CHAN, JOSEPH HING-KWOK; PHD

                         UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH, 1983

                         SOCIOLOGY, THEORY AND METHODS (0344)
 

                         This study investigates the diverse and recurrent patterns of socio-political instability and radical change
                         in a large, traditional society. Based on the theoretical perspectives of social systems and social conflict,
                         an in-depth analysis of the forms and processes of social action involving massive participation and
                         collective violence during the late Ch'ing dynasty in China, between 1796 and 1911, is presented. The
                         primary source material is extracted from the voluminous historical treatise of Ta-Ch'ing Huang-ti Shih-lu
                         (the Veritable Records of Great Ch'ing Emperors). The present research analyzes both the temporal and
                         spatial distributions of social unrests and collective actions. Three indicators are constructed in this study:
                         (1) Magnitudes of Mass Disturbances, derived from the elementary analytical units of mass action
                         incidents; (2) Magnitudes of Government Administrative Ineffectiveness, derived from offenses
                         committed by government officials and punished by the imperial court; and (3) Magnitudes of Ecological
                         Pressures, derived from scales of intensity of both natural and social calamities. These composite
                         measures reflect the multiplexity and diversity of social disorders and collective actions which constituted
                         serious political challenges to the ruling authority. Two analytical methods are employed: (1) Time-domain
                         modelling using regression and autocorrelation techniques to construct linear equation models for
                         assessing the impacts of exogenous factors on mass disturbances and protest movements; and (2)
                         Frequency-domain modelling using spectral and cross-spectral techniques based on the Fourier
                         transformed auto- and cross-covariance functions to investigate the periodic nature of recurrences of
                         collective action. The overall conclusions reached by both methods reveal that mass disturbances in the
                         19th and early 20th century China were predominantly political in nature, largely mobilized by
                         collectivities with coherent structures and action objectives, and mostly centered in urban settings. In
                         particular, cross-spectral analysis suggests that this was especially the case with respect to ineffective
                         government performances in military, administrative, judicial and financial affairs in the long-run effects,
                         and with respect to calamities caused by socio-political upheavals and economic hardships in both
                         medium- and short-run effects.

Social Systems Simulation Group P.O. Box 6904 San Diego, CA  92166-0904 Roland Werner, Principal Phone/FAX  (619) 660-1603