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Local Politics, Local Citizenship? Socialized Governance in Contemporary China

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 April 2016

Sophia Woodman
Sophia Woodman*
Affiliation:
School of Social and Political Science, University of Edinburgh. Email: [email protected].
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Abstract

The demise of collective units that attach citizens to the state in China has been overstated; the hegemonic form of Chinese citizenship today links participation and welfare entitlement to membership in a collective unit in a specific locality. This article presents an ethnographic account of the operation of this “normal” form of local citizenship in resident and villager committees in Tianjin. These committees combine participatory and welfare dimensions of citizenship in one institutional setting. Here, citizens are bound to the state through a face-to-face politics that acts both as a mechanism of control and a channel for claims-making, a mode of rule I term “socialized governance,” which blurs the boundaries between political compliance and social conformity, and makes social norms a strong force in the citizenship order. While variably achieved in practice, this form of citizenship represents an ideal that shapes conditions for politics and perceptions of inequality.

摘要

中国 “单位社会” 已为市场经济消灭的说法被过分夸大。实际上, 中国现行标准的公民身份制度是将公民参与、社会福利享有权与个人的户口所在地联系在一起。简言之, 个人的公民身份依附于一个特定的地方和集体组织。本文通过对天津市居民委员会和村民委员会的观察性研究, 对地方性公民身份制度的 “正常” 运作模式加以描述。这两种集体组织把公民的参与和福利整合在一个机构环境中。在这种情况下, 公民与国家的关系通过一种 “面对面” 的政治结构而联系在一起。这种 “面对面” 的政治结构不仅建立起对个人行为的控制机制, 而且为公民提供了表达自身诉求和不满的渠道。这种 “社会化治理” 模式不区分政治规范与社会规范, 从而使社会风气在公民身份制度执行中起着非常重要的作用。虽然公民身份制度在具体推行过程中存在地方性差异, 但作者认为, 本文所展现的理想化的公民身份制度是公民进行政治参与和理解各种不平等因素的重要条件。

Keywords

local citizenshipgovernanceeveryday politicsresident and villager committeessocial welfareguanxiparticipationhukou system地方性公民身份社会治理居民和村民委员会社会福利政治参与户籍制度关系学
Type
Articles
Information
The China Quarterly , Volume 226 , June 2016 , pp. 342 - 362
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Copyright © The China Quarterly 2016 

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