Community is a high-frequency word used in modern social science since the 19th century, which reflects the relationship and change between the individual and the whole. A community is a stable group of people formed through common objective conditions, subjective consciousness, and governance. Human society evolves along two paths: social division of labor and social organization. The social division of labor, social differences, social contradictions and social conflicts reside in the social organization and inherently require adjustment and handling through governance, so that only through governance can a stable community be formed. The traditional community is more constrained by objective conditions, and governance aims to strengthen the whole and inhibit the individual. Modern society is based on the individual and is more influenced by subjective consciousness, so it is necessary to connect the individualized and monolithic "you, me, and him" into a common "we" through effective governance, so as to achieve the organic unity of vitality and order, so the requirements for governance are higher. People are born to belong to the community, but they do not need to be governed.
Community is a high-frequency word used in modern social science since the 19th century, which reflects the relationship and change between the individual and the whole. The reports of the 19th and 20th National Congresses of the Communist Party of China both proposed to build a "social governance community where everyone is responsible, everyone is responsible, and everyone enjoys". Linking governance with community is an important development of the Party's innovative theory, and it also provides a broad space for political science research. The community emphasizes the commonality in differentiation and difference, which is not only a reality, but also an ideal. It is not only naturally formed, but also artificially constructed, which contains the function of governance. In short, there is no community without governance.
1. There is a lack of political science in the study of community theory
As an analytical concept, community contains the relationship between the individual and the whole, emphasizes the commonality in differentiation and difference, and is an abstract generalization of the characteristics of a certain range of social entities, such as families, tribes, communes, villages, communities, etc. Community, as an academic concept, is concerned with the bonds and mechanisms that bring different people together, act and live together, and form a unit of action with consistency, coordination and stability. Community, as a descriptive concept, has been defined from different perspectives, and there are more than 100 definitions. Through the investigation of existing concepts, this paper argues that community is a stable combination of people formed by common objective conditions, subjective consciousness and governance within a certain range. It consists of three elements: objective conditions, subjective awareness, and governance.
Community is a very old concept that has been associated with political science since its beginning. As early as ancient Greece, Aristotle used the concept of community. He believed that man first grew up and lived in a naturally growing community such as the family and the village where the individual families were united, and then the city-state of several villages was formed. "The polis [though it is procedurally before the individual and the family], by nature it precedes the individual and the family. By nature, the whole must precede the parts". The city-state is the product of social evolution, and it is also the objective condition of human existence, and it is determined by this objective condition that the city-state consciousness of human beings. "Man is naturally an animal that tends to live in the city-state (man is by nature a political animal)." But whether it is a family or a city-state, it needs to be governed. The family has people, property, and housework, so it is necessary to "govern the family". The city-state is more advanced and complex than the family, and therefore requires more governance. Hence the creation of the "Political Science", which specializes in the governance of the city-state, with the aim of uniting the citizens of the city-state to create a better life together.
The modern West is faced with the problem of building a modern state on a fragmented basis, and it is the concept of community that thinkers have used to answer this question. A typical example is a political community formed by a contract bond. Obviously, this kind of community that is bound by contract does not come naturally, but requires the construction of a whole system of governance, including public institutions that reflect the will of the public and their operation.
In the 19th century, with the comprehensive transformation of human society from tradition to modernity, the study of the nature, changes and laws of human society became a major topic. Thinkers have used the concept of community to study this topic from different perspectives, and community has become a relational concept that defines social forms, just as Marx divided society into two social forms: human dependence and material dependence, Main divided society into identity society and contract society, and Weber divided ruling society into traditional and legal types.
Marx mainly studied the community from the perspective of the property relationship between the individual and the whole, and proposed the naturally formed tribal community with nomadic migration as the mode of survival. A small community that takes settlement as a mode of subsistence and treats land as the property of the community, and has common elements such as blood, language, and customs; a community where common property and individual property coexist; A community based on the working individual, that is, the self-sufficient members of the commune, as a language, blood, etc. Marx understood the community mainly from the perspective of the objective conditions of human existence, especially from the perspective of the mode of production, which is mainly a microscopic unit of social organization. Although Marx also used the concept of community to define the macro overall society, and proposed "illusory community" and "real community", there was little specific discussion.
