The Practice of Nonviolence in the Contemporary World: An Interview with Daniel Berrigan

Critical race theory provides a much‐needed framework for improving the study of race and racism's influence on psychological health and illness. Implicating the mundane and extraordinary, critical race theory explains how racism determines lifestyles and life chances. It also clarifies the individual and institutional nature of racism. Such clarification should be meaningful to sociologists of mental health, especially those interested in how race‐related inequality alters the distribution of psychological health and illness. Towards improving research linking race and racism with mental health, the present essay exposes five weaknesses in the sociology of mental health literature: (1) misspecification of perceived discrimination; (2) neglect of the psychological wages of Whiteness; (3) conflation of race and ethnicity; (4) assumption of mental health measurement invariance; and (5) disregard for narratives about how racism hurts mental health. These weaknesses and the strategies for overcoming them are uncovered by systematically applying select critical race theory tenets.     

Government Transparency in Historical Perspective: From the Ancient Regime to Open Data in The Netherlands

This article presents an analysis of the history of government transparency over the past 250 years. While this analysis is to a certain extent specific to The Netherlands, the analysis will also identify more general patterns that are arguably relevant to the development of transparency in other Western countries. The overview highlights how, when, and why transparency was conceived as a cornerstone of representative democracy to allow the people to monitor their representatives and evolved into a fundament of participatory democracy that allows people to participate in the public domain.     

The seductive quality of central human capabilities: sociological insights into Nussbaum and Sen's disagreement

Abstract

In an era when relativism and questions of modernity have unsettled the premises and goals of the development project, there is a seductive quality to the universalism of Nussbaum's capabilities approach. We query Nussbaum's philosophically based contribution and raise epistemological concerns about her commitment to a list of central human capabilities. We argue that attention to state forms and practices, as well as unequal power relations, must be incorporated into analyses of capability and development. This leads us to support Sen's advocacy of deliberative democracy as a productive space for collectivities and individuals to strive for social justice and equity. Such a focus is necessarily attentive to multiple forms of inequality and domination and is best understood by engaging historically specific analyses of state formations.     

Theories of State Formation and Civilisation in Johann P. Arnason and Shmuel Eisenstadt's Comparative Sociologies of Japan

Abstract

Johann Arnason and Shmuel Eisenstadt's social theories have remarkably different origins. Yet each has moved onto common ground with the other over a period of time. They meet in historical sociology in dialogue over theories of state formation and images of civilisation. Each is engaged in a project of revising civilisations sociology that reaches an apex with the comparative study of Japan. Their groundbreaking contributions can be read critically against a wider background of debates about postcolonialism, the reputation of the notion of civilisation and the state of area studies in the humanities and social sciences.     

School Disorder and Student Achievement

Abstract

The study develops a school safety and student achievement model, incorporating the concepts of student background, school structure, school culture, school disorder, and student academic achievement, and fits it to 613 elementary schools in New York City, using Structural Equations Modeling technique. The model fits the data well based on both Chi-square test statistic and goodness of fit indexes. The model accounts for 71% of school variance in student achievement. The study confirms that student background is associated with student behavior and student learning. School disorder affects student achievement negatively directly and indirectly mediated by student attendance. The study suggests that policy initiative could be implemented to improve school climate, therefore reduce school disorder and improve student achievement.     

农村劳动力流动对农村现代化的影响--近20年来社会学相关研究的回顾

20世纪80年代中期至90年代中期,社会学对农村的研究主要集中在农村劳动力外流现象、乡镇企业发展等方面,近十年加强了对农村劳动力流动及其对农村社会结构、经济结构和农户家庭、农民个人影响的研究,并强调了对农村现代化的研究.随着改革开放的稳步发展,社会学更加重视这一课题的研究.     

司法行为及其选择的文化注释——以转型司法中的中国法官为例

转型司法中的中国法官,其司法行为不仅会受当下中国特定的社会--文化情境的影响,而且还更多地要受到一种"清官文化"的因素制约;也即在公共的法律生活中,其任何司法行为的做出,除了回应特定的社会--文化情境系统的要求之外,也更反映出了法官对自身名誉的特别爱惜以及对社会评价的特别注意,同时也是为了尽可能好地完成司法任务并尽可能少的给自己惹麻烦.正是在"清官文化"这一文化容器中,不仅社会--文化的情境性因素作用到了法官的身上,而且,也正是在这一文化的信仰网络里,达致了纠纷中的民众以及其他社会力量对于法官角色期待的均衡.     

社会学语境的农村建设

任何社会发展都是社会结构分化和社会适应能力不断提高的过程。农村、农业、农民作为一个复杂的社会系统，其发展不仅包括农民物质生活水平的提高，而且包括农民道德文化水平的提升。科学发展观是“以人为本”的发展观，是全面、协调、可持续的发展观，运用科学发展观对新农村建设进行系统分析是十分必要的。     

法律的自治与开放——当代美国法社会学方法论变革导论

研究当代美国法社会学的方法论变革有助于揭示其知识增量,并可能为中国法社会学提供理论资源。方法论是指对方法的研究或理论分析,即把方法组织成一个体系并予以理论说明。由于一个学科的所有理论和方法论都围绕该学科的核心问题而组织,并通过继承与批判传统而逐步演进,因此方法论研究应揭示主导变化的核心线索和变化所蕴含的学术意义。法社会学的核心问题是法律与社会的关系。法社会学以社会学视角破除法学的法律自治观念,证明法律领域的开放性。当代美国法社会学通过方法论变革批判了"法律与社会"的模式,使法律与社会的关系以及法律的自治与开放获得新的解释。     

凯尔逊的“纯粹法”理论研究

本文主要是介绍和评述凯尔逊的“纯粹法”理论。首先,作者解释了“纯”的含义,以及凯尔逊提出“纯粹法”理论的目的。其次,对凯尔逊关于法律的概念、法律规范的形式结构、法律规则的体系等重要思想进行了介绍。再次,对凯尔逊思想中的公理化的倾向进行了分析,总结了凯尔逊的命令性规范的逻辑的思想。最后,对凯尔逊的思想进行了简短的评述。