The social assistance system in ancient China belonged to the social welfare system combining government and people. This social assistance system with the government as the main body began in the Zhou Dynasty, and then it was continuously improved, and its institutions were continuously expanded, forming a relatively complete government function from the central government to the local government. Especially in the case of widespread poverty, famine and disasters, the government's social relief agencies can play a very good role in maintaining social stability and maintaining feudal social rule.
(a) Civil society relief and social assistance
Civil social assistance and social assistance have strong spontaneous characteristics and mainly take the following forms:
One is family. In the traditional farming society with low productivity, the family is the most basic production and living unit. In daily production and life, in order to improve productivity and get enough food, consanguineous families or clans are naturally linked together, engaged in agricultural production and carried out a reasonable social division of labor. At the same time, they help each other.
The second is fellow villagers. In the case that blood relationship can't be taken care of, people have formed a strong local concept because they live in the same place, and the geographical relationship formed with the help of fellow villagers and villages has become another safety net to provide living security.
The third is the guild. Guild is a unique non-governmental organization in China traditional society, which means that people with similar interests are linked together through industries. "It provides economic care and services in safeguarding the economic interests of peers, regulating commercial disputes, formulating rules to train apprentices, and introducing acquaintances to apply for jobs, which has greatly relieved people's worries."
The fourth is religion. Religion is another non-governmental rescue force that cannot be ignored. Buddhism and Taoism have a strong influence on the people of China. Buddhism's religious morality of saving the world and helping others, and Taoism's religious morality of saving the world and helping others play an important role in regulating people's harmonious coexistence, teaching believers to help others, and helping the poor. For example, during the Chang 'an period of Wu Zetian in the Tang Dynasty (AD 70 1-704), a "sad field hospital" and a "hospital" were set up to mainly accommodate orphans, the elderly, the poor and the sick. The funds were paid by the government, and the monks and nuns in the temple were responsible for their management.
Government's social assistance system
1, six policies to protect interest. According to "Zhou Li", Da Situ supported the people by raising interest, that is, taking care of children, supporting the elderly, providing medical care and maintaining social order. It can be said that it basically covers the main contents of modern social work. In the Zhou Dynasty, Lu 'an people were also accustomed to this custom, one day entering the palace and one day sweeping the grave. Three days of brothers, four days of teachers, five days of friends and six days of clothes. In other words, housing construction and spiritual and moral construction should be equally important. The essence of welfare should be to pay equal attention to material and spirit, to the whole and the individual, and to the government and the people. In order to enable people to live in a proper place, live happily and die safely, we should not only care about the young and the old, but also help the poor, forgive the sick and live and work in peace and contentment, and also need local customs to respond.
2. The teaching of Jiuyi. The book Guanzi wrote: "The state has four demands, five elements and nine religions, one is old, the other is young, the third is lonely, the fourth is sick, the fifth is independent, the sixth is sick, the seventh is poor, the eighth is poor, and the ninth is divided." These contents are similar to the welfare of the elderly, children, social assistance, medical services, marriage counseling, health services, entrepreneurial services, employment services and so on.
3. Shecang Commune. Regular warehouses regulate food prices by storing grain. Regular warehouses have been built in various places to reserve grain for famine years. Yicang is to store the grain requisitioned by the government or donated by rich households in the warehouse, and the government sends people to manage it. When there is famine or food shortage, it will be released to help the victims. Social warehouses are organized by the people themselves or supervised by the government. It is similar to a relief tool of agricultural loan cooperative organization. In the year of famine, local people donated food or the government lent food to build warehouses in various towns to help the people. Rural Covenant, that is, people living in neighboring areas abide by the statute of * * *, which began in the Northern Song Dynasty with the Rural Covenant of Lushi. Rural convention was initiated in writing by Lu Dajun of Lantian in Song Dynasty and his brothers, neighbors and relatives. The content is divided into four major items: moral advice, negligence, the intersection of customs and habits, and sympathy for adversity. Later, it was promoted to the whole country by Zhu. "Because of the rules and regulations formulated by the villagers themselves and supplemented by government regulations, some people keep their promises to each other. Although there is no name for democracy, democracy already exists. The outline of' Lushi Township Covenant' ended in four articles, and the merits and demerits of life have been exhausted. Today, it is still a useful basis for the community to formulate conventions. "
Second, the development of modern community work in China
In the 1920s and 1930s, the most influential movement in the history of social undertakings in China was the rural construction movement. The rural construction movement is a rural social transformation movement, which is driven by the intellectual elite, with rural education as the starting point and the purpose of reviving rural society, under the background of the declining rural economy in China in the early 20th century. In this movement, the experimental activities of "rural construction" organized by different theoretical schools have played a certain role in promoting the political, economic and cultural development of rural society. According to incomplete statistics, * * * has more than 600 organizations. Among them, the famous Dingxian Civilian Education Experimental Zone, Tao Xingzhi's Nanjing Xiaozhuang Experimental Rural Normal School, Jiangsu Baoshan Normal School's Henan Rural Governance College, Liang Shuming and Shandong Zouping Rural Construction Research Institute, etc. These movements promoted by sociologists are all trying to promote social change by transforming rural communities. "They can be regarded as the beginning of modern community development and community service in China, and have achieved certain results and contributed to the development of professional social work."
