Table of Content

20 November 2014, Volume 34 Issue 6

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Administrative Subcontract

ZHOU Li-An

2014, 34(6):  1-38. 

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Abstract： This paper attempts to demonstrate the significance, relevance and implications of “administrative subcontract” as an analytical framework to understand China’s intergovernmental relations, bureaucratic incentives, and administrative governance. As an ideal type, administrative subcontract refers to a subcontracting relation inside the government system, represent a hybrid governance structure between bureaucracy in a Weberian sense and pure subcontract which occurs among independent entities without any hierarchical relations. Administrative subcontract exhibits a coherent and consistent set of characteristics along the dimensions of authority relations, economic incentives, and internal control. With respect to authority relations, administrative subcontract features an allocation of authority between the principal and agent where the principal has the formal authority and residual control rights (such as the authority to appoint/remove, supervise and monitor subcontractors and the option to intervene when necessary), and the agent, by way of subcontracting, enjoys considerable discretion and de facto power to do things in his own way. Under the administrative subcontract regime, the agent is a residual claimant over the budget money or revenues either collected through serviceprovision or allocated by the principal. In terms of internal control, the administrative subcontract is outcomeoriented rather than procedure/processoriented. I argue that these three dimensions are complementary and mutually supportive, and tend to commove if the system encounters systematic shocks. This new framework helps us pin down the key and durable features of China’s intergovernmental relations and administrative governance. The notion of administrative subcontract enables us to reinterpret many puzzling observations and patterns regarding the workings of China’s government system and to bring some important and yet long understudied issues to our attention. I will also combine the theory of administrative subcontract with that of political tournaments to extend our analysis of China’s political incentives and governance. From the viewpoint of vertical subcontracting and horizontal (political) competition inside the government system, I attempt to explain the strength and weakness of China’s state capacity in various areas of public services. 

Administrative Subcontract and the Logic of Empire: Commentary on Zhou Li-An’s Article

ZHOU Xueguang

2014, 34(6):  39-51. 

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In this short commentary, I discuss the theoretical significance of the “administrative subcontract” model developed by Professor Zhou Li-An. I clarify some implicit assumptions in the proposed model and develop an alternative model to contrast modes of governance between centralization and decentralization. Finally, I discuss the place of “administrative subcontract” as a mode of governance in the larger context of Imperial China.


Political Risks and Decentralization: The Comparison of Three Models on Chinese Governance

CAO Zhenghan

2014, 34(6):  52-70. 

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There are three models on the structure of Chinese governance, all taking account of the central government’s objectives about governance efficiency and political stability at the same time. They are the “administrative subcontract system” model by Zhou LiAn, the model of “centralized personal controls at the national level, and decentralized ruling over the people regionally” by Cao Zhenghan, and the “empire’s governance logic”  model by Zhou Xueguang. All three models have significant divergences in terms of whether the two objectives of efficiency and stability of  the central government can be compatible or not. Zhou LiAn and Cao Zhenghan argue that the two objectives are compatible in specific governance structure, which is not shared by Zhou Xueguang who argues that the coexistence of centralization and decentralization cannot lead to a stable structure and the two processes are subject to cyclical adjustment and cyclic fluctuation. And also, the analyses of the three models focus on different levels. The “administrative subcontract system” model and the “empire’s governance logic” model mainly discuss the governance structure and mechanism of the different levels of governments within the bureaucratic system, while the model of “centralized personal controls at the national level, and decentralized ruling over the people regionally” focuses on how the way of central government dealing with the public shapes the basic structure of decentralization. The divergences are caused by two reasons. First, these three models hold different assumptions about whether the rule over the military and the people can be separated. Second, there exists the disagreement about which one is the critical source of political risks between decentralization itself (e.g. the local governments’ behaviors as deviation, out of control, etc.) and the public (e.g. the public’s behaviors as protest, opposition, confrontation, etc.).


The Political Market Imagination and the Analysis on China’s Governance:A Comment on Zhou Li-An’s Theory of Administrative Subcontract

FENG Shizheng

2014, 34(6):  70-84. 

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In recent years economists have shown great interest in studying China’s governance. Despite differences, their studies share a common imagination about the Chinese state, named “political market” in this paper. In this imagination, three dimensions of Chinese state have been paid special attention to, that is, marketability, multiagencyorientation, and politicalness. Zhou LiAn’s theory of administrative subcontract has made important contribution to all these three areas, and ends up greatly advancing the research on China’s governance from an economic perspective. The political market imagination, however, tends to overemphasize the marketability of the state at the expense of slighting its politicalness. Just in the same vein of bias, Zhou’s article is in a weak position to specify the property and function of the state’s power, and to define the concepts related. Despite this, the political market imagination and Zhou’s theory have still provided the scholars, including those outside economics, with a proactive, integrative, and analytical framework based on which they can build their theorization on China’s governance.


