Division Of Labor Research Articles

Keep or Break: The Biblical Basis for Tithing in Medieval Europe

The biblical teaching is that, on a practical level, tithing embodies an ideal division of labor with distinct responsibilities. By tithing to the Church, Christians provide the clergy with the necessities of life, enabling them to concentrate on the sacraments without having to worry about worldly matters, and at the same time, offer material support for the holy ministries of the Church, helping to improve the financial situation of the Church. On the level of faith, tithing is an expression of faith in God. The voluntary and full payment of the tithe is a great manifestation of one's faith in God. It maintains the harmonious relationship between God and man, which brings God's abundant blessings to man. The Church in Medieval Europe collected tithes based on the clear and strong scriptural basis of the Bible. However, in practice, the Church abused the tithe to enrich itself and ignored the poor lives of the people, which was destructive to God's good intention in the establishment of the tithe and was not in accordance with the teachings of the Bible.

Rural labor migration and farmers’ arrangements of rice production systems in Central China: Insight from the intergenerational division of labor

Rice production is crucial for food security in China, and its relationship with rural labor migration has been studied extensively. Labor migration in rural China has taken new forms in recent years. There has been a discernible trend wherein adult children have started migrating to cities while their elderly parents return to villages to re-engage in on-farm work. The phenomenon has notably shaped the intergenerational division of labor (IDL) within households. However, it remains to be seen how farmers adjust their rice production systems in response to the IDL. The age of 60 years for employment injury insurance is the eligibility threshold for off-farm employment and is used to obtain a source of exogenous variation in the IDL. Based on a representative household survey of 1,752 rice farmers in the Hubei Province of Central China, our fuzzy regression discontinuity analysis reveals that farmers in IDL households are more likely to adopt ratoon rice (RR) than single cropping rice (SR) or double cropping rice (DR). The effect of the IDL varies under different levels of operational scales and specialized agricultural service availability. Further analysis suggests that farmers’ arrangements are associated with two potential mechanisms of downward intergenerational transfer. Monetary transfer for urban housing purchases increases RR in IDL households, and time transfer for intergenerational childcare significantly promotes SR in IDL households. This study enhances the understanding of the relationship between rural labor migration and rice production in China, providing a reference for adjusting rice production systems to ensure food security.

The Unhappy Marriage of Care and the Global Market: ‘Soft Backsliding’ in the Narratives of Two Romanian Badanti

This paper encompasses an analysis of the novels written by two Romanian badanti who emigrated from Eastern Europe to Italy at the beginning of the 21st century, namely Liliana Nechita (Romania) and Lilia-Bicec Zanardelli (the Republic of Moldova). The reading grid of these narratives is a Marxist feminist one, as it continues the analytical framework of Lise Vogel and links it to the last decades’ “new gender arrangement” (Lutz) that emphasises the outsourcing of reproductive labour towards migrant and gendered labour-power. The work of these badanti partakes in the global care chain of our world-system, which privileges families in the West and affects poor households in the East. The novels written by the two workers show how agents directly involved in this global division of labour explain their own history, as it is shaped by their new working experience. However, their literary inquiry will circumscribe a contradictory rhetoric, also called “soft backsliding”, that combines emancipatory insights with reactionary ideologies related to the nation-state, family and Christianity. This study aims to explain them as both methods of subjective subsistence in capitalism and a virtual path to political radicalization.

Cultural Historical Activity Theory: A Conceptual Framework for Analysing Post- Method Pedagogy

Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) serves as an effective theoretical framework for analysing post-method pedagogy, providing valuable insights into the complexities of educational practices. This framework integrates social, cultural, and historical contexts, allowing for a comprehensive perspective that examines patterns influencing educational processes, cognitive development, and equitable education. At the heart of CHAT is the concept of expansive learning, which emphasises the continuous improvement and evolution of teaching methods over time. This approach advocates for adaptive and innovative practices that respond to the dynamic needs of learners and the ever-changing educational environment. By incorporating CHAT into post-method pedagogy, educators can significantly enhance their teaching practices, fostering more democratic, versatile, and effective methods that engage all students. This paper delves into the impact of CHAT on education, tracing the foundational narrative of its development through the contributions of three generations of influential scholars, from Lev Vygotsky to Yrjö Engeström. CHAT distinguishes itself by moving beyond mere rote cognitive accumulation, offering a conceptual toolkit for refining, and leveling pedagogical practices. Key elements of CHAT include the division of labour, which defines roles within the teaching and learning process, and mediating means, which involves the tools and resources utilised in learning. The central theme of expansive learning underscores the ongoing improvement of teaching methods, illustrating CHAT's practical application in English language instruction. By fostering inclusive learning environments, CHAT effectively addresses real challenges faced today in education. For educators seeking to strengthen their teaching methods, adopting CHAT offers a transformative pathway which is accessible to everyday teachers striving for positive change in their instructional practices. Integrating CHAT dynamics into teaching holds significant promise for those committed to continuous improvement in the field of education.

