China and the Rule of Law: Conceptions of Fairness and Justice in Times of Change

自1978年以来，中国一直沉浸在一场戏剧性的社会和经济转型中，在这场转型中，财富和不平等都有所增加。此外，中国的法律体系正在经历前所未有的变化，包括创建新的法律机构和程序。虽然法庭上的正式调解和裁决越来越多，但中国的许多纠纷仍然通过非正式调解来解决。这种调解形式基本上以互惠原则为导向，目的是在社会秩序中重建和谐与和平。然而，经过30多年的集团化后的经济改革造成了人与人之间的不平等。本研究考察了《中国》中新近提出的法治思想对中国公民对正义观念，特别是公平观念的信念和认知的影响，以及对社会关系和首选冲突解决策略的相关信念。这项研究试图发现，到目前为止，该制度的变化如何影响了河北省的两个群体：农村居民和城市居民。数据将分两个阶段收集。第一阶段的重点是收集关于公平的叙述和陈述，以及关于关系在冲突管理过程中的重要性的信念，特别是特殊关系的作用，在中文中被称为关系。这些描述将从农村和城市居民的样本中收集。第二阶段是根据在研究的探索部分开发的工具收集系统访谈，对120户城市家庭和120户农村家庭进行有代表性的抽样。这将提供关于在更大的人口中关于争端解决的具体意见、态度和做法的分布的数据。方法包括社会网络分析、文化共识分析和线性建模方法。这个项目的更广泛影响将是更多地获得经验得出的见解，这些见解有助于中国努力将法治要素纳入快速变化的经济环境。鉴于近年来中国政府在维护社会秩序方面面临的挑战越来越多，需要更多地了解公众对法律改革的态度和期望。此外，这项研究项目将在国际舞台上，在难以谈判的合作实地考察领域中，在美国和中国之间架起桥梁。合作研究可以加强美国学者和中国之间的持续合作，特别是在认知人类学和社会网络分析领域。对中国研究生的培训和跨太平洋关系的建立可能会在未来几年带来好处，可能会带来更多的知识转移机会。

Since 1978 China has been immersed in a dramatic social and economic transition in which both wealth and inequality have increased. In addition China's legal system is experiencing unprecedented change, including the creation of new legal institutions and procedures. Although formal mediation in court and adjudication are becoming increasingly available, many disputes in China continue to be resolved by informal mediation. This form of mediation is oriented fundamentally by principles of reciprocity with the goal to reestablish harmony and peace in the social order. Yet economic reforms after more than 30 years of collectivization have created inequalities between people. This research project examines the influence of the recently introduced rule of law in China on the beliefs and perceptions of Chinese citizens regarding notions of justice, particularly fairness, and related beliefs concerning social relationships and preferred conflict resolution strategies. The study seeks to discover how changes in the system to date have impacted two populations: rural residents as well as urban residents within Hebei province. The data will be collected in two phases. The first phase focuses on collecting narratives and statements about fairness and beliefs about the importance of relationships in the conflict management process, specifically the role of particularistic ties, called guanxi in Chinese. These descriptions will be gathered from a sample of rural and urban residents. The second phase involves the collection of systematic interviews based on instruments developed during the exploratory component of the research with a representative sample of 120 urban and 120 rural households. This will provide data about the distribution of specific opinions, attitudes, and practices regarding dispute resolutions within the larger population. Methods include social network analysis, cultural consensus analysis, and linear modeling approaches. The broader impact of this project will be the increased availability of empirically derived insights that can aid in China's effort to incorporate elements of the rule of law in a rapidly changing economic environment. More information on the attitudes and expectations regarding legal reforms among the general public is needed given the growing number of challenges to maintain social order that the Chinese government had to face in recent years. Furthermore, this research project will build bridges in the international arena between the United States and China in the difficult to negotiate terrain of collaborative fieldwork. Collaborative research can strengthen continuing cooperation between scholars in the United States and China, especially in the field of cognitive anthropology and social network analysis. The training of graduate students in China and building of trans-pacific ties is likely to provide benefits in future years that may result in further opportunities for knowledge transfer.