http://dspace.cityu.edu.hk:80/handle/2031/725 2013-06-14T01:34:30Z 2013-06-14T01:34:30Z Jiang, Feng (姜峰) http://dspace.cityu.edu.hk:80/handle/2031/7012 2013-06-13T02:39:26Z 2012-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Culture and experience : Chinese and Americans judgment about experience-related issues Authors: Jiang, Feng (姜峰) Abstract: Human experience is the crucial connection of the outer world and inner world, as well as the important foundation of human existence. Although experience happens almost every day, it has been overlooked by psychologists for a long time. Regarding this issue, a series questions can be asked for psychologists: Do we prefer to cope with new situations by consulting prior experience or depending upon exploratory approach? What is the reason for adopting certain strategies? Is our cultural background involved? In this dissertation, Chinese and American psychological approaches to experience were differentiated in terms of reflective orientation versus exploratory orientation. Chinese ways of understanding experience - considering it as a rigid or closed entity that should always be obeyed and abided by, result in a reflective approach. In contrast, American ways of understanding experience - regarding it as a tool or method to explore the unknown world and to obtain knowledge, result in an exploratory approach. This dissertation builds on four studies conducted to test our contention and results are as follows. Chinese preferred reflective proverbs that emphasize the importance of experiences whereas Americans preferred exploratory proverbs that stress on the importance of exploration (Study 1). Chinese were more likely to attribute their success or achievement to experiences whereas Americans were more likely to attribute it to their exploration (Study 2). Chinese tended to evaluate the reflective-oriented values more important whereas American tended to evaluate the exploratory-oriented values more important (Study 3). Chinese prediction was more easily influenced by prior information whereas Americans prediction was immune to prior information (Study 4). Implications and future direction about the reflective-exploratory orientations are discussed. Notes: CityU Call Number: BF637.E97 J63 2012; vi, 118 leaves 30 cm.; Thesis (Ph.D.)--City University of Hong Kong, 2012.; Includes bibliographical references (leaves 88-103)

2012-01-01T00:00:00Z Hu, Kang (胡康) http://dspace.cityu.edu.hk:80/handle/2031/7011 2013-06-13T02:39:23Z 2012-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: The effect of social capital on civic engagement in urban China Authors: Hu, Kang (胡康) Abstract: Against a backdrop of weakening social solidarity, inadequate government efficiency, and widening economic inequality that might have emerged in China urban society after Deng Xiaoping's economic reforms since late 1970s, the present study proposed three types of civic engagement that may contribute to understand and tackle these issues. First, the Durkheimian civic engagement refers to the kinds of civic engagement that may strengthen social solidarity. Second, the Weberian civic engagement refers to the kinds of civic engagement that may facilitate the rationalisation of government. Third, the Marxian civic engagement refers to the kinds of civic engagement that may potentially reduce economic inequality of a society. Specifically, two forms of Durkheimian civic engagement are identified: citizen cooperation and generalised altruism. Citizen cooperation refers to the cooperative behaviours among citizens to resolve public problems in their community, while generalised altruism refers to a citizen's altruistic behaviours, such as charitable donations and volunteering, that are oriented to the less fortunate in society. A form of Weberian civic engagement is identified: influencing government. This refers to those actions that are intended to resolve public problems by influencing government. A form of Marxian civic engagement is identified: voting participation. This refers to citizen's voting participation in institutionalised elections. The mechanisms of these three types of civic engagement were investigated by a survey with 867 respondents and supplementary in-depth interviews with 17 urban residents. The findings reveal an indigenised view of the effect of social capital on civic engagement in urban China, with three major findings. First, social capital was a robust predictor of all three types of civic engagement; however, social capital's effect on Durkheimian type was more prominent than its effects on Weberian and Marxian type. Second, the specific means social capital motivated the three types of civic engagement varied across each other. For instance, while the public affairs discussion increased by social capital was effective in inducing Durkheimian and Weberian types of civic engagement, it was irrelevant to Marxian civic engagement. In addition, while the generalised norm of reciprocity strengthened by social capital was effective in inducing Durkheimian