Ambivalence About Equality in the United States or, Did Tocqueville Get it Wrong and Why Does that Matter?

Alexis de Tocqueville believed that “democratic peoples’... passion for equality is ardent, insatiable, eternal, and invincible.” This article examines whether and under what conditions residents of the United States demonstrate such a commitment to equality. I show that at many points in history, Americans have indeed chosen to move toward greater justice and less oppression; however, there are clear limits to their passion for equality. White Americans endorse less social, political, and economic equality than do African Americans, but even the latter often resist equality for groups that they perceive to be threats, or for behaviors that threaten strong social or moral norms. The article discusses implications for political activists of these patterns of support for and resistance to greater equality, and suggests strategies for overcoming oppression and promoting justice.     

专家、利益集团与公共参与

公共参与制度在行政决策中方兴未艾,而专家咨询机制也愈显重要。在公共参与背景下,公众与专家的角色定位及功能作用亟需反思。纷繁复杂的公共参与理论基础直接影响到专家咨询制度的定位、功能与运行。美国专家咨询制度的经验和教训,为完善我国专家咨询制度提供了借鉴。法治化、型式化、竞争化、公开化是完善我国专家咨询制度的应有取向。     

公民健康权利与义务立法研究——兼评《基本医疗卫生与健康促进法(草案)》第2章

综观世界各国的立法实践,公民健康权利与义务大致呈现出单独式、专章或专节式、分散式三种立法模式。在立法内容上各国更为侧重确立和保护公民健康权利,对公民健康义务的规定则相对粗疏简略,除医疗服务获得权、知情同意权、隐私权与尊重医务人员及他人的义务、支付医疗费用的义务等部分权利、义务类型没有较大争议之外,各国均保有较大的差异性。我国应当系统整理现有医疗卫生立法及其他相关法律文件,将公民健康权利与义务协调规定在未来的民法典和"基本医疗卫生与健康促进法"之中,同时借鉴国外的先进经验,增设投诉权、病历查阅权和复制权以及爱惜健康、支付医疗费用、遵守医疗机构规章制度等权利与义务,并对儿童等特殊群体提供特别保护。     

Gang Membership,Gun Carrying,and Employment: Applying Routine Activities Theory to Explain Violent Victimization Among Inner City,Minority Youth Living in Extreme Poverty∗

Conceptual inconsistencies in routine activities theory are illustrated by demonstrating how gang membership, gun carrying, and employment can be categorized as both risk and protective factors in a high‐poverty context. Two waves of longitudinal data from a high‐poverty sample of African American youth were used to examine the determinants of victimization risk. Bivariate analyses indicated that gang membership, gun carrying, and employment status are significant risk factors for violent victimization, but these effects were mediated by measures of lifestyles (e.g., demographic and family factors, deviant lifestyles) included as controls in the full multivariate model. In other words, the strong positive relationship between gang membership and gun carrying found in previous studies may be due to model misspecification and/or the lack of research on high‐poverty samples of inner city youth from the Deep South. Additional logistic regression analyses also indicate that the number of hours employed per week (but not employment status) is a risk factor for violent victimization. Finally, the theoretical implications of these findings for routine activities theory are discussed.     

Gang Membership,Drug Selling,and Violence in Neighborhood Context

A prominent perspective in the gang literature suggests that gang member involvement in drug selling does not necessarily increase violent behavior. In addition it is unclear from previous research whether neighborhood disadvantage strengthens that relationship. We address these issues by testing hypotheses regarding the confluence of neighborhood disadvantage, gang membership, drug selling, and violent behavior. A three‐level hierarchical model is estimated from the first five waves of the 1997 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, matched with block‐group characteristics from the 2000 U.S. Census. Results indicate that (1) gang members who sell drugs are significantly more violent than gang members that don’t sell drugs and drug sellers that don’t belong to gangs; (2) drug sellers that don’t belong to gangs and gang members who don’t sell drugs engage in comparable levels of violence; and (3) an increase in neighborhood disadvantaged intensifies the effect of gang membership on violence, especially among gang members that sell drugs.     

Everyday Construction of Identity in the Estonian Refugee Community in Sweden

Social constructionist approaches underscore that identity is constantly negotiated. It emerges as values and attitudes are promoted and confronted in everyday actions, behavioral patterns and fleeting comments by participants in social events. This article analyzes membership categorization and pragmatic code-switching in the Swedish Estonian refugee community, demonstrating the fragile balance between ‘Estonian’ and ‘Swedish’. The speakers orient to Estonian Estonian as the target variety of language, while frequently using Swedish for sense-making. The analysis is based on audio and video recordings of Swedish Estonian club activities and research interviews.     

群体性事件预警指标体系研究

在社会系统稳定因素及社会评价指标体系分析的基础上,构建群体性事件的预警指标体系,并通过建立指标权重模型,运用管理学定性、定量等研究方法,完善群体性事件预警机制。     

应对突发性群体事件的政府治理创新

积极预防和妥善处置人民内部矛盾引发的突发性群体事件,维护群众利益和社会稳定是社会转型期政府治理的必然要求。各级政府作为治理突发性群体事件的主体,首先必须树立现代治理理念,通过搭建制度沟通平台和建立预警评估体系,防止突发性群体事件的爆发,并以社会自组织为中介尽量减少突发性群体事件,最终建立高效完整的治理模式,提高社会管理和公共服务水平。     

广东省群体性事件多发的态势与防范对策

广东省群体性事件的高发是广东省处于社会转型时期的必然产物。社会发展的断裂、利益表达机制的缺乏、群体利益冲突的增加是群体性事件多发的根本原因。建立健全社会保障机制、利益表达机制、社会危机应对机制、全面的社会治安防控机制是解决群体性事件的有效措施。     

论群体性事件预防与治安基层基础建设

当前,我国正处于经济转轨的社会转型时期。在这样的背景下,一些社会矛盾经特定诱因激活,就可能引发群体性事件。政府应在群体性事件爆发之前做好矛盾的发现与化解、诱因的消除工作。公安机关要有效地预防群体性事件,就必须夯实基层基础,做好人员、经费、装备、信息和工作预案等五方面工作。