Homeowners United: the attempt to create lateral networks of homeowners' associations in urban China

Under the slogan of ‘weiquan’ (defending our rights), homeowners in urban China are increasingly prepared to stand up for their rights of ownership, often through non-confrontational actions organized by homeowners' associations (yeweihui). There is also a growing concern for the need to create collective platforms on which homeowners' associations can support one another, muster their collective resources against powerful developers and lobby for status as legitimate organizations. The activists involved in this work are well aware of its political sensitivity in a regime that is antagonistic towards autonomous organizations, which are seen as posing a threat to its hegemony. Based on a case study in Guangzhou, this paper traces the tactics that housing activists have employed to create horizontal cooperation among homeowners' associations to defend their rights and devise ‘boundary-spanning’ strategies that exploit divisions within the state apparatus. The Guangzhou union of homeowners' associations can be regarded as an experiment in organizational infrastructure which has far-reaching implications. This study sheds light on the complexities as well as the institutional fluidity of state–society interactions in contemporary urban China.     

Law Guanxi: MNCs,state actors,and legal reform in China

Since 1978, China has opened itself to foreign direct investment and has undertaken significant legal reform, especially in the area of international commercial arbitration. I analyze the roles that foreign actors and state officials have played in changing Chinese legal institutions such as the Chinese International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (CIETAC) and personal relations, or guanxi. 1 ^1. La guanxi is a Chinese expression, meaning ‘to pull strings (to get things done)’. View all notes Foreign investors, attorneys, and non-governmental organizations are helping China to adopt formal commercial arbitral institutions that follow international norms. In that sense, foreign actors are contributing to rule of law in China. Yet, foreign investors also attempt to use guanxi to get around central regulations, thereby contributing to informal legal institutions. The combination of guanxi and formal legal institutions follows a model of path dependent institutional change. I use the terms, ‘layering’ and ‘bricolage’ to elucidate the ways that actors combine existing institutions with new legal forms introduced by foreign investors, attorneys, and NGOs.     

Endorsing the Exodus: how local leaders backed peasant migrations in 1980s Sichuan

Discussions of migration in contemporary China often center on the distinctive institutions, especially household registration (hukou) regulations, which continue to limit the options of rural people in cities. This paper draws attention to how another part of the Chinese state has engaged migration: governments in communities of origin. Evidence from Sichuan in the 1980s reveals that local leaders authorized, facilitated, and even organized out-migration of villagers, at a time when Beijing gave scant indication of official approval of peasant migration. Local innovations to sanction migration built directly on the broader trend of rural cadres becoming increasingly responsive to local economic needs. The story of local government involvement in out-migration indicates that the relationship between migrants and the Chinese state has transformed fundamentally, even though formal institutions governing urban residence have changed minimally. As in other fields of social and economic life in China, authority over migration has fragmented.     

Community Elder-Care in Tasmania

SUMMARY

Adult caregivers (n = 184; M age = 43.9 years old) working at a non-profit, eldercare program at five geographically diverse sites located in the self-contained, island state of Tasmania, Australia, completed a set of self-report measures. Results across the five sites indicated that respondents experienced a relatively strong sense of self-efficacy toward making a difference in their local community. However, there were significant differences (controlling for social desirability) when comparing caregivers from rural northern (n = 45) with urban southern (n = 139) communities, with rural caregivers claiming stronger sense of common mission with others, reciprocal responsibility to help others, and caregiver satisfaction, plus lower disharmony with other members and caregiver stress in helping the elderly than urban caregivers. Implications suggest that community self-efficacy may be high among eldercare staff, but their sense of community and caregiving perceptions may reflect geographic differences, especially in Tasmania.     

Local States,Institutional Changes and Innovation Systems: Beijing and Shanghai compared

The purpose of this paper is to look into the transformation of local innovation systems in the high-tech parks of Shanghai and Beijing and their technological learning and upgrading. The areas that we have chosen to investigate are Beijing's Zhongguancun and Shanghai's Yangpu District. The main reason that we selected these two areas for study is because they are home to most of the top universities and R&D institutes in these two cities. Our main focus will be on how institutions—the local state, inter-firm relations and the relationship between R&D institutions and firms—are co-evolving to shape and constrain a local system of innovation. Our research finds that the capacities and autonomy of the Zhongguancun of Beijing's Haidian District and Yangpu District of Shanghai differ in various aspects, but both regions are struggling to upgrade innovation and enhance economic development. The ‘high-tech cluster’ provides a useful instrument or label to achieve goals other than innovation and R&D. Elite universities are regarded as engines for network formation, but visible and invisible walls of Chinese universities discount efforts to foster a university-centered innovation hub which especially shows in the Yangpu case.     