and Marxian types of civic engagement, it was irrelevant to Weberian civic engagement. Third, it is revealed that the two Chinese cultural values - Confucian moral progression value and socialist collectivism value - that the present study investigated did not impact individual-level social capital's effect on civic engagement. However, endorsement of the Confucian moral progression value was able to reinforce the contextual effects of community-level social capital on Durkheimian and Weberian types of civic engagement, and endorsement of the socialist collectivism value was able to reinforce the contextual effects of community-level social capital on Durkheimian civic engagement. This study argues the variations exist across social capital's effects on the three types of civic engagement might be due to some institutional arrangement of current urban society of China. As for Durkheimian type, various institutions such as local governments, Community Residents' Committee, workplace, and schools all are able to induce people to engage. However, the channels for Weberian type are quite limited due to constraints exerted by the current political regime. In addition, the paternalistic government-governed relationship arising from China's Confucian cultural tradition may also make people avoid addressing public problems through Weberian civic engagement. As for Marxian civic engagement, barriers exist for urban residents, who do not have a local residential status, to participate in the election of Community Residents' Committee and the election of local level People's Congress. The present study concluded that, to address the declining social solidarity, inadequate government efficiency, and widening economic inequality in the post-reform urban society, not only should public policy makers pay attention to the importance of social capital, but also need to reform the institutional constraints that potentially weakened the motivational power of social capital. Notes: CityU Call Number: HN733.5 .H798 2012; xv, 327 leaves 30 cm.; Thesis (Ph.D.)--City University of Hong Kong, 2012.; Includes bibliographical references (leaves 274-289)

2012-01-01T00:00:00Z Wang, Xiaohai ( 王小海) http://dspace.cityu.edu.hk:80/handle/2031/6526 2012-08-07T07:44:07Z 2010-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: An exploration of the social service role strain, social service role stress and empowerment of frontline police officers in China Authors: Wang, Xiaohai ( 王小海) Abstract: This study examines the possible relationships between police social service role strain (PSSRS), police social service role stress (PSSRSS), police social service structural empowerment (PSSSE) and police social service psychological empowerment (PSSPE) among frontline police officers in China. Based on theories of role strain, structural empowerment and psychological empowerment, a conceptual model of Police Social Service Role Stress-Strain and Coping is established. This study adopts a two-phase (quantitative and qualitative approaches) sequential explanatory design. In the first phase, a questionnaire is used to collect data from a sample of two hundred frontline community patrol officers in Shenzhen Public Security Bureau (China). After conducting the quantitative analysis, the author uses in-depth interviews to explore the nature of PSSRS, PSSRSS, PSSSE and PSSPE from 12 selected interviewees’ insights. According to the results of the survey and in-depth interviews, the participants report a comparatively high level of PSSRS and PSSRSS, and seem to perceive a low level of PSSSE and have a weak sense of PSSPE. It has been found that there are significantly positive correlations between PSSRSS and PSSRS and negative relationships between PSSSE, PSSPE and PSSRS. The emergence of PSSRSS, PSSSE, PSSPE, PSSRS and their correlations needs to be understood as dependent upon the development of Chinese policing and the Chinese police organization. In reviewing the development of Chinese policing in the pre-reform period, the dual social control (informal and formal) mechanism with emphasis on informal social control followed the mass line of policing and operated very well for social service delivery in China. During the reform era, Chinese policing is characterized by strike-hard campaigns, police professionalization, and police professional ethics which are highly concerned with the emergence of PSSRS and PSSRSS. Many limits of paramilitary-bureaucratic structure in Chinese police organization are closely concerned with respondents’ perception of a low level of PSSSE and PSSPE. The author proposes a model for understanding and coping with PSSRS among frontline police officers. Many suggestions are made for inhibiting the emergence of PSSRSS and improving the empowerment in the police organization. Notes: CityU Call Number: HV8260.A2 W37 2010; xii, 373 p. : ill. 30 cm.; Thesis (Ph.D.)--City University of Hong Kong, 2010.; Includes bibliographical references (p. 331-347)

