Journal of Social, Political, and Economic Studies最新文献

{"title":"Lenin: A New Biography","authors":"D. D. Murphey","doi":"10.5860/choice.32-4073","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5860/choice.32-4073","url":null,"abstract":"Lenin: A New Biography Dmitri Volkogenov Translated and edited by Harold Shukman The Free Press, New York, 1994 Dmitri Volkogonov, an historian and a former general in the Soviet Army, is uniquely situated to produce works of the utmost importance. Before the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, he was Director of the Soviet Union's Institute for Military History, where, according to the Editor's Preface, he was \"the first researcher to gain access to the most secret archives.\" His biography of Stalin incurred the wrath of Soviet officers in 1988; and now the book under review produces a fresh - and devastating - account of Lenin. With such work as Volkogonov's appearing, the suffocating blanket of silence and of factual manipulation that prevailed for so many decades has been lifted. By the time Lenin was published in English in 1994, the editor could say that \"there are virtually no taboos on historical research left\" inside Russia. Volkogonov tells how he was originally a Stalinist, and how when his illusions about Stalin were shattered he fell back onto believing (as so many socialists worldwide have) that Leninism, at least, had been sound even though it was later distorted by Stalin. Eventually even this illusion fell away, with the result that the principal theme of Lenin is that all of the essential ingredients of the totalitarian state were put into place by Lenin himself. \"The system created by Lenin would [thus] have found its Stalin in any event.\" If thoughtful people everywhere come to this realization, a major step will have been taken in the world's ridding itself of socialist illusion. It was Lenin who initiated the subordination of human life to ideological objectives without regard to the number of lives lost. He, not Stalin, first introduced executions, mass terror, concentration camps, and slave labor. There was a \"legalization of terror,\" with the Cheka shooting thousands in cellars without trial; a suppression of a free press; the subordination of trade unions to the state; the liquidation of \"hundreds of thousands of private owners, middle and upper bourgeoisie, and intellectuals\"; the crushing of the churches, with the slaughter of the clergy; and a callous acceptance of mass starvation, such as in 1921-22 when 25 million people were starving at the same time that copious funds were sent overseas to help Communist Parties foment what was hoped would be a worldwide revolution. Even such a list barely scratches the surface of what Volkogonov recounts from the archives. Lenin has, of course, been unmasked before; anti-Communists have long known him for what he was. …","PeriodicalId":52486,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Social, Political, and Economic Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1998-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"79331771","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Evolutionary Innovations: The Business of Biotechnology","authors":"E. Miller","doi":"10.5860/choice.34-3981","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5860/choice.34-3981","url":null,"abstract":"Evolutionary Innovations: The Business of Biotechnology Maureen D. McKelvey Oxford University Press, 1996 The theoretical first half of this book discusses the theory of evolutionary and institutional economics and the implications for the innovative process. It argues that biology's evolutionary theory offers a useful metaphor for the innovative process in the economy, but not an exact analogy. The innovative process involves the generation of novelty (similar to the mutational and sexual recombination process in evolution) and then selection from the alternatives generated. This is the basis for the metaphor. In contrast to biological evolution by genetic recombination, economic evolution is Lamarckian in that learned innovations are inherited. While in biology each individual represents only one innovation, in the economy a single firm can investigate several innovations. Finally, in the economic sphere, firms and individuals can learn from each other. McKelvey contrasts this dynamic model with the neoclassical one in which technological developments are exogenous, with firms responding to price signals and always reaching a global optimum. I suspect most observers would agree with the correctness of McKelvey's observations here, although some might disagree with how important her points are for specific cases. One case where observers might think that such factors were very important would be biotechnology and the introduction of wholly new technologies. The bulk of the book examines how biotechnology was developed and introduced, with emphasis on one of its earliest products, human growth hormone. Not surprisingly, various institutional details are found to play an important role in the history of this product. After a brief chapter introducing the technology, the history of genetic engineering is told, starting with the university research and the debates over safety. It is pointed out how the traditional dividing line between science (new knowledge that is sought in university) and technology (applied knowledge developed in firms) did not apply here, with both universities (the University of California in San Francisco is the case study here) and firms doing some of both. The story is told of how Genentech was founded, and how the Swedish pharmaceutical firm KabiVitrum gave them an early research contract to develop a new technology for producing human growth hormone. KabiVitrum was then producing this in large quantities from human pituitary glands. The emphasis is placed on the various institutional details that played a role