text:
- Research
- Open Access
Effect of occupational mobility and health status on life satisfaction of Chinese residents of different occupations: logistic diagonal mobility models analysis of cross-sectional data on eight Chinese provinces
- Ying Liang1Email author and
- Peiyi Lu2
© Liang and Lu; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2014
- Received: 23 December 2013
- Accepted: 30 January 2014
- Published: 8 February 2014
Life satisfaction research in China is in development, requiring new perspectives for enrichment. In China, occupational mobility is accompanied by changes in economic liberalization and the emergence of occupational stratification. On the whole, however, occupational mobility has rarely been used as an independent variable. Health status is always used as the observed or dependent variable in studies of the phenomenon and its influencing factors. A research gap still exists for enriching this field.
The data used in this study were obtained from the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS). The study included nine provinces in China. The survey was conducted from 1989 to 2009.Every survey involved approximately 4400 families or 19,000 individual samples and parts of community data.
First, we built a 5 × 5 social mobility table and calculated life satisfaction of Chinese residents of different occupations in each table. Second, gender, age, marital status, education level, annual income and hukou, health status, occupational mobility were used as independent variables. Lastly, we used logistic diagonal mobility models to analyze the relationship between life satisfaction and the variables. Model 1 was the basic model, which consisted of the standard model and controlled variables and excluded drift variables. Model 2 was the total model, which consisted of all variables of interest in this study. Model 3 was the screening model, which excluded the insignificant drift effect index in Model 2.
From the perspective of the analysis of controlled variables, health conditions, direction, and distance of occupational mobility significantly affected life satisfaction of Chinese residents of different occupations. (1) From the perspective of health status, respondents who have not been sick or injured had better life satisfaction than those who had been sick or injured. (2) From the perspective of occupational mobility direction, the coefficients of occupational mobility in the models are less than 0, which means that upward mobility negatively affects life satisfaction. (3) From the perspective of distance, when analyzing mobility distance in Models 2 and 3, a greater distance indicates better life satisfaction.
- Occupational mobility
- Life satisfaction
- Health status
- Chinese residents of different occupations
- Logistic DMMs
Life satisfaction and its influencing factors
As an important index of the quality of human life, cognition, and emotion, life satisfaction is often discussed in countries experiencing a transition period. The concept of life satisfaction stems from subjective well-being, people's cognitive evaluation of their life [1] and the subjective overall rating of individuals based on their own defining criteria. Life satisfaction is also called subjective quality of life, society members' evaluation of their various environments. Life satisfaction, along with the creation of prevention and intervention programs, is a discipline that aims to improve the quality of life of all individuals [2].
Life satisfaction can generally be measured in two ways: through a one-dimensional model or through a multidimensional model. A one-dimensional model is used to measure overall satisfaction in life. The theoretical assumption is that individuals assess their life satisfaction based on their perception of general life; this has nothing to do with special life satisfaction [3]. A typical one-dimensional model is a single questionnaire that asks respondents about their overall life satisfaction. This measurement is commonly used in large-scale, nationwide surveys, even in international surveys [4–7]. A multidimensional model can measure both specific life satisfaction and overall life satisfaction. This model is commonly used in small-scale sample surveys and involves complex scoring. There are many pros and cons with this model; hence, consensus regarding its use in psychology has not been reached [3].
Most studies of life satisfaction have focused on its influencing factors. The best predictors are socio-economic status and perceived health status [8]. Meanwhile, many other studies have focused on the effect of different groups' socio-economic status on life satisfaction. Economic satisfaction and life satisfaction are strongly associated in poor countries, whereas home life satisfaction is strongly associated with life satisfaction in rich countries [9]. Self-rated health is a predominant variable of life satisfaction and most explained variables [10]. Few studies have explored the relationship between health and life satisfaction, especially among the Chinese residents of different occupations.
Studies of life satisfaction are common in China, and research perspectives on this subject are diverse. First, many studies of different groups have been conducted. Many groups have focused on old people [11–14], whereas several studies have focused on children and adolescents, such as AIDS orphans [15] and children of migrant workers in Shanghai [16]. Several other studies have investigated special groups, such as research and development scientists [17]. Second, many studies have focused on factors of Chinese life satisfaction. Perceived fairness affects Chinese people's evaluation of life satisfaction [4]. For Chinese peasants, communist party membership and political participation can improve life satisfaction. Economic growth and low inflation can also improve life satisfaction [6]. Third, some studies have focused on the reasons for low life satisfaction. Some others have described Chinese life satisfaction between 1990 and 2010 and find that similar to Central and Eastern Europe, China is in a track transition: a U-shaped swing and a zero or downward trend. This transition can be attributed in part to the growing income inequality [18]. These observations indicate that life satisfaction research in China is in development, requiring new perspectives for enrichment.
Occupational mobility in Chinese society
With the rapid economic development of China, Chinese society faces a complex period of transition. Under the occupational stratification background, occupational mobility has gained considerable attention. In 2010, the urbanization level was at 46.6%, an increase of 28.7 percentage points from that in 1978. In 2011, the total migrant population of China was approximately 230 million, accounting for 17% of the total population of the country [19]. China's social structure is changing. A prominent aspect of this change is huge demographic changes in the occupational structure. Business and politics engaged in the management and service occupations have increased significantly, and many farmers and workers have changed their careers [20].
With the lessons China has learned about the reform boom, research about occupational mobility has also become very popular. China initially formed a model of the modern mechanism of social mobility. This mechanism for a diversified and open channel of social mobility is an important factor. Social mobility has opened gradually in the post-economic reform era, as seen in rural residents coming to towns for work, urban citizens becoming self-employed or having private businesses, and colleges and universities restoring their enrollment. Therefore, the institutional arrangements and policies defining the social status patterns of the people have been directly broken.
Occupational mobility refers to the change in position of people in the social professional hierarchy. Reasonable occupational mobility is a necessary condition for social development and an important coordination mechanism for a functioning society. Work is an important part of human life [21]. Sociology considers social status to depend on three factors: power, wealth, and prestige. Wealth and prestige are difficult to operate in empirical studies. Career reflects power, wealth, and prestige to a large extent in modern society [20]. Why then do people shift to a different career? Occupational mobility occurs when employees want a higher pay or the company hopes to have a more efficient staff [22]. As rational individuals, most workers change jobs to achieve upward mobility and higher economic and non-economic compensation packages (such as a superior work environment and better promotion prospects) [23]. Occupation is a good indicator of social position, and a long-standing research tradition in sociology documents how to construct measures of rank and class using occupational information.
In China, occupational mobility is accompanied by changes in economic liberalization and the emergence of social mobility. Under the conditions of the post-1970s Chinese market economy, the huge transformation of social institutions and structure in China led to large-scale social mobility and occupational stratification. In 1959, China introduced the household registration system, the Hukou, which restricted citizens to a fixed city or a rural area. Rural residents were prohibited from city, inter-firm, or inter-sector mobility, which was extremely difficult before the implementation of reforms [24, 25]. Since the economic reform of the 1970s, China has undergone tremendous transformation in society, economy, and cultural structures [26]. In the resumption of the financial position of China, the rapid economic development in the city created gaps between urban and rural areas [27, 28]. This development led many rural residents to the cities to look for work and a better life. Thus, China underwent the largest scale of social mobility in the late 1970s.
