Sphere Navigation and Embedded Governance: How Do Officials Reconcile Conflicting Moral Worlds to Make Policy Work

• In Event: New Directions in the Sociology of Development: Open Call Paper Session

Abstract

Scholars increasingly recognize the importance of embedded governance. Yet how do embedded bureaucrats reconcile the conflicting moral demands of their public duties and private obligations? Drawing on interviews conducted in 52 Chinese villages about the Targeted Poverty Alleviation (TPA) campaign (2013–2020), this paper introduces sphere navigation theory to explain variation in policy implementation. I argue that effective embedded officials do not reside within a single moral order, but move strategically between public and private spheres, invoking contextually appropriate logics to secure cooperation, uphold authority, and sustain trust. Successful sphere navigation requires ongoing moral balancing labor, through which officials maintain credibility across shifting roles. Rejecting the binary framing of public and private spheres as inherently antagonistic, this paper offers a window into the micro-foundations of embedded governance, showing how overlapping moral orders can be navigated without abandoning commitments to either sphere.

Author

• Chang Liu, University of Notre Dame