Methodological Explorations for Understanding Contemporary Chinese Society: The Chinese General Social Survey as Method

2017 ◽  
Vol 80 ◽  
pp. 177-202
Author(s):  
Claire Seung­eun Lee
Keyword(s):  
General Social Survey ◽  
Chinese Society ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Chinese General Social Survey ◽  
Contemporary Chinese

scholarly journals Social life and political trust in China: Searching for machers and schmoozers

2018 ◽  
Vol 40 (5) ◽  
pp. 694-709 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yinxuan Huang
Keyword(s):  
Social Life ◽  
General Social Survey ◽  
Political Trust ◽  
Chinese Society ◽  
Social Involvement ◽  
Rapid Urbanization ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Chinese General Social Survey ◽  
Contemporary Chinese ◽  
Insight Into

Previous literature has provided little evidence regarding the ways in which China’s burgeoning social life and rapid urbanization shape Chinese people’s level of trust in their government leaders. This article builds on Robert Putnam’s conceptualization of maching and schmoozing as formal and informal forms of social involvement, respectively. Using the 2012 Chinese General Social Survey, we identify four types of participants in social involvement, namely the inactives, machers, schmoozers and all-rounders, to untangle various aspects of social life in China. Our empirical analysis shows that the sociodemographic positions of the four types of social involvement are largely distinct. Our findings also contribute to the study of political trust by offering insight into the complicated associations between social involvement, hukou status and political trust in contemporary Chinese society.

The shifting burden of obesity: Changes in the distribution of obesity in China, 2010–2015

2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 347-367 ◽  
Author(s):  
Min Zhou
Keyword(s):  
Social Inequalities ◽  
General Social Survey ◽  
Chinese Society ◽  
Lower Income ◽  
Depressing Effect ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Pooled Data ◽  
Rural Residency ◽  
Urban Rural ◽  
Chinese General Social Survey

This study examines the changes in the effects of income, education, and urban/rural residency on the risk of obesity within the Chinese society in recent years. Using pooled data from five waves of the Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS) between 2010 and 2015, it reveals significant shifts in the distribution of the obese population within the Chinese society. China is now at a critical point in the transition with respect to obesity. The positive income–obesity relationship is about to turn negative; the obesity-depressing effect of education continues to increase; and the urban–rural gap in obesity is soon to disappear and reverse. Consequently, individuals with lower income or less education and rural residents face increasingly higher risks of obesity over time. The distribution of obesity in today’s Chinese society increasingly mirrors and may aggravate existing social inequalities.

scholarly journals Is guanxi unfair? Market reform and the public attitude toward guanxi in urban China

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Felicia F. Tian
Keyword(s):  
Public Attitudes ◽  
General Social Survey ◽  
Market Reform ◽  
Urban China ◽  
Chinese Society ◽  
Chinese Market ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
State Sector ◽  
The Public ◽  
Chinese General Social Survey

AbstractGuanxi is a fundamental, but controversial, feature of Chinese society. This article examines public attitudes about the fairness of guanxi and how Chinese market reform is affecting these attitudes. The reciprocity-laden and tie-sensitive nature of guanxi conflicts with the efficiency-oriented goal of a market economy. Disapproval of guanxi is thus increasing as marketization progresses. Results from the 2008 Chinese General Social Survey show that guanxi is more likely to be viewed as unfair in places with higher levels of marketization. The educational gradient decreases with marketization, and change is more pronounced among people working in the market sector than it is among people working in the state sector. My findings suggest that Chinese market reform increases public disapproval of guanxi.

scholarly journals Social change and generalized anomie: Why economic development has reduced social trust in China

2018 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 58-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhenhua Su ◽  
Yanyu Ye ◽  
Pu Wang
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Social Trust ◽  
General Social Survey ◽  
Rapid Onset ◽  
Chinese Society ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Integration Mechanisms ◽  
Per Capita ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Chinese General Social Survey

Chinese society is facing a decline in social trust, a serious crisis which is escalating as modernization continues. In this article the authors apply Durkheim’s social transitional theory to explain this disconcerting phenomenon, using data from the Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS) 2013. The study finds that economic development as measured by per capita GDP of counties in China has given rise to social anomie, which has led to a reduction in social trust. With the rapid onset of modernization, social norms have gradually fallen by the wayside and new social integration mechanisms have not yet been fully established, resulting in a state of generalized social anomie in China.

scholarly journals Influence of Commercial Insurance Purchase on the Health Status of Chinese Residents

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bao-Chang Xu ◽  
Xiu-Juan Li ◽  
Meng-Yao Gao
Keyword(s):  
Health Status ◽  
Household Income ◽  
Research Result ◽  
General Social Survey ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Commercial Insurance ◽  
Medical Reform ◽  
Internal Relations ◽  
Chinese General Social Survey ◽  
Better Than

Under the context of rapid economic and social development, and growing demands for a better life, Chinese residents have been increasingly concerned with their health status and issues. In this study, the internal relations between the purchase of commercial insurance by residents and their health status are analyzed and studied with a polytomous logit model based on the data of Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS) in 2015. According to the research result, purchase of commercial insurance significantly improved the health status of residents, with an improving effect for rural residents apparently better than that among urban residents. In addition, purchase of commercial insurance can promote the health status of residents by increasing their household income. This research will provide an effective reference for the innovative development and medical reform of the commercial insurance of China in the future, which is theoretically and practically significant to the implementation of the Healthy China Strategy.

Liberal or Conservative? The Differentiated Political Values of the Middle Class in Contemporary China

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
Guangqiang Qin
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
General Social Survey ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Political Values ◽  
Markets And Institutions ◽  
Heterogeneous Nature ◽  
Two Factors ◽  
Market Situation ◽  
The Status ◽  
Chinese General Social Survey

Abstract This article analyses data from the 2015 Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS) to investigate the differentiated political values of the middle class in China. Combining the two factors of market situation and institutional division, the article first categorizes several basic types of middle class and then identifies two kinds of political values (liberal and conservative) from the indicators of support for freedom, government satisfaction, and political voting. The results show that the middle class, as a whole, tends to be more liberal than the working class. However, the internal divisions among the sub-groups in the middle class are more obvious – the political tendency of the middle class within the redistribution system is conservative but the middle class sub-groups outside the system, especially the new middle class, have the most liberal tendencies and constitute a potential source for change in China. Thus, the middle class is not necessarily a stabilizer or a subverter of the status quo and has a heterogeneous nature shaped by the dual forces of markets and institutions.

Social Policy and Political Trust: Evidence from the New Rural Pension Scheme in China

2018 ◽  
Vol 235 ◽  
pp. 644-668 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhonglu Li ◽  
Xiaogang Wu
Keyword(s):  
Local Governments ◽  
General Social Survey ◽  
Political Trust ◽  
Pension Scheme ◽  
Old Age Support ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Material Benefits ◽  
The Government ◽  
Chinese General Social Survey ◽  
Rights Consciousness

AbstractThis article analyses the data from the 2010 Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS) to investigate the effects of the New Rural Pension Scheme (NRPS) on people's political trust and policy expectations in China. Results from difference-in-differences (DID) analyses show that those in the NRPS pilot areas reported higher levels of trust in government at both central and local levels than their counterparts in non-NRPS areas, with the former gaining more support than the latter. Moreover, the potential NRPS beneficiaries show similarly higher levels of trust in both central and local governments than non-NRPS beneficiaries. However, the policy did not increase rural residents’ rights consciousness that the government should take the main responsibility for the provision of the old-age support. These findings suggest that citizens' political trust under an authoritarian regime is mainly determined by the material benefits they receive.

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