2020 Vol.40

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Pricing the Bridewealth: On the Moral Embedding in the Mechanism of Rural Betrothal Gifts Negotiation——Case Analysis Based on L County, Gansu Province WANG Sining, JIA Yujing, TIAN Geng Chinese Journal of Sociology    2020, 40 (1): 1-24.   Abstract （2003）   HTML （350）    PDF（pc） （845KB）（1337）       Knowledge map    Save Bridewealth is both a monetary as well as a cultural component of Chinese marriage. The existing research employs two major frames to examine it:the marriage market theory and the gift flow theory.The former attributes the rising price of bridewealth to the imbalance of the gender ratio in the marriage circle, and the latter regards bridewealth as a venue in which property flows intergenerationally. However, neither of them ably facilitates the study of bridewealth as a social process, namely, the negotiating between seniors representing the engaged families to decide the monetary value of an appropriate bridewealth. The fieldwork of this paper focuses on how the "negotiation" is initiated and moves on until both families settle on a descent bridewealth. In the process, both families first refer to the "baseline" price (dahang) in the local place and then claim that their family status entitles them to raise or lower the bridewealth from da hang. The bargaining behaviors of both families and their understanding of each other's behaviors are in strategical alignment with da hang. The strength of da hang, this paper argues, consists not so much in being a monetary indicator of the average bridewealth as in being a moral measurement of the decency of the bargaining families. On the one hand, a bridewealth significantly higher or lower than dahang may signify in the community that those families are breaking the moral sanctions of da hang and thus leads to questioning and even devaluation of their family status.Therefore, the negotiating families must find ways to morally justify the price-ups or-downs. On the other hand, even the most consenting families don't reduce the pricing process into a polite formality. The ultimate ethic code about marriage making lies not so much in mutual understanding of the two families as in their strategies to follow the moral sanctions of da hang despite of a deviating price. The imperatives to follow da hang and the strategical efforts to morally legitimize a "price" fluctuating from itare central to theorize the normative embeddedness of the bridewealth in the community moral fabrication. Reference | Related Articles | Metrics | Comments（0）

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Public Space Without Public: State and Individual in Courtyard Space in Dashilar, Beijing LI Alin Chinese Journal of Sociology    2020, 40 (1): 25-44.   Abstract （1491）   HTML （103）    PDF（pc） （669KB）（831）       Knowledge map    Save In this paper, the meaning of public space and the problem of public reconstruction are discussed through an experiment study of community formation and courtyard space adjustment in the old neighborhood of Dashilar in Beijing (2014-2017). Unlike the western theoretical circles, which generally regard public space as public life with political or social significance, the courtyard of Dashilar is a public space shared by several families but with little social life, and the neighbors are acquainted but remain strangers and the relationship can be tense and often in open conflicts.The paper begins with the perspective of "the property rights of public space cognition, management and usage" to sort out the historical process of Dashilar courtyards from state-owned urban space in the 1980s to privatized properties in the later years. In this process, even though residents understood that public spaces like courtyards and hutongs wereowned by the state, they still gradually encroached and divided these administratively neglected public spaces for private use. The act of encroaching on public spaces by residents is not only the result of housing shortage, but also influenced by the historical relationship between the state and the individual. Under such circumstances, the public space is no longer a mere functional material space, but is full of interaction between various actors, revealed both in the expansion of private space by individuals in daily life and in the "public disturbance" events by collectives in the construction of space. The experiment in this paper introduces two strong social interventions of "rebuilding social life" and "defining the public and private boundaries" to facilitate courtyard space adaptation. The two experiments ended in failure for the former and success for the latter respectively. This tells us that public reconstruction is not just about rebuilding social interaction between people, but also about adjusting the state-individual relationship and establishing the rules of living together in public space. Reference | Related Articles | Metrics | Comments（0）

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Integrating Medicine and Rituals: The Operating Mechanism of the Medical System among the Akha WANG Ruijing Chinese Journal of Sociology    2020, 40 (1): 45-74.   Abstract （1271）   HTML （55）    PDF（pc） （1010KB）（451）       Knowledge map    Save By using cultural interpretation method in reference to the cosmic belief of the Akha at the Sino-Myanmar border, this paper analyzes the Akha people's view on illness and their corresponding treatment practice in order to understand the integration of medicine and rituals and the operating mechanism of this system. The finding points out that the Akha people believe that humans possess both body and soul. Some illnesses are physical and can be healed by drugs, while others involve the soul, ghosts, spirits, deities and the Supreme God, and need to resort to ritual treatment. Ritual therapy in a set of socio-cosmological rules called "Li", is closely related to the Akha's cosmology, social organization, kinship system, temporal and spatial arrangements, behavioral norms and so on.Li defines the overall cosmic order of the Akha, coordinates the rules of interaction between people and ghosts, gods, spirits and other living things in the universe, as well as regulates the life of the human world. In this intermingled world, manifested in illness, human body is the carrier of messages given by nonhuman beings. Such illnesses are regarded as punishments from the divine for discordance with the socio-cosmological order and a call for people to correct mistakes and restore harmony. Therefore, the proper way to heal illness is to remove physical discomfort by taking medicine, and to satisfy nonhuman beings with sacrificing rituals. In so doing, the collective socio-cosmological morality is internalized into the individual through uncertain ailments and healing rituals that repeatedly confirm and maintain the authority of the social-cosmic order. It is this pluralistic medical practice of combining medicine with rituals that keeps the Akha Li alive. Reference | Related Articles | Metrics | Comments（0）

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Living in Between Hub and Border: A Study on the Image Construction of Han Chinese in Border Areas during the Republic of China FENG Jianyong Chinese Journal of Sociology    2020, 40 (1): 75-95.   Abstract （1280）   HTML （44）    PDF（pc） （960KB）（553）       Knowledge map    Save During the period of the Republic of China, some researchers with academic training in western anthropology, ethnology, and sociology realized that the migration of Han Chinese from the interior to periphery regions made the geographical concept of "border" richer in its cultural and political meaning. Various scholars saw the role and mission of these Han Chinese in a different light:Wu Wenzao, Tao Yunkui and others followed Robert Parker's "marginal man" theory to present helpfully the Han migrants as "pivotal men" contributing to the building of frontiers; in contrast, ethnographers, such as Li Anzhai, Liang Zhaotao and Fei Xiaotong, used their field observations to show that the image of "central people" and "key players" did not capture the whole picture of the Han Chinese in border regions. Instead, in their view, the self-interest motive and behavior of the Hans could sometimes be a "problem" for border areas. The two contradictory images expressed by these scholars are both, nevertheless, in direct and indirect conversations with Parker's "marginal man" theory and reflect the difference among the Chinese intellectuals about the ways of social change in border regions. No matter of the differences, both camps represented the concerns and hopes of the Chinese intellectual elites over the development of frontier areas and the reality of the complexity of the matter over the centuries of people integration between center and periphery. For the Han Chinese in border regions, a group with diverse origin and culture, any single image will be undeniably partial. Reference | Related Articles | Metrics | Comments（0）

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Market Towns Since Ming and Qing: The Historical Cause of China's Urbanization Development FU Chunhui Chinese Journal of Sociology    2020, 40 (1): 96-123.   Abstract （1617）   HTML （94）    PDF（pc） （858KB）（605）       Knowledge map    Save Since the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the extensive network of market towns has been a major feature of China's urban and rural structure. Unlike in the developed Western countries, Chinese market towns did not become a transitional stage in the development of urbanization. Industrialization and land development have not fully moved China's urbanization towards the path of large cities and megacities. This paper is devoted to clarifying the theoretical tradition of market town research, and examining the economic, social, and political aspects of their evolution since Ming and Qing. From the economic point of view, market towns are joint points connecting local markets and the world, and are increasingly characterized by super-leveling, cross-regional and financialization. At the social level, market towns are hierarchical, organized and highly inclusive. From the political point of view, they are the focal point of local autonomy and national state power. This intermediate nature is the essential feature of market towns. From its beginning Chinese sociology has paid close attention to the study of market towns. Many relevant issues are discussed such as family, community, daily life, social mobility, grass-roots governance and so on. Sociological study of market town must treat the subject as a general social fact and the relationship between market towns and specific systems and social structures should be examined on the premise of studying elements of life experience, life wisdom, ethics and morality, customs and other factors. Reference | Related Articles | Metrics | Comments（0）