After the founding of New China, it faced many social problems left over from the old society. In order to build a new society, China * * * Production Party launched a large-scale social assistance, relief and social transformation movement. In view of the problem of social poverty, the general policy of "self-help in production, mutual assistance among the masses, labor relief supplemented by necessary relief" was put forward, and social relief was widely carried out. On the one hand, infrastructure construction pays attention to the prevention of natural disasters to ensure the smooth progress of agricultural production; On the other hand, take effective measures to organize and carry out activities such as grain requisition, public grain reduction and exemption, social donation, immigration organization and grain depot rectification. In particular, the government departments represented by the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Ministry of Labor have done a lot of fruitful work in the resettlement and disaster relief of victims. In view of social evils such as vagrants, prostitutes and bandits, large-scale social transformation activities have been carried out in an attempt to transform them into new people who can stand on their own feet. By combining persuasion and mobilization with compulsory detention, and combining regular detention with regular detention, the China Municipal Government has banned brothels, casinos, smoking houses, rogue dens and other illegal activities in various places, and set up reeducation-through-labor institutions such as production reformatories, women's reformatories, and newcomers' workshops to organize prostitutes, vagrants and beggars, provide them with stable accommodation and a pure living environment, and provide them with in-depth ideological education while carrying out physical reform. In the early days of the founding of New China, most of the above social problems were solved by the administrative power of the government and achieved good social effects. In the process of solving the problem, community organizations based on neighborhood committees and residents' groups have also played a certain role, accelerating the completion of social transformation.
With the completion of the three major transformations, China has entered a new stage of socialist construction. Under the influence of the Soviet model, the state implemented a comprehensive planned economy in economy and a unit system in social management. In urban society, with the improvement and expansion of functions, units have become the main means of social integration. Through the unit system, the state "widely controls the main daily activities outside the family-activities in factories, offices, schools and other places". The state has concentrated social resources to the maximum extent, controlled all employees of the unit, infiltrated state power into the real life of individual residents, and achieved comprehensive control over urban society. The generalization of unit functions makes organizations or intermediaries that provide services outside the unit lose their development space. Street offices and neighborhood committees only manage a very small number of urban residents without units, and professional community work has lost the basic conditions for survival.
In the 1920s and 1930s, some universities set up sociology departments to introduce theories and methods of social work. 1952 when the department was adjusted, the sociology department was cancelled by mistake, and researchers engaged in related disciplines had to change careers. This abnormal state lasted for more than 30 years, which directly led to the serious lag of sociology research and social work education and its practice in China.
After the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee, sociology and other disciplines gradually recovered, which also promoted the development of social work education and practice. On the educational level, 1987, the then State Education Commission agreed to set up social work majors in Renmin University of China, Peking University, Jilin University and Xiamen University. The professional name determined at that time was "Social Work and Management". 65438-0989 The Department of Sociology of Peking University cooperates with the Ministry of Civil Affairs to recruit and train social work undergraduates. By the end of 2003, nearly 200 colleges and universities in China had offered social work majors, and the number was increasing. Among them, there are not only comprehensive and research universities, but also various specialized universities such as workers, peasants and soldiers, doctors and specialties. Professional social work has gradually recovered and developed rapidly in China.
