Some 20 years after unification, the contrast between East and West Germany provides a unique natural experiment for studying the persistence of communist-era family patterns, the effects of economic change, and the complexities of the process of fertility postponement. After unification, fertility rates plummeted in the former East Germany to record low levels. The number of births per year fe...

BACKGROUND Maternal ethnicity is a recognized risk factor for stillbirth, such that South Asian women have higher rates than their Caucasian counterparts. However, whether maternal ethnicity is a risk factor for intrapartum outcomes is less clear. The aim of this study is to explore associations between maternal country of birth, operative vaginal delivery and emergency cesarean section, and to...

We pursue the idea that racial stereotypes are not only descriptive, reflecting beliefs about how racial groups actually differ, but are prescriptive as well, reflecting beliefs about how racial groups should differ. Drawing on an analysis of the historic and current status of East Asians in North America, we study descriptive and prescriptive stereotypes of East Asians along the dimensions of ...

This book focuses on modern, highly developed East Asian societies and their social issues, particularly ones that are related to family and health. The examples are from Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Myanmar, Singapore, and the Pacific Islands, while references are made to contrasting examples in other Asian societies, especially China, because of its regional and global importance as well as it...

East Asia (including Southeast and Northeast Asia) has witnessed the most spectacular pacification in the world during the past 30 years. Certain dimensions related to human security have been perceived as weak points in the long peace of East Asia. Despite progress, authoritarian violence is still a reality in East Asia. At the same time, certain other dimensions of human security—most distinc...

In his position paper for the EASTS, Professor Fu raises a series of issues that help define the mission and outlook of the journal. They may be summarized in question form as follows: (1) Is East Asia a useful category for science and technology studies? (2) Is East Asia STS simply the application of existing theories from the United States or Europe to East Asia? Is its aim simply to produce ...

Molecular anthropological studies of the populations in and around East Asia have resulted in the discovery that most of the Y-chromosome lineages of East Asians came from Southeast Asia. However, very few Southeast Asian populations had been investigated, and therefore, little was known about the purported migrations from Southeast Asia into East Asia and their roles in shaping the genetic str...

The Japanese government has proposed the concept of an East Asian Community. Unfortunately however, up to this point no concrete policy has been established indicating how to proceed with efforts towards the establishment of such a community. The question of what types of economic relationships to establish with the other nations of East Asia1 has been a major issue for Japan. What types of rel...

In his paper, "Globalization, Ideology, and Narratives of the East Asian Financial Crisis," Ezra Yoo-Hyeok Lee analyzes the narratives of the East Asian financial "crisis" in 1997-98, arguing that it took place in the course of restructuring the world economy so that the first world would keep its hegemonic power. The East Asian financial crisis spread rapidly to the rest of the globe and in th...