Society' s Intermediate Layer The Development of Social Groups and the Restructuring of Organizational Systems

Wang Ying

One of the most important social effects brought about by the reform of the economic system has made the integrated administrative system of organizations break in a crosscut way. Non - governmental organizations at various levels and of various kinds have begun to possess their own benefits and powers, and to gradually separate themselves from the uniform administrative system of organizations. They have transformed into special social organizations and at the same time , a large number of new - type organizations of special types (including new forms of ownership; new - kinds of enterprises, market service and guarantee organizations and so on) have come to the fore. Meanwhile, as governmental organizations are beginning to change their image as the governmental centre with high - centralized power and to develop into political organizations, above but aloof from social organizations and with stronger regulating function.

The separation of politics and society means the appearance of new social factors and the formation of a new social structure more suitable for economic development rather than the disintegration of society. We hold that the new social factors are organizations of social group, and that the new social structure is the relatively stable relationship network made up in re - integrating political and social organizations in a new style through the medium of social groups. Social groups. play an important role in the restructuring of organizational systems, constituting society's intermediate layer and serving as the link between the higher authorities and the lower levels.

This question for study is a special study topic an "The Changes in the Social Structure in the Typical Urban Communities" carried out from September 1990 to January 1992 by the research group of the Sociology Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. The research group chose Xiaoshan City in Zhejiang Province, as a typical community where they conducted an on - the - spot investigation an social groups. for more than one year, mainly through individual interviews, successively publishing several special research reports and a book, "Society's Intermediate Layer" . This paper discusses through the investigation of the development of Xiaoshan City' s social groups. , the restructuring of the organizational systems of Chinese' s society under the circumstances that the new - type social groups. involved.

I. The Rise of Social Groups and Their Basic Situation

Before we discuss the rise of social groups. , it is necessary to make clear an important concept : the social group , . The definition of the concept of social group , may be made, we think, from two different perspectives: (1) to deduce it from a theoretical angle, i. e. , from the theories of organization available to us, to investigate how the essence of social group, differs from other organizations (chiefly revealed as the beneficial mutuality and intra - class togetherness or symbiosis of social groups.) ; (2) to generalize it from the angle of reality, i. e. , from the realistic state of China' s social groups. , to concluding that the general features of social groups are their popularity and their non - profit making or non-commercial nature. In brief , a social group, is a mutually beneficial organization made up of some fraternity and possessing two fundamentally organizational characteristics non - profit making and popularization.

Before the introduction of the reform, the city investigated only had four government - run social groups. such as the trade unions, the Communist Youth League, the Women' s Federation and the scientific and technological group, . But in the 1980s, social group , organizations sprang up like mushrooms , and by 1990 , social organizations in the city had increased to 99 (including the trade union and the women' s federation , etc . ) .

A social group, is a non-governmental organization in nature, but in China, a social group, is an apparent combination of the non - governmental and the governmental. Since there exist great differences in the degree of popularity among different social groups. , we can divide them into three types the government - run, the semi - government - run and the non - governmental .

The government - run social groups. are the social organizations whose chief leaders and staff are full- time staff an the regular payroll approved and appointed by government organizations and whose funds are appropriated from government finance or are from the non - financial but legally - valid compulsive membership fees. The semi - government - run social groups. are social organizations whose chief leaders are part - time leaders from government departments or enterprises and institutions partaking strongly of the government - run properties or the government - run social groups. and whose funds are appropriated partly from the financial or non- financial funds of their competent departments and are partly raised by themselves. The purely non - governmental social groups. are social organizations that are independent of the concerned authorities without any overlapping staff and that basically arrange their own finances.

We can see that government - run social groups. only make up 6 % of the total . The non - government - run groups. account for 24 % and most of them are groups. of culture and fraternity. The semi - government - run groups. make up 70 % with the largest proportion and the most multiple types. This shows that China' s present social groups. are fundamentally semi - official and semi - civilian.

II. The Functions of Social Groups

The development of social groups. is revealed an the one hand in the increase in number, and an the other hand in their multi-functions. Just as the weight of an object equals the product of multiplying quality by volume, the social groups. position in the organizational systems of society is also determined by their number and quality. The functions of the social group, are epitomized in the following five points

1. Participating in the Administration and Deliberation of State Affairs

The social groups. ' participation in the administration and deliberation of state affairs are carried out through the following means: (1) directly joining by their Leaders such political organizations as the People' s Congress , the People' s Political Consultative Conference or even the leading municipal decision-making body; (2) participation by their leaders in political activities, reporting to the higher authorities the problems related to their own groups. , appealing for support, airing their opinions and criticizing local social and economic development programs and the work of the government , taking part in political elections and so on; (3) participation in policy -making. For example, the trade union staff may be included in temporary work teams an price or wage reform and air their opinions an price and wage policy and so on. The demonstration and proof concerning the development of the polder area made by academic organizations under the Municipal Scientific and Technological Association provided the scheme for the decision - making of the Party and government Leaders , serving as the brainpower for policy - making.

Different kinds of social groups participate to differing degrees. Active in political participation are social groups. with stronger government - run color, larger scale and higher rating such as the trade union, the Women's Federation, the Communist Youth League and the scientific and technological group, which, standing at the same level with the Party and government organizations, can directly communicate with the Party and government leaders in high - level political activities.

But academic organizations, inclination organizations and fraternities with non-governmental properties and also on a large scale, owing to the limitation of their rating, seldom enjoy opportunities to participate in politics – if any --, they only indirectly participate with the assistance of their competent departments and through other connection channels.

In China, social groups. do not play what is called the "pressure group" role. The reasons for this are as follows: (1) it is impossible for the social group, leaders, with their dual role as state cadres, to simply stand for the benefits of the social groups. ; (2) participation in the administration of state affairs is not the collective demand of all members because the independent group interest consciousness and group impetus of the social groups. remain immature; (3) the political role of social groups. is chiefly granted by the Party and the government; (4) the role of the Pressure group is not allowed in the current political system ; (5) the common interest of the people throughout the country which the Party and the government stand for and the group interest the social groups. stand for are identifiable in general orientation, and antagonism and conflicts between them are unlikely to occur.

In fact, the political function of the social groups. is manifested mainly in their bridge role played by the Party and government in maintaining ties with the masses. The groups. are the medium through which the Party and the government heed the opinions of the masses and appeals from personages of various circles, allowing policy revision and avoid one-sidedness in their work.