Occupational mobility studies in China have matured. First, scholars not only have studied the basic conditions, characteristics, and factors of occupational mobility as a whole but have also focused on the two important indicators of intergenerational and intragenerational mobility, which reflect the level and status of social development. In addition, the occupational mobility of migrant workers in the city has become a focus of academic attention [29]. System changes have affected the overall pattern of occupational mobility and the main factors in the attainment of the elite of occupational status [30]. The evolving political and economic institutions in China have conceivably created uncertainties and unpredictable patterns through research for status attainment, career mobility into elite groups, and social network approaches to occupational processes [31].
Second, many studies have focused on the socio-economic aspects and causes of occupational mobility. Family characteristics, social capital, and labor market structure changes significantly affect gender differences in career mobility [32]. A scholar compared groups with high and low levels of education in terms of occupational mobility pattern and income differences and found that occupational mobility increased among workers with high levels of education [33]. A substantial increase in labor supply may inhibit the tendency of the low-end labor market occupational mobility of workers. In addition, the Chinese occupational mobility ratio has yet to reach the level of developed countries 30 years ago, which was quite low. These findings indicate that there are barriers to occupational mobility. Such barriers can be divided into personal and institutional barriers and barriers to entry and exit [34].
Third, occupational mobility is sometimes used as an independent variable to explore its effect on certain economic variables. For low-education workers, occupational mobility is the most important factor to improve their income levels. By contrast, for highly educated workers, occupational mobility has no effect on income, and the most important factor affecting their income stratification is human capital [35]. On the whole, however, occupational mobility has rarely been used as an independent variable, to study its impact on those social psychology variables.
Health status of Chinese residents of different occupations
Given that China is the second largest economy in the world, the health of the Chinese is a popular research topic. Research perspectives are also diverse. First, many studies have focused on the incidence of specific diseases [36], such as chronic kidney disease [37] and diabetes [38]. Some studies have focused on the control of diseases, especially of schistosomiasis [39, 40], and of smoking [41, 42]. Overall, the development of health status in China still requires improvement. For example, resources and sustainability are important issues [43]. Second, many studies have focused on giving explanations and suggestions for Chinese health. The physical activity of adults has declined in the past 15 years because of higher educational institutions and housing infrastructure, etc. [44]. Researchers suggested primary health care [45], emphasizing the importance of the spread of health literacy [46]. Third, with improving environmental awareness, many studies have focused on the effect of environmental damage on public health. In China, rapid economic development has brought environmental problems, especially water and air pollution, which has affected public health [47–49].
For Chinese residents of different occupations, using health as an observed or dependent variable to study the phenomenon and its influencing factors is the most common research idea. Health inequality is a popular topic. Many scholars believe that the situation in China is serious [50]. Gaps exist in the region and between social groups [51]. Many studies have investigated the health inequalities between rural and urban areas and have found that the gap is increasing [52, 53]. In addition, factors that affect workers' health have been discussed in great detail. In China, many people from the countryside go to the cities to work. Because of the institutional barrier, the city's welfare and facilities do not benefit all residents of different occupations. Workers have a higher prevalence of depression symptoms than the general population. Self-rated health and socio-economic status negatively affect depression [54]. The huge gap between low income and high medical costs significantly prevents health-seeking behavior [55].
These findings draw our attention and reflection. Few studies have used the health status of Chinese residents of different occupations as an independent variable to study its effect on other variables. This is a very important and integral part of health research. A 20-year follow-up study found that baseline life satisfaction is related to high-risk suicide, which is partly mediated by poor health behavior [56]. Thus, the health status of the effect mechanism of other variables, such as sociology, psychology, and economics, needs to be studied for greater perspective.
Research questions, research hypotheses and research objectives
The review of literature revealed that life satisfaction, occupational mobility, and health in China are in development and are constantly improving. China is undergoing a new round of economic and social reform, and occupational stratification is rampant. In this background, discussing these issues is very meaningful. We are wondering whether these three issues have certain relationships. The dependent variable in this article is the life satisfaction of Chinese residents of different occupations, then how are they under different sociological population control variables statistically? Thus, we propose our first hypothesis.
Hypothesis 1: There are significant differences between the life satisfactions of Chinese residents of different occupations under different control variables.
Although the health of Chinese residents of different occupations has been discussed in depth, few studies have used the health of Chinese residents of different occupations as an independent variable to study its effect on other variables. In the background of the growing emphasis on life satisfaction, we hypothesize that the situation can improve a person's life satisfaction and vice versa. These issues are what we discuss and try to resolve. Thus, we propose our second hypothesis.
Hypothesis 2: Health status has impact on the life satisfaction of Chinese residents of different occupations.
China began its reform in the late 1970s with the set-up of the market economy. This reform led not only to large-scale social mobility but also to significant occupational mobility. As a normal social phenomenon under these conditions, occupational mobility developed based on a combination of social and individual factors. For a person's life and social development, occupational mobility produces a crucial effect. Are there any relationships on their evaluation of life satisfaction? If so, what is the mechanism? Thus, we propose our third hypothesis.
Hypothesis 3: Occupational mobility has impact on the life satisfaction of Chinese residents of different occupations. And the impact mechanism is complex.
This study used an open database for the health and living conditions of Chinese residents of different occupations. First, we used a logistic diagonal mobility model to explore the effect of the diagonal flow of the sociological and demographic variables of Chinese life satisfaction. Second, we used decade tracking data to test the effects of occupational mobility on people's life satisfaction. We study the effect of occupational mobility on people's life satisfaction with the DMM models. We then compared the explanatory power of social choice theory and life satisfaction by calculating the change in different sectors of life satisfaction after the occupational mobility gradient. Finally, we analyzed the effect of health status on life satisfaction. This study aimed to (1) provide the life satisfaction differences in Chinese residents of different occupations in terms of gender, age, education, and other basic sociological demographic variables and to improve life satisfaction research and development in China; to (2) investigate occupational mobility and the health effect mechanism of life satisfaction of Chinese residents of different occupations and gain an in-depth understanding of the life satisfaction factors of residents of different occupations; and to (3) provide advice on the life satisfaction of different occupations from the perspective of occupational mobility and health.
Data resources
The data used in this study were obtained from the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS)a, which was conducted by North Carolina University and the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. The study included nine provinces (Liaoning, Heilongjiang, Jiangsu, Shandong, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Guangxi, and Guizhou) in China, which are different in terms of geographic characteristics, economic development level, public resources, and health index. The surveys were conducted in 1989, 1991, 1993, 1997, 2000, 2004, 2006, and 2009. Every survey involved approximately 4400 families or 19000 individual samples and parts of community data. This survey used multi-stages and random clustering methods, where the variables included were gender, education level, marital status, and income. The representativeness of the sample was relatively fair.
Research objects
First, we screened the samples based on the following principles. (1) We selected samples from 1989 and 2009 to secure the rationality of the analysis of occupational mobility. (2) We excluded unemployed samples from 1989. (3) We screened the samples and eliminated those who responded "I do not know" to the question "What do you think about your life today?" (4) We selected samples aged 30 to 60. (5) We deleted part of other variables that lacked observation values.