Embedded hegemony and the evolution of the United States’ structural power

Whilst the United States’ (US) economic hegemony has existed continuously since the end of World War II, it has not been realised in the same way. In the early post-war period, the US’s hegemony rested on its dominance over gross world product and manufacturing output and exports. However, by the 1970s it began to transition to high-technology industries, services and foreign investment. Using a structural power analysis, this article argues that this transition in the economic foundations of US hegemony was not a reaction to an exogenous shift in the international division of labour, but was rather the result of the endogenous policies, decisions and priorities of the US. Moreover, the article illustrates how the interaction between the four aspects of structural power (security, production, finance and information) determined how these new hegemonic interests were embedded in international institutions and norms to better project US power globally. Through a historical analysis, the article demonstrates that the four aspects of structural power went from mutually reinforcing each other in the early post-war period to detracting from each other from the mid-1960s. This spurred a managed transition by the US from one embedded hegemonic order to another. The result was the construction of contemporary US embedded hegemonic order based on dollar hegemony (financial structural power) and the internationalisation of US corporate dominance (productive structural power), supported by the private ownership of knowledge by US corporations (informational structural power). The article also considers the implications of this analysis for current challenges to the contemporary hegemonic order.

Defining faces, defying borders: authority conflicts between medical specialties through cosmetic interventions

At first glance, medical specializations seem to be delineated according to well-defined scientific criteria; the apparently-functional division of labor generates a general hierarchy of specialized knowledge and practice. However, this unequal apportionment of professional power and authority also depends on capitalistic organization. While the medical rationale has always been market-related, starting in the 1980s—with the initiation of its neoliberal agenda—Turkey has enacted progressively aggressive policies, privatizing healthcare service and reconceptualizing it as a dynamic market, thereby forming a medical ethos entangled with neoliberal motifs. In this article, we analyzed how unregulated market conditions give rise to a chaotic scientific field, and how this apparent disorder serves to reproduce an underlying capitalistic logic. Of the multitude of human body parts, we choose the face, because it has become a hot zone in medicine as cosmetic demands from patients have skyrocketed, and because it is an area generating conflict between medical specialties seeking more authority and power. To this end, we interviewed thirty-three specialists from dermatology, otorhinolaryngology, and plastic surgery about their experiences on authority conflicts and their motivations for entering into an unregulated market. Our research highlights how actors in the medical field constitute a relational social context within which boundaries are fiercely negotiated through a market logic. Thereafter, we argue how the ambiguities of pathology, aesthetics, body, and norms that underlie cosmetic procedures are fluidized and become instruments of power, such that this ambiguity has become the very defining characteristic of the scientific field.

Empire-builders: Interactions between Convicts and Enslaved, Free, and Military Workers in Bermuda’s Dockyards, 1824–1838

ABSTRACT Convict labourers in Bermuda formed part of a uniquely mixed workforce that challenged racial and class-based divisions of labour in the British Empire. Following the War of 1812, investment poured into Bermuda's royal naval dockyard to secure its strategic position; convicts arrived in 1824, working alongside enslaved people, free black workers, and colonial soldiers. This article reveals the nature of interactions between different types of free and unfree labourers in Bermuda between 1824 – when convicts arrived – and 1838, when a change in governance took place. It examines racial diversity in the dockyards and the arrival of convict labourers, before considering perceived threats of racial intermixing and opposition to convict labour deployment in Caribbean colonies. The final section examines perceptions of convicts – moments where they equated their experiences to slavery, and administrative unease over interactions with white military workers. What the article shows is that although there were concerns over racial intermixing, officials objected most strongly to interactions between white workers of different classes, fearing their alliances would alter the island's power balance. In detailing the coexistence and interactions between contrasting labour types, this article provides a greater sense of the nuances of labour deployment and administrative anxiety in colonial locales.

The role of family education in enhancing gender equality in Vietnam

Gender equality is a very important issue of concern to the whole world. If the issue of women's liberation is the most basic issue among women's struggles, then equality between men and women is considered the most important and core content of this issue. The family is the place where gender issues are socialized and gender knowledge and skills are passed on. In this article, the author will focus on clarifying issues such as: the role of education; propaganda role to raise awareness; the role of division of labor according to gender; Conditions to promote gender equality from family. Through research, the author will provide opinions for discussion and open up future research directions.