2 . Serving as the Government' s Assistants

The function of the social groups. as the government's assistants is stipulated in explicit terms in the regulations of many social groups. . For instance, the Communist Youth League is "the Party's assistant"' the self - employed workers' groups. must "assist the tax agencies and industrial and commercial administrations to urge their members to pay taxes in compliance with legal provisions" ; the private enterprises' groups. must "assist the government and the authorities concerned to supervise and administer the private - run enterprises" ; the brick and tile producers' group , must "cooperate with the government departments concerned in making and carrying out the quality standards of brick and tile products" and " actively assume what the government departments concerned entrust to them"; the enterprise management group, stipulates that "the enterprises should do well what the government departments concerned entrust to them" ; and the scientific and technological group, is duty - bound "to accept the commissions of the government and provide scientific and technological advice and demonstration services" .

Social groups. have done a great deal of concrete and practical work in the following aspects: the self - employed workers' group, and private enterprises' group, assist the tax bureau to discuss and determine the amount of taxes the private businesses should pay and to urge their members to pay taxes in compliance with the provisions; assist the price bureau to carry out examinations of commodity prices and the management of marking prices; assist the public health bureau to carry out health examinations among the service trades; assist the epidemic prevention department to carry out epidemic prevention examinations of food; assist the metrological service to carry out examinations of weighing apparatus and measures; assist the bureau of communications to ensure the safety of cargo transportation; and assist the Birth Control department to carry out family planning.

The Birth Control group, , the Women's Federation, especially the grass- roots organizations of women in the countryside, usually serve as the source of information for the leaders concerned and assist the departments concerned to carry out the work of family planning through conducting training courses, propagating the Party’s birth control policy, and spreading birth control knowledge through the organizational Information network.

Academic organizations , entrusted by the government , are responsible for assessing peasants' technical titles. The Scientific and Technological Commission

as a government department and with the authority to assess academic and technical titles usually entrusts the assessment of the peasants' technical titles to its Subordinate academic organizations that can accurately evaluate the scattered rural technicians because they have direct contact with them and know them well.

The trade groups. are an effective tool in assisting the government departments in charge of economic matters to exercise the administration of enterprises. Enterprises of the same trade, limited by the competent departments and ownership, cannot connect with each other. Therefore, the government economic departments take advantage of the groups. and organize all the enterprises of the same trade to carry out trade administration which has come to be the most constant and important work of trade groups. . For example, in recent years the cement groups. has assisted Zhejiang Province Building Material Company to organize an enterprises to upgrade their technology, assisted the State Joint Office for the Licenses for the Manufacture of Building Materials to examine enterprises and to issue manufacture licenses, helped Xiaoshan Municipal Economic Commission to organize an investigation into increasing production, economizing and increasing revenue and reducing expenditures, and helped Hangzhou Municipal "Three Energy" Office to organize trade competitions in saving energy.

The social groups. ' function of assistance and administration makes them the intermediate organizations between the government and enterprises, counteracting some weaknesses of the government' s administration and strengthening social administration. While performing the function of assistance, the social groups. stand for the government an the one hand and for their members an the other. The balance between them can justify performances and prevent the interests of group, members from being encroached an or prevent damage to national interests.

The social groups. have a further function of helping the Party and government to carry out ideological work mainly including ideals, morality, legal and policy education so as to make the group, members understand Party policy, to seek unity of thinking and put people's minds at ease, which helps develop the local economy and promote the deepening of the reform.

3. Participation in Economic Affairs

It is not necessary for social groups. to participate in the planned economy formed by the highly centralized state power. But the fostering of the market in the reform provides a broad scope of operation for the social groups. ' survival and development. The trade groups. as new - type economic organizations combine in a new way the enterprises, self - employed workers and operators of different ownership and under different leading departments. As economic management organizations, the trade group, may fall into two categories:

(1) The rural crop and plant cultivation and agriculture organizations whose members mainly consist of the country households specializing in agriculture and also of some enterprises and institutions. Until 1990 , there had been seven groups. such as aviculture, rabbit - keeping, apiculture, dairy, garden pot culture, flower and plant production and edible mushroom groups. . These social groups. took technology as the nucleus and supply and marketing distribution as the link, extending their organizational structure to enterprises related to the supply and marketing of raw materials and fodder. Together with the scientific and technological institutions that deal with breeding, productive techniques and epidemic prevention, they form a network of the integration of production, supply and marketing and of economy, science and technology. Ever since China implemented the contract responsibility system with remuneration linked to output in the countryside, the rural trade groups. have fully performed their function of participation in economic affairs, combining the various economic elements in the countryside in a new way and constituting a new organizational network of the rural economy.

(2) The trade groups. with the industrial and commercial enterprises as their mainstay. These enterprises mainly come into contact with their respective leading departments in the government in staff, financial and material resources, while the groups. , as the supplementary trade organizations, only provide services that the leading departments cannot furnish, such as offering trade information, conducting training courses of trade technology, organizing examinations of trade quality, supplying production report forms for the government departments concerned and solving common problems confronting the trade. However, it is impossible for the trade groups. of industrial and commercial enterprises to have completely independent positions because their enterprises are not really independent commodity producers and operators with the legal status. The role of the trade groups. as a supplementary trade organizations is less important than that of the rural trade groups. .

Some non - trade social groups. also participate in economic activities to a certain degree, which is demonstrated in technical consulting services. In this way, the scientific and technological groups. and other academic organizations take part in economic activities. In 1987, Xianshan's academic organizations established 26 consulting offices which provided 466 items or times of services from technical services, technical consultation, technical transfer, technical development to technical training and so on, promoting the transformation of science and technology into the productive forces. The operation in the market of scientific and technological information as a kind of commodity enables technical consultation to become a paid service. The Municipal Scientific and Technological Consulting Company received 91, 000 yuan in income from consulting work in 1988 and 70 per cent of the groups. under the Municipal Scientific and Technological Association solved their problem of operating expenses through technical consultant.

