Political Apathy In Rural Election

This article is about political participation of villagers in rural election. The research is aimed at finding out political apathy of some villagers as well as the reasons of it.Since 1987, Rules of Self-governed implemented in China. In the last two decades, rural election put up all over the country. The rules certified the political participation right of villagers to some extent. However, some villagers kept away from political participation,they paid no attention of village's affairs and rural election. That is still to say, political apathy might exist in some villages.This study was carried out in Yancun, which is at the suburban area of Xiamen city. Yancun has little collective property while villagers'living standard is high. That is typical in Fujian province. Based on an ethnographic fieldwork at Yancun, this paper described the villagers'behavior of political apathy. The reasons for political apathy are complicated, including implementation of the rules, characteristics of the village, personality of the villagers and performances of former committee.This paper has the following characteristics: First, this article analyzes and sums up theories of the Chinese and foreign scholars on political participation, political apathy and rural election. It is benefited to the further understand the social background of villagers'political apathy. Second, the methodology of case study collects a lot of typical significance information. Third, the research on political apathy in rural election enriches and develops the theory of the rural election. It is of great practical significance.