Power·Interest·Relationship:the Rational Choice Logic And Systematism Dilemma Of Peasants

From the perspective of peasants' living and production,it has always been considered necessary and effective to form organized action.And systematism of peasants,from individual farms to people's communes,is a classic proposition that has been studied for a century in academia.However,it is difficult to realize it in practice.After the reform and opening up,the household contract responsibility system was carried out in rural areas,so that peasants began to be out of the collective organizations and bear the market and social risks alone.Under the market economy system,peasants' cooperative organizations also encounter various difficulties,and they are atomized and dispersed on the whole.As for the systematism dilemma of peasants,the existing researches mainly focus on the macro level to explain it,such as institution,structure,organization,policy,and so on.The research takes village Q in Shanghai as the case study object.Through the investigation,it has found that although the systematism dilemma of peasants is affected by social change to some extent,as the behavior subject,peasants' own actions and choices play a more important role.Therefore,this paper uses the "process-event" method to trace back the three systematism practices in village Q in Shanghai.By referring to Popkin's rational choice theory,this paper explores the following questions: What is the motivation for peasants to participate in the process of systematization? Through three practices,what action logic do peasants follow and what factors influence their action logic? How do peasants' choices make systematization unsustainable and get into trouble?Through the investigation,the following conclusions are drawn.1.With subsistence as the primary condition,peasants make rational economic choices.Peasants' choices based on their living conditions are the rational way for them to make a living.However,with the change of environment and the reduction of risks,they turn to pursue the maximization of interests of self and family.And this rational change in peasants' motivation is the beginning of systematization.2.Peasants' rationality is based on individual interests,and organization or disorganization are the collection of rational decisions and actions of individuals in the selection environment.In the systematism practice of villages,the realization of individual interest appeal is the motivation for peasants to participate in the organizations.But when it cannot help or even hinder peasants from maximizing their expected utility,they will make rational choices on whether to exit or not,exit degree and exit manner according to the individual situation,thus causing the collapse of the collective organizations and cooperative organizations.3.This study has enriched the connotation of “rational choice”,and found that peasants' rational choices are influenced by power,interest and relationship,which are contributing to their organized action and also constituting organizational predicament.First,power is the key factor to start the process of systematization.But as the source of power,the factors such as resources,interests,achievements,trust and relationship network are uncertain.And their growth and decline lead to the change of power relations among peasants' interaction,which is embodied in the weakening of authority and the logic of power under the rational balance and calculation,contributing to make peasants atomized.Secondly,interest is the mainline throughout,and peasants organize and then disperse because of it.However,different from Popkin's point of view,this paper holds that not all of the peasants take interest maximization as the priority,and there is also someone takes economic benefits and other factors into comprehensive consideration and chooses a "relative optimum" that is satisfactory and rational for themselves.Thirdly,relationship is the link between organized peasants.On the basis of individual rationality,peasants' actions and choices are influenced by relationship.On the one hand,common interest,common experience and collective identity enhance organizational cohesion.And the cooperative organizations are based on reciprocity and relationship between peasants.On the other hand,the natural finitude of peasants' relation network makes them tend to follow the logic of interest.After the merger of two villages,no effective connection has been established at the relationship and interest level between them,which further intensifies the development trend of decentralization.To sum up,the three factors above are not isolated,but interact with each other.And they influence and construct peasants' actions,which presents a dynamic process of development and evolution.4.With the system of leadership and organization hindering the interests of peasants,the common interests of individuals and organizations constantly decreasing,and the independence of peasants as individuals with interests and market subjects gradually increasing,it has become an inevitable trend for the peasants' value orientation of systematism to change from collectivism to individualism.However,individualism does not mean that there is no need for individuals to participate in organizations.But as the authority dispels,it is difficult for peasants to develop their power into rights.And individual rationality cannot be realized,so it is hard for peasants to organize themselves based on individual rights and interests.Therefore,it is not the existence of rationality that leads to the systematism dilemma of peasants,but the endogenous mechanism of symbiosis and coordination should be established to form equal,independent,autonomous and endogenous systematization of peasants on the premise of fully satisfying individual rationality.