On Rural Society and Village Governance in Contemporary China.

• Superior document: Rethinking Socialism and Reform in China Series ; v.7
• Author: F. Day, Alexander.
• TeilnehmendeR: Day, Alexander F.,
• Place / Publishing House: Boston : : BRILL,, 2023.; ©2023.
• Year of Publication: 2023
• Edition: 1st ed.
• Language: English
• Series: Rethinking Socialism and Reform in China Series
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (383 pages)

"The rapid marketization of rural labor, agricultural products, and land has dramatically reshaped village life and its structures of governance. This volume, edited by Alexander F. Day, collects twelve key essays translated from Chinese on this transformation of rural society and governance over the past 20 years. These essays, originally published in the leading Chinese-language journal Open Times, cover class differentiation, the atomization of rural society, the hollowing out of rural governance, land transfer, rural activism against marketization, lineage politics, the role of agricultural cooperatives, the transformation of small peasant farmers into wage labor, and the disintegration and expansion of peasant petitioning, all exploring the transformation in rural China during the post-socialist era"-- Provided by publisher.

Table of Contents

Intro -- Contents -- Figures and Tables -- Figures -- Tables -- Notes on Contributors -- Introduction: Capitalist Agrarian Change and Rural Society -- 1 Chapter Outline -- References -- 1 On the Involution of Rural Governance: a Study of K Town in Henan -- Keywords -- 1 Agents within Rural Governance -- 1.1 The "High and Mighty" State -- 1.2 Township Governments That Are Withdrawing from Rural Society -- 1.3 The Useless Village Level -- 1.4 The Dissipated Villager Group -- 1.5 Fading Peasant Identity and Capacity for Social Action -- 1.6 Multiplying "Nail Houses" -- 1.7 Proliferating Gangsters, Gangs, and Local Forces -- 1.8 The Forsaken Peasantry -- 1.9 Section Summary -- 2 The Relationships between Rural Governing Bodies -- 2.1 Village-Group Relationships -- 2.2 Village-Group Leaders, Cadres, and Bloodline Groups (Traditional Forces) -- 2.3 The Relationship between Peasants and the Township Government -- 2.4 The Relationship between Local Forces and Peasants -- 2.5 Rural Government and Local Forces -- 2.6 Section Summary -- 3 The Mechanisms of Rural Governance after the Cancellation of the Agricultural Tax -- 3.1 Rural Organizations Withdraw from Villages -- 3.2 The Withdrawal and Return of Local Forces -- 3.3 The Alliance between Local Forces and Local Governments -- 3.4 Section Summary -- 4 Discussion: from Rural Interest Community to Rural Involution -- 4.1 Rural Interest Communities before the Cancellation of the Agricultural Tax -- 4.2 Effects on Rural Governance of the Withdrawal of Township and County Governments from Villages -- 4.3 Investment Creates a Breeding Ground for Local Forces -- 4.4 Emergence of "Nail Houses" and Petitioners -- 4.5 The Involution of Rural Governance -- 4.6 Additional Comments -- Reference -- 2 The Multilayered Instrumental Mode of Association in Modern Rural China's Social Integration -- Keywords.

1 The "Differential Mode of Association" and Attempts to Modernize the Concept -- 2 The Trends and Limits of Social Integration -- 3 The Multilayered Instrumental Mode of Association and Its Social Roots -- 3.1 The Meaning of the "Multilayered Instrumental Mode of Association" -- 3.2 The Social Roots of the "Multilayered Instrumental Mode of Association" -- 3.3 A Rational Explanation of the "Multilayered Instrumental Mode of Association" -- Acknowledgements -- References -- 3 Organizational Intervention or Individually-Led Transfer -- Keywords -- 1 Issue Awareness and Sorting Documents of Value -- 2 Theoretical Analysis and Selection Method -- 2.1 Theoretical Analysis -- 3 Model Selection -- 4 Data Source and Variable Description -- 5 Model Test and Result Analysis -- 5.1 Overall Test Sample -- 5.2 Testing Interventions by Dividing Types -- 6 Organization-Initiated Transfer Intervention -- 6.1 Organizational Intervention in Negotiation -- 6.2 Organizational Intervention in Price Setting -- 7 Conclusion -- References -- 4 Reflections on a Decade in the New Rural Reconstruction Movement: the Case of Kaifeng -- Keywords -- 1 The "Events" of NRR: Tracing Its Main Events over the Years -- 1.1 The Origins and Mission of the NRR Experimental Area in Kaifeng -- 1.2 The Development of the Kaifeng NRR Experimental Area: Processes of Peasant Cooperation and Urban-Rural Mutual Aid with "Diverse but Unified" Participation -- 2 "Principles" of the Social Structure of Contemporary NRR -- 2.1 Antithesis: the Three Rural Problems Generated by the Cost-Shifting Mechanisms of Local Industrialization since the Reform and Opening -- 2.2 Thesis: the Basis, Conditions, and Empirical Characteristics of the Contemporary NRR Movement -- 2.2.1 Internal Basis in the Countryside -- 2.2.2 External Conditions -- 2.2.3 Empirical Characteristics: Rurality and Comprehensiveness.

