Anthropology in demographic research

A questioning of the theoretical and methodological focus and strategies of sociodemographic research has been evident especially in Latin America since the 1970s. This work discusses the shortcomings of most current attempts to integrate anthropological and demographic approaches to population, and introduces eight articles on various aspects of population that appeared in the same publication. Most were first presented in a work session entitled "Anthropology in Sociodemographic Investigation" at the Thirteenth International Congress of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences in 1993. The need to incorporate diverse dimensions of reality and different disciplinary perspectives in the explanation of demographic events and changes has been a significant preoccupation of sociodemography itself. A growing volume of studies of fertility, migration, processes of health and disease, sexuality, and the role of women, the family, and social institutions in reproduction, almost exclusively conducted at the micro level, reflect interest in incorporating anthropological viewpoints into sociodemographic analysis. An increasing number of scientific meetings and committees within population groups are devoted to the same themes. This introduction synthesizes the principal findings and recommendations of the eight articles, which examine very diverse topics using varied analytical approaches. All, however, offer reflections on the theoretical and methodological relevance of incorporating the anthropological perspective into sociodemographic investigation. Some also demonstrate the type of empirical findings that may result from a successful integration.     

A Review of: “Social Decision Making: Social Dilemmas,Social Values,and Ethical Judgments Edited by Roderick M. Kramer,Ann E. Tenbrunsel,and Max H. Bazerman”

ABSTRACT

Our ability to interpret, generalize, and build theory across public service motivation (PSM) studies is limited by lack of knowledge regarding the equivalence of different PSM measures that researchers frequently use. While past research has given considerable attention to validating multidimensional measures of PSM, this study investigates the psychometric properties of the global measures that have been used to provide much of the empirical evidence on PSM. Building on the lessons of other research using global and multidimensional measures, we first discuss the strengths and weaknesses of existing global measures of PSM relative to those of the multidimensional measures. After highlighting the potential merit of global scales, we then provide empirical justification for global scales. Using five different data sets to compare commonly used global measures of PSM, our findings suggest that these different measures are not only highly correlated with each other but also display a similar pattern and strength of relationships with important correlates of PSM. These findings suggest that these measures do tap into the same conceptual space and help validate our continued reliance on empirical studies that have used different measures to build our understanding of PSM.     

Social analysis,project development and advocacy in U.S. foreign assistance

In 1975 the U.S. Agency for International Development (AID), the principal administrative agent for American bilateral development assistance, mandated a social analysis component to the project preparation and approval process.¹ Although 'social soundness analysis' is now a required dimension of project identification and design its presumed positive effects are not yet apparent on the output side. Post project impact evaluations reveal that there continue to be negative social effects from AID'S development efforts, regardless of project type. In the process by which projects are identified, framed, approved, and ultimately implemented, important signals identified by pre-project social analysis get displaced. This occurs because anticipating social impact is only one of several goals or functions served by pre-project design analysis. This essay interprets the role of social analysis in the dynamics of project preparation, identifying structures and procedures which attenuate its influence.     

Social Trust, Social Capital and Perceptions of Immigration

Analyses of social capital and immigration have stressed the negative impact that culturally diverse societies have for the development of social trust. Ethnic heterogeneity, according to these studies, is associated with lower levels of social trust. However, social trust has not been studied as an independent variable in order to explain attitudes towards immigration. This article argues that societies with high levels of social capital facilitate the integration of immigrants because those members with high levels of social trust will tend to have more positive attitudes towards immigration. This hypothesis is empirically tested in a cross-country multi-level empirical analysis for sixteen European countries, drawing on the 2002–3 European Social Survey. This analysis shows that, regardless of the impact of other individual-level variables and contextual variables such as levels of unemployment or percentage of foreign population, those with high social capital do exhibit more positive attitudes towards immigration than the rest of the population.     

