Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Differential Parental Investment, Jose C. Yong, Norman P. Li

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Differences in minimum obligatory parental investment contributed by men and women lead the sexes to diverge in their sexual strategies and affective experiences, although under certain conditions, men’s mating preferences converge with women’s. This chapter first describes necessary or obligatory parental investment, examines the origins of sex differences in obligatory parental investment, describes examples of such differences across a range of species, and highlights the consequences of these differences in terms of human sexual strategies, conflicts, and affective experiences.

Violation Of Long-Term Mate Preferences, M. L. W. Long, Norman P. Li

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Violations of short-term mate preferences refer to instances in which a person in a short-term, casual sexual relationship has mate preferences that were in place when the relationship commenced but subsequently are not being met.

The History Problem: The Politics Of War Commemoration In East Asia, Hiro Saito

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Seventy years have passed since the end of the Asia-Pacific War, yet Japan remains embroiled in controversy with its neighbors over the war’s commemoration. Among the many points of contention between Japan, China, and South Korea are interpretations of the Tokyo War Crimes Trial, apologies and compensation for foreign victims of Japanese aggression, prime ministerial visits to the Yasukuni Shrine, and the war’s portrayal in textbooks. Collectively, these controversies have come to be called the “history problem.” But why has the problem become so intractable? Can it ever be resolved, and if so, how? To answer these questions, the author …

The Cultural Pragmatics Of Political Apology, Hiro Saito

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

In recent decades, research on ‘political apology’, wherein the state apologizes to victims of its past wrongs, has multiplied, as redress movements based on human rights have proliferated around the world. Since most of this research has been conducted by political philosophers, however, analyses of political apologies tend to adopt formal and normative perspectives. To propose an alternative, empirically-grounded approach, in this paper, I develop the ‘cultural pragmatics’ of political apology. To this end, I first conceptualize political apology as a social performance aimed to ‘re-fuse’ an impaired relationship between the perpetrator state and the victim individual. This conceptual move …

Providing Rural Public Services Through Land Commodification: Policy Innovations And Rural-Urban Integration In Chengdu, Qian Forrest Zhang, Jianling Wu

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Zhang and Wu offer a detailed account of the innovative local policies in Chengdu, China, where a national land-use policy that has created widespread problems in other trial areas has been turned into a positive, transformative force in rural reconstruction. There are three key innovations in this so-called ‘Chengdu model’: First, leveraging on the most important resource in rural area, land, and through the commodification of land development rights, creating a financial source that can fund rural public services provision; second, transforming traditional rural residential patterns and concentrating the rural population in newly built residential communities; and, finally, using both …

’A Beautiful Bridge’: Chinese Indonesian Associations, Social Capital And Strategic Identification In A New Era Of China Indonesia Relations, Charlotte Setijadi

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

In Indonesia, Chinese voluntary associations took on a new level of importance after the fall of Suharto’s New Order regime in 1998 that ushered in a revival of Chinese identity politics. At the same time, Sino-Indonesian relations are blossoming, and the rise of China as a global power means that Indonesia can only benefit from stronger ties with China in the future. In this new atmosphere of cooperation, I argue that Chinese Indonesian individuals and voluntary organizations play a crucial function as trade and cultural intermediaries. Drawing on both empirical and qualitative fieldwork data, in this paper, I examine how …

Inventing The ‘Authentic’ Self: American Television And Chinese Audiences In Global Beijing, Yang Gao

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This article examines the ways educated urban Chinese youths engage American television fiction as part of their identity work. Drawing on theories of modern reflexive identity, and based on 29 interviews with US TV fans among university students in Beijing, I found these youths are drawn to this television primarily because they perceive the American way of life portrayed on it as more ‘authentic’. This perception of authenticity must be examined within the socio-cultural milieu these students inhabit. Specifically, torn between China’s ingrained collectivist culture and its recent neoliberal emphasis on the individual self, my respondents glean from US TV …

Validating A Measure Of Beliefs In Health Prevention Screenings Among Old Adults In China, H. Xu, Paulin Tay Straughan, W. Pan, Z. Zhen, B. Wu

