Private Life under Socialism: Love, Intimacy, and Family Change in a Chinese Village, 1949–1999. By Yunxiang Yan. [Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2003. xvi+289 pp. Hard cover $55.00, ISBN 0-8047-3309-0; paperback $19.95, ISBN 0-8047-4456-4.]

2004 ◽  
Vol 177 ◽  
pp. 227-228
Author(s):  
Frank N. Pieke
Keyword(s):  
Social Life ◽  
Private Life ◽  
Chinese Society ◽  
Reform Period ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Independent Families ◽  
Reading Assignment ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Village ◽  
Contemporary Chinese

When Yunxiang Yan's first book, The Flow of Gifts, was published in 1996 it was immediately clear that a new leading scholar of contemporary Chinese society had entered the scene. Yan's second book Private Life under Socialism richly delivers on the promise of his first. This new book is, in fact, very much a companion volume to The Flow of Gifts. Together, they constitute a uniquely rich ethnography of the intimate details of social life as lived and experienced in the village where Yan himself spent 15 years of his life before becoming an anthropologist. Both books draw on the same strengths of the author. The first and most obvious is his unprecedented access to and intimate understanding of his former village of residence. However, what makes for truly great ethnography here is Yan's almost uncanny ability to present often quite complex and challenging arguments in a deceptively simple and understated fashion, making the book both a major contribution to scholarship and an ideal reading assignment for students.The subject matter of the book is adequately covered by the title Private Life under Socialism. Broadly speaking, the book asks how the ways Chinese villagers perceive sexuality and romance, find their partners, marry, exercise rights over family property, establish independent families and care for the aged have changed during the reform period. In this context, other crucial issues in contemporary China are discussed: the increased wealth and consumerism, the emergence of a youth culture and employment opportunities outside the village, changes in gender roles, and the impact of government policies on private life, all of which already are the subject of a rich literature. It is a therefore a testimony to Yan's skills as an anthropologist and a writer that he manages to shed fresh light on all of these topics in almost every paragraph of this book.

Governing Art Districts: State Control and Cultural Production in Contemporary China

2014 ◽  
Vol 219 ◽  
pp. 827-848 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yue Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Production ◽  
Political Ideology ◽  
Chinese Society ◽  
Chinese Government ◽  
Authoritarian State ◽  
Art Community ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Contemporary Chinese ◽  
Political Decisions

AbstractContemporary Chinese artists have long been marginalized in China as their ideas conflict with the mainstream political ideology. In Beijing, artists often live on the fringe of society in “artist villages,” where they almost always face the threat of being displaced owing to political decisions or urban renewal. However, in the past decade, the Chinese government began to foster the growth of contemporary Chinese arts and designated underground artist villages as art districts. This article explores the profound change in the political decisions about the art community. It argues that, despite the pluralization of Chinese society and the inroads of globalization, the government maintains control over the art community through a series of innovative mechanisms. These mechanisms create a globalization firewall, which facilitates the Chinese state in global image-building and simultaneously mitigates the impact of global forces on domestic governance. The article illuminates how the authoritarian state has adopted more sophisticated methods of governance in response to the challenges of a more sophisticated society.

The reform of the National Matriculation English Test and its impact on the future of English in China

English Today ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 38-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Junhai Zhao
Keyword(s):  
Social Life ◽  
English Language ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Further Education ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
Chinese Society ◽  
Chinese Government ◽  
Chain Reactions ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Impact

