University of Macau / Faculty of Social Sciences / Department of Government and Public Administration

By two cases, Amity Foundation and Shanghai YMCA, the paper described the situation of the contemporary China's Christianity-based social service organizations, analyzed the social capital they have generated, and explored their influence on the development of civil society in China. First of all, I did the literature review on the concept of civil society and social capital under the West and China's background, as for the social capital especially focusing on Robert Putnam's social capital analysis. Then I did the analysis based on the two cases from my field-work data collection. I concluded that these faith-based social service organizations have generated the positive social influences and social capital, fulfilled the huge social needs, and played an important role in pushing the development of civil society in China through their social service work. At the same time, we could get the new definition and recognition to the function model of these associations and civil society different with the West perspective: a non-conflict cooperation model. These service-oriented associations could communicate and cooperate with government effectively and positively, and become the "de-compressor" of the individual existence in market economy development, the "safety valve" of social security, and the "incubator" of civil society. / 曹飛廉. / Adviser: K. M. Chan. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 70-03, Section: A, page: 1052. / Thesis (doctoral)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 176-178). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts in Chinese and English. / School code: 1307. / Cao Feilian.