Types of Neighborhood, Social Capital and Community-Led Cultural Events Among Urban Middle Class in China

Background and Purpose:

With the rapid economic growth, China has been experiencing drastic urbanization, as manifested by rising housing units, steady inflow of migrants, accelerated urban renewal and expansion, increased labor mobility, along with escalated distrust and breakdown of traditional social support system. During 1980-2010, the housing sector emerged and gained momentum in terms of its size, complexity, and socio-political prominence, with the rate of homeownership growing from 20 to 70 percent (Huang, 2012). In addition, despite the debates of the size and definitions of middle class, urbanization transformed Chinese society by promoting a rising middle class, which has steadily emerged as change agents for current socio-political development. The study addresses three vital questions. First, how does the prevalence of social capital differ by types of neighborhoods. Second, what are the impacts of types of neighborhoods on the changing social capital among urban middle class. Third, what is the intervention program to increase social capital in a society with high mistrust. This study fills the knowledge gap by assessing social capital, community participation, and social environment associated with the growing middle class.

Methods:

This paper uses 2005 China General Social Survey (CGSS). As a large-scaled social survey project in China, the CGSS interviewed adults aged 18 years or above living in both urban and rural areas in 28 provinces, employed a multi-stage stratified random sampling method, and covered a wide range of topics. This study focused on the urban sub-sample. Four types of neighborhood were discussed: newly developed commercial housing units, previously state-owned (work-unit) housing, old neighborhood, and urban renewal housing. Three indicators of social capital were identified: familiarity of neighborhood, reciprocity, and trust. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) was employed to assess mean differences in major characteristics across four types of neighborhoods, and multivariate logistic regressions were used to estimate associations between neighborhoods and indicators of social capital.

Results:

There were big disparities in the level of social capital across four types of neighborhood housing. Residents living in newly constructed commercial apartment units had the lowest level of social capital: 40.03% indicating familiarity with their neighbors, 62.56% indicative of trusting people, and 83.36% experiencing reciprocity. In contrast, residents in old neighborhoods enjoyed the highest level of social capital: 57.68% for the indicator of familiarity, 73.89% for trust, and 88.03% for reciprocity. Further, participation in community-led cultural events (i.e. festivals) can enhance the level of reciprocal activities among residents in commercial housing.

Conclusions and implications:

Results highlight the importance of tremendous housing reforms in urban neighborhood to the revolving social capital in contemporary China. Although rapid economic reform has drastically increased labor mobility, and choice of housing is heavily based on economic consideration, the reduction in levels of social capital is substantial. Fortunately, findings discover that community-led civic activities in commercial housing can enhance the common identity among residents, and this effect is more significant among the college-educated middle class. Programs encouraging civic participation with common goals can help reduce the negativity, distrust, and alienation associated with the rapid urbanization.