in shaping how firms and universities acted, including the conflict between a prestige-driven academic reward system and the profit-driven-firm one. The book is rich in illustrations of how factors specific to a single firm determined how they acted. Genentech funded the research that led to the bacterial production of somatostatin, a hormone without medical value or known market value. While this may have appeared ","PeriodicalId":52486,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Social, Political, and Economic Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1998-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"79117359","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Dysgenics: Genetic Deterioration in Modern Populations","authors":"M. Court","doi":"10.1016/s1061-7361(98)80008-8","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/s1061-7361(98)80008-8","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":52486,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Social, Political, and Economic Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1998-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"75255003","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The State and the Family: A Comparative Analysis of Family Policies in Industrialized Countries","authors":"D. D. Murphey","doi":"10.5860/choice.34-5389","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5860/choice.34-5389","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":52486,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Social, Political, and Economic Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1997-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"73616165","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"How Nations Grow Rich: The Case for Free Trade","authors":"D. D. Murphey","doi":"10.5860/choice.35-1011","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5860/choice.35-1011","url":null,"abstract":"How Nations Grow Rich: The Case for Free Trade Melvyn Krauss Oxford University Press, New York, 1997 140 pages, $22.50, hardback Melvyn Krauss's credentials are solid as an economist and supporter of the free market. A \"case for free trade\" is fully in keeping with a major thrust of much thinking on both left and right today. The predominant public philosophy of established opinion throughout the world now supports \"the global marketplace.\" It is possible to say this despite most nations' and regions' throwing up trade barriers of one type or another as they seek to serve their local interests. The prevailing ideology leads, at least, to a ubiquitous lipservice supporting free trade. This book is an excellent primer summarizing the free trade position. Nevertheless, there is much to criticize: 1. The argumentation is ideological rather than reflective. 2. Little respect is given to opposing views. 3. Although Krauss argues that economic science and value judgments are to be kept separate, he nevertheless draws a good many value judgments, all of them making \"the consumer\" the sole standard and willing to sacrifice other values such as a given nation's well-being or the economic viability of millions of people within a given country (most notably, for our purposes, the United States). 4. Much of his case is out of date, or soon will be, in light of rapidly emerging world realities. Let's look at each of these: Ideological Argumentation Krauss's text is true to its name, \"the case for....\" It is essentially similar to a lawyer's brief for a client, in that thoughts are marshalled for their supportive value rather than as concepts to be objectively considered. This makes the book a polemic rather than a scholarly discussion. There is, of course, room in the world for polemics; but it is vitally important to realize the distinction between polemics and scholarship. An example comes when Krauss defends the Japanese acquisition of U.S. assets with a non sequitur. His sought-for conclusion is that foreign ownership is no threat. In support of this, he tells how those investments have been unprofitable to the Japanese themselves. But this is inappropriate evidence for his conclusion, since unprofitability at any given time tells us nothing about foreign-owned assets' profitability in general. A similar opportunistic marshalling of arguments is evident when he seeks support for his position that the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is not causing the United States to lower its environmental standards. His supporting premise: that, under NAFTA, the United States is \"exporting\" its pollution-creating industries to Mexico. No one concerned about the environment would consider that a plus, but the idea that polluters are moving from the United States to Mexico (because of its lower standards) allows Krauss to bolster his main point. Here, he is willing to support an argument by undergirding it with something quite ridiculous. He does the same thing","PeriodicalId":52486,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Social, Political, and Economic Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1997-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"91366362","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The Good Life and Its Discontents: The American Dream in the Age of Entitlement, 1945-1995","authors":"K. Lamb","doi":"10.5860/choice.33-5224","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5860/choice.33-5224","url":null,"abstract":"The Good Life and Its Discontents: The American Dream in the Age of Entitlement, 1945-1995 by Robert J. Samuelson Times Books, 1995; 293pp. $25 One anachronism of contemporary American society is that widespread economic anxiety and discontent persists in such an advanced and prosperous country. Some argue that despite the quality of material goods and services, the \"American dream\" remains for many a \"pipe dream\" that is increasingly impossible to attain. This fosters cynicism and resentment among the American electorate, and not to mention political irresponsibility on the part of elected officials. Newsweek columnist Robert Samuelson reflects upon this prevailing trend among the American public in his recent book, The Good Life and Its Discontents. Samuelson argues that despite these frustrations on the part of many Americans in their never-ending quest to live as comfortably as possible things could be much worse. The American public enjoys a lifestyle that most people around the world will never come to know. In the words of Raymond Cattell, \"poverty is relative. The woman on welfare today lives - in terms of housing, food, transport, medical attention and entertainment -- better than a queen in medieval times.