Changes in China’s social structure since reform and opening up and its impact

Changes in China’s social structure

As one of the main forms of social change, structural differentiation affects modernization mainly through two mechanisms, namely, social heterogeneity reflected in The division of labor and professional organizations promote production efficiency, and the role diversification and occupational hierarchy differences trigger and promote class diversification, social mobility and the spread of education, both of which help to eliminate feudal "pre-endowment" Privileges increase the proportion of one's "self-generated" status. Therefore, many sociologists regard the degree of differentiation of social structure as one of the main indicators to measure the level of modernization of a country, and regard the form of structural differentiation as an important aspect in observing and describing the modernization process.

Since the reform, the most fundamental change in China's social structure is the transformation from a total society to a differentiated society. The fundamental driver of this change is institutional reform. The impact of reform on social differentiation in my country is roughly the following process: 1. The reform of the rural economic system and the "decentralization and transfer of profits" to state-owned enterprises have created free-flowing resources in society, that is, labor, capital, and other resources that are not subject to unified control and distribution by the state. Products, raw materials, technologies, etc. These resources will continue to increase with the deepening of reform. 2. The emergence and increase of free-flowing resources have led to changes in the organization and distribution of resources throughout society, from relying solely on the planning system and administrative means to a combination of planning and market, administrative means and economic means. 3. The development of multiple interest subjects and power subjects, such as various local and community governments and government departments. Non-governmental organizations, various rural enterprises, urban and rural individual industrial and commercial households, etc. 4. The emergence and increase of functionally specialized organizations and role groups gradually led to the initial separation between the state and society, politics and economy, economy and administration, administration and law, and ideology. Since the reform, this structural change process from a total society to a differentiated society has been a historical necessity, indicating that China's modernization process has entered a new historical period.

The most noteworthy aspects of the differentiation process of China’s social structure at this stage are:

1. Institutional reform began in rural areas, and its greatest contribution to the changes in rural social structure is to promote The rapid rise and vigorous development of rural industrialization. This rural industrialization process has led to a dramatic differentiation of the original homogeneous and equal social structure in rural areas. A large number of new role groups and organizations have emerged, such as township entrepreneurs, nearly 100 million township enterprise workers, and New cooperative ventures, private companies, etc.

The dual characteristics of the original social structure of urban and rural areas determine that the differentiation process of urban social structure is different from that of rural areas. Urban social differentiation is mainly the differentiation within and outside the system. After the reform, urban social differentiation first occurred in the most peripheral parts of the original system. One of the results was that some social forces on the periphery of the cadre system were the first to differentiate from the system, such as individual entrepreneurs, private enterprises, foreign-funded enterprises, etc. As differentiation continues to advance from the edge of the system to the center of the system, forces outside the system continue to strengthen. They organize and operate according to rules and methods different from those within the system. On the one hand, this process is constantly affected by social differentiation within the system. On the other hand, it is also constantly affected by the differentiation of rural society. Some intersecting groups and marginal groups that straddle the two systems and the two major social systems of urban and rural areas began to appear, such as self-employed people, migrant workers who went to work in cities, etc. The emergence and increase of the above-mentioned new structural elements have strongly promoted the development of civil society.

2. After the reform, with the expansion of autonomy and clarification of interests of various social subjects (individuals, organizations, governments), the hierarchical social differentiation originally determined by administrative levels and status levels gradually transformed into a The four-part differentiation determined by category and unit boundaries greatly weakens the role of the original hierarchical factors that determine the status and interests of social members, such as ownership type, family class origin, political identity, administrative level, etc., while the unit and community where the individual belongs development status, the role of group factors such as the individual's occupational category and department (such as car driver, tax department) increases. The transformation of social structure from hierarchical differentiation to mass differentiation means that the stratification process of Chinese society will be slow.

