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Table of Content

    20 September 2008, Volume 28 Issue 5
    Articles
    Social Network and People's Wellbeing in Urban and Rural Areas
    Zhao Yandong
    2008, 28(5):  1-19 . 
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    Based on a largescale social survey, this paper discusses the impact of individuals' social networks on their mental and physical health as well as the differences in such impact on urban and rural residents. The network size was found to have a positive effect on both mental and physical health. The “core network,” characterized of higher density, lower heterogeneity, and more strong ties, affected mental health positively; whereas the opposite type of networks with lower density and weaker ties affected physical health positively. An individual's relative higher position in his/her network was related to better mental health. Finally, the impact of social networks on health was stronger in rural areas than in urban. The theoretical and policy implications of these findings are also discussed in the paper.
    An Analysis of the Cohesive Subgroup Structures in the Social Networks of the RuralUrban Migrants in China
    Ren Yike;Du Haifeng;Yu Xiao;Li Shuzhuo;M. W. Feldman
    2008, 28(5):  20-40 . 
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    Using the entire data set from Shenzhen RuralUrban Migrants Survey in 2005, this paper analyzes the cohesive subgroup structures in the ruralurban migrants' social support networks (including instrumental, emotional, and social contact support networks) and social discussion networks (including marriage, childbearing, contraception, and oldage support networks). The results indicate that the phenomenon of subgroups is widely exhibited in these migrants' social networks, and such subgroups overlap to a great extent. The overlapped subgroup structures in the social support and social discussion networks are helpful not only to the migrants' social integration into the urban communities, but also to the expansion of the new culture in regards to marriage, childbearing, and oldage support.
    Two Spaces of Contemporary Communities: Geography and Social Network
    Chen Fuping;Li Xiyuan
    2008, 28(5):  41-57 . 
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    During the development of the Western community theories there have been three different perspectives: the Community Lost, the Community Saved, and the Community Liberated. All the discussions have actually been revolving around the core issue of the relationships between communities' geography and social networks, or the formation and change of the geographical intimate relationships. This paper tries to expand these three perspectives in the actual contexts of contemporary communities to describe the internal relationships between geography and social networks so that a theoretical framework to explain the occurrence of the systematic interaction of the two is grounded.
    The State Ideal of Egalitarianism and the Bureaucratic System of articularism:A New Model of Social Stratification Structure
    Wang Tianfu;Li Bobai
    2008, 28(5):  58-73 . 
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    Through a revisit to the concept of “redistribution,” this paper overrides the overpaid attention to the differentiation of the elite from the ordinary in the previous research on social stratification in the socialist states and proposes a new model of social stratification. This paper argues that the stratification structure in socialist society is determined by the conflict between the state ideal of egalitarianism and the bureaucratic system of particularism. Redistribution itself does not generate inequality; it is the bureaucracy and the bureaupolitical behaviors in the process of redistribution that produce social inequality in socialism. One's distance from the center of redistribution determines not only his/her rank in the redistributive system, but also the magnitude of the bureaupolitical influence that he/she receives. In the transition period, the bureaucrats at the grassroots levels will continue to have their advantages in the redistribution and the overall social stratification structure will be further differentiated apart.

    A Discussion on the Consciousness of Class Mobility of Hong Kong Peoplethe “Hong Kong Dream” Difficult to Come True under the Structure and Identity