\" Now more than ever, most Americans relish a greater range of comfort and luxury in their daily lives than previous generations of Americans could hardly have imagined. The Problem of \"Entitlesments\" Samuelson covers a vast amount of important material in trying to account for such widespread insecurity and maladjustment. As a pragmatist, he identifies one underlying aspect behind much of the public's unreasonable expectations: entitlements. For more and more Americans, a twentieth-century lifestyle means a large home, new car, generous salaries and bonuses, annual vacations and low cost-health coverage. What many would consider to be modern day luxuries, middle class Americans now view as sheer necessities. One of Samuelson's main points is that there are no guarantees in life; everything has its price and nothing comes without risk. The thread of Samuelson's thoughts echoes what General Douglas MacArthur once wrote, \"there is no security in this life. There is only opportunity\". The aftermath of the great depression and World War II generated a blind faith in the capacity of government to solve any national crisis or social problem on the horizon: poverty programs for the indigent, social security for the elderly, public housing for the homeless and civil rights for the disenfranchised. The hurdles that some considered as obstacles to opportunity were levelled in an effort to create an equal chance with minimal risk for all. One's level of affluence was no longer earned, but was \"entitled\" simply on the basis of one's own existence. The \"Elusive Quality\" Any fair reading of Samuelson's work cannot ignore his meticulous penchant for detail and lucid insight. One of the few shortcomings of Samuelson's analysis is his brief critique of","PeriodicalId":52486,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Social, Political, and Economic Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1996-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"88768898","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Population Politics: The Choices That Shape, Our Future","authors":"","doi":"10.5860/choice.31-1811","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5860/choice.31-1811","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":52486,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Social, Political, and Economic Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1996-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"74982402","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The impact of immigration on U.S. demographics.","authors":"J E Fallon","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The author discusses the impact of immigration on the demographic profile of the United States, with a focus on changes in the sources of immigration and the effect of U.S. migration policy. \"The demographic destruction of the U.S. has been swift and dramatic. The transformation, made in constant contravention of popular mandate, has been unprecedented in the history of democratic societies. To better understand this phenomenon and the role which post-1965 immigration policy plays in it,...15 tables have been created and compiled from the official statistics of the U.S. Bureau of the Census and the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service.\"</p>","PeriodicalId":52486,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Social, Political, and Economic Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1996-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"22018901","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The Life of Herbert Hoover: Master of Emergencies, 1917-1918","authors":"D. D. Murphey","doi":"10.17077/0003-4827.10118","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17077/0003-4827.10118","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":52486,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Social, Political, and Economic Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1996-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"90633656","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"NSSM 200 and the world population explosion.","authors":"S D Mumford","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This paper was published in the wake of Pope John Paul II's encyclical 'Evangelicum Vitae', which condemns abortion and contraception. The author describes how, in the mid-1970's, the Vatican blocked the implementation of President Nixon's 'National Security Study Memorandum 200', which was intended to combat global overpopulation. The author explains that excessive population growth is considered threatening to U.S. security interests, and concludes that \"papal security-survival along with the influence of fundamentalist Protestant opposition to birth control is now pitted against the U.S. and world security-survival.\"</p>","PeriodicalId":52486,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Social, Political, and Economic Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1995-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"22039371","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}