Gansu Tibetan Areas Of National Rural Social Stratification In Research

The change of rural social class structure in ethnic regions is of great strategic importance in that it is closely related to the social stability in that region as well as to realizing agricultural modernization. The dissertation takes the class stratification in the multiethnic-populated rural village of the husbandry district of Tianzhu Tibetan-autonomous county in Gansu province as the angle of analysis. From the perspective on sociology and ethnology, it reviews systematically the differentiation of social structure and the evolutionary process in the multiethnic-populated villages of West China, combining the quantitative and the qualitative methodology. By studying empirically the social differentiation, the dissertation specially focuses on discussing the research orientation and the analytic path of social differentiation in peripheral Tibetan areas. It summarizes the characteristics and influential factors of the changes of social stratification in rural society, and discusses the social consequence resulting from structure changes.The rural ethnic society has constructed a social class structure as well as class system that is both adapting to market economy modernization and reconfiguring its own logicality on the basis of its historical, ethnical, rural and regional differences among different regions, along with its individual, isolated, manipulated and risky organic correlations among social activities in terms of market adaptation performance.By bringing up the explanatory framework of ethnic social stratification, the main point in this paper is that the change of class structure in rural ethnical society is a transitional phase from a traditional model to a modern one. It is the stratification of occupation, income and social status involving different levels of adaptability and state involvement, some times exclusive, and final combinational, evolving into an overlapping, The process is a particularly complicated one in the context of multi-linear historical development process in terms of its ethnic rural village society structure. The marketization process enhances not only the inclusiveness of the ethnic groups but also the structural openness of the rural society; in short, the class stratification of ethnical village tends to be an economic integration. Moreover, the commercialization of resource elements such as land, husbandry as well as labor, and village urbanization might stimulate the distributional unbalance of the class stratification in rural ethnical society and at the same time the ostensibility of the indentificative construction of class difference, and the considerable gap between the poor and the rich will necessarily raise many social problems like the class group identification, social conceptions as such. This paper will make a sound analysis of the evolution of the social class structure in rural ethnic towns and villages for the aim of exploring the generality as well as the particularity of the evolving laws of the social structure in this region.The main conclusions of this dissertation are as follows:The first, the stratum structure in ethnical rural village of Tibetan area in Gansu Province is neither the ethnic stratification, nor the stratification in internal ethnic groups. It is beyond the opposition between the ethnic structure and the stratum structure, but evolves into a general stratum structure system. That is, on one hand, the unprecedented ethnical integration and social mobility allows the social members in different ethnical rural villages to have equal opportunities in the allocation of social resources without considering their differences in ethnical identities and backgrounds. On the other hand, it is found that the ethnic groups still have some structural differences especially in terms of income. The causes of these differences are the ethnic difference in labor division and regional resources. However, the research found these differences are not great enough to form inter-ethnic stratification.Second, with the introduction of market economy and many different factors like region, ethnic group, urban and rural areas, the degree of heterogeneity tends to increase, in other words, stratum fragmentation. Meanwhile, the lag of marketing development and administrative contact arrangement had people involve continuously into the sharing and struggle for resources. It resulted in a top-down hierarchical control structure. The two tension led the ethnical rural society lways to be a transitional area between the differentiation and layer.The third, the class stratification in ethnical rural village is the result from the joint action of individuals, marketing and the State. From the individual's perspective, the action of farmers to adapt to market decides their position. Since there are differences of labor division in ethnical village, the individual's adoption to marketing and the the ability of holding the market opportunity are definitely different. The level of joining the market competition decides how many resources which the individual could enjoy and how high or low their position in rural society; From the market's and the State's perspective, the changes of personal living opportunities are the result from the interaction of the State and the market. In ethnical village, the government dominates the marketing process by influencing actively the market in accordance with its own benefit and preference. Nevertheless, the marketing arrangement of the village marketing factors asks the market's main participants make their decision independently. Thus, based on own needs, individuals may choose to separate from administrative execution of the government to achieve the maximum of their own benefits, or may choose to rely on the ability of seeking rent, accessing to scarce opportunity. These actions eventually lead to the status differentiation and widen the gap between the rich and the poor.The fourth, subjective class consciousness of the social members in ethnical rural areas, which is clearer than their objective social status, experienced the transition from the magination to the percept. The stratum sense of belonging is beyond ethnical self-identity; but at the same time, individual's sense of insecurity are increasing, stratum issue, rather than the ethnical issue, becomes the main content of social problems which often take to the gap between different stratum as the main "crusade" object, focusing on the specific situation in life issues and showing emotional expression.The issues this dissertation mentions but does not study are the re-differentiation of stratum in ethnical rural areas, the relative discussion about stratum discourse,as well as the questioning of standards of dividing the stratum.In summary, taking the shared changing background as well as process of rural ethnical towns and villages as its researching cues and hints, this study regards the stratification of ethnic, village, and class stratification as a historical process with synchronicity and logical progressivity, attempting to find and follow the intrinsic laws of the class stratification in rural ethnical towns and villages in the course of the market economy development. The study has the significant meaning for evaluating and correcting our multiethnic-populated policy for social development, maintaining ethnical balance of social development and harmonious stability.