define safety valve theory made in china
The Supreme Court has reinforced the theory of the First Amendment as a "safety valve," reasoning that citizens who are free to to express displeasure against government through peaceful protest will be deterred from undertaking violent means. The boundary between what is peaceful and what is violent is not always clear. For example, in this 1965 photo, Alabama State College students participated in a non-violent protest for voter rights when deputies confronted them anyway, breaking up the gathering. (AP Photo/Perry Aycock, used with permission from the Associated Press)
Under the safety valve rationale, citizens are free to make statements concerning controversial societal issues to express their displeasure against government and its policies. In assuming this right, citizens will be deterred from undertaking violent means to draw attention to their causes.
The First Amendment, in safeguarding freedom of speech, religion, peaceable assembly, and a right to petition government, embodies the safety valve theory.
These and other decisions rest on the idea that it is better to allow members of the public to judge ideas for themselves and act accordingly than to have the government act as a censure. The Court has even shown support in cases concerning obscenity or speech that incites violent action. The safety valve theory suggests that such a policy is more likely to lead to civil peace than to civil disruption.
Justice Louis D. Brandeis recognized the potential for the First Amendment to serve as a safety valve in his concurring opinion in Whitney v. California (1927) when he wrote: “fear breeds repression; . . . repression breeds hate; . . . hate menaces stable government; . . . the path of safety lies in the opportunity to discuss freely supposed grievances and proposed remedies; and the fitting remedy for evil counsels is good ones.”
The safety valve theory was a theory about how to deal with unemployment which gave rise to the Homestead Act of 1862 in the United States. Given the concentration of immigrants (and population) on the Eastern coast, it was hypothesized that making free land available in the West would relieve the pressure for employment in the East. By analogy with steam pressure (= the need for work), the enactment of a free land law, it was believed, would act as a safety valve. This theory meant that if the East started filling up with immigrants, they could always go West until they reached a point where they could not move any farther.
A distinction has to be made between (1) the safety valve theory as an ideal and (2) the safety valve theory as embodied in the Homestead Act of 1862.
There is a dispute whether and to what extent the Homestead Act did or did not succeed as a safety valve in ameliorating the problem of unemployment in the East.
Based on analyzing the characteristics of urban ethnic affairs problem in the new period, using Coser’s the theory of relief valve, combining the sound organization system, solid legal basis and good social reputation and solid grass-roots work experience of Urban Ethnic Affairs department, this paper raises its positioning as the Urban Ethnic Affairs “safety valve”, which has a comparative advantage, and improves the “safety valve” in the governance of urban ethnic work ability and promotes to build a harmonious society by the day-to-day management, expanding the work area, adjusting the “safety valve” threshold, establishing of emergency security system, and playing to the leverage effect to uphold the service consciousness.
The realistic background of China’s fast economic and social transformation and the deployment and implementation of the national new urbanization strategy lead to the transfer of large rural population to the towns and cities. Multiple ethnic groups are equal in China. The large minority population will run into the cities, resulting in the diversified development and prosperity of the cities. However, the contradictions and conflicts produced by the difference in economic interests, traditional cultures, customs and habits etc. of different ethnic groups are also increasing. Therefore, how to correctly implement the ethnic policies of the party and the state and actively coordinate the urban ethnic relations becomes an important task of urban ethnic work in the new period. According to the theory of safety valve of the Coser, the representative of social conflict school, combined with the characteristics of the urban ethnic problem in the new period, we suggest to recognize Department of Urban Ethnic Affairs as the safety valve of urban ethnic work. Then how to effectively play the basic function of the safety valve has the important guidance function and enlightenment for the improvement of the work ability of Department of Urban Ethnic Affairs and realizes the social security and construction of the harmonious society.
This paper mainly includes four parts. The first part explores forms and possible causes of problems of Chinese urban ethnic affairs in the new historical period; the second part summarizes the theory of safety valve and its application in ethnic conflicts; the third part proposes the four advantages of defining the urban ethnic affair department as the “safety valve”; on the basis of the problem exploration and theory analysis, the fourth part explores six measures and policy recommendations for the construction of urban ethnic affair department into the “safety valve”.