3. Compared with before the reform, the current stage of differentiation in Chinese society has greatly accelerated and the degree of differentiation has greatly deepened. However, there are differences in the speed and degree of differentiation between different regions, different social systems, and different social groups. There are big differences. For example, the coastal areas differentiate faster than the central and western regions, and the Wenzhou area in the east is more differentiated than the southern Jiangsu area. Another example is that the differentiation of the economic system is faster than the differentiation of the power structure, the differentiation of the farmer group is greater than the differentiation of the urban resident group, the differentiation of the narrow social structure is deeper than the differentiation of the broad social structure, etc. This unbalanced differentiation has led to the diversification of the originally similar and isomorphic social structure of the entire society, as well as the dislocation of the three highly integrated structures, namely income, power and professional prestige structures, and the degree of integration among the various social positions of social members. thus greatly reduced. The diversification of social structure forms and the dislocation of various social structures increase the tension of the social structure and thus increase the difficulty of structural integration.

4. In most market countries, social members are differentiated and combined under the action of the market according to the needs of division of labor. The differentiation of social structure is mainly reflected as a functional differentiation. This functional-structural differentiation that occurs with the continuous deepening of the division of labor is the condition and inevitable process for realizing social modernization.

The differentiation of my country's social structure after the reform on the one hand reflects this process of functional differentiation, such as the differentiation of state and social functions, the differentiation of party and government functions, government and enterprise functions, and the development of single-functional and specialized organizations. But on the other hand, because the current social differentiation in our country is mainly the result of institutional reform, and one of the core contents of institutional reform is the redistribution and adjustment of interests, structural differentiation is largely reflected in a kind of interest differentiation, and policy factors play an important role in this. Therefore, a contradictory phenomenon has emerged in the changes in China's social structure at the current stage, that is, the social structure has undergone severe and profound differentiation after the reform, but various social organizations have not only failed to make their functions more efficient as the degree of differentiation deepens and speeds up. Instead of specialization and singleness, there is a trend of comprehensive "economy" or "enterprise". The impact of functional differentiation on social structure is mainly to increase heterogeneity, while interest differentiation is mainly to expand inequality. The role of interests in the differentiation of China's social structure after reform makes the vertical differentiation of the structure faster than the horizontal differentiation.

Administrative integration and contractual integration

Social integration is generally achieved through two levels. The first is political integration at the national level, and the second is social integration at the local level. The purpose of the former is mainly to ensure the sovereignty of the nation-state, implement administrative control and management, and establish and maintain social order through administrative and legal means; the latter mainly uses civil and non-political means to play a role at the community level to Maintain the basic order of social activities so that roles, organizations, and systems with different functions can establish harmonious and cooperative relationships.

In traditional Chinese society, one of the outstanding features of the integration mechanism is that social integration is strong and political integration is weak; between the two levels of integration, there is a lack of connection in organizational form and the main reliance is on The personal relationship between the "gentry-landlord" group serves as an integration mechanism linking the two levels, and partially replaces organizational integration with value integration. On the one hand, this integrated system gives the entire society flexibility and a solid foundation, allowing it to last for more than two thousand years. On the other hand, it also creates a fatal weakness of this social system, namely the integrated Minji Lagua. The result was that when it was invaded by Western powers in modern times, it was unable to make a strong response as a whole. The “dispersed sand phenomenon” that Mr. Sun Yat-sen lamented was the inevitable result of this integration mechanism. Especially with the onslaught of modern factors, the mechanism of social integration has continued to weaken, and China has fallen into a dual disintegration of politics and society. The new integration mechanism formed after 1949 was an effort to resolve the dual political and social crises in China at that time.