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Subversion and Nihility: The Subjective Difficulty in Shakespeare's Macbeth and Hamlet WANG Nan Chinese Journal of Sociology    2020, 40 (1): 124-163.   Abstract （1561）   HTML （70）    PDF（pc） （1196KB）（635）       Knowledge map    Save William Shakespeare lived in the Tudor period and in his plays created a series of classic characters, foreshadowing many fundamental traits of modern men. This paper compares Macbeth and Hamlet, two infamous characters of Shakespeare's great tragedies, and analyzes the characteristic defects that led to their tragic fate from the subjective point of view. The study explores the modern meaning of Shakespeare's creation of these two characters. Tempted by ambition Macbeth murdered the king, and later was tormented with fear by a powerful imagination, conjuring up manipulations and cover ups to keep himself safe. In so doing, Macbeth fell deeper in sin with his own actions, sinking into nihilistic nothingness. Hamlet's dilemma is that his highly dualistic metaphysical thinking created for him a world of opposites between thinking and being, essence and appearance, ideal and reality. Paralyzed by the conflict, Hamlet could not bridge abstract thoughts with actions and bring himself to take vengeance. In the end, he could do nothing but submit himself to the will of the unknown God. These two characters by Shakespeare can well be regarded as accurate portraits of the highly subjective and abstract modern people today. Macbeth is an ambitious man who pursues his dream at all costs, while Hamlet is a poetic philosopher who indulges in his ideal world and laments the evils and impermanence of the world. Reference | Related Articles | Metrics | Comments（0）

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Devolution: Social Power in the Kula Ring LIANG Yongjia Chinese Journal of Sociology    2020, 40 (1): 164-186.   Abstract （1569）   HTML （71）    PDF（pc） （1354KB）（553）       Knowledge map    Save The paper borrows some of Laozi's ideas to interpret the classic anthropological case of "Kula Ring". It is suggested that Kula society illustrates Michael Mann's question of "devolution" conundrum. Two concepts of Laozi help us to capture two characteristics of Kula society:first,"non-accumulation" (buji) allows us to understand that no matter how hard people try to acquire Kula treasures and fame,neither can be accumulated,thereby preventing the concentration of economic and political power. Second,"small kingdoms with few people" (xiaobang guamin) reveals that the organization,technology and calendar of Kula society purposefully limit the size of society. Kula's trading rules also keep the society peaceful,thereby inhibiting the accumulation of political and military powers. The paper argues that Laozi gives us a unique perspective to better understand the overall purpose of Kula society:through deliberate non-action,Kula society could be kept in a "non-civilized" state of devolution. Reference | Related Articles | Metrics | Comments（0）

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Unsuccessful Transplant of the Concept of Charity: An Analysis from the Perspective of Policy Process ZHANG Gaorong Chinese Journal of Sociology    2020, 40 (1): 187-212.   Abstract （1631）   HTML （64）    PDF（pc） （1071KB）（509）       Knowledge map    Save In the process of legal modernization,China has always been faced with conflicts between transplanted laws and domestic customs. How to build a legal system that both embodies formal rationality and absorbs Chinese cultural traditions has become a significant theoretical problem in the process of China's transformation. Due to the lack of research on micro-policy making processes,the discussions on this issue mostly remain at the macro level. Therefore,this article takes the formation of the concept of "charity" in the Charity Law of the People's Republic of China as an example to explore how legal transplant and domestic customs affect legislation. Weber's formal rational law and substantive rational law,as well as the concept of legal pluralism are applied as theoretical framework for this study. Through the analysis of the legislative process of defining the concept of "charity",it is found that legislation is influenced by two factors:the legislature needs to response to the public demands to enhance its legitimacy,and the legislators themselves are part of the public. These two factors make the concept of charity in law fully reflect domestic customs. The transplant of the legal concept of charity is mainly achieved through the cooperation between legal experts and legislators. Through such interactions,legislators recognize that incorporating local customs into the legal system undermines the internal logic of the law. Therefore,there is a growing demand in China's current legislative process to integrate legal transplant with local customs in a more organic manner. However,due to the separation of proposal and deliberation in the legislative process and the decision-making mode of political bureaucracy,the construction of formal rational law faces a double disintegration. Thus,to facilitate better integration of legal transplant and local customs,the legislative system,with the full participation of legal experts,needs to integrate the drafting and deliberation process,and remove the information constraints on the legislative decision makers (non-legislative technocrats). Reference | Related Articles | Metrics | Comments（0）

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The Influence of Regional Divorce Culture on Marital Stability: A Study Based on Trans-Provincial Migrants SHI Zhilei Chinese Journal of Sociology    2020, 40 (1): 213-242.   Abstract （1323）   HTML （146）    PDF（pc） （1102KB）（892）       Knowledge map    Save Using the data from the Inter-Provincial Migration Survey (2013-2015),this paper examines the impact of regional divorce culture on migrants' marital stability from a dynamic perspective. The study finds that high divorce rate regions created a strong culture of divorce acceptance that influence both in-flow and out-flow migrants. With control for major confounders,the instrumental variable approach analysis shows that,1) for every additional divorce case (per 100 couples) in the destination area,the probability of divorce increased by 1.38 to 1.65 percentage points among in-flow migrants,and 2) for every additional couple divorce (per 100 couples) in the area of origin,the probability of divorce increased by 1.32 to 1.91 percentage points among out-flow migrants. Further,the regression results show that the influence of divorce culture on individual behavior is characterized by inheritance and immersion effect. Inheritance effect is reflected in the continuous impact of the original divorce culture among migrants who have settled in a new place. Immersion effect shows migrants assimilate themselves into the divorce culture of the new place. Young migrants are more likely to be affected by the cultural immersion effect,while older people are more vulnerable to the cultural inheritance effect. The study also shows that in a new environment,men are more receptive to new things,while women are more likely to retain their original cultural identity. Reference | Related Articles | Metrics | Comments（0）

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Imperial Examination,Commercialization and Social Equality: “Civilizing” Guangxi Chieftain Society in the Qing Dynasty ZHANG Jianghua Chinese Journal of Sociology    2020, 40 (2): 1-41.   Abstract （1218）   HTML （318）    PDF（pc） （1096KB）（539）       Knowledge map    Save The purpose of this study is to explore the imperial examination carried out by the central authority in the chieftain region of Guangxi since the beginning of the Qing Dynasty and the process of “civilization” of the local society in response to this policy. The paper first describes the land ownership and usage based social structure and status system of the local society in the chieftain region of Guangxi,and then traces the historical development of the imperial examination and explains how the system interacted with the locals,leading to the reorganization of the society. Through examining local archives,the paper discusses how commercialization enabled local social groups to change their status and pursue equality. Reference | Related Articles | Metrics | Comments（0）

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On the Relevance of the Classics to Anthropology: Critically Re-engaging an Old Argument WANG Mingming Chinese Journal of Sociology    2020, 40 (2): 42-75.   Abstract （771）   HTML （43）    PDF（pc） （915KB）（471）       Knowledge map    Save Most of the founders of anthropology attached great importance to the classics. By contrast, in the early half of the 20th century, anthropologists rarely thought of relating their ethnographic findings and theories to the subject. In Anthropology and the Classics published posthumously, Clyde Kluckhohn, one of the leading American cultural anthropologists, reflected on the change. Kluckhohn reviewed the history of reciprocity between the two important human sciences and forcefully argued for building a new bridge between them. He argued that the foundations of anthropology were humanism and science. These were laid during the Renaissance and the Enlightenment, but they were deeply rooted in ancient Greek “cultural grammar” and its intellectual expressions. For modern anthropology to recover its humanist and scientific vitality, as Kluckhohn insisted, it was necessary to go back to the classics whereby the (Western) anthropologists could (1) dig deeper into the history of their discipline(s) and (2) include the study of the culture of Antiquity in their scope. The author writes the present review article more than half a century after Kluckhohn made his calling. To do justice to Kluckhohn's long forgotten text, he spends two full sections on Kluckhohn's history of reciprocity between anthropology and the classics, outline of the ancient Greek anthropological perspectives, and synopsis of Greek “cultural grammar”. He seeks to restore the project Kluckhohn developed. Considering it from a broader scope of disciplinary history, the author finds Kluckhohn's critique of the social science utilitarian facet of modern Western anthropology inspiring. As he points out, core to Kluckhohn's project was a turn toward the revival of the humanistic tradition of anthropology which has remained to be realized. In re-engaging Kluckhohn's argument, the author is also critical of it. In the much extended concluding section, he reconsiders Kluckhohn's text in the terms of its following shortcomings: (1) In various places, Kluckhohn contrasted Ancient Greek “culture” and Christian “ethics”, implying that many similarities can be discovered between the ancient West and the “primitive others” studied by the anthropologists. In “exceptionalizing” Christianity, he excluded Biblical anthropology from his explanation and made his understanding of the “Westernness” of Western anthropology short of a reflection on its “theological anxiety”. (2) To achieve his “comprehension of past and present relations between the classics and anthropology”, Kluckhohn relied too heavily upon his knowledge of Anglo-American anthropology and German philological ethnology and classics to leave any space for the achievements of L' Année sociologique, some of which in fact form a comparative approach to the classics. (3) The concept of “culture” as applied in Anthropology and the Classics is also problematic. It makes Kluckhohn's project less inclusive than the evolutionist perspective of the “transitional/intermediary type”-e.g., that provided by Robert Marett and his associates (Marett ed., 1908)-in which a notion of the “translation” between other and self could be rediscovered. Consequently, certain “accidental resemblances” between the cosmologies of ancient China and Greece got clear of Kluckhohn's eyesight. Kluckhohn believed that among the several “Axial Age breakthroughs” only the ancient Greek one, with its unique humanism and scientific spirit, was the soil from which anthropology grew. Because he perceived the classics with which anthropology was to get re-affiliated as exceptionally Western, Kluckhohn failed to offer an adequately comparative and historical perspective for anthropology-now much an inter-cultural cosmo-political mission. Reference | Related Articles | Metrics | Comments（0）

