Social Sciences in China (Chinese Edition)

No. 11, 2021

The Power of Institutions: The Construction of China’s Social Security System and the Evolution of the Sense that Income Distribution Is Fair

(Abstract)

Huang Jian and Deng Yanhua

The perception among the mass of the people that income distribution is fair is a matter that concerns the nation’s political security and social harmony and stability. The construction of China’s social security system has led to a further shift in the revaluation of distributive justice towards the principles of equality and need; residents’ judgments of the distribution of resources is increasingly dependent on their satisfaction with the government’s social security function. An analysis of the CGSS data from 2005 and 2015 shows that people’s perceptions of the government’s social security functions largely influence their judgments of income distribution, i.e. the more satisfied they are with the government’s social security functions, the more likely they are to agree that the current distribution of income in society is fair. Perceptions of the distribution of income in society were more positive in 2015 than in 2005. The individual’s sense that income distribution is fair is more pronounced in provinces where there is a higher level of growth in public spending on the construction of a social security system and where satisfaction with the social security function is more evident. These findings enrich the study of the theory of institutional culture and provide empirical evidence that social security systems have a role in value-directing and value-shaping.