With more and more importance being attached to English since China's economic reform and opening up to the outside world in the late 1970s, the entire Chinese society has placed such high importance to the learning of English that at times it even plays a vital role for a person who plans to pursue further education and seek a better career (China Daily, 5 August, 2010). However, the end of 2013 saw an ‘unanticipated’ reform of policy on the National Matriculation English Test (henceforth, NMET) instituted by the Chinese Ministry of Education (henceforth, MOE). It was ‘unanticipated’ because in the past few years the Chinese government has invested heavily in English language teaching. As reported by ABC News (15 November, 2010), ‘China is pushing its people to learn English’, and English has thus occupied a prominent place in the life of the Chinese people because it is the ‘key’ to success (Chen, 2008: 16-37). According to this new policy, the once favorite ‘son’, i.e. English, may lose its predominance in the Chinese foreign language landscape and its importance may be diminished in exams. These changes are likely to cause a series of chain reactions since the dominant position of English largely lies in its weight in various levels of exams, with the NMET having the greatest impact. Given the determining factor of the NMET in Chinese people's attitudes towards English, NMET reform would almost undoubtedly change the current situation of English in China and it would be no exaggeration to say that it will have a foreseeable impact on various aspects of Chinese social life as well. In this article, I briefly review the causes for the ‘focus shift’ and attempt an analysis of the impact of the role of English in China in the future.

scholarly journals Avaliação da Percepção do Envelhecimento Vocal em Idosos

2006 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mauriceia Cassol
Keyword(s):  
Social Life ◽  
Voice Quality ◽  
Private Life ◽  
Elderly Individuals ◽  
Self Evaluation ◽  
Mild Degree ◽  
Auditory Analysis ◽  
Vocal Aging ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Voice

Resumo: Este estudo objetiva avaliar a voz de um grupo de idosos relacionando a qualidade vocal e seu grau de alteração com o impacto causado em relação à vida particular, profissional e social, através das avaliações perceptivo-auditiva e da utilização de uma escala de auto-avaliação vocal. Fizeram parte deste estudo 19 indivíduos idosos do gênero masculino e gênero feminino na faixa etária de 60 a 80 anos, alunos da Universidade do Adulto Maior do Centro Universitário Metodista IPA. Para a análise perceptivo-auditiva foi realizada a gravação digital da voz através da emissão da vogal /a/ sustentada e da contagem de números de um a 20. Na realização da auto-avaliação da psicodinâmica vocal os indivíduos foram instruídos à marcar numa escala de zero a dez o impacto da sua voz em relação à vida particular, profissional e social, sendo considerado o impacto vocal de zero a três ruim, de quatro a sete bom e de oito a dez ótimo. Na avaliação perceptivo-auditiva da qualidade vocal houve predomínio do tipo de voz rouca-soprosa de grau leve, sendo um dos principais marcadores do envelhecimento da voz ou presbifonia. Na escala de auto- avaliação vocal em relação a vida particular os indivíduos avaliaram sua voz com ótimo e bom impacto, na vida profissional consideraram que costumava causar impacto ótimo e na vida social impacto bom. Pode-se concluir que todos os indivíduos possuem uma auto- imagem vocal positiva, apesar de apresentarem uma qualidade vocal alterada decorrente do processo de envelhecimento vocal. Palavras-chave: Voz. Idosos. Geriatria. Gerontologia. Abstract: This study aims to assess the voice of an elderly group relating voice quality and its alteration degree with the impact caused on professional, social and private life, through perceptive-auditory assessments and use of a voice self-evaluation scale. 19 female and male elderly individuals at ages ranging from 60 to 80 years, who were students at the IPA Adult University, participated in this study. For the perceptive-auditory analysis, a digital voice recording was performed through the emission of the sustained /a/ vowel and number counting from one to twenty. While performing the vocal psychodynamic self-evaluation, the subjects were instructed to rate from zero to ten in a scale the impact of their voices in relation to private, professional and social life, the vocal impact from zero to three being considered bad, from four to seven good, and from eight to ten optimal. In the perceptive-auditory evaluation of voice quality, there was a dominance of the hoarse, breathy voice type of mild degree, this being one of the markers of voice aging or presbyphonia. In the voice self-evalution scale in relation to private life, the subjects evaluated their voice as optimal and with good impact; regarding professional life, they considered it to cause an optimal impact; and regarding social life, a good impact. We can conclude that all subjects have a positive voice self-evaluation, despite presenting an altered voice quality stemming from the vocal aging process. Keywords: Voice. Elderly. Geriatrics. Gerontology.