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Life and Ethics: The Individual Law Based on Simmel's Life Philosophy PAN Lixia Chinese Journal of Sociology    2020, 40 (2): 76-110.   Abstract （1074）   HTML （65）    PDF（pc） （785KB）（547）       Knowledge map    Save For a long time,the ethical significance of Simmel's life philosophy has not received much attention. However,ethical issues are one of the topics that Simmel had devoted his attention to throughout his life,and the individual law is Simmel's ultimate conclusion on ethical questions after he turned to life philosophy. This paper introduces the basic connotation and theoretical resources of the individual law,and its significance to the western dominant ethical thoughts and the modern day human conditions. Simmel wanted to find out the source of ethical choice for modern individuals in the money economy as well as a discourse of individualism that was conducive to the subjective culture development. His early research on the money economy and two types of individualism led him to a new form of individuality. In his view,“ought”“actuality”“art”“religion” and etc. are all categories of equal status and independence. We can apply any of these categories to our understanding of life and in so doing we are able to reach an independent world. When we look at individuality under the category of “ought” in an ethical sense,the individual life as “ought” becomes a law for the life as “actuality”,the individual law is thus formed. Simmel's idea of individual law arises from his long time dialogues with Kant,Schopenhauer,Nietzsche,and Goethe. He challenged the predominant Kant's universal law in the western ethical thoughts and was critical of the mechanical epistemology of science that led to the universal law. Simmel's thoughts represented a form of individualistic discourse that is different from utilitarianism,egoism or any other ideological trends in the West. Reference | Related Articles | Metrics | Comments（0）

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Positive Experiences in Emotional Labor: Deep Acting,Symbolic Boundaries,and Labor Autonomy MEI Xiao Chinese Journal of Sociology    2020, 40 (2): 111-136.   Abstract （2641）   HTML （2800）    PDF（pc） （806KB）（965）       Knowledge map    Save One important approach to studying emotional labor is to focus on its negative impact from the perspective of organizational psychology. Less attention is paid to the positive effect. This paper adopts a cultural sociology approach to study how “maternity helpers” use boundary work,such as deep acting and constructing symbolic boundaries,to produce positive experiences in the process of emotional labor. In deep acting,they actively distort the boundaries of the private space,introduce a family-oriented narrative,and participate in a certain amount of philanthropic labor. They are also engaged in constructing symbolic boundaries by promoting themselves as “childcare experts”,in order to get the upper hand when interacting and negotiating with clients. Both strategies of boundary work constitute an attempt to challenge social boundary by constructing symbolic boundary. This paper argues that the concept of autonomy in emotional labor should adopt a relational approach,thus accounting for the ability for the laborers to autonomously choose strategies that can produce equal and meaningful social relations,rather than merely focusing on the independent “self” with clear boundaries,or the ability to control labor process. Nevertheless,autonomy in emotional labor is constrained by both institutional and cultural conditions. Reference | Related Articles | Metrics | Comments（0）

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The Party-Government Relationship in the Chinese Bureaucracy: Evidence from Patterns of Personnel Flow ZHOU Xueguang, AI Yun, GE Jianhua, GU Huijun, LI Ding, LI Lan, LU Qinglian, ZHAO Wei, ZHU Ling Chinese Journal of Sociology    2020, 40 (2): 137-167.   Abstract （2432）   HTML （123）    PDF（pc） （4260KB）（1638）       Knowledge map    Save The party-government relationship is central in the governance of the People's Republic of China,with its key characteristic of the former dominating the latter. Focusing on personnel management practice and the resulting patterns of personnel flow across positions and offices in the party and government sectors,we examine the party-government relationship in light of personnel flows across the party-government sectors, and the offices/bureaus and positions therein, in a large Chinese bureaucracy. Previous research shows two different lines of inquiry. The first focuses on personnel flows in the Chinese bureaucracy with an emphasis on individual-level career trajectories, mobility patterns, and the associated incentive mechanisms. But the party-government relationships are given minimum attention. The second tends to provide descriptive or normative accounts of party-government relationships and their historical evolutions but has not examined these relationships in a quantitative and analytical manner. Our study builds on and goes beyond these existing studies in several ways. First, we proposed a perspective that focuses on personnel management and patterns of personnel flow across positions and offices in the party and government sectors. We take the existing party-government structures as our starting point and examine how these personnel flow patterns, or the lack thereof, provide information on the infusion and interconnectedness, or distance and separateness, between the party-government sectors,areas,and offices. Second,we developed a set of analytical dimensions and measures to capture different aspects of the party-government relationship,such as the extent of stability and specialization in the party and government positions and offices. We also proposed measures of the diffusion and interconnectedness among the party and government offices. Third,we applied these analytical dimensions and measures to systematically examine the multifaceted patterns of personnel flow and the resulting party-government relationships in a large Chinese bureaucracy at the provincial,municipal,and county levels in an entire province, between 1990 and 2008, with over 40 000 key officials and over 30 000 person-year records. Our findings show that there are noticeable variations in patterns of personnel flow among party and government positions and offices, with the former experiencing higher rates of mobility and more generalist characteristics. On the other hand,we also find considerable infusion and interconnectedness among positions and offices between the party and government sectors. These findings suggest that, in the Chinese governments, those party-government positions are organized into an integrated hierarchical order whose boundaries are formal in structure but fluid in terms of personnel flows, especially in those key positions in different administrative jurisdictions. Reference | Related Articles | Metrics | Comments（0）

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Recourse Activation: Group Differences of Parental Participation in the Tide of Parentocracy SHEN Hongcheng Chinese Journal of Sociology    2020, 40 (2): 168-203.   Abstract （1944）   HTML （109）    PDF（pc） （1022KB）（804）       Knowledge map    Save In the tide of paterntocracy sweeping the world, parental involvement in Chinese cities shows its own unique characteristics.Firstly, Chinese parental participation largely revolves around academic achievement and has a strong focus on performance outcome; secondly, parents' engagement in school public affairs is very much underdeveloped but family private sphere has expanded dramatically; finally, the class differentiation of parental participation is largely observed among the three groups of migrants, urban workers and middle class people. Based on a follow-up survey of two junior middle school classes in the same urban district, this article examines the characteristics of Chinese parental participation and the differences in the adaptation by different groups in the context of parentocracy. Chinese urban schools advocate family resource utilization, capability boost and parental responsibility ethics. It enables teachers to place ever higher demands on parental participation in education. In the categories of participation consciousness, participation ability, and participation behavior, the three groups exhibit the following differences: migrant workers, mindful of their own educational disadvantage,respond with passiveness; urban workers, unsure of their own competency, opt to follow and to imitate; the middle class, confident of their own successful education experience, act proactively and purposefully.In meeting school benchmarks and measurements, parental participation is greatly energized through constant interactions between teacher requests and parents responses, and at the same time, the class boundaries of everyday life is also being constantly defined and re-enforced. Under such circumstances, parental engagement may have become the social filter that for those who fail to respond effectively to teachers' demands, social exclusion is likely. Therefore, empirically,schools have become the ground for social division. From a theoretical viewpoint, research on parental involvement and its division is an important way to further our understanding of the unique mechanism of educational inequality in China. Reference | Related Articles | Metrics | Comments（0）

