Community Governance From The Perspective Of Social Capital

Since its reform and opening-up,China's social systems and structure have undergone great changes.In the meantime,with further and extensive development in China's community,from its past government managed-model to today's community,and the great progress made in community development,community has been playing more and more important role in today's society,However,in face of the rapid development of big cities,a lot of problems have emerged in the governance of the community.To solve these problems,many domestic scholars have turned their attention of community governance to the theoretical perspective of social capital.Many studies by scholars at home and abroad show that the effective operation of community governance depends on sufficient social capital of the community for support.To achieve good governance,not only is the participation of multiple subjects of public affairs needed,but mutual cooperation,mutual support,the full integration of community resources are needed,to promote the harmonious development of the community,on the basis of clear responsibilities of those multiple subjects.However,the precise measurement of the social capital of community has been a problem of the academic circle.Therefore,the innovation of this study is,based on available measures of social capital at home and abroad,and applying the theory of Putnam as the research basis,that it integrates a set of relatively perfect measurement system of community social capital,including trust,network and standardization—3 first-level indicators,9 secondary indicators and 51 three-level indicators.Based on this indicators group,social capital of community is assessed and graded,average scores are standardized,and standardized scores of community social capital are obtained,thus making a comparison between social capital of different communities feasible.By sampling investigation of Q and S community in Shanghai and processing the original data obtained,a detailed comparative analysis of social capital of the two communities clearly indicates that social capital of S community is superior to that of Q community,not only in the total amount,but in a variety of standardized scores.In view of this result,the author develops his discussion and analysis,in order to find out the different mechanisms and underlying reasons behind.In the conclusion,based on the experiences of domestic and foreign community governance,the author puts forward some suggestions and measures for the cultivation of social capital in China.