How social solidarity affects the outcomes of rural residential land consolidation: Evidence from Yujiang County, South China

Abstract

Rural residential land consolidation (RRLC) has long been an important instrument that aligns with rural development in transitional China. Given the uniform institutional framework, limited research has investigated how social solidarity in rural communities relates to RRLC practices. Following Williamson’s four-level social analysis framework, this paper assumes endogenous social solidarity as a cornerstone for determining RRLC model adoption and relevant outcomes. The hypothesis was examined by the self-organised RRLC practices in Yujiang County, which is one of the national-level pilots for homestead system reform (HSR). Through in-depth field surveys on two RRLC cases, a comparative study was conducted to investigate how social solidarity resulted in differentiated outcomes. The results indicated that although the local government’s empowerment and active mobilisation catalysed the formation of self-governance structures, endogenous social solidarity rooted in natural villages underpinned the self-organised RRLC model. Social solidarity enabled rural communities to undertake official empowerment and rebuild the collective action ability necessary for RRLC implementation. The case comparison revealed that strong social solidarity facilitated the compatibility of property ownership, governance power, action capability and moral responsibility of rural communities, creating the smooth implementation and anticipated performance of RRLC. This study provides fundamental insights into understanding the variability of RRLC models and valuable policy implications for rural transformation in contemporary China.