Distribution of Samples (N = 1260)
Proportion of samples (%)
Life satisfaction
Regional Distribution
167 (13.25)
121 (9.60)
139 (11.03)
161 (12.78)
198 (15.71)
156 (12.38)
194 (15.40)
124 (9.84)
Variable measurement
Dependent variables
Life satisfaction. Many methods can be used to measure the dependent variables. But they can get broadly consistent results in the multivariate analysis [57]. And the questionnaire of CHNS used a single-dimensional model. This study measures life satisfaction by subjective assessment. In the research design, responses to the question "What do you think about your life?" are divided into two categories. The "very good" and "good" answers are taken as good life satisfaction (code 1), whereas the "fair," "bad," and "very bad" answers are taken as bad life satisfaction (code 0).
Independent variables
- (1)
Sociology population control variables
In this study, the sociology population control variables were gender, age, marital status, education level, annual income, and Hukou status.
Gender and age were the regular controlled variables. In this study, male and female were coded as 1 and 0, respectively.
We also examined the effect of marital status on life satisfaction. Our study classified marital status into three, namely, single (coded as 1), married (2), and others (including divorced, widowed, and separated; 3).
The degree of education was classified as primary school (coded as 1), secondary school (2), high school (including technical secondary school and vocational school; 3), and university and college (including master's degree and above; 4).
Income level is measured by the yearly income of the respondent and takes a natural logarithm. Total income includes salary, various bonuses, subsidies, home garden/orchard income, group and family farm income, livestock and poultry farming collective and family income, group and family fishing income, household small handicraft and small home business income, and all other incomes.
- (2)
Health status
- (3)
Occupational mobility
Statistical description of variables
Standard deviation
Education level
Primary school
Secondary school
High school (including technical secondary school and vocational school)
University and college (including master's degree or above)
Household registration
Marital status
Others (including divorced, widowed, and separated)
Yearly income
Occupational status in 1989
Service class
Regular non-physical class
Skilled workers
Half-skilled workers
Occupational status in 2009
Service class
Regular non-physical class
Skilled workers
Half-skilled workers
Health status
Life statisfaction
Fair (including good, very good)
Others (including middle, bad, very bad)
According to the CHNS, the interviewees who were surveyed on their main occupation and occupational classification in 1989 and 2009 are slightly different. We classified the occupation as follows: service class in high/low-level administrative personnel, professional and technical personnel and large/small business managers included 1 senior professional and technical worker. Managers numbered 3, while administrative officer/managers numbered 8. Routine non-manual class included 2 general professionals, and technical workers numbered 4 among the general office staff. The respondents included 9 soldiers and police officers, and 12 athletes, actors, and performers (in the 1989 survey, Volume No. 14). Skilled workers/supervisors included 6 skilled workers and 10 drivers. Semi-skilled/unskilled workers included 7 non-skilled workers or skilled workers, and 11 service workers (included in the questionnaire in 1989, No. 12). Rural residents included 5 farmers, fishermen, and hunters.
Finally, the 5 × 5 motion table is composed of the original and existing classes. The table indicates the three basic perspectives of occupational mobility. First, when occupational mobility occurs, the main diagonal indicates no occupational mobility, and the code is 0. Non-diagonal indicates the occurrence of occupational mobility, and the code is 1. Second, in terms of the directions of occupational mobility, the diagonal that exhibits downward mobility is coded −1, whereas the one that exhibits upward mobility is coded 1. Third, the distance of occupational mobility indicates the variables between the start and the end. Table 2 shows the methodology of variables and the basic statistics.
Analysis model (logistic diagonal mobility models)
where X iiω and Z iiϖ are the drift (including the three factors of whether the drift exists, direction, and distance of the drift) and controlled (including the five factors of gender, age, household registration, education level, and income level) variables. Correspondingly, β ω and β ϖ are the variable index of drift and controlled variables, respectively. In this study, the logistic diagonal mobility models are applied because life satisfaction is a classified variable.
Descriptive analysis of types of occupational mobility and life satisfaction
Descriptive analysis of occupational mobility and life satisfaction
Service class
Regular non-physical class
Skilled workers
Half-skilled workers
Service class
Regular non-physical class
Skilled workers
Half-skilled workers
Mixed effects analysis
A clear stage of life satisfaction existed in the perspective of the relationship between current occupation and life satisfaction. The percentage of the service class who thought they have good life satisfaction is 66.02%, and those of the regular physical class, skilled workers, half-skilled workers, and farmers are 56.52%, 44.76%, 42.32%, and 44.02%, respectively. The maximum stage among the different stages is 66.02% to 44.02% = 22.00%. In the perspective of origin class (the occupational status in 1989) and its relationship with the life satisfaction, the difference still exists but the stage difference is not as significant as the current occupation. As 52.17% is the highest life satisfaction, as rated by a respondent who is a skilled worker in 1989, the difference between each stage is 16.88% (52.17% to 35.29%). The drift effects are mixed when considering the impact of origin and destination class on life satisfaction only.
Excluding the effects of occupational mobility
From the position of the diagonal in Table 3, except for occupational mobility effect (only concerning the stage of non-migrant life satisfaction in different social classes), the percentages of Chinese residents of different occupations who have good life satisfaction in the service class, regular non-physical class, skilled worker class, half-skilled worker class, and farmers are 60.61%, 50.00, 52.00%, 53.23%, and 43.91%, respectively. The difference between each stage is 16.70% (60.61% to 43.91%). This result indicates that if no occupational mobility occurs, then the maximum difference between each stage of the life satisfaction is 16.70%. Thus, we preliminarily judged that occupational mobility has a mixed effect on life satisfaction. Farmers had the lowest life satisfaction on the total table for both 1989 and 2009. This result indicates that, to a certain degree, occupation affects life satisfaction.
Logistic diagonal mobility models
Logistic DDMs on the relationship between occupational mobility and life satisfaction
Model 1
Model 2
Model 3
Standard model
Total model
Screening Model
Standard deviation
Standard deviation
Standard deviation
Origin effect
Hukou (Rural = 0)
Gender (Female = 0)
Education level
Secondary school
High school
University and college
Marital status
Single, widow
Natural logarithm
Health status (Health = 0)
Whether occupational mobility happened (Yes = 1)
Direction of occupational mobility
Distance of mobility
AIC value
BIC value
Table 4 shows that the origin effect η of the three models is greater than 0.5, which indicates that the origin effect is greater than the destination effect. The effect of the origin class on life satisfaction is greater than that of the destination class.
Control variables
- (1)
From the perspective of household registration, rural samples had better life satisfaction than urban samples.
- (2)
From the perspective of age, older people have higher life satisfaction,
- (3)
Based on the results, we determined that high school graduates have better life satisfaction than university graduates, and the latter have better life satisfaction than secondary school graduates.
- (4)
From the perspective of marriage, divorced or widowed individuals have poor life satisfaction.
This conclusion is consistent with general perceptions. Divorced or widowed people are unattended and tend to live alone. In addition, they lack an important confidante with whom they can share their worries, which will reduce life satisfaction. Having a partner can significantly ease their emotional burden and stress, hence improving their life satisfaction [59, 61].
Analysis variables
- (1)
First, from the perspective of health status, respondents who have not been sick or injured had better life satisfaction than those who had been sick or injured.