The non - trade social groups. also participate in maintaining economic order in the market. While promoting the sound development of the individual and private economy by organizing activities, the self - employed workers' group, and private enterprises' group , supervise and restrict their members' behaviors and educate them to operate legally. The groups. of consumers mobilize consumers to supervise the market , report producers' undesirable conduct in the market and employ their power to inform government departments about what they know as well as the mass media, restrict the producers' conduct and make them follow the norms of the market , thus maintaining market order. The trade unions send workers and staff to exercise supervision over prices, and in 1990 alone, 177 price overseers from them took part in price supervision or examinations 226 times, handling 653 cases which violated price regulations.

4. Safeguarding the Associations Members' Rights and Interests

The expression of group interests is usually considered as the important characterization marking the maturity of the social groups. . It shows the degree of the group, members' cohesiveness due to the their common interests and the degree of the social groups. ' independence and political participation in social relations. The reform has led to the apparent disintegration of group interests, but the birth and growth of social groups. becomes the approach by which new group interests are expressed.

The practices of the self - employed workers' groups. and private enterprises' groups. to express their members' group interests include: (1) making known to society the positive role of self - employed workers and private enterprises , reporting to the leading departments of the Party and government their achievements and meritorious deeds, stirring up support for the individual and private economy and changing people's impression of them so as to exert influence an the policy - makers' opinions an the individual and private economy ; (2) reporting to the leading departments of the Party and government the general problems arising in the development of individual and private enterprises so as to consider problems in policy-making; (3) reporting to the leading departments of the Party and government their opinions an the improvement of policies that hamper the development of the individual and private economy; (4) doing their best to prevent departments from impairing the interests of the individual and private enterprises (for example, collecting fees arbitrarily and imposing unjustified financial levies and so on) .

The intellectuals have found new opportunities during the process of the commercialization of technology pushed by the development of the scientific and technological system. They have a greater advantage in expressing their group interests than other social groups. The improvement of the policy towards intellectuals after the "cultural revolution" has safeguarded their interests and the academic organizations, standing for the interests and demand of the intellectuals, continue to report issues to the Party and government departments and arouse society' s respect for knowledge, science and intellectuals with their practical actions.

While the government delegates responsibilities, powers and interests to the lower levels, factory directors and managers begin to achieve the separation of the functions of government from those of enterprises. Factory directors have also gained positions and interests different from those of ordinary workers and staff in instituting the system under which factory directors assume overall responsibility, gradually becoming a comparatively independent interest group. Therefore, the entrepreneurs ' group, is naturally the organization representing the interests of factory directors and managers. But at present, the entrepreneurs' group, functions chiefly in exchanging economic information and reporting to the government departments concerned Problems with policies relating to enterprises, but its function in expressing the group interests of enterprises remains very weak. Quite different as from the situation in Xiaoshan, are the private entrepreneurs' societies in Nanhai City, Guangdong Province where a more developed economy means they play an outstanding role in expressing their group is interests and safeguarding the rights and interests of entrepreneurs.

In the reform of the enterprise system, workers form independent interests different from factory directors and managers or from the enterprise itself. The trade unions play a large rote in expressing the interests of workers and staff : (1) Emphasizing and propagating the workers' positions as masters of the country and providing an ideological basis for workers' interests. (2) Reporting to the Party and government leaders problems about policies an labor, wages and prices so as to draw their attention to the interests of workers and staff. (3) Participating in formulating policies and airing their opinions for the policy - makers' reference so as to prevent rules or regulations imposed by local authorities from harming the interests of workers and staff. For example, the Municipal Economic Commission proposed that factory directors' extra payment for over-fulfillment of work quotas be included in the welfare funds for workers and staff , which was considered by the trade unions to encroach an their interests. As a result of consultation, the official document of the Commission decreased the Proportion of factory directors' extra payment to the welfare funds and the interests of the workers and staff were thus safeguarded. (4) Harmonizing the relationship between factory directors and the workers in contracting and helping the two parties to sign the mutual-guarantee contract (i.e. , workers and staff ensure that the contract is carried out and the factory directors ensure that welfare targets are attained) , enabling both parties to share the same interests an precondition that the contract be fulfilled.

Thanks to industrial policies and price parities, trade interests seem to be very incisive. The social groups. usually strive for their trade interests by reporting trade problems to higher authorities and making suggestions an policies. The Municipal Cement Association had taken some practical measures to protect their trade interests, including : reporting to the Municipal Economic Commission the irrational piling of cement at the railway station , which was later solved with the support of the government; making a special report to the municipal leaders an the difficulties of the cement industry resulting from market sluggishness; presenting to the price departments "the report to request the rise of cement prices so as to break even" ; consulting with suppliers of cement raw materials an the appropriate decrease in limestone prices.

The social groups. maintain the common interests of the collective. Meanwhile, they protect the rights and interests of individual members. Generally, the maintenance of group interests is still at the primary stage of growth while the protection of individual interests is more evident.

The Association of Consumers accepted 1, 775 complaints all together in the three years from 1987 when it was established in 1990 and actually handled 1, 772 cases with a solution rate of 99. 7 per cent, having directly safeguarded consumers' interests. The Trade Union set up 169 labor protection supervision and examination committees with 2 ,124 members playing a role in supervising and stopping enterprise practices unfavorable to safe production. The Women's Federation and the Trade Union established the system of appealing to the higher authorities for help, stipulating that their members can directly institute appeals to the municipal organizations by writing letters and meeting with the higher authorities. And in 1990, the Women's Federation received and handled 132 complaints. The Self - employed Association and the Private Enterprises' Association usually safeguard the legal rights and interests of their members through settling disputes between self - employed entrepreneurs, private enterprises and other organizations. Besides this, they in coordination with government departments. settle conflicts between policies and their members' interests, The Scientific and Technological Association safeguards the legal rights and interests of the scientific and technical workers in such fields as developing the technical market, participating in consultation, the rational flow of skilled workers and so on.

5. Recruiting New Members

The group , members , individuals or groups , participate in the group , ' s activities to meet the needs of their own development. These needs fall into two categories: survival and development. Development is embodied either in the improvement of the subject's qualities of knowledge, technique and so an or in the expression of the subject's sentiments and ability, which, winning society's acknowledgment, makes the subject content. This is a kind of self-actualization. The social group's function to afford its members opportunities for development determines to a great extent its appeal to its members and the growth of the group, organization.

