Reconstructing Social Space: Practical Logic Of Social Work In Rural Areas

This article adopts a participatory action research method to present the status and changes of the social space in Hongxing Village,especially in the perspective of the social space.It explores the practice of rural social work projects in the village and tries to put forward practical suggestions and theories to solve the social space problems in the village.The social space of Hongxing Village has been influenced by macro factors such as spatial expansion,spatial shrinkage,spatial reorganization,spatial differentiation,spatial solidification,spatial compression,spatial distortion and other spatial processes.The new social production methods and production relations produced by industrialization and urbanization have shaped the social life style and cultural forms of Hongxing Village.In this process,the public space has gradually shrunk and inactivated,and the personal space has gradually expanded and alienated.The "transitional space",a space produced by public space and personal space,is gradually expanding(or dispersing).There is barely time for the villagers to understand and deal with the uncertain,confused and unorganized space.The drastic changes in the social space have created the following spatial problems: the villagers’ spatial distance has gradually widened;and the public space of the community has gradually declined and inactivated;the community presents a declining state of “indifference” and “low organization”;the social space is torn,so the spatial relationship becomes tense;community identity fails to produce and reproduce,so the community subjectivity cannot be expressed and promoted;community public affairs are not effectively organized;community public issues are not effectively and timely resolved,so the disadvantaged groups at the edge of the community are neglected,which leads to the space pressin and solidification.The rural social work project in Hongxing Village points to the reconstruction of public space and cultural activities.It produces rich community environment,physical and virtual public space,and new community public cultural space.The re-creation and activation of public space is conducive to opening personal space boundaries,which can promote its interaction with public spaces and other personal spaces,so the social relations are established.It also helps to promote villagers’ identification and ownership of communities.As a result,the subjectivity of the community is promoted;at the same time,it has a positive effect on helping the vulnerable groups and marginalized peoples to rejoin the social space.As a critical reflection of action research,the author proposes that: space practice must be carried out in coordination with space research;space practice is a strategic and phased process;traces of space practice are the basis of space reproduction;the space fusion needs to be integrated into the community space by the practitioners;the unity of value rationality and instrumental rationality is conducive to the advancement of space practice;space practice needs to achieve a balance of stability and variability;the up and down linkage is conducive to the development of space practice.