Biological Adaptation in Human Societies: a ‘Basic Needs’ Approach

The groundzero premise (so to speak) of the biological sciences is that survival and reproduction is the basic, continuing, inescapable problem for all living organisms; life is at bottom a survival enterprise. It follows that survival is the paradigmatic problem for human societies as well; it is a prerequisite for any other, more exalted objectives. Although the term adaptation is also familiar to social scientists, until recently it has been used only selectively, and often very imprecisely. Here a more rigorous and systematic approach to the concept of adaptation is proposed in terms of basic needs. The concept of basic human needs has a venerable history – tracing back at least to Plato and Aristotle. Yet the development of a formal theory of basic needs has lagged far behind. The reason is that the concept of objective, measurable needs is inconsistent with the theoretical assumptions that have dominated economic and social theory for most of this century, namely, valuerelativism and cultural determinism. Nevertheless, there have been a number of efforts over the past 30 years to develop more universalistic criteria for basic needs, both for use in monitoring social wellbeing (social indicators) and for public policy formulation. Here I will advance a strictly biological approach to perationalizing the concept of basic needs. It is argued that much of our economic and social life (and the motivations behind our revealed preferences and subjective utility assessments), not to mention the actions of modern governments, are either directly or indirectly related to the meeting of our basic survival needs. Furthermore, these needs can be specified to a first approximation and supported empirically to varying degrees, with the obvious caveat that there are major individual and contextual variations in their application. Equally important, complex human societies generate an array of instrumental needs which, as the term implies, serve as intermediaries between our primary needs and the specific economic, cultural and political contexts within which these needs must be satisfied. An explicit framework of Survival Indicators, including a profile of Personal Fitness and an aggregate index of Population Fitness, is briefly elucidated. Finally, it is suggested that a basic needs paradigm could provide an analytical tool (a biologic) for examining more closely the relationship between our social, economic and political behaviors and institutions and their survival consequences, as well as providing a predictive tool of some value.     

论企业核心竞争力的文化根基

企业核心竞争力是最近几年来影响较大也是很重要的一个企业战略管理概念。文章从企业文化、创新、信息化建设、品牌、人才战略、价值观和企业理念等方面探讨企业核心竞争力形成的文化根源。     

社会保障税的税制思考

开征社会保障税势在必行。作为筹集社会保险资金的主要途径,社会保障税具有强制性和固定性,在社会、经济发展过程中起着特殊的作用。社会保障税的设计要充分考虑劳动者和政府的利益。结合一些国际经验和我国的实际情况,对符合我国国情的社会保障税制基本框架作一些研究和探索。     

我国资产投资行为对企业竞争优势的影响——来自中国制造业上市公司的经验数据

企业是投资决策的最终制定者,理解企业投资行为十分必要.本文以沪深两市制造业2003-2005年的财务数据为基础,抽取了1870家样本公司,对投资行为与企业竞争优势之间的关系进行实证分析.发现滞后一期的固定资产投资和当期的企业竞争优势显著正相关,滞后一期和滞后二期的无形资产投资均与当期的企业竞争优势不显著.     

The Economics and Bioeconomics of Folk and Scientific Classification

Synopsis This paper is the product of a collaboration between a biologist (Ghiselin 1997) who works on the philosophy of classification and an economist (Landa 1981, 1994) who works on the ‘Economics of Identity’: how and why people classify people based on identity in the context of a theory of ethnic trading networks. In developing the ‘bioeconomics’ (the synthesis of economics with biology) of classification, we crossed a number of disciplinary boundaries—anthropology, economics, sociology, biology, and cognitive psychology including evolutionary psychology’s ‘fast and frugal’ heuristics. Using a bioeconomics approach, we argue that folk classifications—the classifications used by ordinary persons—have much in common with scientific classifications: underlying both is the need for economy of information processing in the brain, for the efficient organization of knowledge, and for efficiency of information acquisition and transmission of information to others. Both evolve as a result of trial and error, but in science there is relatively more foresight, understanding, and planning.     

转型时期弱势群体的社会救助

在社会保障制度的建立和发展过程中,社会救助最早建立.但是,现代的社会救助与早期的社会救助有本质上的区别.转型时期弱势群体的社会救助,是建立在一定的法规之上,具有社会性、制度性和强制性的社会保障制度.     

微探学生管理工作实务

做好班级管理工作 :一、要把学生的学习作为中心工作来抓 ;二、要把坚持思想政治教育先行作为一个根本点来抓 ;三、要坚持着眼于人和 ,把立制度 ,重考核作为立足点 ;四、要树立“管”的观念 ,注意管理方式的运用 ;五、要坚持把班干部队伍建设作为重点来抓。     

武汉市人口与零售商业网点分布优化配置研究

本文根据湖北和武汉统计年鉴等资料中的人口数据和社会商品零售额数据 ,拟合出反映人口分布和商业网点分布的计量模型。然后根据模型的含义 ,并综合考虑其它影响商业网点配置的因素 ,提出适合武汉市人口分布的商业网点优化配置的合理性建议     

嘉兴农村社会阶层分化对基层民主政治建设的影响

改革开放以来，嘉兴农村社会阶层发生很大的变化，出现了许多新的阶层。这对促进农村政治民主化的发展、完善目前正在实施的村民自治制度具有重要的作用。但应当看到目前嘉兴农村基层民主建设尚存在一些问题，这些问题的存在与农村阶层分化不到位，以及群体性和组织性不强有着直接的关系。正确认识农村社会结构变化的规律，不断增强它的群体性和组织程度，对促进农村政治发展的民主化具有重要意义。     

中国就业歧视现象及其危害分析

近年来，由于就业人口的增多、就业压力增大等原因，中国的就业歧视现象呈现出愈演愈烈的趋势。就业歧视不仅破坏了平等竞争的就业环境，而且还将危害社会的正常发展，给社会的正常秩序带来不安定的隐患。