Social Transformation and Moral Imbalance
Since China ’s reform and opening up，the social transformation in the past 40 years has begun with the economy.Therefore，once the planned economy is transformed into a market economy，the market thinking can easily become a strong thinking，which goes beyond its original scope in the process of social transformation.Mr.Zhang Wuchang attributed the rapid development of China ’s economy to inter-county competition in China ’s Economic System and extended it to “local government corporatization”.Economists who hold this view believe that the rapid development of China ’s economy is different from that of Europe，America and the four Asian dragons.The key is that all local governments in China have become economic entities and promoted growth in competition with each other.This is the unique advantage of China ’s Economic Development.As far as the actual process of economic transformation in the past 40 years is concerned，the results and effects of this aspect are obvious.However，the resulting “local government corporatization” can not help but make the government which belongs to the market rulemaker and regulator become the participant of market competition at the same time.This direct result of one-person and two-term appointment will not only greatly expand rent-seeking space and bring about various corruption，but also lead the“corporate” government power to bring market rules out of the market.A typical example is the marketization of the public sphere.Since the beginning of reform and opening-up，we have indiscriminately regarded public goods such as national education，health care，public utilities，public infrastructure and public welfare as “the fortress of the old system”，and tried to adjust and reform them with the law of value.At one time，the public sector of the government emerged as the main body of the market.A chaotic situation of “selling” public goods to the public and participating in commodity exchange.This abuse of market law as a tool to adjust social relations ultimately leads to pan-marketization，that is，the marketization of society.The dislocation in this process obviously lies in: first，the market pursues efficiency and inevitably pursues profit，and its ultimate morality is realized through the individual ’s pursuit of efficiency.But what society protects is fairness and justice，its starting point and destination are in the whole and majority；second，the market advocates competition，so the market has to eliminate the weak，but the society is the home of all people，so the society has the responsibility to accept and shelter the weak.The obvious difference between the two shows that pan-marketization is immoral to society.
This trend of pan-marketization，accompanied by economic growth in the past 40 years，appears in the historical environment formed by the process of social transformation in China，and becomes a social phenomenon which gives people a strong feeling in the transformation from planned economy to market economy.Behind it is the impact，complexity and transition of social transformation.Everyone is in transition.Therefore，compared with the “local government corporatization”，the panmarketization as a social phenomenon will also enter into the consciousness，orientation and behavior of different individuals，and the resulting trends and orientations have a wider impact and deeper causes，of which two are the most prominent ones.
First，the process of alternation between the old and the new has led to the imperfection of the system.The process of reform is a process of alternation between the old and the new.When the old rules and systems are out of date，new rules and systems should be established.This practice provides a great space and possibility for the future economic development.However，the incoherence between the old and the new often leaves such space and possibility out of law.Gaps and opportunities for profit-making naturally lead to moral anomie due to profit-seeking.In the early period of reform and opening up，there were frequent cases related to smuggling，reselling foreign exchange，reselling approvals and so on in Chinese society，and the profit-seeking among the people affected the officials in power，thus corruption became a phenomenon of confluence between the people and the government.[5] If we do not judge this phenomenon from personal virtue and focus on social change，the deep reason lies in that the process of reform and opening up starts from breaking through the old rules （rules and regulations）.Without such breakthroughs，there will be no reform.But the real difficulty is that while the old rules are broken，it is impossible to establish new rules synchronously in a short time.A mature and reasonable rule needs a process to be established，which is sometimes very long.Therefore，for quite a long time，the whole society is in the process of lacking both old rules and new ones.Rules are always a kind of restraint.Only when there are restraints can there be so-called order.As a spiritual rule，morality is self-restraint.When the rule and restraint are weakened due to the incompatibility between the old and the new in the real society，the era without rules and restraint will arouse excessive desire in human nature，strive for fame and benefit，which is not only guided by the pan-marketization，but also transmit the pan-marketization to all sides.All kinds of relations can be materialized into interest relations，and all of them are calculated according to the input-output rule.The result is often tension between individual and individual，groups and groups for the sake of profit，as well as anger for tension.Therefore，the uncontrolled desire promoted by the pan-marketization will eventually become a negative in the process of reform and opening up.We used to focus on the relationship between these phenomena of moral anomie and personal virtue，but as a social phenomenon，behind personal virtue and its interaction with personal virtue is actually the change of the environment.In this sense，the negative side of reform is also the cost of reform.Because of this，the process of reform is always accompanied by trial and error.
Second，the fragmentation and diversification of values in social change.Moral anomie has become a noticeable social phenomenon and is directly related to the ideological environment formed in the process of social change.On the one hand，pan-marketization has materialized various relationships among people into interests，which can not help but promote the diversification and fragmentation of values.On the other hand，since reform is linked to opening up，we must open the door to the outside world.This has made China ’s entry into the world an important part of social transformation in the past 40 years.This process has contributed to the rapid growth of China ’s national power，but there are not only economic exchanges，but also cultural exchanges in this kind of convection between China and foreign countries.Against the background of the contrast between the material shortage of China and the wealth of the West at the beginning of the Opening of the National Gate，the doctrines，concepts and ideas in the Western world brought about by the latter can easily become an attraction，which directly affects and changes the Chinese social thoughts in the process of transformation.But this kind of foreign theories，ideas and concepts are always mixed，and the individualistic values contained in liberalism （western individualistic values usually refer to the idea of rational man-made premise，pursuing the maximization of personal interests.The rationality of the explanation lies in that each individual pursuing personal interests realizes the maximization of social interests under the control of the “invisible hand”.This value is the basis for the prosperity of Western economic and trade activities.） At a time when the value of Chinese society is weakened and fragmented by the pan-marketization，it will turn into an impact，which will deprive individuals of their rights，obligations，responsibilities and beliefs of universality and unity.Consequently，the pluralism of value standards will be brought about.On the basis of Western theories，concepts and ideas，the pragmatist，justice，money worship and the pursuit of maximizing interests will emerge in the whole society.In such a social context，we often have different opinions about the power and value of morality，which leads to the lack of core values.This process coincides with the rapid economic development of China ’s market，which will further promote the market rules that have been applied in the process of economic exchange to move into the society，and use commercialization to gnaw and melt the moral foundation of the society.Society consists of individuals.Therefore，the existence of each individual is not only the existence of the individual itself，but also the existence of the social part.The former corresponds to benefit and the latter to righteousness.So the ancients classified the core of morality as the distinction between righteousness and benefit.They said that the two sides were connected，maintained and balanced with each other.But where the moral foundation is shaken，it is often the lack of honesty，public trust and mutual trust after the imbalance.In the imbalance，people are very easy to be confined by their own interests，and submerge the public interests，the interests of others，the long-term interests and the overall interests，and ultimately the sympathy，understanding and inconsistency between human beings.Friends and watchers help each other will be lost bit by bit.Obviously，along with these losses is the sense of happiness and security in this society.Therefore，after 40 years of rapid economic development，more and more people have to turn their eyes to our spiritual world，to the core values that our society can not do without，and to the revival and reconstruction of morality.