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Income Disparity,Perceptions of Inequality and Public Tolerance WEI Qingong Chinese Journal of Sociology    2020, 40 (2): 204-240.   Abstract （2182）   HTML （214）    PDF（pc） （3443KB）（1191）       Knowledge map    Save In the process of rapid transition, high income inequality and high public tolerance coexist in China. This phenomenon and its empirical and theoretical conundrum require exploration and explanation. With data from the CGSS2013, this article identifies and tests two forms of income inequality and their impacts on public tolerance. Analytical results of the mediating effect of “social context-subject perception” suggest that objective income inequality and perceived inequality have different effects on public tolerance. The statistics data constantly show that the objective income gap has no direct impact on public tolerance. But the larger the perceived income gap, the less it is tolerated. Meanwhile, actual big gaps do not warrant accurate perception from individuals. The existence of “perception bias” and contextual segmentation effects makes it easier for individuals to “capture” disparate income gaps at the district and county level rather than at the provincial level, and at the current time rather than in the past. The misperception of objective inequality manifests differently among subgroups. Females, urban residents as well as groups with medium education level, high income and good access to information are often more sensitive to the inequality. There is also a N-shaped relation curve between age and perceived income inequality. The results point to the heterogeneous effects of distribution structure and localization of individual perceptions as the key to explain the paradox between high income inequality and high public tolerance. In other words, it is due to the status structure constraints and temporal-spatial conditions that majority of the citizens see the current income gap being within its tolerable limits. The implication of this study is that one should not take the public tolerance of status quolightly but make greater effort to optimize the regional income distribution structure. Reference | Related Articles | Metrics | Comments（0）

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Power and Ethics: Reason of State in Max Weber's Sociology of Domination LI Rongshan Chinese Journal of Sociology    2020, 40 (3): 1-31.   Abstract （1208）   HTML （485）    PDF（pc） （883KB）（732）       Knowledge map    Save Max Weber's entanglement between power and ethics clearly embodies the duality of Machiavelli's "reason of state" doctrine. Like Machiavelli, Weber saw that with the rise of modern states, politics has become an independent value field, conflicting with other value fields, but not completely separated from them.Therefore, he rejected pure ethics of conviction, advocated effect-oriented ethics of responsibility, and recognized that the inconsistency of means and ends was an irrational reality of political ethics. Weber faced the problem of modern bureaucracy that was not prominent in the Machiavellian era. He degraded the ethics of polity to the legitimacy of administrative management and brought the issue of the relationship between bureaucracy and "ethics" to the center stage. In this sense, Weber is a "new Machiavelli".Weber never attempted an ultimate solution to the conflict between power and ethics. However, the question of relationship between bureaucracy and ethics that he left behind is not just a German problem, but also a common problem in contemporary politics. In the post-Weber time, social sciences stop questioning the meaning and purpose of the state, and instead focus on managerial functions and tasks of the state, resulting in what Carl Schmitt called "neutralization" of social sciences.Neutral concepts like "state autonomy" and "state capacity" have replaced Weberian ideas of tension between power and ethics.Any future study of state and social governance in China should try to explain not only the institutional level but also the conceptional level of how China has evolved from its traditional ethical bureaucracy to today's bureaucracy. Reference | Related Articles | Metrics | Comments（0）

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A Ternary Action Theory Based on the Concept of “Einverständnis”: Revisiting the Typologies of Action and Order in Max Weber's “On Some Categories of Interpretive Sociology” TSAI Po-Fang Chinese Journal of Sociology    2020, 40 (3): 32-57.   Abstract （861）   HTML （36）    PDF（pc） （1145KB）（330）       Knowledge map    Save Max Weber's "On Some Categories of Interpretive Sociology", published in 1913, plays a key role in both the development of his social theory and the contemporary study of his ideas on social action and social order. However, scholars are often preoccupied by Weber's 1920 book of Basic Concepts in Sociology and, from certain reasons, neglect his "On Some Categories of Interpretative Sociology". In order to make up for this shortcoming, this paper compares the internal discourse structure and external references of Some Categories to sort out related contexts to prove that the book has unique theoretical connotation. The interpretation of this paper is different from the two existing interpretations, that is, Some Categories is understood from the perspective of either "communication action theory" or "rational choice theory". A re-examination of the concepts in the book points out the dual role of "Einverständnis":a conceptual relation in social action connecting "Gemeinschaftshandeln/Einverständnishandeln/Gesellschaftshandeln" on the one hand, and a conceptual relation in social order connecting "action/Einverständnis/Vergesellschaftung" on the other hand. In this sense, what Weber established in Some Categories is a ternary action theory of "Gemeinschaftshandeln/Einverständnishandeln/Gesellschaftshandeln".At the core of the ternary action theory are the concept of Einverständnishandeln and one of its three elements-"as-if order".Both act to facilitate the transition between different actions and orders. In summary, the theoretical importance of Some Categories invites us to reflect on alternative ways of theorizing "from action to order" in social theory. Reference | Related Articles | Metrics | Comments（0）

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Supernatural Beings and Confucian Rationalism QIN Pengfei Chinese Journal of Sociology    2020, 40 (3): 58-87.   Abstract （1193）   HTML （49）    PDF（pc） （931KB）（322）       Knowledge map    Save The role of supernatural beings in Confucianism is the focus of this paper. It discusses the "rationalism" of Confucianism in relation to the pre-Confucian period belief in witchcraft and magics. Confucian understanding of ghosts and spirits continued the thought that supernatural beings could influence real life but added to it a new meaning. Because of it the fear and differentiation of ghosts and gods were no longer a source of sacredness in Confucian ethics. In Confucianism, supernatural beings could be classified into categories of "ancestral spirits" and other ghosts and deities. The former was regarded as "human ghosts" as they were dead ancestors who brought life to their descendants. The latter included all non-ancestral deities such as "tianshen" (Heavenly God) and "diqi" (Earth Deity). Worship and sacrifice were the reciprocal duty people felt for the benefits they received from these supernatural beings. This reciprocity became the center piece of Confucian rituals. Thus, "honoring your origin and repaying your ancestors" had been the most important component of Confucian sacrificial rituals. "Xing-Qi" (form vs non-form) theory helped explaining Confucian thought on the epistemological foundation of supernatural beings. On the one hand, Confucianism saw the interdependent and homogeneous relationship between men and their gods and ghosts. Sacrificial rituals were the direct way to communicate with supernatural beings with offerings. On the other hand, because the difference between material beings of men and invisible beings of supernatural world, the communication could only be experienced individually by the prayer. To have the access to the supernatural beings, one must "treat the dead like the living with sincerity and respect," the same type of sincerity and respect of filial piety that one show to one's parents. These two aspects demonstrate the ultimate role supernatural beings played in Confucian ethics. Reference | Related Articles | Metrics | Comments（0）

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Marketization and Change of Perceptions about Distributive Justice in China: 2005-2015 XU Qi, HE Guangye, HU Jie Chinese Journal of Sociology    2020, 40 (3): 88-116.   Abstract （1242）   HTML （127）    PDF（pc） （739KB）（836）       Knowledge map    Save Since the reform and opening-up in 1978, China has witnessed simultaneously a rapid economic growth as well as a sharp increase of income inequality as indicted in the Chinese Gini index,the most commonly used measurement of economic inequality. Consequently, Chinese people's perception of distribution equity has aroused widespread academic interest at home and abroad.However, most existing studies on the subject only focus on the fairness of outcomes, and more or less ignore the issue of the fairness of opportunity. Moreover, most studies currently use cross-sectional survey data from a single year, so they only give one-time snap shots of people's perception of distributive justice but cannot analyze anychange over time. This article uses the 2005 and 2015 China General Social Survey Data (CGSS) to study the ten-year changes in Chinese people's sense of distributive justice and reveals that how marketization explains this changing pattern in China. The study found that from 2005 to 2015, the people's sense of fairness on outcomes had improved, but the sense of opportunity fairness had declined. The results of the model analysis support the reference group theory, but they are not entirely consistent with the social structure theory. After controlling the influence of all other variables, the degree of marketization in the region seems to have significant impact the individual's sense of fairness:the more marketization, the stronger perception of outcome fairness and the weaker perception of opportunity fairness. Furthermore, the Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition shows that marketization alone can explain 26.9% and 25.5% of variation for the decade change of people's perceptions regarding outcome and opportunity inequality. Our study suggests that as marketization progresses, the opportunity inequality will be an important social issue worthy more attention. Reference | Related Articles | Metrics | Comments（0）

