Chinese Journal of Sociology ›› 2009, Vol. 29 ›› Issue (5): 39-63.

• Articles • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Town Government’s Power Operations between the Pressure Hierarchical/Bureaucratic System and the Rural Society:A Case Study of Ju Town

 OU-YANG Jing   

  1. 华中科技大学中国乡村治理研究中心   博士研究生
  • Online:2009-09-20 Published:2009-09-20

Abstract:

The paradox of township power is in its formal bureaucratic institutional structure but its practical informal operation, which is seen not only in its tactics and strategies but also in its own structural transformation. This paper takes Ju Town as a case and presents the town government’s actual informal operation and its inherent operational logic by describing the town government’s administrative functions and its structure, and the operations of the financial and administrative constituents. This study has discovered that the town government’s informal operation originates in a unique hierarchical context, namely, it is under the pressure bureaucracy and above the nonformalized rural society. This status has embodied the town government in three kinds of relationships: the pressure system and the hierarchical bureaucratic system; pressure duties and resource scarcity; and the formalized bureaucratic organization and nonformalized rural society. The existence of these three relationships enforces the town government to find an approach for survival in the context where the pressure system, bureaucracy system and rural society are interlocked. This has finally shaped the logic and characteristic of the town government’s operation.

Key words: non-formalized rural society, pressure hierarchical/bureaucratic system, town government’s operation