Social Regulation In Sociology

In the transition period of China, the principal problem which challenges the country is no longer solely providing adequate food and clothing and sustaining a stable economic growth rate. If it is correct to say that the government-dominated regulation has helped the Chinese economy sustain a rapid and stable growth rate during the past three decades, then currently, while still assuring the healthy development of the market economy, the further task of the regulation is to focus its efforts more on dealing with social issues.Starting from the American classical government regulation theory-the theory of economic regulation, this paper studies and summarizes the relationships among the state, government and market- especially the relationship among the main enterprises-and clarifies the purpose, approaches and effects of the government’s interference in the economy. However, the social regulation in the theory of government regulation focuses on rectifying the externality of economic activities; therefore, it cannot be applied directly in the social regulation in sociology and political science which specialize in demonstrating the relationship between the government and the field of social autonomy and that between the government and social organizations. Thus, noticing the transition of the government system from the function of ruling to regulating, the paper tries to propose a tool which is effective enough to analyze the interference of the state and government in social activities-social regulation in sociology.The paper is divided into five parts:Part 1 introduces the background and significance of the thesis, suggesting the core of the central argument, i.e. proposing the analysis tool social regulation in sociology which is based on the American government regulation theory-the theory of economic regulation.Part 2 describes the core principles of the theory of economic regulation and demonstrates the incompetence of the social regulation theory in economics in explaining the relationship between the state and society, corroborating the possibility and necessity of social regulation in sociology.Part 3 searches through the characteristics of the ruling of ancient states, attributes of the modern government system which is oriented from the American Revolution and the transition of the government system of developing countries (e.g. China) from the function of ruling to regulating; summarizes this trend and analyzes the possibility of the application of the regulation theory in explaining the relationship between the state and society.Part 4 proposes social regulation in sociology with the support of the capture theory of regulation in economic regulation theory, defines the analysis objects and elucidates the phenomena which it is capable of to explain and the problems that it can be applied in.Part 5 illustrates the value of the application of the theory, depicts the ideal form of social regulation in sociology and answers the potential questioning on this argument, e.g. affirming the feasibility of the tool social regulation in sociology in the background of a powerful nation.