China Made: Consumer Culture and the Creation of the Nation (Harvard East Asian Monographs)

Book Description

"Chinese people should consume Chinese products!"

This slogan was the catchphrase of a movement in early twentieth-century China that sought to link consumption and nationalism by instilling a concept of China as a modern "nation" with its own "national products." From fashions in clothing to food additives, from museums to department stores, from product fairs to advertising, this movement influenced all aspects of China's burgeoning consumer culture. Anti-imperialist boycotts, commemorations of national humiliations, exhibitions of Chinese products, the vilification of treasonous consumers, and the promotion of Chinese captains of industry helped enforce nationalistic consumption and spread the message--patriotic Chinese bought goods made of Chinese materials by Chinese workers in factories owned and run by Chinese.

In China Made, Karl Gerth argues that two key forces shaping the modern world--nationalism and consumerism--developed in tandem in China. Early in the twentieth century, nationalism branded every commodity as either "Chinese" or "foreign," and consumer culture became the place where the notion of nationality was articulated, institutionalized, and practiced. Based on Chinese, Japanese, and English-language archives, magazines, newspapers, and books, this first exploration of the historical ties between nationalism and consumerism reinterprets fundamental aspects of modern Chinese history and suggests ways of discerning such ties in all modern nations.

China Made: Consumer Culture and the Creation of the Nation.(Book Review): An article from: Pacific Affairs

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China Made: Consumer Culture and the Creation of the Nation.(Book Review): An article from: Pacific Affairs
Frank Dikotter
Manufacturer: University of British Columbia
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
ASIN: B00096TIOY
Release Date: 2006-07-14

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Pacific Affairs, published by University of British Columbia on September 22, 2004. The length of the article is 688 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: China Made: Consumer Culture and the Creation of the Nation.(Book Review)
Author: Frank Dikotter
Publication: Pacific Affairs (Refereed)
Date: September 22, 2004
Publisher: University of British Columbia
Volume: 77 Issue: 3 Page: 560(2)

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Book Description

Melanesian societies provide unmatched opportunities for posing some of th e most potent questions in anthropology. While modern money issued by the state has been accepted throughout Melanesia, many indigenous currencies, such as shells, survive. Why? What are the differences between shells and dollars? Are both simply a means of exchange? Why do Melanesians see money as both desirable and dangerous? Answers to these questions provide a window on the effect of money on social life throughout history.

While scholars have long been aware of changing currency regimes in Melanesia, subtle ethnographic study has been rare. This collection of original essays fills this gap, exploring money and its social dynamic in eight different Melanesian communities. Editors David Akin and Joel Robbins synthesize the research and, in a penetrating analysis, describe new models for thinking about money.

David Akin is an independent scholar living in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He has spent five years living in the Kwaio area of Malaita in the Solomon Island s since 1979, most recently in 1997. His publications about Kwaio include studies of spirits, politics, oral history, suicide, art, and educational development. He is writing a book about how Kwaio religious change is generating new forms of gender-based inequality.

Joel Robbins is an assistant professor of anthropology at the University o f California, San Diego. His research among the Urapmin of Papua New Guinea has resulted in publications on a variety of subjects: Christianity, millennialism, cultural conceptions of the environment, development, and other topics. He is currently working on a monograph focusing on the relation of ritualm and space. David Akin is an independent scholar living in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He has spent five years living in the Kwaio area o f Malaita in the Solomon Islands since 1979, most recently in 1997, and he i s writing a book about how Kwaio religious change is generating new forms of gender-based inequality.

Contributors: Karen Brison, Union College; Doug Dalton, Longwood College; Robert J. Foster, University of Rochester; Jane I. Guyer, Northwestern University; John Liep, University of Copenhagen, Denmark; Edward LiPuma, University of Miami; Mark S. Mosko, University of Auckland, New Zealand; Andrew Strathern and Pamela J. Stewart, University of Pittsburgh; and the editors.