Gendering digital labor: work and family digital communication across 29 countries

ABSTRACT With rapid digitalization, people increasingly use information and communication technologies (ICTs). Analyzing European Social Survey data across 29 countries, we address an under-researched question: how is the labor of using ICTs for digital communication gendered across the domains of work and family? Using latent profile analysis, we identify five profiles of work-family digital communication – dual-medium (most prevalent), dual-low, high work-only, dual-high, and high family-only (least prevalent) – with notable gender differences. Women are less likely than men to have high work-only but are more likely to have high family-only and dual-high work-family digital communication. Multilevel models reveal that among those with better digital literacy and those who work from home more often, there are wider gender gaps whereby women are more likely than men to juggle dual-medium work-family digital communication. In countries where people use the internet more intensely, women are more likely than men to specialize in family-only and juggle dual-high work-family digital communication. As digital literacy, working from home, and internet use intensity increase further, women may disproportionately take on family-related digital communication and also suffer from a ‘digital double burden’ in work-family life. Our findings highlight new forms of gender inequality in the division of labor in the digital era.

The physical soldier caste of an invasive, human-infecting flatworm is morphologically extreme and obligately sterile

We show that the globally invasive, human-infectious flatworm, Haplorchis pumilio, possesses the most physically specialized soldier caste yet documented in trematodes. Soldiers occur in colonies infecting the first intermediate host, the freshwater snail Melanoides tuberculata, and are readily distinguishable from immature and mature reproductive worms. Soldiers possess a pharynx five times absolutely larger than those of immature and mature reproductives, lack a germinal mass, and have a different developmental trajectory than reproductives, indicating that H. pumilio soldiers constitute a reproductively sterile physical caste. Neither immature nor mature reproductives showed aggression in in vitro trials, but soldiers readily attacked heterospecific trematodes that coinfect their host. Ecologically, we calculate that H. pumilio caused ~94% of the competitive deaths in the guild of trematodes infecting its host snail in its invasive range in southern California. Despite being a dominant competitor, H. pumilio soldiers did not attack conspecifics from other colonies. All prior reports documenting division of labor and a trematode soldier caste have involved soldiers that may be able to metamorphose to the reproductive stage and have been from nonhuman-infectious marine species; this study provides clear evidence for an obligately sterile trematode soldier, while extending the phenomenon of a trematode soldier caste to freshwater and to an invasive species of global public health concern.

Dual-Earner Couples

In Western societies, most married working employees are now part of a dual-earner couple, meaning both people are engaged in the paid workforce to some extent. Such arrangements introduce benefits as well as challenges in managing two unique work roles and the shared family domain. In this review, we first summarize research about how dual-earner couples manage work and family, including the division of labor, decision-making processes, and specific behavioral strategies. Next, we discuss research on dual-earner couples’ well-being and quality of life, making explicit comparisons to single-earner couples where possible. We close our review with a discussion of research on the macroenvironment, including how cultural norms and state policies relate to dual-earner couples’ functioning. Lastly, we offer numerous recommendations for future researchers to explore the contexts and conditions that facilitate the blending of dual-earner couples’ work and family roles.

The Impact of Tourism Development on Mosuo Marriage and Family

Tourism development has had a significant impact on the contemporary social transformation of the Mosuo people, especially on their marriage and family. Since the rise of tourism in the Lugu Lake area, the Mosuo society has gradually changed from a traditional agriculture-based livelihood to a tourism-based livelihood. The marital radius of the Mosuo people has also extended with the expansion of the scope of interactions. The previous custom of 'walking marriage' has gradually transitioned to the nuclear family model, and the traditional matriarchal extended family has also been slowly reduced to a smaller family size. The division of labor of the family members has been adjusted accordingly. Through the study of the Mosuo marriage and family changes under the tourism industry, not only can we find the path of change of the local traditional culture, but also can make some thoughts on the impact of the current tourism development in ethnic areas.