The social group's function to afford its members opportunities is as follows: constantly enriching the members' professional knowledge and certain skills by exchanging professional data, holding discussions, conducting training courses and carrying out research programs, etc. ; meeting members' emotional needs, broadening interpersonal communications, developing friendship and strengthening their contact with society by conducting various kinds of friendship activities; organizing various activities designed to make public appraisals at academic levels, assessing scientific research achievements and having them published and rewarded so as to enable members' work to be acknowledged by society and give them a sense of achievement; enabling some members' special talents to be brought into full play in the activities organized and making them feel they are working for a very valuable cause, producing a sense of satisfaction after their self - actualization.

III. The Social Groups' External Interaction

The relationship between the social groups. and government organizations or enterprises and institutions is directly related to social groups. ' functions and influence in society while the countless and ever - changing ties the social groups. maintain with the original administrative system have cultivated different organizational forms and entirely different approaches among Chinese social groups. . Therefore, it is obviously imperative to define the nature and organizational form of social groups. and their positions in China's social organizations so as to discuss the external interaction.

Generally speaking, the interacting subjects involved in this paper are: (1) the original social groups. such as the trade unions, the Women' s Federation and the Youth League and the new - type social groups. , chiefly referring to those legal groups. which came into being after the introduction of the reform and have been officially registered in the Departments of Civil Affairs; (2) the Party and government organizations and enterprises and institutions under the original system of administrative organizations which constitute the other interacting subject opposite to the social groups. . The following is our analysis of the interaction between the above two kinds of subjects.

1. The Participant Interaction Characteristic of Organizational Intersection

In accordance with the temporary regulations an the registration of social

groups. , each legally registered group, must be subordinated to a leading government department , which becomes one of the prerequisites for their registration. Therefore, there spreads in society the rumor of "Chinese government - run social groups. ". However, things are not so simple. Although the relationship between social groups. and their leading departments belongs to that between higher and lower levels and between the leading and the led or the guiding and the guided, yet this relationship, not as formal as the relationship between administrative organizations, is of an endless variety and its interactions are multifarious. On the basis of the degree of organizational intersection existing between social groups. and their leading departments, we divide the interactions between the two into three types: the whole - participant type, the half - participant type and the non- participant type.

(1) The whole - participant interaction means that the chief leaders of the two interaction - subjects possess dual organizational capacities and the social groups. ' funds are appropriated or provided by their leading departments.

The whole - participant interaction between social groups. and their leading departments has a very broad content ranging from the participation of the chief leaders or some members concerned of the leading departments in making yearly work plans of the groups. and in summing up the groups. ' work at the end of the year, to their participation in making any decision in the groups. ' routine work. In fact, the formation of this interaction is a kind of transference of the functions of the leading departments down to the lower levels. For instance, the Private Enterprises' Association possesses the partial function of the Enterprise Administration Section of the Municipal Industrial and Commercial Bureau; the Enterprise Administration Association and the Quality Control Association enjoy the original functions of the Enterprise Administration Section of the Municipal Economic Commission such as upgrading the technology of enterprises. At present, this whole - participant interaction can guarantee social groups. ' funds and with the government departments as their powerful backing is helpful in performing the functions of the social groups. . It is therefore an effective interaction form for those social groups. with important administrative functions .

The whole - participant interaction between social groups. and their enterprises is designed to develop the service functions of the groups. such as providing services before, during and after the production process for the members of various social groups. with economic functions in the countryside and setting favorable purchase prices for them when they feel uneasy about the fluctuations of market prices, therefore helping them to overcome temporary difficulties. The relationship between the two interaction subjects is very close. The social groups. depend an their enterprises for the survival and development of their functions and it is by relying an the groups. ' connection with scattered specialized production households that the enterprises expand their scope of business and strengthen their competitiveness.

(2) The half - participant interaction. Its major feature is revealed in that the general secretaries who take charge of the routine work in most of the social groups. are appointed by the organizations they depend on, the posts of the chief leaders in a few social groups. are held concurrently by the leaders of the organizations they depend an and groups. ' funds have to be basically raised an their own. In the half -participant interaction as if is so called, although the interaction between social groups. and other organizations is accompanied by some personnel intersections or some economic exchanges , yet the degree of intersection or exchange is lower than that of the whole - participant interaction.

Mutual support and aid in work is included in the half - participant interaction between social groups. and the leading departments of the government or the organizations they rely on. Those social groups. that depend an the government departments and share the half - participant interaction with them have new functions that the leading departments do not possess in most cases, such as the Cement Association's information transmission and consultation and the Accountants' Association's technical training.

The content of the half - participant interaction between the social groups. and their enterprises is still narrower. Apart from a certain intersection of personnel and funds, they have only limited contact while the latter report their work to the former and this kind of report is not systematic.

(3) The non - participant interaction means that there is no personnel intersection between the interaction subjects and their funds are raised independently. Their general functions are identical, while their concrete functions have a certain difference. The social groups. under the Municipal Commission for Physical Culture and Sports are pure non - governmental groups. which were spontaneously organized. Only a very small part of their funds are from the Commission (each group, can get 300 yuan every year) . Organizationally, the groups. and the Commission have a few personnel intersections but in most cases participation is done in the capacity of coaches. The concrete functions of these groups. are to make people build up a strong constitution and live a long life with good health; or to promote friendship and interpersonal groups. (old people's disco class for example) ; or to indulge in a hobby (for example , the Pigeon Association) . Both aim at actively developing mass sports activities. The subjects of this interaction appeal to each other for assistance. One party depends an the leading department for survival while the other party reinforces its strength and influence through recruiting group, organizations and develops its cause in multifarious forms . The non - participant interaction mainly involves : (1) the social groups. seek the leadership of the departments responsible for their business and take this as the basic condition for registering the group, in the department of civil affairs; (2) the leading departments organize activities and the social groups. under them organize their members to participate (for example, members of the Literature Creation Society and the Poets' Society contribute to a journal initiated by the Literature Federation and the various sports groups. take an active part in sports meet held by the Physical Culture and Sports Commission) ; (3) the leading departments offer their subordinate groups. some technical guidance and vocational training; (4) the leading departments help their subordinate groups. overcome difficulties; ( 5 ) the leading departments transmit important principles and policies formulated by the central authorities to their subordinate groups. .