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

We aimed to examine the psychometric properties of a modified 16-item Attitudinal Index (AI), a measure of health beliefs in health prevention screenings among Chinese older adults. We used the 2013 Shanghai Longitudinal Survey of Elderly Life and Opinion data including 3418 respondents aged 60 and above. We examined the validity and reliability of the modified AI. Psychometric evaluation of the modified AI revealed good response patterns. The overall scale had good reliability (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.835) with four distinct dimensions: barriers, fatalism, unnecessary, and detects (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.815 to 0.908). Confirmatory factor analysis of the modified AI’s factor …

Cultural Variability In The Link Between Environmental Concern And Support For Environmental Action, Kimin Eom, Heejung S. Kim, David K. Sherman, Keiko Ishii

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Research on sustainability behaviors has been based on the assumption that increasing personal concerns about the environment will increase proenvironmental action. We tested whether this assumption is more applicable to individualistic cultures than to collectivistic cultures. In Study 1, we compared 47 countries (N = 57,268) and found that they varied considerably in the degree to which environmental concern predicted support for proenvironmental action. National-level individualism explained the between-nation variability above and beyond the effects of other cultural values and independently of person-level individualism. In Study 2, we compared individualistic and collectivistic nations (United States vs. Japan; N = 251) …

Mimicking Religion As Coping Strategy: The Emergence Of The Bell-Curve God In Singapore, Lily Kong

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The importance placed on education and, relatedly, examinations, in many Asian societies is well known. The means adopted to cope with the stresses that come along with such intensity are myriad. It is in such contexts that the emergence of a “Bell Curve God” in Singapore must be understood.

Chinese Christians For Trump, Justin Kh Tse

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

No abstract provided.

A Review Of Knowledge Ltd: Towards A Social Logic Of The Derivative, Hiro Saito

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

California program for paid family leave.They find that higher-wage employees aremore likely to gain such benefits and to usethem, while low-wage workers are less likelyto have them available or know about themand are less likely to use them, because theprogram does not pay enough or providejob protection.

Human-Scale Economics: Economic Growth And Poverty Reduction In Northeastern Thailand, Joel D. Moore, John A. Donaldson

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Under what conditions does economic growth benefit the poor? One way to answer this question is to identify and compare positive and negative outlier areas, those that experience greater and lesser poverty reduction, respectively, compared to what was anticipated given their levels of economic growth. The more similar these areas, the more leverage there is to unearth the factors that allow the poor to benefit from growth. In this paper, we employ an inductive approach to glean possible pathways out of poverty from two highly similar underdeveloped neighboring provinces in northeastern Thailand. Using extensive fieldwork and interviews, we explore factors …

How Agribusiness Can Win In Partnership With Small Farms, John A. Donaldson

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Can large-scale agribusiness reduce costs and obtain less-expensive food while also reducing poverty and inequality by engaging small-scale farmers? Many conclude that such an attractive outcome is unimaginable, but innovative pilot projects hold promise that such a reality is within reach and replicable.

Addressing The Implementation Gap: An Integrated Approach To Identifying Barriers And Facilitators To Flexi Work Arrangements In Singapore, Paulin Tay Straughan, Mindy E Tadai

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This article addresses the implementation gap in the provision of work—life policies in Singapore. While both employers and government in principle endorse the ideology of flexibility in the work place, this has not yet translated into widely adopted policies. This study examines barriers and facilitators to part-time work, and highlights organisational and managerial factors contributing to the implementation gap. It is imperative in ageing societies with declining fertility rates that flexibility be mainstreamed to encourage optimum labour force participation. For both married women with childcare responsibilities and older adults, flexiwork is central to their continued economic participation. In particular, part-time …

Sex Similarities Versus Gender Symmetry, Jose C. Yong, Norman P. Li

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Men and women have similar and different mate preferences, which include preferences for type of relationship duration as well as the types of traits that are sought out within each mating duration. This entry covers some of the key similarities and differences in preferences for both mating context and partner traits within context.

