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。     

Risk Management Strategies Among African-American Slaves at Locust Grove Plantation

African Americans faced a variety of risks under the institution of slavery. The theory of risk management is used as a context for understanding the lives of slaves at Locust Grove Plantation in Kentucky and for deconstructing the common myth that slavery was unusually mild there. African Americans used a diversity of means at Locust Grove to cope with risk, including generalized reciprocity, food storage, religion, and strong kinship/community bonds.     

Gendered responses to the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires in Victoria,Australia

This paper presents findings from a gendered analysis of resident responses to the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires (wildfires) in Victoria, Australia. One hundred and seventy‐three people lost their lives in the bushfires and more than 2000 houses were destroyed. Previous research on Black Saturday has largely focused on issues of resident preparedness and response, with limited consideration of the role of gender in household decisions and actions. This paper examines the gendered dimensions of risk awareness, preparedness and response among households affected by the bushfires. Data were collected through in‐depth interviews with over 600 survivors and a questionnaire of 1314 households in fire‐affected areas. Analysis revealed that women more often wanted to leave than men, who more often wanted to stay and defend property against the bushfires. Nevertheless, findings suggest that broad‐brush characterisations of staying to defend as a masculine response and leaving as a feminine response are misguided. Although some women expressed a strong desire to leave, others were resolute on staying to defend. Equally, while some men were determined to stay and defend, others had never considered it an option. Despite this, the research identified numerous instances where disagreement had arisen as a result of differing intentions. Conflict most often stemmed from men's reluctance to leave, and was most apparent where households had not adequately planned or discussed their intended responses. The paper concludes by considering the degree to which the findings are consistent with other research on gender and bushfire, and the implications for bushfire safety policy and practice.     

Professional Workers in a Risk Society

This paper contributes to the debate on the utility of Ulrich Beck's (1992) notion of the 'risk society' for understanding the positions and experiences of workers who are negotiating more 'flexible' employment contracts. Whilst previous articles in this journal have concentrated upon the lower end of the employment market, I aim to broaden the scope of the discussion by focussing upon professional freelance magazine workers, and ask whether Beck's framework has a different utility in terms of understanding their employment security and risk.¹     

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.     

Risk and Private Military Work

Abstract: To date geography has paid scant attention to private military contracting. Other disciplines have studied the topic, but their work is state‐centric. In this paper I examine private military contracting through a geoeconomic lens and make four arguments. First, the heightened security risks of the contemporary era cannot be explained solely as a result of states’ decision to cede their monopolies over the means of violence. We must also examine the private military firms that have created new monopolies and the strategies they use to manage and distribute risk. Second, the industry has increased risk in the world system by offloading security risks onto their employees. This “responsibility over rights” management model provides inadequate human rights training and battlefield adjudication procedures for contractors and civilians alike. Third, the geography of private military work does not always conform to the global division of labor between north and south. Instead, private military work creates a class of work that cuts across social and geographic divides. Finally, while activists should encourage states to regulate the industry, they should also push it to reform employment practices since private military firms are increasingly global in scope.