Chinese Journal of Sociology

Between Heaven and Earth: Dual Accountability of Chinese Bureaucrats in East Han Dynasty

Yu Xie,Miranda Brown

2011, 31(4): 1-28.

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From Qin Dynasty up to Qing Dynasty, officials appointed by the central government in imperial China were not only beholden to their superiors but also acted as brokers for local interests. We characterize such a structural position as having “dual accountability.” Although the accountability to superiors is readily understandable within the Weberian framework of bureaucratic hierarchy, the reasons behind the local accountability needs an explanation. This paper attempts to explain how officials worked for their regional interests by analyzing the dual accountability in East Han Dynasty (25-220 AD). By investigating the larger contexts of the government structure, political ideology, and personnel system at the time, we have offered three explanations in the paperpractical necessity, “Confucian” ideology, and reputational mechanism, which have received some supportive empirical evidence from multiple sources, including the administrative records and inscriptions on ancient stelae. In addition, we question Weber’s analysis of the Chinese imperial governing system and present new ideas about the social rationality underlying an “inefficient” system that was in place for two millennia.

Civility Construction in the Diverse Identification of Community Power

Min Xueqin

2011, 31(4): 29-48.

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To observe and analyze the civility construction focused on community is necessitated by the 30year developmental history of the urban community power executed through singlecentered residential committees in transition to the current coexisting multiple organizations. Community dwellers express civility through selecting community administrators, protecting community rights, and resolving community problems. Based on the random samples from Beijing, Shenzhen, Nanjing, Shenyang, and Xining, the relationships between urban residents’ diverse identification with various organizations in the community and their civility construction were examined using multipleregression and structure equation model analyses. Diverse identification with community power was found to be influential to civility construction as compared with economic, social, and individual factors, showing that future community development will become an indispensible factor to more clearly affect civility construction.

A Comparative Study of the Effects of Employees’ Social Network Structural Characteristics on Their Contextual Performance: A Case Analysis Based on Two Research & Development Divisions of Chinese and Foreign Corporations

Peng Jianping

2011, 31(4): 49-64.

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The sample of this study included two Research & Development divisions of Chinese and foreign corporations. Based on theories and literature review, the employees’ social networks in different contexts were identified and the values of individuals’ relational characteristics in their varying networks were calculated. The employees’ network location was found to have a significant impact on their contextual performance. The network structural characteristics of the employees in the state corporation differed from those of the employees in the foreign corporation and also, in their effects on the employees’ contextual performance. These findings may serve as theoretical support for bettering employees’ contextual performance through improving their social networks and may also enrich the practice and application of the embeddedness theory in Chinese companies.

Narratives and Strategies in the Course of Action

Lui Ping Keung

2011, 31(4): 65-95.

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This article attempts to lay down a comprehensive perspective of theoretical sociology composed of three parts: fundamental ontology, subjectivistic structuralism and agentialistic characterization. Three tasks are carried out. First, to theoretically connect the social structure and symbolic universe in structuralism to the narratives and strategies in agentialistic characterization in order to improve their aptness in positivistic research. Second, to test the applicability of the two concepts of narratives and strategies in classical Chinese stories in order to improve their aptness in case analysis. Finally, to make a conceptual distinction between subjectivity and agency in order for the actors to transform from being subjective to being agentic through awareness of some kind of ontological metamorphosis.

A Theoretical Framework of Guanxi Dynamics

Tsang, Kwok Kuen

2011, 31(4): 96-115.

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Owing to its derelational, substantialist tendency, the multiperspective theory of guanxi does not effectively explain the dynamic process of guanxi which involves continuous and endless interactions between relational contexts and actors. As a result, this theory does not help us grasp or understand guanxi and its related phenomena comprehensively. The author contends that, in order to analyze guanxi and its related phenomena, it is necessary to incorporate views from relational sociology and structural theories. Accordingly, this paper has proposed a theoretical framework of guanxi dynamics. It also emphasizes the feasibility to holistically apply research methods while studying this topic.

Intergeneration Mobility and OutGroup Prejudice and Discrimination: Empirical Analyses of the Data from the 2005 China General Social Survey

Qin Guangqiang

2011, 31(4): 116-136.

