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Administrative Burdens in Chinese Public Services: A Case of Selective Affinity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 February 2023

Ou Wang ,
Dongtao Qi Open the ORCID record for Dongtao Qi [Opens in a new window]  and
Yangge Liu
Ou Wang
Affiliation:
School of Public Administration, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, China
Dongtao Qi
Affiliation:
East Asian Institute, National University of Singapore, Singapore
Yangge Liu*
Affiliation:
School of Government, Peking University, Beijing, China.
*
Corresponding author: Yangge Liu, Email: liuyangge@stu.pku.edu.cn
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Abstract

The non-take-up of public services has the potential to undermine civil rights and deepen social inequality. Looking at the case of the Youth Community College Programme in China, an innovation in governance to facilitate community integration of the migrant population by providing free education, this study finds that the targeted disadvantaged groups are systematically excluded due to the disproportionate imposition of various administrative burdens on them. We propose that an interaction mechanism – which we term “selective affinity” – between the policy process and individuals’ human capital leads to this unintended outcome. The study contributes to a deeper understanding of the causal mechanisms underlying vulnerable people's non-take-up of public services, while highlighting an example of dysfunctional state–society interaction and a mechanism for the reproduction of social inequality under authoritarianism in China.

摘要

摘要

未接受公共服务可能会损害公民权利，扩大社会不平等。本文研究了中国的一个青年社区学院项目：它本是一项治理创新的尝试，冀通过提供免费教育来促进外来人口的社区融合，但由于各种管理负担过重，作为此项公共服务目标的弱势群体却被系统地排除在服务之外。本文提出，这是由于政策过程和个人人力资本之间的“选择性亲和”互动机制导致了这个非意图性的结果。此研究有助于深化理解弱势群体未接受公共服务的因果机制，同时凸显了“国家-社会”互动的一种失调机制，以及中国威权主义体制下社会不平等的一种再生产机制。

Keywords

administrative burdennon-take-up of public servicesmigrantsselective affinityinequalityChina管理负担未接受公共服务外来工选择性亲和不平等中国
Type
Research Article
Information
The China Quarterly , Volume 255 , September 2023 , pp. 734 - 752
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of SOAS University of London

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