One of the outstanding features of China’s integration model after 1949 is that political integration is extremely powerful. Even in grassroots society, integration is mainly achieved through administrative integration. In this sense, this system of integration is characterized to a large extent by the substitution of political integration for social integration. The reason is not difficult to understand. When the political integration mechanism and social integration mechanism have completely failed, the reconstruction of the political integration mechanism has not only become a top priority, but also relatively easy based on the resources possessed by the country and the government at that time. . The reconstruction of social integration mechanisms is, to a large extent, a natural evolution process that takes a long time. Therefore, the reconstruction of social integration through the reconstruction of political integration has become an inevitable choice. In this way, by the mid-to-late 1950s, this model of replacing social integration with political integration had basically taken shape. In rural areas, the typical form is the people's commune (first, agricultural production cooperatives); in cities, the unit is the backbone, with a street committee system attached. Whether it is a rural people's commune or an urban unit, it is an overall organization that integrates various functions. Political and administrative power play a core role in it. Specifically, the party's organizational system and administrative power system Mass organizations such as the Communist Party of China, Workers, Youth and Women, are the three important forces that play a role in this integration mechanism. One of the obvious advantages of this integration model is that it eliminates the tension between social integration and political integration, making the two highly consistent and making social integration at the local level subordinate to political integration at the national level. In traditional Chinese society, friction between social integration and political integration often occurs. However, it must also be noted that since civil social integration does not actually exist, the burden of political integration has been greatly increased. At the same time, this integration model is quite rigid and must be based on the continuous suppression of social differentiation, which is precisely one of the driving forces of social development.

In the 15 years of reform and opening up, this integration model that has lasted for more than 30 years has begun to be impacted. Its performance mainly lies in two aspects:

First, the prerequisites for the existence of the original integration model are constantly lost. The original integration model is based on two basic conditions. One is the state's comprehensive monopoly on resources, and the other is the existence and effective operation of a top-down overall organization system. However, in the process of reform and opening up, these two conditions are changing. Due to the development of the non-public economy, the state's monopoly on resources has been significantly weakened; due to the disintegration of the people's commune system, overall organizations in rural areas no longer exist; and enterprise reforms in cities are also gradually turning enterprises into a pure economy Sexual organization, the characteristics of the overall organization are significantly reduced.

In this way, the second reason why the state achieves social integration at the grassroots level through its overall organization is that new social differentiation and the complexity of social life continue to put forward new requirements for social integration. In rural areas, the decentralization of agricultural production, the specialization of economic activities in rural areas, and the increasing differentiation of occupations and social classes all need to be reintegrated on a new basis. In cities, while the work unit system continues to weaken, so-called activities outside the system have emerged in large numbers. The original household registration system and personnel system have been significantly relaxed. Cross-regional social mobility has led to the emergence of a large number of immigrants in the city. Not to mention that the original integration mechanism is weakening. Even if it can function effectively, it is not enough to cope with the ever-increasing complexity of social life.

Therefore, in a certain sense, the reform and opening up process of more than ten years is also a process of constantly seeking new social integration mechanisms, and the basic feature of this new social integration mechanism is that it is based on contractual social integration as the leading factor. In other words, China's social integration has experienced a historic change from the ascribed integration of traditional society (based on blood ties and geography), to the administrative social integration before the reform, and then to the contractual social integration. In the field of economic activities. In the field, this trend has been clearly manifested. In addition to macro-control at the national level, contractual relationships in the market, as well as intermediary organizations such as chambers of commerce and industry associations based on contractual relationships, are playing an increasingly important role in integrating economic activities. But in the broader field of social life, the situation is more complicated, and there are obvious differences between urban and rural areas. In rural areas, this form of congenital integration of families is being revived in quite a few areas. In other areas, the original village-level quasi-administrative organizations (or autonomous organizations) are still playing a strong role. In other areas, , it is "capable people" who play an important role in social integration at the grassroots level. In cities, the framework of new social integration mechanisms is more vague. In addition to the integrating role of the market, intermediary organizations and community autonomy seem to be beginning to play a role. To sum up, although contractual social integration will become the basic direction of social integration in China in the future, the extent of its current role must not be overestimated. In terms of social integration, China is still in a transitional stage. In this stage, there is a situation where pre-existing, administrative, contractual and other forms of integration exist. During this period, there are three issues that require close attention: First, does the current social integration obviously lag behind the process of social differentiation, which will lead to various disorders in social life; second, there are complementarities between different forms of social integration There are also contradictions in the relationship; thirdly, how to connect the new form of social integration with the political integration at the national level is still a question to be discussed.

Organization and unit system

Social organization is a constituent element of modern society, which directly reflects the form and changes of social structure. The reforms in the past 15 years have changed the operating mechanism and even the nature of social organizations in our country.

