The sent-down youth of China: The role of family origin in the risk of departure to and return from the countryside

Between 1967 and 1978, over 17million urban youths in China systematically migrated to the rural countryside in a massive relocation movement known as the Sent-Down Movement. The youths who relocated—some by choice, though many forcibly—were part of a grand scheme envisioned by the then ruling Communist Party leader, Mao Zedong, who sought to reeducate urban youth by having them live and labor amongst their rural compatriots. Known as the “sent down youth”, these youths' experiences and struggles of moving to and returning from the countryside offer considerable insight into the ideological importance of family origins. Most notably, the revolutionary movement which swept over China at the height of the sent-down movement in the late 1960s reversed the hierarchical order of society; individuals with higher family origins were now criminalized making them prime targets for relocation to the countryside. In this quantitative analysis, I examine the relationship between family origins and the risk of departure to and return from the countryside for urban youth, using a unique longitudinal retrospective dataset, Life Histories and Social Change in Contemporary China. I analyze how this relationship plays out not only during the height of the movement, but throughout a more expansive time frame under which youths were reportedly sent-down (1957 to 1980). Through discrete-time survival analysis, I estimate that urban youths from higher family origins (rich peasant and landowner classes) experienced a greater risk for being sent-down versus their counterparts from lower family origins. Most interestingly, youths of higher family origins also experienced a lower risk for returning from the countryside; one interpretation of this finding is that even after spending time in the countryside in the pursuit of absolving themselves of their higher family origins, the stigma attached to their higher family origins persisted.     

Early marriage in pre-modern France

In France, from the end of the seventeenth to the beginning of the nineteenth century, despite noticeable age fluctuations, most subjects of the French kings entered into matrimony well beyond the age of puberty. In the present article, females marrying when under the age of 20 will be considered “precocious,” following the principle that early marriages not only fell outside the result of normal distribution but were a forceful expression of the marriage behavior peculiar to certain couples. The analysis sought to determine whether these exceptional unions were idiosyncratic or whether they reflected rational conduct that could be generalized. Certain features stood out, without any single one being decisive because of the relative weakness of the differences observed. The daughter who married young was often well-born and literate. Coming from the South, she was more frequently found in data from the nineteenth rather than the eighteenth century. Her husband was also young and had grown up not far away from her. She had a mother and a mother-in-law who had been young brides and at least one sister who had married young. As the youngest of a large family, she often had lost her father.     

Coming in from the Cold: Grenada and Cuba since 1983

Abstract

The Grenada Revolution’s radical course was stamped by the bold turn to Cuba in April 1979. Cuban commitment to Maurice Bishop’s regime was crucial to its consolidation. In 1983 counter-revolution and invasion ruptured Grenada–Cuba ties and damaged Havana’s relations with Caribbean Community states. Since the demise of the Cold War, Havana’s survival strategy has prioritised regional integration and cooperation in the Americas. In the Anglophone Caribbean, Grenada has been at the centre of this rapprochement since 1993. Despite Washington’s disapproval, Grenada champions expanded ties with socialist Cuba. The rekindled alliance brings tangible mutual benefits and validates the strategy of South–South cooperation advocated by Maurice Bishop’s People’s Revolutionary Government and New Jewel Movement.     

Identities in a ‘fragmegrated’ world: black cyber-communities and the French integration system

Constrained by racism and increasing white ownership of the music industry in the United States, African-American jazz drummer Kenny Clarke exited the New York jazz scene for Paris in 1956. Clarke's migration not only represented social freedom but also creative freedom. Through his mentorship of French artists and his work to universalize jazz beyond the authority of just African-American musicians, Clarke signified blackness and Europeaness. In the process of his migration, musicianship and mentorship, Clarke used jazz to meld African-American culture with the music, culture and socio-political concerns of European musicians and fans. This paper argues that even though he was not born in Europe or colonized by European countries, Kenny Clarke and other exiled African-American artists offer an alternative narrative to the negotiation between being black and European.     

The French Constitutional Law of 23 July 2008 as seen by MPs: Working or Talking Parliament?