The New Urban Underclass and its Consciousness: is it a class?

This paper investigates whether the 22 million or so urban recipients of the Minimum Livelihood Guarantee (the zuidi shenghuo baozhang), whose per capita family income falls below a locally set poverty line, can be called a ‘class’. It also explores if they experience ‘class consciousness’. It draws on theoretical writings on class and class consciousness, and on some seven dozen unstructured interviews in households of urban dibao recipients in Lanzhou, Guangzhou, Wuhan, and three smaller Hubei cities in 2007–2010, mainly using material from 2010. It finds that, unlike the former working class, while these people do not comprise a ‘class’ as such, their consciousness of their plight, stripped bare of all the illusions that clouded it in Maoist times—again as distinguished from the bygone working class—is more faithful to their actual circumstances than it is specious.     

Changing Manners of Displaying Loyalties through Ideological Campaigns in Post-Deng China

Ideological campaigns in post-Deng China have a strategic function of discerning loyalties of local leaders. Previous empirical studies have found that Jiang Zemin’s followers are more likely to echo Jiang’s ideological campaigns. Through a content analysis of provincial newspapers between 2005 and 2012, this study suggests that the manner of displaying loyalties has completely changed. By employing a panel-corrected standard errors (PCSE) estimation, this study finds that protégés of both Hu Jintao and Jiang Zemin are less likely to echo their patron’s ideological campaigns, suggesting the shifting function of ideological campaigns from monitoring identified followers’ loyalties to recruiting new followers. This article argues that this is a result of changing elite politics and—more importantly—the different strategic use of ideological campaigns.     

China's Shanzhai Culture: ‘Grabism’ and the politics of hybridity

This article focuses on the broad spread of shanzhai culture in 2008, exploring the central question: what is it that brings such disparate phenomena together under one label? Shanzhai things have typically emerged from new spaces for participation in production beyond the control of formerly monopolistic authorities. But things are not necessarily shanzhai by birth, for it is also an identity affixed to things by consumers. The shanzhai identity's inherent ambiguity—almost the same but not quite—brings with it a dimension of disruption of authority (cf. Bhabha), but its political standpoints are elusive. Using insights from hybridity theory, this article characterizes shanzhai as a contemporary successor to what Lu Xun termed Grabism: the active reappropriation of economic and cultural authority for diverse local purposes, which have themselves been shaped and redefined by those same authorities.     

Choices for positive living: A private/public partnership program to promote mental fitness and self‐esteem in adults and children

Summary

Investigated are the contributions of seventh graders' coping strategies and their perceptions of the school environment to predicting changes in their adaptation during the transition to junior high school. The students completed measures three weeks into the new school year and again three months later. Resource variables included students' use of approach and avoidance coping strategies in response to a specific transition-related Stressor, and their perceptions of their new school environment. Criterion variables included students' ratings of how effectively they coped with the specific Stressor, and their general adaptation to the transition. Zero-order and cross-lag correlations generally showed that the use of approach coping strategies and favorable perceptions of the school environment were associated with higher levels of perceived coping effectiveness and general adaptation to junior high school, while the use of avoidance coping strategies was associated with lower levels of perceived coping effectiveness and general adaptation. Hierarchical regressions revealed prospective effects for initial levels of coping strategies in predicting later perceived coping effectiveness.     

A Qualitative Study of Undergraduates’ Conceptualizations of Mental Illness

This qualitative study examined three stigma reduction interventions against mental illness stigma: education, video, and contact. Undergraduates (N = 69) in three introductory psychology classes from a small, Catholic, liberal arts university in the northeast United States participated. Responses to two open-ended questions revealed common negative and stereotypical themes associated with mental illness. The benefits of supplementing traditional social distance measures with a qualitative approach, as well as the importance of considering a social developmental approach to stigma education are discussed.     