The study of community as a specialized concept of human society was the German sociologist Tennis, whose book "Community and Society" became the foundation work of community theory. He uses the dichotomy between tradition and modernity to divide the form of human society into "community" and "society", believing that "community is a lasting and real common life, but society is only a short-lived and superficial common life". Tennis pays attention to both objective conditions and subjective consciousness. He argues that community is related to the material condition of land at its core, and society is related to money that never stops moving. Community consists in "common understanding" and "acquiescence", while society lies in "will to choose".
The Germany sociologist Weber, on the basis of Tennis, further elaborated on the combination of objective conditions and subjective consciousness from the perspective of the actor, stating that "if and insofar as the orientation of social action ———whether individual, general or purely typical——— is based on the subjective feelings of all parties, such social relations can be called 'community' relations". In contrast to Marx and Tennis, who focused on the substantiality of the community, Weber focused on the common subjective feelings and the dynamic meaning of the community. In particular, he stressed: "It is by no means that the existence of common qualities, common situations and common modes of expression means that there will be community social relations."
Since the 20th century, modern society has become increasingly divided, on the one hand, the high degree of differentiation and individualization of the population, and even atomization; On the other hand, people are more interconnected and face more and more common problems, and there is an urgent need to integrate the divided and scattered groups of people through community. The theory of community has re-entered the world of thought and expanded the meaning of community. Baumann offers an imaginative description of the revival of community theory from the perspective of "finding security in an uncertain world". In his view, all the meanings conveyed by community are heralds happiness. Community is a welcoming place, a warm and comfortable place. It can shelter from the wind and rain and give people a sense of security, unlike the danger outside. Within the community, people rely on each other and help each other, unlike on the outside, they are hostile to each other and cruel. "We miss community because we miss security, which is a vital quality of a happy life." Community is not only an entity, but also an ideal social state, an idea that unites people. As Anderson argues, the nation "is an imaginary political community." Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the mainland has put forward the concept of "community with a shared future for mankind", "community of the Chinese nation" and "community of social governance", all of which include the implication of achieving common goals through joint actions.
Since the 19th century, the theory of community has made great progress, and different disciplines have given different aspects of the discussion, relatively speaking, political science has not done much in this field, an important reason is that people mainly analyze human society through the concept of community, which belongs to the category of social level. "Sociologists often think of community in the traditional sense as a social organization based on small groups and with a specific form." Marx was concerned with the social forms determined by ownership, and the subtitle of Tennis's book "Community and Society" was "The Fundamental Concepts of Pure Sociology", while Weber used the concept of community from the perspective of social relations and social action. Therefore, the classical community theory has a high degree of abstraction and is a high level of generalization of the characteristics of social entities. Community theory since the 20th century has also been mainly based on the description and expectation of a social union. In short, the classical community theory focuses on the external conditions and general principles of the formation of the community, and does not go deep into the internal analysis of the community and its contradictions. Tennis stresses the "tacit unanimity" of the Community, but does not further argue how this "tacit unanimity" occurs, and what happens if it cannot be agreed. Community theories all emphasize that the whole is greater than or better than the individual in the relationship between the individual and the whole, but is this relationship automatic? Community theories all focus on objective conditions and subjective consciousness, but can subjective and objective automatically agree? Why does the innate community of the family also break down, and why does the innate community relationship of brothers also "turn against each other" and become hostile? The community emphasizes the union of individual "you, me, and him" into a common "we", but can this union occur naturally? This is something that is difficult to answer in the social theory of community. The only way to answer this question is to introduce governance into the study of community, and this is where political science, which is primarily aimed at governance, comes in.
2. The basis for bringing governance into the community: social evolution
From the perspective of the classical discourse of community, it is basically a description of the characteristics of community, which is an abstract ideal form. "The word community is derived from the Latin word com (meaning 'common, united') and unus (meaning the number one, one), and itself contains connotations such as individual and collective, individual and united, communication and difference." Community is a relational rather than a physical concept, a carrier of human social organization, rather than an abstraction placed outside human society. Community, with its emphasis on homogeneity and commonality, is opposed to heterogeneity and difference. From the perspective of social entities with community characteristics, we will find that there are differences, and contradictions and conflicts will arise because of differences. To this end, we need to bring governance into the study of community from the perspective of the evolution of human society.
