Loading...

Table of Content

    20 January 2008, Volume 28 Issue 1
    Articles
    Types of the Ethnic Relationships in Modern China
    Ma Rong
    2008, 28(1):  1-1 . 
    Asbtract ( 2664 )   PDF (702KB) ( 582 )  
    Related Articles | Metrics
    Due to various historical reasons, all ethnic groups and tribes within one nation can vary in their cultural traditions and their historical relationships with the central government. Variability is also seen in their economic status and power, as well as in their members’ access to resources and opportunities for development. These crossgroup differences should never be neglected. All governments must be realistic and respect their states at present and in the past when making policies for different ethnic groups. Many successful examples can be found in the Chinese past dynasties. However, since the founding of New China, the government has been exercising uniform policies in handling ethnic issues, which underscores the situation of the nation but overlooks the situation of each ethnic group or tribe. These policies have been in practice for more than half a century; now it is time to check their effects. This paper reviews how Chinese ethnic groups used to be classified in the literature of the history of the nation’s ethnic groups and discusses the differences across these ethnic groups. Based on the variables of population size, intergroup marriage,culture, relationship with the central government and independent nation/state establishment outside the border,the paper presents a rudimental classification of the 55 ethnic groups in China, with each group’s characteristics summarized and analyzed,in hope that reflection upon the ethnic theories and related policies in China will be stimulated.
    Observation of Village Miao: The SurveyorNative Exchange in the Village Research——the Influence of the Fieldwork of Anthropology on the Minority Community
    Tan Hua
    2008, 28(1):  24-24 . 
    Asbtract ( 2558 )   PDF (722KB) ( 538 )  
    Related Articles | Metrics
    Fieldwork is the uppermost research approach applied by the anthropologists. Even a researcher adopts the emic approach when observing another culture in the filed, the fieldwork is, as a matter of fact, a kind of contact and involves an interaction between the researcher’s culture and informants’ culture. The way that the researcher embarks on fieldwork obviously carries its sociocultural influence. Therefore, the researcher’s behavior will certainly affect the research object and bring about changes in the other culture in some way. With a village of Miao minority in southwestern Hubei as a case, this paper reviews the influence of the fieldwork of anthropology on the minority community via an analysis of the interaction between the investigators and the villagers, which may shed some light on our reflections upon the fieldwork in Chinese anthropology
    Retracing the Method from the Conclusion: Sociological Reflection on the Reality——A Discussion of China's Social Stratification by American Sociologists
    Zhang Le;Zhang Yi
    2008, 28(1):  42-42 . 
    Asbtract ( 2790 )   PDF (680KB) ( 578 )  
    Related Articles | Metrics
    Taking social stratification research for an example, this paper illustrates the following points: (1) Accounting for the reality is the fundamental premise for sociological research to be scientific; (2) The research conclusion reflects the reality, the validity of which is determined by the research method; and (3) The research paradigm guides the choice and application of the research method. The paradigm, the method, and the conclusion all will be congruent to each other on the basis of the reality.
    The Morality in Compensation and Its Accomplishment
    He Jian;Qin Qiwen;Zhou Yongkang;Zhang Yan
    2008, 28(1):  62-62 . 
    Asbtract ( 2896 )   PDF (699KB) ( 531 )  
    Related Articles | Metrics
    This paper is an attempt to analyze the social mechanism of compensation. Firstly, applying the legal methods to the analysis of the story of Joel Feinberg’s Hikers has met difficulty. Secondly, Parfit’s, Jeske’s, and Montagues’s views on whether compensation holds morality are reviewed around the story’s dilemma when utilitarianism is involved. Such analysis gradually reveals the morality in compensation, which is followed by the final discussion on compensation accomplishment. In essence, it is a discussion of the feasibility of compensation accomplishment from a social theoretical perspective, that is, the social systems theory leading to the Societal Common.
    Studying Urban Movement: Clarification of Theoretical Traditions and the Insertion of the Chinese Experience
    Wei Wei
    2008, 28(1):  77-77 . 
    Asbtract ( 2341 )   PDF (773KB) ( 531 )  
    Related Articles | Metrics
    Urban movement (or urban social movement) has a different theoretical tradition from that of the mainstream social movement studies in the western academia. While urban movement has recently stimulated considerable interest among Chinese scholars, it is yet to be incorporated into a systematic theoretical paradigm. This paper starts with its critical examination of Chinese scholars’ adoption of the term of “urban movement” and then reviews the evolution of western urban movement theories, highlighting the difference between urban movement studies and mainstream social movement studies in terms of their theoretical perspectives and research approaches. The paper argues that the urban movement in the west with its tradition of emphasizing scholars’ involvement and intervention at the community level can enlighten the empirical research in current China.

