Group Involvement and Democratic Orientations: Social Capital in the Postelection Context

Objective . This article tests the relationship between involvement in voluntary associations and attitudinal changes considered supportive of democratic principles and system legitimacy. Methods . We utilize 1996 pre- and postelection American National Election Studies panel data to test the proposed relationship. The effects of reported levels of group involvement are examined across three attitudinal measures of democratic support: trust in government, external efficacy, and absolute differences in postelection evaluations of the winning and losing candidates. Results . Greater involvement in voluntary organizations contributes to increased levels of postelection trust in government and external efficacy and a reduction in postelection polarization of comparative candidate evaluations. Conclusions . In addition to supporting the social capital proposition linking group involvement to orientations viewed as enhancing of democracy, this study also contributes to a growing literature linking individual-level behavior to changes in systemic-level attitudes.     

连带式制衡：基层组织权力的运作机制

本文揭示了中国基层组织在非正式或半正式治理实践中的内在机制及其社会基础和价值基础。研究发现,村级组织在国家权力体系中的位置构成了乡村治理的部分外部条件和压力,具有普遍性的半正式治理实践中的村级组织权力的运作则根植于乡土社会。乡村治理中,村组干部将各种正式与非正式的资源统筹配置、捆绑连带,主要通过利益和情感等连带方式来规制村民,以完成其治理目标,村民同样也将其需要履行的各种义务与应该享受的各项权利捆绑连带,并主要以责任连带的方式对村组干部实行反制。正是这种治理中双向的连带关系使得干群之间的权利义务达到总体平衡,并保证了乡村社会秩序的形成,笔者将其归结为“连带式制衡”。乡土社会的不规则或规则的多元化是连带式制衡的社会基础,与西方有所差异的中国农民的“捆绑式的权利义务观”则构成了基层组织权力运作的价值基础,两者共同支撑使得“连带式制衡”成为基层组织权力的常规化运作机制。     

Effectiveness of Local Governance: Interactions Between Social Capital and Institutional Structures

This paper critically evaluates the debate on what makes local governments more effective, higher social capital (such as trust, reciprocity, and informal social networks) or stronger institutional structures (such as democratic processes, ombudsman, and social audits). Empirical analysis of a decentralized welfare scheme in India, the Andhra Pradesh Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (APREGS), using the latent variable path analysis modeling approach reveals that creation of formal democratic institutional channels in itself does not impact governance performance. Rather, it is mediated by complex institutional and social capital issues. For example, formal information dissemination activates social capital, leading to effective local governance. However, this (higher social capital and better institutions) does not automatically lead to empowerment or trust in the local government. The influence of the economically and politically powerful mediates this relationship. These and other results, cumulatively, highlight the complexity involved in the effectiveness of government empowerment initiatives. The paper calls for a fresh and wider debate on decision‐making dynamics in rural India, especially the interaction between government institutions, social capital, and the historical societal dynamics.     

Academic performance and peer relations among rural‐to‐urban migrant children in Beijing: Do social identity and self‐efficacy matter?

Due to the household registration system, millions of rural‐to‐urban migrant children in China are ineligible to receive urban social welfare benefits. These children potentially suffer from the evolving awareness of their perceived inferior social identity and experiences of inequalities at an early stage of life. This study examined whether self‐perceived social identity is related to academic performance and peer relations among rural‐to‐urban migrant children in Beijing. Data were collected from 136 children during 2013 and 2014 in three schools for migrant children in Beijing. Path analysis showed that children who identified as a Beijinger, compared with those who self‐identified with their rural hometown, had better self‐efficacy, which in turn was associated with better academic performance and better peer relations. Enlightened by Western theories, these findings suggest that migrant children’s performance in school could be enhanced by cultivating positive perceptions of their social identity through teachers’ practice and community‐ and policy‐level social support.     

Technology Transforms Politics: Internet + Government Services and the Transformation of the Grassroots Power Structure*

Since the rise of the Internet in China, China’s local governments have actively used Internet technology to facilitate public administration and public services. What impact, then, have different types of social media had on local governance? This paper, based on years of investigation of J Town and L Sub-district in Shanghai (2012-2018), finds that Internet technology has profoundly transformed the grassroots power structure. Before the rise of the Internet, the grassroots power structure included local government, activists and the masses; in the age of Weibo and home owners forums, grassroots opinion leaders rose, becoming an impressive social force that local government could not afford to ignore; in the age of WeChat, however, the influence of grassroots opinion leaders declined, as local government can interact directly with the masses through WeChat public accounts and WeChat group chats, with the network technology becoming a tool for micromanagement. These three stages correspond to three types of government characterized by limited mobilization, consultation, and user-friendliness, respectively.     

