Being An Actor And Its Action Capability

With the refinement of Chinese social development system and the transformation of social management institution, the resource mobilization approach of the social organizations which take important position on social construction and social life underwent significant changes. Moreover, due to the earlier joint with international standards and the more international communications, the environmental grassroots and public-interest organizations underwent more significant changes in order to adapt to the logic of social development and international requirements.Organizations'resource mobilization approach is a micro phenomenon, as well as a key issue for an organization. Since 1994, Chinese grassroots and public-interest organizations have acquired good social response based on their public service in environmental education and environmental protection, which facilitate organizations resource mobilization. After analyzing the organizations'resource sources and resource drawing ways, the transition of environmental grassroots and public-interest organizations'resource mobilization approach is presented, specifically, elite mobilization approach from 1994 to 2002, coalition mobilization approach from 2003 to 2007 and the trend toward bottom mobilization from 2008 till now.The current studies on organizations'mobilization are mainly made under the framework of institution analysis, network analysis and political opportunity analysis. Institution analysis views organizations'resource approaches are formed by public policy, and network analysis argues that organizations'resource approaches are formed by organizations'network and social capital, moreover, political opportunity analysis holds that organizations'resource approaches are formed by opportunities, risks which come from the political arena and organizations'strategic actions. In other words, under the three obvious structure oriented explanatory perspectives, the policy restricts organizations'resource drawing activity whereby exerting influence on organizations structure, surviving space and resource distribution, and the network which organizations are embedded is a structure force to regulate organization's resource drawing activity, in addition, political structure confines and instruct organizations'resource drawing activity. While not denying structure's force, this research attempts to elaborate organizations'resource mobilization under a perspective of action oriented framework, views organizations as actors and organizations'resource mobilization as a structure, which indicates that actors'action abilities make the structural transition come true, so to speak, as an organization and a structural change in form, the transition of Chinese environmental grassroots and public-interest organizations'resource mobilization approach is not solely determined by policy, network and political opportunity, or, to put this another way, the approach transition is not a determination of structural force, but a result of construction. By this I mean, different actors who have different action abilities interact in the practical arena around the issue of resource mobilization, and it's just the action abilities make the structural transition. The dissertation sketches how Chinese environmental grassroots and public-interest organizations continually interact with the government, enterprises, medias and other social groups on resource drawing issues in the uncertain arena and as well as shape a result. With the foregoing notions in mind, the research tends to provide a new explanatory logic to the transition of Chinese environmental grassroots and public-interest organizations'resource mobilization approach.After mapping out the transition of Chinese environmental grassroots and public-interest organizations'resource mobilization approach during 1994 and 2010, especially the analysis on environmental grassroots and public-interest organizations'action abilities (identity claims, capability approach) in different resource drawing stages, the dissertation concludes that in the first stage, the organizations'identity claim is value community, and the capability is characteristic of elitism, which construct the elite mobilization approach. In the second stage, the organizations'identity claim is participant pressure group, and the capability is formed by various organizations that are mainly composed of middle class, which construct the coalition mobilization approach. In the present stage, the identity claim is under production, and the capability is extended, which construct the bottom mobilization trend. In this regard, the transition of Chinese environmental grassroots and public-interest organizations'resource mobilization approach is influenced by organizations'action capability. Comparing with the transition of American environmental grassroots and public-interest organizations'resource mobilization approach, the dissertation shows that in different organization environment, it is just the similar action capability makes the organizations in the two nations exhibit similar transition trajectory.