The French constitutional law of 2008 is, with the modification of 47 articles, the most important revision of the Constitution of the Fifth Republic, at least in quantitative terms. Surprisingly, there have been few attempts to evaluate the effects of the reform, whose official aim was to improve the status of the role of the (traditionally weak) French parliament. The purpose of this contribution is to analyse how MPs themselves judge this reform and its effects, especially on the role of the parliament and its everyday work. To do so we make use of the data of the LEGIPAR research project (September 2009–January 2011): 227 MPs answered closed and open questions about their perception of parliamentary work in face-to-face interviews. The data of the project DEPASTRA (2005–6) allow for a comparison with MPs' positions before the vote of the constitutional revision of 2008.     

The NHS Information Revolution: ‘Choice of Control’ to ‘Choice’ and ‘Control’

This paper provides a novel and critical analysis of the necessary and important balance between ‘individual privacy’ and ‘collective transparency’. We suggest that the onset of the Information Revolution has created a dilemma for the National Health Service (NHS) in terms of how it addresses its obligation to use information to improve best practice in healthcare for society (‘collective transparency’) whilst also keeping sensitive personal information confidential (‘individual privacy’). There is clearly a need to consider both whether the NHS is balancing this critically important informational relationship and whether its approach is fit for purpose. We argue that the NHS's ‘proxy-individual’ information guardian role could inadvertently mask individuals' intended roles, effectively circumventing autonomy-based laws by limiting the power of individuals to be autonomous. In this article we have identified three issues – first the prevailing ‘Mindset’ (the ‘M’) of ‘privacy’, which is viewed as individualistic, resulting in an overpowering concept of confidentiality; second, the quality and control of Information (the first ‘I’); and third, the concept of innovation (the second ‘i’), which is being used as a ‘solution’ rather than a vehicle for transparency. Indeed, transparency is our target of ‘best practice,’ and we suggest that individual privacy and collective transparency are best embedded within a complementary privacy framework that offers a better fit than the current split of control between the roles of the NHS and the roles of the individual. It is suggested that when facilitated by transparency, ‘control’ and ‘privacy’ form a continuum, aligning through the desire for choice. Therefore, the choice of control could facilitate control and choice. Together, they could replace the concept of privacy by empowering ‘informed patients’ to support the NHS's ‘No decision about me, without me’ pledge.     

农民问题的解决：大国现代化的必由之路——英、法、美、俄的历史分析

农民问题在资产阶级革命中占有极其重要的地位。从农业社会向工业社会过渡,农民必须接受“改造”,以便融入新社会。农民问题的解决取决于土地再分配的形式。英国、法国、美国和俄罗斯在这方面都走过了不同的道路,并对这些国家的现代化产生了很大的影响。随着农民的涌入大城市,城市化遂成为一种常见的现象,我们必须采取强有力的措施,以阻止它的某些消极后果在中国出现。     

一门大炮:由议会转向政府——论法国宪法委员会功能的演变

二战之后,法共等左派一直在议会中属于多数派,但左派在政治上始终处于被动地位,法共和社会党支持的宪法草案在1946年6月的全民公决中遭到否决。为及时通过第二部宪法草案,宪法委员会制度得以创设。但整个第四共和期间,宪法委员会仅履行一次职能。1958年戴高乐临危受命,为限制议会地位,加强了宪法委员会的权力,被称为“一门对准议会的大炮”。第五共和初期,宪法委员会活动范围有限。自1971年结社自由案和1974年宪法修改后,违宪审查的范围和基准都扩大了,逐渐成为人权和自由民主基本秩序的维护者。这个经验主义的做法或许对推进我国违宪审查制度有所裨益。     

朱德对党探索中国革命道路的贡献

朱德的一生,见证了中国二十世纪四分之三的历史。他为中华民族的独立、民主、富强事业贡献了毕生的精力。在十年内战、八年抗战、四年反蒋独裁内战的二十二年艰苦斗争中,他为中国共产党探索中国革命道路作出了卓越的贡献。     

理想的重写与日常生活经验的肯定——论王蒙的“季节”系列小说及其他

王蒙晚年创作的“季节”系列小说在情节、人物、场景、细节等方面与其此前的小说均有不同程度的相似。可以说,“季节”系列小说是“老年”王蒙对“少年、青年、中年”王蒙人生经验、历史经验的重写,凝聚着“老年”王蒙的人生感悟与历史感怀,饱含着“老年”王蒙对一生所追求的理想的反思。但在“季节”系列中,王蒙的重写所倚重的是叙事视角的游移、叙事语言的狂欢,历史的沉重与人物的主体被无形中消解,理想的反思也停留在对日常生活经验的肯定之上。