Children's rights in a risk society: the case of schooling in Japan

The purpose of this paper is to examine the ongoing discourse on children's rights and related attitudes towards individualisation and risk in contemporary Japan's education system. The paper is also interested in how this discourse is translated into concrete change. The concepts of ‘children's rights’ and ‘risk society’ both have their origins in Western conceptions of the relationship between the individual and society, and the place of children and young people in that society. This paper explores the way that these concepts have been transformed by their adoption into domestic Japanese discourse on education reform. After a discussion of how the classical liberal concepts of positive and negative human rights can be applied to the specific case of children's rights, the discussion moves on to show how this debate has developed in Japan since the 1980s. Then the paradigm of the ‘Risk Society’ is introduced and the concepts of ‘positive risks’ and ‘negative risks’ are explored, first with reference to schooling in Western countries and then in relation to Japan. Finally, the relationship between risk, rights and neoliberalism is discussed, and it is shown how Western notions of individualisation have met strong resistance from various actors on both sides of the political spectrum. In the case of the Japanese education system, the shift of responsibility from state bureaucracies to individuals and private-sector organisations that is predicted by Risk Society theory has only partially taken place.     

‘No one speaks for us’: security policy,suspected communities and the problem of voice

This article examines some of the detrimental consequences of post-9/11 counterterrorism and security policies on Muslim minority groups in the United Kingdom. Drawing on empirical data from a qualitative study conducted in the north-west of England involving young British Pakistanis, it is argued that both political discourses and specific security policies have unjustly targeted Muslims and fuelled a wider public climate of suspicion and hostility. Three focal issues raised by participants in the study are prioritised. First, we discuss the process of collective attribution through which Muslims are generically treated as a suspect community. Second, a series of experiential ‘safety gaps’ – resulting in part from the pre-emptive turn in counterterrorism regulation – are considered. Third, critical ‘speech gaps’, which have important ramifications for future policy-making, are elucidated.     

Drug use and pretrial misconduct in New York city

Is recent drug use significantly associated with pretrial misconduct? Does consideration of recent drug use enhance risk classification among a sample of persons who have time free pending the disposition of their cases? Using data on arrestees in Manhattan, this paper examines these issues and some related questions. To measure recent drug use, urine samples were collected from persons shortly after their arrest and tested for four drugs: heroin, cocaine, PCP, and methadone. Two measures of pretrial misconduct are considered: whether a defendant fails to appear for a scheduled court date (FTA) and whether a defendant is rearrested prior to case disposition. Censored probit models are used to estimate the statistical association between drug test results and pretrial misconduct. Results show that drug test results are significantly associated with pretrial misconduct over and above the information typically available to judges at the time release decisions are made. Some implications of these findings for pretrial decision making are discussed.     

加入WTO对我国金融业的影响及应采取的对策

外资金融机构进入中国市场,有利于加速发展我国金融服务业,提高其整体素质和水平,以尽快适应市场经济的客观要求。但外资金融机构的进入,也使金融风险增加,金融市场的竞争更加激烈,高级金融人才流失现象更加突出。为此,我国金融业必须加快金融体制改革,增强中资银行的竞争力;加速完善我国金融立法体系和金融监管体系,防范金融风险;利用“保障条款”和“例外条款”,保障民族金融业;加快金融机构人事制度改革,强化人才资源管理。     

高校贫困生成因与援助方式选择

在高等教育大众化的进程中 ,关注弱势群体接受高等教育的权利和机会 ,事关高等教育的公平与社会的稳定。分析我国高等学校贫困生问题形成的主要原因 ,并制定相应的援助方式具有重要现实意义。     

Stage model for female criminals: business school students’ perceptions of white-collar offenders

We know that half of the population in Norway is female, and we know that females represent 6% of the white-collar crime prison population. In the stage model overview, we derive percentages from the literature into the gender model to explain stepwise reduction from 50% to 6%. In our empirical research, we asked two groups of business school students to come up with their own estimates for the stages in the model for female criminals. While estimates from executive students resulted in 3% women in prison, bachelor students’ estimates resulted in 10% women in prison. The most obvious discrepancy between the research literature and our two survey groups is related to relative convictions. Based on the literature, we suggested that female defendants receive more serious convictions because they may perceive and feel more guilt for a crime, for example in terms of regret, shame and depression. Thus women may have a tendency to confess more easily. Both executive students and bachelor students disagree with this estimate of 140%, as they suggest 62% and 69% respectively. One reason for their suggestion of less serious convictions for female white-collar criminals – sometimes labelled pink-collar criminals – might be that family situation and other elements are taken into account before a verdict is passed on a woman. Another substantial discrepancy is related to detection risk. The literature suggests a low detection risk for women, but may be not as low as we estimated at 30%. Both executive and bachelor students believe that the gender difference in detection likelihood is not that formidable, as they suggest 75% and 65% respectively.     

空间美学的理论生成与合法性建构

美学作为一门系统研究主体“感性之学”的学科形态,其获得自身的场域伦理和知识体系是一项重要的现代性事件,从维柯的“诗性思维”理论到鲍姆嘉通对美学学科的界定,都体现出主体感性能力对美学合法性存在价值的承担。与此同时,主体对“空间”的诗性审美能力是先验存在的,并成为主体感性能力的重要组成部分。所以,美学、感性和空间三者便相互融合,生发出崭新的“空间美学”话语。在前现代时期,主体对空间审美的朴素认知构成空间美学的理论萌芽;现代美学的“感性革命”清晰地凸显出主体与空间之间的诗性伦理,比如海德格尔的“空间栖居”和梅洛 庞蒂的“视知觉空间”便进一步延展空间美学的理论脉络;现代文学的空间审美实践和话语流变再次推动空间美学的场域自律,并最终形成既关注主体生存,又充满文化批判的现代美学形态。空间美学将持续给未来美学的发展提供有益的知识学资源和价值承担。