- (2)
Second, from the perspective of occupational mobility direction, the coefficients of occupational mobility in the models are less than 0, which means that upward mobility negatively affects life satisfaction.
Though Occupational upward mobility is success oriented and increases one's purchasing power, and income and occupational status are a crucial factor in life satisfaction [64]. However, meeting economic needs does not signify an improved overall well-being. First, psychologically, each person has a need to fit in with a group and to communicate with others. After entering a new environment, they need to adapt to its rules and culture. However, if they are unable to adapt, the anxiety and isolation they experience would make them feel as though they have lost their dignity and social status. Isolation from a mainstream group or self-abasement may make fitting into a new environment difficult for a person, which might result in poor life satisfaction.
Second, with upward mobility, work and life pressures increase because the change may require them to be part of a more intense environment as well as drive them to cultivate higher levels of need. This condition could decrease life satisfaction. A Chinese scholar studied the reason for the unhappiness of rural–urban migrants and found that they had false expectations of the future. Migrant conditions and high expectations to succeed contributed to unhappiness [65].
- (3)
Third, when analyzing mobility distance in Models 2 and 3, a greater distance indicates better life satisfaction.
Upward mobility requires one to adapt to a new environment as well as presents new pressures in life. Upward migration sometimes means the negative effects. A scholar found that upward migration decreased the fertility [67]. Occupational mobility may have a very subtle effect on a person's mental state. Some scholars used the self-concordance model to explore how core self-evaluations affect work and life satisfaction, and found that core self-evaluations can motivate the pursuit of goals [68, 69]. Thus, the psychological and financial incentive effects exist as one move upward in his or her career. Upward mobility leads to a higher income and better living conditions, although the aforementioned problems still exist. Thus, greater occupational mobility distance could lead to better life satisfaction of Chinese residents of different occupations.
Conclusions and discussions
- 1.Among the control variables, household registration, education, age, and marital status significantly affect life satisfaction of Chinese residents of different occupations. Hypothesis 1 is supported.
- (1)For model classification
- (a)
In Model 1, household registration, age, education level and other factors significantly affect life satisfaction;
- (b)
In Model 2, household registration, marital status, and education level significantly affect life satisfaction.
- (c)
In Model 3, only education is significant.
- (a)
- (2)For variable classification
- (a)
In Models 1 and 2, the effect of household registration status on life satisfaction was statistically very significant. Household registration is closely related to life satisfaction, and life satisfaction in urban areas is worse than that in rural areas.
- (b)
From the age perspective, age is significant only in Models 1 and 2. Older persons have higher life satisfaction.
- (c)
From the education perspective, the education variables in Models 2 and 3 are more significant. High school graduates and respondents with an equivalent education level have greater life satisfaction than college graduates, while the latter have higher life satisfaction than respondents with junior high school education.
- (d)
From the perspective of marital status, marital status is only significant in Models 1 and 2. Being divorced or widowed leads to poor life satisfaction.
- (a)
- (1)
- 2.The analysis of controlled variables indicates that health conditions, direction, and distance of occupational mobility are related to life satisfaction of Chinese residents of different occupations, which is a major concern. Health conditions, direction, and distance of occupational mobility had a statistically significant effect on life satisfaction of Chinese residents of different occupations.
- (1)
From the perspective of health conditions, respondents who have not been sick or injured had better life satisfaction than those who had been sick or injured. Hypothesis 2 is supported.
This finding is consistent with our objective understanding that illness greatly inconveniences everyday life. Medical costs are an economic burden, and worries about the future can affect a person's psychological state, thereby reducing his or her sense of happiness. Particularly in China, the lives of residents with different occupations basically revolve around work. Illness hinders their normal working life, which imposes a major financial burden. In view of this situation, improving people's health or eliminating their concerns and fears is an important way of enhancing life satisfaction.
- (2)
In our study, the direction of occupational mobility is a key factor that influences life satisfaction and cannot be ignored. From the perspective of occupational mobility direction, we can conclude that upward mobility has a significantly negative effect on life satisfaction.
- (3)
From the perspective of distance, when analyzing mobility distance in Models 2 and 3, a greater distance indicates better life satisfaction. Hypothesis 3 is supported.
- (1)
Thus, by measuring the life satisfaction of Chinese residents of different occupations and its links to occupational mobility, we can conclude that occupational mobility for life satisfaction had a mixed effect on occupational mobility, that is, life satisfaction will have a positive or negative effect. The process is complex, which means that upward occupational mobility does not necessarily increase life satisfaction and that downward occupational mobility does not diminish life satisfaction. This situation may be explained in two ways: upward mobility indicates a good ability to adapt to a new environment and to deal with new pressures. Inability to adapt to a new environment will confuse people, thereby reducing their life satisfaction.
In the background of the universal differentiation of Chinese occupations, this matter is a new issue. Previously, scholars studied obstacles encountered by individuals prior to experiencing occupational mobility to address the reason for people's decreased happiness despite the country's economic growth [70]. Eastern European countries also face the issue of declining public life satisfaction, which resulted from lower salaries and employment levels, the increased gap between wages and employment, and disrupted family life [71]. In China, reduced life satisfaction may be attributed to income inequality [70] despite the greater role of market factors in employment configuration assignment since the opening-up reform. Institutional constraints and structural constraints of the rational flow of professions still exist, which results in social inequalities [72]. A Chinese scholar found that intergenerational turnover of farmers is quite high, and cities also have "open" social mobility based on a national sample survey data of contemporary Chinese life history and social change in 1996. He believes that this model is caused by the unique household registration system in China, which ensures rural off-farm employment and allows farmers' children who did not change hukou to continue farming. The system only allows rural people with high education to have access to urban hukou [73]. The hukou system eases the relationship between job satisfaction and life subjective well-being [74]. Chinese residents of different occupations suffered unequal treatment at the starting point of occupational mobility have been at a disadvantage when competing for jobs, but there are still many Chinese unreasonable policies and institutions to further strengthen these disadvantages in the process of occupational mobility. And this is the biggest social inequity China is currently faced with. Many other inequalities are derived or brought from this inequality [72]. Changing system inequalities in the process of occupational mobility can reduce social inequality (including the income gap), thus removing barriers of occupational mobility in different areas.
We studied people's psychological condition after occupational mobility occurred. Issues such as problems with government, individual improvement, individual rights, and other aspects of poor liquidity were observed in occupational mobility of residents in China. These problems are due not only to the restrictions of the social system, but also the lack of capital and social capital of individual migrants. Human capital directly affects occupational mobility decisions. In the process of migrants' occupational mobility, human capital is more important than social capital [75]. After the occurrence of occupational mobility, social adaptation becomes an important factor that affects life satisfaction of Chinese residents of different occupations.
To address the findings, this study presents a number of recommendations. First, companies should provide corresponding job training and psychological guidance for new employees. A harmonious and friendly working atmosphere should be created to allow new employees to integrate quickly and reduce feelings of loneliness and exclusion. Second, effective interventions for mental psychological problems should also be carried out for people with different occupational mobilities. Such interventions can include assisting people to find effective ways to ease work and life pressures in the city to help them adapt to urban living and improve their problem solving skills.
