| Population flow in China for more than 30 years has seen floating population experiencing continuous differentiation and integration.In this process,social capital has become a pivotal resource with which floating population can display their initiative constantly and obtain their identity recognition as well as social status.The paper takes floating population as a research subject,utilizing social capital theory to analyze their development concerning production,livelihood and development in modern society and with the analysis of the changes in social capital,the paper also discusses how floating population migrate from the periphery to the center and how their subjectivity generates.Previous scholars have offered different explanation of social capital from different perspectives,which have similar essence that social capital is a kind of capital that can bring value and income.For example,the institutional network resources mentioned by Bourdieu,the elements of Putnam's focus on trust,network and regulation,Ostrom's emphasis on trust,expectation,shared knowledge,norms and regulation,and Fukuyama's discussion on the informal norms which help individuals communicate and cooperate.All of these involve two important types of social capital,institutional resource and social network resource,which,play a role in attaining value and return for individuals or society.From this perspective,social network resource and institutional resource can serve as social capital,contributing to floating population realizing social integration in modern society.Nowadays,social capital vicissitude concerning the social mobility of floating population has become one of the vital perspectives when researching population migration in China.Restricting individuals to the framework of institution and social network,this dissertation studies specific impacts of institution and social network on production,livelihood and development of floating population in modern society.Taken in this sense,social capital is a combination of all kinds of relationship resources and institutional resources that floating population has access to their social network and institutional environment.Based on this research background,social network resources of floating population are defined as relational capital and their system resources are defined as institutional capital.Relational capital and institutional capital are served as main lines of analysis and in this paper,and social capital are divided into these two capitals,which floating population carry or attain in modern society.Institutional capital mainly covers institutional resources from different levels,macro-micro,central-local and top-down,such as the household registration system and various related specifications,local policies and innovative regulations derived from it.While relational capital hugely contains social relationship network from traditional to modern one,from non-professional to professional one,like blood relationship,business relationship and organizational relationship built by social organizations with qualified membership.Grounded on institutional capital and relational capital,this paper introduces the view of action between these two kinds of social capital,establishing an analytical framework in which they mutually shape each other.Then following the action of the actors and utilizing the logic of Process-Event,this dissertation takes the N district in Guangdong Province as its analysis field to explore how the floating population living on the edge of society utilizes various kinds of social capital to realize subjectivity and to fulfill a more magnificent transformation.From the perspective of institutional capital,floating population do not wield much power and instead of being the designers of institution or the implementors of specific policies and regulations,they are a group of individuals who engage in production struggling for lives and striving for promotion.Within this group,some of them occupy the bottom of society,some of them are wandering along the rim of society and some of them are moving up therefore become the elites of this circle.The varied status of floating population stem from their difference in production,livelihood and development in a society with clear rules,while the extant macroscopic system impedes them from receiving equal social treatment as the citizens in destination which results in floating population's assorted actions to fight for their interests.For example,floating population may gain certain benefits through making use of system or regulations loopholes.As a result,from the perspective of the sound operation of social order,what floating population need is a relatively perfect legal environment and a social,economic and political environment with precise rules.To be straightaway,they need fair game rules.If these conditions cannot be satisfied or are temporarily impracticable under current social situation,floating population will turn to adopt some measurements which they deem viable and effective to seek advantages.In other words,the incidence of social problems generating from floating population will diminish and the value in modern society created by them will enhance if clear and reasonable institutional resources are provided to support them in the work of realizing their objectives.However,the macroscopic dual household register system is an important institutional reason that prevent floating population from achieving optimal social integration which genders a far-reaching and profound impact.As social structure changing and the central government delegating power to local units,institutional reforms have gradually been put on the agenda,especially those in the Pearl River Delta region,which are at the forefront of reform and dare to innovate,have successively introduced a series of policies about serving and managing floating population and have invented assorted rules conducing to the social participation of migrants.The transformation of institutional capital from restriction to opening up accumulates institutional capital for floating population and provides institutional