Public perception of energy security in Lithuania: between material interest and energy independence

The issue of the energy security in social sciences research area is mostly prevalent in political sciences. The sociological research of the issues of energy is rather scarce. The reasons of the lack of concern about sociology of energy security could be related to the specific geopolitical context of post-Soviet states. The energy policy of new democratic post-Soviet states are pressed to reconstruct the entire energy system of former Soviet Union. This is not only technological or political, but maybe, first of all, social issue directly related to the consumption of users of gas and electricity and their prices. The societies and different social groups become an important social actors in the stressful energy policy. There is a lack of attention not only to social determinants of perception of energy security but also a lack of deeper analysis of public opinion in Lithuania. This article aims to improve our understanding of the Lithuanian public perception of energy security. This article focuses on two aspects: (a) An analysis of public opinion on the most important aspects of energy security and the social factors influencing them. The hypothesis is that public perception of energy security is related to value orientations. (b) An analysis of how public opinion on energy policy executed by the government and confidence in the government are intertwined with the concept of energy security.     

Romanians’ current perception of threat from immigrants in a context of co-ethnic migration: assessing the role of intergroup conflict and active/passive contact

This paper investigates the predictors of natives’ perception of the immigrant threat in Romania, an interesting site given immigrants’ marginal presence in the total population and the sizeable proportion of co-ethnic immigrants. Yet the interplay between nationalism and religion shapes an ideological frame that favours unwelcoming attitudes towards immigrants that challenge the Romanian identity forged along ethnic and religious ties. The authors used regression to analyse immigrant threat according to several dimensions: cosmopolitanism, group conflict and intergroup contact. In order to reflect specificities of this particular context, the latter dimension is conceptualized so as to include active and passive contact with immigrants. This distinction is relevant because of immigrants’ low presence in Romania. Findings suggest that variables from conflict theory explain more of the variation in the perceived threat, while indirect contact through mass-media exposure to immigrant content has the potential to reduce the perception of immigrant threat.     

MODELING THE EFFECTS OF RACIAL THREAT ON PUNITIVE AND RESTORATIVE SCHOOL DISCIPLINE PRACTICES*

It is clear that schools are mirroring the criminal justice system by becoming harsher toward student misbehavior despite decreases in delinquency. Moreover, Black students consistently are disciplined more frequently and more severely than others for the same behaviors, much in the same way that Black criminals are subjected to harsher criminal punishments than other offenders. Research has found that the racial composition of schools is partially responsible for harsher school discipline just as the racial composition of areas has been associated with punitive criminal justice measures. Yet, no research has explored comprehensively the dynamics involved in how racial threat and other factors influence discipline policies that ultimately punish Black students disproportionately. In this study (N = 294 public schools), structural equation models assess how school racial composition affects school disciplinary policies in light of other influences on discipline and gauge how other possible predictors of school disciplinary policies relate to racial composition of schools, to various school disciplinary policies, and to one another. Findings indicate that schools responding to student misbehavior with one type of discipline tend to use other types of responses as well and that many factors predict the type of disciplinary response used by schools. However, disadvantaged, urban schools with a greater Black, poor, and Hispanic student population are more likely to respond to misbehavior in a punitive manner and less likely to respond in a restorative manner.     

Understanding the Relationship Between Relative Group Size and Hate Crime Rates: Linking Methods with Concepts

Abstract

In recent studies, Hipp et al. caution that the selection of the appropriate denominator in computing the rate of intra- and inter-group interactions is consequential for key findings. The present study builds on this work and examines whether adjusting for the structural opportunities for any type of interaction affects the observed relationship between hate crime rates and minority group size. We go beyond prior research by computing distinctive measures of anti-Black hate crime rates across US counties circa 2000. Our findings offer support for the power-differential hypothesis, revealing a negative effect of minority population size on crime motivated by bias. These results also underline the importance of the procedure developed by Hipp et al., showing that that the selection of the “baseline” for the computation of hate crime rates is critical for understanding the relationship between minority group size and crime motivated by bias.     