This study has some limitations. First, the data were obtained from a nationwide CHNS survey. Only a single question is used to measure overall life satisfaction among individuals with different occupations. This approach does not allow us to develop a more comprehensive understanding of which area of life is the residents dissatisfied with [76]. Second, the study does not discuss in detail the occupational mobility of different occupations. Future research can target inflows and outflows factors of a particular occupation and conduct more detailed analysis that combines changes in life satisfaction. Third, we should conduct a long-term sustained study of life satisfaction of residents of different occupations in China. A comparative tracking study can be performed by using updated CHNS data.
aThe CHNS website, URL is available: http://www.cpc.unc.edu/projects/china.
bThe six occupational stages of EGP are service class, regular non-physical, self-employed and small property owner, skilled workers, unskilled workers, and farmers. Based on the CHNS survey, this paper excluded self-employed and small property owner.
This paper is supported by the General Program of National Natural Science Foundation of China (71173099) and the Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University (NCET-11-0228).
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Carena Liptak--Denmark is a wonderful place to be an insomniac
I am delighted that the first post in the Writer's Corner is a talented young woman, Carena Liptak, who was a student of mine at Bard College.
Langeland is a small, flat vacation island at the southern tip of Denmark, an hour and a half from the closest major city. The residential section of the island consists primarily of beach houses, small, thinly built, and very close to the ocean. This development represents a tiny portion of the land. Most of it is beach. The part of the island that isn't beach is forest. Some beach spills into forest, and vice versa. Tough stalks of grass sprout from sand dunes, licking your calves like stinging insects. As you come closer to the shore, there are fewer of these grasses and the sand grows grainier, a graveyard of sand dollars and the gelatinous flesh of the jellyfish that are torn apart when they float too close to where the waves break. The water is beautiful and hostile, gray on sunny days and a glassy purple under clouds. It is excruciatingly cold all year round, but the Danes swim in it anyway.
I did not come to Langeland to swim. I came because the wind made me sleepy. When I came to Denmark as an eight year old, to live with my dad and his girlfriend, Pia, I experienced a case of what they referred to as "Advanced Jetlag". I inverted my sleep cycle, reading and drinking tea at night and napping for most of the day. This lasted for three months, and coming to Langeland was the only trick I knew for making myself sleep through the night.
Being in Denmark was difficult and lonely. I now believe that the primary reason we stayed in the country for so long was not because of any attachment Pia felt to her homeland, but for the sake of her father, a solitary man with heart trouble, who was near-canine in his ecstasy when we were with him. It was an expensive and troublesome trip. I could not tell anyone how nightmarish it became, for me, for no explicable reason, the long muddy half-dawns and the soft, incomprehensible accents of the Danes. There were enormous black slugs that boldly crossed the street in enormous numbers at dusk. I desperately did not want to squish them. When I rode over one with my bicycle tires, the grief and guilt were incapacitating. I sobbed wildly over the dead slug instead of sleeping. I knew this reaction was too silly to qualify as a reason to leave the country.
For about three days in July, there was an island-wide ladybug infestation. A buzzing layer of them hovered about three inches off the ground, so thick you could hardly see the sand. Pia was thrilled; I was horrified. I imagined every step a small genocide, and after a day of fending them off, I was inevitably unnerved by finding one more--after repeated and thorough expulsions on the beach--in my hair or towel. There were hiking trails marked off in the sand, and I could climb to the tops of the dunes by myself while Pia napped by the water. The days were clear: at the highest points I could see the horizon on all sides. On all sides it was blue.
The southern edge of Langeland gives into the Baltic sea. This is a strip of coastal meadow called Klise Nor, several acres sectioned off by barbed wire. The land is untouched, inhabited solely by two herds of wild Exmoor ponies that were imported from Taerø, an island off South Zealand, to keep the area cropped. The introduction of the ponies to Klise Nor was an inventive and, it seems to me, highly Danish solution to a crisis in the local ecosystem: due to the island's tourism, very few farm animals are kept on Langeland. Without grazing animals, woodlands will spring up within a few years, preventing sunlight from reaching the ground and inhibiting the insect life that several species of birds in this area depend upon. Now that the herd is here to keep the meadow well grazed, the insects are abundant, and the birds flourish. The wild ponies are also a major tourist attraction in this area, though the animals are fairly elusive. Their enclosure is large, and they have no predictable haunts within it; they apparently spend the majority of their time running together up and down the stretch of beach allotted to them. You can stand by the fence all day, waiting for the ponies to make an appearance, and see nothing but the ocean and the grass. Maybe they eventually gallop by, and pass you within seconds. They are small, shaggy animals, more adorable than they are majestic. But the collective herd, against the somewhat stark backdrop of the Baltic sea, is an impressive sight.
Pia, encouraged by the enthusiasm I showed towards the ponies, engaged a woman named Melanie to teach me how to ride. Melanie owned a barn with a riding ring and a jump course and some twenty-odd horses and ponies, a couple of cows, and one cream-colored miniature stallion, who had astonishingly stubby legs and a sort of rabbit-ish cotton ball tail that bounced around when he ran. He had sired half the herd, though none of the others was quite so tiny. The stallion was, of course, not allowed to run with the rest of them, but was sequestered to a much smaller ( and comically proportionate) field, which he, to his apparent humiliation, shared with the cows. For this indignity he compensated by dashing back and forth along the fence at top speed, kicking wildly, in a somewhat unsuccessful attempt at majesty.
The first pony I rode was named Bamse, which means 'teddy bear'. Bamse was a son of the stallion, and the family resemblance was striking. He was a loyal pony, but he was overweight and disastrously lazy. When other horses balked in thunderstorms or when squirrels came tumbling out of nearby bushes, Bamse stayed his course. Unpredictably, and often several times a day, however, he would make a break for a patch of un-chomped grass, drooling over the bit in his mouth, never heeding the clicks, admonishments, tugs, or kicks that might come from the rider above him.
The farmer next door to the barn cut down his crops in August, so Melanie took me to the hallow field to learn to gallop. The area was flat and huge and covered with the stubble of the stalks that had been harvested. I could barely see the other end of the farm, a faraway border of trees and red rooftops. I liked to ride fast, in a straight line. The uneven parts of the ground below me blurred, and the horizon stood still, keeping its distance.
I wasn't allowed to be there. I can't remember exactly why, but the farmer didn't want horses in his field. We went at odd hours in the day--very early in the morning, or in the evening after the farmer had left. The field, already a little eerie in being cut and empty, took on a bit of a magical quality at these times. The sun wasn't in the sky, and the odd color of the non-darkness hung over everything. Aside from the pony's grunts and the rhythm of his gallop, there was very little noise. There was no grass for Bamse to careen towards. It felt wilder and more dangerous than cantering circles in the riding ring; my pony thought so too. As we galloped, it felt as if he was developing a stronger purpose in running. His muscles became more compact, and he lowered his head slightly, as if he was channeling an ancestor--a common relative of the ponies from the beach, perhaps. The cold stung my cheeks and chin, and his mane whipped against my hands. One day the farmer happened to be driving past and pulled over when he saw horses in the field. In the vowel-intensive and oddly polite inflection of the Danish language, he informed us that we, on no uncertain terms, had to leave. I decided to stop riding a few weeks later.
Denmark is a wonderful place to be an insomniac. Danish summers are particularly conducive to sleeplessness: they are cloudy, mild, seasonally ambiguous; in August it never really gets dark and it never really gets light. The sky looked, from the hours of about midnight to four in the morning, as if the sun was constantly on the verge of rising. Dusk began at three PM.