Since the 1990s, with the gradual establishment and improvement of the socialist market economic system, China's social economy has developed rapidly, the urbanization process has been accelerating, and the diversification of social interest groups has become increasingly obvious. During the period of social transformation, there have been many unprecedented problems in China, such as polarization, unemployment, aging, empty-nest families, juvenile delinquency and so on. To alleviate and solve these problems, it is necessary to introduce professional social work technology. In addition, the transformation from "unit person" to "social person", the in-depth development of community construction, the popularization of housing commercialization and the socialization of social welfare all call for and give birth to localized community work in China.
Three. Contemporary community construction and community work
(A) the proposal and development of community building
In China, community construction is actually the construction and development of urban communities. The construction of urban communities in contemporary China was put forward and developed in the process of reforming the urban grass-roots management system. According to the current constitution of our country, the district is the grass-roots organ of political power in the city, the street is the agency of the district government, and the neighborhood Committee is a mass autonomous organization, which is authorized by the government to undertake certain social management functions. The community we are talking about in community construction generally refers to the neighborhood committees after the scale adjustment. According to statistics, by the end of 2002, 660 cities in China had 830 municipal districts, 5,576 sub-district offices and 85,000 community neighborhood committees. Every resident living in a city needs to have a relationship with grass-roots management organizations such as community neighborhood committees, neighborhood offices or district governments, and accept the management of the city government directly or indirectly. From the long historical development process, it is not difficult to see that the way of urban residents accepting government management and the way of handling public power within grassroots communities are constantly adjusting and changing. The change of grass-roots management system not only reflects the interactive relationship between the state and society, but also reflects the change of residents' status and role in social development, and even reflects the degree of residents' individual rights, which is a microcosm of the political system.
With the gradual establishment of the socialist market economic system, various economic components, including the individual and private economy, have developed rapidly, the social structure has been constantly divided, and urban society has undergone fundamental changes. Social transformation poses a great challenge to the basic management system of dual cities with the unit system as the main body. On the one hand, the diversity of social organizations has become increasingly obvious, and many industries and organizations that do not have the characteristics of the traditional "unit" system have emerged, and the number of employees has increased rapidly; On the other hand, in the face of the tide of social change, the "unit person" voluntarily or forced to turn to the "social person", and the service function of the unit is constantly stripped from the society, which requires the society to provide adequate and high-quality services in time. Coupled with the increase of floating population, the increase of residents' leisure time and the arrival of an aging society, the content of urban grass-roots management is becoming more and more complicated. Under the background of social transformation, the "unit" system is declining, and its organizational function of integrating society is not only weakening day by day, but will inevitably collapse. Sub-district offices and neighborhood committees are playing an increasingly important role in maintaining social order, guiding laid-off workers to re-employment, implementing the minimum living guarantee for residents, and creating a good environment for economic development, and are forming the micro focus of urban social management. Therefore, the urban dual grass-roots management system with "unit" organizations as the main body and neighborhood committees as the auxiliary must also adapt to the new situation and make corresponding changes.
Facing the rapid change of social situation, civil affairs departments gradually realize that the focus of street housing work must shift from economic development to service provision, and from simple community service to comprehensive community construction. 1991may 3 1 day, when Cui Naifu, then minister of civil affairs, talked about the construction of grass-roots political power, he clearly put forward the requirements for promoting community construction. 1992 10, the China grass-roots political power construction research institute under the Ministry of Civil Affairs held a unique "National Symposium on Urban Community Construction Theory" in Hangzhou. In this way, marked by the development of community construction, the prelude to the reform of urban grass-roots management system is slowly opened. On the basis of the pilot experience in Shanghai, Shijiazhuang, Qingdao, Shenyang and Wuhan, the general offices of the General Office of the Central Committee of the CPC and the State Council forwarded the Opinions of the Ministry of Civil Affairs on Promoting the Construction of Urban Communities in China on June 5438+065438+1October 09, 2000, clearly stating that the guiding ideology of community construction is: "Reform the urban grass-roots management system and strengthen community functions, Consolidate the organizational foundation and mass foundation of the Party's work in cities, strengthen the construction of grassroots political power and mass autonomous organizations in cities, improve people's quality of life and civilization, expand grassroots democracy, close the relationship between the party and the masses, maintain social and political stability, and promote the coordinated development of urban economy and society. " In this way, community construction has flourished in cities across the country.
