The Study Of Rural Community Social Capital In The Social Transition

Social capital theory has been developed on the study of social network since 1970.It is a new capital and opposite to the material capital and the manpower capital. Social capital has been a new analytical framework that economic activities, social relationships and social structure affect the economic and social development. It expands the eyeshot of sociologist and economist. Now, social capital has been considered a key cause to social and economic development all over the world. However, the study of social capital has just begun in China. To strengthen the study about social capital is very important to social and economic development in the transitional period of China. On the basis of concepts and theory of foreign social capital, taking the rural community in northeastern Jiangxi as an example, the dissertation analyzes the theory and practice of different social capital in China.This thesis is expanded first in an order of a tiny level of the village community: family social capital and its educational and provisional function; in the medium levekkin social capital and its economic function; neighborhood social capital and its mutual benefits and aiding functions of differnet households; in the macroscopic level :the community social capital and its community management function .Moreover, the dissertation also deals the social capital change and reconstruction in the social transition.Chapter 1 mainly gives a brief introduction and analysis of the meanings, contents, characteristics and functions of the social capital.lt also makes a comprehensive commentary of the research progress in social capital at home and abroad.Chapter 2 mainly discusses the design, the way of thinking, the method and theory assumption of social capital. Then it deals with the individual cases for study and their basic circumstances.Chapter 3 mainly carries on a therectical study and substantial investigations of the family social capital from the tiny level of the village community .In the village, many people go out to work continuously. Family structures have been greatly changed. Especially, the educational and support functions of family social capital have been weaken currently because many young parents go out to seek for jobs. At the same time, a series of social problems such as " empty-nest old people" and"staying-home children" occur for lack of national and social support.Chapter 4 mainly carries on a theretical study and substantial investigations of the kin and neighborhood social capital in the medium level. Because the traditional social capital can't advance kin enterprises further in the fierce market competition, kin enterprises have to extend the relation network to the exterior, develop a widespread trust of the non- personality, establish modern decision system of kin enterprises, etc. This is a process for kin enterprises to construct modern social capital. Neighborhood social capital (Here it refers to the neighborhood in natural small villages only) of the village community, is an important source of the family support. The neighborhood trust promotes further formation of the neighborhood network, which promotes neighborhood mutual benefits. Neighborhood social capital acquires more social resources that can provide individual families with more social support in the social transition.Chapter 5 mainly exprobes into the relativity between community social capital and the democratic management of village community at a macroscopic level. The villager autonomy is a foreign institutional form, and the community social capital will affect the results of the autonomy, which can be seen as follows. The traditional culture will affect widespread participation network; The villager's trust will affect the community relation network; The connections between the fluiding population and their communities die down, causing their apathy to the villager autonomy.Chapter 6 deals with the social transition and the change of rural social capital.In order to reconstruction of rural social capital,we should not only try to dig aggressive factors of the traditional social capital but also rebuild modern social capital. It is very irnportantthat for further study of social capital in China.Chapter 7 is a short conclusion of the disseration and points out some defects of the study.