In rural areas, with the implementation of the household responsibility system and the dismantling of communes and townships, the original quasi-administrative organization, the production team, was abolished, but the autonomous status of the newly-established village committees and the resources they controlled were established The lack of rural areas has left many underdeveloped rural areas in an unorganized state. Village-level organizations in rural areas with developed collective economies operate relatively normally, but there are also a handful of rural areas whose independent interests have expanded and even rivaled the state.

The administrative organization at the center of the original centralized management system has changed slowly and still serves as a "component" function. Members are highly dependent on the organization, but the personnel system has been loosened, and the unit's urge to seek self-interest has been greatly enhanced. Many units have developed unplanned self-owned resources by forming "flop" companies and other measures, thus making the nature of these units begin. becomes complicated.

Private enterprises that grew up outside the planned system do not receive preferential treatment from the state in terms of resource acquisition, nor are they subject to state administrative constraints. The personnel relations of its members are either hung in the talent exchange center or placed in the sub-district office and are not part of the original administrative system. The relationship between enterprises and the state is governed by market rules, and high wages are used within enterprises to combat various risks and make up for shortcomings. In terms of organizational structure, they often lack the party and mass organizations that are common in state-owned enterprises, thus showing obvious heterogeneity.

Affected by the above factors, enterprises and institutions, which were the original subjects of the "unit system", are also undergoing changes.

First, functionalize the role of the unit. As the focus of national work shifts to economic construction, the political functions of enterprises and institutions are weakening, while their professional functions are strengthening. Enterprises are no longer "components" that undertake tasks designated by the state, and public institutions are no longer the "agents" of the state as they were in the past. They have become functional wholes to varying degrees.

Second, the unit’s interests are independent. The separation of government and enterprises enables enterprises to gradually break away from government supervision and intervention. Enterprises operate independently and are responsible for their own profits and losses, making them relatively independent interest entities. A series of measures such as the government not investing in enterprises, sharing profits and taxes, and allowing enterprises to digest the contradictions caused by the reform have further made the independent interests of enterprises more obvious. Correspondingly, public institutions with fixed positions and fixed staffing and financial contracts have to gradually change their over-reliance on the government and seek the ability to improve themselves, so that their interests are relatively independent.

Third, unit responsibilities are concrete and inward-oriented. As enterprises become the main body of interests and establish a contractual relationship with the state, the social responsibilities assumed by enterprises are concrete.

At the same time, enterprises have no way to shirk their responsibility for improving the income and living standards of their members, and the state's weakening of restrictions on enterprises has caused enterprises to change from external responsibilities to inward responsibilities, that is, from being completely responsible to the country to being mainly responsible to the employees of the enterprise. , even the assumption of introverted responsibilities is heavier than the assumption of extroverted responsibilities. This also makes enterprises become a true community of interests for employees, and the above characteristics of public institutions are becoming increasingly obvious.

Fourth, the “parent” role of the unit has been strengthened. The formation of a community of interests among unit members has strengthened the members' awareness of the same economic situation and the company's awareness of protecting its members. The inescapability of these responsibilities and the social comparison mechanism have generally strengthened the "parent" role of the unit.

In this way, since the reform, the relationship between the state and the organization has gradually changed from an overall survival model to an independent survival model. The organization is no longer a "part" of the country, but a "whole" with a certain degree of independence. With the exception of rural areas, the external characteristics of our society based on organizations have not changed, but the functions of organizations are undergoing substantial changes. Although they undertake the function of social management, their central task is to meet the needs of members and seek organizational self-development. That is, it is changing from a "management unit" to a "profit unit". As a result, my country's social structural system is transforming from a "management unit system" to a "profit-based unit system". The characteristics of the "unit system" have not weakened, but have been strengthened within a certain range. Regardless of the unit consciousness of organizations, their calculation and struggle for their own interests, or the increase in employees' recognition and concern for the organization (unit), it all reflects that they are forming a social community that is relatively independent externally and closely interdependent internally, and even It can be said that the current organization is becoming a real unit. In terms of the relationship between the country, organizations and members, the "mother-like country" is being replaced by the "strict father-like unit". Rather than providing universal care to organizations and social members regardless of their contribution, as in pre-reform countries, work units provide more care to their members on the basis of contracts.