The evolution of human society has been carried out along two paths: one is the social division of labor, and the other is social organization. Both paths point to and require governance.
(1) The path of social division of labor
The social division of labor is the social division of labor and its independence and specialization. At first, human society had a natural division of labor due to gender, talent, needs, and accidental factors. "The division of labour is purely natural; It exists only between the sexes. "The great division of labor in society began with the division of labor, including the separation of animal husbandry from agriculture, agriculture from handicrafts, and the emergence of commerce, and then the division of labor became more and more complex and advanced, including simple and complex labor. The division of labor is the motive force and symbol of the development of productive forces, and it will bring about changes in social relations.
Social differentiation refers to the formation of different groups of people under the conditions of social division of labor because of people's different appropriations of resources and other factors. "The division of labour makes it not only possible, but a reality, that mental and material activities, enjoyment and labour, production and consumption are shared among different individuals". Social differentiation means that people and groups of people with different statuses and functions are separated from the whole society, including the hard-working/laborers, the poor/rich, etc.
Social differences refer to the differences between individuals and groups in terms of economy, society, culture, life, etc. Initially there were differences between men and women, but with the division of labor in society, there were differences between individuals and groups in a broader sense. This difference includes both objective conditions and subjective consciousness, and the most fundamental is the difference in interests and values. It is differences that divide people into different individuals and groups. Things gather by like, people by groups, and the more the society develops, the greater the differences.
Social contradictions are antagonisms and conflicts between individuals and groups due to differences in interests and values. The social division of labor and social differences will give rise to social cooperation and assistance, as well as social competition and antagonism, and cause social contradictions. "With the development of the division of labour, there is also a contradiction between the interests of a single individual or a single family and the common interests of all individuals who interact with each other". The social division of labor and social differences bring about contradictions between individuals and groups. At the same time, social contradictions have different natures and different levels, and when social contradictions reach a certain stage, social confrontation will arise.
Social order is a state in which society obtains a dynamic equilibrium and stability so that society can continue, while social contradictions and conflicts will affect the continuity of society. Social order is first acquired naturally, and then it is achieved through human activity that it achieves consistency, harmony and stability. At first, this kind of artificial activity was mainly the self-regulation of society, and when social contradictions and conflicts reached a certain level and it was difficult for society to self-regulate, it gave rise to coercive public power to control the conflict within the scope of a certain order, so that there was the state and the state's governance of society.
Human society is born and developed in the process of contradictions, and if there are contradictions, they need to be resolved through governance.
(2) The path of social organization
The social division of labor is the starting point of the progress of human society, and the fact that the social division of labor shows that it is not the behavior of an isolated individual, but the behavior of society and groups. Life cannot be without a group, and people need to "make up for the lack of individual self-defense ability with the combined strength of the group and collective action". Man "is not only a gregarious animal, but also an independent animal only in society". Human action is carried out through social organization, and the form of organization is conditioned by historical conditions. The basic unit of human organization is a process of movement from the whole to the individual. Marx pointed out: "The further we go back in history, the more the individual, and therefore the individual who also produces, appears to be not independent, but subordinate to a larger whole: initially quite naturally in the family and in the family that expands into a clan; Later in various forms of communes that arose from inter-clan conflicts and fusions. Only until the 18th century,...... The various forms of social ties are manifested to the individual as mere means to his private ends, as external inevitability". It can be seen that the basic starting point of Marx's study of the history and logic of human organization is the independent individual. In the process of human movement from the whole to the individual, the corresponding form of social organization has emerged.
Community is the initial state of human social organization, which connects different people into a group with common interests and common ideas through certain social relations, and is based on commonality. This group has clear physical, social, and psychological boundaries that distinguish this group from another. People take the group as a unit of organization and action, and the individual is in and attached to the group, rather than outside the group and independent of the group.
