The communitarian revolutionary subject: new forms of social transformation

Abstract

The hope for a unique revolutionary actor in the twentieth century evaporated as a result of the weaknesses of social organisations. This paper examines the potential of an almost-forgotten group of revolutionary actors – collectively organised and deliberately involved in processes of social and productive transformation with a legitimate claim to territory – whose present-day activities involve them in concerted processes to consolidate a different constellation of societies on the margins of the global capitalist system. Indigenous and peasant communities throughout the Americas are self-consciously restructuring their organisations and governance structures, taking control of territories they claimed for generations. They are also reorganising production to generate surplus, assembling their members to take advantage of underutilised resources and peoples’ energies for improving their ability to raise living standards and assure environmental conservation and restoration. These communities are not operating in isolation. They coordinate activities, share information and build alliances. Hundreds of millions of people are participating in this growing movement; they occupy much more than one-quarter of the world’s land area. There is great potential for others to join them, expanding from the substantial areas where they are already operational. Global social networks are ensuring that this dynamic accelerates.     

‘A Sick,Weak, and Ignorant People’: Public Health Education and Prevention in Rural Colombia, 1930–1940

This article analyses Salud y Sanidad (Health and Sanitation), a government journal edited in 1930s Colombia. It examines the state's model of public health, which proposed education and prevention as strategies to guarantee the success of its programmes. It argues that despite the journal's more progressive approaches, editors and contributors reproduced stereotypes about Colombia's rural inhabitants that contradicted state rhetoric and showed the limits of public health models that do not address the underlying social inequities that drive the propagation of poverty and disease in rural areas, and that ultimately continued to blame victims for their illness and misfortune     

Dealigned or Still Salient? Religious-Secular Divisions in Chilean Presidential Elections

With countries like Chile facing secularisation, some research predicts religious-secular cleavages will ‘dealign’, while other research suggests these cleavages will persist so long as religious-secular divisions are reflected among presidential candidates. Using surveys of first-round voting intentions in the five most recent presidential elections in Chile, the analysis shows that religious-secular divisions in voting appear when candidates are divided clearly along religious-secular lines (and not when divisions among candidates are blurred). These findings suggest researchers need to account for the impact candidates' positions have on the appearance of religious-secular divisions before declaring that dealignment has occurred.     

恐怖主义活动中的社交媒体应用分析--以“伊斯兰国”为例

当前社交媒体的应用与普及掀起了恐怖主义活动的新浪潮,有着交互性、社区化特征的社交媒体在招募人员、传播极端思想及策划恐怖袭击方面有着天然优势。以"伊斯兰国"运用社交媒体进行恐怖活动为例,该文探讨了社交媒体的特性、在恐怖组织中扮演的角色以及我国公安机关在社交媒体时代下恐怖主义蔓延采取的应对策略,以期更好地应对反恐新难题。     

双向汲取:社区社会组织的行动路径分析

社会组织是推动国家治理体系和治理能力现代化的重要力量。聚焦社会组织行动策略研究,能够更好地揭示外部制度环境制约下的社会组织参与基层社会治理的微观运行机制。运用"制度环境-行动策略-行动目标-行动任务"的分析框架,着重探讨社会组织与基层政府、社区居委会、社区居民之间的复杂互动关系,剖析复杂制度环境下社会组织行为策略选择及其多元化行动路径。S市G组织的个案研究表明,G组织通过"双向汲取"的行动策略能够实现社会组织行政性目标与社会性目标的双重目标达成。由于G组织接受任务的不同行动目标来源以及不同任务之间的相关性程度差异,使得G组织"双向汲取"行动策略呈现出复杂制度结构约束下的多元化行动路径。     

Irony Practice: Reconstructing Structural Social Work: Enlightenment from Neoclassical Sociology

Structural social work has been expanding its influence while experiencing marginalized crises since 1970s: with the expansion of neo-conservatism, the structural perspective is incompatible with the liberal-based system at the political level. In recent years, the “critical reflection practice” established through the reunification of the socialist tradition of social work has become increasingly prosperous, but it has not been possible to answer the question of legitimacy in its own theory. The purpose of this paper is to reflect the crisis of the traditional sociology by analyzing the crisis of western sociology, and to try to reconstruct the critical social science by talking with Iván Szelényi and others to sort out the concept of “irony” as a methodology and the mission of contemporary intellectuals. Under the inspiration of relevance of classical sociology and social work, this paper provides insights to the reconstruction of social work.     

The Weakness of Strong (and Weak) Ties: Obtaining a Government Job

ABSTRACT

Between merit principles and social contacts, how they facilitate individuals to obtain a government job in the United States remains unsettled. Based on a survey administered via Amazon Mturk, this study finds that merit-based selection constitutes the most significant means to obtain public jobs, particularly so in state and local governments despite of sizeable respondents claiming other venues. The use of social contacts, including both strong and weak ties, shows little advantage on obtaining public employment but proves significant in private organizations. Controlling individuals’ previous job obtaining experience, the study contends that variations on job obtaining methods can be reasonably attributable to institutional distinctiveness that features different rules, procedures and regulations. Merit principles are kept alive in governments, though challenges persist, particularly so in federal government. The study ends up with a discussion of research findings and their implications in HR practices.     

依法保障我国社会组织参与社会管理的权力

目前,我国社会组织在社会管理中发挥的作用越来越突出,但是行政化色彩严重、公众信任度不高、监督管理不到位等因素仍然制约着其健康发展。党的十八届四中全会提出"依法治国"的重大决定,而社会组织作为多元社会管理力量中的一股重要力量,也应该依法保障其参与社会管理的权力,探索其发展的法制化路径,比如:进一步简政放权、依法监管、适度问责及法律体系的完善等等,只有依法构建良好的制度环境,才能推动社会组织健康发展,从真正意义上实现依法治国。     

Performing the ‘India Permitida’: The Counter-Gift of Indigenous Women Targeted by a Corporate Social Responsibility Programme (Chile)

Relying on ethnographic data, this article critically analyses the pro-mining position adopted in Chile's Atacama Region by a group of Diaguita women who benefited from a corporate social responsibility (CSR) programme to revive indigenous culture. While the desire to escape from poverty (salir adelante, moving forward) appears as the main reason for participating, the benefits generated a sense of indebtedness resulting in allegiance to the company. The investigation also shows how this programme played a part in building a scenario in which indigenous females perform subjects apparently more suited than men to the neoliberal and multiculturalist governmentality of the Chilean State, whose politics favours mining.     

非婚生育社会抚养费征收范围之界定

实践中对于非婚生育是否应当征收社会抚养费存在争议,而争议的背后是社会伦理道德、规范解读和理论适用等多方面因素共同作用的结果。非婚生育社会抚养费在行政收费原理下应围绕国家主体以概括量化的数字形式确定范围,避免婚姻状态对费用征收范围界定产生的影响。同时,在规范视角下,法律规定的“国家提倡一对夫妻生育两个子女”属于强制性义务,但不宜解读为禁止非婚生育行为。婚生与非婚生育本质上同属于生育行为,在同一体系内应当保证费用征收的同一性。因此,必须基于理论和规范的分析,方可界定非婚生育社会抚养费征收范围。