Study On Social Contention In China Under State-centeredapproach

After the reform in economic field, china has experienced profound changes in the structure of economy and society. With the transformation of market economy and the adjustment of the arrangement of social interest, social conflicts and mass incidents have become a serious problem which matters social stability. Among many other theories about collective behaviors, state-centered approach is an important one, and more and more scholars are trying to find the explanation of social contention from the political perspective. Based on state centered approach and three variables—state functions, state capacities and state autonomy, this paper aims to describe what changes of the stateness happened in china and explain how these changes bring about social contention through the case of laid-off workers. This paper argues that the changes of state functions to match the economic reform is the driven factor of the social contention; meanwhile, during the process of reform in china, the state capacities haven't developed in a balanced way, so that the structure of state capacities became not only another driven factor but also the constraint factor of the social contention; as illustrated in the following passages, it is the state autonomy that determines how state functions and state capacities changes; in the end, it will be argued that only through all-round development of state capacities and institutionalized interaction between state and society can we reduce the social conflict in china.