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Equity vs. Efficiency: A Spatial Analysis of Residential Aged Care Resources in Beijing BI Xiangyang, LI Mo Chinese Journal of Sociology    2020, 40 (3): 117-147.   Abstract （1016）   HTML （78）    PDF（pc） （3827KB）（488）       Knowledge map    Save Based on the data collected from residential aged care facilities(RACFs)websites and the Sixth National Census,this paper examines the spatial pattern of residential aged care resources in Beijing under the framework of spatial location theory of public facilities,addressing issues such as spatial inequality,spatial clustering,spatial accessibility and spatial regression analysis. Due to the unique distribution characteristics of township/neighborhood residential aged care resources,this study carries out the Bayesian analysis of public and private aged care resources distribution by using both the zero-inflated negative binomial distribution SLM(Spatial Lag Model)and BYM(Besag,York and Mollié) models in R-INLA. The results show that,at the township/neighborhood level,the overall distribution of public aged care resources is quite balanced as a whole,affected by regional homogenization of administrative power or the equalization of public services. Resource distribution shows a positive spatial dependence and remains stable even after population factor control. Excluding population factors,the ρ value (spatial autoregressive coefficient) of private aged care resources exceeds that of public. However,with the inclusion of population factors,though not statistically significant,the ρ value changes from positive to negative,showing negative spatial correlation. The results of spatial regression analysis also show that although both public and private distribution patterns are affected by the absolute number of targeted service population in the jurisdiction,the distribution of private old-age resources is more sensitive to the density index of the local elderly population,and the spatial layout is more determined by the target population or other related factors. For the public old-age resources,the spatial layout is largely determined by the administrative factors. Even though the overall trend is to be balanced and fair,some localities have failed to effectively make targeted adjustments according to the needs of population in different locations,resulting in a dualistic structure of insufficient utilization of nursing beds in suburb and shortage of supply in inner city. By contrast,the private sector distributes resources more in tune with the intensity index of the target population but on the whole the service is unbalanced. In short,the spatial resource distribution pattern of public and private ownerships reflects the contrast between efficiency and equity in providing aging care in China,a fact that is being shaped by both administrative and market forces. Reference | Related Articles | Metrics | Comments（0）

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“Intime Conviction” in Chinese Judicial Procedure: An Example of an Environmental Torts Case LIN Haozhou Chinese Journal of Sociology    2020, 40 (3): 148-172.   Abstract （677）   HTML （36）    PDF（pc） （816KB）（446）       Knowledge map    Save Facts as ground,laws as standard has been China's judicial guideline since the Reform Era,but in reality judges deviate from such principles. In a 2009 air pollution case in Southwest China,the presiding judge willfully misread evidences to reach the conclusion that pollution victims had not proven their case. A closer examination revealed the reason behind the judge's decision was an official finding by the local government denying of any existence of pollution prior to the trial. Whereas China has adopted much of Western style civil law and civil procedure,judges are at same time bounded by the judicial ideology of "serving the overall situation".Hence Chinese judges struggle to meet the two seemingly incompatible sets of judicial goals and institutions. Making compromises in judicial fact finding procedures is a quite common practice. "Intime conviction",originated in 17th Century Protestant England,is an important principle in the law of evidence requiring judges to determine case facts according to their own conscience. It was introduced to China at the turn of the 21st Century and its adaptation was mostly for utilitarian consideration,rather than the establishment of judicial ethics. The legal modernization in China was largely driven by the desire to develop and compete internationally,not noticing the fact that modernization is a process of "disenchantment"(e.g. wide societal belief in "freedom of conscience"). Therefore,the question whether China would see "intime conviction" successfully implemented,and for that matter,whether China can establish a rationalized judicial system in Weberian sense,is as much up to the progress of "individual ethics from below" as to that of "institutional design from above". Reference | Related Articles | Metrics | Comments（0）

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Moral Obligatio: Marcel Mauss's Study on the Indo-Europeans' Gift ZHANG Yahui Chinese Journal of Sociology    2020, 40 (3): 173-211.   Abstract （824）   HTML （45）    PDF（pc） （955KB）（348）       Knowledge map    Save This paper re-examines Mauss's discussion in his book Gift on Roman, Classic Hindu, and Germanic laws of "Gifts", in conjunction with his speech on the Category of the Person given in 1938, and concludes that Indo-European gifts were unique exchanges for the first and second classes, and that the principles of gift exchange were different. For Romans, the Real Law about res mancipi and the way of its exchange defined in Jus civile were closely related to the nature of Romulus's authority that was all about bonds and restrains. It became the core of the spirit of Roman gifts. The Germanic law, like that of the North American Indians, was based on peace between warriors. The threat of violence provided a guarantee of peace, so the gift was often thought to be toxic among German people. As for Hindus, the description of Anusasana-parva in Mahabharata embodied the inherent defects of the Dharma of Kshatriyas. This made the donation to Brahmin indispensable as means to make up for the incompleteness of the Dharma of Kshatriyas as well as a manifestation of the integration of the law with Brahmin's property rights. In short, for the first and second classes of Indo-Europeans, the gift was the law, the same as vaygu'a in kula trade and copper objects in potlatch. However, the third-class people as the majority in the West does not have a way of exchanging gifts in accordance with the moral requirements, and unless the spirit of Germanic law is inherited, modern society could eventually fall into an inexorable moral dilemma. Rather than focusing on serving industrial and commercial law, modern states should assume the obligation of reciprocity in gift exchanges. Through comparing Maine's research on Roman law with the study of Indo-European society, this paper hopes to demonstrate that Mauss had built upon Maine's thoughts and developed his theory of social contract that was based on the law of Indo-European society, a quite different proposal to the social contract theory based on nature law. Reference | Related Articles | Metrics | Comments（0）

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Living with Grandparents: Multi-Generational Families and Academic Performance of Grandchildren in China ZHANG Fan, WU Yuxiao Chinese Journal of Sociology    2020, 40 (3): 212-240.   Abstract （1604）   HTML （142）    PDF（pc） （1051KB）（870）       Knowledge map    Save Previous studies on social stratification and intergenerational mobility have mostly focused on the effects of parents on their children's socioeconomic status attainment, but less attention has been paid to the important role played by grandparents in the life chance of their grandchildren and its underlying mechanism. By analyzing a national survey sample data of junior high school students, this study examines the influence factors of living with grandparents and their effect on the academic performance of adolescents, and the intermediate mechanism. The study finds that:(1) Three-generation cohabitation occurs when there is a functional need for the nuclear family. Children with lower socioeconomic status, working mothers, or single parent families, are more likely to live with their grandparents; (2) Living with grandparents has significant positive effects on adolescents' academic performance after controlling other factors; (3) The effect of living with grandparents is moderated by the family's socioeconomic status and family structure, and students from lower-level or non-parent families benefit more from living with grandparents; (4) Living with grandparents to a certain extent benefits grandchildren's academic performance by enhancing family social capital investment. Households living with grandparents invest significantly more in the social capital for children than those who do not. The results of this study show that in modern society, family kinship network still plays a very important role in the status attainment and social mobility of individuals. Therefore, scholars should pay more attention to the important role of extended families in social stratification and mobility and its micro-mechanism. Reference | Related Articles | Metrics | Comments（0）

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Taxi-Dancers,Chinese Laundrymen,and Peking Prisoners: Strangers in the City DU Yue Chinese Journal of Sociology    2020, 40 (4): 1-25.   Abstract （2023）   HTML （530）    PDF（pc） （709KB）（1140）       Knowledge map    Save This paper points out that the concept of “marginal man”,derived from Simmel's concept of “stranger”,embodies a fusion of formal sociology and American pragmatism in the early Chicago School theory. This kind of theoretical fusion gave birth to the research method focusing on life history,and at the same time,the investigation of the objective new and old life stage of the individual and the individual's subjective grasp of the conflict between the new and the old life served as the predecessor of the later “career approach” of the Chicago School. In the early 20th century,some Chicago School ethnographers studied three types of urban “strangers” of taxi-dancers,Chinese laundrymen in America and Peking prisoners. These studies showed profoundly different images of old to new life conflicts. Taxi-dancers were able to “move on” from their old life,while Chinese laundrymen firmly held on to tradition and family of their home country in order to cope with the new challenges and Peking prisoners were those who failed to adapt and turned to crimes after being uprooted from their old life. This paper concludes that neither Chinese laundrymen nor Peking prisoners were able to adapt to the new urban life by “moving on” from their previous family and village life. Thus,their paths to modernity is fundamentally different from that of the “marginal man”. Finally,the paper applies Park's views on “civilization” to explain these different Chinese and Western individuals' paths to urban life. Reference | Related Articles | Metrics | Comments（0）