Gangs, Clubs, And Alcohol: The Effect Of Organizational Membership On Adolescent Drinking Behavior, Chan S. Suh, Matthew E. Brashears, Michael Genkin

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

How does adolescent organizational membership in general, and simultaneous membership in distinct types of organizations in particular, impact drinking behavior? While past studies have focused either on the learning effect of involvement with gangs or on the constraining influence of conventional organizations on adolescent problem behavior, we explore the possibility that conventional school clubs can serve as socializing opportunities for existing gang members to engage in drinking behavior with non-gang club members. Using the Add Health data, we show that gang members drink more often, and engage in more binge drinking, than non-members. More importantly, individuals who are members of …

Toward Integrated Historical Climate Research: The Example Of Atmospheric Circulation Reconstructions Over The Earth, Rob Allan, Georgina Endfield, Vinita Damodaran, George Adamson, Matthew Hannafold, Fiona Carroll, Neil Macdonald, Nick Groom, Julie Jones, Fiona Williamson, Erica Hendy, Paul Holper, J. Pablo Arroyo-Mora, Lorna Hughes, Robert Bickers, Ana-Maria Bliuc

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Climate change has become a key environmental narrative of the 21st century. However, emphasis on the science of climate change has overshadowed studies focusing on human interpretations of climate history, of adaptation and resilience, and of explorations of the institutions and cultural coping strategies that may have helped people adapt to climate changes in the past. Moreover, although the idea of climate change has been subject to considerable scrutiny by the physical sciences, recent climate scholarship has highlighted the need for a re‐examination of the cultural and spatial dimensions of climate, with contributions from the humanities and social sciences. Establishing …

Pathologies Of Development Practice: Higher Order Obstacles To Governance Reform In The Pakistani Electrical Power Sector, Ijlal Naqvi

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Development actors are regularly aware of the shortcomings of governance interventions before, during, and after development assistance is introduced, yet those programmes continue and are even revisited. Why? This paper uses the Pakistani experience with power sector reforms to illustrate how the donor-led reform agenda had readily apparent shortcomings. A new wave of development thinking responds to such failures by drawing on complexity theory and moving toward more local, iterative and experimental approaches. However, by highlighting how the awareness of problems with reforms isn't sufficient to avoid them, this paper points to a higher order of obstacles which remain unaddressed.

Find Your Own Meaning In Life, David Chan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

‘Mortality saliency’ happens when a lovedone, friend or someone we know is suddenlystruck down by illness, and we start realisingafresh that life is fragile and want to live a lifeof meaning. A psychology professorsuggests how.

Religious Aspirations Among Urban Christians In Contemporary Indonesia, Chang Yau Hoon

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Recognizing that the Christians in Indonesia are not a homogeneous group, this article examines the various contested spiritual, social, and political aspirations of urban Christians in the contexts of the historical trajectory of Indonesian modernity, forces of globalization and urbanization, the role of capital, and the development of Islam - the indispensable religious 'Other' to this minority religion in contemporary Indonesia. It sheds light on the ways in which this minority exercises agency in using political participation and social activism as a counterbalance to the growing Islamization of Indonesia, and how they strategically utilize their extensive economic, social, and political …

Understanding The Failure Of China’S Specialized Cooperatives In China, Zhanping Hu, Qian Forrest Zhang, John A. Donaldson

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

At first blush, contemporary China seems ripe for the rapid development of agricultural cooperatives. After all, cooperatives have not only enjoyed a long history in China, but the country’s recent experience with agricultural communes should make it more amenable to the reestablishment of joint production and spontaneous bottom-up cooperation. Agricultural cooperatives in China date to the 1930s, as Rural Reconstruction Movement advocates promoted cooperatives as a “third road” between capitalism and socialism. Although Mao’s regime disbanded most bottom-up cooperatives, rural cooperatives began to reemerge in rural China by the end of the 20th century, particularly after 1998, when farmer cooperatives …

Package Blaunet, Chen Wang, Michael Genkin, George Berry, Liyuan Chen, Matthew Brashears

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

[Wang Cheng and Michael Genkin contributed equally to this work and their names are randomly ordered]

An integrated set of tools to calculate and analyze Blau statuses quantifying social distance between individuals belonging to organizations. Blaunet works by considering individuals placed in an abstract social space, defined by various user-provided variables. Organizations recruit from an area (or “niche”) in social space. Blaunet analyzes where organizations recruit from, the positions users occupy in this competitive environment, and substantial features of the connections between individuals.

