Innovation of Rural Social Management
Innovation in Rural Social Management edited by Yang Peiying and published by Social Sciences Academic Press (China) in October 2012, outlines six aspects of community governance in rural China. Emphasizing the necessity of community-based management patterngs as the basis of village governance, the authors propose that villagers’ active involvement in management issues is a key method for enhancing interaction and cooperation at the village level. To this end, rural management would benefit from internalizing management goals and uniting people with the same vision. Additionally, implementing stronger information management will advance village self-governance. Through fair regulation and reasonable investment methods, China can financially support the development of rural civil society. Moreover, it must improve rural citizen’s self-management ability, as it ultimately has to depend on the masses’ power to managing rural society.
Zhang Xiaoshan, a member of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) and a researcher at CASS’s Rural Development Institute, commented that this book not only clarifies the basic concept, reviews historical processes and explains the changes in the law and related regulations, but also combines general descriptions from a broad perspective with case studies from a micro-level. Zhang noted that the book comprehensively details all aspects of innovation of rural social management and the shocks to rural societies brought about by industrialization, urbanization and introduction of the market economy. Included within is discussion of new shifts in rural interests, changes in rural family structure, cultural clashes and the integration between urban and rural areas, and current environmental situations. Its breadth may also be its curse, Zhang added, suggesting that clearer and more concise descriptions of the above topics would make the volume more logical and approachable for readers.
Yang Peiying is a researcher at the Rural Development Institute at Shaanxi Academy of Social Sciences
The Chinese version appeared in Chinese Social Sciences Today, No. 410, Jan. 28, 2013
Translated by Zhang Mengying