One night, I was repeatedly awoken by an inexplicably terrifying dream about trains. I knocked on the bedroom door next to mine, somewhat pitifully calling for my dad. After some convincing, he got in Pia's car with me and we began to drive. I rolled the window down, though it was chilly; I missed the sweltering thick air of summer in America. The smells of skunk on the highway, the Toblerone my dad bought me at a rest stop, seemed too strong so late at night, and made me nauseous.
We were the only car in the parking lot at Klise Nor, but day was already breaking, as much as day breaks in Langeland. The water was quiet and the tide was covertly coming in. The ponies were not asleep. In the quiet, every snort was audible as they ran along the beach. They galloped past me in a herd, no more than a hundred meters away; then, obeying some silent command, in one stride they slowed, turned, and began to run in the other direction.
Carena Liptak was born in Rochester, NY and attended Bard College. She lives in New York City and is pursuing an MFA in Creative Writing at Columbia University.


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The following stages of a householder planning application and will help you understand the planning and building process.
Stage 1: pre-application
Information and advice on pre-application, including:
- do I need planning permission?
- I live in a flat and wish to undertake a development. How does this differ from development to a house?
- what process do you follow when considering my householder planning application?
- my house is in a conservation area, does this affect my application?
- can I get advice on my proposal before I submit an application?
- how do I go green?
- what will you consider when looking at my application?
- how much will this cost?
- what do I need to provide?
- what does a complete application look like? (includes completed form, example plans, design and access statement, fee etc)
Stage 2: submitting and validation
Information and advice on submitting and validation, including:
- can someone check my plans before I submit?
- what do you do with my application when you receive it?
Stage 3 evaluation and site visit
Information and advice on evaluation and site visit, including:
- if my neighbour objects will the application be refused?
- why do you need to visit my property?
Stage 4: decision making
Information and advice on decision making, including:
- when can I expect to receive my decision?
- what will the decision look like?
- what conditions are likely to apply?
- what can I do if the application is refused?
- how long does my permission last?
Stage 5: post planning and building
Information and advice on post planning and building, including:
- discharging a condition
- complying with standard conditions
- building control
Page updated: 20/03/2016 16:47:32


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Neymar Out for Remainder of FIFA World Cup
The worst fears of the Brazilian fans were realized just moments ago as team doctor Rodrigo Lasmar announced that the Barcelona striker would be out for four-to-six weeks with a fractured vertebra suffered in the host nation's 2-1 win over Colombia on Friday. Obviously that time-frame would end Neymar's chances of making any more impact for Brazil in this FIFA World Cup.
The injury came late in the match as the Brazilians were attempted to spring a counter-attack off of a Colombian corner kick. The ball was headed out of the box in the direction of Neymar who flicked in into the path of another attacker. He was met with a violent knee-to-lower back collision from Colombian defender Juan Zuniga which knocked the superstar to the pitch in obvious pain.
Brazil's medical team was allowed onto the pitch nearly 30 seconds after the collision after the referee played advantage. Almost immediately the training staff was signalling that a change needed to be made. It was very difficult to watch the agony on his face as he was stretchered off the field.
Now Brazil must move on and focus on their semi-final with Germany on Tuesday which just got even bigger now with the injury. Brazil has plenty of attacking options in Hulk, Fred, Oscar and Fernandinho but Neymar was the center-piece of the Brazilian attack. He would float around the attacking third to find the ball and get it into a better position for his teammates.
Neymar was having a player of the tournament type performance to this point with four goals and an assist to his credit. Now he will be forced to watch as his teammates attempt to win their record-sixth FIFA World Cup Title.
Matthew Evans is a soccer writer for Stoppage Time Soccer. "Like" him on Facebook, Follow him on Twitter, or add him to your network on Google


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Who or what inspired you to take up composing, and pursue a career in music?
As far as I can remember, and from the stories my mother tells, I was always composing music in one form or another.
I began playing the recorder whilst I was in Infant School and then started to learn to play brass instruments (initially the cornet in the local brass band) at the age of 7. As soon as I could play a few notes I was rearranging them and experimenting with them.
My mother often tells of times when I was only 7 or 8 years old, armed with a couple of decant recorders, a cornet, a script I had scribbled on a scrappy piece of paper and my sister I would make up and record "radio programmes" onto a cassette player that I would then inflict on the rest of the family. In these shows, I was not only the scriptwriter and presenter, but I also composed all the music that was featured!
Sadly, when I was at school, composition wasn't really a thing in the way it is these days and, although I continued writing short little pieces for myself to play at home, I didn't really have any "performances" of pieces until I was in my early teens.
It was whilst at sixth-form college in Andover, on the Pre-Professional Music Course at Cricklade College) that I realised that I seemed to have a bit of a flare for composing, and being on that course meant I had the opportunity to write for lots of players who were quite able. College sorted me out a composition tutor (Tom Eastwood) and gradually I had more and more pieces being performed.
Who or what were the most significant influences on your musical life and career as a composer?
I think that my time at Cricklade College was fundamental to me becoming a composer.
Tom Eastwood, my composition tutor, was fantastic teacher – inspiring and very realistic about what I needed. He pushed me in the right direction.
Cliff Bevan, who had been my tuba teacher (yes, as I grew so did the brass instrument I played get larger) and then became the head of the course at Cricklade, was also a massive influence, as he found me opportunities to get pieces played and, because he also ran a small publishing company, he published my first two compositions: Delta IV – a fugue for four trumpets; and Sonata in One Movement for solo tuba – which I wrote as a audition piece for myself to play for County Youth Orchestra and university interviews.
What have been the greatest challenges of your career so far?
I'm fortunate in that I find composing relatively easy, and I work quite quickly. I think, as a composer, the challenges come from trying to persuade people that they'd like to have a new work written, or that they could include a new piece in a concert. Sometimes, it's such an uphill struggle – and, in fact, it can be soul destroying to think that 200 years ago audiences and performers wanted new music more than they wanted to listen to older things – what went so wrong?
Personally, I guess the biggest struggle for me, as a composer, was about three years ago when I suffered very badly from depression due to a combination of work and home problems. I had it very bad and got to a point where I was being closely watched because I was considered to be a suicide risk. I was put on a complex cocktail of medication that, I felt, turned me into a bit of a zombie and removed my spark and creativity. In July 2012, a couple of weeks before I went to London to be a Games Maker for the Olympics, I stopped taking all the medication and decided to fight back against the depression. My GP was fantastic and supported me throughout this, even though she didn't necessarily think it was the right thing to do, and, as a result, my composing resumed.
What are the special challenges/pleasures of working on a commissioned piece?
The hardest part of working on a commissioned piece is getting the commission in the first place (oh, and getting the second, third, fourth performances).
I love sitting down with a commissioner to discuss a new work – but, of course, by that point they've dipped their toe in the water and made the decision that they want a new work written!
I normally talk to a commissioner for ages to find out their needs, about the event, things they'd like, things they wouldn't like…. I do love the collaboration of working with someone else – it's like solving a puzzle making sure all the pieces are placed in the right way so that the performer has the piece they want!
What are the special challenges/pleasures of working with particular musicians, singers, ensembles and orchestras?