    Social Reward and Activists in Chinese Urban Communities: A Case Study of the Building Leaders (louzuzhang) in Community S, Shanghai

    Li Hui
    2008, 28(1):  97-97 . 
    Asbtract ( 2357 )   PDF (806KB) ( 623 )  
    Related Articles | Metrics
    This study tries to answer these questions: Why do activists emerge during the Chinese urban community elections? What are the structural characteristics of this social group? What is their action logic in their community? Through participation observation, semistructured interviews, and content analysis, the study came to the following conclusions: The activists in the urban communities, with the building leaders (louzuzhang) being the core, pursue for social reward; and how much of the social reward can be obtained determines how active they get involved in the community activities. The network of the activists who are in pursuit of social reward has become an important mechanism in the governance of current Chinese urban communities.
    Migration: The Driving Force for Modernizing the Consuming Concepts of Rural Families——An Empirical Study Based on the Survey of Five Provinces in Eastern and Middle China
    Liu Cheng;Huang Chunqiao
    2008, 28(1):  118-118 . 
    Asbtract ( 2664 )   PDF (1016KB) ( 639 )  
    Related Articles | Metrics
    Based on the 2005 survey data from five provinces in the eastern and middle China, this paper analyses the impact of peasants’ migrating experiences for urban jobs on the consuming concepts of rural families. The results showed the compelling power of such migrating experiences in modernizing the peasants’ consuming concepts but also varying effect sizes due to different migrating experiences. Furthermore, urban migration as a single variable had only a limited influence on such changes. In other words, a full turn depends upon many other factors.
    The Procreation Desire of Peasant Workers of Different Generations and Its Influencing Factors: A Survey of the Floating Peasant Workers in the City of Xiamen
    Zhuang Yuxia
    2008, 28(1):  138-138 . 
    Asbtract ( 2688 )   PDF (877KB) ( 559 )  
    Related Articles | Metrics

    Based on the data of two surveys of the floating peasantworker population in the city of Xiamen, Fujian Province, this paper describes the procreation desire of peasant workers of different generations. The results indicate that the three generations of the old, the transitional, and the new share similar opinions about the best ages for reproduction but differ significantly on the following issues: number of desired children, quality of children, preferred sex of their children, and motives for having children. The regression analysis reveals a complex set of factors that have influenced the procreation desire of the peasant workers of the old and transitional generations, which cluster around educational and reproductive experience variables. As to the peasant workers of the new generation, only the educational variable has been affecting their views on the aforementioned issues. Furthermore, career choice also has an impact on the emotional aspect of the reproductive motive. The role that the married peasant workers’ reproductive experience has played in their reproductive motive will serve as a lesson for the new generation in their reproductive behaviors. Favorable conditions to promote positive reproductive motives and behaviors among the peasant workers of the new generation can be created through education and career enhancement.

    The OldAge Social Welfare Model of Hong Kong

    Liu Zuyun;Tian Beihai
    2008, 28(1):  164-164 . 
    Asbtract ( 2628 )   PDF (769KB) ( 615 )  
    Related Articles | Metrics
    The oldage social welfare system of Hong Kong is composed of oldage social relief, insurance for the old age, and oldage welfare service. This system has a set of characteristics including multiple benefit providers, both general and relief benefits for the beneficiaries, coexistence of high welfare expenditure and low social welfare index, highquality welfare service, and effective integration of its welfare resources. However, the system also has some latent problems such as potential monosource for its finance and bureaucratization of the nongovernment, welfareservice organizations. Nevertheless, this Hong Kong Model can be an example for inland China.