与宿敌为友：国家间和解的政治经济学

和解是国家间关系中一种典型的、然而在过去很长一段时间里没有得到足够重视的国家间互动形式。与和平不同,和解是发生在那些有严重历史恩怨的“宿敌”或“世仇”国家之间,它不单单是物质层面上的冲突解决,更涉及民族心理和精神创伤的愈合,是一个从冷和平走向暖和平、从不稳定和平走向稳固和平的长期过程。目前,学术界既有的关于国家间和解的研究描述多于诠释、案例多于理论,存在着忽视和解的阶段性特征、割裂政治与经济的关联性逻辑等缺陷。国家间和解的发生本质上是一种政治行为,它或是等级制作用的结果,或是在面临较为强烈的安全关切下,国家在维护国内政治合法性与国家安全之间作出的一种平衡。国家间和解的巩固与深化本质是一个将和平制度化的过程,它涉及三个密不可分、又相互递进的机制：从承认(对历史事实的再确认)到补偿(对非正义的弥补和纠正),再到融合(多层次的社会融合与交流机制),是在内力与外力、政治与经济等多重复杂因素互动作用下的结果。国家间和解的实现会带来广泛而又深远的影响,能够显著地改变国家内部的政治经济生态,又能够获得超越双边关系的意义,不仅有助于推动国家与地区和平的深化,而且也是推动地区经济一体化的重要力量。     

西北边境地区面临的恐怖威胁及对策研究

中国西北边境地区面临着＂东突＂恐怖势力、极端个人和团体恐怖犯罪、国际恐怖势力及邪教恐怖势力等严重威胁。公安边防部门作为边境地区一支重要的反恐力量,在现实的边境反恐斗争中存在着反恐立法不够完善、工作认识不足、缺乏针对性训练、情报保障能力弱、配合协作机制不完善等薄弱环节。应加强反恐理论学习和宣传教育,加强反恐信息和机动力量建设,加强边防管理和反恐立法等,以有效防范和打击恐怖活动,保卫边境安全、维护社会稳定。     

RECONSIDERING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PERCEIVED NEIGHBORHOOD RACIAL COMPOSITION AND WHITES’ PERCEPTIONS OF VICTIMIZATION RISK: DO RACIAL STEREOTYPES MATTER?*

Recent theoretical extensions of threat theory have posited that Whites frequently view Blacks as a criminal threat because of stereotypes linking race and crime. Several studies have found indirect support for this hypothesis and have shown that the percentage of neighborhood residents who are Black is positively associated with the perceptions of victimization risk and fear of crime by White residents. To date, however, little research has investigated whether, as theory would suggest, this relationship is either a consequence of or is contingent on Whites holding stereotypes of Blacks as criminals. In this article, we address this issue by examining whether racial typification of crime mediates or moderates the relationships between static and dynamic measures of neighborhood racial composition and the perceptions of victimization risk by Whites. The results offer mixed support for the threat hypothesis and show that racial typification of crime conditions the relationship between perceived changes in neighborhood racial composition and the perceptions of victimization risk by Whites, but neither explains nor influences the association between static measures of racial composition and the latter. The implications of the findings for threat theory and research are discussed.     

RACIAL–ETHNIC THREAT,OUT‐GROUP INTOLERANCE,AND SUPPORT FOR PUNISHING CRIMINALS: A CROSS‐NATIONAL STUDY*

Scholars often have used the group threat thesis to explain why punitiveness varies across places. This research regularly has found that punitiveness is harsher in places with a larger minority population. Yet researchers only have had a rudimentary grasp of why this is the case. Moreover, most prior research has focused only on the United States, giving us little knowledge of whether the group threat thesis is a viable explanation of cross‐national differences in punitiveness. In the current study, we postulate that the relative size of the out‐group population affects punitiveness indirectly, via its impact on individual intolerance toward ethnic out‐groups. We test this thesis cross‐nationally with data from individuals residing in 27 European countries. Our findings are consistent with the argument that greater racial/ethnic diversity at the country level affects individuals’ attitudes toward minority out‐groups, which in turn increases their support for severely punishing criminal offenders.     

UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS AS PERCEIVED CRIMINAL THREAT: A TEST OF THE MINORITY THREAT PERSPECTIVE*

The link between immigration and crime has garnered considerable attention from researchers. Although the weight of evidence suggests that immigration is not linked to crime, the public consistently views immigrants, especially undocumented immigrants, as criminal and thus a threat to social order. However, little attention has been paid to why they are perceived this way. By drawing on the minority threat perspective, this article investigates the effects of objective and perceptual measures of community context on perceived criminal threat from undocumented immigrants. Analyses of data collected from four Southwest states and the U.S. Census show that the perceived size of the undocumented immigrant population, more so than the actual size of the immigrant population and economic conditions, is positively associated with perceptions of undocumented immigrants as a criminal threat. Additional analyses show that objective measures of community context do not affect native respondents’ perceptions of the size of the undocumented immigrant population. The study's findings and their implications for theory, research, and policy are discussed.     

从地缘政治角度解读俄远东地区中国移民问题

随着中俄两国政治、经济、军事各方面关系的发展,俄罗斯远东地区中国移民问题越来越成为两国关系中的一个突出问题。俄地缘教训治环境恶化,经济发展状况,远东人口形势严峻,及中俄历史、文化方面的差异都是远东地区中国移民问题产生的根源。