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With the focus placed on the “consequences and impacts of social mobility,” this paper analyzes the data from the 2005 China General Social Survey using Sobel’s diagonal reference model as an instrument to examine the links between intergenerational mobility across classes and urban residents’ prejudice. The study shows that social mobility itself may affect attitudes independent of one’s origin class or destination class. In contrast to the origin class, the individual’s destination class has a greater effect on his/her attitudes as his/her age increases. Moving into a class with a culture that encourages less prejudice or discrimination can significantly decrease one’s prejudice, whereas upward or downward mobility can increase one’s prejudice against immigrants. The paper also proposes that stratification and mobility research should not only study the objective aspects of the social structure and its openness but also the subjective aspects of the effects of stratification and mobility on individuals’ behaviors and attitudes.

Regional Social Transformation and Research on Urban Residents’ Social Capital

Guo Yuntao

2011, 31(4): 137-157.

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Using the data from the CGSS2006 survey, this paper analyzes the impact of urban social transformation on the residents’ obtainment of social capital and the mobilization process. It is founded that, during the process of obtaining social capital, urban social transformation does not influence the residents’ social capital statuses but their positions in the social capital network. The average effects of the social capital “network position” factor among the supercity dwellers are much smaller than such effects among the smallcity dwellers. As a city expands, the negative impact of its marketization on the obtainment of social capital status through education diminishes. In the process of social capital mobilization, the extent of marketization is positively correlated with the economic returns from the effects of the social capital status factor but is independent of the economic returns from the effects of social capital network positions.

Educational Returns to Urban FullTime Young Workers: An Analysis of Sex and OnlyChild Status

Wang Xiaotao

2011, 31(4): 158-174.

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Past studies on gender inequality in incomes focused too much on the market transition but neglected other important variables. The present study questioned if the onlychild status could be another important variable that affected gender inequality in incomes. Analyses of the data from the Study of Chinese Youth in Twelve Cities (2004) found different expressions of gender inequality among only children and children with siblings. Among the former, there was no gender inequality in incomes; whereas among the latter there was a significant difference, with women in disadvantage. This might be closely related to the only children’s families of origin and their educational attainments.

Multiple Composite Risks in Transitional Society: A Study Based on the Survey of Public Risk Perception in Three Cities of China

Liu Yan,Zhao Yandong

2011, 31(4): 175-194.

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An analysis of the survey data about the Chinese public perception of risks in transitional society showed characteristics of regional differences and three risk structures: a triplerisk composite with a high level of uncertainty, a doublerisk composite with a medium level of uncertainty, and a single risk with a low level of uncertainty, all coexisting as social risks. The public were generally aware of single risks with low uncertainty but they were least aware of the triplerisk composite with high uncertainty. Those with higher education were more aware of the high uncertainty in the triplerisk composite, whereas those at the bottom social strata were more aware of the uncertainty associated with single risks. The distributive structure of the public perception of the three risk types contained the Chinese public perception of the coexistence of multiple risks, reciprocal influences, and interactive dynamics, which projected the risks during the transitional process of the Chinese society.

Religious Faith and Trust in the Differentiated Model of Association: The Empirical Evidence from 10 Cities in China

Ruan Rongping， Wang Bing

2011, 31(4): 195-217.

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At present, researchers have not reached a consensus on the relationship between religion and trust. Based on the data from 10 Chinese cities, this study analyzed the impact of religious faith on social trust, general trust, and trust of groups along different radiuses in the differentiated model of association. The study had following findings: (1) religion had significant positive effects on trust, especially on social trust; (2) the effects of religion on trust got stronger when the radius in the differentiated model of association became longer; and (3) the mechanism of religion’s function on trust was mainly in its faith effect rather than organizational effect, which partly explained the contradiction in the current conclusions about the relationships between religion and trust.

Cultural Conflicts and Acculturation of Christian Students in Middle Schools: Based on the Fieldwork of Village W, Gansu Province

Yang Baoyan ，Wan Minggang

2011, 31(4): 218-240.

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Based on the fieldwork of Village W, Gansu Province, where many Christians live, this paper discusses the issues in the cultural conflicts and consequential acculturation experienced by Christian students in rural middle schools as they encounter the Chinese traditional culture, Christian culture, and scientific culture in their daily life and socialization. The study has found that cultural conflicts from different religious practices are common to the Christian students. However, Chinese people’s collectivistic coping mode and the religious belief of personal relations above religious relations have helped resolving such conflicts to some extent. To middleschool Christian students, junior high school is a period of transition, that is, scientific knowledge acquired in school is gradually recognized and religious knowledge gets questioned; consequently, their religious faith is diversified.

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