Calendar

Title: Opportunity, Organization, and Events in the Harbin Bolshevik Uprising in 1917

Abstract: This paper examines a historical case in which Russian Bolsheviks in Harbin, the core city of the Chinese Eastern Railway (CER) affiliated zone, attempted but ultimately failed to seize executive power from the local Russian-administered governmental bodies in December 1917. The event unfolded in the broader context of rapid provincial power transfers across the former Russian Empire after the Petrograd Soviet uprising on November 6, 1917. During the following one to two months, Bolshevik and competing political groups swiftly moved to capture local state power in various regions. However, due to the exceptionally distinctive geopolitical conditions of the CER affiliated zone, no de jure or de facto power vacuum emerged, of which all relevant political actors within the zone were well aware.

My research question asks why the Harbin Bolsheviks nonetheless decided to revolt in the contingency lacking both real and perceived political opportunity. Drawing on related archival materials, I argue that anticipatory blame avoidance within the party organization shaped the uprising. This case also contributes to our understanding of linkage of events as structure in revolutionary waves.

PCS meets on Tuesdays at 12:30–2:00 PM in Room 8108, Sewell Social Sciences Building.

You can also join on Zoom:

https://uwmadison.zoom.us/j/96451420275?pwd=Z3cZDyWdxoEb2q7Ys3cbQlFAjnXjfs.1

Meeting ID: 964 5142 0275
Passcode: 165604

Contact Chad Alan Goldberg (cagoldberg@wisc.edu) or Anna Milewski (aomilewski@wisc.edu) with questions.

Website: https://www.ssc.wisc.edu/soc/pcs/

Title: A comparative study of changes in subjective wellbeing after major life events 
 
Abstract: An abiding question on literature on the effects of major life events is to what extent they are generalizable across cultural, historical, and institutional settings. On the one hand, many major life events may be rooted in universal processes, and cultural diffusion may have led to convergence in their meanings. On the other hand, variation in institutions – such as social safety nets and social support networks – could alleviate or heighten effects of certain events, and effects could also vary due to cultural differences in emotion processing. While some meta-analyses have synthesized findings from different countries, questions remain regarding the comparability of evidence from disparate studies, given differences in operationalization of psychological wellbeing, definitions of events, and modeling strategies. In this study, we draw on 15 years of harmonized longitudinal data from 5 countries with considerable institutional and cultural variation (China, South Korea, Russia, UK, and US) to study the effects of 7 major life events on life satisfaction. We find significant cross-national differences in effects of specific events, as well as substantial variation in average "reactivity" across countries. Observed differences neither neatly align with East-West dichotomies popularized in psychological research, nor tell a cohesive story of buffering effects of public safety nets or networks. Rather, these results suggest that specific life events may have dissimilar meanings across cultural settings. The findings invite further research into the sources of these variations and underscore a need for contextualizing empirical research in time and place.
 

PCS meets on Tuesdays at 12:30–2:00 PM in Room 8108, Sewell Social Sciences Building.

You can also join on Zoom:

https://uwmadison.zoom.us/j/96451420275?pwd=Z3cZDyWdxoEb2q7Ys3cbQlFAjnXjfs.1

Meeting ID: 964 5142 0275
Passcode: 165604

Contact Chad Alan Goldberg (cagoldberg@wisc.edu) or Anna Milewski (aomilewski@wisc.edu) with questions.

Website: https://www.ssc.wisc.edu/soc/pcs/

PCS meets on Tuesdays at 12:30–2:00 PM in Room 8108, Sewell Social Sciences Building.

You can also join on Zoom:

https://uwmadison.zoom.us/j/96451420275?pwd=Z3cZDyWdxoEb2q7Ys3cbQlFAjnXjfs.1

Meeting ID: 964 5142 0275
Passcode: 165604

Contact Chad Alan Goldberg (cagoldberg@wisc.edu) or Anna Milewski (aomilewski@wisc.edu) with questions.

Website: https://www.ssc.wisc.edu/soc/pcs/

PCS meets on Tuesdays at 12:30–2:00 PM in Room 8108, Sewell Social Sciences Building.

You can also join on Zoom:

https://uwmadison.zoom.us/j/96451420275?pwd=Z3cZDyWdxoEb2q7Ys3cbQlFAjnXjfs.1

Meeting ID: 964 5142 0275
Passcode: 165604

Contact Chad Alan Goldberg (cagoldberg@wisc.edu) or Anna Milewski (aomilewski@wisc.edu) with questions.

Website: https://www.ssc.wisc.edu/soc/pcs/