What has the ‘first sexual revolution’ to do with kinship transition? ‘Kin marriages’ and illicit sexuality in nineteenth-century Alpine Switzerland

This paper questions the link between two major transformations observed in eighteenth century Europe: the reorganization of kinship structures and kinship solidarities on the one hand and the so-called ‘sexual revolution’ of the eighteenth century on the other, i.e. the spectacular rise of illegitimacy throughout Europe. Raising the question of this link has far-reaching theoretical implications, since the fundamental changes in kinship and sexuality have been treated so far as two independent phenomena in separate domains. The results presented in this paper refer to mountain villages of the Swiss Alps and base on genealogical data extracted from a large dynamic database called the Registre historique de la population du Valais. They suggest that the remarkable increase of close kin marriages was closely connected with changes in sexual habits and with the building of different sexual milieus. The ‘sexual revolution’ in the Entremont region was largely the issue of a few families and kin groups tending to build tightly knitted networks. In this perspective, the increase of kin marriages reflected the diversification of political and sexual milieus, characterized by different values, ideologies and attitudes. This profound diversification of life styles shows that social change did not affect local societies as a whole, but was supported by particular milieus made cohesive by privileged alliances within kin groups and by particular network patterns.     

Bridal pregnancy and women’s educational attainment in South Korea, 1970–2009

We examine the link between marriage and fertility in South Korea by focusing on the historic trend of bridal pregnancy (marriage preceded by pregnancy) over the four decadal marriage cohorts since the 1970s. We first demonstrate how the rate of bridal pregnancy changes over the observed period and then investigate the educational differentials in the trend. These inquiries are examined by analyzing a sample of 29,213 ever-married Korean women from recently pooled data from the National Survey of Fertility and Family Health (NSFFH). The results show that bridal pregnancy has increased from 16% in the 1970s marriage cohort to 20% in the 2000s marriage cohort. In response to class differentials, while bridal pregnancy has been more prevalent among less-educated women than among their counterparts, bridal pregnancy has increased across all education groups over time. In addition, the magnitudes of increase are more noticeable among highly educated women of recent marriage cohorts. We contextualize our findings and provide speculations about subsequent family changes in South Korea.     

Is China’s rise now stalling?

The variations on power transition theory so widely used to frame analysis of U.S.–China relation tend to assume the inevitability or at least strong probability of China surpassing the United States in economic power if not necessarily military power. In the terminology of social psychology’s attribution theory, China is imputed with the identity of a state that is inevitably rising. The Chinese Communist Party encourages this attribution among Chinese people and foreigners. But China’s economic rise – the foundation of its comprehensive rise – appears to have entered an inflection point in the mid-2010s and may now be stalling. In critical respects, China increasingly resembles the last two countries that ‘attempted’ a globe-level rise: the unsuccessful cases of postwar Japan and the Soviet Union. China’s labor force is shrinking; the country relies excessively on unsustainable debt increases to fuel economic growth; and pollution is seriously harming public health. But even if China’s rise conclusively stalls, it may take quite some time before the Chinese public and outside observers recognize the new reality because of intrinsic biases in the cognitive logic of attributing identities to actors.     

转型期的家庭变迁与青少年违法犯罪

当前中国社会转型所引发的巨大变革,剧烈地冲击着作为社会基本单位的家庭,从而使家庭结构出现异化与失衡、家庭关系承受压力与紧张、家庭教育面临失范与挑战等。转型期家庭的这些变迁势必会导致部分青少年在社会化过程中的失管、失误、失控与失常,从而诱发他们走上违法犯罪的道路。因此如何减少家庭变迁所带来的负面震荡效应,对预防和减少青少年违法犯罪具有十分重要的意义。     

著作权文化转型与微观历史研究方法

著作权制度在后现代转型中不断受到各种源自对于著作权文化认识差异而导致的诘问。但是,目前的主流研究方法却一味的强调著作权制度的现代性和客体性,而忽视对于这一新兴法律制度的深入的历史研究,难以回应那些挑战其本体意义的质疑。而从微观的角度出发研究著作权的历史,似乎能更清楚地明晰著作权制度的本体价值。“小历史”的研究方法应当被知识产权研究的学者更加重视。     

中国社会转型期的女职工劳动保护

中国正在进行社会主义市场经济的改革,在经济全球化和市场的共同作用下,中国女职工就业权利和劳动保护受到空前的冲击和挑战。一方面,大量出现女职工劳动保护不足的问题;另一方面,又存在女职工过度保护的问题;此外,还存在由于政府不再承担公共服务责任和监管力度弱化而出现的越提倡保护、对女职工就业越不利的复杂局面。本文参照全球化和对自由主义经济批判的框架,从国际劳工标准、社会性别平等和政府责任等角度,对上述现象进行了分析,探讨了《女职工劳动保护条例》修改中的基本原则和修改导向,并提出相关政策建议。     

转型时期中国共产党利益整合的价值选择

利益整合是执政党的一项重要功能。转型时期,中国社会的利益结构、价值观念、生活方式等日趋分化,利益矛盾凸显,党的执政基础也开始面临前所未有的深刻变化,这些都对执政的中国共产党提出了严峻挑战,因而迫切要求其提高利益整合能力。