Social governance is an interdisciplinary issue involving cultural concepts, institutional arrangements, performance evaluations and strategic choices. A better understanding of social quality is needed to break new ground in the field of social governance.

Before the concept of social quality was introduced, there were two models for evaluation of social conditions. One was the quality of life model, which emphasizes the subjective feelings of each member of society. This model is suitable for evaluating the efficiency of social policy, but it has limitations in terms of objectively reflecting the well-being and governance conditions of society as a whole.
 

The other was the model of stable social structure, which stresses the objective conditions of social structure. It faces the problem of the allocation of evaluating rights, which can potentially result in negative social outcomes in the context of restricted social empowerment and participation.
 

Compared to the two aforementioned models, the model of social quality is more appropriate for evaluating social conditions. It examines the level of citizen participation in the social and economic life of their communities under conditions in which public well-being and individual potential can be promoted. Based on social behavior, this model aims to build a sustainable welfare society to overcome the dilemmas faced by European welfare states. It further emphasizes the significance of such factors as the foundation of social operation, social empowerment and participation.

Models that measure quality of life and the stability of social structures play important roles in China’s social governance. However, the space of social participation has not been expanded and the capacity of social autonomy has not been increased with economic development. Also, policymakers and scholars have failed to make breakthroughs in the mechanisms of social governance. The model of social quality can pave the way for innovative social governance in governance concepts, methods and policy instruments through defining relations between national responsibility and the obligations of citizens, individuals and social structure.

Concepts such as fairness, equality and democracy in governance have been widely recognized. The model of social quality aims at social behavior and participation. This may provide a good starting point for the innovative concepts of current social governance. 

In terms of governance methods, China’s innovative social governance includes institutional innovation and exploring new modes of governance. The former mainly refers to streamlining administration and delegating more powers to lower-level governments and society, while the latter mainly means democratic consultation.
 

Under the framework of the model of social quality, social empowerment involves social participation, namely developing citizens’ capacity to participate in and determine the process of daily life and expanding citizens’ rights to engage in social participation. Thus, in the model of social quality, the evaluation of the conditions and space for participation is an important indicator to measure the governance quality of a society.
 

In terms of policy choice, the model of social quality contributes to breaking through what traditional social policies focus on. In the process of participating in social governance, traditional social policies tend to be problem oriented and aim to safeguard people’s basic material conditions or promote their capacity to acquire living resources. Less attention is drawn to social integration and empowerment.
 

The model of social quality proposes eliminating institutional barriers and safeguarding all citizens’ rights to fairly provide varieties of social groups with equal opportunities. This is the basic breakthrough point for social management to develop toward cooperative governance of multiple subjects.

Wang Xing is from the Zhou Enlai School of Government at Nankai University.