The primordial or initial state of human society is a "naturally formed community." Families and families that have expanded into tribes, or tribes formed [by intermarriage] between families, or union of tribes". This is the initial form of the community, the result of the natural evolution of human society, that is, the "natural community". From the initial community to two types of communities: one is the undifferentiated community. Since property is owned by the community, "every individual person, only as a member of the community, as a member of the community, can see himself as an owner or occupant". The limbs cannot leave the body, and a single person lacks the consciousness of independence. The second is a community with low differentiation. Because of the private ownership of the family and property, there is a certain degree of social differentiation, and the family and the individual have a certain degree of independence, but they are still subordinate to groups such as the family and the larger village. For example, if the family is a cohabitation and financial organization, a single person cannot be homeless, and a single family cannot complete all life activities, but needs to rely on the support of a wider group such as the village.
In an agrarian-based society, "commonality is achieved within a very narrow scope". With the separation of commerce from agriculture, especially the development of industry and cities, individuals left their families and villages of origin and entered a larger society. In this kind of society, the independent individual is the unit of action, and the individual obtains the means of subsistence through his or her own labor and social exchange, and the society becomes a whole composed of independent individuals, and people have contact with the outside world based on their independent personal interests and wills. "The term 'civil society' arose in the eighteenth century, when property relations had moved away from the classical antiquity and medieval community."
Independent individuality is the product of a high degree of social differentiation. Under the conditions of market economy, independent individuals are combined by interests, which is only a mechanical combination rather than an organic combination, and the relationship between people is covered by the relationship between things, full of strangeness, separation, antagonism, contradictions and conflicts. "It is precisely because of this contradiction between the special interests and the common interests that the common interest takes the form of the state, which is independent of the actual interests of the individual and the whole, and at the same time takes the form of an illusory community". People need to build communities on the basis of a high degree of differentiation, uniting independent individuals. This union, which is based on the free will of the individual, is a "true community", "in the conditions of a true community, in which each individual acquires his own freedom in and through this union".
The two evolutionary paths of human society are not carried out separately and side by side, but are integrated and developed in one piece. Human society starts from the "primitive group" without division of labor and differentiation, and is an evolutionary process from the whole to the individual. Social differentiation, social differences, social contradictions and social conflicts caused by the division of labor are embedded in social evolution and the formation of communities. The stronger the wholeness, the stronger the commonality; The stronger the individuality, the weaker the commonality. The stronger the wholeness, the weaker the social differentiation, social differences, social contradictions and social conflicts; The stronger the individuality, the stronger the social differentiation, social differences, social contradictions and social conflicts. Community is a description, but also a product of the processing and adjustment of the relationship between the individual and the whole, and this processing and adjustment means governance. The lower the degree of social differentiation, the higher the natural attributes of the community. The higher the degree of social differentiation, the greater the need to build a community through artificial governance. Only by bringing governance into the study and construction of community can we deeply understand the imaginative goal of community and make it a reality through effective governance.
Governance and the formation of communities: general trends
Governance includes, but is not limited to, domination and management, and is the sum total of the behaviors of power subjects to solve problems, handle contradictions, and adjust relationships through certain ways and means to achieve certain goals. Like the community, governance is very rich and can be defined in different dimensions. However, from the perspective of the evolution of human society, governance is a concept with specific functions, and its functions mainly have two aspects: one is integration, that is, connecting scattered individuals or groups into a whole that can act together in a certain way; The second is processing, that is, to meet common needs in a certain way, solve problems, contradictions and conflicts, so as to achieve a certain ideal state. China's "Dayu water control" can fully express the basic meaning of governance. Dayu was able to organize many people together to solve the problem of flooding and meet people's needs for water conservancy, which obviously requires the help of special power, which is power. Therefore, the core element of governance is power and its corresponding set of rules, bases, means, methods, etc. Power-centered governance can be classified according to its object and content, such as governing the family, governing the country, and governing society; Governance of economic affairs, life affairs, cultural affairs, social affairs, political affairs, etc. The ultimate goal of governance is to achieve an order with consistency, coordination and stability, and the important vehicle of this order is the community. People are born to belong to the community, but they do not need to be governed. In other words, effective governance leads to the formation of communities, and failure of governance leads to the disintegration and dispersion of communities.
Although the classical theory of community does not use the concept of governance, it contains the discourse of governance.