Mapping Chineseness On The Landscape Of Christian Churches In Indonesia, Chang Yau Hoon

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Scholarship on the Chinese Indonesian community has largely been concerned with the tensions between the community and the majority non-Chinese (or pribumi). The fault lines were usually examined against the background of Suharto’s assimilation policy, the 1998 anti-Chinese riots, the stark imbalance of the nation’s wealth within this minority group, and Chinese loyalty – or chauvinism – in the time of nation-building, and in the face of the rise of modern China. Little attention has been given to Christianity as offering a shelter for the inconspicuous propagation of Chineseness; particularly in terms of the conduct of services in Chinese, the …

Structured Interviews Examining The Burden, Coping, Self-Efficacy, And Quality Of Life Among Family Caregivers Of Persons With Dementia In Singapore, Peter Kay Chai Tay, Chuen Chai Dennis Seow, Chunxiang Xiao, Hui Min Julian Lee, Helen Chiu, Sally Wai-Chi Chan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Dementia is a global health issue and the effects on caregivers are substantial. The study aimed to examine the associations of burden, coping, self-efficacy with quality of life among family caregivers of persons with dementia in Singapore. Structured interviews were conducted in a convenience sample of 84 family caregivers caring and seeking clinical care for the persons with dementia in an outpatient clinic of a public hospital in Singapore. The outcome measures included the Family Burden Interview Schedule, Family Crisis Oriented Personal Evaluation Scale, General Perceived Self-Efficacy Scale, and World Health Organization Quality of Life Scale – Brief Version. In …

It’S About The Depth Of Your Data, Annette Lareau, Aliya Hamid Rao

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

A key strength ofin-depth interviews and ethnography is obtaining textured insights into socialphenomenon. Yet, many qualitative researchers try to invoke the reliability ofquantitative methods by shrouding themselves in numbers as a way to legitimizetheir work. They offer up the number of interviews, the number of hours, weeks,and years spent in the field and they propose bigger and bigger samples. Evenas qualitative researchers assert that they have carried out in-depthqualitative research, they often revert to the language of quantitativeresearch to justify the legitimacy of the work. The nod to numbers is a way ofclaiming trustworthiness and, importantly, scientific expertise, which isusually …

Caring For Thai Older Persons With Long-Term Care Needs, John Knodel, Bussarawan Teerawichitchainan, Wiraporn Pothisiri

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Thailand is experiencing more acute population aging than most developing Asian countries. Its population aged 60 and older is anticipated to grow from 10% in 2000 to 38% by 2050. Meanwhile, the oldest-old population that is most likely to require long-term care (LTC) is estimated to increase tenfold during the first half of the 21st century. Family has remained a linchpin of support for Thai elders with LTC needs. Given population aging and other demographic trends such as smaller family size, migration of adult children, and lengthening survival at older ages, policy makers are concerned how such socio-demographic changes may …

Long-Term Care Needs In The Context Of Poverty And Population Aging: The Case Of Older Persons In Myanmar, Bussarawan Puk Teerawichitchainan, John Knodel

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Myanmar is one of the poorest and least healthy countries in Southeast Asia. Nevertheless, population aging is taking place. Myanmar's policy makers have only begun to pay attention to the implications of population aging for its economy and society, including the health system. There is virtually no official policy or program in place to provide long-term care (LTC) for older persons. Family has thus been the mainstay of financial and instrumental support for elderly with LTC needs. Myanmar's demographic transitions likely challenge the current form of family caregiving for frail older persons, especially in the coming decades. This study aims …

Fiction As Reality: Chinese Youths Watching American Television, Yang Gao

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

American television fiction is gaining traction among educated urban Chinese youths. Drawing on 29 interviews with fans among college students in Beijing, this article examines a shared perception among these youths that American television is ‘‘real.’’ This perceived realism, which is essential to their viewing pleasure, has two sources: American programming’s textual quality and the Chinese context in which it is consumed. First, US television appeals to Chinese youths because they perceive its topical content and complex characterization as true to life. This perception can be explained by the higher transnational cultural capital of these youths, which renders US programming …

The Realpolitik Of Nuclear Risk: When Political Expediency Trumps Technical Democracy, Hiro Saito, Sang-Hyoun Pahk

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

In recent years, a growing number of researchers in science and technology studies have begun to examine the relationship between science and politics. Specifically, they focus on citizen participation in highly technical policy problems and explore the possibility of a technical democracy that avoids pitfalls of technocracy. This focus, however, downplays a possibly more serious obstacle to technical democracy than technocracy, namely, realpolitik. Based on ethnographic and textual data on citizen–government interactions in the aftermath of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Disaster, we first show how citizens mobilised radiation detectors and counter-experts to force the Japanese government to admit scientific uncertainty …