Table of Content

20 March 2008, Volume 28 Issue 2

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Articles

The Scope, Identity, and Social Attitudes of the Middle Class in China

Li Peilin;Zhang Yi

2008, 28(2):  1-1 . 

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This paper analyses the scope and roles of the middle class in its developing stage and those with mediumlevel incomes in current China on the three dimensions of income， occupation， and education. The analysis has led to a classification of the middle class into three strata: “core middle class，” “semicore middle class，” and “peripheral middle class.” The paper further compares the “objective middle class” with the “subjective middle class” （i.e.， identity of the middle class） in terms of their differences in social attitudes and the factors that are influencing their economy， politics， and social attitudes. This analysis is entirely based on the data from a nationalwide survey  the Chinese General Social Survey （CGSS2006） conducted from March to May in 2006 by the Institute of Sociology， Chinese Academy of Social Sciences， which involved 7，100 households sampled from 28 provinces， municipalities and autonomous regions. It is found that the middle class currently constitutes 12.1 percent of the population in all China and 25.4 percent in urban China. However， this socalled middle class or the objective middle class within the definition by its incomes， occupations， and education is not yet a coherent class with unified social attitudes and behavioral intentions.


Conflict and Reconciliation: Intergenerational Relationships in the Context of Globalization

Zhou Xiaohong

2008, 28(2):  20-20 . 

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Generation is both a biological fact and a social fact. That generation or intergenerational relationship as a social fact has become a problem was due to the emergence of industrialized society or modernizationor, put it in another way, the generation problem is the problem of modernity. Moreover, that the generation problem got spread all over the world in the twentieth century was also due to industrialized modern society or the capitalist system spreading globe wide. Hence, it is the result of globalization. Through a discussion of the emergence of the generation problem and its acceleration during the modern times, this paper claims that the formation of generational gaps or the reconciliation of intergenerational identities itself is a product of modernity or globalization.


Corporation: An Imagination on “Total Social Organization”: On Durkheim's Thoughts of Social Solidarity

Xiao Ying

2008, 28(2):  39-39 . 

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Many social construction theories grounded on Enlightenment Reason consider specialization of social functions and differentiation of social fields as the drive behind social progress. But Enlightenment Reason doesn't concern the relations among different social fields or functions in the condition of social specialization nor does it deal with their integration. Illuminated by Marcel Mauss's ideal about “total social fact，” the author tries to construct a concept of “total social organization” to study Durkheim's imagination on corporation. The author contends that the aim of conceptualizing corporation for Durkheim is to harmonize the manmade conflicts between the state and the individual； between socialism and individualism； between the functions of politics， economy， and morality. Corporation is a mediating， total social organization. Though this imagination of Durkheim's can be criticized as being simplistic or Utopian， it can nevertheless inspire us to penetrate and overcome the deficiencies of social life in the context of extensive social specialization.


The Symbolic and Dualistic Structure in Social Transition: An Analysis of the MicroPower Structure in the Peasant Migrant Group


Wang Jianmin

2008, 28(2):  77-77 . 

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We need to take a microscopic and symbolic angle in order to understand the transition in the social structure in China. With an increase in the mobility between country and city，the many symbolic marks carried by the peasant migrant group have pushed the countrycity demarcation into the city boundary，thus forming a direct，noticeable countrycity dualistic structure. This kind of social structure is not only physical and overt but also cultural and covert，which can be summarized with the concept of “symbolic and dualistic structure”. This concept can be considered as a social symbolic system to signify the identities of different groups and the dualistic or polarized tendency in its operation. It manifests the duality and inequality in the identity，status，reputation，etc. between different groups. During the course of social change before and after the Reform，the political function of distinguishing classes as expressed in this symbolic dualistic structure has gradually entered everyday life and has thus become a micropower mechanism for shaping different social groups’ identity，status，and reputation. The logic of the “problem country” and the “dream city” embedded in this mechanism has function a means and strategy for the nation to construct an image of modernity so as to close the gap between “objective modernity” and “expressive modernity”.