China's Socialization in the International Human Rights Regime: why did China reject the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court?

This article uses a hard law—the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court—to examine the depth of China's socialization in the international human rights regime and the relative weights of sovereignty and human rights norms in determining China's policy choices. It shows that the reasons for China's rejection of the Rome Statute are twofold. On the one hand, Chinese leaders have not fully internalized human rights norms, and they prioritize state sovereignty over human rights when making decisions. On the other hand, the legalized Rome Statute sets up an independent court with mandatory jurisdiction and grants the Prosecutor the ex officio right to investigate a crime. Such treaty provisions may have negative impacts on China's core sovereignty of territorial integration and regime security, thus imposing high sovereignty costs on China. Therefore, China resolutely voted against the Rome Statute, even if such an action made it a small minority outside the international mainstream. These findings indicate that China is still in a weak socialization stage and is not able to take on binding human rights and humanitarian obligations with high sovereignty costs.     

Resident-Defined Neighborhood Mapping: Using GIS to Analyze Phenomenological Neighborhoods

Using a natural quasi-experimental pretest/posttest design, residents in randomly selected homes in a suburb of Los Angeles were surveyed about their perceptions of their neighborhoods with respect to cohesion and sense of community. Responses from the pretest surveys—administered before the construction of a freeway that would bisect the city—were compared to the responses from the posttest survey six years later, administered two years after completion of the freeway. Respondents living adjacent to the new freeway—residents who experienced a fourfold increase in the average decibel levels in their neighborhoods since the freeway opened—reported both a lower sense of community and smaller neighborhood areas as compared to residents not living adjacent to the freeway and as compared to the results from the pretest. The analysis of the data incorporated geographic information system (GIS) software to allow for the analysis of phenomenological neighborhoods—neighborhoods as defined by respondents. This Resident-defined Neighborhood Mapping methodology permitted us to analyze neighborhoods as the respondents outlined them, not as they were preconceived by someone outside the neighborhood. It is suggested that this new methodology may prove useful in advancing the field of neighborhood research by detecting neighborhood-level change that traditional methods may miss.     

China and the Globalisation of IR Theory: Discussion of 'Building International Relations Theory with Chinese Characteristics'

This essay examines current developments in International Relations theory in China. First it comments on Song Xinning's essay, agreeing that IR theory in China is limited by ideology, the dominance of policy-oriented research, and the state. But rather than seeing culture ('IR theory with Chinese characteristics') as a problem that can be solved by a more scientific approach to IR theory, the essay argues that the scientism of realism and IPE has similar problems. Thus the essay switches from the universals of science to the contingency of interpretation to understand global politics, drawing on recent books which combine IPE with historical and cultural studies. The concept of sovereignty is deconstructed to show how it is not universal, but is bound up in knowledge practices in both the West and China. The essay concludes by suggesting that we broaden both the concepts and the resources of IR research to consider the transnational economic‐cultural relations of Greater China. In this way China can be part of the globalization of IR theory, for such concepts exemplify current theoretical debates about the meaning of globalization. This approach moves from territorial notions of sovereignty where power is based on an expansion of economic and political relations—which reify borders—to popular notions of sovereignty where power is measured by movements of people across borders in a qualitative struggle of cultures and knowledge.     

The role of Title IV-E education and training in child protection workforce diversification

ABSTRACT

Educating, training, and diversifying the workforce are strategies that may help reduce racial/ethnic disparities that plague child protection system (CPS). Title IV-E education and training programs support the development of a specially trained, highly skilled workforce; yet, little research examining their impact on workforce diversification exists. The current study assessed the relationship between Title IV-E education and training and workforce diversity and leadership in a state system that is plagued with racial disparities using data from a statewide child welfare survey (n = 679) and existing population-level sources. Findings revealed that while children of color were disproportionately overrepresented in the CPS, professionals of color were disproportionately underrepresented (as compared to the state’s overall population and the population of children served within CPS). Title IV-E education and training programs were associated with both child protection workforce diversity and CPS leadership roles. Implications for recruitment, retention, education, and partnership are discussed.     