The non - participant interaction contributes to the full play of the mass character of social groups. and enables the social groups. to develop their activities an their own initiative in a varied and colorful way and allows them to play a role in enriching people's spare time activities.

z. The coordinated interaction centering an tasks. The coordinated interactions fall into two categories:

(1) The assistance interaction, i. e. , one party is mainly relied upon in fulfilling a task with the assistance offered by the other party; (2) the cooperation interaction, i. e. , the cooperative parties take equal part in the fulfillment of a task.

The assistance interaction mainly refers to all the activities related to the rise of the market economy and of groups with special interests and to be carried out with the assistance of other organizations for instance, major inspections an taxation, prices and weighing and measurement; the supervision, administration and safeguarding of the market; the examination and appraisal of the quality of enterprises' products; the research and popularization of agricultural science and technology; holding commemorative activities for Women's Day (March 8) and Children' s Day (June 1) and so on. In the assistance interaction, the social groups. ' usual practice is to appoint the leaders of the assistance units to the posts of their council members or directors or to establish good interpersonal relationship between them and their counterparts.

The cooperation interaction chiefly includes:

(1) In order to bring the social groups. ' functions into full play, the interaction subjects cooperate with each other in work. Generally speaking, this kind of interaction is a long-term, stable and whole-participant relationship, that is, an interaction form in which all the departments concerned, for the development of the social groups. , participate wholly with their personnel and activities. The interactions involve: things related to the functions of the organizations themselves; all of which have something to do with the activities of the social groups. . For example, the various interactions related to aviculture and the development of diversified farming between the Aviculture Association and veterinary stations, hatcheries and agrotechnical stations so as to increase peasants' income.

(2) The social groups. proceed from their work to establish a cooperative and stable relationship which takes mutual needs as the prerequisite to the interaction. The mode of interaction is to establish a stable and long - term business contact without personnel overlapping organizationally. The content of the interaction which is unitary, mainly involves the specific resources enterprises and institutions possess

for instance, the interaction between the Aviculture Association and the fodder companies and the insurance company.

(3) The social groups. establish a temporary cooperative relationship for a certain activity. The forms of the subject interaction under this relationship are demonstrated in making scientific assessment about a certain special subject, in conducting the activities of street propaganda daily or weekly and in holding celebratory meetings. The contents involve the Shoal Development Program of the Municipal Scientific and Technological Association; the academic exchanges of various special subjects; the celebration of Women's Day; the scientific and technological publicity; examinations of prices and weighing and measurement, etc. This kind of relationship is mostly formed among the social groups. . For instance, the Municipal Scientific and Technological Association, with such activities as shoal development and the scientific and technological propaganda week, encourage its subordinate societies and groups. to do their best and form a temporary mutually cooperative relationship. While celebrating Women' s Day, the celebration activities of entertainment are co - conducted by the trade unions that provide funds and the Women's Federation that exerts great effort to do the job. And the Consumers' Association and the Workers and Staff Price Supervision Committee under the leadership of the trade unions gets good teamwork in supervising and examining prices, weighing and measurement and in maintaining market order.

3. The assisted interaction aimed at developing functions The assisted interaction means that an interaction subject tries to achieve a certain goal an the strength of his counterpart's power, reputation or resources, during which process it seeks a stable relation. It is obvious that the assisted interaction between social groups. and the government is largely manifested in the social groups. ' taking advantage of the government's reputation to develop their functions and to achieve their own organizational goals. But the assisted interaction between the social groups. and non - governmental organizations depends an resources in most cases.

The formation of this assisted interaction has specific, complicated social and historical reasons. Reform has resulted in China's transformation into a multivariate society; neither the economic sector or the interest group or the organizational form or ideology is in a uniform mode any longer. However, the introduction of market mechanisms and the appearance of new economic sectors and social groups. have not thoroughly changed the present economic institution and organizational system and the existence of the double - track pricing system (the state fixed prices and the market prices) still checks the disintegration of organizational systems and power structure while local interests and the intensification of sectors' ownership make the relationship between the government and enterprises and institutions become more deep -rooted and entangled. So if a new - born social group, interacts with any organization (no matter in what form of interaction) or takes an action, it must first of all interact with the leading government departments that organization depends an and the government departments or those enterprises and institutions that really possess various resources involved in the action. In this interaction, if the positive side is the social group, , the most essential relationship is the assisted one. The social groups. survive with the backing of the government and other organizations; exercise internal administration by the government' s power ; harmonize external relations by the government's strength; and obtain various resources for achieving their organizational goals through other organizations' control of resources.

But the government also receives support from the social groups. to a certain extent to carry out administration of the market, examinations of the quality of enterprises9 products, and to combine new economic sectors and new interest groups into the original organizational system so as to strengthen the society's controlling ability in the new situation. Enterprises also receive support from the social groups. to exert more influence and extend their business scope. Naturally, the assisted relation in reality is manifested concretely in the fact that social groups. draw support of strength, power and resources from the government and other organizations. For this reason, our analysis will get unfold along these lines.

The concrete forms of the assisted interaction are mainly as follows:

(1) Asking for leaders of government departments to hold concurrently the posts of group, council members, directors, vice-chairmen, etc.

(2) Widely establishing good interpersonal relations with government departments and the enterprises concerned. The social organizations usually invite veteran cadres who have retired from government departments to hold the posts of the groups. ' leaders so as to establish good relations with the government and other organizations and to do better in the groups.' work by taking advantage of the veteran cadres' influence. In addition, the social groups. usually invite the leaders of the concerned government departments to attend their important meetings and offer directives, which is also an approach by which to increase contact with the government.

The contents of the assisted interaction can be roughly summed up as follows:

(1) Exercising internal administration and developing activities with the aid of the government's strength; (2) striving for benefits for group, members by means of the technical authority of the government departments; (3) helping settle the conflicts between the social groups. and other organizations with the help of government power; ( 4 ) resolving the contradiction between the social groups. ' activities and some present policies with the backing of the government; (5) overcoming difficulties of group members by means of strength of the government; (6) enhancing their own reputation and position by means of the government's strength; (7) seeking raw materials in short supply in the market for group, members with the help of other organizations' control of resources; (8) overcoming the difficulties of the groups. an the strength of other organizations' capacities; (9) supplying information for groups. , training professionals in training courses and raising group, members' quality seconded by research and development institutions.

