苏里南——文化多元化的缩影

苏里南是一个既年轻又古老的国家。目前,在全球化进程越来越快的大环境和本国力求更好地适应大环境以求发展的情况下,苏里南逐渐融入整个世界大文化中,形成了具有"苏里南特色"的多元文化。这种文化现象不仅仅只发生在苏里南,当今的许多亚、非、拉国家正经历着与苏里南相似或相同的过程,因此,深入探讨和研究苏里南社会的文化现象具有借鉴意义。本文从苏里南的人口、族群的构成、土著人对本国历史的影响、苏里南语言的形成及目前国内存在的宗教问题等诸方面,从社会学的角度分析了苏里南在经历了几百年的西方殖民统治之后的国家概念的重要性及由此产生的重大影响。20世纪后半叶苏里南取得独立,之后发生的社会变化、目前存在的社会问题及应采用何种方式解决这些社会问题,应引起广泛关注。     

Routine Activities and Deviant Behaviors: American, Dutch, Hungarian, and Swiss Youth

The current investigation examined cross-national similarities and differences in routine activities, measures of deviance, and their relationship in representative samples of 7,000 adolescents aged 1519 years (mean age: 17.5 years) from Hungary, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and the United States. For the majority of youth, most of their time was spent in solitary activities, followed by peer activities, community/sports activities, and family activities; Hungarian youth reported spending a much greater amount of time with the family than adolescents from other countries, while Dutch youth spent far more time in solitary activities than their peers. Rates of total deviance were remarkably similar for American, Dutch, and Swiss youth; Hungarian youth reported substantially lower rates than all other adolescents. Finally, findings indicated that routine activities accounted for 18% for males and 16% for females of the variance explained in total deviance. Furthermore, with the exceptions of alcohol and drug use, country had very little or no explanatory power in deviance. The current study suggests that the utility and the explanatory power of the routine activities framework replicates across national boundaries.     

Dynamic risk and protective factors

ABSTRACT

This paper reviews the literature regarding the identification and measurement of risk factors considered imminent precipitants of subsequent criminal conduct (i.e. dynamic risk factors). This paper also frames these risk factors against the so-called protective factors that are presumed to mitigate risk. Commonality among recent dynamic risk and protective measures reflects general agreement regarding viable candidate variables. Empirical studies suggest such factors yield incremental predictive validity and should inform case-formulaic understanding of criminal conduct and pathways to desistance, although this is not common practice. As well, definitional and measurement considerations are not well advanced and speak to the need for further conceptual clarity.     

The welfare impacts of market channel choice by smallholder farmers in Tanzania

This article analyses the impact of market channel choice on household welfare by maize and pigeon pea smallholder farmers in Tanzania, using a multinomial endogenous treatment approach. The study utilises farm household-level data collected from a randomly selected sample of 700 smallholder farmers. The results show that participation with traders in nearby markets and wholesalers in nearby towns have a positive effect on consumption expenditure per capita relative to brokers at the farmgate, for both maize and pigeon pea-farming households. The study suggests that interventions that aimed at inclusion of smallholder farmers in more profitable markets could improve household welfare and reduce poverty among rural households.