Organizational Formations of Organized Crime in China: perspectives from the state,markets, and networks

Chinese lawmakers and law-enforcers have viewed the hierarchical structure as the defining feature of organized criminal organizations. Such a flawed framework has hampered China's recent efforts to fight organized crime. Based upon organization theory, this paper argues that by adapting to the changing institutional environment, Chinese criminal forces have chosen a variety of organizational structures ranging from hierarchy to the market and the network. The recently uncovered cases point out that networks have become a more popular organizational form than the traditional hierarchies (such as secret societies) and contractual relationships in illicit markets. By offering a classification of organizational formations of organized crime in today's China, the author suggests network analysis as a new tool to help China's law enforcement effectively respond to surging organized crime.     

An Examination of Strategies for the Prevention of Gender-Based Violence at Four-Year Institutions of Higher Education

ABSTRACT

Although gender-based violence prevention programs at institutions of higher education (IHEs) are mandated by federal legislation, research focusing on the prevalence or content of programming is limited. The present exploratory research examines campus websites for a nationally representative sample of Title IX eligible IHEs that offer at least a four-year degree (n = 389), assessing whether IHEs offer prevention programs and whether programs include information cited in federal legislation or adhere to best practices. Differences in programming are also examined across IHE types. Results demonstrate that most IHEs report offering prevention pro- grams (86%), but that differences do exist across IHE type: 97% of public nonprofit IHEs report programming compared to 46% of tribal institutions. Disparities also exist across IHE types regarding the content of programming. Results highlight the need to advance prevention programming to better align with “what works” in prevention science or what is expected by federal legislation.     

论大众文化对军警院校校园文化的影响及应对

本文具体分析了大众文化对军警院校校园文化的影响,尽力从两种文化的价值定位,文化特性、文化功能等理论层面,系统论述大众文化与军警院校校园文化的统一与冲突,并基于对大众文化对军警院校校园文化的影响的理性认识,提出现代军警院校校园文化的构建设想。     

From Welfare State to Welfare Society

Summary

Within the area of health and social welfare the Danish state has recently made a new approach to prevention and problem-solving. The goal was to promote innovation and social inventions on a local and citizen-oriented level through public funds. In this paper we will focus on a special program called “Social Development Program” (SUM), running from 1988 until the end of 1991. The program can be seen as a new trend in Danish welfare policy turning from an almost solely welfare state policy to a welfare society policy involving municipalities, voluntary organizations, and the users themselves. Another trend is the emergence of a voluntary initiative started on a citizen basis-self-help groups. They have had great impact on the way of viewing the preventive capacity and the helping ability among lay people.     

Moral Dilemmas of Community Leaders and Sense of Community

Abstract

This paper draws on Kohlberg's tiieory of moral development, and on an empirical research conducted with leaders (two women, two men) in Venezuelan urban working-class communities. The leaders were repeatedly interviewed during a two-year period, about their experiences leading their communities. Those narratives were analyzed and discussed with them. Based on these grounds, two interrelated products were constructed: (1) Three moral dilemmas to be used in educational discussions with community leaders such as members of organized community groups; civic volunteers, officers from non-governmental organizations working with communities, and (2) A developmental approach to the sense of community in urban working-class communities. Finally, it argues about the need of balancing the current approaches of moral development, through a stronger emphasis on the community dimensions of that sense and its consequences on leadership.     

Dispersive Containment: a comparative case study of labor politics in central China

Why is there no large-scale labor movement out of intense labor conflicts in current China? Based on a comparative case study of two groups of workers—state workers vs. temporary workers—this paper is an attempt to explore the concrete processes and mechanisms of workers' struggles—how they navigated among street protests, office petitions and court prosecutions through their interaction with state agencies. The argument is that different workers obtained different symbolic rewards instead of material concessions, based on their different social positions and historical trajectories. Unlike the classical ‘fragmentation’ argument which attributes the working class's inaction to its internal divisions, this argument focuses on the interaction between the differentiated workers and the local state agents, during which the workers lost their radical momentum and became subjected to the state's peaceful taming based on the workers' differences. This is a process called ‘dispersive containment’, i.e. dissipating the labor conflicts through divergent symbolic treatment of working-class protest without granting material rewards to them.