The Social Exchange Between Landless Farmers And Local Governments In Land Expropriation

With accelerated urbanization in China, social exchange between the landless farmers and the local governments is gradually becoming a hot issue that the state government, society and the academia focus in the expropriation process.As per academics,previous studies in this regard are mostly conducted from perspectives of state and society , social exclusion and social adaptation, land system, compensation after expropriation, employment and social security, achieving fruitful findings that promoted academic research over this issue. However, studies over exchange and interaction during expropriation between landless farmers and local governments are much less documented. Landless farmers and local governments are two separate but interrelated groups. This dissertation takes the exchange theory put forward by Blau as an analytical tool in understanding the processes, forms and consequences of the two groups during the exchange and interaction, to further understand the mechanism by which exchange and interaction take place. This dissertation also carries author's ambition to make contributions both theoretically and practically.Exchange and interaction between the landless farmers and the local governments at a village in Liaoning Province selected as case study, shares common features as well as its own uniqueness. Three times expropriation takes account of most farmland ,but local government did not put an end to the decision-making in farmland expropriation regardless of the landless farmers'resentment and opposition. Landless farmers lost more than compensation received, and became the real"landless farmers"as there wan not any change to their residence account .A series of issues revealed in the process of exchange and interaction between the two aforesaid parties. Firstly, common definition and understanding for farmland and its property rights were not clearly shown in interaction picture, leaving the behaviors of local government uncontrolled. Secondly, landless farmers are lack of subjectivity to exchange and interact with local government; as the disadvantage party, they are less united as a structured organization to bargain with local government. Thirdly, landless farmers became divided internally in communicating with local governments. Fourthly, that local governments reduce or avoid communications with the landless farmers, easily accumulate and intensify their conflicts. Fifthly, conflicts regarding compensation security and employment were projected. Sixthly, the habitus formed over time by farmers still affects their social adaptation. Seventhly, the way that local governments take expropriation as the way to urbanization, is greatly deviated from urban and rural integration by Mr. Fei Xiaotong and Mr. Shen Guanbao.Contact between landless farmers and local governments are impacted by numerous structural factors: the two parties'scale, the number of social positions each party possesses; inequity against rank parameter; heterogeneity against classification parameter; all the complicated factors. However, the microscopic form of exchange and interaction between the landless farmers and local governments is diversified and complex, so this dissertation does not intend to make description one by one, but focuses on significance these microscopic forms carries in social exchange between landless farmers and local governments.The author believes that it is the influence and action of structural factors in exchange and interaction between the two parties that shapes mutual social exchange mechanism. Such a mechanism eventually causes an unequal biased exchange between the two groups, and that makes it difficult to establish the positive interaction with each other.