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Money and Modernity: State and Local Currencies in Melanesia : An article from: Contemporary Pacific

Manufacturer: University of Hawaii Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
ASIN: B000BCTNNC
Release Date: 2005-09-09

Book Description

The first practical guide to a revolutionary Web-based front office technology

A bold new Web paradigm in-the-making, desktop hosting empowers virtually anyone to control Web communications from their personal computer. The fully-automated communication services offered by desktop hosting provide companies with a powerful new tool to help drive sales, increase customer satisfaction, and guarantee 24/7 availability. Written by a principal at one of the major players defining the desktop hosting market, this book supplies technical and non-technical readers with a practical introduction to an exciting new technology. Readers learn how to use desktop hosting tools and get valuable pointers on how to implement an array of desktop hosting solutions.

CD-ROM contains full, unrestricted versions of WebClerk and CommerceExpert, along with 150 QuickTime training clips.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent reading for the latest web strategies.......2002-09-24

This book was a good read for me. The author makes some good points on how the nature of desktop hosting can shape how the web can and should be utilized for unattended communication. I'd recommend this to anyone who wants good techinical information on desktop hosting as well as business owners who want to leverage more of the web for e-business.

Security Made Easy.......2002-09-10

In this time of heightened security concerns, this technology provides key capabilities. By allowing secure access to existing information without the need to create elaborate Web interfaces, desktop hosting makes better security attainable for every business. The full working version of the software helped me get up and running, and this book guided me through the process with ease.

Learn What Technology Can Really Do.......2002-09-10

A great tech/business crossover book. Provides specifics on how the technology described can help your business save time and money by automating responses to customers. James has really developed an important technology that can have a positive impact on many businesses if they chose to apply it.

Book Description

"Is it possible to find or create work with purpose and passion - and still earn a good living?" For years, Professor Mark Albion - Harvard Business School wunderkind, entrepreneur, and Fortune 500 consultant - asked himself this question. Then, in 1988, Albion quit his job...and began a life of service to others. On Finding Work That Matters, "Dr. Mark" (as he is known to his several million devoted monthly newsletter readers) invites you to take that same leap of faith. Join the New York Times bestselling author of Making a Life, Making a Living to start answering the tough but necessary questions to become a "working visionary":

What dreams have I abandoned in order to "make a living"?

What are my true skills - the ones that will bring me the most fulfillment while benefiting others?

How much will it actually cost to re-create my life?

How did others do it? What lessons do their stories hold?

Book Description

The boomers are rejecting conventional notions of retirement and crossing into a new stage of work--and their energy could transform what work means for all Americans.

The movement of millions of sixty-somethings into a new phase in their working lives constitutes one of the most significant social trends in this country in nearly half a century. Encore describes the competing visions for work that are already lining up to capture the hearts and minds, and the time, of waves of baby boomers who are not content, or affluent enough, to spend their next twenty or thirty years on the golf course. Baby boomers are searching for a calling in the second half of life; they are moving beyond midlife yet refusing to phase out or fade away.

If the old dream of the Golden Years was the Freedom from Work, the dream of this new wave is the Freedom to Work--in new ways, on new terms, to new ends. As their numbers begin to swell, these individuals hold the potential not only to transform work in America, but to create a society that balances the joys and responsibilities of contribution across the generations--in other words, one that works better for everyone.

Customer Reviews:

Not too Late.......2007-10-05

It is impossible to ignore all the gloomy predictions about what will soon happen to the Social Security system in the next two decades. Newspapers, magazines and television news shows are filled with items about the inevitable collapse of the system as the huge baby boom generation leaves the work force and eases its way into a retirement lifestyle largely dependent on monthly Social Security checks. Experts tell us that the system is bound to collapse under the combined weight of a huge increase in the number of beneficiaries and the massive decline in the number of people paying into the system.

Proposed solutions to the problem have generally fallen into two categories, or some combination of the two: increased payroll taxes on those still working and contributing to the system or decreased benefits to those receiving checks. Marc Freedman, in Encore: Finding Work That Matters in the Second Half of Life, offers a third possibility. Friedman argues that the system could be saved, requiring no increase in taxes or decreases in benefits, by simply offering incentives to workers to stay in the workforce longer and continuing to pay Social Security taxes and delaying collection of their checks.

