Getting Access to Justice from Bottom up? Social Capital and Resolution of Civil Conflicts in Rural China

Civil disputes in rural China have long been considered as a threat to social stability and order. Previous studies focus on the formal institutions, especially the state power beyond the village in resolving civil disputes, relatively ignoring the natural informal institutions within the villages. This research,therefore, will try to explore the possibilities of resolving civil disputes from bottom up. Using a national survey dataset (CGSS2005) from China’s 410 villages , this study aims to exam the impact of social capital on rural residents’ preference and actual choice of resolution in virtual and actual civil disputes, respectively. The social capital in the village refers to the features of social organization, such as trust, norms and networks that can improve the efficiency of society by facilitating the coordinations. The author argues that increase in social capital can significantly increase the probability of mediation.
First, the abundant associations provide more platform and agency for the residents to resolve their ccivil disputes.Second, the networks on the community level could give rural residents more choices when they face disputes. Considering the high cost of administrative and legal ways of resolution, the macro networks are cheaper and more available for ordinary villagers. Third, the social trust increases the interaction and dependence with each other so that villagers may be more willing to resolve their disputes by resorting to the informal parts. This research is of great importance for discovering the informal institutions indisputes resolution and provides insightful evidence for rethinking the state-society relationship in authoritarian China.