Social Construction and Social Development in Contemporary China (China Perspectives)

177 Pages·2020·1.646 MB·English

by  Xueyi Lu

Social Construction and Social
Development in Contemporary
China
What is the social structure of Chinese society in the 21st century? How should
China address the problem of migrant workers? How can China form a modern
society? These key sociological issues are some of the topics this book covers.
This book is a collection of the research articles and lectures that Dr. Lu Xueyi,
the former Head of the Institute of Sociology at the Chinese Academy of Social
Sciences, has published since the 1980s. The author discusses the social structure,
social stratification, social construction, and development of contemporary Chinese
society. Arguing that the gap between economic and social development has
become the major social issue facing modern China, the author advocates paying
close attention to the country’s social structure and the growth of the middle class.
The book will be of interest to all scholars and students of Sociology and Chinese
Studies.
Lu Xueyi graduated from the Department of Philosophy of Peking University
in 1962 and from the Institute of Philosophy of the Chinese Academy of Social
Sciences (CASS). He was also the research fellow of the Institute of Sociology of
the CASS and an Elected Honorary Member of the CASS in 2006.
China Perspectives
The China Perspectives series focuses on translating and publishing works by
leading Chinese scholars, writing about both global topics and China-related
themes. It covers Humanities & Social Sciences, Education, Media and Psychol-
ogy, as well as many interdisciplinary themes.
This is the first time any of these books have been published in English for inter-
national readers. The series aims to put forward a Chinese perspective, give insights
into cutting-edge academic thinking in China, and inspire researchers globally.
Titles in sociology currently include
Social Transformation and Chinese Experience
Peilin Li
China’s Low Birth Rate and the Development of Population
Guo Zhigang, Wang Feng, Cai Yong
Petitions and Power
A Story of the Migrants of a Dam in China
Xing Ying
Living Conditions and Targeted Aiding Mechanisms of the Urban Underclass in China
Zhu Li, Mao Feifei
The Way to a Great Country
A Macroscopic View on Chinese Population in the 21st Century
Tian Xueyuan
Social Structure and Social Stratification in Contemporary China
Lu Xueyi
Social Construction and Social Development in Contemporary China
Lu Xueyi
Economic Transition and People’s Livelihood: China Income Distribution Research
Zhao Renwei
Economic Transition and People’s Livelihood: China Economic Transition Research
Zhao Renwei
For more information, please visit www.routledge.com/series/CPH
Social Construction and Social
Development in Contemporary
China
Lu Xueyi
Translated by Yan Peng Wittrock
This book is published with financial support from the Chinese Fund for
the Humanities and Social Sciences.
First published in English 2020
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2020 Lu Xueyi
Translated by Yan Peng Wittrock
The right of Lu Xueyi to be identified as author of this work has been
asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced
or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other
means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and
recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without
permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
English Version by permission of China Social Sciences Press.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested
ISBN: 978-0-367-40405-5 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-429-35596-7 (ebk)
Typeset in Times New Roman
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
Contents
Editor’s words vii
A note on translation and romanization x
Acknowledgments xi
1 A study on basic ideas and strategies for establishing a
new urban housing system 1
2 A new situation and new tasks at the new stage of rural
development: some suggestions on carrying out the
campaign for building new socialist rural areas centered
on the development of small towns 26
3 Accelerating the reform of the current household
registration system 46
4 The program of building a new countryside of Jiangsu
province should be halted immediately 49
5 Towards a comprehensive, coordinated, and sustainable
development of Chinese society 54
6 Theory and practice of social construction 68
7 The core task of social construction at the new stage:
adjustment of social structure 88
8 Building new socialist cities should be the strategic focus
of the Twelfth Five-Year Plan 106
vi Contents
9 China’s current economic and social situation, and social
construction 112
10 Social construction is the realization of social modernization 131
11 China’s main task in the next 30 years is social modernization 140
12 The era of social construction has arrived 150
Index 160
Editor’s words
This collection brings together the results of Mr. Lu Xueyi’s research on China’s
social structure, social stratification, social construction, and development since
the late 1980s. It consists of in-depth and extensive reflections on issues concern-
ing the cause of modernization in contemporary China from a sociological per-
spective. Most of the contents have been published or presented in public lectures.
Sadly, Mr. Lu passed away on May 5, 2013 before he could see the publication
of his second volume of collected works as Honorary Member of the Chinese
Academy of Social Sciences (CASS). One cannot help but feel a deep sense of
sorrow for this. Most articles included in the volume were personally selected by
Mr. Lu before his death, and the basic elements and themes were checked and
approved by him.
Since the 1970s, Mr. Lu devoted himself to the study of the “three rural”
problems of agriculture, rural areas, and farmers (San Nong 三农问题), provided