2010-01-01T00:00:00Z Wang, Ying (王穎) http://dspace.cityu.edu.hk:80/handle/2031/6151 2011-05-25T01:15:34Z 2010-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Managing institutions : survival of minban secondary schools in mainland China Authors: Wang, Ying (王穎) Abstract: Minban education has already established its position in China's education system. Diversification, uneven development across regions, market-oriented, coexistence and confusion of multiple ownerships are its major features. However, there is still limited systematic study on its operation. The emergence of minban schools represents the parents and students' need for alternative education. The external demands from these stakeholders, as well as from the government, constitute the institutional environment impelling the survival and development of minban schools. At the same time, the individual schools themselves are also responding to and shaping the institutional environment. This study adopts the ideas of new institutionalism to analyze minban schools as a form of organization, and its interaction with the institutions. The study of institutions includes the regulative, normative and cognitive dimensions. This study aims to explore the new features of the evolving educational institutional environment and the strategies that minban schools adopt to manage the institutions in this environment. Qualitative research methodology - multiple case study - was adopted. As observed in the new educational institutional environment, there are four types of minban schools: the converted minban school, the affiliated minban school, the private capital invested minban school and the international minban school. A total of eight minban secondary schools in Taiyuan and Shenzhen were chosen to represent these diverse types of minban schools. Data collection methods such as archival review, field participant observation and in-depth interview, were adopted to collect data. The study showed that the reemergence of market and its principles, the decentralization of government and segmentation of its power and authority, the bureaucratic profession coupled with the consumerist profession of teachers, and the investment-oriented and 'education-as-consumption' culture engendered an increasingly multiple institutional environment for minban schools. Different types of minban schools co-existed, with each type of school occupying their own unique location in the continuum from 'domesticated' and 'public', to 'wild' and 'private'. Differential locations reflected the 'differential order' of different types of minban schools in this institutional environment. The converted minban school, the affiliated minban school, the private capital invested minban school, and the international minban school were located, in order, according to their distance from the government and public system. Such hierarchical arrangement of minban schools took shape according to the bureaucratic arrangement of the government's regulative institution. Concurrently, the normative and cognitive institutions also contributed to shape the boundary of order: maintaining and/or changing the boundary and arrangement of differential order. The study argued that the institutions influence the differential order of minban schools and through this, delimit the strategies that each school, as an organization within the institutional environment, selected to cope with the institutions. These strategies could be categorized as 'capitalize', 'advocacy', 'avoidance', and 'isolation'. During the process of interaction between organizations and institutions, the boundaries of differential order changed, and at the same time the components of institutions are interpreted and re-interpreted, which in turn adjusted the room for organization's autonomy. Minban schools have greater freedom from regulatory control, and within, different types of schools will have different extent of freedom enjoyed. according to their differential order. However, they all actively derived strategies to manage institutions in order to expand their autonomy. In this process, resources, protection and support (gained from trust), received from the local governments and parents, were mobilized for their own pursuits. This study confirmed that, alongside the increasing number of minban schools, the demands from these new types of organizations and the parents' increasing engagement in education, were meaningful in cultivating a primitive form of civil society. However, the function of minban schools proposed by the government seemed more of a myth than reality. They could not lead to a substantial improvement of the educational system. The government still maintained substantial control on minban schools through the power vested upon them by the bureaucratic structure, and re-penetrated into the new institutional environment via new forms of regulation and governance. Notes: CityU Call Number: LC54.C6 W36 2010; xii, 409 leaves 30 cm.; Thesis (Ph.D.)--City University of Hong Kong, 2010.; Includes bibliographical references (leaves 382-405)

2010-01-01T00:00:00Z