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Social Work Organizations’ Role in the Social Capital Building in China: A Case Study Among Rural Migrant Workers in Xiamen

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Abstract

Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are considered important actors in promoting social capital, social welfare, and social work organizations (SWOs) and are fast-developing in China. This research adopted a case study to look into SWOs’ (Social Work Organization’s) capacity to build social capital among rural migrant workers (RMWs) in Xiamen, China. It is found that SWOs’ capacity in linking social capital is still weak. Their capability in social networking and trust and norms building is over-shaped by the environmental factors. SWOs’ role in building social capital in China is social construction production. SWOs should reexamine their social development roles but not to be co-opted into the authoritative control system and play a major factor in social capital establishment standing for clients’ authentic development. It is suggested that SWOs should focus more on linking social capital (both structural and cognitive social capital) between vulnerable groups and other organizations, especially government departments and policymakers, and apply social capital into social work theory development with its context in China.

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Notes

  1. Xiamen is a SEC (special economic zone) located in China’s South-East coastal areas, acting as an important central city, coastal port, famous tourist city, and overseas Chinese hometown. Xiamen has been designated as one of pilot regions for developing talent social workers (shehui gongzuo rencai duiwu jianshe shidian) in China since 2007, and one of its districts is nominated as the first batch of nationwide demonstration pilot districts (diyipi shehui gongzuo rencai duiwu jianshe shidian shifanqu) in 2009. The number of qualified social workers in Xiamen is ranking first in Fujian province, making up to 44%. With the support of local government, the amount of funding allocated to 29 SWOs is climbing to 970,000 yuan in 5 years, and 75 social worker institutions were set up, over 1000 social workers are attracted to work in this city. Nevertheless, these SWOs are still critiqued as featuring in small quantity and scale, inadequate development, and limited functioning. It is meaningful to delve into the research on these SWOs.

  2. According to Xu and Peng’s (2015) research, SWOs that cooperated with governmental department are those cooperating with government departments, and most of them are initiated by university professors, or promoted by government; their funding is supported by government, most of their service and projects are purchased by government, and even some of their workplaces are provided by government. SWO-1 is such a SWO initiated by a university professor, and its workplace is located in the community committee provided by a local community department; its projects are all supported by government departments. Market-oriented SWOs are set up from down to top, which are formed by market mechanisms, which is independent from government. Their funding resources are various, including government purchasing service, applying projects from foundation, and cooperating with enterprise, but government purchasing is still dominant. SWO-2 is such a market-oriented organization promoted by market mechanism; however, most of their projects are supported by government purchase, and even though they keep looking for partners, only one project is supported by the foundation.

  3. The location of SWO-2 is in a rural area, which is the poorest village in its district in 2005, with the beginning of industrial concentration district project; this community started to develop and became the model village, and more than 50,000 rural migrant workers got on well with over 4000 local residents in 2017 (retrieved from http://xm.fjsen.com/2017-06/27/content_19718854_all.htm).

  4. WeChat: a popular social network app in China.

  5. Dishi nengliang yizhan: Taxi driver energy courier station.

  6. Deputy to the People's Congress.

Abbreviations

Dazhengfu, xiaoshehui:

Big government, small society

Dishi nengliang yizhan:

Taxi driver energy courier station

Dishi yijia qin:

Taxi is a big family

Diyipi shehui gongzuo rencai duiwu jianshe shidian shifanqu:

The first batch of nationwide demonstration pilot districts

Hao fangdong, yuanlai yijiaqin:

Community good landlord, predestined to be a family

Hexie:

Harmony

Dishi yijia qin:

Taxi is a big family

Hukou:

Household registration system in China, preseting personal information including birthday, gender, native place, registered residence, and so on. It is divided into rural and urban, which means rural migrant workers are unable to receive public goods as they are not local resident because of hukou separation. However, it is put on to the agenda by scholars to initiate reform on household registration to ensure social equity, especially for the rural migrant workers.

Jijinhui:

Foundations

Minban feiqiye danwei:

Non-governmental and non-profit units

Shehui gongzuo rencai duiwi juanshe shidian:

Pilot regions for developing talent social workers

Shehui tuanti:

Social association

Shehui zuzhi:

Social organization

Shewai zuzhi:

International non-government organizations

Shixiongdi:

Brothers

Zhengfu goumai fuwu:

Purchase of service contracting

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anthropology and Sociology, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

    Shanshan Hong & Rosila Bee Mohd Hussain

  2. Department of History, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

    Danny Tze Ken Wong

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  1. Shanshan Hong
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  2. Rosila Bee Mohd Hussain
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Correspondence to Shanshan Hong.

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Approval was obtained from the ethics committee of University of Malaya. This research complies with the ethical principles of the University Policy on Human Ethical Practice in Research.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Hong, S., Hussain, R.B.M. & Wong, D.T.K. Social Work Organizations’ Role in the Social Capital Building in China: A Case Study Among Rural Migrant Workers in Xiamen. Glob Soc Welf 9, 55–66 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40609-021-00207-6

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