many insights and policy proposals, and made a great contribution to the solution
of the “San Nong” problems. All these are well reflected in his first volume of
collected works and six other published monographs and collections of essays,
including The Household Contract Responsibility System (1989), On San Nong
(2002), New Theory of San Nong (2005), and A Continued Discussion on San
Nong (2013). These works deserve careful reading and understanding of all people
who are concerned with the problems of agriculture, rural areas, and farmers.
Ever since he became Head of the Institute of Sociology at CASS, Mr. Lu,
using sociological theories and methods, carried out a wide range of investigations
and research on the problems and challenges China faced in social moderniza-
tion, making important contributions to China’s social development and social
construction, as well as the development of sociology in China. In collaboration
with a vast number of sociologists, he initiated and organized a large-scale inves-
tigation of 100 counties and county-level cities, and 100 villages, and published
a number of academic works of considerable value. He started from the study of
contemporary rural social strata, continuously broadened the scope of the research
and formulated the research framework of 10 major social strata in contemporary
China, which caused a huge reaction in the academic and social circles. On this
basis, he went on to explore the mobility of social strata and its impact on China’s
economic and social development. Through systematic investigation of the social
viii Editor’s words
structure, its development and change in contemporary China, he found that the
development of social structure in China lagged behind the development of eco-
nomic structure by about 15 years and made in-depth analysis of the deep-seated
causes for this. All these achievements not only promoted sociological research
and its development in China, but more importantly, clarified in depth the basic
national conditions in contemporary China and provided a scientific rationale for
the modernization of Chinese society.
In his later years, Mr. Lu became keenly aware that since the beginning of the
new century, uncoordinated social and economic development has become the
main problem facing China’s development. In the light of this, he pointed out that
China’s economic development had come to a historical turning point. In the next
20–30 years, strengthening social construction should be the main strategic focus
in China’s social modernization. In his view, social construction is the construc-
tion of a modern society or social modernization, the core of which is to adjust and
optimize the social structure and continuously expand the middle class of society.
The purpose is to coordinate the development of social and economic construc-
tion, achieve social equity and justice, and promote social harmony and stability.
According to him, strengthening social construction should proceed in stages, in a
step-by-step and organized manner. For this, he argued that China urgently needed
to carry out nine major tasks of social construction, including improving basic
livelihood, developing social undertakings, adjusting income distribution, coordi-
nating urban and rural development, promoting the development of social orga-
nizations, bringing forth new ideas of social management, building social norms,
reforming the social system, and adjusting the social structure. These thoughts are
mainly reflected in four research publications edited by him: Research Report on
Social Strata in Contemporary China (2002), Social Mobility in Contemporary
China (2004), Social Structure in Contemporary China (2010), and Social Con-
struction in Contemporary China (2013).
Mr. Lu attached great importance to the development of the discipline of sociol-
ogy in China. He spared no effort to promote the development of sociology and
the building of talent teams. He did everything possible to recruit talents for the
Institute of Sociology, worked hard to improve the layout of the discipline sys-
tem, and laid a solid talent and disciplinary foundation for the development of the
Institute of Sociology. He created a new idea of training sociological personnel
for sociological research institutions, colleges, and universities through project
cooperation. To this end, he made careful plans and worked hard to organize
their implementation. As Dean of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences
at Beijing University of Technology, he established the discipline of sociology
and made social construction the distinguishing feature of the school. He trained
academic talents, organized research projects, and served the needs of social
practices. Together with well-known experts and scholars nationwide, he made the
suggestion to the central authorities to increase the support for the development of
sociology and to strengthen the discipline for the purpose of promoting the build-
ing of a harmonious society, which was affirmed and approved for implementa-
tion by the leading persons of the Central Committee. He also raised funds by
Editor’s words ix
himself and set up the first foundation for the development of sociology in order
to reward outstanding achievements and talented people in sociology and promote
the development of the discipline.
Nearly 30 essays of Mr. Lu’s are included in this collection. The English edition
is divided into two volumes, namely Social Structure and Social Stratification in
Contemporary China and Social Construction and Social Development in Contem-
porary China. The publication of this collection is not only to cherish the academic
contributions of Mr. Lu, but more importantly, to bring together Mr. Lu’s thoughts
and actions in these important fields so as to stimulate sociological research in
China and to provide more scholarly thoughts and wisdom for the construction of
a modern society in China.
Gao Ge
Beijing, April 2019