Citizen Protection

正Public security volunteers help keep Beijing’s police informed and the city safe For quite some time,the identities of the informants behind celebrity drug stories have mystified Beijing’s residents.News     

Empowerment and Synergy

Abstract

This paper suggests an alternative to the commonly-held “scarcity paradigm” of thinking about valued human resources, which assumes individuals must compete because resources are scarce. The alternative-the “synergy paradigm”-is empitomized in “synergistic community,” where valued human resources are renewable and expanding, and distributed equitably to members, so that what is good for one is good for all and the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Three field studies present cross-cultural evidence for the functioning of empowerment within a synergistic paradigm. Empowerment is considered as access to and control of valued resources; the specific valued resource focused upon is community healing. The studies suggest that community healing resources can become renewable and expanding, as can the process of empowerment which accesses them. Community members share these resources, combining conflicting resources into unexpectedly effective treatment packages. Given present inequities in resource distribution, transformative education is offered as one means to support a shift in thinking toward synergy.     

Empowerment Through Education

<正>Children from remote areas of Xinjiang benefit from quality tuition program in the region’s capital For most children in China,transitioning to middle school is a simple matter of walking a few extra blocks at most.But for 14-year-old Tajinsa Abuduany,an eighthgrader in Urumqi,switching schools meant moving 1,500 km away from her home.The young girl left her village near Kashgar,in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur     

Vehicles for Empowerment

Abstract

This paper considers organizations that empower by examining feminist movement groups. The contemporary feminist movement has generated a wide variety of organizations which provide social services to women and act as vehicles for social change. Yet many of these organizations are short-lived. Factors that affect the structure and goals of feminist movement organizations are examined in order to develop a theoretically-based understanding of why some organizations thrive while others disintegrate. The contingencies under which feminist movement organizations maintain themselves, transform into other sorts of organizations, or decline and dissolve are described, and strategies for managing conflict are discussed. In particular, the paper emphasizes the organizational consequences of ideology, and concludes with a consideration of the role of organizations within a social movement.     

The Illusion of Empowerment

Abstract

This paper presents a community development experience in Puerto Rico which was guided by the goal of empowerment. It describes the socio-historical context in which the effort is embedded. its values, and its theoretical background. The intervention was carried out in a poor rural community of approximately 1,400 families. Specific strategies and tactics used to facilitate ideological and skill development among the residents are presented. The article concludes with an analysis of the achievements and limitations of the effort. Guidelines toward future conceptual and practical developments are suggested.     

Artist and World Citizen

FOR Chinese-American artist Chen Jinfang （Chen Tsing-fang）, painting is the work of head, heart and guts. He is determined to create 100 works depicting the Shanghai World Expo, an artistic legacy of the great event. Although now 75 years old, he lies awake at night thinking about his compositions. ＂Once an inspiration strikes, I have to get to work immediately,＂ he says. He bought 70 advance admission tickets, and goes to the Expo Park every few days, sometimes just for the afternoon, sometimes from morning till night.     

Empowerment in a Religious Setting

Abstract

This study examines the correlates and contexts of empowerment among members of a Christian, nondenominational religious setting. The research approach combines participant-observation and measurement development methodology to capture the empowering aspects of religious experience in a form which lends itself to quantitative analysis, without excessive loss of the phenomenological meaning ofthat experience. The criterion of empowerment is progress toward a salient goal of members-interpersonal behavior change in the direction of group ideals (i.e., in the direction of becoming more like Jesus). Present and retrospective past measurement of perceived interpersonal behavior yielded eight predictor variables from member peer, self-report, and interviewer sources. These variables include religious orientation, locus of control. spiritual experience, group involvement, and religious history. The relationship of the predictors to interpersonal behavior change was assessed in canonical correlation analyses. Results from multiple data sources find that those seen by themselves and by others as empowered are committed to a relationship with God and with others in the setting. They may be described, in part, as experiencing a “psychological sense of community.” In addition, they report a life crisis prior to joining the setting and a sense that God is in control of the events of their life. Follow-up data, three years later, finds a relationship between commitment and life satisfaction. Two years of participant-observation provide hypotheses, consistent with several psychological theories, for suggesting salient setting variables which provide a context for understanding the results.     