Every musician is different and that's what makes things so exciting and, to be honest, inspirational.
Yes, as a composer there are things I want to write but I realise I can't just compose what I want (I'm certainly not a big enough name for that – yet!) so I have to adjust my ideas to fit with what someone else wants. A lot of the time I think this helps me hone my thoughts and, I hope, the final piece is better as a result.
Which works are you most proud of?
I'm always most proud of the piece I'm currently working on but, of finished pieces, I am particularly proud of pieces that have had a life beyond the premiere and beyond the first performers: my MAGNIFICAT has had a wide range of performances in its different versions; BE NOT AFEARD,THE ISLE IS FULL OF NOISES is a piano sonata that I wish my meagre piano-playing skills would enable me to perform; IN FLANDERS FIELDS was performed a lot last year – it's a setting of John McRae's First World War poem in versions for various different choirs!
There is also MASS IN BLACK, which was commissioned by Basingstoke Choral Society in 1987. It's had a premiere scheduled twice, by two different choirs, but, on both occasions, it's been cancelled because the choir has decided the piece is too controversial (it combines a requiem mass text text with the prophecies of Nostradamus and poems on environmental issues and the end of the world). I think it's one of the best and most original pieces I've ever written – but, so far, it remains unperformed!
Who are your favourite musicians/composers?
I have a very eclectic taste in composers (and have only recently fallen back in love with classical music after a trial separation of a few years!
Of modern composers, I adore the music of John Adams who is, to my mind, the greatest of all living composers. I also very much enjoy the music of Michael Nyman and Michael Torke.
Of twentieth-century composers, I always had a thing for the music of Michael Tippett (I wrote a dissertation about him for my O-level music exam) but then it's the usual suspects: Stravinsky; Bartok; Reich. I am not a fan of serialism though I'm glad it happened (actually, aged about 8, having never heard of Schoenberg or the Second Viennese School, I "invented" a system not dissimilar to the 12-note row…).
Of earlier composer, I particularly like Berlioz and Bach. I've recently re-discovered Beethoven (and especially like his later works) and then there's renaissance choral music, which I adore.
What is your most memorable concert experience?
My most memorable concert experience has to be when I conducted a school orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall at the Schools Prom in 2005. We played a suite from Jurassic Park and then Elgar's Pomp & Circumstance March No. 1 – I'm not one for the whole flag-waving jingoistic nonsense but, with a bunch of youngsters that I had coached, it was a truly memorable experience.
What do you consider to be the most important ideas and concepts to impart to aspiring musicians?
I think that Roy Castle hit the nail on the head in the lyrics to the song he performed at the end of episodes of Record Breakers: "Dedication's what you need".
You need to be dedicated to your art, honing your skills, keeping an open mind and listening carefully to everything around you. You need to be continually learning and you must never accept second best! Being a bit OCD is a positive!
Where would you like to be in 10 years' time?
In 10 years I'd like to be doing more composing and less of the other bits I do to try to please my bank manager!
What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Composing – composing without interruption and then hearing a perfect performance without interruption (though I do hate being in a hall when a piece of mine is being performed because I have no control over it – it's one of the few times I get nervous).
What is your most treasured possession?
My most treasured musical possession are some of my own hand-written manuscripts from the days before computer notation (I began using notation software in 1990).
My most treasured non-musical possession is a set of encyclopedias I inherited from my paternal grandfather (who I never actually met). They're from 1921 and have such a different world view.
What do you enjoy doing most?
Composing – and if I'm not composing, I love to cook or watch movies.
I'm a vegetarian, and have been since my Freshers' Year at uni, but I cook meat for those who need it – yes, in an ideal world everyone would be vegetarian, but, sadly, they're not! In fact, I'd prefer to be vegan, but I think it would still be too difficult. Maybe in a few years time…
What is your present state of mind?
That's a tricky one! I have days when I am manic with ideas to the point I feel my head will explode, and other days when I am more relaxed. I'm in a good place now, much better than I was a few years back.
Robert Steadman is a prolific composer of music ranging from symphonies and operas to musicals and pieces for brass band. He has written a great deal for amateurs and children.
Robert has been commssioned to compose works for the percussionist Evelyn Glennie, saxophonist Sarah Field, London Brass Virtuosi and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
His opera Sredni Vashtar was written to a libretto by Richard Adams.
He has also written radio jingles and a song used on Chris Evans' Radio One Show.
As well as composing, Robert has written many articles on music education and a number of books alongside teaching and leading creative music workshops for schools, museums and charities.


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Teachers benefit from learning disabilities workshop
Claudia Gardner, Assignment Coordinator
WESTERN BUREAU:More than 50 teachers from early childhood institutions and all-age schools in western Westmoreland last week benefited from a two-day workshop that focused on identifying learning disabilities in young children.
The workshop was sponsored by the Rotary Club of Negril and facilitated by clinical psychologist Dr Sally Bloch from Michigan, United States. It was held at the Theodora Skills Training Centre, located West End in the resort town. It saw principals, guidance counsellors, and classroom teachers in attendance.
"It is part of an ongoing programme. We work closely with many schools in Negril, and at the moment, we are trying to obtain a grant to improve some facilities in the early childhood institutions. To ensure sustainability, we looked at the educators, so we started talking to teachers primarily in the basic schools, and we started to identify some needs they have that they can't meet during the normal course of events," Director of Community Service at the Rotary Club of Negril, Ken Cooney, told Western Focus.
"Quite clearly, they were all dealing with - in different forms and different numbers - children who they thought had learning disabilities, but they didn't have any formal training or any specific training around identifying what those issues are," he added.
Cooney said Bloch was contacted through the Rotary Club of Negril, which is part of an ongoing tutoring programme at the Negril All-Age School.
"One of those people knew of Dr Sally Bloch in Michigan, and it followed from that. When the issue was explained to her, she was willing to come down and do these workshops. We are also planning to do some more training because the Early Childhood Commission's standards don't just deal with physical matters, they deal with teachers' competence, and so on, so we are likely to be following this up with training in two more areas having to do with health and to do with children's' rights," Cooney said.
Grade six teacher at the Negril All-Age School, Jean Brown, told Western Focus that the workshop had enabled her to be able to pinpoint some of the symptoms of disabilities students have, but which she had been unable to classify.
"What Dr Bloch has done is to bring to the fore what is known as the invisible disabilities," Brown said. "So the child that has Down's Syndrome is easier to identify because you can look at the physical features and recognise it; but for the child that is suffering from dyslexia and autism, and so on, it is harder to deal with, and sometimes, unfortunately, educators don't really know how to deal with them and so become frustrated."
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"There are some parents who are still ignorant of the fact that their child is having a particular disorder, and so this workshop is also going to help me to do another workshop with our parents to help them to see that it is not really just from the Mt Airy All-Age School, but that internationally, these are concerns that parents do have," she said.


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Who are the groups that are shocked by the Supreme Court ban on tourism in core tiger forests? The tourist-photographers who brazenly flout rules for a few indulgent 'likes' on social networking sites; hoteliers who build properties blocking wildlife corridors, guzzle natural resources and make dumping grounds of forests; experts who are too busy raising awareness and money to set an example of good practices in the resorts they own or patronise; and forest staff who make a fortune by presiding over this frightening mess.
