Social support and social security network in rural China: A case study of southern Jiangsu Province.

摘要

This dissertation explores how the village peoples rebuilt and improve the social support and social security networks after decollectivization since 1979, based on field study in a rural village in southern Jiangsu Province of China. The dissertation consists of five main questions: First, was there a collective social support and social security networks under the commune system from 1949 to 1979? Second, was there a new social support and social security networks after decollectivization after 1979? Third, what are the norms and values that affect the social support and social security networks: its emergence, maintenance, and changes in rural China? Fourth, what kind of roles do family, relatives, neighbors, friends and community play in such networks? Fifth, what will most likely happen to the social support and social security networks in the near future? Overall, the dissertation wants to explore the history, the current state, and the future of the social support and social security networks which would enable to respond to the basic social structure and its recent changes in rural China.; This dissertation focuses on the daily behavior among villagers how did form the social support networks. The central concepts of traditional Chinese culture of renqin (norm of interpersonal behavior), guanxi (social networks) and mianzi (face) are discussed in detail. It is looked closely that these concepts and norms any changes in daily life among villagers before and after collectivization. The social support networks in village is reflected the consciousness of village group and that by combination of both interest and feelings. The data analysis argues and refers to the exchange theory of sociology and the theory of ethnic boundary process of social anthropology.; Social support and social security connect individual behavior with institutionalized organizational behavior, which together constitute the basic social structure. The social support and security networks is influenced by the economic system and by major social institutions, such as family, kinship, religion, education, and political institution. The social support and security networks will undergo changes whenever other social institutions change. So this dissertation concerns with 17 the interactions between social support as a personal behavior and social security as an institutional rules. Findings the villagers have experience three different social supports and security networks before and after collectivization.*; *Originally published in DAI Vol. 59, No. 9. Reprinted here with corrected author name.