Back to Basics Mexican Style: Radical Catholicism and Survival on the Margins1

Abstract— The significance of radical Catholic movements among the urban poor in Latin American cities has been the subject of much debate over recent years, though Mexican cases have received less attention. This paper argues that their practical, material objectives cannot be understood in isolation from the holistic religious and moral community in which participants project for themselves. It is also argued that the social justice sought within the base communities is as much a product of a long, if varied, radical, Christian tradition as it is of the particular circumstances of political and economic marginalisation in contemporary Mexican cities.     

Peer pressure and adolescent substance use

Peer influence is regarded as one of the strongest determinants of juvenile delinquency and particularly adolescent substance use. A commonly held view is that social pressure from friends to use drugs and alcohol is a major contributor to substance use. Yet the notion of peer pressure, implied by the association between peer-group associations and drug behavior, is seldom tested empirically. As a crucial test of the group pressure model, this research examines the role of peer pressure in mediating the effect of differential association on individual use. Moreover, few studies examine the nature of the relationship between peers and substance use as it relates to the processes leading toand from use. Drawing on differential association and social learning theories, our research specifies the social processes (socialization, group pressure, social selection, and rationalization) which dictate particular causal pathways leading to and from substance use and then estimates the reciprocal influences among differential association, social pressure from peers, attitudes favorable toward substance use, and individual use. Using the 1977–1979 National Youth Survey panel data, we estimate a covariance structural equation model allowing for correlated measurement error. In the cross-sectional analyses, we find no main effects of overt peer pressure on substance use. Estimation of the reciprocal effects model also reveals that overt peer pressure does not significantly influence substance use and does not mediate the effect of differential association. Instead, the influences of socialization, social selection, and rationalization play significant roles in understanding substance use.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 1994 American Society of Criminology meetings in Miami, Florida.     

传统发展理念的内在矛盾

传统发展理念由于其包含一系列内在矛盾而使自身陷入困境并导致了发展危机。这主要表现在:发展至上主义的迷醉及其对生存家园的遗忘;技术乐观主义的虚妄及其对有限理性的消失;人类中心主义的偏执及其对天人关系的僭越;消费享乐主义的滥觞及其对生态伦理的缺席。在揭示传统发展理念深层矛盾困境的同时,昭示当代人应自觉走出其设定的内部陷阱,从而为建构通向未来科学的发展观扫清理念上的障碍。     

作为知识社会学个案的我国“法律文化”研究

学界在谈论法律文化研究在我国兴起的原因之时,多将其归咎于国外法律文化研究的引入,这固然不错,但笔者以为,恐怕更深层次的原因还在于特定时代背景下的现实需求使然;法律文化研究在我国的出现,是基于特定“社会居所”的现实欲求和历史思索以及学术共同体内部渴望打破旧有研究格局的需要等多重诱因作用的结果,国外法律文化研究的传入,某种意义上仅仅是开放了法学界希望从更为广阔的角度来理解和解说法律实践的特定接受趋向,同时赋予国内的法律文化研究一种“学术合法性的追认”,并未产生太大实质性学术影响。     

论罪刑法定原则的社会基础

罪刑法定原则的立法化 ,当然离不了学者们的创构与证成 ,但是关键还在于社会的现实需要。在一定意义上讲 ,罪刑法定原则的立法化与社会的现实结构紧密相关。在中国 ,伴随着一元化社会结构的是源远流长的刑事类推制度 ,而随着市民社会的兴起和二元化社会结构的成长 ,罪刑法定原则终于实现了立法化。     

Operationalizing Social Capital: A Strategy to Enhance Communities'"Capacity to Concert"

This article addresses a concern increasingly being voiced in the donor establishment: fifty years of development assistance programs have failed to produce conclusive evidence that they can foster sustainable economic and social development in poor countries. The nature of donor programs is such that it emphasizes economic remedies and orients aid to finite projects. Yet recent evidence suggests that sustained development may be more a continued civic process whereby communities form their capacity to come to their own understandings about public ways of behaving and relating, whereby they develop their capacity to concert . This translates into a practical capability to pinpoint underlying problems, assess alternative approaches, and devise solutions most likely to be sustained. This micro capability may also have important macroeconomic implications in terms of institutional predictability and—through it—in terms of scale economies, transaction costs, transparency, incentive to innovate, and climate to implement public policies. The article suggests an alternative approach to development assistance and offers concrete recommendations to donors.     

当前中国社会阶层分化对政治发展的推动作用

当前中国社会阶层的构成多元化特征为公民政治参与的扩大准备了重要条件,推动着我国的民主化和法制化进程,并且,中国社会阶层分化的总趋势是有利于政治稳定的。适应中国社会阶层分化的趋势,采取有效措施,方能推进中国政治的发展。     

论莱茵模式的合理性及发展走向

莱茵模式是社会市场经济的最新称呼，它的基本内涵是强调效率与公平的有机统一、竞争与秩序的有机结合以及互助合作理念。从莱茵模式的内涵看，它在经济和社会方面都具有一定的合理性。虽然全球化背景下莱茵模式遭到了一定的挑战，但研究莱茵模式的合理性对构建市场经济模式无疑具有一定的启示和借鉴作用。     

群体性事件的社会学思考

群体性事件是重大社会性事件,参与群体性事件人员的成分复杂,表现方式日趋激烈,组织化程度不断提高,处置难度进一步加大,在一定程度上影响了我国的社会稳定,必须引起高度重视。     

浅析社区青少年的社会交往网络与社会支持网络——对上海市普陀区社区青少年的调查研究

根据2006年对上海市普陀区“社区青少年”发展状况调查的实验研究管理,对易于“边缘化”的“社区青少年”的社会交往网络与社会支持网络的构成、特征进行分析,并探讨如何促进它们之间的优势互补,从而为“社区青少年”的发展提供更好的条件。