Social capital, lineage and in situ urbanization, the case of "villages within city", Shenzhen, China

Abstract

The study explores the relationship between lineage, social capital and in situ urbanization of “villages within city” in the context of China’s rapid urban expansion. The literature reviewed shows that there have been studies on many aspects of “villages within city” since the middle 1990s. However, the role of lineages during the in situ urbanization of “villages within city” is largely under-examined and remains as a research gap. This study endeavors to fill this cross-disciplinary gap. Taking notice of the differences between single-lineage “villages within city” and multi-lineage ones, the study explores the following two research questions: (1) does the level of social capital vary among “villages within city” with different lineage structures? If yes, in what way? (2) does social capital in “villages within city” influence the outcomes of urbanization? If yes, what role does it play?

In order to address the above research questions, the study firstly consults three areas of study, namely, lineage, social capital and in situ urbanization of “villages within city”. Through examining the relationships among the three key research variables, the thesis demonstrates the significance of theoretical integration of the three concepts and develops a tentative analytical framework. Given the different lineage structures, it is hypothesized that single-lineage “villages within city”, compared with multi-lineage ones, are more likely to possess higher levels of social capital at the administrative village level, and thus could achieve better outcomes of urbanization.

To test the hypotheses, two representative “villages within city” with different lineage structures in Futian district of Shenzhen — the single-lineage Xiasha administrative village (including six natural villages which are lived by six Huang sub-lineages) and the multi-lineage Shawei administrative village (including three natural villages that are inhabited by different lineages of Wen, Mo and Liang) — are selected as the case study sites after examining the development trajectory of villages and lineages in Shenzhen. The empirical study measures the levels of social capital in Xiasha and Shawei at both the natural village level and administrative village level through the use of a questionnaire survey, and examines the outcomes of urbanization of Xiasha and Shawei through literature review, department interview, site study and observation.

Three major findings are identified through analyzing the case study: (1) lineage structures in some Chinese “villages within city” are institutional legacies of rural collectivization in the late 1950s; (2) there exists a higher level of social capital at the administrative village level in single-lineage “village within city” than that in multi-lineage one; (3) social capital at the administrative village level, other than that at the natural village level, has a positive role in promoting in situ urbanization of “villages within city” in terms of collective economy development, physical environment construction and lineage culture reservation.