The Making of Senior Associations in Rural China

• In Event: Repression to Regulation: The State & Civil Society Around the Globe

Abstract

The senior associations (laoren xiehui; SAs) serve as the most important self-governance organizations in rural China. What are the factors influencing their existence? We examined local and state influencers. Local influencers include lineage traditions, economic interests, and social capital, which are all positively associated with the formation of SAs. On the contrary, the effects of state’s personnel capacity and financial support are substantially negative. We firstly described how these influencers work in two administrative villages, and then tested our hypotheses using a national survey of 154 rural communities. Through the mixed-method analysis, this study presents how local autonomy and state hegemony compete and coexist in rural China. It also advances the social origin theory of the third sector by illustrating how cultural, economic, social, and political factors are intertwined in the making of self-governance organizations.

Author

• Ji Ma, University of Texas, Austin