groups provided comments on their understanding of feedback, their feedback experiences, and what they felt could be improved. It was clear that students desired feedback that would help them improve summative performance, but were unsure of how best to use it and consequently had high expectations that led to dissatisfaction. Particular concern was expressed about marking and feedback consistency, and the inherent variation in practice they experienced. Many comments indicated a lack of student agency, which may reflect the power relations that students find themselves in within their community of practice. Finding ways of fostering agency and improving dialogue over perceptions and expectations are suggested to be important steps in improving assessment and feedback practice, and student satisfaction.     

Subsistence variations and landscape use among maritime hunter-gatherers. A zooarchaeological analysis from the Beagle Channel (Tierra del Fuego,Argentina)

Changes in the exploitation of resources among prehistoric hunter-gatherer-fishers of the Beagle Channel (Southern South America) are examined in this paper. Archaeological investigations show the prevalence of maritime hunter-gatherer organization throughout the occupation of the region (ca. 6400 BP – 19th century). Notwithstanding, variations in the exploitation of different kind of animal resources have been detected, and a concomitant reorientation in the landscape use is then inferred. Zooarchaeological evidence from five shellmiddens is analyzed here: evenness measures and relative abundance prey types are used to evaluate such adjustments. Results indicate the major utilization of coastal and terrestrial ecozones and the predominance in the exploitation of mammals (pinnipeds and guanacos) in ancient occupations. While, during the Late Holocene an expansion in ranges of maritime mobility for subsistence is detected, which was associated with an increase in the representation of birds and fish in the zooarchaeological record.     

Narrative claims on regions: prospecting for spatial identities among social movements in Finland

Regions have been regarded as processes, artefacts and discourses, and recently as ‘brands’ that various stakeholders use in marketing. Discourses on institutional regions are typically promoted by media, governmental bodies and planning organizations that draw on reputed collective regional identities—the expressions of past and current social discourses and cultural practices. However, such institutional regional discourses are often incongruous to spatial imaginaries of everyday life. This article scrutinizes the meanings of spatial attachment to citizens and explores to what extent regional identities are meaningful in everyday life. To avoid biased assumptions, focus-group interviews were carried out within four Finnish provinces among the members of four social movements. The results show that provincial spaces are not actively thought-and-practiced. Spatial identities are rather structured around personal experiences that typically accumulate in several locales, since personal histories are increasingly characterized by mobility. This article also recognizes that the everyday meanings of a socially constructed region are often generationally read and combine different historical narratives.     

Material and cultural consumption in Cuba: new reference groups in the new millennium

Reference groups serve as markers for citizen-consumers to determine tastes and preferences about work and material and cultural consumption. These groups have evolved slowly in socialist Cuba, mostly during the post-Soviet era. This paper examines the symbolism, roles, and meanings of three such groups: the Cuban Diaspora, Cuban Gen-Yers or Millennials (survivors), and entrepreneurs. A combination of these groups is changing values about a new consumption taking hold across the island and offers insight into material and cultural consumption.