村庄善治：一种新型民主合作体制的建立

目前,我国村庄治理中面临着“两委矛盾”、村委与村民矛盾以及乡村矛盾的多重困境,从而使村庄难以实现有效治理,其主要原因是村庄治理中的体制不合理、利益主体多元化以及传统政治文化惯性与村民的公民意识欠缺。因此,发展草根组织,使村庄向理性公民社会靠拢,从而建立一种以草根组织为纽带的草根组织、村“两委”以及乡镇政权组织的民主合作体制,在一定程度上有助于村治困境的解决,以期实现村庄善治。     

Predictors of Children's Rights Attitudes and Psychological Well‐being Among Rural and Urban Mainland Chinese Adolescents

This study examined rural and urban Chinese adolescents’ (13–19 years, N = 395) attitudes toward children's self‐determination and nurturance rights, and how these attitudes relate to various dimensions of socialization in their family and school environments, including perceptions of parental and teacher autonomy support and responsiveness and family and school democratic climate. Relations between these variables and psychological well‐being also were examined. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that maternal responsiveness and teacher autonomy support predicted higher levels of endorsement of nurturance rights. Maternal autonomy support and tolerance of dissent at home predicted greater endorsement of self‐determination rights. Democratic climate in the home predicted higher life‐satisfaction and fewer depressive symptoms, even when parent and teacher autonomy support and responsiveness were controlled. Our findings suggest that environments that are structured more democratically and that are more responsive to children's autonomy needs are associated with higher levels of endorsement of children's rights and contribute to adolescents’ psychological health and well‐being in a non‐Western culture.     

社会资本与社区治理：城市社区中的制度、组织与价值

社会资本和社区、社区治理具有内在的关联性,城市社区面临的很多问题都与社会资本的缺失或下降有关,集中体现在社区空间、社区组织和社区文化层面上的社区社会资本。因此,城市社区社会资本要培育作为制度空间的社区公民社会、作为组织资源的社区民间组织、作为价值机制的信任、规范、互惠等社区公民文化,发挥居民、社区各社会组织、政府行政组织以及社区文化价值的功能,从而实现社区治理的共治、善治和长治。     

Jobs in the Bush: Global Industries and Inclusive Rural Development

How do rural communities manage the challenge of local governance and community capacity‐building, given the policy choices of central government (both state and national) in favour of global resource‐development industries? Central government policy choices expose rural communities to the vagaries of the global economy, even as the Australian government's stated intent vis‐à‐vis rural Australia is the exact opposite: to encourage locally driven economic and community sustainability. Rural development policy in Australia often has the effect of denying the very outcomes it hopes to achieve. On the one hand, government policies encourage rural communities to be independent, to build ‘social capital’, and to add value to their local produce; on the other hand, macroeconomic policies change the contexts within which these communities function, creating a tension which is difficult to reconcile. In the case of the Western District of Victoria, an established agricultural and pastoral region, the cycles of economic activity have been disrupted in recent years by new and exciting global industries whose trajectories sit largely outside local control. This paper questions whether governments have a systemic view of the impact of these competing demands on rural communities, and calls for a more informed, whole‐of‐government policy‐making for the development of Australia's rural regions.     

Multiple Social Networks in Grassroots Governance in Rural China*

Existing research on grassroots rural governance in China adopts a network perspective to explore the role of traditional social vehicles including clans, clan clusters and popular beliefs in improving village governance. However, most of this research has concentrated on analyzing the way in which horizontal network relationships lead to effective village governance. It has thus to some extent neglected the basic reality of the overlapping interconnections between the “top-down” administrative system and the informal structure of village governance. In fact, an analysis that proceeds from the features of the government’s own organizational network, the social structure of the village itself and the position of its elites in order to focus on modes of interaction within the village under the intermixture of (formal) system design and (informal) social relations, shows that differences in the composition of the government’s promotional networks resulting from the traits of key officials affect the speed of policy dissemination as well as the government’s mode of interaction with the village elites. Moreover, differences in these modes of interaction further influence the subsequent operation of self-organization based on social traditions (“filial piety” or “morality”). At the same time, structural elements, including the economic and social relations of the village itself, determine whether self-organization will improve the quality of governance in the long term. This finding can serve as a reflection on and critique of the theories of “strong government” and “tradition” current in academia.     

