Global Sociology: Towards an Alternative Southern Paradigm

The project to (re)construct a global sociology is one where there is no agreed paradigm or even a shared understanding of the main issues that would be needed to secure a new robust and credible paradigm. What I seek to do here is to simply clarify the terms of the debate so as to establish whether we might pursue the quest for an alternative paradigm with some conviction. I first consider the ‘strong case’ for a global sociology based on the assumptions of globalisation theory which, overall, seems to suffer from economism in my view. Next I present a postcolonial perspective which posits a fundamental division between the global South and the North, an enterprise I find to be marked by a certain culturalism. I then present elements for an alternative approach towards a new paradigm based on an understanding of complexity, uneven development and the politics of scale. A brief Latin American excursus at the end seeks to provide some texture to the overall argument that a new global sociology could develop through a critical Southern lens and a focus on cultural political economy.     

Collaborative Sociological Practice: the Case of Nine Urban Biotopes

This paper examines the socially engaged art project Nine Urban Biotopes (9UB), an international exchange between European and South African cultural organisations. Two artist residencies offer case studies of collaborative arts and research practice. The ways that these case studies are read as ‘failures’ and ‘successes’ illustrate the complexities of North-South collaborations. This project, the partnership that sustained it and the residencies that were central to it, exemplify, in modest ways, how public sociology can be realised in modest ways in a global context. This paper shows, with examples, that whilst partnership and collaboration are emphasised in institutional and policy discourse, in practice these arrangements are filled with tension and unequal power relations between partners. An evaluative methodology premised on sociological practice allows the tensions that are inherent in partnership and collaboration to be recognised and productively interrogated. It also allows us to reimagine what ‘success’ and ‘failure’ looks like in research partnerships by working with the antagonisms that are integral to collaboration.     

Caste System and Resistance: The Case of Untouchable Hindu Sweepers in Bangladesh

This paper studies Hindu untouchable sweepers of Bangladesh, using a case study of two sweeper communities in Dhaka city. Due to their untouchability, Hindu sweepers in Bangladesh have historically been subjected to discrimination and marginalisation, and are deprived of choices such as free selection of occupation, access to housing, education and other benefits. Contending with the conventional notion that Hinduism maintains social order by caste hierarchies and divisions of labour, this shows how the sweepers of Dhaka city respond to the notion of untouchability and show resistance to caste discrimination. This paper also argues that it is not only a Hindu religious ideology but also historical, colonial, economic, political and social aspects of caste-based discrimination that can explain construction of the notion of Dalit and the marginalisation and resistance of Bangladeshi sweepers.     

From Communal Patriotism To City-State Chauvinism: Transformation of Collective Identities in Northern Italy, 1050–1500

At the turn of the first millennium, the rise of autonomous communes and city-states in northern Italy coincided with the development of a particular sense of attachment to land and city, which is widely labeled as civic patriotism. Neither the transformation of these collective identities across time nor the macrostructural dynamics behind this transformation has received much attention. Through an examination of these communes and city-states from the eleventh to the sixteenth century, this paper unpacks different forms of collective identities that prevailed in northern Italy in different periods of time, all of which have previously been labeled as “patriotism” in the literature. The differentiation I propose between “communal patriotism,” “civic nationalism,” and “city-state chauvinism” presents a more nuanced picture which highlights the differences in the ways these collective identities are produced, reproduced, and transformed. My analysis also discusses the role played by macrostructural dynamics (e.g., changing climate in the macropolitical economy as well as inter-city-state system in the peninsula) in transforming these collective identities. Alongside a longue durée evolutionary transformation, there were two conjunctural moments which created ruptures in the transformation of collective identities in northern Italy: The first took place during the territorialization of the communes and the conquest of the contado in the mid-twelfth century and the second occurred in the aftermath of the crisis of the fourteenth century.     

制度差异与制度创新:多元制度互动下的大湾区改革

在一国两制的背景下,香港、澳门与内地之间的制度差异如何影响粤港澳大湾区的发展?学界对此仍关注不足。论文基于制度主义理论,构建了"制度差异-张力-制度创新"的理论框架,以深圳前海自贸区的工程建设管理制度改革为案例,分析了制度差异推动改革创新的机制。研究发现,不同的制度逻辑形塑行动主体的认知与行为,因此多元制度在互动中能够产生张力,进而激发行为主体的能动性,促使其反思、设计新的制度、采取改革行动,最终促成制度创新。中国内地与港澳的制度在"一国两制"方针下得以多元共存,制度差异在粤港澳密切互动中产生的张力是大湾区改革的创新源泉,使大湾区在国家改革与发展大局中发挥重要作用。     

Diffusion models over the life cycle of an innovation: A bottom-up and top-down synthesis approach

The diffusion models tend to be tested individually in isolation and remain the same over time for the studied innovations in the literature. Moreover, there is growing interest to learn from other countries in our current age of globalization. Therefore, this paper chooses the innovation of public resources trading platforms in China to fulfill above literature gaps. We have examined key events and the issuances of related laws and regulations by Chinese governments. Our contributions are twofold: (a) Our analysis and results show that the diffusion models evolve over the different stages of a life cycle of an innovation, contrasting to the literature results that diffusion models remain the same for their studied innovations. Due to major diverse characteristics among different adopter categories over a life cycle of an innovation, we argue that it is appropriate and necessary to apply different diffusion models on different adopter categories, which is missing in the current literature. (b) We find a first bottom-up and then top-down synthesis approach as an effective, efficient diffusion process for both fitting local needs (i.e., effective) and adopting innovations rapidly nationwide (i.e., efficient).     

高校青年教师的情绪劳动会导致过劳吗？ ——中介及调节变量的检验

高校青年教师的情绪劳动是否会造成过劳,对个人健康、组织运行和社会发展均具有重要影响。研究探讨情绪劳动对过度劳动的作用机理和影响路径,验证情绪劳动是否通过职业紧张的中介作用对过度劳动产生影响,并检验组织支持感在两者之间的调节作用。研究结果表明:情绪劳动对职业紧张和过度劳动都有着显著的正向影响,职业紧张在情绪劳动与过度劳动之间起部分中介作用,组织支持感在情绪劳动因素之一的表层扮演与过度劳动之间起负向调节作用。     

“政产学研用”下公安院校经侦人才培养新路径

"政产学研用"协同创新是高等教育改革的重要内容,不仅适用于工科和职业院校,而且对公安院校经侦专业的人才培养同样具有重要的指引作用。在"政产学研用"机制下,公安院校的人才培养主要体现为政府机关、企业、高校、科研机构和用人单位五位一体,相互作用、相互协调。在五位一体协同创新机制下,河南警察学院在人才培养方案论证、专业课程建设、校局合作方面均进行了新的探索和实践,建设了经济犯罪侦查实验室,开展了校企合作深度融合。     

论以政治建设为统领推进全党“不忘初心、牢记使命”主题教育的时代必然性和实践途径

“不忘初心牢记使命”主题教育工作会议和总结大会上指出:要通过主题教育引导广大党员干部思想政治受洗礼、锤炼政治品格、增强政治责任感、保持政治本色,最终实现思想政治上的团结统一。这就要以政治建设为统领来推进主题教育。因为这是新时代、新特点、新使命、新形势的时代要求,是新时代严肃党内政治生活的要求。实现途径:坚持习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想指导,坚持习近平总书记为核心党中央权威和集中统一领导自觉做到“两个维护”,把以政治建设为统领贯穿到主题教育各个方面与全过程中、落实到实际具体工作中。