DDIG: The Effects of Economic and Cultural Capital on Perceptions of Environmental Risk and Quality of Life among Rural Industrial Community Members in Southwest China

自20世纪70年代末的经济改革以来，位于农村地区的工业（乡镇企业，乡镇企业）占中国国内生产总值的比例越来越大。然而，由于缺乏适当的技术、适当的污染监测和充足的资金，乡镇企业排放的二氧化碳、二氧化硫和悬浮颗粒物占中国排放量的60%。这些污染物导致中国农村地区肺气肿、哮喘、支气管炎和肺癌的发病率上升。在TVE劳动者和社区居民面临相对增加的环境风险，包括对土壤、水、空气、植物和动物的有害影响的同时，他们的物质生活水平也在显著提高。该研究项目由华盛顿大学人类学博士生主持，将在位于中国四川省的一个小型工业社区福田镇进行。该学生将对空气和水质进行基本测试，并根据调查问卷和人种学数据收集有关社区对生活质量和环境风险的看法的数据。借鉴政治生态学和环境风险感知的理论方法，这些数据将用于测试关于环境风险感知的假设。这项研究将有助于对中国和其他国家的类似农村工业社区进行一般性推断，这些国家的快速发展与环境退化同时发生，并将有助于理解那些可能减轻或加剧环境退化的因素。

Since the economic reforms of the late 1970s, industries located in rural areas (township and village enterprises, TVEs) have accounted for a growing percentage of China's Gross Domestic Product. However, because of a lack of appropriate technology, proper pollution monitoring and sufficient capital, TVEs emit 60% of China's carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide and suspended particulates. These pollutants lead to increased levels of emphysema, asthma, bronchitis and lung cancer in China's rural areas. At the same time that TVE laborers and community residents are faced with relatively increased environmental risk, including harmful effects on soil, water, air, plants and animals, they are also experiencing a marked improvement in their material standard of living. This research project, conducted by a Ph.D. student in anthropology at the University of Washington, will be conducted in Futian Township, a small industrial community located in China's Sichuan province. The student will perform basic tests for air and water quality, and collect data on community perceptions of quality of life and environmental risk based on survey questionnaires and ethnographic data. Drawing upon the theoretical approaches of political ecology and environmental risk perception, these data will be used to test hypotheses regarding perceptions of environmental risk. The study will allow general extrapolations to be made about similar rural industrial communities throughout China and in other countries where rapid development coincides with environmental degradation, and will contribute to understanding those factors that may mitigate or exacerbate environmental degradation.