COVID-19 Has Exposed How ‘The Other Half’ (Still) Lives

Socioeconomic factors are heavily shaping the COVID-19 pandemic in South America. Consequently, societies are now facing the stark effects of lockdown, while largely failing to stop the epidemic. In Chile, this has been amplified by decision-makers who have overlooked critical socio-spatial aspects of the epidemic. Precarious living conditions, together with spatial segregation and unstable domestic economies, help explain why mitigation strategies remain unsuccessful. The article also explores how political frameworks for approaching these issues may change because of the pandemic.     

Churches,Sects and Communities: Social Cohesion Recovered?1

Abstract – Should the upsurge of Protestantism be seen as a community movement with a religious dimension, or as the expression of sectarian, inward-looking behaviour? Does it wipe out Indian specificity or does it rather help to rebuild community and identity? Does it strengthen citizenship or is it the bearer of an obscurantist authoritarianism? In the light of these questions, three waves of Protestant expansion are described in relation to missionary activity from the North. The relationship between Protestantism and modernity both at the level of the larger society and at the level of the local community are explored.     

Who Mobilizes? Participatory Democracy in Chávez's Bolivarian Revolution

This article assesses popular mobilization under the Chávez government's participatory initiatives in Venezuela using data from the AmericasBarometer survey of 2007. This is the first study of the so‐called Bolivarian initiatives using nationally representative, individual‐level data. The results provide a mixed assessment. Most of the government's programs invite participation from less active segments of society, such as women, the poor, and the less educated, and participation in some programs is quite high. However, much of this participation clusters within a narrow group of activists, and a disproportionate number of participants are Chávez supporters. This partisan bias probably reflects self‐screening by Venezuelans who accept Chávez's radical populist discourse and leftist ideology, rather than vote buying or other forms of open conditionality. Thus, the Venezuelan case suggests some optimism for proponents of participatory democracy, but also the need to be more attuned to its practical political limits.     

Ist Europa ?demokratief?hig“?

Das sogenannte Demokratiedefizit der EU wird gemeinhin auf drei Arten reflektiert. Intergouvernementalisten bestreiten es, den Anh?ngern eines organischen Nationenbegriffs fehlt die soziale Legitimation, schlie?lich erkennen einige Politikwissenschaftler in den Euro-Netzwerken eine der Transnationalit?t angemessene Form deliberativer Demokratie. Die drei Reflektionsweisen werden einem normativen Verst?ndnis von demokratischem Konstitutionalismus gegenüber gestellt, dessen Grundidee im Gesellschaftsvertrag einer freien Bürgergesellschaft besteht. Im Unterschied zu institutionellen Antworten auf das Demokratiedefizit, die die Identifikation mit Europa den inklusiven und aggregierenden Eigenschaften von Institutionen zusprechen, wird die Notwendigkeit einer positiven Legitimation der Bestandsgründe der EU für eine Verfassungsgebung hervorgehoben. Als entscheidende Implikation einer Konstitutionalisierung der EU stellt sich die Komplementarit?t der nationalen Souver?nit?ten und der Euro-Souver?nit?t heraus. Der Aufsatz pl?diert für einen konstitutionalistischen Prozess, der die Gemeinsamkeiten im Verfassungstelos der nationalstaatlichen Verfassungen politisiert.     

Fried Chicken or Pop? Redefining Development and Ethnicity in Totonicapán

This article draws on ethnographic research with a K'iche' community development organisation in the rural department of Totonicapán to examine how neoliberal development policies in post-conflict Guatemala both enabled and problematised grassroots ethnic development strategies. Specifically, this study analyses efforts by the Cooperation for the Rural Development of the West (CDRO) to operationalise Maya culture as a tool for development through the pop (woven mat) methodology. This particular Maya development model was successful in its ability to appeal to both the international development industry and local community development goals. The article also examines, however, how the pop also became an important site of critique of neoliberal state reforms and class inequality within the community.     

美国援助老撾3亿1千2百万美元获得了什么?

1960年8月,老撾发生了以貢勒大尉为首的爱国軍事政变,在民主、进步和要求和平中立的力量支持下推翻了亲美卖国和坚持反革命內战的独裁政府而成立了有进步力量参加的、奉行和平中立政策的富馬合法政府。这給美帝国主义及其走狗一个严重的打击。就在这个时候,美国一些主要的資产阶級报刊对美国的对外侵略政策,特别是对远东的侵略政策发出了悲观的論調,并且在事实面前不得不承認失敗。代表着美国石油壟断組織和接近国务院的《美国新聞与世界报道》杂誌就美国对老撾“援助”方面也无可奈何地供认美“援”的不得人心和美“援”政策的破产,正如其招供所說:“美援买不到盟友,也不能使弱小民族变为强大。”由此可以看出美国的一些壟断資本組織对美国对外政策的悲观失望的情緒。     

从闹剧到悲剧:可恨?可怜?可悲?

如果没有医患对立的社会背景,吴光禹醉酒殴打医生仅是治安事件,可能不会引起那么多人的关注。如果吴光禹没有成为街谈巷议的对象,母亲司永珍也许不会选择跳楼。那么,悲剧究竟该归罪于谁?可怜之人必有可恨之处,可恨之人必有可悲之苦。     

疏不间亲?