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The Social Foundation of Agricultural Transformation: A Detailed Sociological Study of the Chinese Tea Industry FU Wei Chinese Journal of Sociology    2020, 40 (4): 26-51.   Abstract （1560）   HTML （90）    PDF（pc） （1170KB）（570）       Knowledge map    Save This paper focuses on the organizational form in the process of agricultural transformation in China by examining the family-run operation and market network of the tea industry. In particular,the influence of person-to-person relationship,contact details and social mentality on the organizational structure of the tea industry,as well as the impact of technical requirements of the crops and the social structure of specific regions,are analyzed in order to obtain a general understanding of the organizational form of the agricultural transformation. With its a long cultivation history, tea has a unique aesthetic and culture in China that determines the technical requirements for planting and picking. The technical details of tea cultivation and harvest process decide the unique role of family-based management. Thus,around tea emerges a complex yet efficient organizational structure combining family management with market networks. However,the tea industrial chain is extremely decentralized and informal. An effective operation of the network demands to overcome a certain “organizational dilemma”. In day-to-day operation,this kind of problem is resolved through the local “tea farming circles” and “social mentality”,something uniquely Chinese. Presented here is an examination of social contact details and social mentality that explores the social foundation of this unique agricultural organization. Social contact details imply the notion of Fei Xiaotong's “culture understanding”. Combined with the effort of localization of sociological theory,this study helps to further sociological research on social relations. Reference | Related Articles | Metrics | Comments（0）

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Sentiment, Reason and Human Relations in Traditional Chinese Society: Take Peking Opera Silang Visits His Mother as an Example WU Liucai Chinese Journal of Sociology    2020, 40 (4): 52-76.   Abstract （1812）   HTML （42）    PDF（pc） （962KB）（345）       Knowledge map    Save The story of Silang Visits His Mother took place during the war between Song and Liao. The hero Yang Silang(a Song warrior) was caught in an ethical dilemma between two families and two countries during the conflict. Through the love and virtue of his wife Princess Tiejing (Liao princess), his mother She Taijun, and his mother-in-law Dowager Xiao, Silang was able to escape death from a capital crime of visiting his enemy mother in secrecy. Silang Visits His Mother had been an extremely popular opera until the founding of the People's Republic of China. Since then the opera had endured four major public criticisms and was banned for a long time. Its performance was resumed in the 1980s and has remained as the most popular Peking opera in China ever since. The sympathy and understanding of Silang contrasts sharply with the criticism and rebuke of his “disloyalty”, “unfilial”, and “treason”. By comparing the different views of the opera between the traditional and the modern audience, the paper explores the contextual changes in the understanding of Chinese social sentiment and reason over the time. To gain any comprehension of the sentiment and reason in the traditional society requires us to return to the cultural context of the time.As pointed out by existing studies, traditional Chinese society was a rational society, and Silang Visits His Mother depicted such a society precisely. By looking into the historical development of the opera and its various adaptations, as well as the script content, the paper shows how the general sense of reason expresses itself in people's daily life through certain specific social structure and specific cognition of the society, and then becomes the guidance for people's behaviors. Through Silang Visits His Mother we can see that in traditional China, people behaved with sentiment and rationality, this basic orientation of behaviors helped to form a social structure with the same spirit of sentiment and rationality. This explains why the Chinese traditional society is a rational society. It can also be said that from the perspective of concrete social behaviors, the essence of Chinese traditional rationality lies in human relations, the things that connect families, communities and countries. Reference | Related Articles | Metrics | Comments（0）

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The Inherent Contradictions of Authoritarian Regime and the Tiao-kuai Relationship in China CAO Zhenghan, WANG Ning Chinese Journal of Sociology    2020, 40 (4): 77-110.   Abstract （1905）   HTML （60）    PDF（pc） （770KB）（682）       Knowledge map    Save On the study of the central-local government relationship in China, a theoretical perspective has been proposed based on the inherent contradictions of authoritarian regime to explore the coping mechanism as well as the model and the logic of state governance caused by such contradictions. However, this perspective ignores the “tiao-kuai” system, an important part of the central-local government relationship, and fails to include it in its theoretical analysis. Thus, the question of whether these inherent contradictions can explain the formation and evolution of the tiao-kuai system remains unanswered. In order to establish a broader theoretical framework that includes an analysis of the tiao-kuai relationship, this paper examines the conflicts in the process of building up multiple-dimension state governance capacities. The theoretical starting point of this investigation is that regime stability and strong ruling power are the primary goal of the central government. Hence, it becomes a necessity for the central state to develop multi-dimension capacities in political control, resource extraction, economic development and public affairs management. Accordingly, subordinate government agencies (central ministries and local governments) are required to implement the tasks. However, developing these multiple capacities involve in conflicts, manifested in strengthening one capacity may weaken the others. This paper argues that the tiao-kuai system was introduced by the central government as a strategy to control such conflicts. It enables the central government to develop multiple capacities while reducing the conflicts that exist in the process. The empirical evidences presented here show that this argument is supported by the evolution of the tiao-kuai relationship in modern China and therefore, to some extent, reveals the mechanism of its formation and evolution. Reference | Related Articles | Metrics | Comments（0）

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Why Yanshen Town Became Boshan County: Political Choice and Regional Identity in the Mountainous Region of North China in the Ming and Qing Dynasties REN Yaxuan Chinese Journal of Sociology    2020, 40 (4): 111-138.   Abstract （1294）   HTML （40）    PDF（pc） （1772KB）（331）       Knowledge map    Save In the past, the discussion from the “mountain history perspective” has mostly focused on the frontier areas located at the edge of the national territory. In contrast, this paper focuses on the “marginal” society in the hinterland, especially in the mountainous region of North China, and re-examines the applicability of the “ethnicity” and the state formation of Ming and Qing in different regions.Yanshen had been a periphery mountain town in the heartland of central Shandong since the Ming dynasty. It was not until two hundred years later during the early Qing period that Yanshan was incorporated into the state administrative structure and became Boshan County. According to the early Ming lijia(里甲) records, population in Yanshen and its surrounding areas was categorized between “min” (民) and “unregistered”. The former was considered as the locals (xiangmin乡民) by the officials.Some of their descendants became scholars and achieved social status through the Civil Examination during the middle and late Ming. The latter often appeared in the official records as miners (kuangtu or kuangzei). With the development and integration of the mountain market in the early Qing dynasty, Yanshen town became not just a geographical name but a new regional identity and it was eventually made into a new county.The case study of Yanshen town shows that the nationalization process of the “marginal” society in the hinterland is not only the result of the cultural identity change of the mountain population and the formation of new regional identity, but also the active institutional creation and political choice of local people under the national system. Compared with the frontier regions, even though there was no similar predicament of “joining in” of “escaping from” the national territory,under its unique local conditions, people in the marginal areas of the heartland experienced equally the complexity of dynamic competition and cooperation among different groups about the national system and the imperial orthodox rituals. Reference | Related Articles | Metrics | Comments（0）