    Huang Xiaoxing;Tang Liang
    2008, 28(5):  74-90 . 
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    Hong Kong's economic takeoff in the 1960s brought to Hong Kong people optimistic consciousness of class mobility. The “Hong Kong Dream” became a popular expression referring to the relatively open social strata structure of Hong Kong society. However, the mid-1980s was a period when the class structure got stabilized, resulting in the disappearance of the longdistance class mobility, and with it, the evaporation of the sense of optimism. The financial crisis and the bursting of the housing bubble in the 1990s degraded Hong Kong to a “lower middle” society. Based on the class theories and empirical data, the author finds that the lower middle class people, whose objective and subjective strata are both positioned at the lower end, are apt to having more pessimistic sense of upward mobility, which in turn is constraining their upward mobility. The “Hong Kong Dream” has lost the social basis of reality.
    The Lone Survivor, Drowning, Floating: In Search of the Point of Return for the Social Action Theory
    Guo Qiang
    2008, 28(5):  91-121 . 
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    As the dominant theory among social theories, the social action theory is now floating due to the knowledge collapse and social rupture. Its unstable knowledge being drifting away or even getting lost implies a legitimate basis and the discourse right for seeking its point of return again. This search may produce a knowledgebased action that integrates the ontology, epistemology, and methodology of social theories, which may lead to a new paradigm of the action theory.
    A Review of Dual Commitment from 1980 to 2006: Renewal in the West and Future in China
    Li Hu;Dong Birong;Zhang Juan;Ji Feipeng
    2008, 28(5):  122-138 . 
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    Although Dual Commitment became a compelling notion with the rapid unionization in the 1950s and recurred in the 1980s, it is still an untouched area in China. Based on 67 articles in the Western literature, this paper expounds the roots of the resurgence of Dual Commitment and describes the strengths and limitations of the major methods to measure its distribution shapes. The paper then reviews several theories and the major outcomes of the empirical studies. Finally, the paper addresses the future of Dual Commitment research in China and extends the discussion to the areas of multinational business and professional organizational management.
    Malfunctioned Regulation and Production in Society: The Case of Real Estate in China and Its Expansion
    Wang Xing
    2008, 28(5):  139-164 . 
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    Real estate is characterized by market and societal features. The state's malfunctioned regulation over the real estate originated from the differences in the profitgaining methods by the central government and the local governments, and from an authoritarian market producing powered market forces, thus leading to the halting of the executive function of the central regulative system on the one hand and sabotaging the resistance initiated by societal members on the other hand. Behind this paradox of a “powerful government” with a weak regulative ability is the regional protectionism. The central government should adjust the scope of decentralization: from empowering the internal power distribution within the government system to empowering the people in order to have a new “twofoot” mode of social governance. The coconstitutive relationship between the state and society must be built to resist the erosion of the authoritarian market, which is the fundamental solution to successful production in Chinese society.
    The Reputation of a Village: A NonOmissible Collective SymbolSociological Reflections on the Village H Phenomenon
    Zhou Yi
    2008, 28(5):  165-190 . 
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    Remarkably, the collectivist village in China has retained its character far beyond the era of Mao. This study investigates why this has occured by reference both to the social dynamics of “reputations” and to mechanisms internal to the collective economy still viable among villagers. Reputation was found to relate strongly to economic success: early village poverty and a striving for success yielded a variety of “returns”: material wealth was achieved, but also spiritual health, a positive sense of identity, and high social capital. These pluralistic achievements in turn led to a strong sense of social honor—which then strengthened village solidarity and a sense of community. In this manner a socially advanced community developed out of the earlier coercively administered community,indeed in a manner parallel to the “investment return” model.
    Stereotype Threat and the Test Performance of the Chinese Students
    Cui Ming;Edmond R. Venator
    2008, 28(5):  191-202 . 
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    In the United States, studies have consistently demonstrated that negative stereotypes concerning the intellectual ability can hamper the academic performance of the individuals who are targeted by these stereotypes. In China, the belief that women are weaker than men in mathematics has a long history. Challenging mathematics and English tests were used to study the stereotypethreat theory among the Chinese college students. On the math test, we hypothesized that, similar to their American counterparts, the female testtakers who were explicitly exposed to the gendered math stereotypes would score lower than those in the nonthreatened conditions. On the English test, the hypothesis was that the male students under the gendered language stereotypes would score lower than those in nonthreatened conditions. However, test outcomes failed to confirm either of the two predictions. The results are discussed in terms of the social and educational factors existing in presentday China.
    Research on Assessment Indexes of Clean Local Government Construction in China
    Tang Yanwen;Jin Yijia;Liu Chunrong
    2008, 28(5):  203-223 . 
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    With their deeper involvement in the development of economy and society, local governments have to explore new methods to fight against corruption. An important aspect in this endeavor is to establish assessment indexes apt to each local situation in terms of constructing a clean government based on the Central Government's document “The Implementation Plan for Establishing and Upgrading the System of Sanction and Prevention of Corruption that Equally Emphasizes Education, Rules, and Supervision.” This paper analyzes and compares the domestic and international indexes of anticorruption and proclean administration, describes a new theoretical framework, and then proposes an assessment index that can appropriately evaluate the actual administration of the local governments in China. This paper contends that the “involvementsoutcomes” assessment method is the principle one to measure a local government's efforts and effectiveness to combat corruption. According to the current reality in China, the major method should be introspective when measuring the perception and judgment of the distribution of the valueadded authority in the process of rule implementation that exists in the government's actions. This index system pays attention to the measurability of the indexes and the attainability of the data. Having such an index system may improve the effectiveness and accuracy of developing clean governments, and this index is an indispensable component of the alert mechanism in the anticorruption combat.