At present, the assisted interaction is one of the most effective interaction forms between the social groups. and the government. It serves to widen the social groups. ' power and scope of influence, to overcome difficulties in work, to give play to all functions, to establish groups. in the social system and to heighten this Position.

4. The interaction network

The stable organizational relationship outside the social groups. forms an interaction network around every group, which connects the whole organizational system (connecting in various forms though). In the following, we are going to draw a diagram to show the different relations of various organizations with the social groups. so that people can have a complete understanding of the realistic relation network of the social organizations. The basic data we employ here are from what the deputy secretaries - general and higher leaders of the 93 social groups. (excluding 6 government -run social groups. ) in the city investigated were at their original work units.

From Diagram Two, we can see that at present, the majority of the professional leading departments of the social groups. are government organizations while their cooperative organizations are made up mainly by the government organizations and enterprises. The feature of this kind of connection proves the following two social realities

( I ) The interactions between the social groups. and other organizations are mostly based an the assisted relationship. The groups. ' survival and development is supported in most cases by government organizations but while organizing concrete activities, they not only have the aid of the power of the government organizations but also of the financial capability and resources of the enterprises. At present, it is doubtless a wise choice for social groups. that are short of Power, social position, reputation and of fees necessary for organizational activities and resources to establish a stable and dose organizational relationship with the government and the enterprises.

(2) The close connection of the system of the social groups. with the original organizational system and the personnel intersection of these two kinds of organizations results in a change in the Power and information process of the original organizational system. This manifests itself first of all in the government departments' delegating of powers to lower levels, that is, the government delegates certain powers to social groups. and discharges some of its functions and powers in the name of the group, . For example, the group, of consumers is entitled by the government to give the title of "untrustworthy unit" to any come any whose services and product quality are repeatedly inferior, the power of which is called "the imperial sword". The change also manifests itself in the groups. ' partial participant ability in certain of the government's decision-making powers, such as the trade groups. ' influence over the public appraisal of trades and the rating of enterprises. The change also manifests itself in the expansion of power and information in the government departments. For example, the Industrial and Commercial Bureau has extended its administrative scope and actual power over the private economy through the self - employed. workers' group, and the private enterprises' group, . And the trade development data reported every quarter by the Trade Association has enlarged the government' s information channels and quantity.

IV . The Restructuring of Organizational Systems

1. The integrative role of social groups in the restructuring of organizational Systems

(1) The integration among the original organizational factors

Here we only discuss the integration of several organizational factors which are most typical after the introduction of the reform rather than the re - integration of all organizational factors.

- The integration of the essential factors of government organizations. In the original organizational System , the hierarchy among the basic factors of government organizations was rigid. There did not exist methodically connecting channels among government departments at the same level. If the government departments at the same level interact, they must consult their respective high - ups and not until the matter is level by level , reported , examined and approved by higher authorities can a certain interaction with substantive significance (of course this interaction is temporary) be finally formed. However, with the deepening of reform and the development of social groups. , this state of isolation has been broken. With the help of social groups. , a non - administrative and stable horizontal tie between the basic factors of government organizations at the same level has been established.

As a new type of social organization , the social group , phenomenon was not generally accepted from the very beginning. The original administrative organizational system seems more and more rigid in promoting reform, developing the commodity economy, opening to the outside world and attracting foreign investments. Facts show that the social groups. supply a flexible and prompt connecting channel between individuals and their organizations, and many things that were are out of the question in the original system can now be done in the social groups. . The flexibility of the groups. , their direct connection with interest groups and the efficiency of their administration are becoming more and more acknowledged by government functionaries and others.

The needs of social reality and change in people' s concepts lead directly to two results: (1) more and more social groups. have transformed from a pure non - governmental type into a semi - official and semi - civilian type, which enables social groups. to establish a stable interactive relationship with the original organizational system; (2) a craze of initiating social groups. has occurred. The flexible organizational form of the social group, comes to be an irresistible temptation to government office- holders who accomplish in social groups. what is out of the question in the original organizational system. Or else may would rather organize groups. by themselves in which way they call together organizations and individuals of various kinds and at various levels who are necessarily connected, to mutually exchange information and discuss plans for the development of the local economy, thus making the rigid system flexible.

For instance, in market supervision and administration the original government organizations are short of a horizontal link and cannot form an entire strength. But after the establishment of the self - employed workers' group, , the private enterprises' group , and the group , of consumers all the government departments concerned such as the Price Department , the Tax Department , the Health Department , the Public Security Department, the Standard Metrological Service, the Law Enforcement Department, the Land Administration Department, the Electricity Department, the trade unions and the Women's Federation and all sectors of society that can be mobilized have been organized in carrying out the activities of regulating market prices, taxation, sanitation, anti-epidemic, safety examinations and so on, and have formed an integral part to assume the responsibility of maintaining normal order in the market. Here, social groups actually play a role of bridge-making the organizational factors of the government integrating them in a new field of the commodity economy in a new and non - administrative style of connection , so that the deficiency of the unitary administrative means is made up and the entire force of social control that did not exist in the past is developed. .

- The integration of economic organizational factors. What people are most familiar with the original organizational factors is the so - called "central and regional system of management" . However, with the rise of social groups. the situation of the original "separation of the central and regional system of management" has been broken and the new integrated setup of economic organizational factors is coming into being.

As the economic reform deepens in the countryside, the unitary monopoly of the purchase and marketing of farm and sideline farm products by the supply and marketing cooperatives has disappeared. An economic organizational network of production, supply and marketing with social groups. as the link is growing and gradually replacing the position of the supply and marketing cooperatives. For example, with the functioning of the aviculture group, the rabbit keeping group, the apiculture group and the diary group, etc. of the city investigated, the various economic organizations and scientific and technological organizations such as individual producers, business companies (the foodstuff company, the animal husbandry company, the aviculture company, etc. ) , the supply and marketing cooperatives, the agrotechnical stations, the veterinary stations, Xiaoshan Municipal Commerce Bureau, Xiaoshan Municipal Scientific and Technological Bureau, Zhejiang Provincial Academy of Sciences and even the Chinese Academy of Sciences, taking development of the rural economy as the prerequisite, here become integrated and form a completely new organizational network of the rural economy.

The integration among enterprises of different ownership and under different departments with social groups. as the link explores new ways for horizontal links among enterprises. At present, although this kind of connection is very weak, yet it is a new way of connection.

