Social Classes and Civic Dispute Resolutions: Social differentiation and legal development in transitional China

本文利用2005年中国综合社会调查数据(CGSS2005),描述并分析中国人是否卷入民事纠纷并采取行动,以及如何行动的决定因素。我们特别关注的是社会阶层属性的影响力。研究表明,中国不同的社会阶层在对民事纠纷如何反应上存在着显著的差异。统治精英相对来说更少依赖政府渠道而更多诉诸法律途径来解决纠纷。中下层社会阶层成员更多地信赖政府渠道,把日常纠纷诉诸政府。没有确凿证据表明“中产阶级”更多地利用法律解决民事纠纷。此外,教育也是决定人们如何对民事纠纷采取行动的重要因素:受过更多教育的人,更少把问题诉诸政府渠道而更多地把纠纷诉诸法律途径。基于这些经验研究,我们进一步探讨了转型时期中国社会分化的法律涵义,并认为对“中产阶级”兴起的法治意义应当抱谨慎的乐观态度。

Based on the data from Chinese General Social Survey 2005 (CGSS 2005)，this paper investigates how civil disputes are distributed among different social classes and how they respond to those disputes through mobilizing various channels of dispute resolution. Special attention is paid to the impact of social stratification on legal mobilization in transitional China. Results show that Chinese citizens of different social classes follow different paths to civil justice. Facing civil disputes，the ruling elites resort more to legal channels than to party /government authorities. On the contrary，citizens of middle and lower classes trust and rely more on party / government authorities than to laws for dispute resolution. Furthermore，there is little evidence suggesting that，compared to other classes，the rising“middle class”prefer the legal resolution to civil disputes. Hence，the authors argue that we shall be cautious of optimistically linking a rising middle class to the rule of law in contemporary China under dramatic social and economic transitions. 

程金华； 吴晓刚；

上海市第三期重点学科——经济法学(S30902)的成果

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