The politics of community building in urban China / / Thomas Heberer and Christian Gobel

• Record Nr.: UNINA9910957936803321
• Autore: Heberer Thomas.
• Pubbl/distr/stampa: Abingdon, Oxon ; ; New York : , : Routledge, , 2011
• ISBN: 1-136-80843-4; 1-283-10377-X; 9786613103772; 1-136-80844-2; 0-203-82845-3
• Edizione: [1st ed.]
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (209 p.)
• Collana: Chinese worlds
• Altri autori (Persone): GobelChristian <1973 June 25->
• Disciplina: 307.1/4160951
• Soggetti: Community development - China; Neighborhood government - China; Urban policy - China
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Note generali: Description based upon print version of record.
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references and index.
• Nota di contenuto: Cover; The Politics of CommunityBuilding in Urban China; Copyright; Contents; List of figures; List of tables; Acknowledgements; List of abbreviations; 1. Introduction: political innovation without democratization; The reorganization of China's urban neighbourhoods; Infrastructural power; Governance and community; Imposed communities: the shequ; Governmentality and regime stability; The argument; Data; 2. Social control, social fragmentation, and the reimposition of state power; Urban institutions of social control; The withdrawal of the state and growing social instability; Social fragmentation and disintegrationReacting to new demands on the state; Conclusion; 3. Enhancing infrastructural power: shequ organization; The organization of urban neighbourhoods; Tasks; Financial resources; Salaries; Associations; Homeowners' committees: semi-autonomous bodies challenging formal structures; Conclusion; 4. Legitimating narratives; The telos of a harmonious shequ; Turning subjects into citizens; Delineating autonomy: the moral state; Self-administration; Conclusion; 5. Shequ governance; Electoral processes in ; the shequ; A reservoir of 'volunteers': local party organizationsInformal participation; Case studies; Conclusion; 6. New schemes of social security: urban neighbourhood communities as institutions of output legitimacy; Shequ: new social welfare providers; The unemployed and their perspectives; The politics of urban income support; Income support funding; The Residents' Committee: social security agency; Conclusion; 7. Attitudes; Participation; Attitude towards elections; Preference towards certain types of election; Attitudes towards Residents' Committees; Attitudes towards homeowners' committees; Conclusion8. Conclusion; One step back, two steps forward?; Why is China so stable?; Notes; Bibliography; Index
• Sommario/riassunto: This book aims to make sense of the recent reform of neighbourhood institutions in urban China. It builds on the observation that the late 1990s saw a comeback of the state in urban China after the increased economization of life in the 1980s had initially forced it to withdraw. Based on several months of fieldwork in locations ranging from poor and dilapidated neighbourhoods in Shenyang City to middle class gated communities in Shenzhen, the authors analyze recent attempts by the central government to enhance stability in China's increasingly volatile cities. In particular, t