Estonian family farms in transition: a study of intangible assets and gender issues in generational succession

This paper, based on interviews, highlights intangible assets in the intergenerational transfer of farms in two Estonian municipalities from a long-term and gender perspective. The study stretches from the interwar period in the twentieth century up to the present. It has been shown that emotional bonds to the land are generally strong in Estonia. This paper aims to highlight how such bonds and feelings may influence decisions on generational succession. The results of the study indicate that family farming and land transfer have had a significant and persistent role in Estonian society, even during the Soviet period under its collectivised system of agriculture. Transfers of intangible assets were important during Soviet rule, for example, the transfer of knowledge about the pre-Soviet property and the value and importance of the farmhouse. Today, family farming is gradually declining in importance, but older traditions of farm and farmhouse transfer can still be found, such as early decisions on who is to be the successor. This is evident among active farmers but also among former farmers with strong emotional bonds to the land. Traditional gender roles tend towards men’s knowledge still generally being more highly valued in the decision about who is to be the successor to the family land.     

Does a Change in Presidency of the US Really Matter in an Age of Economic Globalization?

Abstract

This article exposes the cracks in the US economy, in politics and in its image in the world. The US has, particularly in the Bush era, strayed away from the values enshrined in the lives and witness of its founders. It has refused to recognize and use creatively its potential in playing a constructive leadership role in the world. In fact many of its actions have contributed to the erosion of global commitments. The focus is on the impact the crisis the US economy has on the world. In such a context, it asks the question as to whether a change in Presidency of the US really matters? The article challenges the churches to address the structural consequences of globalization and to critique neo-liberal corporate capitalism and engage in the search for alternatives. The churches have acted with compassion and charity to eradicate poverty and to serve the people. What is required now is for the churches to put aside their reluctance to speak out boldly, whether they be from the North or the South, and engage in radical actions for transformation.     

Getting the China Story Right: Insights from National Economic Censuses

Two Hong Kong-based geographers critically interrogate competing interpretations of the nature and dynamics of China's ongoing economic transformation. Based on the data gathered from China's first and second national economic censuses, they examine the pattern and process of ownership transformation in the Chinese economy, focusing on employment, capital assets, and output as well as productivity and industrial innovation. Emphasis is placed on the following critical issues: (1) after three decades of opening, China's national economy continues to be dominated by domestic enterprises (with foreign and overseas Chinese-invested enterprises limited to only a few industrial sectors and highly specific locales); (2) the bulk of capital assets and key large-scale industrial sectors remain in state ownership; and (3) spontaneous, bottom-up privatization of the labor market has occurred without a corresponding privatization of the capital market. In examining these and other issues, the authors argue that the evolving, complex "China story" can be better understood only after abandoning reliance on preconceived theoretical models derived primarily from Western experience. They support their case by first challenging the conventional neoliberal view of privatization as an independent force or predetermined condition, arguing instead that it is conditioned by prevailing social and political influences. Likewise, they posit that rapid expansion of private and individual businesses at the grassroots level has owed more to relaxed state control than to active state involvement envisioned by the thesis of state corporatism. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: E22, E23, E24, O11, P20. 8 figures, 6 tables, 87 references.     

Form,function, fiction – translations of technology and design in product development

This article is a case study of the design and development of a Norwegian crockery series for institutional households – the 1962 Figgjo 3500 Hotel China. It investigates how this product represented a decisive break with the conventions of postwar Norwegian design and manufacture. The onset of international free trade meant export or die for the manufacturing industry. The elitist aestheticism so prevalent in the so‐called Scandinavian Design movement was abandoned in favour of an ideology remarkably akin to what was at the German Ulm School of Design called scientific operationalism. The paper also analyses how the manufacturer sought to portray this product: first, it was inscribed as science incarnated, and the material morality reigned supreme. But as society's faith in science took some serious blows in the course of the 1960s and modernist design idioms were partly forsaken in the 1970s, the engineered tableware became the fashioned tableware as trends tamed technology. These translations of technology, design, identity and consumption tell the story of how an artefact is constantly in a state of transformation – on both sides of the factory gate.     