组织性扶贫与“机会”赋予

该文是在对豫南贫困地区开展扶贫工作实地调查的基础上，通过对政府、企业、农户的行为分析及三者之间互动关系的研究，来透视中国改革开放以来所形成的“政府＋企业＋农户”扶贫模式。在中国的广大农村，农户虽然也参与了市场经济的部分领域，但是在市场经济条件下，缺少一种将资源组织起来的能力，贫困地区的农户更难以做到这一点。农户有限的组织能力，并不排除组织农户的可能性与必要性。个别农户虽然生产规模小，但是把千万个农户组织起来就会产生规模效应。同时农户本身也是一种资源，在被组织的过程中，往往赋予农户一种能力一表现为机会，能够改变农户的现状，实现角色转变。     

政策制定与公民参与

公民参与表明了一种全新的公民责任、权利以及治理的观念。从其意义上看 ,公民参与可使政策制定所需要的智慧、知识以及信息得到相辅相成的运用 ;公民参与能够确保政策的正当性 ;公民参与有利于发展组织的凝聚力 ;公民参与以全体组织成员的合意为前提 ,有助于政策执行。公民对政策制定的参与途径是多种多样的。从西方国家的成功经验看 ,立法听证会、行政听证会、政策研讨会、“赛博”(cyber)等 ,都为公民直接参与政策制定起到了积极作用 ,这些也对中国政策理论和实践研究有一定启迪。     

青年发展指标与青年充权

本文认为青年发展指标体系的建立,在加快“青年发展”的同时,也将促进“青年充权”的实现,并且可以在一定程度上通过量化的指标来监测“青年充权”的状况。虽然这只是一种方法论的思考和实践的探索,但将丰富青年基础理论和青年社会工作的研究。     

Providing Financial Empowerment to Mothers on Welfare

SUMMARY

Three samples of urban Latina and African-American women in hospitality training programs were assessed on their perceived self-efficacy. In Sample 1, the typical Latina (n= 25) and African-American (n= 71) woman was a young, single, mother of three children who had received benefits for over six years and who, at the start of a two-week training program, reported low self-efficacy and moderate social desirability. Sample 2 participants were mostly single Latina (n= 25) or African-American (n= 49) mothers who received six weeks of training/internship, but reported no significant change in their level of self-efficacy, social desirability, or hopefulness from pre- to post-training. Sample 3 (16 Latinas, 36 African-Americans) was a subset of women from the first sample who were interviewed by telephone four months after completing the two-week training program and were now employed. These working women reported a significant increase in their level of self-efficacy compared to the start of training. Results suggest that some minority women may benefit from job skill training in terms of their sense of mastery over their life situation, although the impact of such training may not emerge until after they have been actively employed.     

论行政决策中的公民参与

公民在理论上被认为是国家的主人,公民作为国家的主人,必然会渴望参与行政决策和执行,那么如何让公民参与行政决策呢?这是我们必须回答的一个问题.     

质疑公民劳动的义务性

法律义务是那些必不可少的、其他方法难以保障履行的义务。我国现行宪法将劳动确定为公民的基本义务,造成了法理上的混乱,使得法律制度内部不协调。现实中,对这一规定的实践又出现与法律规定相脱节的状况。劳动是公民的基本权利的宪法规定,既是社会主义公共道德在法律上的反映,又符合社会发展的趋势。     

市民社会的文化特征

现代社会是一个政治国家与市民社会相互分离而又良性互动的结构体 ,在这个结构体中 ,市民社会是基础性的领域。市民社会是个人的特殊性得到充分表现的世界 ,因此 ,市民社会的文化是一种高扬个体主体性的文化 ,它所努力创造的是一个表现个人的生活意义和生存价值的观念世界。市民社会的文化既不同于传统文化所追求的价值统一性 ,也不同于国家意识形态所欲求的思想一致性 ,而是试图在多元价值目标并存的前提条件下 ,达致社会生活的公共性、个人生活的伦理意义和不同社会主体共同的理想目标     

公民道德建设的生态分析

文章从生态学的视角探讨公民道德建设问题.指出:公民、各种社会因素与制度三者一起构成了公民道德建设的道德生态系统,分析了在当前的社会背景下坚持公民道德建设的生态学分析方法的意义.     

论好生活与公民教育

普世道德的幸福生活价值往往基于宗教信仰、传统文化或人本价值的道德观。它不仅是幸福的来源,也提供获得幸福的途径。好的公共生活所必需具备的基本价值,是由公民社会而不是靠国家权力维持和再生的。历史上许多对"幸福"的政治狂躁追求,都是由国家权力主导,结果是灾难性的。今天,要造就一种能够持续有效的幸福观和好生活观,恐怕还要从加强公民教育,建立好的公共生活价值观开始。