Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant: Consumer Protection and Citizenship in China

博士论文研究改进补助金：中国的消费者保护和公民权

• 批准号: 0921684
• 负责人: Richard Wilk
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Indiana University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2009-09-01 至 2011-02-28
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0921684&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Improvement; Grant

Indiana University doctoral student Erika Kuever, under the supervision of Dr. Richard Wilk, will undertake research on the relationship between consumer activism and citizenship in post-socialist countries. This will advance scholarly understandings of whether and how state-sponsored institutions can be used by citizens to challenge state power. The research will focus on state-sponsored consumer organizations in China, which, despite their origins in the state itself, serve as the primary channel for citizens seeking redress for injustices encountered in the marketplace. The researcher will employ a mixed-methods social science approach. This will include participant observer in a consumer association, where she will carry out interviews with association employees and consumers, and conduct follow-up interviews with a stratified sample of consumers who have had their complaints successfully mediated by the association. She will also interview officials in other agencies charged with consumer protection, survey and analyze media accounts, hold consumer focus groups, and follow-up key national consumer issues.This research is important because it will document how individuals interact with state resources to protect their families from dangerous products, while also contributing to social scientific understanding of the interaction between local politics and global consumer safety. Funding this research also supports the education of a social scientist.

印第安纳大学的博士生Erika Kuever将在Richard Wilk博士的指导下，对后社会主义国家的消费者行动主义与公民身份之间的关系进行研究。这将促进对公民是否以及如何利用国家资助的机构来挑战国家权力的学术理解。该研究将重点关注中国政府支持的消费者组织，尽管这些组织起源于国家本身，但它们是公民在市场中遇到不公正现象时寻求补救的主要渠道。研究人员将采用混合方法的社会科学方法。这将包括消费者协会的参与者观察员，在那里她将与协会员工和消费者进行访谈，并对消费者进行分层抽样的后续访谈，这些消费者的投诉已被协会成功调解。她还将采访负责消费者保护的其他机构的官员，调查和分析媒体报道，召开消费者焦点小组，并跟进关键的国家消费者问题。这项研究很重要，因为它将记录个人如何与国家资源相互作用，以保护他们的家庭免受危险产品的侵害，同时也有助于对地方政治与全球消费者安全之间相互作用的社会科学理解。资助这项研究也支持了社会科学家的教育。