Encore serves as a handbook for those nearing the end of their careers either because they have been pushed out the door into an early retirement or because they have become so burned out by their jobs that they leave voluntarily. Freedman knows that, at that point in their lives, many people begin to think about finding the kind of job that they have dreamed about for years while working at something they may not have enjoyed. They often find that they can afford to trade a certain amount of income for more meaningful work and they are anxious to make that trade. But where do they start?

Freedman is suggesting that potential retirees should not settle for the traditional, and usually low paying, "bridge jobs" that are so common today, jobs that are used to ease a person into retirement over a two or three year period. As he points out, there are increasing worker shortages in fields like education, health care, and the non-profit sector, areas in which a person contemplating a career shift in his fifties still has plenty of time to find a meaningful second career. In fact, some are likely to find that their second career will last almost as long as their first one.
Of course none of this will be possible unless employers and the government join together to make it possible for older workers to stay in the work force. Employers need to understand that retaining, rather than discarding, experienced workers is good for business because that experience will be almost impossible to replace from a shrinking pool of potential employees. The government must offer incentives to workers to keep working at least to their normal retirement age of 65-67 years of age so that Social Security taxes can continue to be collected from them. Those who work beyond that age should be exempt from paying Social Security taxes because, by simply not drawing from the system, they are helping to keep in solvent.

Encore is filled with inspirational stories told in their own words by people who have carved out meaningful second careers for themselves. The book's appendix is filled with suggestions on how to begin a second career and has contact information for organizations in several fields that offer information and advice on how to do just that. This is an important book.

Only Part of the Picture.......2007-09-02

Like many books targeted to mid-life professionals, Marc Freedman addresses retirees who are physically and financially in a position to make choices. He makes an appealing yet dangerous assumption: Older people will be drawn to opportunities where they can make a contribution. They're more concerned with contributing than earning. They're cooperative, not competitive.

To be sure, many people over 40, 50 or 60 are eager to help. Many want to be teachers, nurses and social workers. But some of us are just not suited to the helping professions. And some of us actually believe that, no matter how old we are, we want to get paid based on contribution. We want to get raises, rewards, promotions and perks.

One reason so many mid-life career changers end up self-employed is that there's no other way to follow the profit motive. I recently met a lawyer who finished law school in his late 40's. Now in his early 60's, he has always worked for himself and done very well in a niche specialty. If he tried to work for a law firm, he'd be lucky to get hired as a part-time paralegal.

Along with the nurses and teachers, Freedman introduces us to a former teacher who now works as a greeter at Wal-Mart. Unfortunately, these stories reassure potential employers: "See, older people don't care about money or status."

Freedman provides a list of resources. Instead I would encourage mid-life career changers to seek one-to-one consulting from career coaches or else undertaken their own programs. If you're considering a business, go to the SBA or take entrepreneurship classes.

Towards the end of the book, Freedman identifies elements of the infrastructure (taxes, health insurance and more) that no longer make sense and actually harm older workers. He quotes statistics showing that older workers use health care "1.4 to 2.2 times" as much as younger workers. It's not clear what orders of magnitude are associated with those numbers. I buy my own health insurance (you can always choose to opt out of an employer's system) and pay very little because I have a big deductible. I've reviewed several books, here on amazon, that encourage everyone to take a skeptical look at those "essential" medical tests.

Bottom Line: Encore features some very impressive baby boomers who have made significant changes in their lives. Those who want to work for money fulfilling social responsibilities by donating to worthy causes, will have to look elsewhere.

ENCORE tells the stories of 'encore career' pioneers.......2007-08-04

ENCORE: FINDING WORK THAT MATTERS IN THE SECOND HALF OF LIFE tells of those who left corporate and other careers to find more meaningful work - something which is becoming a social trend businesses need to take note of. ENCORE tells the stories of 'encore career' pioneers who are not content nor rich enough to retire: they are locating second careers late in life which calls for new work and more meaning - and their numbers hold the key to a new social and business transformation movement, so any serious business library and public libraries catering to business professionals needs ENCORE as part of their collection.

A clear call for effective action.......2007-07-26

In a society built on visions of social and economic utopias (and, too often, nightmares), Marc Freedman offers the most tenable rethinking of work I've seen in a long time.