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The Operation of Imperial Goods Supplies and the Logic of Imperial Silver Monetary System: A Study on the Reform of Jingdezhen Official Kiln System in Ming Dynasty HU Chen Chinese Journal of Sociology    2020, 40 (4): 139-162.   Abstract （1164）   HTML （30）    PDF（pc） （963KB）（206）       Knowledge map    Save To uphold the Confucian ideal of “equalization”, Ming founder Zhu Yuanzhang(朱元璋) created a new levy system on imperial goods supplies that aimed to distribute levy duty more evenly by state control of its people. However, the system not only intensified the inequality but also led to its inefficient operation.Jingdezhen (景德镇) official porcelain kilns provided supplies to the imperial government in Peking. The requisition was handled by official kilns (窑户) through the distributed contributions by artisans (匠户) and Lijia households (里甲户).The limitless requisition of official porcelain demands placed heavy burdens on the Lijia, and the uneven distribution of service levies greatly outstripped the capacity of the Lijia system. Thus, Ming officials were keen to find resolutions to the problem. One important reform was to allow monetary currency (silver) to pay tax and levy.This change improved the efficiency of resource acquisition and,with quantifiable monetary value, taxes and levies were able to be “equalized” in a wider range. It became possible to operate the supply levy system effectively without having to rely on the strict personal control.This transformation also brought changes in the local power structure, breaking the monopoly of the official kiln clans and beginning to attract more capital and merchants into the town. As a result,Jingdezhen became a prosperous industrial and commercial city. However, the silver payment reform only served as a means for the goods supply levy reform, not the purpose. After all, the market was always subordinated to the supply demands of the government. The growth of the market was always confined within the scope of “equalization”. This study shows that social changes in traditional China are a type of path dependence based on contests, compromises and resolutions. Reference | Related Articles | Metrics | Comments（0）

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Geographical Location and Housing Inequality in China: An Analysis Based on the 2016 China Family Panel Studies FANG Changchun, LIU Xin Chinese Journal of Sociology    2020, 40 (4): 163-190.   Abstract （1829）   HTML （111）    PDF（pc） （717KB）（690）       Knowledge map    Save With the reform of housing system and the development of real estate market, China's housing inequality is becoming more and more prominent. Existing studies have mainly focused on the impact of institutional or market elements on housing inequality prior to or after the urban housing reform. Most of these studies (intentionally or unintentionally) assume that people's behavior in real estateis influenced by their status and earning in the labor market before or after the economic reform. Different from these studies,this paper suggests that the difference of geographical locationsis also a crucial structural factor that cannot be ignored in understanding housing inequality. Based on the analysis of the 2016 China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) data, we present the following findings: (1) Our variance analysis shows that the differences in the location of housing assets are statistically significant, in which, the market value of average family housing assets in the eastern China urban areasis around 823 700 yuan in contrast to the mere 90 020 yuan in the rural areas of the northeast; (2) Gini coefficient of total household assets and the net household real estate assetsare 0.71 and 0.72 respectively.However, the geographical locations of property assets contribute to more than 46% of the Gini coefficient of residential housing assets, much more prominent than the geospatial difference intotal household assets or per capita income; (3)The Heckman two-step method of analysis shows that geospatial factors have a significant impact on property ownership: people in the developed areas have more difficulties to own property than those in less developed areas. However, for people who are already real estate owners, the effect of geo-spaces on their housing assets shows opposite characteristics: the more in the developed areas, the more advantageous of their family housing assets. These findings support our basic argument that real estate behaviors are influenced to some extend by where the properties are located, and property location is one of the factors contributing to housing inequality. This reflects the difference of urban and rural land system in China, and the uniqueness of the Chinese housing reform and its real estate market. Paying attention to the impact of geographical location on individual behaviors and social inequality in housing can have realistic policy implications and help to broaden the study of social stratification in contemporary China. Reference | Related Articles | Metrics | Comments（0）

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The Barriers of Identity: Population Diversity,Social Trust and Crime JIN Jiang, SHI Yangjing, ZHU Libo Chinese Journal of Sociology    2020, 40 (4): 191-216.   Abstract （1634）   HTML （65）    PDF（pc） （671KB）（524）       Knowledge map    Save Since the reform and opening-up,the urbanization process in China has been advancing continuously. It brings tremendous economic development as well as all sorts of so-called “urban disease” problems. Scholars have studied the relationship between the size of floating population and the crime rate,but few have paid attention to the increasingly prominent population diversity and its effect on crime. Based on the 2014 China Labor-force Dynamics Survey data,this paper has constructed a population diversity index to test its impact on crime rates. The results suggest that population diversity is one of the causes for the increase in urban crime. After considering the endogenous problem and testing the robustness from different perspectives,the conclusion remains unchanged. The results of mediate effect test indicate that social trust is an important intermediary variable,that is,population diversity leads to an increase of crime rate when the level of social trust is weak. Moreover,the results also show that the impact of population diversity on crime is much weaker when the property rights protection is more complete,people have more confidence in the court system and the government spend more in education and social security. It shows that better institutions can,to some extent,replace the role of non-market forces,thereby curbing the negative impact of population diversity on crime rates. It also suggests that public expenditure can reduce the likelihood of crime by increasing the opportunity cost of crime. In sum,this paper explores the possible adverse effects of the differences in cultural identity of different groups and finds that the institutional factors and public expenditure have significant impact on crime control,providing empirical evidences valuable to the government crime control policies in China. Governments at all levels should pay full attention to the adverse effects of cultural differences in governance and promote the mutual cultural recognition and integration of different groups. Reference | Related Articles | Metrics | Comments（0）

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Policy Compliance and Its Influence Factors in Document Governance: Based on National and Provincial Government Rural Policy Documents Data(2008-2018) LIU Heqing Chinese Journal of Sociology    2020, 40 (4): 217-240.   Abstract （1505）   HTML （79）    PDF（pc） （1057KB）（768）       Knowledge map    Save “Govern by official documents” is a basic administrative form of the Chinese national bureaucracy.Compliance of the central government policies in various regions has been a core research topic onstate governance. In an attempt to break through the limitation of existing research that only focuses the diffusion process of specific central policies,this study takes on a large sample of central government rural policy documents of a ten-year period from 2008 to 2018 and conducts an empirical analysis of the policy diffusion process and its mechanism. Specifically, the study investigates how the top-down administrative pressure and economic incentives interact with local level implementation capacity and internal motivation, and how this interaction impacts policy compliance.The finding indicates that the greater the administrative pressure and economic incentives from the central government, and the greater local implementation capacity, the significantly higher the implementation of the central rural policies.Under different administrative pressures, the impact of local capacity and economic incentives on policy implementation seems to vary. When the central government attaches great importance to rural issues, the difference between high capacity and low capacity local governments in policy compliance is significantly smaller. Asimilar decreased difference in implementation is also observed between policies with strong economic incentives and policies with weak incentives. Reference | Related Articles | Metrics | Comments（0）

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Military Subcontract YING Xing Chinese Journal of Sociology    2020, 40 (5): 1-33.   Abstract （1100）   HTML （195）    PDF（pc） （3221KB）（604）       Knowledge map    Save A very important historical link has been absent in the current academic discussion of the administrative subcontract system in contemporary China and its historical roots in the imperial period: military subcontract. China's military subcontract system is not only different from the military contracting and the modern military bureaucracy in Western Europe, but also different from the party-military and central-local governmental relations in the Soviet Union. Military subcontracting is an organizational form that emerged during the Sino-Japanese War and the Liberation War when the CCP took control in its rural Soviet base areas. It is embedded in a superior-subordinate relationship between the party and the military under the overall authority of the CCP Central Committee. On the one hand, the unified leadership regime is established at the central level. On the other, at the military division and subdivision levels, the military subcontract system is put into operation in three aspects: the discretion of military decision making by divisions and subdivisions, the financial self-sufficiency and the relative autonomy of management at local levels with emphasis on military results and personalized responsibility. The system effectively solves the tension between mobilization and control, centralization and decentralization. It is recognized as an important avenue to develop the military and political capacity of modern political parties in partially controlled territories under a divided state. It prepares for the construction of a comprehensive state power after 1949. The military subcontract system is not only the pioneer but also the kernel of the administrative subcontract system in modern China. Whether it is to explore the effectiveness of the administrative subcontract system, or to correct its shortcomings, an in-depth understanding of the military subcontract system is unavoidable. Reference | Related Articles | Metrics | Comments（0）

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Thought， Custom，and Institution: The Sociological Implication of Chen Yinque's Historical Research MENG Qingyan Chinese Journal of Sociology    2020, 40 (5): 34-62.   Abstract （728）   HTML （46）    PDF（pc） （3042KB）（378）       Knowledge map    Save Chen Yinque's historical research has an important academic status in the field of humanities and social sciences in China. For a long time, the discussion of Chen Yinque's historical research has been largely confined to the scope of history and medieval studies. Social sciences such as sociology and political science have paid very little attention to Chen's works. The existing literature is often divided into two groups of scholars: those who follow the timeline of Chen's works to trace the content and style change in order to understand thehistorical progress of Chen's research and those who focus on Chen's unique methodology. Both groups neglect the general issues of his research tradition. Based on a careful reassessment of Chen's works, this paperattempts to locate the inner connections in Chen's writings and explore his inherent concern on the issue of “the birth of civilization”. Through a discussion of three keywords: idea, custom, and institution, the paper illustrates how Chen put his concern of general issues into concrete research. It is argued that these three keywords together constitute the internal foundation of Chen Yinque's consciousness on the question of “civilization occurrence”. The paper further explores the sociological implication of Chen's research tradition in the context of western learning and the theoretical significance of classical research tradition for the development of Chinese sociology. Reference | Related Articles | Metrics | Comments（0）