Lefebvre's Sociological City Space Theory and Its Significance in China

Wu Ning

2008, 28(2):  112-112 . 

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Henri Lefebvre differentiated clearly urbanization from industrialization. He posed the Right to the City and urban revolution， claiming that urbanization was the essence of globalization. He considered cities as a texture background of the global space and city space as a product of capitalism. Lefebvre's sociological city space theory inherited and developed Marxist theories and methodology. It was creative and filled in the blank space in the area of sociological space theory. It has tremendous explanatory and descriptive power in helping with the understanding of contemporary Chinese society. Lefebvre's sociological city space theory is abstract and has utopia properties.


The Social Transformation and Social Stratification in Russia


Zhuang Xiaohui;Hou Junsheng

2008, 28(2):  128-128 . 

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Russia started to experience social transformation in the 1980s and in the next decade， new social stratification had obviously taken place there. This paper describes and analyses the gaps in social earnings as a result of the social stratification in Russia （gaps among individuals， government departments， industries， different regions in Russia）， as well as the “socially marginal group” and the “new poor class.” The “socially marginal group” refers to those who cannot ascertain their own social status or their class membership. The “new poor class” is the social class mainly composed of professors， engineers and doctors who used to live a comfortable life and enjoy a high social status in former USSR but are now experiencing hardships and have become poor. A new middle class of enterprisers has come into being in the course of the sociopolitical and economic transformation as the former social middle class represented by the intellect has dissolved， which has brought about a huge change in Russia's social class structure.


Resettlement Forms, Interpersonal Communication, and Migrants' Adaptation:A Comparative Study on the 343 Rural Migrant Households from the Three Gorges that Resettled in the Provinces of Jiangsu and Zhejiang

Feng Xiaotian

2008, 28(2):  152-152 . 

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Based on the survey data from 343 rural households migrating from the Three Gorges to the provinces of Jiangsu and Zhejiang， this paper analyses the two resettlement forms （relatively concentrated and completely scattered） and their impact on the formation of two interpersonal communication states as well as on the migrants' social adaptation. The analysis shows that the interpersonal communication states in the migrants' settlement significantly influence the migrants' social adaptation， be it communicating with other migrants or with the local residents. Both improve the migrants' entrance or acceptance into the local community.

Analysis of the Factors Influencing Undergraduates' Occupation Choices: Based on the Investigation of Both Social Capital and Human Capital


Li Liming;Zhang Shunguo

2008, 28(2):  162-162 . 

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162Abstract： With the 2006 survey data on the occupationoriented behaviors of the undergraduate students from the three universities sampled in Western China， the present study analyzed the effects of the students' family background and academic achievements on their occupation choices. Both social capital and human capital were found to be significant factors influencing the students' occupation decisions. The more abundant social capital and human capital a student possesses， the higher he/she aims at his/her occupationto be more specific， the choice was more likely to be for a unit with rich resources in a region with developed economy and higher incomes， and his/her expectation of salaries tended to be higher.


A Comparative Study on Urban Community Education in China and Japan: Shanghai's Jing'an Temple Community School & Osaka's Oobiraki Citizen Lifelong Learning Centre as the Cases

Qin Na

2008, 28(2):  181-181 . 

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Along with China's reformation and social transformation while opening its door to the world, modern community education has been on a rapid rise in Shanghai, which has attracted the attention of the academia. This paper reports a case study comparing two urban community schools in nonWestern, postmodern societies, i.e., China's Jing'an Temple Community School in Shanghai, and Japan's Oobiraki Citizen Lifelong Learning Centre in Osaka. Based on the interviews with the learners, instructors, and administrators of the two urban community schools， and with onsite observations, comparisons were made in the areas of their organizational operation, characteristics of their instructional/learning activities, and the resulting social effects. This paper describes the roles of community education in individuals' lifelong socialization and communities' development. It summarizes the ideas and mature practice of social education in Osaka. Finally, it proposes the comparative method to study community education.



Conference Summary

Dong Jingwei

2008, 28(2):  210-210 . 

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Conference Summary

Summary of the International Conference on Regional Community and Cultural Type