I'm particularly taken with his approach to our contemporary understandings of retirement. The chapter on "inventing the golden years" is a shrewd and apt use of the historian's power to make or break our collective perceptions of the things we consider to be natural, (when we consider them at all).

It's clear that he draws on a lot of research when spelling-out his vision of both our present needs and our future potential, but the text is quite engaging, and the panels/profiles--the voices and faces of people in encore careers--really give life to the distinctions he draws between "encores" and "bridge careers" & "full retirement" as well as to the experiences of people who have longed to "stop climbing the ladder and start making a difference."

The idea of "Encore Fellowships" strikes me as an actionable and promising, not to mention exciting, way to help the system work for people whose "time gets long," as they say back home, but have no intention of turning "the golden years" into "the walmart years."

More useful gift than a gold watch for someone nearing the end of their primary career.......2007-07-19

I just reviewed this book for LifeTwo.com and found "Encore" to be an enjoyable, quick read with a lot of insight and useful information with data to support author Marc Freedman's positions. Among Freedman's observations that I found most interesting:

1. Careers are getting shorter while lives are getting longer.
2. Work is no longer considered bad for your health.
3. People who think they are retiring end up are increasingly getting bored and then returning back to the wok force.
4. Encore careers benefit society as a whole.

Add these up and you get a social trend. Looking at it individually, if you are in the middle age then the takeaway from this book is relevant and applicable career advice for the next phase of your life.

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The Everything Guide to Personal Finance for Single Mothers Book: A Step-by-step Plan for Achieving Financial Independence (Everything: Business and Personal Finance)
Susan Reynolds , and Robert Bexton
Manufacturer: Adams Media Corporation
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Budgeting & Money Management | Personal Finance | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
General | Personal Finance | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Money Management for Women | Personal Finance | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Single Parents | Parenting | Parenting & Families | Subjects | Books
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The Complete Single Mother: Reassuring Answers to Your Most Challenging Concerns

ASIN: 1598692488

Book Description

Are you a single mother who worries about your family's financial future? The Everything Guide to Personal Finance for Single Mothers has the savvy financial advice you really need. Packed with helpful tips and sound financial practices, this practical yet inspirational guide leads you on a step-by-step journey to financial independence and security.

This guide features tools to help you:

Assess current financial health
Set goals near and far
Narrow the wage gap
Conquer debt

From how to get out of debt, establish good credit, and qualify for a mortgage to opening a college fund, planning for retirement, and even starting your own business, The Everything Guide to Personal Finance for Single Mothers is the financial advisor you need to secure your future--and that of your children.

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The Single Parent's Money Guide
Emily Card , and Christie Watts Kelly
Manufacturer: Macmillan General Reference
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Financial Planning | Personal Finance | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
General | Personal Finance | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0028611195

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Need A Godly Grandmother? Learn From This One!

"Living Well" Is Such An Attractive Idea

One of the top books on this topic

Living Well as a Single Mom: A Practical Guide to Managing Your Money, Your Kids, and Your Personal Life
Cynthia Yates
Manufacturer: Harvest House Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Motherhood | Family Relationships | Parenting & Families | Subjects | Books
General | Parenting | Parenting & Families | Subjects | Books
Single Parents | Parenting | Parenting & Families | Subjects | Books
General | Parenting & Families | Subjects | Books
General | Christian Living | Christianity | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
Money & Values | Personal Finance | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
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The Courage To Be a Single Mother: Becoming Whole Again After Divorce

The Single Mother's Survival Guide

Single Parenting That Works: Six Keys to Raising Happy, Healthy Children in a Single-Parent Home

Going It Alone: Meeting the Challenges of Being a Single Mom

The Single Parent Resource

ASIN: 0736916512

Book Description

Combining her own experiences as a single mom with the insight of other moms, Cynthia Yates—author of Living Well on One Income—shares the practical and emotional way to live life well when a woman is raising her children alone.

With empathy and biblical wisdom Cynthia addresses topics that are relevant topics including how to:

cope with the fear, responsibility, and management of a family
lean on the Lord and the church family for the sake of the kids
manage the financial burden of being a single parent

With suggestions, guidance, and advice to assist mothers with kids of all ages, this resource will become the key to support and networking that all these women need.

