Guo Hua, Ting Kwok-fai
Department of Sociology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
Soc Sci Res. 2015 Nov;54:233-45. doi: 10.1016/j.ssresearch.2015.07.002. Epub 2015 Aug 20.
In studies of public reaction to policy initiatives, researchers often assume that universal social programs have the same effect on all social aggregates and are therefore conducive to social and political participation because of their comprehensive coverage, which suggests inclusive citizenship. However, structure-based differences in accessibility can distort these social programs into privileges for some and can reinforce existing inequalities. This study illustrates how social structure determines policy feedback in terms of political and civic participation in China. Using a nationally representative sample from 2005, we find that social insurance privileges public sector employees, encouraging them to be more active in political elections than in civic elections, whereas employees in the disadvantaged private sector emphasize civic elections over political elections. We argue that structural divisions in the social insurance regime serve the political purpose of maintaining state control in transitional China.
在关于公众对政策倡议反应的研究中，研究人员常常假定，普遍的社会项目对所有社会群体都有相同的影响，因此由于其全面覆盖而有利于社会和政治参与，这意味着包容性公民身份。然而，基于结构的可及性差异可能会将这些社会项目扭曲为某些人的特权，并加剧现有的不平等。本研究说明了社会结构如何在中国的政治和公民参与方面决定政策反馈。利用2005年具有全国代表性的样本，我们发现社会保险偏袒公共部门雇员，鼓励他们在政治选举中比在公民选举中更积极参与，而处于弱势的私营部门雇员则更看重公民选举而非政治选举。我们认为，社会保险制度中的结构划分服务于中国转型期维持国家控制的政治目的。
