From Graduates To Village Officials: The Conflict And Adjustment In Role Taking

With the combined application of the Role Theory as well as the concept of "situation" from the Symbolic Interactionism,the author has conducted in this thesis a thorough exploration of the role taking and role playing during the process of situation interaction of the student village officials designated to villages across Hunan in 2008.To some extent,to be a village official is a rational choice made by the graduates,which is in accordance with the expectation of the government and the rural citizens alike. However,through their gradual understanding of role expectation and role support in the course of role playing, the student village officials experienced a internal conflict which was caused by the gap between reality and ideals,and are in the face of a variety of role confusions:the sharp contrast between a meager income plus a gloomy future and their salary expectancy based on their interpretation of the policy,to begin with,and the dramatic contrast between the inefficiency of the student village officials' work and the high expectation of the peasants,which derives from the discrepancy between the knowledge-skill structure of the village officials and the requirement of the rural residents as well as the contradiction between the imaginary power endowed by the peasants and the marginalization of their real power status. Moreover,there exists the difference between the aggressive aspiration of the student village officials and the deficiency of external support,in terms of policy preference, assistance of local government and support from both their family and local residents.With the confrontation of these confusions in their role taking,there has surged an urgent need for these young officials to,according to each specific situation of interaction,conduct role empathy and behavioral adjustment,such as the reconstruction of knowledge and skill, internalization and sharing of the rural criteria of value and getting closer with the peasants mentally.Only in this way could they bring into full play their advantages and correspondingly take effective measures,thus helping the realization of their own personal values.Based on the above researches,discussions are made centered on the policy of the student village officials:the choice between expedient arrangement and systematic establishment,the clash between the professionalization of the student village officials and villager autonomy,the development of schooling mechanism is favorable to the socialization of the student village officials.