Identity Category Division and Social Mobility

Identity refers to the category mark given to individuals by society, associated with occupations and other social roles, and indicating a person's social status.

The reason for the formation of the ownership identity category was the result of the socialist transformation of the ownership form by the state at that time (ownership by the whole people and collective ownership coexisted); at the same time, it was also the inevitable result of "limited resources". By controlling the distribution of living resources, the state controls the transformation of collective ownership workers into national ownership workers, thus effectively maintaining this division of identity categories. After the ownership identity category is formed, it reflects and maintains the social hierarchy in urban society from the economic structure.

As economic construction became the center of all work, the political color of social life began to fade. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, he removed the hats of landlords and rich peasants, rehabilitated the wrongly classified rightists, and implemented policies and rehabilitated the victims of unjust, false and wrongful convictions during the "Cultural Revolution", which undoubtedly corrected the erroneous tendency of expanding class struggle. Connected to this, although the political review system still exists, its scope has been reduced and it pays more attention to people's actual performance. This means that the class identity series has lost the conditions on which it was sustained. Society's evaluation standards have also undergone great changes. A person is no longer judged primarily by his family background, but by his abilities and achievements. Therefore, the original series of class identities is increasingly weakening and disappearing in both urban and rural areas.

The reform of the rural economic system with "big contract work" as its main content has given farmers the autonomy to produce and distribute. This first led to the loosening of state control over living resources. The development of urban and rural market economies has led to the emergence of freely flowing resources in both urban and rural areas. This has led to the increasing loosening of the household registration system and the voucher system, which are closely linked to the distribution of living resources. Since the reform of the economic system, the development of the urban economy outside the planned system has given a large number of farmers the opportunity to move to the city and change their identity as farmers. A large amount of rural surplus labor has flowed to cities and towns, creating a huge army of migrants from other places. The weakening of the prerequisites for maintaining the identity series of urban and rural residents will inevitably lead to the existence and development of various economic components in the city, creating a large number of new employment positions outside the system. These employment positions also mean a variety of new professional identities, which cannot be covered by the original two identity series of cadres and workers. Driven by interests, cadres and workers within the system moved to new employment positions outside the system. This resulted in the blurring of the original identity boundaries between "cadres" and "workers" and the development of a series of professional identities outside the system. To accommodate the trend of “cadre” and “worker” identity series within the system.

The rapid growth of the economy outside the system, its flexible operation and distribution (putting state-owned enterprises at a disadvantage) and the increasing tendency of people to evaluate enterprises towards economic benefits have gradually blurred the original boundaries of ownership status, making ownership The meaning of identity is diminished.

Currently, the standards for classifying identity categories in Chinese society are undergoing drastic changes. A new, self-consistent and changeable identity series marked by professional identity is gradually replacing the previous various identity series in urban and rural areas. What we see in this transitional period is a complex picture of the coexistence, blending, and cross-dislocation of old and new identity series. The original identity series and evaluation standards are still in effect. People can use the resources they have obtained with the original identity to find a professional identity with more benefits in the new professional identity series.

The coexistence of the political evaluation system and the interest evaluation system leads to the multifaceted nature of people's identity series and social status, and also determines people's orientation in the new professional identity series. In the process of urban-rural migration, the contradiction between the original identity and the new occupation and new place of residence has led to the emergence of a large number of marginalized people and a large number of marginalized groups.

Accompanying the loosening of these identity series are three major trends in social mobility. That is, the diversification of the flow of social elites; 80 million rural surplus laborers flow to cities, and workers and cadres within the system move outside the system. These three major mobility trends are changing the elite structure of Chinese society, changing the spatial distribution of social position and population, and changing the proportional relationship between economic and social positions inside and outside the system.