The Organized Foundation of Administrative Subcontract

ZHANG Jing

2014, 34(6):  85-97. 

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As a response to the issue of the origin of “administrative subcontract” in China, different from the “cost measuring” explanation, this paper suggests that the roots of the subcontracting system could be found in the body of the administrative organization, its own characteristics and historical ties. Due to its multiroles, its multicentered organizational form, and its dependence on organizational implement tool, the government system has gradually developed a flexible and adaptable way which is capable of employing the abovementioned organizational environment to perform tasks. This has made it different from a single bureaucratic system. Taking advantage of the selfevident control power, “administrative subcontract system” manages to gather organizations with different goals and interests by means of acquiescence, exchange and invisible authorization, which ends up forming a mixed system of governance we can see today. Therefore, the structure of government administrative system, its internal organizational relationships and its multiroles, is the cornerstone based on which the subcontracting system comes into being.


Rethinking Administrative Subcontract：Reply

ZHOU Li-An

2014, 34(6):  98-113. 

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This piece serves as a response to the comments on my paper “Administrative Subcontract” made by Zhou Xueguang，Zhang Jing，Cao Zhenghan，and Feng Shizheng. My reply focuses both on their critical comments and suggestions. Our differences center on such issues as the definition，content，and causes of administrative subcontract system，the definition and implications of ruling risks，and authority allocation between the principal and the agent. In the reply I try to clarify the confusions and explain the reasons why we differ in these matters and indicate my stance. Following the commentators’ critical comments and suggestions，I also discuss the possibilities and directions for further  improvement of the administrative subcontract theory. In the  conclusion，I propose three criteria for a good theory and highlight the importance of interdisciplinary academic exchange and interaction in developing a good theory.


Suicide and Modern Human Condition：On Durkheim’s “Typology of Suicides” Based on Homo Duples

ZHAO Liwei

2014, 34(6):  114-139. 

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According to the standard history of sociology, Durkheim’s Suicide has been considered as one classic in early empirical studies in sociology. If we apply modern statistical research methods to estimate and verify the work, however, we will distort or obstruct its proper research paradigm and the essential problems into which it intends to inquiry. This paper argues that the typology of suicide which consists of egoistic suicide, altruistic suicide, anomic suicide and fatalistic suicide is Durkheim’s important theoretical contribution to the suicide studies. His extended interpretation and exposition around the social types of suicide are closely connected with some essential questions in his work. We carefully investigate some crucial aspects and problems of the typology of suicide by examining both Durkheim’s texts and associated secondary literature; and meanwhile, by referring to Durkheim’s theory of human nature, we provide a deeper analysis of the typology, and emphasize the human nature basis of Durkheim’s social theory. The article also suggests that the typology of suicide is an advancement of his theory about the relationship between the individual and the social after The Division of Labor in Society. In addition, Durkheim’s distinctive pathological analysis about suicidogenic currents as social facts demonstrates his rules of sociological method on the one hand, and the modern human condition on the other. In this sense, Durkheim’s Suicide as a “classic” closely combines theoretical production and the social problems of his time.



The Science of Value：ReExploring Max Weber’s Social Scientific Methodology

WANG Nan

2014, 34(6):  140-164. 

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There has been a series of dualisms in modern social science research: theoryexperience, quantitativequalitative, and subjectiveobjective. A reexamination of Max Weber’s social science methodology will shed new light on the understanding of these dichotomies. Moving forward and back between empirical materials and constructive concepts, Weber tried to transcend the opposition between the objective and the subjective in historical and cultural science by examining historical individuals and coining the concept of “ideal type” which implied values and value interpretation. In his works, subjectively constructed conceptions can express objective historical experience and social practices and illuminate various institutions, mentality and structure of organizations. As a result, these conceptions can associate with researchers’value concerns of his time. By using social scientific method to method to understand different value ideals of people from various nations and ages, we can see how peoples in history uphold and practice them and guide peoples in our time to inherit and realize these values. By combining the conception and experience, past and present, Weber tried to defuse the tension between rational and irrational, subjective and objective, facts and values in modern society. From Max Weber’s view of social science, history and social science are disciplines which use rational approach to culture scholars’sober intelligence and make people see value beliefs beyond rationalization. Actually, social science can help modern people uphold values and avoid the dilemma of deadly abstract rational theories and fanatic irrational experience.


Neo-liberalist Globalization on the Formation of “Medicalization”

Hsiao I-Hsin

2014, 34(6):  165-195. 

