Marketplaces and Morality in Papua New Guinea: Place,Personhood and Exchange

In Papua New Guinea (PNG) more rural people, and especially rural women, earn cash from selling in marketplaces than from any other source. PNG's marketplaces are critical for food security, and for the redistribution of wealth. They are also important meeting places where people gather to see friends, hear the latest news, attend court cases, play cards and be entertained. This introduction to this special issue on ‘Marketplaces and Morality in Papua New Guinea’ reviews the history of PNG marketplaces and their contemporary forms. It charts their transformation from introduced colonial spaces into dynamic Melanesian places, which, as places to buy, sell and socialise, have become pervasive institutions in the lives of both urban and rural Papua New Guineans, and places where people interact with both known and unknown others. From this, marketplaces emerge as important spaces of moral evaluation and contestation in relation to what constitutes morally acceptable exchange and what practices are acceptable in these places. The paper demonstrates that exchange in the marketplace should not be reduced to commodity transactions, and questions assumptions about the types of people marketplaces create. It argues that the country's marketplaces are productive sites to consider ideas of exchange, social relations and social personhood, and that there is a critical need to understand the concrete details of what takes place in contemporary marketplaces.     

Weathering the Storm: Social Policy and the Great Recession

This review discusses recent challenges to the welfare state arising from the Great Recession (GR). The GR was a significant event for social policy analysts, as it tested the responsiveness of welfare systems in the midst of a recent trend toward austerity politics in advanced economies. Social policy changes were part of the toolkit advanced democracies used to respond to the GR, and the welfare state mitigated the consequences of the GR. However, a stark limitation of the social safety net in the United States was the failure to assist immigrant households. The nexus of immigration and social policy is likely to be a significant controversy as we consider the meaning of social citizenship.     

Bringing Organizations Back In: Multilevel Feedback Effects on Individual Civic Inclusion

Policy feedback scholarship has focused on how laws and their implementation affect either organizations (e.g., their resources, priorities, political opportunities, or incentive structures) or individuals (e.g., their civic skills and resources or their psychological orientations toward the state). However, in practice the distinction between organizations and individuals is not clear‐cut: Organizations interpret policy for individuals, and individuals experience policy through organizations. Thus, scholars have argued for a multi‐level model of feedback effects illuminating how policies operating at the organizational level reverberate at the individual level. In this theory‐building article, we push this insight by examining how public policy influences nonprofit organizations’ role in the civic life of beneficiaries. We identify five roles that nonprofit organizations play. For each role, we draw on existing research to identify policy mechanisms that either enlarge or diminish nonprofits’ capacity to facilitate individual incorporation and engagement. From these examples, we derive cross‐cutting hypotheses concerning how different categories of citizens may need policy to operate differently to enhance their civic influence; whether policy that is “delivered” through nonprofits may dampen citizens’ relationship with the state; and how the civic boost provided by policy may be influenced by the degree of latitude conferred on recipient organizations.     

"近代城市发展与社会转型"学术研讨会综述

近代以来,城市发展引领着中国社会转型,社会转型以城市发展为先驱,为中心,为标识,为推力。而社会转型的过程,同样对于城市发展有着反馈与推动的作用。在城市化问题和社会转型话题愈来愈受人们普遍关注的当下,出席东华大学与上海市档案馆联合主办的“近代城市发展与社会转型”学术研讨会的学者们,以城市史与社会史复合研究为视野,分别就城市发展与社会变迁、城市管理与城市文化、工商金融与城市比较、社会群体暨重要人物、重大事件等方面进行了深入研讨,试图探寻历史的经验和教训,为现实提供借鉴与启示。     

朱熹《家礼》与明清徽州宗族以礼治族的实践

明清时期,在徽州社会中形成了对朱熹及其《家礼》极端崇拜的社会风气。徽州宗族多依据《家礼》进行本族内部的制度设计和制度建设,同时还十分重视对礼仪的执行与监督,旨在以此实现以礼治族、维持宗族社会秩序的目的。     

党、革命动员和地域社会:论中共河北党组织(1928～1934)

大革命失败后,河北区域的中共党员数量急剧下降。由于国民党势力的打压,党的发展重心不得不转移至农村,党员的社会构成也由以学生为主变为更加多样化;党的大多数支部有名无实,组织涣散,纪律松弛,经费短缺,上下级组织间信息传递迟缓。因此在白色恐怖下其生存境遇相当艰难,屡遭重创。另外中共在河北区域的革命工作遇到极大困难,其欲动员的工农群体,自身资源短缺亦是一重要因素。在基层,革命斗争往往异化,阶级革命经常与地缘亲缘多种因素相互缠绕。     

清末民初农会组织述论

清末民初的农会组织大体经历了酝酿、兴起、发展、隐退四个阶段.其基本结构表现为组成了一个层层连接的直属组织系统;建立了较为完备的领导体制;实行了严格的民主选举制度、议事办事原则以及定期的会议制度等.呈现出组织制度的近代民主性、一定程度的自治性、成员构成的复杂性、机构权限的官督性等基本特点.所从事的活动内容相当广泛,主要表现为编辑农报,翻译农书;创办农业学堂;开办农业试验场;举行农产品评会,设立陈列所;开展调查研究;向主管官署建议农业改良进行事宜,等等.这对推动近代中国农业发展具有重要的影响与作用.     

建国初期社会救助体系的构建与评析--以1949～1953年的广州市为个案

建国初期,中共在广州构建了一个过渡性的社会救助体系,在短短的4年内,广州市通过它救助了大量的失业者和城市贫民,基本上遏制了由于新旧转轨带来的社会危机,为新政权即将展开的社会主义各项建设奠定了基础.在救助理念和救助过程上,它体现了以往社会救助的一些特点,同时也反映了我党的诸多特色,诸如鲜明的意识形态性、广泛的群众参与性和严格的组织纪律性,隐隐约约闪烁着以统一调配为主要特征的计划时代社会政策的影子.     

国民经济恢复时期北京的失业知识分子救济政策及其成效

国民经济恢复时期,面对失业和人才需求关系的矛盾,城市失业知识分子受到党和政府的高度关注。北京市的失业知识分子虽人数不多,但呈现出一定程度的复杂性。为此,北京市根据党和国家的政策,从首都社会秩序的稳定和首都建设的人才需求出发,在较短的时间内,有计划有步骤地对失业知识分子进行了必要的社会救济,达到了预期的目标。同时,实际操作中也遇到了一些不容回避的问题。