In the sociological research the change of social structure and the change of order are two eternal topics. Talcott Parsons, the main representative of structural functionalism, advocates that a system tends to keep order and balance by itself, and allocation and integration are the most basic process of balance keeping of the system. He gave too much emphasis on the stability of social order, so that he was widely criticized, because in the system the social conflicts could not be seen and he was unable to explain the social change [5] . At this time, the theory of social conflict represented by Ralf G. Dahrendorf and Lewis A. Cose increasingly became the mainstream theory in the sociology study [6] . However, Dahrendorf gave excessive emphasis on the natural and persistent social conflicts that could not be excluded. He could not powerfully explain and analyze all kinds of social phenomenon in reality. Or he gave too much emphasis on the negative effects of social conflicts [7] . Different from Dahrendorf’s point of view, in organic function theory Simmel Georg advocates that the social conflict is the process which promotes the unity and unification of social organism and maintains the social system complete. Coser formed his own conflict theory and gave more emphasis on the positive functions of social conflicts [8] . In The Functions of Social Conflicts Coser said: “The conflicts between groups also help with group cohesion and integration. The conflicts help with the integration of relationships [9] .” Of course, the social maintaining and integrating function of conflicts have boundary conditions. Through the system construction and reconstruction of rules, the fundamental path of the conflict resolution shall be found. And it is considered that the mechanism of social safety valve is a good mechanism, and conflicts have the function of social safety valve, alleviate and release the social pressure and hostility. So far, Coser’s theory of safety valve has been preliminarily formed. Professor Jia Chunzeng, a domestic scholar, vividly describes the theory. The safety valve is a device on the boiler. It can be discharged through the excessive steam, so that the whole device will not be damaged. Similarly, the social safety valve releases the hostility and resentment against society, so it can help to maintain social stability and security.
The development of economy and the transformation of the society will cause the gap between rich and poor and other social contradictions and conflicts. As a key social conflict, in recent years the ethnic conflict becomes the focus of domestic social contradictions. How to use the theory of safety valve in the social conflicts to solve the problems of urban ethnic affairs in the new period becomes a necessary and feasible research paradigm. For the doctor-patient conflict, Xu Yongjun (2008) proposed how to control and alleviate doctor-patient conflict and construct a harmonious doctor-patient relationship with the theory of safety valve [10] . According to the source and type of the theory of social conflict, Peng Shuangshuang (2009) highlighted the positive functions of social conflicts and made it the system of safety valve which promoted the harmonious society and society construction. Tian Qian (2009) proposed to define Department of Urban Ethnic Affairs as the safety valve to help to develop its function of emergency treatment, resource mobilization and service delivery in the daily management and emergency [11] . For the mass incident of demolition and land acquisition in the urbanization process, Wang Tinglin (2010) introduced the cost-benefit model. With reference of the theory of the safety valve, he proposed to establish the social organization as the safety valve, timely and effectively establish communication between the government and people, monitor the safety valve, and develop the early warning mechanism. Xu Bin (2013) argued that in the late period of transition in China, we should update the safety valve system and mechanism in China in terms of the normalization of the government conducts and the adjustment of power configuration method [12] . Through the literature review, it can be seen that the theory of safety valve is relatively widely used in the application of social governance in China, and many effective measures and suggestions are given, but the operability and social effect remain to be improved.
In the new historical development period, Department of Urban Ethnic Affairs itself is recognized as the safety valve of ethnic conflicts, which has the following advantages.
As specified on the 14th Meeting of Government Administration Council of the People’s Republic of China early in 1950, in the areas with many ethnic affairs, the commission of ethnic affairs shall be set up. Today, in most cities nationwide ethnic affairs management institutions have been set up, including administrative affairs, policy and law research, economic development, culture and education and other functional departments, basically covering all aspects of the urban ethnic work. A sound organization system can help to avoid the population isolation due to urban and rural differences, ethnic differences and individual differences when the people in the minority areas live in cities, deal with the pressure and obstacles encountered by minorities in the process of integration into cities, and allow the safety valve to dredge, transform and catalyze the discontent and hostility.