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Sorrow and Respect Thoroughly Expressed: Examining the Emotional Connotation of Monarch-Officials and Father-Son Relationship Through an Analysis of “Jun Shi Da Lian” LI Songtao Chinese Journal of Sociology    2020, 40 (5): 63-90.   Abstract （746）   HTML （33）    PDF（pc） （2429KB）（357）       Knowledge map    Save For the ancient Chinese, father-son relationship is the most important ethical relationship within the family, and the relationship between monarch and officials is the most important at the national level. People not only adhere to the moral requirements of the kinship, but also to the political ethics governing the monarch-officials relationship. The spiritual connotation of the two relations has laid the foundation of the social structure, the family-state relation, as well as the political order of traditional China. This paper analyzes the description of the “jun shi da lian” ritual （Emperor's attendance of funeral ceremony） in The Mourning Rites of Scholar-Officials to demonstrate how these two different relationships, deeply rooted in Confucianism, are interwoven together, interacting and influencing with each other. The respect emphasized in the state mourning ritual and the sadness emphasized in the family mourning ritual show the inner spiritual and emotional path of the traditional family-state relationship in China, that is, only people with a good heart who are filial towards their parents at home would be loyal to the monarch at the national political level. Similarly, how monarch and officials carry out their relationship reflects the father-son relations at the family level. The paper offers a new explanation for understanding the Chinese inner emotional state, behavior ethics, and social character and how they are shaped by this relationship structure in two layers: the hierarchy between superiors and inferiors and the differential obligations among family members. Reference | Related Articles | Metrics | Comments（0）

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Can Groups without Trust Cooperate with Each Other? An Analysis of the Event History of the XW Case ZHANG Jing Chinese Journal of Sociology    2020, 40 (5): 91-111.   Abstract （1068）   HTML （72）    PDF（pc） （2237KB）（522）       Knowledge map    Save The subject of this study is about the relationship between institutional rules and social capital construction. Unlike the existing research, which mainly regards social capital as an independent variable and explores its role in social development, this paper treats social capital as a dependent variable and tracks the development of public goods type of social capital, especially in the adverse environment of group conflict.The paper finds that universal social capital does not necessarily occur naturally in normal social relations, it needs to rely onspecific public social rules to develop and consolidate. The XW case shows that the expansion of social capital,represented by the breadth of villager cooperation moving from within-clans to cross-clans, is clearly the result of somenew innovative public decision-making rules.Facingan opportunity for collective asset appreciation and crisis management, people in XW responded with creating a set of new rules. A village council was set up with eighty-five representatives and an open WeChat platform was created for proposals and discussions, allowing representatives to deliberate and vote, sign resolutions,publish legal auditions, broadcast videos, and share other online information. The reconfiguration of the collective asset decision-making power structure has established a different public relationship among the villagers and stimulated the growth of general social capital. The study describes the mechanism of generating social capital，offering a theoretical explanation on the limitation of special social capital, the expansion of social capital, and the improvement of cooperative behavior. At the same time, it is suggested that disrupting the conventional system rules with innovative reforms could help break the cycle of group conflict and control competition, and improve the quality of grass-roots social governance. Reference | Related Articles | Metrics | Comments（0）

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Authenticity and the Logic of Change：A Study of Industry Governance and Production Practice Based on the Case of Anxi Tieguanyin YAN Yanhua Chinese Journal of Sociology    2020, 40 (5): 112-136.   Abstract （814）   HTML （50）    PDF（pc） （2526KB）（394）       Knowledge map    Save Against the background of agricultural modernization，research on local governance has focused predominantly on the motivation of governmental behavior and its consequences but has failed to sufficiently reveal the tension between the logic of governmental industry policies and the concrete production practice of farmers. Similarly，the anthropological study on the authenticity of things has emphasized the impact of the cultural constructs of dominant consumer groups on producers but has overlooked the production rationality on the part of local producers. Taking the dual perspective of industry governance and authenticity，this paper points out the conspiratorial relationship between the local governmental industrial policy and the cultural construction of consumer market，and emphasizes the resilience and vitality of the tea farmers with production flexibility in dealing with this double pressure from governments and consumers. More specifically，the promotion of the tea industry under the name of “authenticity” by local governments is in fact to essentially transform the traditional ways of production into a large-scale standardized production，so as to guide and cater to the cultural imagination of the consumer market. However，this insistence on uniformity and non-historical authenticity stands in stark contrast to the flexibility of the tea farmers who adapts production and sales to suit production techniques，growing seasons，and social relations. In contrast to the government's strategy of authenticity to keep with a well-defined “tradition”，the tea farmers have their own logic of production and sales，adjusting to time，soil and market. Though the government's strategy of authenticity had some success in the past，but in the long run，farmers' flexible method is more suitable for the complex，changeable and multi-level market. Reference | Related Articles | Metrics | Comments（0）

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Technology Autonomy and State Molding: Political Venation and Imagination of the Relationship Between State and Technical Governance CHEN Tianxiang, XU Yaqian Chinese Journal of Sociology    2020, 40 (5): 137-168.   Abstract （937）   HTML （48）    PDF（pc） （2806KB）（415）       Knowledge map    Save It has been a gradual process for technical governance becoming part of state governance. The relevant research has expanded the conceptual variables such as “expertocracy”, “technocrate”, “scientific technology” and “micromanagement”. There are two research dimensions: one is how to govern in a “technical” way, and the other is how to apply new IT technology in governance.This paper begins with the relationship between the state and the “technical” way, a logic starting point of the concept of technical governance. Technical governance has its own autonomy in development and operation. From this perspective, we identify three basic relationship stages between the state and the technical governance.During the “absorption”stage,the state adopts the manageable technology. The technology empowers the state and at the same time the state becomes the sponsor of the technical governance. This is followed by the stage of “diffusion”, under which the state directly involves in adaptation of the technology through resource support and administrative authority. In the third stage of “diversion”, the state monitors any deviation of the technical governance through regulations and policies.This paper further puts forward two ideas of “beyond technical governance”: political imagination and market savagery. The former illuminates how policy makers transcend the limitations of technical governance in practice, and the later explains the potential research direction of technical governance in the future.In sum, this study presents an overall picture of the mutual shaping of the state and the technical governance, providing a new reflection for the research of technical governance. Reference | Related Articles | Metrics | Comments（0）

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A Potential “Religious Gift Theory”: The Intrinsic Connection Between Gifts and Religion WU Yue Chinese Journal of Sociology    2020, 40 (5): 169-189.   Abstract （837）   HTML （56）    PDF（pc） （1885KB）（496）       Knowledge map    Save This paper holds that“religious gift theory”， derived from the gift theory of Mauss and others， is a promising theoretical perspective that explores religion and its relationship with society. Through a review of the existing literature， this paper discusses the internal logic between gifts and religion， and then analyzes the affinity between gift theory and sociology of religion， and how gift theory can help us to understand the relationship between religion and society. Firstly， gifts and religion are mutually related and complementary to each other. The logic of religious gifts reveals its moral origin. At the same time， religious support makes gifts possible. Religion bestows a sacred foundation for the intrinsic value of gift exchange, while gifts provide a continuous social bond for the sustenance of religious life. Secondly， both gifts and religion are directly related to the law of social solidarity， reflected in their common character called “voluntary obligation”. The two combine not only emotional and instrumental connections but also reciprocal and hierarchical ethics， jointly representing the basic mechanism of social solidarity and social self-replication. Finally， the advantage of “religious gift theory” is most likely to be reflected in the analysis of “involuntarism” of religion， which includes “no need to choose” in diffused religions and “difficult to choose” in dominant religions. After all， it is a general fact about religion that “voluntarism” is embedded in the cultural context. In addition， the potential challenge of “religious gift theory” is mainly reflected in dealing with external social change and internal value orientation. Reference | Related Articles | Metrics | Comments（0）

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