The interaction among the economic factors with the group, of consumers as the medium and ensuring that the market economy operat normally is another noteworthy content of the integration of urban economic organizations. The group, of consumers in the city investigated 492 complaints in 1989 and handled 485 cases, retrieving 105 , 300 yuan of economic losses for consumers (according to Xiaoshan Almanac 1990) . These figures demonstrate that the explicit function of the group, of consumers is the function of safeguarding the legal rights and interests of the consumers. And its potential function is to closely link the producers, the sellers and the consumers through the coordination of non - governmental organizations and to set up a new integration among them. The practice of the group, of consumers to handle each complaint makes the three parties interact and restricts the sellers' conduct and interests with the consumers' interests and the producers' conduct and interests with the sellers' interests, enabling them to form an entirety of mutual connection. This new integration among the new economic organizational factors was not seen in the planned economy.

(2) The integration between the new - born organizational factors and the original organizational system

The reform has promoted the disintegration of social organizations and the individual economy, the private economy, the township and village enterprises as well as joint ventures and exclusively foreign - owned enterprises with foreign capital have become completely new social elements either in interest or in conduct. It comes to be a outstanding question in the integration of organizational systems how a stable interaction relationship between these new - born organizational factors and the original organizational system can be established and in what way these factors make contact with the government. The government has established the rural enterprise management bureau (one of the government departments) to tighten management of township and village enterprises, and the management of the joint ventures is left to some relevant government departments. But the government only exercises simple industrial and commercial administration of the private enterprises and self - employed workers who, actually being individuals without work units or organizations under no administrative departments, constitute new - born organizational factors severing their connection with the original organizational system.

Whether or not these dissociating new - born organizational factors achieve the integration with the original organizational factors has a direct bearing an the development of the individual and private economy and an the government's effective control over society. Thanks to the participation of the social groups, a new link is available for the integration of the two and integration becomes a reality.

From the perspective of the relationship between social groups. and their members, members of these groups. are legal members. Those who satisfy the membership requirements set in the organizational regulations can be considered as legal members and they must go through group, membership formalities, pay membership dues and take part in the activities organized by social groups. , in which no exception is allowed. For Instance, "all the individual workers whose Business Licenses have been approved and issued by the Municipal Industrial and Commercial Administrative Bureau" stipulated by the Self - employed workers' group, and "all the private enterprises whose Legal Person Certificates and Operating Licenses live been approved and issued by the Municipal Industrial and Commercial Administrative Bureau" stipulated by the private enterprises' group, are legal group, members, and in addition to having to fulfil group, members' obligations, enjoy relevant powers. All the 799 private enterprises and 23 , 313 individual businessmen or businesswomen in the city investigated who received operating licenses in 1990 became legal members of social groups. of that kind, which made the new - born economic elements establish without exception an organizational tie with the social groups. .

From the perspective of the functions of social groups. , the groups. can help overcome difficulties and dispel anxiety for their members and even mediate family disputes; the groups. air opinions to government departments an behalf of their members so as to receive help and gain understanding; the groups. call an their members to take part in some social and economic activities sponsored by the government in a planned way (such as the charity bazaar to solicit contributions for areas affected by disasters, volunteer activities to learn from Lei Feng, the commodities fair, etc. ) so as to raise their members' social positions, increase their income and enhance their enterprises' reputation; the groups. bear the responsibility of safeguarding their members' legal rights and interests and will throw themselves forward and bustle about to safeguard their members' interest whenever they find that their members suffer injustice and their members' legal rights and interests are infringed upon. Therefore, members call their groups. "their own organizations/ and "their parents' home" . From the angle of the functions the social groups. perform, we can say that social groups. are the "work units" of the individual workers and the "leading departments" of the private enterprises.

From the perspective of the relationship between the social groups. and the original organizational system, the social groups. linking the new - born organizational factors all depend an the industrial and commercial administrative bureau of the government . The posts of their chief leaders are concurrently held by the chief leaders of the latter (of course, not appointed by the government) and some of their powers and functions are transferred from the individual workers' section and the private enterprise section of the bureau. In other words, the social groups. of this kind and the industrial and commercial administrative bureau share intersection and uniformity to a certain degree in leading members, powers and functions. Therefore, there is an intrinsic and close organizational contact between the two.

The close contact between the social groups. and the industrial and commercial administrative bureau serves to enhance the social position, power and reputation of the former. The group, director-general's capacity as the director of the industrial and commercial administrative bureau virtually enhances the group,' s position, granting it a rank similar to a bureau and enabling it to make an organizational contact with the other units of the government at the bureau level. At present , the government leaders at vice - bureau levels who hold the posts of executive directors in social groups. of this kind are the vice-directors of the tax bureau, the labor bureau, the public security bureau, the land administration bureau, the rural enterprise bureau and the section chief of the electric power bureau. With the participation of these directors- general with special capacities, the social position of the social groups. is further enhanced, their powers are further expanded and their relationship with the original organizational system is further cemented.

The relationship between the social groups. and the industrial and commercial administrative bureau and other departments or bureaus reveals the way in which the social groups. integrate with the original organizational system: ( 1 ) the social groups. survive by relying an the industrial and commercial administrative bureau and the latter is the leading department of the former; (2) depending an the position given to them by the industrial and commercial administrative bureau, the social groups. further make stable contacts with the other six organizations at the bureau level, constituting a non - subordinate and cooperative interactive network; (3) they establish various temporary relations of cooperation with more organizations under the original organizational system through multifarious interactions of non - organizational personnel intersection.

It is in the above three ways that the social groups. integrate the dissociating new - born organizational factors within the original organizational system, producing a complete and organic network of social organizations.

(3) The integration of new organizational systems

The new - born social groups. are the direct results of the disintegration of the original organizational system. After our further examination of the process of the new - born groups. ' actual participation in the disintegrating organizational systems, we find that after new factors participate, the organizational systems, an the basis of disintegration, form dual structures aimed at integration: the pyramid organizational structure taking the original relationship of administrative subordination as the dominant factor and the network organizational structure taking the horizontal contact of the intermediate social groups. as the dominant factor. At present, the close connection between the social groups. and the administrative organizational system makes the above two organizational systems with different structures become an entirety and China's social organizations present the structural feature taking administrative Subordination as the leading factor but non - administrative and non - governmental organizational network as the supplementary factor.