capital more space to integrate.All of these make it possible for floating population to create and invest in various types of relationship capital in a superior institutional capital environment in modern society.While from the perspective of relational capital,the ties of blood and region are the most crucial social capital that floating population possess when survive and develop in modern society.They enhance the courage of floating population moving from traditional society to modern one,and build the bridge for acquaintance circles when floating population step into a completely unfamiliar society which also enable them to obtain a rather secured environment.Undoubtedly,the ties of blood and region are the key networks for floating population to maintain their human relationship as well as dignity,and,lay their foundation when entering their habitation.However,with social rules constantly saturating the original tight circle of acquaintances in modern society,human relationship and dignity,which are with distinguished traditional social characteristics,and all kinds of social network built on that have been unveiled with their powerlessness and confusion emerging.Consequently,a new social network is needed.Only by reconstructing relationship network catering to the features of modern society that long-term purpose of floating population can be realized and floating population can safeguard their more complex and essential interests.Hence,taken business relationship and social organizations as carriers,organizational relationship has appeared and has shown more advantages in giving floating population a hand to walk out a sense of powerlessness and confusion.Business relationship and organizational relationship highlight the characteristics of choices mostly based on instrumental reason which are made by floating population.They also provide more stable and abundant relationship resources for floating population to flow rationally,acquire identification and create more opportunities to move up which make a contribution to increasingly initiative of floating population.Led by new relational capital with modern features,floating population has the ability to create more fortunes,achieve upward mobility and gradually get rid of marginal status to construct subjectivity which finally gives rise to their social integration completion.The study found that the relational capital and institutional capital of floating population in the modern society are mutually molded.Institutional capital is inseparable from relational capital,and relational capital must be restricted by institutional capital to play its maximum function.Therefore,relational capital and institutional capital will display the optimal effect only when they interact with each other.Action is the internal logic chain linking institutional capital and relational capital:Floating population expresses their needs through action,which urges the government and society to exert the positive effects of institutional capital.The Government and society through the action to promote the rationalization of the various institutional resources to ensure that the floating population can build more social relations network with the characteristics of instrumental rationality to meet the needs of floating population.The process of mutual molding of institutional capital and relational capital has completed the interaction,exchange and cooperation among the floating population,the residents of modern society and modern society,and realized the social integration of different subjects,which in turn has promoted the social structural change of modern society and accelerated the realization of the target of the subjectivity of the floating population.Based on the above analysis,this paper aims to emphasize the following points:Firstly,the process of social capital change is the process of social integration of the floating population.The main reason is that social capital gradually plays a positive role in promoting the floating population to continuously express their needs,stimulating the floating population from the "peripheral"consciousness to the "core" consciousness,and gradually improving the initiative and motivation.Secondly,institutional capital and relational capital,as the two main types of social capital,have both positive and negative effects.Negative effects hinder the social integration of the floating population,and positive effects promote the social integration of the floating population.Modernization and urbanization have changed the inherent social structure of modern society,with the population structure being inverted and social stratification gradually adjusted,the transformation of economic,social and political environment has led to the negative effect on institutional capital and relational capital decrease day by day,thus enabling the floating population to obtain more rrights and interests in such environment.Thirdly,no one can leave anyone between institutional capital and relational capital,otherwise the unilateral function of capital cannot bring its maximum value into full play,nor can it solve all the social problems of the floating population.Only when institutional capital and relational capital cooperate with each other and work together can they fundamentally promote the production,life and development of the floating population in the modern society.Fourthly,the role of action is crucial and its power cannot be ignored.Only through continuous interaction of actors can they express the most genuine will and obtain the most accurate information,thus planning the most reasonable system and building the most effective relationship network.Action has adhesive effect on the two types of social capital such as institutional capital and relational capital.Generally speaking,the changing process of social capital is the process logic of floating population from exclusion to integration in modern society,and investing in social capital is of prospective significance to the generation of floating population's subjectivity in the process of integration. |
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