Insights from a Qualitative Study of Rural Communes: Physical and Social Dimensions of Place

Existing research on people–place dynamics often focuses on either physical environment or social dimensions, but many theoretical models posit that both factors are important. I argue that rural communes provide unique settings to explore both social and environmental aspects of place. Based on qualitative interview data with members of two communes, I address emotional connection to the land, changing social relationships over time, and the interplay of physical and social aspects of place. Results demonstrate how the connections to land and social ties are both prevalent. However, social interaction has decreased while commitment to sharing and protecting the physical environment has endured.     

The Politics of Difference: Examining the Quantitative/Qualitative Dualism in Post-Structuralist Feminist Research*

The potential for using quantitative techniques in feminist post-structuralist research has been obscured by the pervasiveness of the quantitative/qualitative dualism within the discipline. In this paper I discuss the possibility that quantitative approaches may be uncoupled from masculinist versions of science in ways that are consistent with the goals of feminist post-structuralist research. To illustrate these ideas, I explore the politics of counting—both the political power of statistical representations of oppression and also the role of counting in revealing the operation of power relations. My examinations of the persistence of the quantitative/qualitative dualism—despite the potential power of quantitative approaches in feminist work—raise questions about how our academic biographies reinforce these ontological divisions. Specifically, I raise questions about the influence of our academic socialization on our engagement with the particular ontologies we employ and (perhaps) reject.     

Communication,Partnerships, and the Role of Social Science: Conservation Delivery in a Brave New World

Abstract

The Saginaw Bay Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) in Michigan is an innovative conservation effort organized to address water quality impairments involving a unique collaboration between conservation organizations, agronomists, universities, commodity groups, and agribusinesses. We track the evolution and adaptation of the Saginaw Bay RCPP, and the collaboration among the traditional and nontraditional conservation partners. Our reflections are organized around three key lessons: vertical and horizontal communication challenges; contextual and structural constraints; barriers that remain between private and public sector entities for this and alternative conservation-delivery models. Lessons from this evaluation will inform the design of future collaborative/multi-stakeholder watershed management efforts. We also demonstrate that rather than being used as an ad-hoc approach, social science evaluation was integrated into conservation planning and practice, hence increasing the salience and legitimacy of the conservation social science in collaborative watershed management.     

社会资本视角下历史文化名镇保护困境研究——基于苏州周庄、锦溪、黎里3镇调研

引入社会资本理论,从网络、信任和规范3个维度,建构社会资本与名镇保护间的一个分析框架,剖析保护背后的社会资本困境及其内在根源.基于对苏州周庄等3个名镇的实证研究发现:①社会资本主要通过其3个关键要素从组织基础、制度体系、精神动力对名镇保护沟通机制、约束机制与合作机制进行作用;②当前名镇社会资本呈现网络弱化、信任缺失、规...