Table of Content

20 May 2020, Volume 40 Issue 3

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Power and Ethics: Reason of State in Max Weber's Sociology of Domination

LI Rongshan

2020, 40(3):  1-31. 

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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.

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

2020, 40(3):  32-57. 

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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.

Supernatural Beings and Confucian Rationalism

QIN Pengfei

2020, 40(3):  58-87. 

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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.

Marketization and Change of Perceptions about Distributive Justice in China: 2005-2015

XU Qi, HE Guangye, HU Jie

2020, 40(3):  88-116. 

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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.

Equity vs. Efficiency: A Spatial Analysis of Residential Aged Care Resources in Beijing

BI Xiangyang, LI Mo

2020, 40(3):  117-147. 

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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.

“Intime Conviction” in Chinese Judicial Procedure: An Example of an Environmental Torts Case

LIN Haozhou

2020, 40(3):  148-172. 

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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".

Moral Obligatio: Marcel Mauss's Study on the Indo-Europeans' Gift

ZHANG Yahui

2020, 40(3):  173-211. 

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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.

Living with Grandparents: Multi-Generational Families and Academic Performance of Grandchildren in China

ZHANG Fan, WU Yuxiao

2020, 40(3):  212-240. 

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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.