我们的骄傲与自卑混杂着,他们的自卑与骄傲混杂着,我们的经济没有阔绰到像美国人那样令他们臣服,他们的文化没有强大如好莱坞那般令我们闭嘴,双方实力相当,方有审视与较量。两名演员关于"到底谁在耍大牌"的话题新鲜吗?不新鲜。这是太阳底下每天都在发生的事。一场单打独斗变成群架、混战、殃及池鱼,必然要有这个话题的可延展性和普适性...     

Einkommensreich – verm?gensarm? Die Zusammensetzung von Verm?gen und die Bedeutung einzelner Verm?genskomponenten im europ?ischen Vergleich

Recently, a growing number of researchers claim that income is only one dimension of social inequality. Neglecting wealth as a more profound measure of an entity??s financial situation can lead to a misleading or even wrong understanding of social inequalities. This article examines the relationship between income and wealth among elderly people in 13 European countries and tries to answer the following two research questions: Are the income-rich also the asset-rich? And what is the composition of wealth within different income groups? The analyses show that higher wealth often goes along with higher income, whereas a high income does not necessarily correlate with high wealth. Instead, in relation to the amount of wealth they possess, the asset-rich do not dispose of a high income. This may be an indicator that income is not the most important mechanism for the accumulation of wealth in the upper part of the wealth distribution. In general the wealth portfolio of asset-rich households is much broader and therefore less ??crises-prone?? than of the asset-poor. Homeownership is the central component in the wealth portfolio of households. For the lowest income quartiles it is often the only meaningful asset. Summing up, the previous income-based definition of poverty and wealth proves to be inadequate. Analyzing wealth in addition to income, it may turn out that the often proclaimed problem of old-age poverty has been either under- or overestimated.     

90后咖啡店老板:营业额只有往常1/3,还要硬着头皮开下去吗?

上海本轮疫情暴发以来,《新民周刊》微信公众号开设了“魔都战疫口述实录”栏目,从3月28日到5月22日共发表了100篇口述。杂志选取了其中的一部分,真实还原了,上海两个月疫情中发生的点点滴滴。     

?Klassengesellschaftlichkeit�� nach dem Ende der Klassengesellschaft?

The new attention for (long time ??invisible??) social classes is related to an increase in the inequalities between rich and poor. Especially in Germany it seemed that (reinforced by sociological theories) the class structures were replaced by a ??middle-class society?? (Helmut Schelsky), by individualized social positions (Ulrich Beck) or by varying milieus. However, the class structures are also made invisible statistically. The structural role of the persisting dominant (even if often not experienced directly)??the distribution of the ownership of means of production??is manifested in the economic growth imperative, in the increasing concentration of capital, in the application of capitalist principles in other social contexts and in limited agency of non-economic fields, especially in politics. The existence of classes??contrary to popular perceptions??requires neither a collective class consciousness or class struggles, nor is it explained by the mere fact of social inequalities. A theoretical socio-economic analysis of the production and appropriation of values as a basic theory of social inequality is still missing.     

整容有罪?

整容后生下丑女被丈夫诉离婚、要赔偿。如此劲爆的新闻有炒作之嫌,但也透露出社会对待整容的微妙心态,同时还提出了一个法律问题:婚姻中的当事人是否有责任告知对方自己的整容史?在各种离婚传闻以娱乐新闻的姿态被舆论津津乐道之时,一条"整容后生下丑女竟也能成为丈夫要求离婚的理由?"的八卦消息,竟然登上了国内各大知名新闻网站的页面...     

何以中国?

<正>随着时代的推移和王朝的更替,主语“中国”不断地向谓语“中国”转化,中原之外,江南、岭南、满蒙回藏以至台湾、澎湖等附属岛屿也都被“中国”了,都成为中华文明多元统一的政治—文化共同体的牢不可分的一部分。荷马史诗《奥德赛》的主人公奥德修斯在从特洛伊的归国途中,被说唱艺人对自己往事的咏唱感动得热泪涕零。这些往事都是奥德修斯的亲身经历,但经历只有在被建构成一个故事时才能获得为人所理解的意义,并带来与现实的和解。没有谁是自身行动的主宰者,     

血荒何解?

"目前,国内公民献血意识很淡薄,宣传献血达人,也是迫不得已。"2011年的"郭美美"事件,使社会上积蓄已久的信任危机全面爆发,面对公众向中国红十字会发出的排山倒海式的质疑,我国的献血事业,无疑成为了在这场事件中被殃及的池鱼。日前,就公众对我国血液管理部门内部普遍存在的一些质疑,《新民周刊》记者专程赶赴上海市血液管理办...     

告别革命?

我们之所以如此惧怕革命,渴望告别革命,不是恐惧革命的过程,而是它带来的一系列不可控制的结果。这是革命的吊诡之处,从复辟到暴力革命,从希望到绝望,从自由到暴政,革命这个词汇已经足够复杂,乃至我们谈虎色变,谈革命必然会害怕对我们还算安逸生活的摧毁。