社会资本、社会和谐与我国社会主义和谐社会建设

社会资本的培育能够提升公民的宽容和妥协精神、提升公民对制度的认同感、增强公民的合作参与的品质。在转型时期,我国社会资本存在着严重缺失现象,制约着社会的良性运行和协调发展。因此,通过增强政民之间的信任、引入"善治"的社会治理范式、完善规范等社会资本的培育应当成为构建和谐社会的一个重要视角。     

Purchasing power of U.S. Social Security benefits abroad, 1970-82

This article examines whether the small number of Social Security beneficiaries living abroad enjoy a higher standard of living than they would with the same benefits if they lived in the United States. The article addresses this question using two methods. First, absolute comparisons of U.S. dollar purchasing power abroad are made using "purchasing power parities," a method recently developed to allow international comparisons of real standards of living. Second, the effects of changes in Social Security benefit levels, exchange rates, and rates of inflation on the relative value of benefits abroad are measured. Both methods show considerable instability in purchasing power of Social Security benefits in the 1970's. Although beneficiaries in 1970 generally could live better abroad than in the United States, this advantage eroded considerably during the 1970's, followed by some improvement in 1981-82.     

Social Security,Taxation, and Redistribution in Japan

The paper examines the social security tax and benefit system in Japan. We offer an analysis of the interaction of taxes and benefits showing that the system has evolved to the point where it may no longer fulfill the original intentions. The system today appears to redistribute income from working people, who on average have lower incomes, to the aged population, which today have higher incomes. We suggest the system is in need of significant reform.     

A Third Way to Where? * R. STRATHDEE, Social Exclusion and the Remaking of Social Networks, Ashgate, 2005, 220 pp., ISBN 0 7546 3815 4, hb. {pound}50.

. . . a defining feature of Third Way governments is a beliefthat the judicious use of both market and non-market strategiescan strengthen and empower communities and help them to developsolutions to their own social and economic problems. (p. 56)

In this study, Robert Strathdee examines the nature of networksand their role in the transition to employment. He argues, inparticular, that social networks based around the ties of familyand kin have declined, thus reducing traditional patterns ofentry to employment. Hence, to put it simply, the state seeksto provide alternative routes into employment for young people.Strathdee considers these forms of intervention in both NewZealand and England, drawing from empirical information aboutboth countries. Arguably, a more challenging comparison couldhave     

从现象学到人学——重温当代人学思潮的初心和使命

当代中国人学思潮的产生和发展,既有我们国内文化和理论进展的内在因素在起作用,也有苏联和20世纪西方人道主义文化和人学思潮等外在因素在起作用。德国哲学家舍勒提出的哲学人学,海德格尔、萨特提出的存在论、解释学,胡塞尔晚年提出的相互主体性、交往主体性和生活世界理论,它们作为当代人学理论的最初形式,都是20世纪初德国哲学现象学运动的产物。而现象学运动所载负的文化使命就是从对主体、对人本身的沉思和批判出发,通过人心和人性的重建,去找到克服科学危机、哲学危机和全人类的生存危机的思想力量。回顾人学思潮的理论发端和初心使命,就会使我们更加明确,当前我国人学理论工作的主旨就是要在改革开放的历史新时期,努力重建我们的"相互主体性"和"生活世界",重建一种革新了的人性、人格和人的价值。     

Developments and trends in Social Security, 1990-1992: overview of principal trends.

The article that follows is a reprint of Part I of a report presented by Dalmer D. Hoskins, Secretary General of the International Social Security Association (ISSA), to the organization's XXIVth General Assembly (November 1992, Acapulco). It identifies and interprets the major trends currently influencing the evolution of social security programs around the world, and analyzes these developments against the backdrop of the current economic, demographic, and social environment in which these programs operate. (Part II of the report analyzes the changes according to each major branch of social security; an annex to the report provides more detailed information and source citations in reference to these changes.) The ISSA is a nongovernmental international organization headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. It is made up of 321 social security-related institutions, including the U.S. Social Security Administration, in 122 countries. The Association's aim is to protect, promote, and develop social security worldwide.