From the constitution to the basic law of China, from the special administrative regulations issued by the state council to the department regulations formulated by ministries and commissions under the state council, the basic living and the obtaining of rights and interests of minorities in the cities are clearly specified, so that the work of urban ethnic affairs have laws to abide by. Therefore, when ethnic relations are coordinated and dealt with, the urban ethnic affairs are incorporated into the legal governance channel, the governance according to law is insisted on, and legal thinking and legal methods are used to resolve the social conflicts. These are the key to implement the party’s ethnic policies, guarantee the legal rights of minorities, and consolidate and develop the equal, united, cooperative and harmonious socialist ethnic relations. They provide the legal protection for the orientation and implementation of the safety valve.
The good mass base is the basic premise of the smooth work of Department of Urban Ethnic Affairs. since its establishment, Department of Urban Ethnic Affairs has been committed to actively give play to propaganda and guidance, coordination and communication, safeguard of rights and interests, stability maintaining and other functions; access to various resources actively, carry out various forms of support and cooperation with the masses and non-governmental organizations, make a significant contribution to the development of cities, and win the broad social identity in the cities. Therefore, with the help of a good social reputation and social identity, the appeal of Department of Urban Ethnic Affairs can be developed, so that the safety valve plays an active role in easing conflicts and resolving contradictions.
The concealed, latent and explosive ethnic conflicts make the ethnic work difficult. Department of Urban Ethnic Affairs knows the distribution of minorities in the jurisdiction and is familiar with the habits and customs of minorities. The handling of daily work of minorities for a long time has accumulated valuable experience for it, so that the safety valve can resolve in a timely manner in the forming stage of the incident, and reduce the social costs of handling conflicts.
The public security, industrial and commercial tax, culture and education, health and other fields covered by Department of Urban Ethnic Affairs is the basic events of the city life of minorities, and these departments belong to different government functional departments. It is difficult to coordinate the relationship among the departments. It is suggested that the daily management work shall be fine, accurate and detailed, so as to meet the basic needs of minorities in the cities, eliminate the possible group opposition and contradiction, give play to the safety valve’s basic functions of resolving contradictions, dredging the discontent and showing emotion, and lay a foundation for the smooth work of urban ethnic problems.
In addition to the publicity of ethnic policies, safeguarding of the rights and interests of minorities and other traditional work, Department of Urban Ethnic Affairs should attach great importance to the construction of the function of invisible safety valve based on the new binary opposition, rapid development of network, appearance of group structure, application of the new media platform and other characteristics of the times during the fast transformation of economy and society in China. It is suggested to coordinate exchanges and cooperation of ethnic groups with different value orientation through the establishment of information communication platform and public interactive platform; expand the field of work of urban ethnic affairs; increase the new function of information collection, public opinion analysis and early warning and monitoring of the emergency of the invisible safety valve; try to make different ethnic groups and groups form the value identity, identity identification and psychological identity; and build a green channel for minorities’ integration into the cities.
Influenced by a variety of powers both at home and abroad, in recent years, urban ethnic conflict happened frequently. In order to maintain the social stability, and insist on the tenet of equal and harmonious development of many ethnic groups in the country, tiny things may be exaggerated as the ethnic problems, thus forming the mass event of emergencies in the society. It indicates that the starting point causing the ethnic conflicts becomes more and more low, and the scope of the threshold of safety valve is expanding. Therefore, it is suggested to dynamically adjust the threshold of safety valve from the regional characteristics, time dimension and cultural background macroscopically and population characteristics, habits and customs, flow characteristics and characteristics of urban distribution of minorities microscopically. For example, in the area where minorities are mixed and concentrated in the cities, the starting point of the threshold of safety valve can be set low. In the areas with the urban social governance ability, the starting point of the threshold of safety valve can be set relatively high. Of course, how to give the starting point of the threshold of safety valve is a technical problem. This paper suggests implementing the system simulation of artificial simulation (ABM) model in the study of artificial society, and determining the threshold according to the simulation diffusion and convergence results [13] . Based on the quantitative research, we can accurately position the alert level of urban ethnic problems and the starting point of safety valve, timely and effectively resolve the ethnic conflicts, and deal with ethnic conflicts.
