Predictors of the prevalence and importance of the observed trinary control system in rural China

Western criminological literature continues to focus on the binary control system (formal vs. informal), while China has long employed the trinary system (formal, semiformal, and informal) in its construction of social control. China scholars have investigated the prevalence and importance of the trinary control system as a key to understanding social control. However, there is a lack of research on their predictors. The current study aims at investigating the correlates of the prevalence and importance of the observed trinary control system in rural China. Using the sample data of 2343 respondents collected from 164 villages in rural China, the study found that both individual and village factors were the predictors of the prevalence of the observed controls exerted by village committees, a measure of semiformal control, and police, a measure of formal control, in maintaining community social order. Findings included the reported prevalence of four control mechanisms as significant predictors of their importance in community order maintenance. The implications of these findings are discussed.