scholarly journals SEMIOTIKA KOMUNIKASI DALAM TRADISI PENABENG DI DESA PAKRAMAN BATUYANG KECAMATAN SUKAWATI KABUPATEN GIANYAR

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 181
Author(s):  
I Wayan Dede Hermawan ◽  
I Gusti Ayu Ratna Pramesti Dasih ◽  
I Made Budiasa
Keyword(s):  
Interpersonal Communication ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Social Impacts ◽  
Verbal Communication ◽  
Community Life ◽  
Intrapersonal Communication ◽  
The People ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Village

<p><em> The ceremony of Penabeng Desa at Sasih Kaenem which is held every year exactly falls on Tilem sasih Kaenem day. The ceremony of Penabeng Desa at Sasih Kaenem is done by making a barrier fence in every border of Desa Pakraman Batuyang, aiming to maintain the natural balance of both the great bhuana and bhuana alit. The problems discussed in this research are (1) How is the existence of Penabeng Tradition? (2) How is communication semiotics in Penabeng Tradition? (3) How is the impact of communication semiotics in Penabeng Tradition in Pakraman Village Batuyang District Sukawati Gianyar?.</em></p><p><em>This research found among others: The existence of Penabeng tradition in Pakraman Batuyang Village, held every morning every year precisely Tilem Sasih kaenem, all the people of Desa Pakraman Batuyang make a guardrail fence in every border of Pakraman Village Batuyang. The means used include pandandui, sungga, centipedes, and turushidup. Semiotics Communication in the tradition of Penabeng in the village of Pakraman Batuyang there are some namely, the process of intrapersonal communication, the process of interpersonal communication and non-verbal communication on the procession of the tradition of Penabengdi Desa Pakraman Batuyang. Impact contained from Communication Semiotics in Penabeng tradition in Pakraman Village Batuyang namely:</em><em> </em><em>Religious Impact affects people's beliefs and culprits, Social impacts affect society's social life and Conservation Impact Culture affect the existence and development of community life.</em><strong></strong></p>

Women’s Peasant Protest in Siberia in the First Half of 1930: The Phenomenon of a Radical Response to the Policy of Violent Etatization

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 457-475
Author(s):  
Evgeniya Ignatyeva ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Social Action ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Agricultural Sector ◽  
Soviet Society ◽  
Peasant Society ◽  
Participation Of Women ◽  
Archival Documents ◽  
Peasant Protest ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Village

The paper deals with the problem of the phenomenon of women’s protest during the process of “total collectivization” of the agricultural sector. The author investigates the phenomenon as social action within the framework of the structural-functional approach (M. Weber, R. Merton), which allows to eliminate ideological cliches and analyze women’s protest not as an affective social action (“Bab’i bunt” - women’s revolt), but as a complex social action in which the role of goal setting can be dominant. This approach makes it possible to establish the main characteristics of women's protest, its effect, and impact on the culture of peasant protest. It provides an opportunity to consider the processes of interaction between “authority – society” in the extraordinary conditions of “the Great socialist transformation”. Main sources are archival documents of the OGPU authorized representative in the Siberian region (krai); minor sources include archival documents of local party committees and Soviet organisations and also regional press. The author analyzes protest actions recorded by the OGPU officers with the participation of women in the first half of the 1930s, identifying the main characteristics of women’s protest, its forms, causes and motives, as well as the impact on peasant society and state policy. The author also reveals that this social action in the absence of a legal opportunity to influence the agrarian/peasant policy of the party was quite an adequate means to achieve certain goals of the protesters. “Bab’i bunt” was a marker of the extreme social life of early Soviet society during the “Great Break”, which demonstrated the radicalization of relations between the peasant society and authorities during a violent etatization of the village. The conclusion is that the women’s protest, as part of the general peasant protest at the first stage of “complete collectivization”, forced the authorities to adjust their policies and even seek some compromises.

