A Long‐term Study of the Association between the Relative Poverty Rate and Suicide Rate in Japan

The annual number of suicides in Japan totaled around 23,000 in 1997 and abruptly increased to around 31,000 in 1998. This figure has remained high since then. This abrupt increase in the number of suicides was primarily due to an increase in suicides occasioned by economic concerns. The association between various economic factors and suicide must be studied in detail and over the long term in order to ascertain the association between economic concerns and suicide. This study examined the relative poverty rate and the suicide rate in Japan over 30 years and discussed the association between those two rates. The results suggest that the relative poverty rate may be associated with the suicide rate for both sexes. This association is true for men in particular. The organizations and professionals involved in implementing suicide prevention measures should be cognizant of the current findings and consider formulating additional specific measures.     

Much Ado about nothing? A multilevel analysis of the relationship between voluntary associations' characteristics and their members' generalized trust

The last 20 years of research on the micro-level relationship between involvement in voluntary associations and generalized trust has been characterized by a growing theory–data gap. This gap is especially problematic in terms of including diversity across voluntary associations in empirical analyses. This article aims to bridge this gap by using a hierarchically clustered data set (active members nested in voluntary associations) and multilevel analyses to test several hypotheses drawn from prior studies about the relationship between voluntary associations' characteristics and members' level of generalized trust. Overall, the results indicate that in explaining the variability in individual generalized trust levels, differences among the associations in which individuals are involved could contribute marginally at best. Almost all variance (97.6%) in individual level of generalized trust lies between the individuals and not between the associations. Furthermore, the analyses show no correlations for most tested associational characteristics. As for membership diversity, the most pronounced result runs opposite to expectation—thus providing some support for a membership similarity hypothesis rather than for a diversity hypothesis. The article raises the question whether the search for associational differences that might explain the lack of a general relationship between membership in voluntary associations and individual level of generalized trust is in fact a dead end.     

社会中间层与第三部门的经济法学辨析

社会中间层和第三部门都是社会学领域的概念。在这两个概念中提出的同一社会背景下 ,经济法范畴内的调整对象也发生了一定的变化。目前 ,经济法学者也注意到一类新兴的主体可能给原有的经济法律关系带来变革 ,但是由于在借用社会学研究成果时认识的不同 ,存在概念使用上的混乱和模糊。本文提出“协会”自治团体的概念 ,试图从经济法主体的角度明确这类主体的内涵与外延。     

工会角色定位法律问题探讨--兼评我国现行工会法

我国工会法对工会的本质属性已作了概括,但是现代企业三权中对劳权的漠视、劳资关系的恶化构成了修改《工会法》的现实动因.工会法的修改过程是人们对市场经济下劳动关系及劳动者权益保护的思索过程.工会在政府、企业面前处于弱势地位,而工会角色的市场化转变要求强化其法律地位,完善其职能,使工会真正成为职工的维权者.