Anomie And Restructuring

This dissertation, mainly employing the social control theory, gives a panoramic depiction, under the macro-historical framework of "state-society" relations, of how the local political powers in northern Jiangsu province managed to reduce the social anomie and resume the ruling order during 1927 to 1937, and based on the depiction, takes it as an organic component of the modern national construction in 20th century China. A historic interpretation is rendered to reveal the significance and social-historical consequences of restructuring a new order system in northern Jiangsu province.The dissertation consists of two parts. Besides the "introduction" and the "conclusion", the body is divided into four chapters, dealing with the local political order in northern Jiangsu province from the perspectives of social anomie and restructuring the order system.The first part, including chapter one and chapter two, describes and analyzes the phenomena of social decadence and anomie in northern Jiangsu province. Through a historic review and discription of the process of social decadence in northern Jiangsu province, the dissertation points out that the social decadence in northern Jiangsu province since the late Qing dynasty is the social prerequisites for anomie, while social anomie is the consequence of the loss of social order. It indicates that the traditional mode of local political control cannot satisfy the requirements of the changing times and demands prompt restructuring.Chapter one, Social Decadence in Norther Jiangsu Province, mainly explores the reasons for social decadence in northern Jiangsu province in terms of the historical changes of geographical environment in northern Jiangsu province, the frequent occurrence of natural disasters, the loss of key position in water transportation, river conservancy works, and salt industry, and the changes of regional political status, and analyzes them under the macro-historical background of the imbalance of China's traditional social structure in the countryside since 1840. The chapter concludes that the interaction of the above results in the overall social decadence in northern Jiangsu province.Chapter two, Social Anomie in Northern Jiangsu Province, gives an analysis and discussion of the three most typical phenomena of anomie in northern Jiangsu province, i.e. banditry, degradation, and flourishing secret societies. Banditry was popular in the countryside in northern Jiangsu province, and regarded as an acceptable way of life. Degradation refers to the evolution trend of integrated traditional country gentry and township elite classes to local tyrants and evil gentry. The flourishing secret societies include Qingbang in the cities and Daohui in the country. The rapid growth of these secret societies reflects the turmoil and chaos in northern Jiangsu province. Through an analysis of the reasons for these three phenomena of anomie, and revealing the great harms done to the society, the chapterconcludes that social anomie and social chaos form a symbiosis. These anomie phenomena in northern Jiangsu province, not only imposed a severe influence on the local social development, but also a direct threat to the ruling order of local Kuomintang government in that region.The second part, including chapter three and chapter four, studies and reviews the restructuring of a new order system in northern Jiangsu province and its social consequences. From the perspective of the social control of political power, a study is made of how the local political powers in northern Jiangsu province managed to reduce the social anomie and restructure a new order system, and of the characteristics of the ways. Then, a summary and review is given concerning the epoch-making significance and the social consequences.Chapter three, Restructuring a New Order System, studies and reviews, through an analysis of the process of restructuring a new order system, the characteristics of various ways taken by the local Kuomintang government in northern Jiangsu province after 1927 to reduce social anomie. The new Kuomintang's order system in the locality is made up of three institutions (county government, county Party committee, and district public office) granted with different functions and powers in a joint effort to reduce social anomie and restructure the ruling order. The county government, a bureaucratic organization under the responsibility system of the mayor, with major changes in internal structure and functions, is the core of the new local order system. The county Party committee is the authoritative theoretical creator and the symbol of the "rule by Party" system, and undertakes the functions of social enlightenment. The district public office, as a pivot in the country under the new order system, is the preliminary expression of the delegation of national power and fulfils fully the functions, granted by the state, of controlling the countryside and exploiting resources. To solve the problem of anomie, the local political powers in northern Jiangsu province took such measures as reforming the social ruling in the country and arming the local political powers to eliminate banditry, degradation and the flooding secret societies. These measures include cracking down the local tyrants and evil gentry, fostering new country gentry, and changing the social authorities in the country to get rid of degradation; strengthening police departments and reorganizing the security regiments to eliminate banditry; replacing the traditional lulin system the baojia system to control firmly the society and fighting secret societies. The local political powers in northern Jiangsu province also made great efforts to conduct the construction of local public facilities such as large water conservancy projects, hoping to eliminate completely the social anomie on the basis of solving the problems of depressed economy brought by floods, and droughts, and social decadence. The chapter attempts to display in a three-dimensional way the local political powers in northern Jiangsu province during the 1920s to 1930s, thus giving a deeper understanding of the evolution and operation of the Kuomintang's new order system.Chapter four, Epoch-making Significance and Social Consequences of Order Restructuring, reviews the order restructuring in northern Jiangsu province from the perspective of positive consequences and negative consequences. The positive consequences include restructured order system, the government's stronger resource exploitation, strengthened social integration, and expanded governmental functions, which provided certain...