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 There has been a lack of systematic analysis of the relation between “medicalization” and the neoliberal globalization. Drawing upon Cox’s hegemony theory, this paper intends to fill parts of this gap and suggests that Neoliberalism intensifies “medicalization” through the aspects of material power, institutions, and conception. The paper recounts on the mechanisms within these three domains respectively. In terms of material power, a complex network formed among industry, government, and academic circle can maneuver a strong market power to intensify “medicalization”. Affecting institutions include the construction of an international patent system and the policies about medicalization made by governments. As for the aspect of conception, this paper examines the promotion strategies of certain medicine by some groups having recourse to a “competitive discourse”, the popularity of selfhealthcontrol management, the spread of risk discourse and the emergence of alternative medication. However, this operation has also developed other possibilities. First of all, this operation cannot be easily achieved as the antineoliberalist forces are resisting medicalization. Secondly, new forms of medicalization have emerged which shift from the control of the health care system to a situation in which people are more willing to seek medical treatment, as a result of the popularity of health risk discourse. Also, the development of new medical technology on the one hand stops certain aspects of medicalization, but increasingly monitors human body on the other. However, despite the existence of anti neoliberalist forces, the medical supply side and the demand side are both involved in a common interest of commercialization. The structural power of neoliberalism is still difficult to shake, which ends up in the further intensification of medicalization.


Reliability and Validity of SelfRated General Health

QI Yaqiang

2014, 34(6):  196-215. 

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Using data from the 2008 Survey of Internal Migration and Health in China, this study examines the reliability and validity of selfrated general health for the Chinese population. Results show that selfrated general health is a highly reliable measure of individual health. Two repeated measures of selfrated general health in the survey are quite consistent and the difference between the two answers reflects random variations rather than any systematic biases. Nonetheless, there is also some evidence that selfrated general health is likely to be affected by question orders in a survey.
In addition, this study examines the validity and potential reporting bias of selfrated general health by fitting Hopit models. Results show that selfrated general health is a valid summary measure of individual’s selfperceived and known health conditions, although it does not reflect bodily functional changes that can hardly be perceived. The response of selfrated general health is strongly correlated with respondent’s chronic medical conditions, the occurrence of acute illness, selfperceived pains/discomfort, insomnia symptoms and depression; however, it is only weakly correlated with objective biometrics such as blood pressure and lung capacity.
Finally, it is worth noting that there exists complicated reporting heterogeneity in selfrated general health among different social groups. Due to differences in rating standard, expectation and cognitive capability regarding health, different social groups respond to the question of selfrated general health differently. After controlling for all the specific measures of individual health in the data, older respondents tend to underestimate their true health status, while those better educated and respondents with higher family incomes tend to overestimate their true health conditions. The existence of reporting heterogeneity is likely to hamper the crosspopulation comparability of selfrated general health.



From Tool to Paradigm: Reflecting upon the Controversies Regarding Hypothesis Testing from a Sociology of Knowledge Perspective

LVXiaokang

2014, 34(6):  216-236. 

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Statistical tools are not constructed and employed in a social vacuum, but in a context penetrated with personal opinions and unique value pursuit of particular discipline. Null Hypothesis Significance Testing (NHST) is the dominant hypothesis testing method used in current empirical studies. Originating from Fisher’s significance test theory, NHST was later transformed by Neyman and Pearson and other textbook editors. However, Fisher did not recognize NeymanPearson’s “improvement” on his original test theory and NHST is not identical with NeymanPearson’s hypothesis testing theory. But those disputes are basically ignored in the practice of social scientists’ studies. NHST, having been suffering from severe attacks from statisticians and its appliers since the 1960s, evolves to the most popular, if not the only, hypothesis testing procedure applied in the contemporary empirical studies. The answer to this paradoxical phenomenon lies not in the superiority of NHST, but in the simplicity of this method. It satisfies the grand vision of social scientists in which different social sciences have to become objective scientific branches that provide accurate knowledge to the public. Researcher would rather use a pragmatic, though not perfect, tool to make definite judgment on the validity of decisions, than to debate on the technical details that which procedure is the best hypothesis testing procedure. NHST thus transforms itself from an ordinary statistical tool to a paradigm which demonstrates the value tendency of the whole discipline, provides exemplary problem solving techniques and leads to a fast accumulation of knowledge within a particular field. This tooltoparadigm shift is a typical example of knowledge ritualization for social sciences when they endeavor to project themselves as accurate sciences. Sociology of knowledge provides reflection on this statistical ritual of hypothesis testing that may prompt social scientists to rethink the overrevered statistical methods in social science studies and foster a more open atmosphere towards the multiple research approaches existing within different disciplines.