Social Class: Perception and Reality

Middle class is a social construct and a moniker so central to the identity politics of the United States that it has become a persistent part of the rhetoric of both major political parties. This article seeks to understand how the way in which people categorize themselves in social class matches the observable characteristics that might be used to objectively classify them into such groups. This article examines survey data from a national poll and finds that a majority of the respondents consider themselves members of the middle class. While those in the lowest and highest income categories are less likely to categorize themselves as middle class (controlling for other factors), many in these groups also consider themselves middle class.     

Explaining United States–China relations: neoclassical realism and the nexus of threat–interest perceptions

How to understand and explain the evolutions as well as predict the future directions of bilateral relations between the United States and China has become an imperative task for both policy makers and academic scholars. Borrowing insights from neoclassical realism, this paper suggests a three-stage, perceptual model of ‘threat–interest’ to explore the dynamics of Sino–US relations from 1949 to 2015. It argues that the nature of US–China relations, either cooperation or competition, is mainly shaped by the perceptions of leaders regarding security threats and economic interests between the two nations. How to manage their perceptions regarding each other and how to find a balance between cooperation and competition are the key issues for leaders in both the United States and China to manage bilateral relations in the future. The next decade or two may be the best or the worst times for US–China relations.     

环境正义、风险感知与邻避冲突的协商治理路径分析——基于国内垃圾焚烧发电项目的案例思考

公众反对在其居住地附近兴建具有负外部性设施的邻避抗议行为,是各国工业化、城市化进程中面临的普遍问题,垃圾焚烧发电项目是国内易发生邻避冲突的典型。选址合理性是政府与公众争论的焦点,项目施工前的行政审批阶段是发生邻避冲突的敏感节点,公众的冲突行为具有情绪化、暴力化和长期性特点,而地方政府治理能力的强弱影响邻避设施选址建设的结果。“政府—设施企业—公众”协商治理是规避冲突的有效路径,要践行信息公开、全过程协商参与、多元化补偿、全方位监管的治理策略。     

Wang Xinggong’s Aesthetics——A Science Orienting at Art Research

Asa pioneer, Wang Xionggong stands out among modern Chinese aesthetics schools, due to his adherence to science-dominated aesthetics, in contrast with Liang Qichao, Cai Yuanpei and Wang Guowei who are devoted to humanistic aesthetics, and Zhu Guangqian and Zong Baihua who combine humanism and science. Regrettably, researches into Wang’s aesthetic theory are far from deep. Wang advocates thataesthetics is an art-research science, and beauty is strictly defined as senses and feelings. So his aesthetics is a scientific research of aesthetic perception. By analyzing his attachment to objective materials such as masculinity, inclusiveness, expanse, multitude, mobility, orderliness and connectedness, he is proven to belong to the school of blending and balancing the objective and the subjective, accepting the ‘external objects’ as prerequisite for aesthetic materials, and insisting on the subjective processing and its results, equating art to beautyfinally. Wang’s aesthetics is confined to empiricism despite his mentioning of aesthetic perception ascending to rational realm. Thus, he is characterized by highlighting logic and science while neglecting the metaphysics within spiritual science.     

从正当到合法：作为司法裁判依据的群众感觉

司法作为整个社会系统的一部分，其独立具有相对性，同时，司法过程也非完全封闭，具有开放性。在此语境下，群众感觉由于其自身的合理性使得其作为司法裁判依据有了正当性基础并且符合现实需求。关键在于如何转化，使其披上“合法性”外衣。基于现代司法的基本要求，通过立法和司法实现程序性转化是两种可能的选择。     

墨子法哲学体系发微

先秦思想研究迄今未曾揭示墨子学术中法哲学体系。讨论显示，墨子法哲学体系基础是其知识论，其工巧表现在逻辑形式上的数学分析。定义系统是其审案功能的保障。     

Cognitive limitations and affirmative action: The effects of aggregate versus sequential data in the perception of discrimination

The present experiment examined whether or not relatively simple cognitive and information-processing limitations may prevent us from recognizing instances of organizational discrimination. It was hypothesized that the perception of discrimination would be more difficult when the relevant information had been presented in a case-by-case basis rather than in aggregate format. The obtained results provided strong support for the original hypothesis. Subjects who had been presented with company data in aggregate format provided significantly higher ratings of discrimination than those subjects for whom the information had been presented in sequential form. The implications of these findings to the policy of affirmative action are also discussed.     

Punishing without rewards? A comprehensive examination of the asymmetry in economic voting

It has been controversial whether incumbents are punished more for a bad economy than they are rewarded for a good economy due to mixed results from previous studies on one or handful number of countries. This paper makes an empirical contribution to this lingering question by conducting extensive tests on whether this asymmetry hypothesis is a cross-nationally generalizable phenomenon using all currently available modules of the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems survey from 122 elections in 42 representative democracies between 1996 and 2016, as well as macro-economic indicators and individual-level economic perception. In general, this paper finds little support for the asymmetry hypothesis; although the evidence of such asymmetric economic voting is found in some subpopulations using certain economic indicators, these conditional effects are largely inconsistent, suggesting that it is still safe to assume a linear relationship between economic conditions and support for the incumbent.     

议题性质、威胁认知、共同利益与“可合作安全”

通过合作促进安全的理念越来越成为国际社会的共识。但是，在当前的国际安全合作中，普遍存在“多愿望，少行动”的现象。由于安全概念的泛化，国际社会几乎在所有安全问题上都表达出希望通过合作的方式来解决问题的意愿。但实际上，很多安全问题不可合作。“可合作安全”的概念是基于议题性质、威胁认知和共同利益的一种预设的状态。对议题性质的认定是安全合作的前提条件。如果安全合作对象在议题性质的认定方面观点不一致，那么安全合作不可实现；反之，安全合作是可能实现的。在安全合作对象关于议题性质观点一致的基础上，安全合作主要受威胁认知和共同利益两个因素的影响。如果安全合作的对象彼此威胁认知越小，且在应对安全威胁方面的共同利益越多，那么安全合作越可能实现；如果安全合作对象彼此威胁认知越大，且在应对安全威胁方面的共同利益越少，那么安全合作越难实现、甚至不可合作。“可合作安全”在应对安全威胁的实践中，可以为有关部门在什么问题上合作、与谁合作等提供思路，使国际安全合作更具针对性和目的性。