Danzas Chuscas: Performing Migration in a Zapotec Community

2008 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 3-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adriana Cruz-Manjarrez
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Los Angeles ◽  
Inner City ◽  
Social Disorganization ◽  
Social Economic ◽  
The United States ◽  
Social Instability ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Village

Danzas chuscas are parodic dances performed in indigenous and mestizo villages throughout Mexico. In the village of Yalálag, a Zapotec indigenous village in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico, danzas chuscas are performed during religious celebrations, a time when many Yalaltecos (people from Yalálag) who have immigrated to Los Angeles return to visit their families. Since the late 1980s, these immigrants have become the subject of the dances. Yalaltecos humorously represent those who have adopted “American” behaviors or those who have remitted negative values and behaviors from inner-city neighborhoods of Los Angeles to Yalálag. Danzas chuscas such as “Los Mojados” (“The Wetbacks”), “Los Cocineros” (“The Cooks”), and “Los Cholos” (“Los Angeles Gangsters”) comically portray the roles that Yalaltec immigrants have come to play in the United States. Danzas chuscas such as “Los Norteños” (“The Northerners”), “Los Turistas” (“The Tourists”), and “El Regreso de los Mojados” (“The Return of the Wetbacks”) characterize Yalaltec immigrants as outsiders and visitors. And the choreography in dances like “Los Yalaltecos” (“The Residents of Yalálag”) and “Las Minifaldas” (“The Miniskirts”) reflect changes in these immigrants' social status, gender behaviors, and class position. In other words, these dances embody the impact of migration on social, economic, and cultural levels. Through physical humor immigrants and nonimmigrants confront the tensions and uncertainties stemming from Zapotec migration into the United States: community social disorganization, social instability, and changes in the meaning of group identity as it relates to gender, class, ethnicity, and culture.

scholarly journals The Impact of Critical Incidents and Workload on Functioning in the Private Life of Police Officers: Does Weakened Mental Health Act as a Mediator?

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
A H M (Heilwine) Bakker ◽  
M J P M (Marc) Van Veldhoven ◽  
A W K (Anthony) Gaillard ◽  
M (Margot) Feenstra
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Critical Incidents ◽  
Private Life ◽  
Mediation Effect ◽  
Life Tasks ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
The Impact

Abstract This study examined the disintegrating effects of critical incidents (Cri) and workload (WL) on the mental health status (MHS) and private life tasks of 166 police officers. In addition, it investigated whether diminished MHS mediated the impact of Cri and WL on private life tasks. This mediation effect was based on the work–home resources model of Brummelhuis and Bakker (2012). The respondents were police officers functioning in the front line, experiencing Cri and working in urban areas. We investigated the effects on the following five private life tasks: ‘social life, maintaining mental health, household and finance, giving meaning, and maintaining positivity’. The results showed that Cri only had a negative effect on ‘maintaining positivity’. Respondents reporting more Cri had a lower MHS, which in turn had a direct effect on the functioning in all private life tasks except ‘social life’. When mediated by MHS, Cri were associated with less effective functioning in all private life tasks except for ‘social life’. Thus, the effects of Cri on functioning in private life tasks (except social life) were larger for respondents with a low MHS. The largest effects were found for ‘maintaining mental health (MMH) and maintaining positivity’. In the WL model, no significant indirect effects were found on life tasks.

scholarly journals Insights and Inspiration from Explorative Research into the Impacts of a Community Arts Project

2021 ◽  
pp. 205-227
Author(s):  
Gwenda Van der Vaart
Keyword(s):  
Personal Growth ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Organizational Capacity ◽  
Community Arts ◽  
Knowledge Community ◽  
The Arts ◽  
Art Form ◽  
Theatre Company ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Village