The emergency is characterized by big social harm, high loss and serious public crisis. It has drawn the great attention of the government. Dealing with emergencies in the ethnic work is the key link to test the function of safety valve of Department of Urban Ethnic Affairs. This requires a set of perfect emergency systems to guarantee. It is suggested to divide it into advance preparation, response and post assessment; cooperate with the functional management department of cities [14] ; improve the management mechanism of urban ethnic emergency; build the response mechanism of urban ethnic emergency; attach great importance to the remedial work of the urban ethic emergency; build an omni-directional and whole-process urban emergency response mechanism; and improve the emergency response capacity of tangible safety valve in the work of ethnic affairs.
Seeking more urban resources for minorities is the necessary element to guarantee the development of minorities. Department of Urban Ethnic Affairs is suggested to play the role of bridge and mediation; improve the capability of resource acquisition of safety valve; actively raise, absorb and integrate the urban information, manpower, organization, material and intellectual resources; actively develop the new acquisition channels of resources; and give play to the lever function of safety valve of Department of Urban Ethnic Affairs.
The resource acquisition is to better serve the minorities and allow them to enjoy the modern urban civilization. The management department of urban affairs is suggested to mobilize social resources, and change them into the management and service of urban ethnic affairs. It is necessary to insist on the initiative, passionate and thoughtful service consciousness; design the resources obtained to meet the service demand of minority groups who need help and support; and coordinate self identity and urban recognition through the equal enjoying of urban public services and access to development opportunities. This is the important link to test the service supply capacity of safety valve of the management department of urban ethnic affairs.
Through literature review and field survey, this paper has found that the current problems of urban ethnic affairs are as follows. The involvement of foreign organizations and excessive ethnic consciousness lead to ethnic conflicts. The structure change of minority population and the spread characteristic of new media lead to sensitive and explosive problems of urban ethnic affairs. With the advantages of sound organization system, solid legal foundation, good social reputation and rich basic-level experience, the urban ethnic department is considered as the “safety valve” of ethnic problems, which can reduce the social costs of dealing with ethnic conflicts. Finally the paper proposes to promote the construction of “safety valve” of urban ethnic affair department by refining the daily management work, developing work fields, establishing the emergency security system, exerting the just-now effect and focusing on the service consciousness.
JingGao, (2015) The Innovative Path to Solve the Problem of Urban Ethnic Affairs: The Relief Theory and Its Practical Application. Open Journal of Social Sciences,03,137-143. doi: 10.4236/jss.2015.38016
7. Zhang, W. (2007) The Formation and Development of the Contemporary Western Theory of Social Conflicts. Journal of World Economics and Politics, 5, 117-121.
8. Xu, W. (2007) The Application of Coser’s Functional Conflict Theory and His Theory of Safety Valve in China. Journal of Guangxi Youth Cadre Institute, 4, 67-69.
10. Xu, Y.J. (2008) The Doctor-Patient Conflicts under the Perspective of the Theory of Social Safety Valve. Chinese Health Service Management, 03, 165-166.
11. Tian, Q. and Zhang, X.L. (2009) Study on the Positioning of Safety Valve of the Department of Urban Ethnic Affairs. Journal of Southwest University for Nationalities: Humanities and Social Sciences, 12, 12-16.
12. Xu, B. (2013) The Mechanism of Action of Safety Valve of Social Conflicts and its Practice and Advancement in China. Journal of Socialist Theory Guide, 10, 26-30.
In fact, the popular extremist leaders in the Indian freedom movement like Lala Lajpat Rai, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, and Bipin Chandra Pal also came up with a concept called the Safety Valve Theory. It stated that the British had witnessed the restive political situation in the country and were fearing another rebellion on the lines of the 1857 mutiny.
The theory further states that the British wanted to avoid yet another rebellion, so they wished to create a platform for the people to discuss their political problems. It was said that the Indian National Congress was started by A.O. Hume as a part of Viceroy Lord Dufferin’s wish to create a “Safety Valve” against popular discontent.
As per the theory, the British thought that educated Indians may lead to a rebellion against the government. So, the government itself should create a platform where the educated Indians could raise their voice and avoid a situation where popular discontent translates into a public movement against the British.
Modern historiansdisputethe idea of a ‘safety valve’. Yet, there is no denying the fact that the Congress was founded by A.O. Hume, a retired British Indian Civil Service (ICS) officer and that in its initial years, the INC made no real demand for India’s independence.