The initial state of humanity is a naturally formed community without social division, but clan groups are also composed of individual individuals, and there are common actions and public affairs, which also need to be agreed upon through governance. In his book The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State, Engels cites a large number of documents on the governance of clan groups, including: clans elect chiefs and decide on important matters through councils; People of the same clan must help and protect each other; "All disputes and disputes shall be settled by the whole of the parties, that is, by the clan or tribe, or by the clans among themselves; Bloodline vengeance is only an extreme, rarely used threat." The general characteristic of primitive social governance is that "all problems are solved by the parties themselves, and in most cases, the traditional customs have adjusted everything." This shows that there are also problems that need to be solved in primitive societies, and solutions, adjustments, parties, customs, etc. all belong to the category of governance.
In Marx's view, primitive clans and tribes are natural communities, and when humans settle down, they form a community based on the land. This kind of community is based on the common ownership of land property by the village community, "the community is the entity, and the individual is only an appendage of the entity, or a purely natural part of the entity". However, unlike the "natural community", within the village community, "an individual person works independently of his or her own family on the land allocated to him", and thus the relationship between the individual family and the village community as a whole arises. This relationship needs to be artificially adjusted, by the heads of the family and the village community, respectively. In addition, because the land is owned by the village community, there are physical, social and psychological boundaries between each village community, so as to distinguish this village community from the other village community, and there will be contradictions and conflicts, and even fights, so that the strength of the village community as a whole needs to be used to solve them, and adjustment and resolution belong to the category of governance. In 2015, the author initiated and promoted the "In-depth China Survey", which found that many places in Yunnan still retain the ancient form of village communities, and the village communities need to coordinate their actions internally and externally through the village community leaders, so there is governance, but this governance mainly relies on the internal strength of the village community. As Engels put it, "public power may be extremely small, almost nonexistent".
With the settlement of mankind, "the land is a great experimental field, an arsenal, which provides both the means and materials of labour, and the place where the community dwells, that is, the basis of the community". It is for this reason that "the difficulties of a community can only be caused by other communities, which either have occupied the land or harass it on the land it has occupied". The war to protect property became a condition for survival, and because of the war, the ancient form of ownership appeared, the communal property and the private property, and the society was divided into different groups of people, and it was necessary to adjust the governance and stabilize the property relations accordingly. Thus, Roman law was invented to determine the qualifications of the owner of property and to protect the nature of property. "The reason why he was a Roman was only because he had such sovereignty over a part of Roman land." "Private law developed at the same time as private property from the process of dissolution of naturally formed communities." Private law is an example of governance.
There was a new development in the Germanic form of ownership, which was based on the individual who worked, that is, the self-sufficient members of the commune, and "each individual family is an economic whole, which in itself constitutes an independent centre of production (industry is only a sideline of women's households, etc.)". "The Commune also exists only in the form of each meeting of its members, although their free unity is reflected in their family origins, in their language, in their common past and history, and so on." Under this form of ownership, the community is more of an external form, and society is further separated from the overall commune to the individual family, because the social differences, antagonisms, contradictions and conflicts caused by private property are more prominent. On this basis, governance was born through the assembly of the members of the Commune. As the contradictions became more prominent, the manor courts evolved on the basis of the assembly of the members of the commune, which were formulated and governed according to customary law, and the lords of the manor could exert greater influence.
From the perspective of the evolution process of different forms of ownership, governance is related to social differentiation and community change. The lower the degree of social differentiation, the higher the degree of substantiation of the community, and the simpler the function of governance. In a natural community, governance relies primarily on historical customs. With the division of societies and the constant emergence of differences, contradictions and conflicts between and within communities, it is no longer enough to rely solely on customs, from which customary and even written law emerges. In communes, where social differentiation is very low, public power is absent; As the degree of social differentiation increases, the characteristics of the use of public power for governance are becoming more and more prominent. In China, the mode of production in the pre-Qin period had the characteristics of the village community system of common property and common labor, and mainly relied on the self-adjustment within the village community. With the Qin Dynasty's "separation of households", individual families became units of property, labor, and taxes, and the carrier of the community was mainly households. In addition to the self-governance of households, the state as a public institution is also involved, and the "household" itself is a representation of the state's governance of the "family".