AbstractIn today’s society, the resilience of communities is in the spotlight. How can communities shape and respond to the challenges they face in order to achieve a better future? For researchers focusing on this question, researching artistic practices can provide valuable insights and inspiration. From a resilience perspective that seeks to incorporate people’s everyday lifeworld and local knowledge, community arts in particular hold much potential, being an art form that actively engages people in the creative process. Evidencing the impact of community arts projects has become more important over the years. However, as this chapter discusses, there are several tensions and concerns around evaluating the impact of the arts. The chapter takes as its empirical focus one such project in particular: the multi-year theatre-trilogy Grutte Pier, which took place in the Dutch village Kimswerd between 2014 and 2018. In this village, the site-specific theatre company PeerGrouP worked together with the inhabitants to create a trilogy around the village’s historical figure Grutte Pier. The chapter reflects on an explorative research project into the impact of this community arts project on the village. Hereby, it contributes to the understanding of how meaningful change can be achieved in communities, preparing them for a more sustainable future. The reflections on the explorative research support the need to adopt a critical perspective with regard to assessing the value of artistic practices. The experiences in Kimswerd show that community arts projects can be an evocative way of engaging a community and can result in a variety of effects. The chapter discusses both personal effects, relating to personal growth, people’s social life and feelings of pride, as well as effects at the village level, such as the creation and strengthening of bonds between the inhabitants. Effects are expected to go a long way and be a great boost for a community’s organizational capacity and future activities. In light of these findings, it appears to be a successful formula to have artists coming to a community as ‘outsiders’, actively engaging inhabitants in a large community arts project that is both locally grounded and offers the inhabitants various ways of participating themselves.

scholarly journals Economic Reforms and Inter-Regional Disparities

2008 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 276-285
Author(s):  
Sandip P. Solanki
Keyword(s):  
Economic Performance ◽  
Economic Reforms ◽  
Public Debate ◽  
Regional Disparities ◽  
Reform Period ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Inter State ◽  
Academic Study

The impact of India’s economic reforms on economic performance has been the subject of much academic study and public debate in India, but the focus has been largely on the performance of the economy as a whole or of individual sectors. The performance of individual states in the post-reforms period has not received comparable attention and yet there are very good reasons why such an analysis should be of special interest.  The study focuses on the issue of inter-state disparities of the 14 major states in the post-reform period beginning from the 1991-92 to 1998-99 and further from 2000-01 to 2005-06.

The Gender of Communication: Changing Expectations of Mothers and Daughters in Urban China

2010 ◽  
Vol 204 ◽  
pp. 980-1000 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harriet Evans
Keyword(s):  
Urban China ◽  
Chinese Society ◽  
Emotional Communication ◽  
Domestic Sphere ◽  
Individual Subject ◽  
Mothers And Daughters ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The One ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Contemporary Chinese

AbstractIn the flow of the material, cultural and moral influences shaping contemporary Chinese society, individual desires for emotional communication are reconstituting the meaning of the subject, self and responsibility. This article draws on fieldwork conducted in Beijing between 2000 and 2004 to discuss the gendered dimensions of this process through an analysis of the implications of the “communicative intimacy” sought by mothers and daughters in their mutual relationship. What could be termed a “feminization of intimacy” is the effect of two distinct but linked processes: on the one hand, a market-supported naturalization of women's roles, and on the other, the changing subjective articulation of women's needs, desires and expectations of family and personal relationships. I argue that across these two processes, the celebration of a communicative intimacy does not signify the emergence of more equal family or gender relationships, as recent theories about the individualization and cultural democratization of daily life in Western societies have argued. As families and kin groups, communities and neighbourhoods are physically, spatially and socially broken up, and as gender differences in employment and income increase, media and “expert” encouragement to mothers to become the all-round confidantes, educators and moral guides of their children affirms women's responsibilities in the domestic sphere. Expectations of mother–daughter communication reshape the meaning – and experience – of the individual subject in the changing character of the urban family at the same time as they reinforce ideas about women's gendered attributes and the responsibilities associated with them.

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