Community Governance in Urban Areas from the Perspective of Social Quality Theory〔* 〕

Xu Yun

(School of Law Nanjing University of Finance and Economics，Nanjing Jiangsu 210023)

With the deepening of reform and opening up，people have gradually realized that social development should be comprehensive，systematic，balanced and harmonious，and both the amount(quantity)and nature(quality)have been considered．Social quality，put forward by European scholars in the late 1990s，was used as a new concept to measure the level of social development;it originally means“a standard by which to measure the extent to which the quality of the daily lives of citizens has attained an acceptable European level”．〔1〕The concept of social development it contains is essentially consistent with idea of harmonious social construction in China．〔2〕As a new social theory and policy tools，social quality can guide the practice of community governance，provide decision-making basis to formulate community development policy，and work as the target and direction of social development and future community governance．

Ⅰ．Social quality theory:a new perspective of community research

1．Conceptualization of social quality and its analysis dimensions

The social quality theory was put forward in Europe，under the background of the crisis of the welfare state and European integration process，and its purpose was to create a“sustainable social welfare model”which could promote the balance between economic development and social development．In 1997，The Amsterdam Declaration on Social Quality of Europe declared:“we hope not to see an increasing number of beggars，vagrants and homeless people in cities in Europe(in European cities)．We hope that Europe is not only a society possessing success economics，but also with a high degree of social quality through the promotion of social justice and social participation．”〔3〕This theory was highly concerned by scholars being put forward and has soon become a new social theory．In the 21 Century，social quality began to enter East Asia，including China．

In the view of social quality，social quality can be measured by four conditional dimensions．As the core of social quality，it includes:(1)Socio-economic security:refers to the way the essential needs of citizens with respect to their daily existence are addressed by the different systems and structures responsible for welfare provision，in order to protect them from poverty and other forms of material deprivation．(2)Social inclusion:refers to the extent to that citizens realize themselves belonging and membership at the interpersonal and collective．(3)social cohesion:refers to the nature of social relations based on shared identities，values and norms(including trust and a sense of stability)．(4)Social participation and social empowerment．It focuses on whether the chance provided to social individual is fair or not and primarily concerns enabling people，as citizens，to develop their full potential．〔4〕These components are not mutually exclusive but often interact with and complement each other，and provide a comprehensive model of the social and economic determinants of well beings．

2．The pursuit of social quality and promoting community development has intrinsic consistency．

In the 1950s，a social development judgment of“social development through community development”was emerging among international social theory．The community construction is the microcosmic mechanism of social construction．〔5〕At present，the cognition that community governance can be a basic platform of social development has increasingly become a human consensus，and forms a new trend of the world．The social quality theory emphasizes when we pursue the goal of social development，we should not only focus on economic indicators and the im provement of people’s material life conditions，but also should pay more attention to the running status of the social system and the harmony，stability and coordination of the social system．〔6〕

Visibly，the pursuit of social quality and advocating scientific development，the social construction of“focusing on people＇s livelihood”and the harmonious community construction have intrinsic consistency on the concept and are mutually in nature．It is all the inevitable requirement of economic and social development to a certain stage．

Ⅱ．Indicators system of society quality:a new series of social indicators to of measure the effectiveness of community governance．

Community governance is long-term and arduous system engineering ，so it is necessary to establish a concrete and operable indicators system to meet the requirements of the scientific development．Community indicators are generally reflecting the status of community development contents of a series of statistical data，and it is to measure，monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of community governance．In the process of promoting community construction，governments have put forward different standards according to the different periods of social and economic characteristics．Then，a variety of community evaluation indicators system also arises at the historic moment．

These community indicator systems provide a frame of reference and evaluation standard and play a positive role for the harmonious community construction．However，there are also several outstanding problems at the same time．The current community construction indicator systems in essence are a“top-down”evaluation method made by governments and related departments．

Supported by the European Union and the Dutch government，the European Social Quality Foundation has promoted the building of social quality indicator system since 1999．In 2003，people have reached a consensus on the indicator system，which includes 18 main areas，45 domains and 95 indicators．The social quality indicator system has been a kind of measuring tool that can measure the quality of the“society”，which is“a measure of multidimensional standards used to measure the citizens’daily life quality and judge it achieve acceptable level degree or not”．〔7〕

The social quality indicator system includes not only objective indicators measuring material living conditions，such as housing，social security，education and employment conditions，etc，but also includes subjective indicators reflecting the social environment and citizens’welfare state，such as overall life satisfaction，sense of belonging and integrated into countries and regions，the gap between individual and institutional trust，social perception，perceived social participation opportunity，etc．Meanwhile，this indicator system focuses on the conditions of social change and development．In a word，the social quality indicator system can be used to measure the effectiveness of community governance in the way of“from bottom to top”which can be eventually improve the quality of the community．

Ⅲ．Promoting urban community governance in order to enhance the social quality

The social quality theory contains four conditional dimensions:socio-economic security，social cohesion，social inclusion and social empowerment/social participation，which acts as the main standards of the social condition．It also provides the vision and direction for future community governance．

1．The dimension of socio-economic security of social quality requires improving the community security