Evolution Characteristics of Cultivated Land Protection Policy in China Based on Smith Policy Implementation

(1) Background: In the context of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and based on the historical evolution of cultivated land protection policy, we used the Smith model to address the problem of policy implementation bias and provide recommendations on how to ensure that cultivated land protection policy does not deviate in the implementation process. (2) Methods: The historical evolution process of China’s cultivated land protection policy was elucidated using literature analysis and the inductive deduction method; moreover, the issues regarding local evolution were investigated. In addition, utilizing the Smith model, which has an important role in policy implementation, the restoration direction of cultivated land protection in China was summarized. (3) Project: China’s cultivated land protection policy has demonstrated success in two stages of its historical development—from the basic stage of pursuing equal quantity and quality to the new stage of the trinity of “quantity–quality–ecology” of cultivated land. However, the trend of cultivated land protection policy development based on the regional division of labor in China still has some problems, i.e., the total quantity of cultivated land is insufficient, the quality is low, and the implementation of the trinity is unclear. These regional divisions depend on solving the balance of China’s grain security, and using the Smith model to solve the problem of policy implementation has become an important measure to resolve the issue of grain security and achieve the goal of cultivated land protection. (4) Conclusions: The Smith model is suitable for the implementation of China’s cultivated land protection policy. By utilizing the Smith model, the policy target group was found to be conducive to contributing to the maturity of and improvement in China’s cultivated land protection policy.

Mapping gender patterns in “dynamic cultural spaces”: the case of Beijing’s open-air antiques “ghost market” at Panjiayuan

Despite the growing recognition of the importance of street vendors and informal markets for urban life and the economy globally, research attention has tended to focus on essential products such as food or clothes and paid less attention to cultural products, such as antiques where potential gender, and other socio-demographic, differences in vending and buying behaviours may systematically differ. To explore these issues, this study employed spatial–temporal behaviour mapping (STBM) and field observations (n = 8587) at Beijing’s Panjiayuan antiques “ghost market” a term reflecting its previously illegal/underground and mobile nature. We monitored four representative sites within the market, four times a day for six consecutive days. The data included five categories of behaviour, four age groups, and two genders. Data were recorded and analysed using ArcGIS. Results showed that, unlike common marketplaces, the antique market is primarily frequented by male vendors and buyers, replicating patterns seen in ancient Chinese paintings of men being involved in the trading of “non-essentials”. Nonetheless, we found differing gender balances depending on the time and day of the week, different age groups, and spatial settings in different market areas. We summarise the nuanced relationships between the emerging gender spatio-temporal behaviour patterns and three key factors, spatial characteristics, physical activities and the social division of labour, in the Chinese context. The study reveals how the varied spatial–temporal patterns of a large antique “ghost market” raise long-established issues of equity and inclusivity and provide empirical insights that could inform decision-making and urban planning, such as better use of dynamic lighting provision to encourage a more gender-balanced experience.

Product line strategy and supply chain structures for mass customized production using 3D printing

We develop game-theoretical models to capture unique features: design freedom, natural flexibility, and quality distinction of 3D printing, and propose the customization degree and unique labour division for 3D-printed products. We investigate a manufacturer’s product line strategy with 3D printing. The manufacturer can offer single standardized products (strategy S), single 3D-printed products (strategy T), or both products (strategy L) to consumers through its retailer. We further explore how supply chain structures influence the manufacturer’s product line strategy. We find (i) the optimal customization degree of 3D-printed products is lower under strategy L than strategy T. (ii) When the development cost of 3D-printed products is low/relatively low/moderate/high and the utility from product fit is high/moderate/relatively low/low, the manufacturer adopts strategy L/T/L/S. (iii) The retailer expects the manufacturer to adopt strategy T or L. (iv) In the centralised supply chain, the manufacturer prefers strategy L to T when the development cost of 3D-printed products is low. Moreover, the centralised supply chain is inferior to the manufacturer when the utility from product fit is low under strategy T and when the marginal development cost is intermediate under strategy L. We provide managerial insights for designing mass-customized products and product lines using 3D printing.

Circular at the very beginning: on the initial genomes in the RNA world

ABSTRACT It is likely that an RNA world existed in early life, when RNA played both the roles of the genome and functional molecules, thereby undergoing Darwinian evolution. However, even with only one type of polymer, it seems quite necessary to introduce a labour division concerning these two roles because folding is required for functional molecules (ribozymes) but unfavourable for the genome (as a template in replication). Notably, while ribozymes tend to have adopted a linear form for folding without constraints, a circular form, which might have been topologically hindered in folding, seems more suitable for an RNA template. Another advantage of involving a circular genome could have been to resist RNA’s end-degradation. Here, we explore the scenario of a circular RNA genome plus linear ribozyme(s) at the precellular stage of the RNA world through computer modelling. The results suggest that a one-gene scene could have been ‘maintained’, albeit with rather a low efficiency for the circular genome to produce the ribozyme, which required precise chain-break or chain-synthesis. This strict requirement may have been relieved by introducing a ‘noncoding’ sequence into the genome, which had the potential to derive a second gene through mutation. A two-gene scene may have ‘run well’ with the two corresponding ribozymes promoting the replication of the circular genome from different respects. Circular genomes with more genes might have arisen later in RNA-based protocells. Therefore, circular genomes, which are common in the modern living world, may have had their ‘root’ at the very beginning of life.

