TY - BOOK ID - 118328019 TI - The underworld of Rural China : research on rural gangs on China's Jianghan Plain and Dongting Lake Plain AU - Chen, Baifeng AU - Jun, Guo PY - 2023 SN - 9811987106 9811987092 PB - Singapore : Springer, DB - UniCat KW - Sociology. KW - Gangs. KW - Organized crime. KW - Organized Crime. KW - Crime syndicates KW - Organised crime KW - Crime KW - Crews (Gangs) KW - Street gangs KW - Teen gangs KW - Teenage gangs KW - Criminals KW - Juvenile delinquents KW - Hoodlums KW - Social theory KW - Social sciences KW - Rural crimes. KW - Crimes, Rural UR - https://www.unicat.be/uniCat?func=search&query=sysid:118328019 AB - This book aims to provide the readers a better understanding of rural China through the particular perspective of the rural underworld. It proposes new concepts to describe social changes of rural China by comparing the contemporary rural society with the acquaintance society—the classic model for depicting the traditional Chinese society. The author’s down-to-earth fieldwork has revealed that, with a permeating gang influence, the society of rural China has actually changed in nature. Such change in social nature is summarized as “the estrangement of acquaintances” or “moral ambiguity”. As a result of the rural gangster’s unlawful acts of lining their pockets with national resources, rural China is going through “rural governance involution.” In short, this book develops new models and concepts to establish a comprehensive scientific conceptual system for explaining social reality. With hard-to-come-by information and a prudent and multi-faceted analysis on a neglected topic, this book gradually reveals to the readers the true picture of rural China. ER -