A FRESH LOOK AT A LITTLE-KNOWN SOUTHEASTERN COPPER PLATE

Abstract

Chauga (38OC47) is a mound site now under Lake Hartwell at the head of the Savannah River in Oconee County, South Carolina. Excavations in 1958–1959 by the University of Georgia recovered a Mississippian copper plate. Upon comparison to others of its kind, it is clear that this lesser-known plate encompasses some interesting design features, most notably the presence of the only known depiction of a chunkey stone on copper. We have recently created a more accurate representation of its design. The plate appears to portray many similarities to depictions of Birdman dancers: kilted dancers and dancing elders within the “Stack” style. Birdman themes are common in Mississippian iconography. Given the importance that copper plates have for interpreting Mississippian art and belief systems, this updated examination provides useful new information for researchers studying Mississippian iconography.     

北京市城乡转型与乡村地域功能的时序特征及其关联性

本研究通过综合指标评价法和灰色关联法,揭示改革开放以来北京城乡转型和乡村地域功能的时序特征及其关联性,以期为改善北京城乡关系、有效提升乡村地域功能提供参考。研究结果表明:①1978-2012年,北京市城乡转型依次经历了缓慢转型(1978-1995)、快速转型(1996-2006)、转型放缓(2007-2012)三个阶段。②生态、历史、市场和政策等因素显著影响着乡村地域功能的提升。35年间,乡村地域功能总体稳步发展,并与城乡转型表现出不同的阶段性特征。③在国家政策、经济发展、基础设施建设以及乡村地域功能反馈等综合作用下,城乡转型与乡村地域功能发展存在一定的相关性,二者依次经历了低水平耦合、倒"U"型耦合和高水平耦合三个阶段。     

与谢野晶子的战争观

与谢野晶子是日本近代文学史上一个充满传奇又广受争议的女作家。在青年和中年时代,她走在时代前列,勇于追求艺术的进步与人性的解放,成为近代著名浪漫女歌人和提倡女性解放的社会评论家。但就是这样一个曾经与时代进步同步的文学家,在晚年思想意识却发生蜕变,成为“极端国家主义者”,战后受到批判和指责。与谢野晶子一生所处的时代基本上与明治维新以后日本的近代侵略战争史同步。本文梳理她战争认识的思想变化轨迹及晚年思想产生蜕变的成因。与谢野晶子晚年蜕变折射的,既是一个文学家的悲哀,也是作为侵略者的帝国主义日本的必然归宿。     

鄂伦春族社会福利制度的历史转型

清初,鄂伦春族在传统的氏族型社会福利之外出现了新生的政府型社会福利。历经民国、伪满到新中国建国初期,氏族型社会福利制度在国家管理等因素的影响下逐渐终结,政府型社会福利逐渐壮大并最终取而代之。同时,政府型社会福利也从清初的"统治利用型",经过民国的"平等扶助型"萌芽与伪满时期的被废除,于新中国建国初期转换为"平等扶助型"的社会福利制度。     

从金融风暴视角论失业保险新模式构建的制度转型

我国社会正处在转型之中,传统的失业保险模式已经不适应社会经济发展的要求,构建失业保险新模式显得十分迫切。当前的金融危机以及由此引发的严峻就业形势,为失业保险新模式构建提供了机遇。本文从制度转型着手来探析中国失业保险新模式的构建。     

清末至民国时期赣闽粤边区农业变迁与转型

清末民国年间,赣闽粤边区①农业面对新的市场竞争环境,经历了兴衰嬗变、重组调适的过程,这一过程有衰落、有收缩、有扩张;并出现了诸多近代农业新因素,农业正朝着积极的方向作渐进性转型和变迁。近代农业完全衰败的观点在边区缺乏强有力的证据。赣闽粤边区农业渐进性转型的例子说明,对近代中国农业整体变迁评价应立足于多区域的实证研究,任何单一区域的农业评价都无法涵盖近代中国农业的整体变迁内容和特点。