Revisiting History: The Creation of Provinces and the Politics of Social Policy in a Democratic South Africa

The pre‐democracy negotiations between the African National Congress (ANC) and the National Party (NP) established nine provincial forms of government to replace the four provinces of the apartheid era. The nine provinces contrasted with the historical goal of the ANC to create a ‘democratic, non‐racial and unitary South Africa’. The NP wanted nine new provinces to prevent centralized state power under an ANC government and saw possibilities for winning electoral power in the Western Cape. The ANC conceded following political pressure from the Inkatha Freedom Party, which threatened civil war, and a policy shift after examining the German federal governance system. The article analyzes the history, politics, process and outcomes of the establishment of the nine provinces for social policy delivery in South Africa. It explores the contention that the nine provinces re‐fragmented service delivery (although not on a statutory racial basis) and created a system of fiscal decentralization with serious implications for social policy: weakening bureaucratic capacity, institutional capability and political accountability. The provincial governance mechanisms and fiscal institutions created a particular ‘path dependency’ which, 18 years after democratic, rule still impacts negatively on service delivery and more equitable policy outcomes. This is in part due to the undermining of provincial governance mechanisms and fiscal institutions by a significant minority of corrupt and incompetent provincial civil servants. The corruption of these provincial governance mechanisms and fiscal institutions erodes the egalitarian values aimed at creating a non‐racial, non‐sexist, democratic and unitary South Africa which historically underpinned the policy agenda of the ANC. It also has weakened social citizenship on a geographical and ultimately racial basis given the continuing co‐incidence of race and place in a democratic South Africa.     

“Moving from transactional government to enablement” in Indigenous service delivery: The era of New Public Management,service innovation and urban Aboriginal community development

Over the last 40 years, Aboriginal Community Based Organisations have played a distinctive role in society in relation to urban Aboriginal peoples and their rights to self‐determination and community development in the Australian city of Newcastle. They have proven essential to advocacy, the maintenance of community development, and the creation of new Aboriginal social infrastructure (community organisations, facilities, services, and supporting infrastructure). Autonomy has been empowering for local Aboriginal people. Major reforms to the delivery of government social services, particularly government enablement of a new social service market based on New Public Management principles, threaten this success. This interpretive, qualitative case study illustrates the effects of social service market enablement. It draws on a case study of the effects of social service market enablement on urban Aboriginal Community Based Organisations in Newcastle, showing the antagonistic relationship between social service market enablement and Aboriginal community enablement and development. It ends with a discussion of how Aboriginal community development in this city could be re‐enabled in light of the Prime Minister's arguments in his 2017 Annual Parliamentary Closing the Gap speech providing particular value in the context of policy discussions about moving from transactional government to enablement in Indigenous affairs.     

Self-perceptions of Social Competence and Self-worth in Chinese Children: Relations with Social and School Performance

The purpose of the study was to examine relations between self‐perceptions of social competence and general self‐worth and social and school performance in Chinese children. A sample of children, initially aged 12 years, in the People's Republic of China, participated in this longitudinal study. Data on self‐perceptions were collected from self‐reports. Data on social and school performance were obtained from multiple sources including peer assessments, teacher ratings and school records. The results indicated that relations between self‐perceptions and performance might vary across domains. Self‐perceptions of self‐worth and school competence mutually contributed to the prediction of each other. Whereas sociability and aggression predicted self‐perceptions of social competence and self‐worth, positive self‐perceptions might be a protective factor that buffered against the development of social‐behavioral problems. The results may help us understand developmental antecedents and outcomes of children's self‐perceptions of social competence and self‐worth in general, and the nature of the phenomena in the Chinese context.     

风险社会与国家治理现代化

我国目前正处于重大的社会转型期即风险社会之中。中国进入风险社会有四个主要标志：政府作为社会治理或公共治理的中心,其公信力在不断下降;中国出现了公共机构有组织的不负责任现象;＂理论的不在状态＂和＂现实的不在场＂;主体意识或个体意识的崛起。中国进入风险社会表现为四个基本的、深层次的社会结构性紧张：利益结构的紧张、制度结构的紧张、文化结构的紧张、价值结构的紧张。风险社会只是一个表象,根本原因是四大深层次的社会结构性矛盾没有解决。中国学术创新的关键就是要研究社会的结构性矛盾或结构性紧张,找出其形成的规律,从根本上消除阻碍社会主义发展和国家治理现代化的深层次根源。     

国家基层策略行为与社区过程: 基于南苑业主自治的社区故事

在转型的社区情境中,国家基层政府的行为是策略性的,社区居民亦陷入了权变的回应过程。文章聚焦于20世纪80年代以来政府行为的不同阶段,从中观的社区形态考察基层政府的不同策略和社区过程。政府干预、释出和旁观调控三种不同类型的行为反映了政府对于社区的态度,社区层次和事件性质是基层政府策略行为的关键自变量。文章运用拓展性个案研究方法,分析了国家在社区的基层策略,以及转型期社区的生成和发展,基层政府行为与社区回应的不同逻辑是社区治理困境的重要根源。     