A society with high quality must be a society that primarily let citizens gain the social and economic security．Socio-economic security is all the necessary material resources and environmental resources that citizens needed in interact with others in the daily life．At present，the social security system in our country is in the process of establishing and improving．And it is carried out completely by national macro level．So the biggest problem of Chinese current social security system is the lack of national social security fund and service，which can not ensure community residents’material and service requirements．To make up the absence and shortage of national social security，there is an urgent need to complete community security by developing and integrating various resources according to the conditions．Through the use of community resources，community security fixed its position in the community;it implements the national social security system and realizes the function of the social security，having the characteristics of regional，complementary，and service．

2．The dimension of social inclusion of social quality requires perfecting community services

A society with high quality must be a society that social vulnerable groups are easy to integrate into societies or groups and social exclusion has the least occurrence．To create a safe，stable，just society，we must to promote social integration and social cohesion．〔8〕However，with the growing gap between the rich and the poor，the conflict of interests among social groups continues to occur and social vulnerable groups are marginalized gradually．A lot of people are excluded from mainstream society;eventually causing social exclusion．The modern community should be the foremost position which eliminates social exclusion，promote social integration and resolve social contradictions．In order to promote social integration，perfecting community services is an effective method．Only in this way can we eliminate social exclusion，and help the vulnerable groups clear up the sense of relative deprivation and social injustice．

It should be the basic requirement and target about the development of modern community service that the community establish a combination of“inclusive”and“preferential”community service system．This community service system should include the community public services dominated by the government，social welfare services carrying out by social resources，as well as the market-oriented residents living services etc，so as to meet the needs of survival and development of the different classes of the residents．Specifically，we should follow the demand of“equalization of public service”and“public services into the community”，so that all residents of the community have the right to enjoy the service equally，including the rights of community employment，community elderly care，community health care，community assistance，community education and cultural services，etc．For the vulnerable groups who are easy to be exclusion by society in the community，such as the elderly，the disabled and migrant workers，the community should provide them professional services by different levels according to their rights and demand．

3．The dimension of social cohesion of social quality requires enhancing the construction of community culture

A society with high quality must be a society that is full of trust and solidarity．Social cohesion is the comprehensive reflection of the relationship between social members，the social common value，belief，identity，as well as the sense of belonging and trust．Only through the establishment of mutual recognition between every social member which is based on social trust，can we have a real social cooperation．If there is a lack of social interaction between the community members，it is difficult to get to know each other between different groups，and as a result，it’s hard to build trust and approval．The key approach to enhance community cohesion is community culture construction．Residents living in a colorful culture community will have the channels and space for interaction and communication．The emotion between people will improve in the community activities and the misunderstanding as well as the dispute between each other will be easy to get eliminated and mediated in the community．These will contribute to the improvement of harmonious interpersonal relationship and community trusts both interpersonally and socially．

Therefore，in the process of enhancing community construction，the construction of community culture should be strengthened vigorously for the purpose of enhancing the residents’community realization and emotions，letting them realize the meaning of community．Enhancing community cohesion，stimulating residents’sense of pride，self-discipline and motivation will be conducive to promoting social integration，social harmony and improving the quality of the whole society．

4．The dimension of social participation and social empowerment of social quality requires reinforcing community autonomy

A society with high quality must be a society that all social members can un hindered participate in society and be given a certain power which is called social empowerment．Community is the first place where people can know and participate in society，so the participation of public affairs is of course beginning from the community．The essential attribute of community is autonomous organizations of the residents which can carry out the social empowerment and effect social participation．For the goal of community governance，the community should be autonomous．An autonomous community can coherent and deliver interest by itself to resist forces invasion from the outside world．What’s more，communities can also solve community problems by itself，such as questions between neighbors which are not touching the law．All above require residents widely joining in the management of community and also handling the public affairs．

In the process of advocating and promoting community autonomy，governments shall uphold the concept of empowerment society．Only joining and governing together can make the best of enthusiasm，initiative and creativity all around．In this way，community construction can have a strong driving force for the sustainable development and improve the quality of society finally．

〔1〕Beck，W．，L．J．G．Maesen v．d．，A．Walker，The Social Quality of Europe，1997，Bristol:Policy Press，p．305．

〔2〕Chach-Kie Wang，Comparing Social Quality and Social Harmony from a Governance Perspective， Development and Society，2009，Vol 38，pp．237-257．

〔3〕Beck，W．，der Maesen，L．van，Thomese，F．，Walker，A．(eds)，Social Quality:A Vision for Europe，The Hague:Kluwer Law International，2001，p．15．

〔4〕Yitzhak Berman，Social Quality as A Tool for Policy Analysis:The Place of Children in Family Policy，European Journal of Social Quality，2007，Vol 3．

〔5〕Pan Zequan，Through Community Construction to Achieve Social Construction，Journal of social science of Hunan Normal University，2010，vol 5．

〔6〕Lin Ka，Gao Hong，The Social Quality Theory and the Construction of A Harmonious Society， Social Science，2010，vol 3．

〔7〕Lin Ka，The Social Quality Theory:A New Perspective on the Construction of Harmonious Society，Journal of Renmin University of China，2010，vol 2．

〔8〕Noll，H．H．，Social Indicators and Quality of Life Research:Background，Achievements and Current Trends，in Genov，G．(ed．)， Advances in Sociological Knowledge over Half a Century，Paris:ISSC，2002，p．173．