In such a unitary organizational system, individuals are completely relying on their work units ( particularly enterprises or institutions directly responsible to the Party and government departments (mostly shown in the relationship between enterprises and the government) . There is only a unitary vertical structure based an administrative subordination but no horizontal links among units or individuals in the connection of organizational factors. After the reform of the economic system was introduced, there have been the following changes in the interaction among the original organizational factors: (1) between the government and enterprises, the mode in which the government is the subject of production and operation and the initiator in the interaction has been changed into a new mode in which enterprises are the subject and initiator and this new mode supplies a basic setup for establishing the new - type relationship between the government and the organizational systems; (2) enterprises have gone beyond the mode of product supply and marketing an the premise of the fixing of capital ownership and management and established the commodity exchange mode an the prerequisite of the non-fixing of capital management and the interaction mode an the prerequisite of their own independent powers and interests, which provide conditions for establishing various horizontal contacts and cooperations; (3) the relations of thorough dependence between individuals and their work units is being changed and the multiformity of interests makes individuals act beyond their work units, acknowledge and participate in social organizations with special interests, providing conditions for establishing horizontal contacts between individuals; (4) the direct interaction mode between the government and the subject of production and Operation and social members has been changed into the indirect interaction mode with the intermediate social groups. as the medium and the latter has supplied a new way in which the government and the non - governmental integrate and a "buffer" mechanism for the partial interest conflicts that are likely to occur between the government and the non - governmental .

There is no doubt that the interactions in these changes operate with the new -born social groups. as the organizational fulcrum. So long as the new - born social groups. join the organizational systems, the latter will unavoidably have corresponding changes in structure (indicated by the dotted lines in the above diagram) : (1) among the intra - class units (enterprises and enterprises for example) and the intra -class individuals (for instance, individuals with the same profession, capacity and inclination, etc. ) a horizontal contact structure is established with social groups. as the medium; (2) between enterprises or individuals and the government a second vertical contact channel is established with the social groups. as the medium and these groups. , as the joint of the horizontal contact and the second vertical contact, have an important position in the structure of the organizational systems. The new organizational network with social groups. as the centre complements a and revises the original organizational network that still plays the leading role.

The restructuring of organizational systems has some new features: the Integration, no longer practised by "unification" or "centralization of power" , is based an the independence and multiformity of organizational factors. It includes the multivariate factors into a system in which they can mutually connect and be contained, providing a social environment that cannot be obtained under the present system for the independent development of factors, their horizontal contacts and interactions of mutual coordination.

z. The features of the organizational system after being restructured

(1) The co - existence of the pyramid structure and the network structure

The restructured organizational system enjoys duality in structure, that is, the pyramid structure with administrative subordination as the link and the network structure with social groups. as the medium and the non - administrative relationship of interests as the link coexist at the same time. In the present organizational system, the pyramid structure is still holding the leading post but the network structure also keeps extending. The latter not only embodies those new fields under the new system such as the horizontal contacts of the market , the new interest groups and the new economy groups but penetrates the depth of the pyramid structure, promoting the establishment of stable horizontal contacts among the organizational factors in the original system.

(2) The dual structures that are not reciprocal in the period of the transition

As stated above, the fields in which the network structure can play the decisive role are most limited to the fields of new organizational factors. Moreover, at present the network structure plays a role by always depending an the administrative subordination under the pyramid structure. Therefore, the positions of the present Chinese organizational structures are not reciprocal, though dual. This is the historical stage the Chinese society is bound to experience in the period of its transition to modernization.

But even so, we should realize that the reform has already begun and the network structure, as the important connection link in the field of the commodity economy the fields related to individual or collective interests, and directly involving the interests of organizations and individuals , is the necessary implementation and revision of the pyramid structure. As for the future, with the deepening of reform and the further disintegration of organizations, the present dual structures depending heavily an one party will slant towards the other party in the development of social groups. and other intermediate organizations. In brief , the present organizational structure of Chinese society, far from being fixed, is still in the process of volatile change.

(3) The co - existence of work units and intra - class organizations

Organizations under the original system are usually called work units. In China, work units mark the organizational and social ownership of individuals who have little choice. But the restructured organizational system not only contains the original work units but also a large number of "intra - class" organizations in which people are divided into different groups according to their physical characteristics, their common hobbies and interests and from which their different demands are met. The members make single - item demands rather than thoroughly depending an intra - class organizations. Thus, there exists the important characteristic of two - way choice between the intra - class organizations and their numbers. The appearance of intra - class organizations has provided convenience for people' s increasing multivariate demands and at the same time weakened the degree of people' s overall dependence an their work units.

(4) The tendency of special communication and multivariate interaction

With the birth of the intra-class organizations with social groups. as the representative and the formation of the network structure, communication between organizations has begun to transform from omni-bearing communications to special - item communication. With social groups. as the medium, the organizational factors

if they make horizontal contacts, will not have to report everything to higher authorities for solution but can interact with other organizational factors through the social groups. . It is obvious that this kind of horizontal special - item communication, entirely different in interaction form from the overall dependence under the vertical subordination, is a completely new organizational relationship.

In addition, as the special - item communications increase, the objects of organizational interaction tend to be more and more multivariate. Under the original system, the objects of organizational interaction are the higher - level leading departments and the subordinate units. But the appearance of the network structure makes organizations contact horizontally with more and more organizations of non - Subordination. At present, the special - item communications and the multivariate interactions among organizational factors have become a trend, they make the rigid pyramid structure loosen up and have injected vigor into the original organizational system.

Finally, it should be pointed out that by analysing the restructuring of the organizational systems from the perspective of the development of social groups. in this paper, I do not mean that the restructuring of the organizational systems is completely up to the social groups. . While studying social groups. , we have found that the decisive factors promoting the restructuring of organizational systems were not merely social groups. but also included those new-born specialized organizations (i. e. , the new - type enterprises and market organizations aimed at profit - making and the organizations affording the commodity economy services and security) : But anyhow it is an undeniable fact that the social groups. have played an important role in the restructuring of the organizational systems. From the perspective of the development of social groups. , the trial of the re - integration of the organizational systems can be clearly drawn. And it will become our chief task to further study the new - type specialized organizational structure.

Wang Ying: researcher in the Sociology Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.