转型期的中国公民社会：发展与前瞻

随着市场经济和民主政治的发展,中国的公民社会正在迅速崛起。公民社会能够沟通政府与公民,重塑政府与社会的关系,制约政府权力,推进民主进程,有效解决社会矛盾与冲突。中国公民社会的发展面临着历史文化传统、当政者的价值理念、政治制度环境、市场经济的不完善发展、公民社会自身的缺陷等一系列现实障碍。我国应该正视当下公民社会官民二重性的客观现实,借鉴后发国家已经成功的法团主义路径,探索具有中国特色的道路,实现由国家法团主义向社会法团主义的转型。     

Experiential Logic in the Transformation of Contemporary China’s Social Governance*

How does Chinese society maintain its orderly operation and show stability and harmony to the utmost while China rapidly transforms its economic system and international circumstances become increasingly complicated? This is an important question that this essay tries to answer, and the analysis mainly involves the exploratory practice of the transformation of Chinese social governance. This exploratory practice is a process through which China constantly breaks through the traditional blockades of vested interests, overcomes newly formed challenges, and forms a new Chinese-style “one axis and multiple components” pattern of social governance during its rapid re-establishment of both social relationship structure and social psychology order on the unbalanced and insufficient conditions of development within its vast territory. During this process, the constant return to the CPC’s mass line, as well as the “mechanism of reversed transmission of pressure,” the “anticipation-led mechanism” and the “mechanism of turning crisis into opportunity” that the CPC has improved during its long-term revolutionary struggles and its deepening of reform and opening-up, has played an important part. The simplistic duplication of Western theoretical analytic paradigms cannot explain the experiential mechanism for the transformation of social governance, which is peculiar to China. The creation of research framework of “system and life” is just an effort for comparison and dialogues with Western classical theories. It is not only helpful for the development of sociology about Chinese transformation, but will provide new knowledge for worldwide social transformation.     

Linking Society and Environment: A Multilevel Model of Shifting Wildlife Value Orientations in the Western United States*

Objective. Studies of attitudes and values can make important contributions to emerging multi‐level, interdisciplinary approaches to environmental problems. We test a multi‐level model using data from a 19‐state study on public thoughts toward wildlife in the western United States. Methods. Data were collected via mail survey administered to residents in each state. Results. Data support (1) a micro model that proposes values are oriented by two contrasting ideologies—domination versus mutualism—and that these different value orientations lead to different attitudes and behaviors toward wildlife; and (2) a macro model that links forces of modernization (income, education, urbanization) to a population‐level shift from domination to mutualism value orientations. Conclusions. Such a shift would stimulate behavioral, ecological, and institutional effects that are critical in shaping society‐environment interactions. Findings suggest that examining human thought processes in relation to broader social and environmental factors holds great promise in extending the application of the social sciences.     

过渡治理情境下的中国社会服务困境:基于Z市社会工作服务的研究

社会工作近十年来在创新社会治理的推动下发展迅速。本文将重点关注于社会服务组织的服务供给过程及其导致的社会服务困境。通过对治理情境的拓展分析,引入过渡治理情境概念,分析我国社会服务供给。在此情境下,本文以Z市家庭综合服务中心为例,围绕自由裁量权这一概念讨论社会服务组织的服务供给策略及其所导致的服务困境。在过渡治理情境中,消极的自由裁量权与社会工作的半专业化发展结合在一起,社会服务组织选择了“活动化”和“指标化”的服务供给,令社会服务处于创新和碎片化之间,而导致社会服务陷入困境。社会服务困境根源的解决在于建立合作的治理情境、强化本土化社工专业力量以及充分发挥第三方的社会服务供给效力。     

基层信访治理中的“包保责任制” 实践逻辑与现实困境 以鄂中桥镇为例

本文以桥镇为个案,运用国家、基层政权和农民博弈关系的三层分析框架,阐释了乡村基层信访治理中“包保责任制”的实践逻辑和现实困境。研究发现,尽管“包保责任制”能够强化包保责任人的责任意识,并在一定程度上缓解信访治理工作难题,但监控环境与空间隔离、监控技术与社会基础、监控强度与道义压力这三大矛盾使得这一制度的运行陷入困境,滋生了越来越多与制度设计初衷相悖的“目标替代”行为。在此基础上,本文阐释了中国科层制运作的三大矛盾,即理性科层制与非理性运作的矛盾、专业化与综合性的矛盾、常规运作与非常规任务的矛盾,并给出了相应的理论解释。本研究强调,在中国基层权力运作中,长期而广泛存在的名实分离的矛盾现象,不仅仅是科层体制内部各行动主体博弈的结果,也不纯粹是一个组织激励问题,而是由科层体制与乡村社会的合力所催生。由此,在推进基层政权现代化建设进程中,就不能局限于制度建设层面,还要考虑是否具备支撑现代基层政权的社会基础和制度环境。