Therefore, the biggest impact of the loosening of identity categories on China’s current social structure is that it loosens the bonds of changes in social structure.

Regional pattern and regional relations

Region refers to "a community composed of social relations and organizational principles." In a society, the relationship between regions and the basic regional pattern formed thereby are an important aspect of the social structure. In the 15 years of reform and opening up, China's regional relations and regional structure have undergone a series of important changes. Analyzing these changes and their processes can enable us to deepen our understanding of China's social structure and its changes from one aspect.

In the course of 15 years of reform and opening up, a series of important changes have taken place in the regional structure of Chinese society, in which the whole country is a game of chess, regions are homogeneous and isomorphic, and the local self-survivability is emphasized. The most obvious manifestations are as follows:

First, the differentiation of interests, and local governments have begun to become the main interests. As mentioned earlier, in the overall system of a national game of chess before the reform, local interests were suppressed to a large extent. In the process of reform and opening up, as the power of the central government continues to be decentralized to local governments, the national one-game model has begun to be broken. Local communities represented by local administrative agencies have begun to become the main stakeholders, and the trend of fiscal localization has become increasingly obvious. Under this circumstance, the relationship between different regions is no longer a relationship connected by central administrative power. Interest relations and the principles of exchange and contract in the market economy have begun to become new ties connecting different regions. The past situation of free transfer between regions no longer exists. Driven by local interest motives, local protectionism has become increasingly apparent.

Second, the heterogeneity between regions has increased significantly. Before the reform and opening up, the differences between different regions were only differences in the degree of development. But today, the isomorphism between regions has been broken to a large extent, and the heterogeneity between different regions has been greatly enhanced. The reason is that with the decentralization of power, the ability of local governments to formulate policies has been strengthened; the central government has given special policies to some regions; due to the different natural conditions and development levels of different regions, the ability of different regions to adapt to the market economic system has been obvious. difference. Due to differences in location conditions and historical heritage, the current heterogeneity between regions is prominently reflected in ownership structure, economic structure, economic operating mechanism, and the degree of economic development. The result is that a unified national policy loses its foundation.

Third, regional relations governed by market principles have formed a “gap widening dynamic system.” Due to differences in the degree of deepening of reform and opening up, differences in economic heritage, and differences in location, the development between regions shows an obvious gradient. In this gradient pattern, a pattern similar to more developed, moderately developed, and underdeveloped areas has been formed. A large amount of statistical data can show that in the process of 15 years of reform and opening up, the development gap between these regions has not narrowed, but widened, and there is a trend of further widening. At the same time, we can also see that a regional division of labor pattern similar to the international division of labor pattern has begun to take shape. Developed areas such as Guangdong, Shanghai, and Jiangsu have begun to become processing zones; while many areas in the mainland, including Liaoning Such old industrial areas are becoming suppliers of raw materials and markets for product sales.

Fourth, there are differences in the development mechanisms of different regions. This difference is highlighted in the different development mechanisms between developed areas represented by coastal areas and backward areas in the interior. The disintegration of the national one-game regional structure using administrative allocation as a means and the initial formation of the national market have placed the development of each region in this emerging market environment. However, due to the huge differences in the development time and level of different regions, their competitiveness in this market shows obvious differences. For example, developed regions that developed early have strong market expansion capabilities due to their huge advantages in technology and economic strength, and their enterprises themselves also have strong development motivation and potential. In a certain sense, the development of these regions What is more needed are market conditions and liberal economic policies. The situation in backward areas is exactly the opposite. Their obvious disadvantages in technology and economic strength, lack of capital, immaturity of the entrepreneurial class and other conditions put them at an obvious disadvantage in the competition with enterprises in developed areas. . In such a region, without the intervention of administrative forces that can effectively promote economic development, it is very difficult to achieve smooth economic development and narrow the gap with developed regions.

To sum up, in just 15 years, China’s social structure has undergone and is still undergoing major changes. This is an essential overall change. This change is both cumulative and revolutionary.

Although the specific details of the new structure are still difficult to outline, its outline is certain: it will continue to deepen and develop along the directions described above.