Alternative modes of governance: Clans and social instability in rural China

As one form of informal institutions, clans have played a significant role in driving Chinese socioeconomic development. However, there is currently no consensus on how clans are correlated with social instability in rural areas. This paper aims to explore the correlations between clans and social instability, utilizing village-level data from the 2015–2021 China Household Finance Survey. The findings reveal a positive correlation between clans and social instability in rural areas. Notably, this relationship follows an inverted U-shaped pattern when considering political distance. Mechanism analysis suggests that clans are accompanies by more social disputes and conflicts of interest in intermediate zones compared to areas located farther away or closer to the local political center. Further analysis indicates that both the decrease in legal governance and the increase in potential interests aggravate the negative correlation between clans and social stability. Additionally, it is observed that implementing the “yi jian tiao” policy in grassroots governance can help mitigate the social contradictions caused by clans and brings positive influence, but the existence of multiple clans is positively correlated with social instability. Our analysis implies that more attention should be focused on the intermediate zones, where an enormous number of conflicts between formal and informal institutions exist.