Although there were different degrees of social differentiation, antagonism, contradictions and conflicts before modern society, the main carrier of social organization was still the community, because the community was based on land, and land was the basic living condition of people. An important feature of land is that it is immobile, so people can only rely on the land and the people on it, forming a human dependency. "The dependence of man (which at first was entirely spontaneous) is the first social form in which the productive capacity of man develops only within a narrow range and in isolated places." Under these conditions, people can only exist in the form of a community, and without a land-based community, people lack not only basic means of subsistence, but also basic personal protection. "These individuals belong to this community only as generalized individuals, and only because they are still in the conditions of existence of their own class". However, with the advent of private property and social differentiation, the community increasingly needs to be strengthened through governance.
Therefore, under the relationship of human dependence, the main purpose of governance is to strengthen the common and consolidate the community, and to overcome the differences, antagonisms, contradictions and conflicts caused by social differentiation by establishing and consolidating the social relations composed of the fixed identity of the individual, so as to control the conflict within the scope of the community order. "The 'enslavement' imposed on man by the law of the community implies first and foremost a way in which the individual is attached to the whole, such as a person to the home, even if this is more negative (as if the individual were an object to be possessed) than positive (as if the individual is the autonomous bearer of his life)". Due to the special geographical conditions, the village community system in India and Russia was preserved until the 19th century. In India, land is owned by village communities, which are the tax paying units and form the economic basis of the village community. Although the common economic foundation of the village community is relatively strong, it still needs to be governed by custom, customary law, etc. "The India village community is itself the source of land law," Main points out,...... This law regulates the relations of the various parts of the community to each other, to the community itself and to the government, to other village communities, and to those who claim rights to the community". Village communities in Russia have a number of mechanisms that inhibit differentiation and individualization and strengthen wholeness and commonality, including the regular redistribution of land on the basis of communal ownership of land, the common customs and rules of village communities, the common spirit and activities of village communities, and so on. "The village community is trying to organize its life according to the precepts of the Bible. …… When the above principles are fully embodied, there is an ideal community as defined by Ф. Tennis, and when the above principles are not given any attention, there is society. "In China, the family community is maintained and strengthened through a series of means, such as parents, family property, family rules, family education, and family discipline. Not only that, but the state also strengthens the family as a whole by legal and administrative means. Fairbank therefore commented that "China is a strong fortress of the family system." Clans composed of several families related to the same blood relationship maintain and consolidate the clan community through clan chiefs, clan property, clan rules, genealogies, clan activities, etc., and the state power often acquiesces in the severe punishment of its members by the clan community. In the mainland, "tens of thousands of family laws and family rules have been preserved through genealogies and genealogies." Obviously, in order to control the conflict within a certain range of order, the state must rely on the community to integrate the divided and scattered groups of people into one, which constitutes the basic order of national governance.
Of course, the effectiveness of governance as a means of consolidating the community is always limited, and the development of productive forces is, after all, a decisive factor. Engels analyzed the causes of the disintegration of the primitive community, including social differentiation, antagonism, contradictions, and conflicts caused by factors such as the development of productive forces, wars, and the monetary economy. With the settlement of humanity, the individual family became an economic unit, and at the same time "became a force and rose up against the clan as a threat". "The patriarchal system of inheritance of property by children promotes the accumulation of property in the family and turns the family into an antagonistic force to the clan". The emergence of individual families and private ownership will inevitably lead to the disintegration of the original community, but no matter how the community disintegrates and changes, it will re-form a new community, because land is the foundation of the community, and under the material conditions with land as the core, people can obtain a sense of security and stability through the existence of the community, and the state will also use the community to promote social integration and achieve social reconstruction.
It is only with the advent of the industrial mode of production based on the market economy that the mode of existence and organization of human society has been fundamentally changed. Industry, as the second largest industry that emerged after land-based agriculture, not only created great material wealth, but also changed the way people were organized. Industrialization has promoted urbanization, concentrating a large number of rural people into new cities, causing people who had to be dependent on the land to move to cities, resulting in the disintegration of land communities. More importantly, the marketization that accompanied industrialization fundamentally changed social relations: the individual as a natural person became the main body of action, and people relied on their own labor to exchange with the market for the means of subsistence they needed, forming human independence. Instead of exchanging with a particular land and its objects, people are exchanging with an open society. "The exchange of commodities begins at the end of a community, where they come into contact with another community or its members. But once things become commodities externally, they also become commodities in the life of the community as a result of reaction. "The commodity economy has created a modern society that is completely different from the agrarian community. Unlike small communities formed by blood and geographical relations, modern society is open, fluid, and changing, and the individuals who make up the society are independent. Marx thus pointed out that "the independence of man, based on the dependence of things, is the second great form, and it is in this form that a system of universal social material transformation, comprehensive relations, multifaceted needs, and comprehensive capacities is formed."