The welcome court order slapped this lot out of their comfort zone. For now, it is a blow to their business-as-usual ethics rather than their business. The ban has come after the monsoon closure of all tiger reserves and, in all likelihood, will be relaxed by the time the parks open. One would want them to use the time to introspect, or maybe feel a tad chastened. Instead, they are whining like a bunch of pampered kids.
All over social media, their verdict is that the ban will spell the end of the tiger. Yes, tourists do keep an eye on the easily wayward forest staff, if not the tiger, and yes, they do significantly boost accountability. The flipside, however, is equally stark. If the forest personnel were left to undo the damage done by tourists, they would not have much time for anything else. Policing is one liability. Most of us are witness to how dozens of tourist vehicles line up at sighting points, almost boxing in the tiger that has unwisely shown up. Fewer are familiar with spectacles of tourists getting off vehicles deep inside tiger forests and blissfully wandering into the bushes to answer nature's calls.
Cleaning up after the tourists is another herculean task. While Gypsies usually stick to forest roads and the trash on their trail can be collected by a follow-up drive, there is no way one can pick up after the tourists on an elephant safari. I have seen biscuit and wafer covers in grasslands, mineral water bottles on riverbeds and tobacco sachets, well, everywhere. At any forest rest house complex, some of which spread out like villages, the canteens sell everything that you can buy at a regular corner shop and the phenomenal appetite of the tourists ensures massive loads of garbage that ungulates feed and choke on. Often, the canteen workers simply set such dumps on fire.
If tourists really pride themselves on their "indirect patrolling" keeping poachers away, they can continue the service in the buffer forests which are usually the gateway to the core areas. They need not worry about tiger sightings either. Given the spin-offs attributed to tourism, there is no reason why the buffer forests will not dramatically improve as habitats and attract enough big cats.
Another argument doing the rounds is the need to learn from the African experience where ranches are run deep inside forests with local communities. This is nonsense. First, the expanse of the African wilderness is not comparable to our small pocket forests. Second, with the exception of the Congo basin, the forests and savanna of Africa usually allow wildlife sighting from a fair distance, a convenience rarely enjoyed in India due to thicker vegetation. In any case, there are serious issues over the number of vehicles and gas balloons hanging too low even in famed reserves such as Masai Mara.
The co-opting of Masai tribals in tourism is often touted as a triumph of inclusive conservation. In reality, it has resulted in the disempowerment of the tribe in Kenya and Tanzania where they are allowed to stay inside reserves to serve the ranches run by the whites but have become strangers in their own land due to total exclusion from the decision making process. The fate of our tribes, often used as conservation props or menial workers by tour operators and hotels, is worse.
This does not mean we should or can do without wildlife tourism. A whole set of legal restrictions in and around forests disallows industries, resulting in limited livelihood options. Ecologically sustainable tourism, in fact, can be the mainstay of such local economies. But the few good people in the business complain how the system is tailor-made for corrupt profiteering that has become synonymous with tourism. While nothing justifies a total lack of self-policing — there is not a single association of wildlife tourism organisations that can regulate the sector — the official policies are indeed banal and ridden with loopholes. Even the new eco-tourism guidelines drawn up by the Centre offer no incentive to good practices and are conveniently vague on punishing violators.
As in tourism, it is unfair to tar all tourists with the same brush too. There are many who truly value a jungle experience. So instead of shutting the door on all tourists, what is needed is to strip away luxury facilities in core areas. Imagine a Spartan accommodation — no air-coolers, no mineral water, no soft drink, nothing packed in plastic, no five-course meals at commercial canteens, even no electricity after a reasonable hour. With only a hard bed, a clean toilet and basic food on offer, the core will only attract those who really care for the forests and the picnic crowd will automatically move their party to the buffer.
Even so, till the buffers are developed as good wildlife habitats, core areas can also accommodate a limited number of day tourists on safari under strict regulations that include hefty penalties for littering and mischief.
To tackle the real danger of tourism, however, we have to rein in the mega walled resorts outside and around core forests. Without strict land use policies, restrictions on use of natural resources (water, wood, stone or sand), and strict pollution (sound, light and garbage) norms, such properties will continue to mushroom and suffocate our green isles. Unless made to share their profits with the locals, these businesses will further alienate the communities who anyway pay the highest price for conservation.
The Supreme Court will look into the eco-tourism guidelines at the next hearing on 22 August. While it may relax the interim ban, nothing far-reaching can be achieved without coming down ruthlessly on unscrupulous hoteliers circling our forests. With huge money at stake and major political interest at play, it will not be easy for any administration. But the apex court can at least summon the horse to the water.
Jay Mazoomdaar is an independent journalist.
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Updated Date: Oct 23, 2012 12:36:33 IST


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Assistant Senior Patrol Leader
From MeritBadgeDotOrg
(Redirected from Assistant senior patrol leader)
|Assistant Senior Patrol Leader
The Assistant Senior Patrol Leader is the second highest-ranking youth leader in the troop. The assistant senior patrol leader acts as the senior patrol leader in the absence of the senior patrol leader or when called upon. He also provides leadership to other youth leaders in the troop. He is appointed by the senior patrol leader under the guidance of the Scoutmaster.
Reports to
- Helps the senior patrol leader lead meetings and activities.
- Runs the troop in the absence of the senior patrol leader.
- Helps train and supervise the troop Scribe, Quartermaster, Instructor, Librarian, Historian, Webmaster, and Chaplain Aide.
- Serves as a member of the patrol leaders' council.
- Sets a good example.
- Enthusiastically and correctly wears the Scout uniform (all four parts).
- Lives by the Scout Oath and Law
- Show Scout spirit.
- Lends a hand controlling the patrol and building patrol spirit.
- Wears the uniform correctly.
The Assistant Senior Patrol Leader is the second-highest youth leader in its unit. Other second youth leaders are:
- Assistant Senior Patrol Leader – Scouts BSA
- Vice President - Administration – Venturing
- Vice President - Program – Venturing
- Boatswain's mate – Sea Scouting
- Administrative Vice President – Exploring
- Program Vice President – Exploring
See also
|Scouts BSA portal
- Scouts BSA ranks requiring a Positions of Responsibility
- Star rank #5 "While a First Class Scout, serve actively in your troop for four months in one or more of the following positions of responsibility (or carry out a Scoutmaster approved leadership project to help the troop)"
- Life rank #5 "While a Star Scout, serve actively in your troop for six months in one or more of the positions of responsibility (or carry out a Scoutmaster approved leadership project to help the troop)"
- Eagle Scout rank #4 "While a Life Scout, serve actively in your troop for a period of six months in one or more of the following positions of responsibility..."
- See also: National Youth Leadership Training (NYLT) - a fun, six-day outdoor learning course.
- 48 BSA Monthly Scouts BSA Program Features for Troops and Crews
- Introduction to Leadership Skills for Troops • Program Feature Meeting Plans • Campfire Program Planner • Troop Resource Survey • Troop Committee Guidebook
- Senior Patrol Leader Handbook • Patrol Leader Handbook • Troop Leader Guidebook: Vol. 1 - Vol. 2 • BSA Nameplates • Outdoor Ethics Guide Handbook • Den Chief Handbook
Troop Positions of Responsibility
(Youth Positions)
(Youth Positions)