(B) the relationship between community building and community work
1, the goals of community construction and community work are the same.
According to Rothman's dichotomy of community work objectives, the process objectives and task objectives of the two are the same. As mentioned above, the process goal of community construction is to maintain social stability, improve people's quality of life and civilization, and promote the coordinated development of urban economy and society. Community work refers to finding and solving community problems, integrating community resources, coordinating the relationship among community residents, community residents and community organizations, promoting the cultivation of community residents' participation ability, enhancing their awareness of participation and promoting community development. If analyzed from the mission objectives, the two are also very similar. In order to achieve the ultimate goal of community construction, we must implement specific task objectives and solve various problems in the community. At present, the common problems encountered in community construction in China are: low participation rate of residents, weak sense of community identity, imperfect development of community organizations, and a series of problems in community pension, community economy, community education and community resource allocation. Community construction is to solve these problems closely related to the life and interests of community residents. On this basis, the goal of harmonious society development can be achieved. The task and goal of community work is also to solve these practical problems, and to achieve certain social welfare purposes and meet some practical needs of the community by solving problems. The object of community work is the whole community and community residents, and the problems faced are basically the same as those of community construction.
2. Community construction and community work have the same social background.
The reason why our government puts forward community construction is because in the process of political and economic system reform, there are many inevitable social problems, such as aging, poverty, high unemployment rate, juvenile delinquency, environmental degradation and so on. Social stability has been severely challenged and the sustainable development of the economy has also encountered great obstacles. In order to cope with social changes and solve social problems, the government has realized the transformation from rule to governance from the idea of reforming the urban grass-roots management system. Emphasize that being in power means serving, give power to people in some areas, encourage residents to participate in community affairs, build communities into stable and peaceful homes and leisure places through self-management, self-education and self-service, and solve and alleviate social problems and social contradictions through community construction.
Community work is gradually put forward by western countries in the process of industrialization and urbanization. The background is that in the process of industrialization and urbanization in western countries, many social problems have emerged, such as polarization between the rich and the poor, high crime rate, environmental pollution and ethnic contradictions. How to solve these problems? Community development proved to be a good idea. Community is the epitome of society, and all kinds of social problems will be reflected in the community. It helps to fundamentally alleviate social contradictions and improve the quality of life of community residents. Governments all over the world regard community development as a basic policy to promote economic development and social stability, and gradually realize the community interests of residents, and the implementation of various social welfare measures is also placed at the community level. It is in this context that community work has become an important working method to implement community social welfare policies and resolve social contradictions.
3. Community construction provides development space for the localization, professionalization and specialization of community work.
Social work has just started in China, and society is still ignorant of social work. On the one hand, the development of social work in China should actively learn from the West and learn from the rich and excellent social work theories accumulated by the West 100 years; on the other hand, it should thoroughly summarize the traditional social assistance and social relief practice in China, reflect on the practical problems faced by China's social development, actively explore and strive to form a social work theory with China characteristics.
Social work in China includes the development process of community work, and its essence is how to realize the localization, specialization and professionalization of social work. The so-called localization means that while studying and developing social work, it combines its own political system, economic development, cultural tradition and social psychology to form a unique working model and system. Specialization is to become an independent profession and industry, and people engaged in social work should receive formal education and technical training in social work professional knowledge. At present, there are two ways to promote the development of social work specialty: one is the participation of social work education in practice, and the other is to promote the specialization of community work. Specialization means that social work becomes an independent profession, with its own professional ethics and codes, its own assessment standards and appointment procedures.
Community construction provides a good development platform for the development of community work in China. First of all, the government led the community development, established relevant functional departments and formulated corresponding policies, which created a good external environment for the development of community work. Secondly, the community is closely related to the life and interests of every resident. Solving complex community problems requires a large number of professionals. Especially with the commercialization of housing and the communization of social welfare, community residents urgently need a large number of professional social workers to enter the community management system to solve practical problems for residents and create a good living environment. Finally, China's current social work education is in the ascendant, and many community workers who have received formal professional education have been trained and transported for the community. They are the best practitioners and promoters of specialization, localization and professionalization of community work.
Therefore, community construction provides rare opportunities and broad development space for community work; The practical process of community work is also the process of building and developing communities. The mutual cooperation and promotion of the two will promote the healthy development of urban communities in China.