Fourth, the current significance of bringing governance into community research
Community is an ancient concept. The classical theory of community tries to distinguish the traditional society of natural economy from the modern society of market economy with the concept of community. A society based on the market economy has created a high degree of social differentiation, and the basic unit of society is no longer a unit, such as a family, a tribe, a village community, etc., but an independent individual. It's just that this independent individual gains his independence through market exchange. On the one hand, market exchange connects different people into one through market bonds, and on the other hand, individuals who are connected as one have their own independent interests and values, thus generating new and more prominent social differences, social contradictions, and social conflicts. "In a community, in spite of the elements of separation, people remain united, and in society, on the contrary, in spite of the elements of union, people remain separated. …… It's a place where everybody is just for themselves, and everybody is in a tense state of opposition to everybody. "Obviously, this kind of society is not an ideal society. With the individuation and even atomization of society, the age-old concept of community has returned to the human eye, and people demand and expect to gain and construct "commonality" in difference. It is only more difficult to build a community on the basis of an individualized society, and it also requires effective governance, because the community of traditional societies is mainly limited by objective conditions, and the land confines people to a community based on the land, even if the life of such a community is not ideal, and people have to do so. In modern society, people obtain the means of subsistence through exchange with the market, and the exchange object can be chosen. People's subjective consciousness is becoming more and more dominant, and the difference and change of each person's subjective consciousness are very large, so in order to integrate people with different consciousnesses into one and form a relatively stable community, it is necessary to rely on effective governance.
From the perspective of the general trend of the evolution of human society, the further back human society goes, the more the community is subject to objective conditions, the stronger the dependence of people, and the weaker the function of governance. The further the community goes, the more subject to subjective consciousness becomes, the stronger the independence of people, the more prominent the function of governance, the greater the difficulty, and the higher the requirements. In the early days of mankind, people had to rely on "naturally formed communities" and "the unconditional submission of individuals in feelings, thoughts, and actions." Traditional governance aims to restrain the individual and maintain the whole. Modern governance builds consensus on the basis of individuals, seeks common ground while reserving differences, and jointly builds "we", a "commonwealth of free people".
At present, the mainland is in the midst of a great change in Chinese-style modernization. On the one hand, modernization has promoted the transformation of traditional agricultural society, and the community value related to traditional agricultural society has been rapidly lost. On the other hand, with the rapid development of the market economy, the concept of marketization has a profound impact on people's living world, and the individualization, differentiation, and atomization of society and the resulting increase in social contradictions and conflicts. In the face of such a dynamic and contradictory modern society, it is necessary to promote social governance, and through effective social governance, the "you, me, and him" divided into a common "we" are condensed. Rather than denying and inhibiting the independent individual, this commonality is built on the basis of stimulating the enthusiasm of all people, thus providing a solid foundational order for Chinese-style modernization. When talking about social governance, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "A modern society should be both full of vitality and good order, showing the organic unity of vitality and order." It is obviously much more difficult to change the individual "you, me, and him" with independent interests and values into a common "we" and realize the organic unity of vitality and order than the formation of a community in history. To this end, the mainland proposes to build a "social governance community where everyone is responsible, everyone is responsible, and everyone enjoys." Only by building a community of social governance can we build a beautiful social community. This kind of community is not simply formed by history, but is built by giving full play to the subjective initiative of all people. How to stimulate the initiative of all people and make the ideal goal of "everyone responsible, responsible and enjoyed" a reality requires a series of systems, mechanisms and methods to govern it. Effective governance becomes a necessary condition for community building. Governance is also linked to the community with values never before seen in history.
There is no community without governance!
(The author is a professor and doctoral supervisor of the Faculty of Political Science of Central China Normal University.) Rural discovery transferred from: "Theoretical Journal" 2024 No. 4)