2.3 Synthesis: in the Structured Competition Pushing Forward and Backward, [NRR] Can Only Be "Movement-Based" Rather than "Institutional" -- 3 The "Path" of a Contemporary NRR Movement: Both Surface and Interior -- 3.1 The Sequence of NRR: Using the "New" to Revisit the "Old" against the Background of Early Modern Chinese History -- 3.2 The Roots of the NRR Movement: Reviving China's Rural Civilization, Laying a Foundation for National Revival -- 3.3 The Future of NRR: Forging a Path toward Ecological Civilization -- Acknowledgements -- References -- 5 Paths of Lineage Group Participation in Village Politics -- Keywords -- 1 The Electoral Path: the Legalization of Clan Participation in Village Politics -- 2 The CCP Path: the Elitification of Clan Participation in Village Politics -- 3 The Township Path: the Obfuscation of Clan Participation in Village Politics -- 4 The Non-cooperation Path: the Conflictualization of Clan Participation in Village Politics -- 5 The Third-Party Path: the Externalization of Clan Participation in Village Politics -- 6 Concluding Discussion -- Acknowledgements -- References -- 6 Rural Marketization and the Rise of the Middle Class: a Survey of Chetou Township -- Keywords -- 1 Literature Review and Identification of the Issue -- 2 The Popularization of Navel Orange Growing and the Development of a New Industrial Chain -- 2.1 Labor Market -- 2.2 Agricultural Capital Market -- 2.3 Sales Market -- 2.4 Processing Labor Market -- 3 The Marketization of the Countryside Stimulated by the Navel Orange Industry -- 3.1 Marketization of Family Labor Allocation -- 3.2 Marketization of Peasant Productive Lives -- 4 Class Differentiation in the Context of Marketization -- 4.1 Rich Villagers -- 4.2 The Prosperous Class -- 4.3 The Big Farmer Class -- 4.4 Smallholders and Part-Timers -- 4.5 Migrant Workers -- 4.6 Rural Workers.

4.7 Poor and Vulnerable Villagers -- 5 The Rural Middle Class and the Assurance of Its Interests -- Acknowledgements -- References -- 7 Capital Goes down to the Countryside: Hidden Wage Relations -- Keywords -- 1 Posing the Question -- 2 An Adjustment in the Land Management Strategy of Dragonhead Enterprises: from Horizontal to Vertical Integration -- 2.1 The Land Management Strategy of Horizontal Integration -- 2.2 Vertical Integration as a Management Strategy: Enterprise + Caretakers + Farmers -- 2.3 A Recasting of the Vertical Integration Model: Enterprise + "Caretakers" (i.e. Farmers) -- 3 Capital Accumulation in Agriculture: Profit Extraction from Upstream and Downstream Production -- 4 Agricultural Capitalism Integrates the Family Farm into the Production Chain: the Emergence of Hidden Employment Relations -- 4.1 Type 1: Caretakers Whose Agricultural Income Derives Mainly from the Labor Power of Their Own Households -- 4.2 Type 2: Caretakers Whose Agricultural Income Derives Mainly from the Use of Equipment -- 4.3 Type 3: Caretakers without Sufficient Labor Power or Machinery -- 5 Concluding Remarks: "Hidden Employment Relations" and Capital Accumulation -- References -- 8 Peasant Mobility and Social Stratification in the Jianghan Plain: 1981-2010-an Investigation -- 1 The Proposed Question -- 2 The Jianghan Plain Village Structure -- 2.1 Village Overview -- 2.2 Blood, Marriage, and Land Ties -- 2.3 Household Structures -- 3 Background of Urban-Rural Dualism and Peasant Mobility -- 3.1 Employment Differentiation and Peasant Mobility -- 3.2 Selling Homes and Peasant Mobility -- 3.3 Non-cohesive Communities and Peasant Mobility -- 4 Rural Migrations and the Restructuring of Village Hierarchies -- 4.1 The Wealthy Stratum -- 4.2 Middle-Stratum Peasants -- 4.3 The Part Cultivator Part Worker Stratum -- 4.4 The Impoverished Stratum.

5 The Direction of China's Rural Development and Its Strata Foundation -- 5.1 Stratification and Governance Weakening under the Background of Peasant Migration -- 5.2 The Complementary Decentralization and Centralization of Labor -- 5.3 The Formation and Complementarity of the Part Cultivator/Part Worker Stratum and the Middle Peasant Stratum -- Author's Note -- References -- 9 The "Middleman + Peasant" Model and Semi-proletarianization -- Keywords -- 1 Posing the Question -- 2 Delineating the Scope of Analysis -- 3 Measuring Peasant Asset Income -- 3.1 Macroscopic Data -- 3.2 Data from Case Studies -- 4 The Relationship between Farmers and Middlemen -- 4.1 Circulation, Production, and Monopsony -- 4.2 Asset Specialization and Monopsony Powers -- 4.3 Non-market Means of Monopsony -- 5 The Industrialization of Agriculture -- 6 Conclusion -- Acknowledgements -- References -- 10 From Rights Protection to Turning a Profit: a Logical Framework -- Keywords -- 1 Introduction -- 2 Rights-Protection Petitions: Characterizing Pre-Tax-Reform-Era Peasant Petitions -- 3 From Rights Protection to Benefit Seeking: Changes in Peasants' Logic after the Tax Reform -- 3.1 Highlights of Benefit-Seeking Petitioning -- 3.2 Spread of Professional Petitioning and Prototype of Petitioning Industry -- 4 Profit-Seeking Petitioning Highlights and the Logic of "the More Stable the More Unstable" -- 4.1 Deepening Rural Reform -- 4.2 Disintegration of Local Society -- 4.3 High Pressure on the Petitioning Management System -- 4.4 Ideological Constraints -- 4.5 Rights Protection Discourse -- 5 Conclusion -- References -- 11 Rural Administrative Power and Classificatory Governance: a Paradigm -- Keywords -- 1 Proposed Problems -- 2 Criticisms against the Paradigm of Rights Protection -- 3 From Rights Protection to Governance -- 4 Classifying Governance: a New Framework Analysis.

References.