Customer Reviews:

Need A Godly Grandmother? Learn From This One!.......2007-08-21

Cynthia Yates is that older woman and mentor you always wish you had: now she's not only available, she's writing directly to you as a single mom, giving you helpful hints about how to take care of yourself, how to make decisions and choices, how to move forward, and how to raise great kids.

As a grandmother of three, Yates writes to younger women without preaching, but does manage to convey her wisdom and experience. If you're a woman of faith who is struggling to balance all the demands and challenges of raising great kids in a one-parent household, you'll find help and hope here.

The subtitle gives you very good clues about the content here: you'll get advice about financial issues, discipline and child care, and also about how to move forward on your own journey as a person and parent. Good advice, from a friendly and effective writer.

Dr. David Frisbie
The Center for Marriage & Family Studies
Author of: Raising Great Kids on Your Own: A Guide and Companion for Every Single Parent

"Living Well" Is Such An Attractive Idea.......2007-06-05

Most days I don't worry about "living well" --- I'm just hanging in there, taking things one day at a time, trying to stay calm and focused. Right after my divorce I didn't believe "living well" was even an option for me. Some days I still doubt it. But I am moving forward, step by step. This book did not tell me anything new, but it did remind me of some useful truth. I am grateful to the author for taking the time to remind me of these things.

Barbara Sheldon, M.S.W.
I also highly recommend: Raising Great Kids on Your Own: A Guide and Companion for Every Single Parent

One of the top books on this topic.......2006-04-01

Mothers are an essential influence in their children's lives. "I want to make the strongest case I can for your child's need for you," Yates says. "Motherhood is not a trial run. I exhort you to try to be in place for your children - especially if they are young. Provide stability and security for them and nurture them. Never forget that you are the first and foremost teacher your children will ever have."

Living Well as a Single Mom contains candid advice on self-care, time management, finances, choosing safe childcare, discipline, peer pressure, and emergency preparedness. Additional resources are listed at the end of each chapter for quick reference.

Being a single mom is an exhausting job with more to do in a day than can humanly be done. The fact is, the buck stops with the single mom and she can use all the support she can get. People tend to distance themselves from single moms. Yates comes alongside and encourages women to do what must be done, one day at a time.

A speaker on the well-received Divorce Care video program, Yates is also the author of Ditch the Diet and the Budget, and Living Well in Retirement. An award-winning humor columnist, Yates is the proud grandmother of three "grammy" awards.

With straight talk, Living Well as a Single Mom gives nuts and bolts advice, and is one of the top books on this topic. It's a road map to hope in an impossible situation. Put this book in the hands of any single mom, even if she's been single for years. - PeggySue Wells, Christian Book Previews.com

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Single Parent's Money Guide
Emily (et al) Card
Manufacturer: Macmillan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000O6CK2G

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Single Parent's Money Guide
Emily (et al) Card
Manufacturer: Macmillan General Reference
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000O96Q5A

Book Description

In Managing Competitive Crisis Martyn Wright examines how competitive crisis affected the management of work relations in Britain between 1979 and 1991. Based on longitudinal research and interviews with fifty major companies and employers associations, Managing Competitive Crisis is a unique book of topical interest for students of organizational behavior, human resource management and industrial relations and for those seeking to understand the future direction of European political economy.

Managing competitive crisis: Strategic choice and the reform of workrules. (Recensions/Book reviews).: An article from: Relations Industrielles/Industrial Relations

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Managing competitive crisis: Strategic choice and the reform of workrules. (Recensions/Book reviews).: An article from: Relations Industrielles/Industrial Relations
Malcolm Rimmer
Manufacturer: Relations Industrielles
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
ASIN: B0008IKPF4
Release Date: 2005-07-28

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Relations Industrielles/Industrial Relations, published by Relations Industrielles on June 22, 2001. The length of the article is 836 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Managing competitive crisis: Strategic choice and the reform of workrules. (Recensions/Book reviews).
Author: Malcolm Rimmer
Publication: Relations Industrielles/Industrial Relations (Refereed)
Date: June 22, 2001
Publisher: Relations Industrielles
Volume: 56 Issue: 3 Page: 617(2)

Article Type: Book Review

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