Bond market liberalization, technological innovation and firms' position in the global value chain division of labor

Based on the annual data of Chinese listed enterprises from 2004 to 2016, this paper investigates the impact of the opening up of the bond market on the division of labor position of enterprises' global value chains. It is found that the opening up of bond market mainly enhances the division of labor position of enterprises' global value chain by influencing the level of enterprises' technological innovation. The results of mechanism test show that the opening of bond market to the outside world can help enterprises to increase R&D investment, improve technological innovation level and realize the upgrading of the division of labor position in global value chain by alleviating the financing constraints of enterprises and intensifying the competition among enterprises. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the opening up of bond market has a better effect on the GVC status of enterprises in the central and western regions than that of enterprises in the eastern regions.

Exploring the Division of Labour in the Family: Insights from Women in the Service Sector in Darjeeling Town

The colonial history of Darjeeling Hills had a considerable influence on thedevelopment and settlement of Darjeeling Town, notably in terms of women's contexts suchas migration, forms of economic engagement for women, and the introduction of formaleducation for women, among other aspects. When we look into the region's history, we findthat women have worked in a number of occupations, although primarily in informal work,and they have contributed to the region's economy and gradual societal changes in their owncapacities. Despite the fact that women have long worked in public spaces in the hills ofDarjeeling, the prevalent traditional norm in the region recognizes the home as a woman'sprimary space. Even while women in the hills may have substantially distinct socioeconomicbackgrounds, they are nevertheless subjected to some dominant gender norms. Women whowork outside have the obligation to divide their time between paid and unpaid domesticwork, since parenting and domestic tasks have always been considered as women's work inthe hills, whether in towns or in villages. Among the various challenges and debatessurrounding 'working women,' one key question that arises is the link between women'sparticipation in paid work and the gendered distribution of labour in the household. As aresult, this article seeks to understand the division of labour, one component of the larger'working women's question', in families of women employed in the service sector. As such,in-depth perspectives of ten married women who represent a segment of this social group inthe Town of Darjeeling have been analysed.

Does Philosophy Need to Know Its History?

AbstractThe point of doing the history of philosophy is to confront that which is completely foreign to us and seems unassimilable, in the hope of thereby getting some distance from our own form of life, and of learning to treat what is alien on its own terms. This is more difficult to do than might first seem to be the case, because of our almost irresistable tendency to assimilate that which is radically different to that which seems familiar to us. In history, one of the major forms this takes is anachronism. How can one avoid making them-then too much like us-now? The motivation for doing the history of philosophy is, therefore, basically ethical and political. In a society characterised by the division of labour, it is perfectly permissible for individual philosophers to pursue different goals, and deploy different parts of the huge corpus of knowledge which we have at our disposal. There is no need for each individual philosopher to integrate the study of the history of philosophy into each of their individual projects. The essay leaves it to the judgment of the reader to decide to what extent the active, sympathetic engagement with the alien is an ethical and political goal which is desirable — perhaps even so desirable as to count as a demand. In any case, this is a demand on the institution, not on individuals. Even if one thought that it was highly advisable that the history of philosophy form an integral part of the discipline of philosophy, it is hard to see this as a “necessity”.

Community-University Partnerships: The Benefits of Collaboration in Measuring Public Support for a Community Recreation Center

Community recreation centers (CRCs) are gaining popularity across the country. While many support the argument that CRCs improve quality of life by building social capital and improving the physical health of residents, that support does not necessarily translate into community support for the funding and construction of CRCs. Some communities undertake surveys to try to gauge the support for CRCs but have had mixed results on the insights provided by those surveys. Furthermore, public perceptions about the accuracy and usefulness of survey data could lead to stakeholder disregard for the data produced by them. This case study focuses on the benefits of a robust partnership between a local community and a regional university in developing a survey research project to analyze support for building a CRC. In this paper, we emphasize the value of producing trusted data and provide lessons on how community-university partnerships can achieve similar objectives. The first lesson is that community-university partnerships, by emphasizing local connections, can help foster trust in survey research projects. Second, strategic community-university partnerships can derive additional benefits such as division of labor, expertise, and cost savings. Third, by embracing the above two benefits, collaboration is not only possible, but can produce tailored survey research projects that provide stakeholders insights into critical questions. Finally, community-university partnerships that are structured around shared values can help communities solve critical policy issues effectively and efficiently. This case study details these lessons through an examination of a robust community-university partnership that led to the passage of a ballot referendum to build a CRC. This community-university model of collaboration provides a framework for communities and universities to work together to serve the public good.