Consuming the Pastoral Desire: Li Ziqi as Oriental Foodie and the Structure of Feeling in the Era of Microcelebrity

This article studies how the new cultural form of food vlogging intervenes the perennial debate on tradition and modernity by focusing on the case of Li Ziqi, whose cinematic videos celebrating bucolic life won her popularity in China and overseas. A study of the production and reception of Li’s videos not only shows urbanites’ nostalgia for a pastoral way of life, but also reveals the role played by the more structural forces, i.e., the market and the state, in appropriating and managing the desire for and consumption of the pastoral for the construction of “modern identities” – both individually as a consumer and collectively as a nation. The market forces, including the ideology of consumerism, its attendant aesthetics as well as the entire regime of social media marketing, were present throughout Li’s celebrification. Meanwhile, the state got involved after Li’s rise to fame, when it became aware of her value for domestic and international publicity. If the market promotes a narrative that caters to the “aesthetical turn” in everyday life in late modernity, the state’s validation and appropriation of Li evinces “cultural nationalism” that departs from political nationalism and is more commensurate with consumerism. However, the Chinese state also tries to transcend the market discourse whose egalitarian form conceals substantive inequality, by positioning itself as an integrative force that bridges urban-rural gap. In creating Li Ziqi as a social media phenomenon, the market uses the rural as a resource to meet the urban desire for authenticity, while the Chinese state re-appropriates the icon of marketized media in its “rural rejuvenation” design to help the disadvantaged rural “other” regain its agency.

What labour market? A critical STEM supply shortage investigation: Lithuanian case

Aim. The main objective of this investigation is to explore perceived lack of Lithuanian STEM labour force supply. It is often believed that education systems are the bottleneck of economic growth and that by increasing the supply of STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) graduates we will get more and better payed jobs. But a growing body of evidence suggests that in many STEM fields there is an adequate supply or even oversupply of STEM majors. Still, technologically advanced capitalist countries advocate for more STEM workforce regardless of an overcrowded market. Echoing foreign neoliberal trends, Lithuanian education policy makers are on the same STEM shortage hype-train, and reforms are full steam ahead. Methods. To explore perceived lack of Lithuanian STEM labour force supply an assessment of STEM graduates’ (n=3720) occupational destinations one year after graduation and average salaries in those professions was conducted employing a descriptive statistical analysis. Results. Findings show that there is no general shortage of STEM labour supply; the majority (54% n=2023) of all recent STEM degree holders in Lithuania do not work in STEM jobs. The majority of graduates usually do not reach national average income one year after graduation. Conclusions. Persuasion of students to study STEM degrees based on better labour market outcomes is misleading and possibly unethical. The principal theoretical implication of this paper is the acknowledgment that low STEM graduate employment does not necessarily signify a failing education system. Rather, this is an opportunity to look beyond human capital and labour market discourse which, arguably, prevents STEM education to realize its revolutionary potential.

Von der „Humanisierung des Arbeitslebens“ zur „Guten Erwerbsbiografie“ – und darüber hinaus? Konturen einer Integrierten Sozialen Lebenslaufpolitik

Zusammenfassung Der Beitrag arbeitet eine konzeptionelle und politisch-normative Entwicklungslinie im deutschen Arbeitsmarktdiskurs heraus, die sich von den Humanisierungsprogrammen der 1970er Jahre bis hin zu aktuellen Diskursen um die Zukunft der Erwerbsarbeit zieht und in dessen Verlauf sich schrittweise das Programm einer integrierten sozialen Lebenslaufpolitik entfaltet. Diese Entwicklung wird anhand von insgesamt vier idealtypischen konzeptionellen Entwicklungsstufen rekonstruiert: „Humanisierung der Arbeit“, „Gute Arbeit“, „Gute Erwerbsbiografie“ und „Integrierte Soziale Lebenslaufpolitik“. Das Recht auf „biografische Selbstbestimmung“ und die Ermöglichung von Lebenszeitsouveränität, so die These, bilden den normativen Bezugspunkt einer zeitgemäßen Humanisierungspolitik, die der zunehmenden Pluralität der Lebensstile und Lebensentwürfe und den gestiegenen Selbstbestimmungsansprüchen der Beschäftigten gerecht wird. Abstract: From the “Humanization of Work” towards “Good Employment Biographies” – and beyond? Outlines of an Integrated Life Course Policy The article elaborates a conceptual and political-normative line of development in the German labor market discourse, which ranges from the humanization programs of the 1970s to current discourses about the future of paid work and in the course of which the program of an integrated social life course policy gradually unfolds. This development is reconstructed on the basis of four ideal-typical conceptual stages of development: “Humanization of Work”, “Good Work”, “Good Occupational Biography” and “Integrated Social Life Course Policy”. According to the thesis, the right to “biographical self-determination” and the possibility of life-time sovereignty form the normative point of reference for a modern humanization policy, which does justice to the increasing plurality of lifestyles and life plans as well as to the increased self-determination claims of the employees.

BENCHMARKING: ESTIMATING EFFICIENCY AND ENSURING DEVELOPMENT TOOL OF NATIONAL HIGH EDUCATION SYSTEMS

Establishing efficient system of high education at present circumstances is the most important state task, because of this solution depends not only economic and social welfare of society, but the national competitiveness of the country. Nevertheless today is still the open question what is should be understood as effectiveness of universities and the national system of high education in general. Current approach of estimating university efficiency is based on indicators ratings on national and international levels, which have market discourse, estimate individual achievements of certain universities, and is the reason to refuse the concept of social state and social oriented market which were prevalent in XX century. In this article is proposed to make the transition from estimating the efficiency of certain universities and to review the efficiency of the national high education system in general, based on benchmarking — intercountry suppositions, mutual education and support processes of developing, related to assessment the best managing methods of whole university groups of the particular country.

Burglary Insurance and the Culture of Fear

Terrifying images of burglars carrying knives and guns, scrambling through windows, or standing silent and masked beside householders’ beds, characterized the marketing strategy of the burglary insurance sector, which sprung into existence during the 1880s. Chapter 5 shows how, by exacerbating homeowners’ fears of the presence of the burglar within the home, and the prevalence of burglary nationally, insurers merged individual and national concerns about the crime in a calculated bid to attract custom. It analyses fear-mongering insurance adverts, with their promise to act as a bastion of security against financial loss, alongside instances when victims of burglary attempted to make a claim. Caveats dealing with the need to prove that burglars had indeed ‘broken’ in were contingent on homeowners fitting sophisticated, branded locks and latches at points of vulnerability on windows and doors. Just as this made securing financial compensation more challenging, it also instilled the idea of burglars’ expertise and professionalism should they conquer these defences. As the self-styled commercial ‘protection’ against burglary, burglary insurance became an ordinary household investment. Its prosperity therefore enables us to identify those ideas about crime and criminal that held currency in the minds of consumers. Crucially, this chapter highlights the intersection of media, state, and market discourse about crime in weaving a specific version of burglary into the very fabric of everyday life, uniting three domains that historians of crime have traditionally treated separately.

The Role of Trade Associations in Market Discourse and Cognition

This dialog examines the role that trade associations play in influencing the cognitive interpretations that develop within markets. It identifies how trade associations can enable cognition by providing a space for discourse as well as influence its outcome by playing an active role in the unfolding discourse. Taking account of trade associations within can broaden our understanding of how and why cognitive interpretations form within markets.