Predictors of the prevalence and importance of the observed trinary control system in rural China

Western criminology predominantly focuses on a binary social control system (formal vs. informal), contrasting with China's long-standing trinary system (formal, semiformal, and informal). While Chinese scholars acknowledge the trinary system's importance in social control, research on its predictors remains limited. This study addresses this gap by examining the correlates of the prevalence and importance of this trinary system in rural China. Understanding the interplay of these three control mechanisms is crucial for comprehending social governance and crime control, particularly at the grassroots level. The study uses data from a large-scale survey to explore both individual and village-level factors influencing the prevalence and perceived importance of formal, semiformal, and informal social control mechanisms in maintaining rural community order. This is particularly relevant given the deep embedding of Confucianism-based control practices in rural Chinese society, which shapes the interaction between formal and informal social control and its variants in non-Western settings.

The concept of social control, pioneered by Edward A. Ross, emphasizes shaping individual desires to meet group needs and maintaining social order. Subsequent research has explored various forms of neighborhood control, particularly informal control, in preventing social disorder. The interaction between parochial informal control and public control often leads to semiformal practices involving residents and formal control agents. Informal systems operate outside formal legal structures, offering alternative dispute resolution with a wider range of emotional expression. Semiformal control, especially prominent in China, integrates formal and informal features. Organizations like resident committees (urban) and village committees (rural) exemplify this, bridging the state and society while maintaining limited autonomy. Existing research documents semiformal control's prevalence and significance in social governance and crime control, but empirical examination of its correlates, particularly in rural China, remains scarce. Previous studies have explored individual-level correlates of views on social control but lacked a focus on rural China specifically or the simultaneous examination of village and individual factors.

This study utilizes data from a 2021 survey project conducted by a research center specializing in rural China. The survey included 2343 respondents from 164 villages across 25 provinces, representing diverse economic development levels and geographic locations. Interviewers were graduate students with rural backgrounds, ensuring cultural understanding and easier access to respondents. The survey included village-level and individual-level questionnaires. Dependent variables measured the prevalence and importance of four control mechanisms (township government, police, village committee, and elite gentry) in ten village order maintenance activities (e.g., family disputes, land disputes, crime prevention). Independent variables at the village level included collective revenue, poverty rate, and ethnic heterogeneity. Individual-level variables included village cadre status, CCP membership, gender, age, and education. Multilevel models were employed to analyze the data, accounting for both individual and village-level effects. Ordinal regression models were used for robust checks of the dependent variables. Only statistically significant coefficients are reported in the results, focusing on the ordinary linear regression analyses results and ensuring robust estimates with simple interpretation given the 70 ordinal dependent variables.

Descriptive statistics revealed variations in collective revenue, poverty rates, and other characteristics across villages and individuals. Multilevel regression analysis showed that village collective revenue was a significant predictor of the prevalence and importance of different control mechanisms. Higher collective revenue was associated with increased participation of village committees (semiformal control) in various dispute mediations and social order maintenance but was negatively associated with police participation. At the individual level, cadre status, gender, and age also influenced the reported prevalence and importance of specific control mechanisms in certain activities. For example, cadres were more likely to perceive higher village committee participation, while males reported more government involvement in some activities. Older individuals more frequently reported higher police participation in certain disputes. The prevalence of each control mechanism significantly predicted its perceived importance, indicating a strong link between observed participation and perceived effectiveness. The importance of the village committee was positively associated with higher village collective revenue in many village order activities.

The findings highlight the limitations of applying Western social control concepts directly to Chinese rural contexts. Measures of poverty and ethnic heterogeneity, commonly used in Western studies, did not consistently predict informal control in this study. However, village collective revenue, reflecting a unique feature of rural China, emerged as a significant predictor of semiformal control, emphasizing the importance of considering culturally specific contexts when studying social control. The study's findings emphasize the role of village collective revenue in shaping the community's capacity for providing semiformal control and underscore the complex interplay between structural and individual factors in determining the prevalence and perceived importance of various control mechanisms in maintaining rural social order. The differential effects of collective revenue on individual activities versus the overall index highlight the need for nuanced analyses considering the diverse nature of social control in this setting.

This study provides valuable empirical evidence on the predictors of a trinary control system in rural China, showcasing the significant role of village collective revenue in shaping semiformal control. The findings underscore the need for culturally sensitive research on social control and offer practical implications for policy-makers in China to foster effective community order maintenance through collective economic development initiatives. Future research could explore the long-term effects of collective revenue on social control mechanisms and investigate the dynamics of control in diverse rural settings with greater focus on the specific interactions of different forms of control. Comparative studies across different regions and across various levels of collective revenue would also be valuable in enriching our understanding of these complex social processes.

The study's non-random sampling limits the generalizability of findings to all Chinese villages. The focus on rural areas also prevents generalization to urban settings. While the study addressed this in some ways by selecting villages near and far from cities, the sample selection process did not fully resolve the issue. The measures used to represent certain constructs such as informal social control and ethnic heterogeneity have limitations that might constrain the study's findings in these aspects.