Social Structure of Contemporary China

The following sections are included:

• CONTENTS
• PREFACE
• ABOUT THE AUTHORS

As society enters the 21st century, China stands at a new historical starting point. After a great 30-year journey of reform and opening up, China has made tremendous achievements in its economic and social development and entered the middle stage of industrialization. In addition, its social structure has undergone a profound change toward modernization. In general, however, due to a lack of coordination between its economic and social development, the social structure is still in the early stages of industrialization. This has caused many social problems and become characteristic of China’s new development stage. A new perspective is needed to understand and analyze the new affairs and qualities of China’s development. Historical experiences of industrialization and modernization prove that the middle stage of industrialization is often accompanied by significant social conflicts and problems, mainly because social restructuring lags behind economic growth, revealing that economic and social development are not coordinated. Therefore, suitably adjusting the social structure, coordinating economic and social development, and solving social conflicts and problems are major tasks for a country or region during the crucial period of entering modern society. Thus, the current research report will explore changes in the structure of contemporary Chinese society, analyze the current social structure during the critical development stage, study the problems in and trends of the social structure, and propose theories and countermeasures to adjust the social structure and promote coordinated economic and social development.

Human beings are the fundamental components of society and the essential carriers for resources and opportunities. The foundation of a country’s society is directly related to the population size and social status. Population structure refers to the proportional relationship among different properties or elements within a population in a certain geographical region during a given period of time. From a social structure perspective, population structure reflects the allocation of resources and opportunities in terms of population characteristics. Generally, a reasonable population structure suits the development of productive social forces; in essence, this is a matter of the Marxist concept of adaptation between the productive forces and the productive relations.

Family is the most basic form of social living, and it is also a basic unit of social structure. Since the reform and opening up, the majority of Chinese families have been nuclear families, but numbers are diminishing due to the diversification of family types. Empty-nest families, DINK (dual income, no kids) families, single-parent and separated families, and floating families without permanent homes are examples of these distinct, growing family types. Within the family, the husband and wife have equal rights and the relationships across generations are independent. The economic functions of families are gradually recovering and being reinforced, while the importance of the reproductive function is being reduced and pressure on the dependency function has doubled.

The first character of the Chinese term for “employment” (jiu ye), “jiu”, means to acquire, to engage in and to conduct. The second character “ye” means business, a living and an occupation. “Jiu ye” together in the modern sense means obtaining an occupation, engaging in production and service activities, acquiring access to resources of livelihood and meeting other needs. A synonym for “employment” is “work” (gong zuo). The character “gong” means effort and skills. “Zuo” means to embark, conduct and operate. “Employment” means obtaining and engaging in some sort of work.

During the three decades after the reform and opening up, China’s economic growth attracted worldwide attention, and living standards generally improved. However, income distribution among members of society has become a major problem, resulting in a number of social conflicts. Income distribution itself is a structural problem — income ratios and the number of opportunities available among members of society; it is also a problem of income distribution and income ratios and their realization channels among different groups or within the same group.

The consumption structure of Chinese residents shifted from having inadequate food and clothing to having basic food and clothing to being well-off and affluent. Urban and rural consumption has gradually become more differentiated and stratified with diversified models, and the identification function of consumption has been enhanced. Social policy has a strong, shaping role in the changes of consumption structure. At present, the uncoordinated consumption structure is one of the biggest problems in economic and social development. Lack of coordination is characterized by changes in the resident consumption structure that are too early, proportional imbalance among the three main consumer bodies, overly large consumption gaps across strata, etc. Irrational distribution relations and class structure, social development that is lagging behind and policy displacement in stimulating domestic demand are the crux of why it is difficult to adjust the consumption structure. At present, the concept of stimulating domestic demand needs to be changed from “squeezing a sponge” to pursuing a “barrel effect”.

China’s current urban–rural structure is a dual social status system or structure, which was produced in the process of social transformation. It is currently the social structure that needs to be adjusted the most. This structure was constructed in the 1950s. With the implementation of the contract responsibility system and the disintegration of the commune system in rural areas, farmers gained the freedom to select their own jobs and operate their own businesses. The urban–rural structure has undergone significant changes, making the difficult transition from absolute seclusion to gradually opening up. However, urban–rural restructuring is not synchronized. There is a lack of coordination among industrialization, conversion and urbanization, which has seriously delayed the rational and effective adjustment of the urban–rural structure. The urban–rural pattern of interests is more inclined toward cities, and the urban–rural gap is continually widening. It is increasingly difficult to coordinate urban and rural economies and societies. Thus, in order to build a harmonious society, the adjustment of the urban–rural structure is urgently needed.

Since the reform and opening up, the biggest problem in China’s regional structure is that the inconsistency is too large and the gap between regions continues to expand. That is, the regional disparity pattern of economic and social development has already formed, and differences in development mode and speed are significant. Disparities in living standards and development opportunities among members of society in different regions are gradually widening, while regional disparities in the social sub-structure are prominent. Overly large regional disparities will inevitably produce a large number of adverse effects, such as difficulty for modern industries to transfer across gradients, excessive competition among regions preventing regional cooperation and economic and social contradictions becoming increasingly prominent. Adjustment of the regional structure is urgent. The key is to implement coordinated regional development strategie.

Organizations are formed by people in social groups in order to achieve a joint goal. From a macro-economic perspective, there are three main types of organizations in modern society: national organizations, economic organizations and social organizations. Organizational structure has a decisive impact on people’s interests, rights and socioeconomic status and opportunities for access to the configuration of resources. The healthy operation of modern society and its harmonious development requires a corresponding rational and effective organizational structure. Since the reform and opening up, China’s organizational structure has undergone profound changes. The social action and the differentiation of its operating mechanism have brought a demarcation of the organizational structure: the country-led organization system gradually disintegrated; a variety of new economic and social organizations emerged; and the relationship between the three main types of organizations began to transform into a mutually supportive modern relationship model. However, this transformation is far from complete. With the deepening of the reform and opening up, along with economic and social development, these organizations will enter a new stage of development. Whether their relationship will transform into a healthy and reasonable one will depend largely on whether the relevant institutional innovation will cultivate a new structural system that may adapt to modernization.

Social class structure is the core of social structure. Social class structure exists in other domains of the social structure, such as employment structure, urban–rural structure and consumption structure. Since the founding of New China in 1949, the social class structure has experienced three major shifts and the prototype of a modern social structure has been formed. However, at the same time, configuration of resources and opportunities among social classes became unbalanced and conflicts of interests between social strata manifested. Adjusting and reforming social policies, further promoting the formation of a modern social class structure and, at the same time, coordinating the interests of different social classes to provide strong class support for China’s entrance into a critical period of development are the important goals for the current and future social structure adjustment.

The following sections are included:

• POSTSCRIPT
• INDEX